Transsexuals should cut it out

[Shana A]

Transsexuals should cut it out

It's never a good idea for those who feel oppressed to start bullying others in turn

        Julie Burchill   
        The Observer, Saturday 12 January 2013   

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/13/julie-burchill-suzanne-moore-transsexuals

With this in mind, I was incredulous to read that my friend was being monstered on Twitter, to the extent that she had quit it, for supposedly picking on a minority – transsexuals. Though I imagine it to be something akin to being savaged by a dead sheep, as Denis Healey had it of Geoffrey Howe, I nevertheless felt indignant that a woman of such style and substance should be driven from her chosen mode of time-wasting by a bunch of dicks in chicks' clothing.

To my mind – I have given cool-headed consideration to the matter – a gaggle of transsexuals telling Suzanne Moore how to write looks a lot like how I'd imagine the Black and White Minstrels telling Usain Bolt how to run would look. That rude and ridic.

Here's what happened. In a book of essays called Red: The Waterstones Anthology, Suzanne contributed a piece about women's anger. She wrote that, among other things, women were angry about "not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual". Rather than join her in decrying the idea that every broad should aim to look like an oven-ready porn star, the very vociferous transsexual lobby and their grim groupies picked on the messenger instead.

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Poll: Did Julie Burchill go too far in her "transphobic" defence of Suzanne Moore?

13 January 2013 12:33 PM
The Observer

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iv-drip/poll-did-julie-burchill-go-too-far-in-her-transphobic-defence-of-suzanne-moore-8449529.html

It all began with a Suzanne Moore piece in the New Statesman last week called 'Seeing Red: the power of female anger'. In the piece, Moore describes the unobtainable female body idea as "that of a Brazilian transexual", a comment which provoked the ire of a group of Twitter users that Burchill refers to as "the very vociferous transsexual lobby".

Following an angry exchange on Twitter, Moore appeared to close her account much to the dismay of her many followers and some supportive fellow members of the commentariat.

Burchill, a longtime friend of Moore, took her support one step further and wrote a piece for The Observer, published today, which has created a Twitterstorm in its own right. In the piece Burchill uses various terms to describe the trans community including "a bunch of dicks in chicks' clothing" and "a bunch of bed-wetters in bad wigs". The piece has provoked an angry response from readers, with one commenter calling it an "absolutely disgusting display of transphobia"

[Michelle-G]

Here's a brilliant article written as a response to this disaster.  Couldn't have said it better myself!

http://jezebel.com/5975828/transphobia-is-a-goddamn-embarrassment-to-us-all?popular=true

[Gen88]

Here's a brilliant article written as a response to this disaster.  Couldn't have said it better myself!

http://jezebel.com/5975828/transphobia-is-a-goddamn-embarrassment-to-us-all?popular=true

Wow, that is actually a fantastic reply. At least the piece has been pulled...not that it really changes the fact it was published in the first place.

[Anna]

But on the positive side so many of the comments (before they pulled the whole thing) were decidedly pro-trans people and in the Independent's poll 90% were against Burchill.  Admittedly both papers that attract liberal minded readerships but pretty heartening nonetheless and good to see that young people were far less transphobic than then older 50+ crowd.  Even the Torygraph managed a pretty supportice piece which for a right wing paper nearly made me faint before I realised they were really just enjoying using us to wind up the left. 

Oh & I see Toby Young has seen fit to reprint in the interests of free speech. I'm all for free speech but he could have included the comments too to put things in persepective  instead of keeping it as an incestuous elitist media lovein with us as the football.

[MaidofOrleans]

These radfem types generally have little sanctums where they sit with others who think like them and violently agree with each other. It gives them the idea that their opinions are anything other than hateful vitriol and when they take it to the public they get torn apart and think their being victimized.

[Zeda]

I admit, I just ranted on Facebook .__. I try not to rant and I kept my language much less vulgar. She sounds like she is a very bitter person :[ To quote the tail end of my rant:

"You really won't like us when we're angry."
You are right, we won't like you when you are angry. We deal with anger and hatred from many people and many places. We deal with prejudice, and we bear it, just as most minorities have. To think that you have the right to oppress another minority, to threaten us, to degrade us, and to punish us is cause for many of us to lose faith in activists.

(The quote came from a follow-up defense of Susan Moore's actions.)

It is all rather upsetting 

If we had spoilers, I would provide my rant, but it is rather long
I also found it a testament to their ignorance every time they referenced cut off penises. I also like the reference to HRT as if only post-menopausal cis-women have to suffer through it XD Somebody clearly doesn't know the transitioning process at all and cannot be bothered to do simple research. We also go through HRT and after our built-in testosterone factories are removed, we also go through menopause if we stop HRT. This reminds me of the religious debates that I despise involving people citing inaccurate information. I love a good religious debate where both sides use accurate information and references and adhere to one of my friends' Rule #2-- "Know thy 'stuff'." (of course, 'stuff' is not the word used.) This lady clearly does not follow Rule #2.

[BunnyBee]

But on the positive side so many of the comments (before they pulled the whole thing) were decidedly pro-trans people and in the Independent's poll 90% were against Burchill.  Admittedly both papers that attract liberal minded readerships but pretty heartening nonetheless and good to see that young people were far less transphobic than then older 50+ crowd.

I have noticed this trend over the last year or so.  In the comments sections of trans related articles more support, empathy and understanding and less trolling.  A long way to go yet, but it's nonetheless heartening

[Rowan Rue]

I've been watching this brew for the last few days.  I'm kind of annoyed to see my country of birth yet again showing that it's actually behind the
US on trans issues.
Still, I have several friends who I have been providing a reading list to since I came out.  This was a very useful object lesson.
I loved the Jezebel article.  Lindy West is just wonderful. 
When I first started educating myself on feminist issues about four years ago, Jezebel was where I got started.  That is probably also the reason why I was so surprised to find so much transphobia amongst feminists after I came out and started educating myself on trans issues.
In the end, people like Burchill don't bother me much. She's just a hateful angry person, but seeing that her vitriol get's published in one of the UK's more liberal papers is just disgusting.
Their apology for the piece was crap too.

[Elspeth]

Here's a brilliant article written as a response to this disaster.  Couldn't have said it better myself!

http://jezebel.com/5975828/transphobia-is-a-goddamn-embarrassment-to-us-all?popular=true

What a trainwreck!