Stop Trying to Out-Science Transphobes - A Review

Put it On the Slate, and Throw it Back like a Discus

Hello, Dia dhuit, Hola, Olá, Nî hăo, greetings to all and profuse apologies for my egregious exclusionary habits by failing to mention every salutation in every dialect.

So yesterday I read a particularly profound fairy tale of adversity and triumph, written with close attention to personal gripes, self pity and a topsy turvy world of wicked witches, oppression and some other shit. I read it - not so you don't have to, because it's all repeated here - but to give it a new platform, with my own, tailored backing track facts. Sit back and enjoy!

Stop Trying to Out-Science Transphobes

It’s painful to watch people who purport to care about us attempt to dissect us.

https://slate.com/technology/2021/03/transphobes-science-trap-basic-human-rights.html

By Riley Black, paelaentologist and all-around white guy

Watching your body and identity get dissected on the public stage wouldn’t be pleasant for anyone, but it’s become the status quo for transgender people. 

Really? Sounds pretty hyperbolic to me. Dissected? Your body, you say?

Even as the Equality Act passed the House last week, offering hope that the Civil Rights Act can be expanded to protect people’s sexual orientation...

Oi, you turd - you're the ones trying to pressure lesbians into sex with your cocks (which are, mysteriously, simultaneously just like a dildo AND soft and utterly useless)

..and gender identity, some took the opportunity to weigh in on whether people like me do or should technically exist at all.

EXIST? What the fuck is this? Are you the kraken, wood elves? If a woman wrote this on her access to sporting teams there'd be such laughter the tectonic plates would slip, and an ensuing tsunami would wash us away. 'Technically exist' is just more word garnish on top of superfluous filler words. Try being honest - 'no one should consider the effect of my wishes on a protected group because I have wishes, and I really want my wishes to be met. I am above scrutiny'. I know honestly representing alternate viewpoints is literal violence but sort it out. Or just fuck off.

That same Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul subjected assistant health secretary nominee Rachel Levine to an offensive and transphobic tirade (https://www.thecut.com/2021/02/hhs-pick-rachel-levine-faced-transphobia-from-rand-paul.html) 

Oh did he? What a pity it slipped your mind to link to the ACTUAL CLIP. Is this about asking a trans official about their views on trans healthcare? I thought you wanted that

..which purported to be out of concern for our medical well-being.

Our? In looking you up when writing this, I saw photos of you as a man..

(hope this isn't too graphic, babes). So you're not a kid, and you waited til you were out of uni, I assume, before identifying into oppression. These kids are not you. The narcissism is staggering.

Also, Rand Paul is not too likeable, shall we say? - Somewhat slithery, possibly using mirrors as a portal into another world - so that means, clearly, concerns about puberty blockers, mastectomies and even genital surgery on under 18s are motivated simply by deep hate? Is that it?

(To be honest, babe: I think you should just go to town with it, I'm sure your readership can't be arsed with actually watching ol' wobble-chops studiously evade the question, and will take your statements of crap as fact. "Paul literally argued for all trans kids to be caged with the Mexicans! He says we should do terrible, long-lasting damage to their bodies, sterilise them, destroy their health and ability to orgasm!")

This probably didn’t gain more attention...

- Shit! I am sorry - that's what you consider appropriate healthcare

becaus...

- And come on - ludicrously glowing headlines of Levine 'gracefully batting back' Paul's questions were everywhere, along with Levine being thanked for answering when he swerved it like Jeremy Kyle avoids his guest's  inquests.

....because Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene proudly posted a sign outside her office announcing that there are just two genders. 

That feminazi, anti-science monster! You know what I'd do to these crazy bitches? Remove all ability to stand as representatives! How can they know what is right if they never asked you? Just sickening to think how long they've had rights as a protected class. All I'm saying is let's get her in the water and just see how it goes...

...That’s what sparked XX and XY to trend on Twitter and, infuriatingly, a wave of “gender critical” and hateful comments lobbed at trans people like me.

You poor, innocent, journo - paelaentologist, weighing in on a subject you know fuck all about, motivated by your desire to go around assured there will never be a single obstacle in your path, the rights of everyone shall be granted to you. Implying there's a defence for the shit you cannot justify, by linking back to every matey media out there in the stickiest, most incestuous circle wank ever known. Also, we're really gonna need to talk about what hateful comments are, what sex and gender is, what equality is... And how you can't avoid everyone's ire with "but muh immeasurable, un-evidenced, definitely real internal perception of myself is a physical characteristic tooooo!"

Over the weekend, Utah Rep. Burgess Owens and ex-President Donald Trump tried to position themselves as defenders of women by ranting about “manhood” and “biology.”

Please stop. You've succeded in such a parody of extremism, this is now a clown-world so unhinged that even stopped clocks, melting Dali-style into puddles, are correct. It's too much. I took acid in my teens and you're fuckin with me now.

Meanwhile, multiple states are still mulling over copy/paste legislation 

- Copy/paste? Do you mean verbatim? Who did they copy from? Is this cheating? Oh, now I get how this might disturb you, sweaty - 

created by the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom that would ban transgender girls from playing on sports teams matching their gender and, even worse, would criminalize health care for transgender children.

What is a gendered team? Sports are segregated by sex, not gender. Find me the vapogender volleyball team, the drag dressage, the neutrois netballers. Is this deliberate? Do you hide from all salient facts like rogue bullets at a drive by? Do you wear a set of blinkers when most of us wear masks? You know what you are - apart from personal insults I'm honestly trying to contain - you, sir, are an anti-facts-er. 

(Also, you (obviously don't) know dysphoric kids matter, and deserve only positive and / or essential treatment? Are you outraged at the lack of thalidomide for nauseous, pregnant women people? Do you think it's shit the doctor won't affirm me with plentiful supplies of opiates and benzodiazepines? (To be fair, I wouldn't be surprised if you were entirely up for women to be quietened down with some mother's little helpers, and possibly something even more tranquil for me. Ah well, you're not here for other people's battles, huh?))

The same conservatives who try to deny my rights based on “science” have also denied that cigarettes cause lung cancer, that humans are driving global climate change, and that evolution is real.

Well, you've a point. It's definitely an achievement to play such a magnificent parody of extremism while holding that straight, puritanical po-face. Have you actually pushed the agents of corporate, republican America into decency and sense? Are they scared by your reckless assault on fucking science?! Yes. Yes you have! Those Dali-style clocks are asymmetrically sliding down the walls, hands curled up in figures of eight, with one, long, jumbled pile of numbers AND STILL THEY ARE A SIGNIFICANTLY MORE RELIABLE SOURCE THAN YOU. As for evolution, are you shitting me? Your idea of Nobel prize-worthy biology being Jennifer Aniston's 'here comes the science bit', played by a stunning and brave Iggy Pop? 

Through it all, whether they’re self-proclaimed feminists who never embraced inclusivity 

- We don't include males in feminism, dude. Take that crock of shit to your village fete cake competition. See how that goes.

..or conservatives looking to give their base something to chew on, bigots keep talking about “the science.” “Trust the science!” said Greene’s sign, without a touch of irony.

Aha, now this sounds good, I may be about to change my tune. Finally I might be able to drop the difficult, ostracising position of being a TERF! I mean, it's not actually unpopular to understand the most basic facts of life, but saying so is definitely hard. I'm waiting, very excited here!

That “science” involves the kind of third grade biology basics that supposedly provide evidence that there are only two sexes

...right

...and that those sexes are fundamentally different.

U-huh...

Women make eggs and men make sperm, they tell us. 

You're not going to argue otherwise, are you? Go on, PLEASE, explain the error of my ways..? How are babies made really?

They have taken to rhetorically asking what the “third gamete” is, as though conflating biology and gender will—I don’t know—make transgender people instantly disappear? 

Oh great, more hyperbole and strawmen. You were talking about the anti-scientific idea of only two sexes, yeah? Fundamentally different, based on gamete production. And you were going to explain the fundamental problem with that? Where did stereotypes of gender come in? You're the one who factors gender into everything...

Sometimes it’s hard to know what these people actually want out of all their vitriol

*Hand shoots up in the air* Sir! Sir! I know! What we want is for women and girls to have the right to self segregate, to congregate sans males, to play sports fairly, to not have to compete against / play with / not be forced to share intimidate spaces with males.

But regardless of their aims, transphobes of all stripes appeal to the authority of science—science that is pretty easy to refute.

So, refute it. Just refute the fucking thing. Where's the third gamete, Riley? Is there an intermediate one? Who produces both, Riley?What are the other sexes called? You've nothing better than pop-culture nods to the wokerati in pop-culture media, have you? It's a few wobbly mirrors, smoke grenades, a tale about a hat giving birth to a rabbit... This show is shit.

This is a trap. Allies fall for this time (link https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/stop-using-phony-science-to-justify-transphobia/) 

Seriously? That's not science you moron. It's an ideological screed, bursting with logical fallacies, which uses DSDs and the bodies of people with them (remember the 'muh body been dissected!' bit at the beginning, dude? Can you see what a wretched, grasping series of appropriation and evasion this is?) It's shown to me as often as one of those laugh emojis is reckoned to crush an argument. It's been thoroughly debunked. Stop it. 

and again (link https://theconversation.com/how-genes-and-evolution-shape-gender-and-transgender-identity-108911)

Ideological. circle wanking. bullshit.  

The conservatives who try to deny my rights

- Your rights to my rights, and everyone else's, yeah? Oh you poor white professional males, no one understands you can't have impressive privilege if you have felt sadness or discomfort or ever felt all left out....

...based on “science” have also denied that cigarettes cause lung cancer, that humans are driving global climate change, and that evolution is real. They are not dealing in facts. 

I'm so sorry for asking for more spoons/ emotional labour, it's indeed tough out there for white male paelaentologists who are published in international media with supposed reviews which function as nothing but verbal eyerolls and sad-pouts. But, you do look like you've the political inquiry, intellect and analytical nous of a support animal at this stage (although you support only yourself. And you presumably can't predict seizures, keep your paws off the biscuits on the table or be held as reliable in any way whatsoever) - Please name some salient facts? Is it literally the same people or have you just successfully rounded on enough lefties to create the illusion? Begin with the bit you call 'facts'...

Still, allies respond to inane and hateful transphobic statements 

Such as? Such as males have bigger hearts and lungs pound for pound than females. That the permissable testosterone range for transwomen athletes is THREE TIMES that of women? Is it 'inane and hateful transphobic statements' like the angle of the femur between hip and knee (Q angle) being significantly great in women, resulting in a mechanical disadvantage and higher propensity for damage to the knee? The difference in bone density, limb length, the musculature disparities and number of fast twitch muscle fibres within those muscles?

Let's be clear, Riley - You are afraid of the science. Your managing to make the republicans look sensible here is testament to your lunatic bollocks alone.

...by trying to talk about the science themselves. They will often point out that people can have chromosomal combinations other than XX and XY

THAT'S NOT BEING TRANS, IS IT? SEX ≠ GENDER, matey. You're not intersex or suffering a chromosomal anomaly. You're a perfectly healthy, regular MALE who likes acting marginalised and fucking with women's rights

...that hormone replacement therapy leads to significant physical change, 

But it doesn't un-do it, and it doesn't effect the things I just listed. However, of course it's fine for kids...

...and that producing particular gametes is not the sole definer of biological sex. 

But it is. Well, whether your body has continued along the evolutionary pathway to produce ova or sperm - actual production is not necessary. So yeah, thats your loony balls again.

All true,

You fucking liar!

...and all playing into the idea that transgender people can have their bodies scrutinized, poked at, and talked about as a set of constituent parts instead of being treated as people first.

No mate. You want our rights. Jesus, this is like a princess whingeing to her servants about a pea under a thousand plush mattresses.

By engaging in the back-and-forth at all,

No debate! I hereby command complicity in an evasion of all conversation of our colonial land grab. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia...

...allies are buying into the idea that there needs to be a scientifically justified reason for trans people like me to have the same rights as everyone else.

Same rights as everyone you want, all the time, all at once. From the rights of Sikhs to not wear helmets on motorbikes to a pension at 22, and a war widows' fund. How dare you oppress me! Now officer *hick* I cannot provide a blood sample as I am a Rasta*hick*farian. I may make a complaint about yourrrra, your obv*hick*ous racialismism... Good day. *CRASH*

Spending so much time trying to scientifically justify the existence of trans

Shut up. Honestly, you're uncomfortable, possibly to the stage you are unable to cope without simulating being female. We know, no one cares, that is fine and most of us have compassion and will call you she etc... 

..people can inhibit our ability to go about our lives 

Casually taking our rights 

and, as writer Katelyn Burns put it, enjoy a “trans day of leaving us alone.” 

Jesus fuckin Christ, the irony! Burns who can write about the history of Mitchfest, centring the apparent misgendering of a trans 'lesbian' nearly 50 yrs ago, celebrating the demise of a women only festival (we are allowed NOTHING) and lauding the heroic 'camp trans' who harassed them for years, without even mentioning that their leader murdered two old, lesbian women and their adopted son as he reeled off into narcissistic rage. Funnily enough, they were murdered in the last year it was held. But yeah, hurrah for your progressive, feminist movement. Pricks.

Oh, and how about keeping your mits off international women's day? 

Take sports, for example. People have been arguing over how transgender athletes should fit into sports for years, with much of the discussion centered on scientific-sounding arguments (link https://www.wired.com/story/the-glorious-victories-of-trans-athletes-are-shaking-up-sports/) around testosterone levels, muscle mass, win-loss records (link https://www.outsports.com/2019/12/3/20990763/trans-women-athlete-sports-winning-losing-transgender) and the like.

I know it's difficult for someone who doesn't even understand their own words, much less the 'arguments' they claim to have, but these are scientic arguments. And you have lost that, because you never could have won on the facts. That's why you constantly make shit up and cry

People—who often are not trans—throw out possibilities 

..experts from sporting bodies... not even transitioning so they can discuss you with authority, huh? Cos that's how it's done, yeah? Works wonders for some people.

..for what would acceptably allow a trans person to compete, like chromosome testing, hormone-level checks, a third sports league for gender nonconforming people, and other bad ideas.

Gender non conforming? Did your parents slip into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasnt looking? No one gives a flying fuck about gender conformity - it's about biological sex

These may be well-meaning attempts to normalize trans participation, but what they signal to me is that only those of us who pass or become adequately akin to cisgender people are acceptable

The brazen, stubbly fucking cheek - like this is what it's about. Yeah, female athletes famously conform and are praised for it. Fatima Whitbread, Serena Williams.... Jesus christ this is the most bad faith, self-pitying pile of shit I've read in a while. Your total lack of knowledge, awareness of the struggles women face, the contemptuous foot stamping is so blatant. You are to feminism what Henry the 8th was to relationship counselling.

It’s a move that lets cisgender people set the standard about who is acceptable

No. It isn't cisgender people who don't transition - fuck off with your anti-science, pro gender categories. How pathetically mindless is your readership? Do they get startled by shiny paper? Do they leap up in terror at their own farts?

...and who is not, based on the intimate biological workings of our bodies. 

It's science. Biology. No one cares about the intimate details of your body, grotbag. What do you think you're doing by endlessly conflating your refusal to admit you're male with people born with DSDs? Then griping about ignorant scrutiny of your body? That is some staggering level of hypocrisy. Fucking ghoul.

It also still does not stop all the pseudoscientific hate. Science isn’t going to win this one. 

I know! Hence this pathetic dirge to your inability to always get exactly what you want without delay or discussion. This whole tirade of petulant entitlement is nothing more than a claim of hurty feels giving you total supremacy to get away with anything you and your brethren want. It's as compelling a tactic as dad-dancing on the roadside to distract those police from your drunk driving.  

When the argument turns to strangers trying to affirm or deny my identity on the basis of biological particulars, I head for the hills like the dinosaurs in Fantasia running from the T. rex. 

Nah. I know it's as real-life a synonym as you can muster but this isn't about your self-identified labels. Your identity is irrelevant, and also, just not interesting.

That’s because trans rights are not a scientific issue. 

Sports, you fuckin dullard, are a scientific issue. Overturning sex segregation because you think on the inside you're a bit too special... well, that's not actually a right. Play sports, compete. Just stop using appeals to emotion to get your way with everything, all the time

They are a human rights issue. 

Have you ever thought about women's rights? Since you claim to be a woman, although it's crystal you actually cling to being trans as a lifetime hall-pass. Can you imagine, for a second, if teams, spaces, categories built for the protection, fairness in participation and dignity of trans people were thrown open to any 'cishet' prick with a rainbow badge to adorn their clothes? 

There is certainly a lot we could say

No there isn't  - this is hundreds of words to say 'Me! Me! Give it!'

—and that I would honestly love to know!—about human sexual variation,

I'm failing to believe this is sincere, matey 

..the effects of hormone replacement therapy, why hoped-for bodily changes are so emotionally fulfilling, 

Which is great. Enjoy. Just stop lying to and about us.

...and more. Some of these things might be wonderful topics for biology classes; imagine if every high schooler in America were educated to understand that human sex itself comes with a lot of variation

Mate... There is variation between the two distinct sexes, unambiguously clear at birth almost always. But it's not a spectrum. I sense you edging towards DSDs yet again. You need to accept your internal perception doesn't change material reality. You are, always will be, male. There's a reason delusional, psychotic people jumping from high-rises don't fly. Belief is not enough. You can't get away from truth, and you're looking like a prick.

(Thinking back to my younger, closeted self, that would have helped!) 

That would be telling you that your male body might be large, hairy, well-endowed or small, smooth and puny. That would be the stunning revelation there. Not that sex doesn't matter, or can change or is outdone by your synthetic hormones or dress wearing.

But, in terms of deciding how I, as a trans person, am going to move through the world, all the information about hormones and biology affects three people, at most: my doctor, my partner, and myself. That’s all.

It would be great, and we can do that - just stop making shit up, keep out of our sports, spaces and shortlists. No one is persecuting you, and it's telling you think our rights are an assault on you. That is supremacy.

What we’re living through is a trans panic akin to the satanic panic (link https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained)

Oh fuck off. See, I got all conciliatory and hopeful there, and then you go off again about how YOU are the fucking witch at the trial? The arrogance required is pure male mediocrity.

...of the ’80s and ’90s, when parents and police were convinced there were devil-worshipping cults infiltrating every facet of society. 

You, sir, are a cry-bully of the most tedious brand. We are saying you are male and thus have a biological advantage in sports. We are patiently telling you what feminism is and still you strut around like a tiny, nasty little dog behind a massive fence that protects you

It is not logical. Going over, yet again, how hormone levels, chromosomes, skeletal features, and more vary in many complex ways is not going to make a lick of difference to people who see me and others like me as an abomination,

'old me back! hold me back! 

..a threat to the nuclear family,

Which feminists have never been accused of!

..or somehow capable of ruining their day because I need to use the women’s room.

But it ruins YOUR day to use the men's, does it? A big strapping lad lass like you?

All this time spent debating “the science” of where transgender people belong in society

*Sports*. Do you even remember what this poor-me harangue was about, or it is a stream of consciousness fixated on your inner child?

..only confuses a truth many are struggling to accept. 

This isn't like flirting, you know that? No one wants to keep listening to see if you ever stop orbiting a fantasy 'truth'. God you are a really, really shit writer. It's painful.

It is a distraction no matter which side of the argument you are on, because you are complicating and putting up for debate something that is very simple. 

Trans men are men. 

Hmm, I really don't think you've established that, cock.

Trans women are women. 

Nice of you to put the ladies first (chivalry!) 

Nonbinary people are valid. 

Did you understand any of those words?

Trans people have always been here.

Hmmm. See, who cares if that's another lie? I can't be fucked with keeping a tally. It's what you're doing, right here, that's the problem

We are here now. 

Don't I fucking know it? 

We will continue to be.

*Unless accidentally erased by an incomplete door sign*

Riley Black is the author (presumably by continually alluding to myths and never substantiating anything) of the natural history books Skeleton Keys and My Beloved Brontosaurus (a wild, pink dragon found in West Meath or Romford on weekends)

She lives in Salt Lake City.

Trans Fam II - When Mum Becomes Dad

We've seen the popular take now - brave, stoic and proud parents forge the way ahead for their trans children, with photogenic smiles and open hearts. They follow the beaten track of denial, conflict, bargaining, a creeping acceptance, epiphany, the conflict externalises and finally, the triumph.

The tale of the trans parent is less told, although it is growing. The trans parent has not only their own cross to bear, but that of their child. 

The message is that not being affirmative of gender identity is antagonistic. There's no way round it - it is hate-fuelled, ignorant and intolerant. Not accepting the parent as they see themselves is not just an act of hatred against them, but also their children.

Clearly, transition is often a painful process involving significant emotional toil, although personally I've no doubt that sometimes it involves a large portion of attention seeking and narcissism (see John Ozimek AKA 'Jane Fae' telling his child he was to transition the day before she sat her A Levels) 

Maybe it isn't always possible to put aching dysphoria aside. Maybe it is the best thing for some families. What I am interested in here is the media portrayal, what is shown and what is questioned.

When Mum Became Dad, on CBBC, follows Tilly, 12, a really lovely and very mature girl who's mum 'became dad' when she was seven. Tilly lives now with her mother as 'dad Jack' and a younger brother, Mal, 9. Dad Peter lives across road. 

In primary school Tilly experienced a lot of bullying. She has moved into secondary school now and is away from her best friend. The theme running through this is her fear of the reaction of her new friends, specifically as her birthday looms and she anticipates awkward questions when friends visit the house for her party.

In her quest for answers on how to address the upcoming party, Tilly arranges to meet Faith, who's mother also transitioned. How does she introduce dad Jack as in fact her mum, but who must still be called and recognised as a dad, a man?

Faith is 14, and again is very mature. She says 'my mum's not she any more and thats good cos he's happy'. She struggled with the loss of her mother figure, and continues to go to bereavement counselling to cope. Tilly also misses having a mother figure. Rather poignantly, Faith says that the question 'who do i call mum now?' hung over her. It is patently obvious this is a significant trauma, but one that is depicted as necessary and downplayed as a stepping stone to true acceptance. 

Changing the attitudes of other people is now the girls' collective endeavour. I can't say it felt very constructive, just a cause in which to funnel their pain, to cram the prescribed slogans into their heads and kill any dissenting thought.

Little brother Mal is struggling. In school we're told another child was 'mean' when discussing a character in a book, who's mum was taken away. 'Your mum left you too, didn't she?' is the offending sentence. This leaves Mal very upset, and it's clear he doesn't share that with 'dad Jack' until much later on, apparently when Jack is driving back from the meeting with Faith. 

It's pretty startling at this point just how unengaged Jack seems to be. Tilly is the one giving affection. From the monotone voice and the standard 'how did that make you feel?' crap counsellor questions from Jack, who offers to go and speak to the teacher to explain why this upset him so much (how is it possible the teachers of this little boy don't know?) to Tilly seen hugging and comforting Mal later on, what we see is Tilly as the mother figure, she is the solid ground Mal reaches for when in distress. She is endlessly giving and mediating between a world of harshness (I'm far from convinced the other child was deliberately 'mean' - it's simply a statement of fact, and it has distressed him deeply, five years after it happened) and the love for her family. Clearly we don't see it all, but this is the way it is presented.

In the house one day, Tilly asks Jack when she began to transition. Jack instantly calls back "I don't like the word transition" and explains it implies a beginning, when her trans-ness was there all along. It's a curiously evasive answer, and it strikes me Jack is glossing over an extremely significant time in Tilly's life, one which she presumably revisits and needs to structure and order, compose. It's the remains of a landmine that blew while she was likely still too young to differentiate between fantasy and reality, that she needs to retrace and remodel. It's her family terrain, and leaving it in rubble, telling her the firm ground she once stood on was never really as she remembers, seems unfair and cruel. Jack was always Jack, a gestational father, and the landmine never really happened - it was just the brave light of honesty which illuminated their lives. 

This was not a choice, not a metamorphosis, just an admission and dropping of pretence. One that leaves children in bereavement counselling.

They sit down and look through old photographs, and Jack claims she lived as a boy for over a year when about seven or eight. The photos show pretty typical gender neutral 70's and 80's fashion, nothing you would say is unusual for a child of the era. Later we hear Jack say that when she decided to transition (seems, despite pulling Tilly up on the word before, she doesn't have a better word for it) she reached out to her sister and mum and asked that they be there for Tilly when she needs a female role model. 

They go to see Jo, Jack's sister. It seems she lives a long drive away. Jo struggles with saying she has two brothers now, when it was always a brother and a sister. She struggles with calling Jack 'Jack'. Tilly asks Jo if she ever expected Jack to transition. Jo said no, there was never anything that made her suspect her sister might be trans. It seems in stark contrast to the story of Jack living as Jim in childhood, for a whole year, but this is fluffy-feels tv and confronting an inconsistent narrative isn't on the agenda.

I wonder if Jack nominating out this maternal / female elder role to her mum and sister is good forethought, an example of thinking of Tilly's needs, or just abdication of a role that's not transferable, that can't be assigned to a new keeper. What are female role models? Someone who nurtures, someone who can guide a girl through puberty, periods, prom? I don't know why Jack is incapable of that, really. We keep hearing that it isn't that the person Jack was before is gone, but simply 'he is a happier version now'. 

We're up early, off to visit Nat, a boy who's mother transitioned, too. This is largely about how Mal can be counselled through what's been a really distressing time for him. Nat is, again, a really mature, compassionate and sensitive kid. We never see more than a glimpse of the dads of Faith and Nat, it's the kids and their world which I suppose is deemed appropriate for the audience. It doesn't help with the feeling that they are all on their own though.

Nat says his new 'dad' made him feel comfortable. He doesn't appear as fragile as the others. His advice again seems to reinforce the mother-status Tilly holds. He says she needs to be a rock for Mal, and he has some good advice about how the kids who say the 'wrong' things are doing so to be mean. They don't get it. Nat says if this happens again, to call him. It’s bitter-sweet stuff. I think this is the elephant in the room, how do children have the capacity to process such complex, painful, confusing changes? Surely, surely this isn't 'good because he's happy now' but actually a serious trauma, a huge change that leaves these kids in desperate uncertainty over who they are, who their family is, and what else might change?

Maybe the transition of a parent is inevitable sometimes and it really is better to be done and get the angst of living as your born sex over. It just isn't obvious to me that the parents fully appreciate it, or that anyone does. It seems to be distilled into a clash of us and them, good people and transphobes. Everything would be so much easier if others would see people as they do, as we should. Of course having to traverse this seismic shift and then suffering bullying is horrific, and I can't overstate that. Of course the bullying is deeply hurtful and damaging and wrong, it's intolerable. It just isn't necessarily at play when one nine year old says to another that 'your mum left you too, didn't she?' That seems more like a clumsy, unwanted reminder of truth. That it distressed Mal so deeply, five years later, is heartbreaking.

One of Nat's words of wisdom was to remind Tilly and Mal that they might avoid the truth at times but they must never lie. His sister did - she told her school friends that her mum was away. This went on for a long time, until it became agonising, stressful and unsustainable. 'You have to come to terms' with what's happened, he says. I find it all very painful to watch.

Tilly and Nat decide to do a talk at Mal's school to help with his year's understanding of trans issues. Tilly is excitedly organising for it and asks Jack if she can share some photographs in her presentation to help her little brother. Jack's not ok with that. It just seems somewhat staggering to me that Jack is there with these boundaries when Tilly is so determined to make life easier for her brother, for Jack's son. He won't be present, the audience are nine years old, both kids have felt victimised in school and are scared and even with this act of optimistic, proactive bravery, Jack has her guard up and is unwilling to give Tilly what she feels will help. At the presentation, Nat explains that when someone transitions they only change on the outside, not inside. They are still the same person. This isn't true though, is it? What has changed for these kids - their mother's looks, clothes and name? 

It's much more than that for these children. They lose the one they call mum; their lives are irrevocably changed; there are taboo words and times and photos; they have to smooth the path ahead for siblings and themselves and deal with a parent who is in the middle of an artificial metamorphosis. It's not just appearance for these kids, and god bless them they all seem entirely motivated by aiding others. Like little rainbow warriors. 

After Nat, Tilly explains she felt wobbly, she needed reassurance after the news her mum was transitioning. Metaphors of landmines and earthquakes fill my head. Nat was just seven - the same age as Tilly was - when his 'mum became dad'. He explains how being disrespectful about the trans parent hurts them. Use preferred pronouns, it's about being kind and respectful. 

Jack seems to me to have abdicated roles and identity of a mother while those children were still very small. I find it difficult to imagine Jack as her previous self without picturing a woman desperate for escape, for new boundaries to erect which forbid certain demands, that reinvents her body as a distinct from the children she bore, that re-asserts her will. It feels closer to a kind of abandonment than resurrection to me

The children are quite possibly a rebuke to everything I've said here, as they are all kind, caring, mature and smart. I hope it's that they've been so well supported they return it, that their needs are well met, that they display the wish to help others because they themselves are propped up in times of despair. It feels a little like they were betrayed, to me. That one desperate search to be something else, when their children were so young they saw themselves as an inseparable being from their mums, has wreaked terrible harm. 

These precocious, empathetic, sweet little allies are somehow fully 'the child of the trans dad'. Where is the anger? It isn't spoken of and I have no idea how they will eventually manifest this. It's a fundamental part of grief, and an important, ego-saving, life-defending response to being hurt. We never see this. It is entirely about moving forward with brave slogans and new concepts and righting the world. It seems a million miles away from child-centred.

Transgressions

TRANSGRESSIONS



Standing in solidarity with monsters



We see the headlines in 'progressive' media. We are implored to sympathise, to withhold judgement like grown ups, as this is human rights stuff - their crimes are unimportant here. The crimes have occurred and cannot be undone, it's their treatment and how we choose to respond that we can change.

And the thing is, that's true, and for this reason, and more, I'm against the death penalty.

However, one thing that stinks of deception, narrative-manipulation and unconscionable idiocy is presenting the most predatory and violent men as vulnerable women. When it is those men who have spent their lives devastating others with those classic male crimes of life-ending violence and sexual assault, with the exclusively-male penis as weapon.

So, I'm having a long hard stare at the way in which men who at times have murdered, tortured, raped and terrorised have been giving free reign to reconstruct themselves in the media. It's sold to us as the worthy cause of trans rights, and, funnily enough, often reported on by women.

I'm fairly sure that these young journalists did not set out on their careers hoping to cover such reprehensible bastards with such nauseating simping. I imagine they are given these stories by their bosses and have the classic, vulnerable 'old school transsexual' in mind, as well as wanting to hitch themselves onto the popular zeitgeist of trans rights™.

I do wonder how they rationalise writing such glowing, ideological bilge when the reality of these crimes becomes known to them; the tropes of "we mustn't treat trans people as a monolith" are super helpful, so remember that 'not all trans people are like that' and make sure you don't allow one prisoner's crimes to spoil the picture. Even if that's their own picture.

The fact is, however, that now trans people are a monolith. One which needs sympathetic coverage or at the very least critical omissions. Any outrages are forgotten, crushed and mentioning them shamed, or justified.

It's justified with more mental images of an innocent, frightened boy gazing at the reflection of himself in a dress, then hurriedly changing before the terrible people come home. It's inspired by tales of poor transwomen like Marie Dean committing suicide in jail - again forgetting the shattered, traumatised lives they leave in their wake.

So, however much they have surely achieved the right balance of righteous indignation and perpetrator-pity, I think that's worth noting they do tend to be young, female and early on in their careers.

It's far from a one off, in fact it's now close to being a cliche.

So, let's have a look at the preconceived ideas that appear to facilitate such fawning depictions of murderers and rapists who claim to be women:

"Synthia-China Blast" / Luis Morales

“I am a political transgender woman ‘slash’ prisoner. I strongly support the rights of LGBT brothers and sisters in the community who are imprisoned also.” 

So far, so very laudable. This is another hustle worth watching out for - the presentation they are and have always been persecuted for, due to their identity as trans people. It's very unusual these men were presenting as female until long into their sentences. Invariably they are also allies, advocates, relentlessly believing in the greater good we non-rapists refuse to see. Everyone is a victim, and it's only through a religious or quasi-religious belief in love and redemption that'll save all these souls, and stop the cycle of abuse.

In Jezebel, Aviva Stahl interviews Synthia-China Blast, who was convicted for the gang related murder of a 13 yr old girl, Ebony Williams. (Something about Morales changing his name to China when he's known to be vehemently anti-black and his victim's name was Ebony seems significant, although I should probably spare you my ruminations here and get on with the hideous shit show).

Prior to this piece by a supposedly feminist publication, Laverne Cox read out Synthia-China Blast's letter to the world. It caused quite a stir. Blast, née Luis Morales, is in near constant lock down in segregation. As a gang member turned trans woman, this doesn't sound that surprising - but to many, it was.

Clearly we were meant to be outraged at Blast's treatment, and it does sound tough. And that's on top of what we already know about the American prison system. Unfortunately, if you give a solitary fuck about accuracy, about victims, about the fact these perpetrators of such unspeakable crimes are accessing large platforms and attracting such an adoring audience of advocates, this tends to come over a little problematic.

This unravelled, however, when the full extent of Synthia-China Blast's crimes became clear. Cox denounced Blast and presumably learnt a little on the importance of looking a little deeper before championing causes. The video is no longer available, and Cathy Brennan is excoriated by Stahl for raising the alarm that a child rapist, torturer, murderer and defiler of the resulting corpse is gleaning public sympathy under a different name and sex to that known by the public;


"A prominent feminist who claims she does not support “irrational discrimination” against trans people but nonetheless has become known for her steadfastly trans-exclusionary views"

This is who Stahl is angry with, and she seems to firmly believe that the real harm perpetuated against trans people, even society, is by TERFs. Obviously, pitting 'trans exclusionary' feminists against those rapists and murderers who've latterly taken on the identity of trans women is exactly how progressive politics needs to go.



Brennan described Blast as a murderer and child rapist, and Stahl responds in the article that "Blast was never convicted of raping Ebony Williams, and she adamantly denies killing her" well, there we have it! Isn't that all the justification we need, huh?

After the distancing of Cox, the uproar and outrage, things got tougher still inside "Blast was threatened and insulted online and received hate mail on the inside calling her a freak and a woman hater, according to her and her family." Shocking. This gang member, who went on remand aged 16 after being prosecuted for 12 counts of second degree murder, reckless endangerment and arson, was on the recieving end of hate mail and called a woman hater! My, the depravity. After spending almost two years inside, Blast says he was in too deep with the gangs - he'd been raped/made the boyfriend of serious men, and apparently there was no way out. Soon after his release (found not guilty on the murder of six people) his boyfriend called him asking him to dispose of a cardboard box. And, dear reader, poor Blast was too groomed to know what the right thing to do was. He disposed of it, and he's never revealed those he believes guilty. He would be home now if he snitched, he says. But this guy, he's got principles.

Stahl challenges none of the lies about how there was no evidence, she asks no tough questions. The facts of the trial, where Blast and co-defendant and fellow gang member Carlos Franco laughed, smirked and joked through the evidence, is gut-wrenching. Both men were known to be hateful towards black people. Both of them bragged widely to others about what they had done to the little girl, and how sexual sadism was their motivation. After Blast stabbed Ebony multiple times, he and Franco realised she was still clinging to life. Franco then broke her neck. The post mortem showed she had almost been decapitated by the repeated stabs and twisting.

Stahl omits all of this, and ponders "How do we make visible the violence experienced by survivors and respect their right to heal without becoming complicit in the myth that perpetrators are monsters who must be hidden away?" While never explaining where is evidence that this is a myth, or, regarding a survivor's right to heal, she neglects to mention again.

One subject which does reappear is that of Brennan "How do you think transphobia shaped the way Cathy Brennan described you—or the danger she claimed that you posed? Would you call her a feminist?"

Brilliant, Aviva. Ask the man who committed such unspeakable horror against a little girl whether a feminist is worthy of being called feminist. We are all holding our breath in anticipation! Blast responds "That woman destroyed my name in a few days what an entire trial and jury could not do". Maybe Blast needs another name change? This is the price of publicity. He continues "She is a monster. Her views are distorted and full of twists and turns. What writers say was fed to them by the police" Clearly, the police are not as thorough and fair as Blast and Stahl. "Cathy Brennan is not a feminist" says Blast "I am a feminist. I am against women being harmed. I am against women being raped. I am against men degrading women or using them as sexual objects. Cathy Brennan gives all real feminists a bad name. I never hated someone as much as I hate her." Reassuring stuff, eh?

This long, tedious interview full of cringe-inducing clichés finishes with metaphors of trash and treasure, and it's at this point not clear if the words are Stahl's or Blast's. The update ends in the ultimate credit to any nonce justice warrior - Blast is now in a new prison, where he can spend most of his time out of his cell, cook for himself, take classes and his family have never seen him so happy.

What is not mentioned is his well documented delight in screwing as many murderers as possible, and how his dream man ultimately showed himself, ending in marriage to another inmate, Heriberto Seda, the copycat Zodiac Killer - “I met my friend, lover and infamous husband…the NYC Zodiac Serial Killer. My sweet serial killer is a lady’s man now. Only if I was [sic] a real woman I could bring about little future serial killers to terrorize NYC like my husband did. How [New Yorkers] would of [sic] loathed the Zodiac Children.“




If there's ever a time lies can be repeated and someone's history should make them disposable, being a TERF is it. Child abduction, torture, presumed rape and then murder followed by desecration of a corpse, not so much.





"Patricia" Patrick Trimble



Centre, Jasmyne René Cooley with Patricia Trimble, right, and, presumably, Patton Oswalt or Ron Pearlman, left.


Patricia features in Vice's how trans prisoners are getting each other access to treatment inside, written by Pierre Bienaimé, who I'm going to use my bigot powers to identify as a man. It begins by describing how Trimble, convicted of murder, only realised he was a woman after a sexual assault in prison in 2015. Trimble is painted again as the advocate, the tireless freedom fighter within a prison system filled with unnecessary cruelties. To be clear, America's prisons are an outrage. I'm horrified by many aspects of it and yet when it comes to people like Trimble, I'm far from convinced the punishment even fits, let alone exceeds the crime.

Trimble has become house expert, by the weight of injustice forced upon him. “You have a bunch of psychologists and therapists talking to us that really have no clue,” Trimble said. “So we kind of have to educate one another.”

This goes unchallenged, of course. The message is clear - this is a prehistoric institution fixed on brutality and neglect, and if it weren't for the selfless service of Trimble there would be no let up in the endless stream of misery. Convicted murderer Jessica Hicklin is Trimble's best buddy in there- "She's a mom and I'm a mom,” Hicklin said. “That's probably the shortest way of putting that. We both try and help each other and everybody else." This is heartening to read, and fits with Bienaimé's presentation of Trimble as committed to the welfare of others.

Nowhere does Bienaimé raise the troubling issue of such serious offenders changing their name and recorded sex, or what the consequences could be.

Nowhere does he explain what Trimble actually did - lure two 9 year old girls into woodland before raping and sodomising them. Once serving on remand he decided that it would be better to serve time under murder charge than as a paedophile. So he turned his attention to Jerry James Everett, 20.

Everett was, according to the judge, 'mentally retarded', and 6'1", 210 lb Trimble began dismantling the younger, smaller, far less depraved man by sexual humiliation, forcing a 5'10", 145 lb Everett to show other inmates what Trimble had forced inside of his rectum, forcing him to walk around the prison in a bra. This escalated into oral and anal rape, and pimping Everett out to other prisoners. After telling other inmates of his plan to murder him, Trimble instructed Everett to write a suicide note before strangling him with a towel. Judge June P Morgan in State v. Trimble, 638 S.W.2d 726

This is all a bit too unpleasant, and probably irrelevant to Bienaimé "After a lifetime spent in the dark about the reality of gender dysphoria, Trimble, now 59, answers more questions than she asks" by which I suppose he means he's not asking anything awkward, just reaping the rewards of this remarkable advocate's wisdom. Again, the words of the offender are taken as gospel, with the pontificating Bienaimé citing activists and prisoner support groups and yet never one for survivors and victims.

Trimble often says he's a mother. On his Medium articles he, without a flicker of shame, refers to himself this way. It's a grotesque appropriation of one of the most important and prized roles on the planet, one that only women can fulfil. It's also laughably deluded, although having credulous journalists repeat this shit makes it seem less so.

On Medium, Trimble has multiple published pieces. All dripping in pathetically hackneyed prose and ridiculous self importance, they reflect the piece in Vice - The morning is spent reflecting, reading through cases to find anything to help his 'children'. By waking at 5am, he has "my only time to cry and to be emotional without showing weakness. I can put my bra on without stringing a curtain across the cell for a small bit of privacy."

"Privacy is something many take for granted, but in a place like this, well, a girl really has none" okay, groomer. "Prisons are full of children and very young adults who lack guidance. There is no mother figure nurturing them or teaching them about respect. Many of them hold extremely misogynistic beliefs" Found your calling now, huh Patrick? "As a woman in a men’s prison, normal activities others wouldn’t think twice about on the outside, suddenly become an exercise in creativity within these walls. It’s a consistent dance between maintaining your dignity and ensuring your safety. I’ve had 40 years behind bars to master it" only the last couple have been as 'Patricia', though. I suppose it could make victimising other, genuinely vulnerable inmates with horrific sexual violence and then murdering them a little more tricky.

"When I shower, I try to keep my back to the entrance to avoid displaying my breasts to watching eyes. (Sometimes)... I force myself the indignity of standing to pee. Otherwise, one of the men will assume my sitting position is an invitation to show me an erection, as if it was catnip that would cause me to suddenly fall to my knees"

Well, that was repulsive. Maybe Trimble would be better off petitioning the prison to transfer in some young meat? I mean, it seems more his style, and if the sight of this ugly, elderly nonce's grey-haired gynecomastia is enough to entice another inmate there must be dearth of options about. I'm also fascinated in the anti-cock precautions Trimble and every other inmate has to take when having a shit? If it's really an issue, possibly it's unwise to brag about "how good my head game feels". I wonder if this is just his limited ability to present himself as the wiley victim he wants to be seen as. It all seems ripped from 80's soaps.

No time for such obvious baiting, however. Apparently in "most searches feel like I’m being groped, violated" which is just too bad, although the new rule-enthusiast Trimble does say that when "done respectfully in line with transgender search policies...I can tolerate them."

'If you want to get to know me' on Medium is Patrick's shameless attempt at appearing like the bad-girl-turned-good via the medium of poetry. It's fist-clenchingly cliched, tacky and banal, listing his supposed attributes of sultry swaying hips, living as a streetwise sex worker and claiming he was gang raped age 8. "And believe me, that dude with his dick in my mouth ain’t hittin’ on me with a better job proposition, all he’s offering me is another fifty dollars to put me in the face down ass up position so his friend can fuck me too, since you want to get to know me" got me thinking that's a pretty high charge for a rent boy prior to 1983. Still, Patrick loves to talk about how being mauled by four guys in the prison court helped him to really feel womanly.
"If you want to get to know me you need to know how I flow,

there’s more to me than looking pretty and the way my hips sway to and fro" - Patrick's soul-recoiling, vomit-inducing, foot-curling dirge

Throughout the Vice article Bienaimé reliably reports the kind of partial, often self-reported and skewed statistics we see everywhere in the coverage of trans people. He lets the advocacy groups and offenders tell it as they see fit, letting huge lies and omission go unchecked. However it still contains far less preaching than the writers of the other two articles I'm looking at here, far fewer references to himself and his thoughts of ethical standards. Consequently he's catching far less heat from me, however much of a trite, lazy, misleading piece of propaganda for a worthless old man this is.


The most irredeemable are, of course, the TERFs.

*Trimble is now giving lectures from his cell, clearly pounding his Trans Vulnerability™ license for all it's worth: "Reliving much of my past took more out of me than I had expected. But without a face to the story, it is just another story.. .. suicidal thoughts and actions, the experience of gang rape, promiscuity, a lifetime of self-hatred and anger being thrown at so many undeserving victims should never be just another story" says Trimble. Talking about himself.

"Sarah Jane" Alan Baker



Sarah Jane Baker, previously known as Alan Baker - is introduced as a lifer for the attempted murder of a sex offender, and I can't help but feel the way this is mentioned is used as a defence. A sort of "It's ok, he (she! Sorry folks!) hurt a terrible person" which categorises Baker on the violent but convict-justice side, living by another set of rules. This works for me, but it doesn't make a violent man a woman, or any male so. It's also in such conflict in this regard to the other stories, somehow it feels expedient.

This attempted murder happened when Baker was already in prison for the kidnap and torture of his step-mother's brother. He also reportedly has convictions for drug dealing and armed robbery. This is another extremely violent person

Amelia Abraham is our reporter here, and it seems incredibly important to her that we side with her on what she sees as an unconscionable breach of human rights. I'm wondering, how does liberal feminism justify its special interest in violent men who claim to be women, when it never serves women like this?

Well, it doesn't get close to even asking this. Here, our brave and strident reporter goes forth. This has a whiff of investigation, it cites 'experts' and she really goes for the descriptions when recounting how she visited a real prison. This is journalism that labours the same point ad nauseam, while brushing over the inconvenient, the difficult questions, with evasion, derision, moral superiority and misrepresentation.




Abraham depicts the incredible infiltration of gender identity ideology in our institutions as one of agonisingly slow progress held up by hysteria and bigotry. "On the one hand, some (especially “gender critical feminists” and the right-wing and tabloid press).." - Scare quotes on gender critical not elaborated on, but the 'right-wing' links to a piece in The Times on women being raped by 'trans' prisoners with penises, as does 'tabloid' for The Sun. The contempt within this flippant dismissal is nothing less than sickening.



Abraham contines "..push the idea that allowing trans prisoners into jails that correspond with their lived gender could mean putting convicted male rapists into women’s prisons. They do this by using one or two extreme cases such as the Karen White case, where the prisoner was immediately remanded to a women’s prison (contravening the Ministry’s own policy at the time) and subsequently sexually assaulted fellow prisoners." One or two cases? Well, Karen White, who sexually assaulted four women is one case. Jessica Winfield, née Mark Ponting, had to be moved after he, as a convicted rapist (who, like White then claimed a trans identity after imprisonment) began assaulting and harassing female prisoners. There is Kayleigh-Louise Woods, who tied up, tortured and murdered her flatmate Bethany Hill (after taking up with her boyfriend, who was co-accused) and had to be moved after sexual activity, and Paris Green, who also tied up, sexually assaulted, tortured and murdered, this time an older man, had to be moved after 'predatory behaviour'.

The rate of sex offenders identifying as trans in UK prisons is disproportionately high. Around 20% of the male prison population are serving sentences for sex offences, but among trans women in prison a staggering 48% are there for sex crimes (prison resources). This is clearly not a concern to Abraham, who lists two suicides of trans people in men's prisons. One of these is Vikki Thompson, who is undoubtedly a sad tale of childhood adversity and struggle. Thing is, had Abraham been bothered to do her job properly, she would know that Thompson had never even asked to move to a woman's prison, and, unbelievably, neither had Latham.

Latham was in prison for first trying to kill a female friend and then committing another two, separate, attempted murders. But anyway, obviously these people would not have committed suicide if they were in the female estate, that's our lesson here. Despite the fact the women's prisons system has nowhere with high enough security to accommodate someone this violent. The suicide rate among trans people is high, before and after surgery, in and out of prison.

What's an absolute fuckin shambles is the arrogant, deliberately blinkered bias of happy-clappy 'feminists' who fawn over the fate of violent, sex offending males without dedicating a moment's thought to the fact women in prison are far more vulnerable than any of these men. Women who commit different crimes to men and for different reasons. Women who's estate has far less funding, a much smaller population with hardly a sex offender among them.

Abraham speaks righteously, saying that denying trans prisoners their corresponding prison is abuse, talking about how every inmate is in a heightened state of awareness about what they're getting comparative to others. She postulates anything might be used for personal advantage, whether it's religion, special interests, sport and being trans is just one more which could potentially be seen as a soft option. Why, Baker asks, would anyone decide that constant misgendering, taunts, sexual harassment and isolation was a soft option?

Well, interesting you should ask, Alan. How about you check out the prison magazine Inside Times? Here "I find it pretty suspicious that the majority of these trans-jesters, as I call them, are sex offenders, and it turns out that transgender people do not have to do the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme ...there are SOME genuine transgender prisoners in the system, but surely not the amount crawling out of the woodwork even in the last 6 months?"

Or how about Littlehey? "It is with utter disgust and concern as a non-sex offender trans’ prisoner that I find anyone can and does say they are trans, just so they can continue their sexual deviant ways or avoiding having to do the SOTP programme...The sickest part of this is the system can do sod-all about these trans’ bandwagon-jumpers, because policy states they must be treated as transgender ‘if they say they are’... You do not have to be transgender here, only to say you are and you do not even have to ‘live in role’. So if you want to avoid addressing your offending behaviour, ‘go trans'"

There's more here; "I have witnessed 17 sex offenders jump on the trans bandwagon..and having had the misfortune to live amongst these characters I can tell you with the exception of about two of them, I would hate to see any of them in a female prison"

Still, no one at Dazed thought to look at the counter arguments those 'gender critical' types use, and certainly don't want to confuse the subject with other prisoner's, even trans one's, concerns. So we are stuck with Abraham as she shudders with the horror of Baker's suffering;

"At times, other prisoners have attempted to end her life. I tentatively ask her the lowest point in terms of transphobic abuse: “Getting raped in the prison showers by five people,” she says, holding my stare brazenly, before quickly moving the conversation onto sunnier subjects" Wow, so multiple murder attempts and a gang rape by five people. Any reports of these? I'm not saying it's a lie, but considering the cynicism towards actual women's concerns, I'm surprised at the lack of detail or scepticism here. I'm also wondering what exactly has happened to Baker's claim from 2014 that following a visit to Charing Cross hospital the prison guards beat and tortured him? It was of course denied by the prison, and it isn't mentioned here.

Throughout this pretty long article, which I found more and more infuriating to read, Abraham continuously quotes a Dr Sarah Lamble of the organisation Bent Bars. Dr Lamble is 'reader of criminology and queer theory at Birkbeck College'. What, if any, experience she has of working with offenders is unstated, which I assume means she has none.

It is with Dr Lamble these difficult subjects are routinely flashed up as important before being shat on and then shoved under the carpet, with an unholy dose of Febreze (in the liberal feminism range). There's no 'gender critical' feminist to give input, it's all sewn up with a neat and colourful running stitch. "It’s also a myth to think that cis women don’t want trans people in prison with them" Abraham continues, without citation. “I would say that, for most women in prison, there are way more pressing issues,” says Dr Lamble, who has also heard from trans prisoners who actually felt welcomed at a women’s prison and have been actively supported by non-trans women prisoners" Well, isn't it nice to know their opinions matter at least sometimes? Great work, ladies. May your social justice, feminist stripes forever precede you. "Yet, instead of hearing from prisoners, too often it is the media that shapes the narrative." I know, right! "This is why we have started to believe that cases like Karen White are the norm, rather than the outlier. In reality, cases like this are in a minority" - I would really like to ask Lamble and Abraham, how many rapes of extremely vulnerable, traumatised women with no escape are acceptable?

"We can tell that a lot of discourse around trans prisoners stems from out and out transphobia simply because we don’t apply the same fears towards other types of prisoners" concludes Abraham. It's a damn fucking shame this bright eyed young ideologue didn't dirty her pristine mind with the thoughts of feminists. We could have told her, these "types of prisoners" are being treated exactly the same as the vast majority of prisoners are. That is, they are male. They are male, they have often committed sex crimes and crimes involving violence against the person which are classic male pattern offending. We exclude males from women's prisons, refuges, bathrooms, changing rooms and recovery wards and clinics not because we have an irrational fear and hatred, but because they commit 98.8% of all recorded sex crimes. In the UK two to three women a week are killed by a present or former partner. This plays out across the world and is historically stable. The only changes have been recent, for instance since the introduction of self id in Ireland, the reported rate of female sex offenders has increased.

It isn't hatred to respond with women-only spaces, and it makes me ineffably angry to see two women so gleefully flinging their poorer sisters to the wolves.

For all the moralising of Abraham, the smug certainty she betrays of what she believes to be well rounded, nuanced and realistic approach to crime, it's in equal measure pitiful and also bitterly hilarious that we began this article with this admission;

"We approach the prison gates I am grateful that I have read Carl’s book, because until I did, all I knew about prison came from TV and films"

Brilliant.

Poppy Cox

Trans Fam Part 1 - I, sometimes, blame the parents

Please see also TransParents - Theybies

Laurie Frankel in the New York Times, “From He to She in First Grade,” reviews transgender promotional material in Publisher’s Weekly, "The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals”:

“It is a very exciting time to be raising gender-variant and transgender children. . . . Congratulations. You are helping to change the world.”

This is a delicate subject, but I don't know if older notions of respect and not being seen to be intrusive is a great response in the long term.

The notion of the trans kid, that they know who they are, is pretty well constructed in our media. What specifically I'm interested in here is the parents who choose to be 'ambassadors' and invite the world's media into the lives of their children, during what is already an extremely sensitive time. If you read some of parent's accounts where they discovered that their child 'needed' to transition, you may notice some common themes, and I think there are some things we should look out for and question, instead of instantly falling into line, regurgitating the omnipresent narrative that these are the best parents, the bravest and proudest of their kids. Someone needs to acknowledge the potentially corrupting factors of money and fame.

The narrative of the courageous parent, putting their grief aside as they battle for their child is powerful - to many, it's appealing, a love-against-all-odds story. Finally, parents are open to their child's needs.

Considering how difficult it is to challenge anything with a rainbow-stamped approval, this is the ultimate tricky subject. You see these stories on allegedly progressive, humanitarian-left (i.e. chant miming) media, and any reticence is noted and condemned. Who are you to suggest you know their child better than they, these mamma-bears?

Because it normally is mothers. You'll see both parents as they perform the archetypal, perfectly-unusual family. In videos there'll be lots of scenes where wholesome meals are served and books are pored over at bedtime. The self-sacrifice is front and centre. We are directed to picture it as if they are defending their gay child as the neighbours tut and disapprove. And we need a bit of that, after millennia of homophobic estrangement and stories of conversion 'therapy'.

Here's an example; Mimi Lemay, who decided her daughter, on approaching her 5th birthday, was not only a boy, who then needed to be unveiled as such in school, to family and friends, but she needed to make this previously obscure and average family open to the world.

It is 'A Letter to my Son Jacob on his Fifth Birthday published in Boston.com, a subsidiary of The Boston Globe, with a readership of 130,000.

In her letter, which her child would likely not have been able to read, Mimi describes her excitement at finding out she was to have a girl; how she had filled the nursery with pink and frilly clothes, florals, matching bonnets and swimsuits for the impending baby and her elder sister. After delivery, Mimi and husband Joe were struck at the loud cry the little girl made -


"Your hearty, solid body, your pumping fists and legs and the surprised thought, “This one is a different model,’’ comparing you to your dainty sister"

As life went on, Jacob (then with a girl's name) was nicknamed the honey badger, such was her boisterousness. Jacob started to change her clothes multiple times a day - an early warning sign, Mimi reflects. Definitely not frustration at bonnets and restrictive dresses and hair adornments. At 3, Jacob declared herself a boy, and Mimi apparently acquiesced her clothing ideals, discussing how gender roles were unhelpful. In the next sentence, Mimi says she allowed the boy's clothes, telling Jacob "that gray was a perfectly acceptable favorite color for a 3-year-old girl".

Jacob continued to be bolshy and rebel, and one day, as she was nearing 4, a teacher suggested that Jacob might really believe she was a boy. "I stumbled through the next days in a painful haze. We were a few weeks shy of winter break, and I reached out to a friend of ours, a therapist who had worked with at-risk LGBTQ youth. As we stood doling out cheddar cheese bunnies and pretzels to our raucous offspring on a playdate, she confirmed my fears — we should consider that you might be transgender."

Immediately following this extremely wholesome image of an all-American playdate with doting mothers, advice was sought from gender specialists.

This is about a year before Mimi wrote her open letter. The link above directs to the second publishing, a year later. The story had been picked up by several news stations already.

But is this what it takes to evaluate a child? Chatting to the parent(s) and observing the child's behaviour on a playdate? We know how chaotic playdates can be, with the constant cries for mum's attention, interruptions and conversation broken to spare the children overhearing any unnecessary, concerning conversation? When Mimi asked her friend what the implications might be for a transgender child, we hear the attempted suicide of 40% of trans youth. It's not true, but has an air of self-fulfilling profesy to it. Suicide is contagious, especially with young people and people who are desperate to be taken seriously as really devoted to or needing of something. Suicide threats and attempts after teens are stopped from seeing a love interest, or from anorexics, are not used in this way.

It had been decided, Jacob was a boy. The letter went viral, a proliferation of media were welcomed into the private life of a tiny child, photos of the whole family accompanying them. During 2019 run up to the 2020 election, Jacob appeared in the CNN's presidential candidate town hall on LGBTQ rights. Asking what Elizabeth Warren would do for trans kids, 9 yr old Jacob was told s/he would have a say on who the Education Secretary would be if Warren won. Heart-warming.

I don't think it's difficult to see the intense gender roles here. The expectation of a mini-me in matching clothes for her sister. The shock at her loud, demanding cries and 'pumping' fists and legs. While Mimi has talks about the out-dated-ness of gendered clothes, she immediately reassures Jacob (herself?) that grey is fine for a little girl. Mimi is the one we hear from, husband Joe is in the background, apparently happy. Mimi is a very attractive

, well groomed woman who looks like the classic mother hen, enjoying the young years of three young children thoroughly, apparently not stressed. Even on the assessment/playdate, she describes herself in the kitchen, handing out snacks. When describing the clothes and nursery decor in preparation for her arrival, her joy is not veiled. It seems like while in theory gender non-conformity was tolerated, really it may be that it was in some way easier to see Jacob as a child who required support in a condition, and reap the attention and status as perfect mamma that our culture rewards this with.

Clearly Jacob is a strongwilled and atypical child. I wonder how much the dye is cast now. A year or so after Jacob barked and mimicked a dog, she is now he. And it wasn't just the family's only option, it was imperative this be shared with the world.

This family decided to go public with the truly amazing news that both of their children were trans: the elder, 11, female to male, the younger, 8, male to female. It's obviously impossible to make much of a judgement based on such a short video, but it seems extremely unlikely that two children would both feel such visceral unhappiness with their sex they need to transition to manage it unless something externally was also at play. And again, why the publicity? Why exactly is the need for society to know about these families a personal duty to fulfil? Do these kids benefit? Personally I can't imagine allowing this level of media intrusion into the life of a child, not unless it was vital for survival like in the case of fundraising for cancer treatment or bone marrow donation.

Janeen is the mother of Luna, 8. Here she tells her story of finally accepting her little boy was in fact a girl, at the age of three. Again, she has invited the world into the private life of a child who is unable to make that decision themselves. She had allowed Luna (the child's name has been changed by deed poll) to dress up outside of school - an understandable choice, but surely reinforcing the gender expectations and association with 'girl' clothes being about fun, freedom and expression? Was the deed poll change really necessary?

Jeneen also fell back on the classic suicide prevention line: “I can either have a dead son or a happy, confident daughter.”

It shouldn't be a huge surprise to hear that the group she reached out to for advice and support was Mermaids. Janeen is now comforted that Luna can live and ultimately find love as a girl, which may be an overly optimistic prognosis. I'm sure trans women can, of course have full and happy lives - we know they do - but it seems to gloss a feel-good narrative over the stark reality there will often be problems. Janeen is already talking about puberty blockers "if Luna decides". But this is far from plain sailing. Jazz Jennings took puberty blockers followed by cross sex hormones, meaning the gender
confirmation surgery, at 17, failed due to insufficient penile skin and an additional skin graft from the abdomen was needed, which first went very wrong and needed two follow up surgeries to correct. https://twitter.com/4th_WaveNow/status/925347924002988032?s=19. Jazz also, as is no surprise, feels no erotic sensation at all. So the hopeful reassurance about love for these children may be hampered by a lack of sexuality. Never mind the infertility, which is less easy to overlook the older one gets. It's obviously not a deal breaker - people may not want children, or already have their own to bring to a relationship, or maybe they want to foster and adopt. It's of course possible to live a happy, healthy life and never have kids, but knowing categorically it is off the table is quite an unusual and heavy burden on a teenager, least of all for a pre-teen to make that decision.

Here's one young man, detransitioning at 18 and in a state of fear and horror he still has the penis of a pre-pubertal boy

It is absolutely jaw-dropping this literal de-sexing of children is dismissed by the weight of a suicide trope which is both incorrect and unspeakably dangerous. I can't highly enough recommend the excellent analysis of Transgender Trend here - https://www.transgendertrend.com/the-suicide-myth/

I'm not suggesting I would know what to do, or that these parents hold a desire for their children to be trans. But I am concerned about the ad nauseam repetition of the suicide trope. Not only are the claims of Mermaids ridiculous, they are dangerous (see Sex, Lies, and an Invidious Landscape). There's never a parellel counter narrative that we may read in papers in which the child is photographed smiling and beautifully bonded with their parent. We know from these stories that the turmoil is terrible, these children are often inconsolable and absolutely insistent. However the answer sometimes is to allow the clothes, the hair (why not? If we can't protect kids from the subsequent bullying as they are, how are we protecting them when they do the same but also change name and pronouns?) but stick to the brutal, incontrovertible truth - they are the sex they are. They will probably grow out of it, and as adults full sexual function is a beautiful and precious aspect of life.

Therapy may be the answer. If it concerns older children a good place to start is to look at any visceral feeling of homophobia. These children often do not see transition as the answer after puberty. They are often gay or lesbian, too.

This may also uncover more devastating truths, namely that sexual abuse or exposure to violent and degrading porn, only a couple of clicks away, can create a desperate child wanting to run from any and all association with an adult body, and thus sex itself.

The Daily Mail tells the story of Jamie and her child Dempsey, eight. Put forth in a headline that, like Janeen's, uses defiant prose - "mum ACCUSED OF CHILD ABUSE for letting her child transition". Janeen and Jamie both describe an early orientation towards dolls, dresses and long hair. In fact, Jamie goes so far as to say 'She would become hysterical and visibly traumatized when we cut her hair"

I'm yet to understand why anyone would be so fervently invested in conforming to gender roles they would insist their little boy had to have short hair even if it meant they were hysterical and left traumatised. Quite frankly, what the fuck? If it was bullying they were concerned about, what makes them think the teasing of a primary age child is more significant than having their parents overrule their bodily autonomy? Is 'you look like a girl' more damaging than being left traumatised by the unnecessary cutting of hair and consequent loss of trust in a parent? How could the parent do that? And why is it such a non-negotiable that no boy can have long hair because of bullying, but simultaneously liberating to reintroduce a child to school as a different sex?

Surely, the trick to managing bullying is to give the child inner resilience? For the child to make the choice to have longer hair, to know other kids might take the piss but that it's weak, it's regressive, and they have been taught it. Maybe a little like how kids are taught transphobia is harmful, learnt and untolerable?

This inner resilience is in desperately short supply in trans literature. The suicide lines, the self harm, the risk of parental alienation if the parentbdoes not acquiesce to their child's demands. All of it teaches society and trans people themselves that they are fragile as spun glass; the act of 'deadnaming' or 'misgendering' can be deadly; not being accepted, or being 'outed' is too; that women who care about their sex based rights are TERFs and TERFs want to deny humanity, erase identity, exclude and harm trans people; that everything not explicitly affirmative is a dog whistle and of course, trans people are murdered in a growing epidemic of transphobic hate.

Clinicians at the Tavistock had claimed that children went through terrible homophobic bullying until coming out as trans, and then being more popular than ever. We have to give some thought as to the love-bombing these kids can experience; the outside support which may include their parents being cautioned and reprimanded by the school, therapists, even the courts. If the parents still drag their feet, they have a whole 'rainbow family' waiting with open arms, pep talks and scornful words for mum and dad. If only children experiencing homophobic bullying at school or home got this level of institutional handholding. Add to this the parents have at times been reported as finding a trans child easier to stomach as a gay one, I think there's some dangerous thinking going on here.

Jamie says Dempsey would return home from preschool crying, saying that playing with 'girls' toys had resulted in name calling. That's a very strict environment. I wonder what could be reinforcing this gender binary? It's startling this is at preschool. What did they do to address this?

Well, Jamie and husband Dennis went and spoke to the preschool about Dempsey's "toy preferences and gender non-conforming expression"

'They told us that they accepted Dempsey as she was but couldn't stop the bullying by other children if she chose to wear feminine accessories"

In preschool? The heavy teacher / student ratio can't prevent everything, maybe, but why not demand they address this? Why not insist that they get in early with anti-bullying lessons and conversation over the cruelty and inexcusable nature of it? Jamie goes on "at this time, Dempsey was still insistent on using he/him pronouns, which made the situation difficult at that time." I'm sorry, I can't believe this. It really seems it was a simpler and easier to categorise, and possibly, evade the judgement we feel as parents. "My child isn't strange, my child has a medical condition which is today's cause célèb".

Dempsey was four when she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria by a paediatric mental health professional. I'm pretty sure that's impossibly early. While there may have been many signs, this is a child barely able to articulate basic emotions. Why does it need labelling at four? Interestingly, the article mentions how one former paediatrician said Dempsey was going through a phase, and 'transgenderism isn't real'. Jamie claims this paediatrician then spoke about the family behind her back and referred to them as freaks - that'san extremely serious breach of professional conduct. How this was discovered is not divulged, and what happened after is not, either. But, we know one paediatrician dismissed the idea this child is trans, and that's one they dumped

The misinformed comments from other adults began. This apparently inspired them to start an Instagram account to follow Dempsey's journey and to educate others on what it means to be trans.

Somehow this was a better option than going into the school to insist some much needed anti-bullying and gender demolition be considered. Or even a meeting with other parents, maybe beginning with the more sympathetic ones, to form a core support around this kid. No, everything specifically centred on this child and their special requirements. Remove all boundaries and privacy in the world of a struggling, confused and targeted child...

Once, Dempsey was in the trolley at a supermarket, still with short hair but in a dress and holding a dolly. While sat, trapped in this trolley a man apparently thought it was his prerogative to question Dempsey and asked if the dress and doll belonged to a sister. We're told that Dempsey replied, "No, these are my things" which is a great answer. The man replied that "This is disgusting, you're a boy." He then turned to look at Dad, "telling him that we were bad parents and should be reported for child abuse" so dad, Dennis, issued a mind your own business instruction along with a couple of curse words. This sounds like a heavily gender stereotyped culture. It's amazing to me a random guy would see fit to challenge such a small child when being pushed around in a supermarket by their dad. It's extremely sad, and infuriating. Now Dempsey has long hair is as such less clockable as a boy, why invite more intrusion?
So, this is the narrative: loving family against the world. There's a hundred or more others we could look at with the same threads; the attraction to the 'wrong' toys and clothes, the tears, the fights, the struggle to accept and to gain acceptance from others. These stories do not obscure the face of these kids, they lay bare their internal struggles while never delving into anything more personal, because they can't. But, like with Susie Green's TedTalk, early rows based on the response of a homophobic parent seem common in the adult's stories. The fear of bullying and inability to have it addressed are common, but, as obviously it is unethical, sexual abuse is also never spoken of. It's impossible to dig deeper with an innocent child's face beamed at you. We can't discuss what we might otherwise. It's a rainbow wrapper around a completed, indisputable story.
Our better instincts tell us not to mess with this; not to criticise other parents and not to drag out further details of the life of a child, placed front and centre in the happy tale of how to flourish in adversity. How these children may struggle later on, especially if they begin to desist, is anyone's guess - and I hope it's all unicorns, triumph-through-adversity too. I do. Just, forgive my reticence in calling this now.