[YouTube Video] Transpshobia in the UK

[Skynet]

Link instead of direct embedding due to footage of children.

So a thing I've heard but was not entirely aware of as an American was how transphobic rhetoric is much more mainstream in otherwise left-wing and progressive media (as well as that of right-wing publications such as the Daily Mail). The YouTuber Shaun, whose specialty is covering contemporary political issues, did a very good and detailed breakdown of the examples, offending articles, and concern trolling fears brought up; he does good informative work, and I highly recommend people to watch if they wish to gain a good starting point on this phenomenon.

Furthermore, all ad revenue generated by the video will be donated to Mermaids, a UK-based charity dedicated to helping families (and individual support) of children and teenagers struggling with gender identity issues.

Breakdown:

The first 16 minutes are not exactly UK-specific. He breaks down the common bathroom panic myths and how status quo attempts (both TERF and right-wing) do not solve the issues they bring up.

The 17 mark he starts talking about UK tabloids and media, specifically the Guardian and how they ensure discussion on gender identity rights are stymied by pointing to "concerns" from hypothetical women's rights groups without stating exactly what those concerns are.

32:05 he briefly but specifically calls out Graham Linehan, a British comedian who's become a beloved figure among TERFs and managed to organize a letter-writing campaign in an attempt to rescind a UK grant towards, and thus defund, Mermaids.


Guardian Articles Cited:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/guardian-editorial-response-transgender-rights-uk
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/17/the-guardian-view-on-the-gender-recognition-act-where-rights-collide
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/17/transgender-law-reform-has-overlooked-womens-rights-say-mps
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/14/women-claim-intimidation-silencing-gender-recognition-act-debate

Trans YouTubers Cited:

Riley J Dennis
Kat Blaque
Jammidodger

[Tolvo]

Shaun does great work. This is something I've mentioned a lot in the New Thread actually in regards to trans people's treatment by the media. The Guardian is pretty notorious(New York Times, New York Magazine, BBC, AfterEllen began to even delete all articles positive about trans people and publish lots of transphobic articles written by TERFs, and many more are also guilty of all this) for it's transphobic views. A common thing among news orgs like this is they basically publish people who write very transphobic articles, and will focus on publishing trans people who are controversial and have views not common among trans people(An article on how transition is fake and a myth written by a trans woman who hates trans women is not a good example of our communities or views). It's very hard to get positive articles in major publications like that published by trans people, it happens but it's rarer than all of the fear mongering and outright lies. The Guardian can still do great reporting, but they should basically be almost outright ignored when it comes to anything relating to trans people due to their massive prejudice.

https://jezebel.com/private-messages-reveal-the-cis-journalist-groupthink-b-1827041764

Jezebel did a look into part of how this happens, when a large private group was leaked full of journalists who write on trans issues that featured only cis people who actively keep out trans people and who say very ignorant things and ensure only cis people who agree with them get to network via them.

[Skynet]

The Guardian is the only media outlet I know that is anti-trans but also pro sex work. Most trans-exclusionary regressives are anti-both.

Semi-related, it's probably been talked about in other threads, but the YouTuber Hbomberguy set up a charity stream for Mermaids where he went for a 100% completion attempt at Donkey Kong 64.

Nearly $300,000 have been raised for nearly 60 hours of playtime!

[Tolvo]

Yeah usually TERF(Trans exclusionary radical feminism) and SWERF(Sex Worker exclusionary radical feminism) go hand in hand. Usually if someone hates one group they hate the other.

Hbomberguy has actually made it into Scottish parliamentary documents where they congratulated him for the charity stream.

https://twitter.com/ChloeMinish/status/1087387639236448257

https://twitter.com/ellenfromnowon/status/1087413383559827459

The stream originating of course from Graham Linehan from the IT Crowd and Father Ted posting on Mumsnet(TERF 4chan basically) calling for people to mass email and message a lottery that was gifting Mermaids(A charity that provides support and resources to trans and queer youth, not, doesn't actually diagnose or prescribe medication) money to tell them that Mermaids are child abusers and various awful other lies. Mermaids is under review now and may not get that money.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/petition-calls-for-tv-writer-graham-linehan-to-be-axed-from-prime-time-transgender-debate-37731952.html

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/21/hbomberguy-hits-back-at-graham-linehan-after-mermaids-charity-stream-every-time-you-tweet-five-people-donate-8371438/

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/oct/07/graham-linehan-police-warning-complaint-by-stephanie-hayden-transgender-activist-twitter

(US Guardian is a little bit better)

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/12/11/father-ted-graham-linehan-trans-nazis/

Linehan during the charity stream went on rants about how Mermaids was giving children hormones(Untrue, they don't prescribe things even they point people to doctors and those doctors are giving puberty blockers at times to underage people which are considered quite safe and reversable) and compared giving puberty blockers to questioning children to the castration of Alan Turing due to him being gay, and went on about how transition is just conversion therapy.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/12/24/robert-webb-trans-kids-mermaids/

Robert Webb from Mitchell and Webb has also joined with Linehan.

https://www.them.us/story/is-jk-rowling-transphobic

JK Rowling has also got a transphobic past and frequently likes transphobic tweets on twitter(And not just a few times but rather frequently, and tweets that are nothing but unending bigotry without even mentioning anything else and at times from accounts with very few followers meaning she is seeking them out), on top of writing in a scene with an aggressive dangerous trans woman where the protagonist threatens to get them arrested so they'll be raped in a men's prison, which given her track record in general with LGBTQIA+ rights is not totally surprising as she more so likes to claim to be progressive and then doesn't tend to actually do anything progressive in a meaningful way.

https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic?zd=1&zi=fcrskhum

It's kind of hard to find celebrities who have not been transphobic in the past but British media is definitely full of transphobic people currently many of which I think are basically being tricked into it by TERF's who are trying to convince them it's the way to support women and a lot of them not understanding how to actually support women will listen to women on the matter. Which can often lead to good results, listening to and just repeating people from a group that are marginalized, but when the specific people being listened to are bigots pretending to care about equality it can be a huge problem.

https://www.advocate.com/women/2018/12/19/female-editors-reject-afterellen-other-sites-anti-trans-agenda

It is also unsurprising given that a lot of media outlets have been bought out or reworked to be TERF led with trans positive writers and editors getting fired, and often, having all their work deleted whether they're cis or trans.

https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/11/andrea-long-chu-new-york-times-criticism-response-transgender.html

https://rewire.news/article/2018/11/26/its-time-to-retire-the-medias-sad-transgender-trope/

https://twitter.com/theorygurl/status/1062680923727106049

New York Times also often publishes really transphobic articles, this one was actually by a self hating trans woman that contained a lot of false statements. It should be noted Andrea has stated that she doesn't believe at times trans women are real, that they are men who transition to apologize for being men, is a Truscum/Transmedicalist, thinks bisexual people aren't real, hates nonbinary people and trans men. A lot of these caused an uproar after the article as well as since ContraPoints turned out to be close friends with her and agreed with a lot of these threads she'd post with statements like the above that Contra would respond to and praise which people noticed before Contra deleted them all(Witnessed this myself).

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

One such thread on how Andrea feels trans women have had male privilege, which contains statements about how trans women atone for being men, which Contra praised. She has a history of this though, posting transphobic misinformation and statements(Such as against nonbinary people) and deleting after, such as when Contra defended Jesse Singal for a while against other trans women after he was really far down the TERF rabbit hole. Recently she has stated now she thinks he's bad, but also claims she never supported him which is false.

https://twitter.com/contrapoints/status/925465219425587200?lang=en

Those tweets are still up btw and were well after Jesse was established among TERFs. Though a bit of a tangent at this point to focus back on the media rather than explaining who some of the lesser known trans women who are being propped up to support bigotry.

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/attacking-trans-women-feminist/

Feminist Current being TERF founded and run with Meghan Murphy who at one point was so openly transphobic and hateful was suspended from Twitter though she's back now. The Guardian posting a transphobic article on Trans Day of Visbility as well.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/01/22/the-womens-march-was-made-unsafe-by-anti-trans-signs-and-pussy-hats/

The Women's March has also had it's own troubles with this, currently Women's March London is caving to TERFs after previously reversing a stance to be against them.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/08/19/liverpool-mayor-remove-anti-trans-women-penises-stickers/

And TERFs have had a thing going to plant stickers all around public places and bathrooms to state that no women can have a penis(A false statement), which again is something they are doing in spaces children will see them, as they claim trans women are male sexual predators and will expose their genitals to children(The thing TERF's are sort of doing themselves).

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/transgender-gamestop-misgendering/

In recent memory a clip went viral of a trans woman who was being mistreated by an employee at a gamestop demanding to be properly gendered and respected as a woman while people gathered and laughed and joked at her expense as the employee continued to mistreat her. Which many used this to try and dismiss trans women as "Crazy and dangerous."

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/02/14/trans-kids-guide-is-inaccurate-and-deeply-damaging-say-lgbt-activists/

Transgender Trend, a transphobic hate organization which gives materials to schools for educational purposes on transgender people, which is run by someone who claims they've talked to about a dozen trans people ever who studied art and has no actually knowledge or training on the subject, has also been involved in this sort of stuff.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-friday-hampstead-heath-protest-transphobic-lgbt-rights-a8374651.html

TERFs have also been invading male only spaces and at times even getting naked around strangers to try and show "This is what trans people will do!" Which, is kind of a weird tactic but not unheard of as far right religious groups have done this in the USA, stalking women into restrooms and locker rooms and getting naked while claiming they're showing them what "trans women would do given the opportunity."

This isn't all of it, it's kind of scratching the surface but this is basically all over and has spiked in recent years but was there for a while. Basically since the 80's when transphobia became more mainstream.

https://www.transadvocate.com/debunked-joeysalads-transgender-bathroom-hoax_n_15800.htm

It's also big all over youtube with conservative and right wing youtubers.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/28/lucy-meadows-coroner-press-shame

And of course back half a decade there was when the Daily Mail hounded a transgender women for her deadname and transition history and intimate details then wrote articles criticizing her based on the information and her being trans. She killed herself after.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/21/grantland-apologises-outing-transgender-inventor-golf

And the time Grantland did a similar thing and investigated a transgender golf club inventor which at first would be an innocent impossible to foresee problem until they saw her transgender status as something to investigate and promised to out her in national news and she killed herself, they then published it and outed her after her death.

There's basically, a lot, to cover.

[Skynet]

Could post in the news thread, but given recent events figure an update is also good.

The BBC nominated JK Rowling for a reward for her transphobic "essay" which was full of misinformation.

For those not aware, there's been a lot of good rebuttals to this. I'd suggest checking out this twitter thread as one source.

As an aside, one of the people she cited as a credible source in the essay, Magdalen Berns, is herself a more general hatemonger. As an example Berns shared claims from a conservative media group claiming that George Soros is a mastermind behind global trans rights. Which, even if sort of true in a way (he is a supporter of many liberal causes) is portrayed as a shadowy conspirator via an ugly caricature. Such conspiracy theories often tends to have veiled anti-Semitism brewing beneath.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

It's a bit unrelated, but between that and Rowling supporting an online storefront that sold badges saying "Get the L out of LGBT," I'm rather surprised that a supposedly liberal/centrist media institution would wish to continue associating with her.

Probably won't be long before Rowling decides to throw away the feminist veneer and comes out as yet another right-winger.

[Fox Lokison]

I hate to say it, Skynet, because you're posting a lot of terrible stuff that happened and sucked, but a fair amount of your last post is actually pretty old news.

Things move VERY fast.

The Kiera Bell case with Tavistock is the current issue, though there's a few other minor ones, such as several "Gender Critical" groups stumping for or even promoting conservative groups and ideology and seeking to push this into legislation..

The discussion of children and puberty blockers has taken a legal forefront in the UK. However, if you want a US perspective on TERF ideology, Abigail Shrier - who has featured on Prager U, if we wanna talk about where she falls politically - wrote a book that's picked up a cult following, called Irreversible Damage. It's free to read online and has stoked a fire about trans men, which Rowling effectively started. The ball has long since rolled past her, however.

[Skynet]

I realize that I'm a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to non-US stuff. Outside my usual area of expertise and all.

Thank you for the update, though!

[Fox Lokison]

Trust me, that wasn't a scold It moves RIDICULOUSLY fast. Like overnight fast. One moment there was the Rowling issue, next an entirely different thing. It's like a line of dominoes is going over, you know? Picks up speed and it's impossible to keep track anymore.

But that's how these movements go, isn't it? In the shadows for ages, and then BAM, in your face and moving fast.