@taylan
https://blogs.feministwiki.org/taylan/2025/01/25/gender-critical-in-a-nutshell/
I mostly agree with this, but the bit about female brains and gender essentialism makes no sense to me.
If a brain occurs most frequently in a female body, then it makes sense to call it a female brain.
And no, this isn't "decoupling the brain from the rest of the body". It's literally treating the brain as just another organ.
U
@admitsWrongIfProven
Isn't J. K. Rowling's position something like "do what you want but don't go into our changing rooms and bathrooms and sports teams and stuff"?
I don't fully understand why those caveats are important to her or other GCs/TERFs, but does that make her a "jerk"? She has reasons for them that sort of make sense to me. Apart from the sport one (but that might be because I don't watch much sport).
@taylan
I've yet to see anything really bad from JKR.
There's been some snark and sarcasm, for which women are often painted as being the spawn of the devil, but if we hold her up to the same standards as everyone else then she's been fairly normal and friendly, IMO.
You will probably find that people will quickly become very cross with you for not immediately agreeing with them about how horrible she "obviously" is.
Most arguments I've heard revolve around her using "unkind language" like in this tweet, which was characterized as bullying a random trans person for no reason. (The tweet she was quoting there was celebrating this "first trans football referee" or something; person in second image.)
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/uk-news/jk-rowling-new-row-after-32790432
JKR's response:
"Calling a man a man is not 'bullying' or 'punching down.' Crossdressing straight men are currently one of the most pandered-to demographics in existence, and women are under no obligation to applaud the people caricaturing us."
It's the kind of situation where, depending on what side of the trenches you are, you either see it as a harrowingly transphobic and hate filled statement, or an unapologetic and courageous statement against sexism.
And that's going to be the general trend with everything she says that stirs controversy. Obvious hatred in the eyes of one side, courageous truth telling in the eyes of the other.
I'm inclined to agree with her. (Big surprise, I know.) This does essentially look like a big bulky middle aged guy cross dressing with a bad wig, and as much as he's free to do that, it's a bit ridiculous to celebrate it in the news, and he has to understand that some women will feel mocked by it, and many will certainly not want to encounter him in a locker room or such.
@taylan
Calling them "caricatures" is a bit unfair IMO. They don't intend to caricature or make fun of anyone. They just want to "feel like a woman" or whatever.
@admitsWrongIfProven
@light @taylan I'd advise against adding "or whatever" here. People feel in very different ways, and they want recognition. Not too uncommon a goal?
The problem is not people wanting to be recognized, the problem is if people want to harm others.
I would appreciate if we could focus on if what someone does is harmful or not.
@admitsWrongIfProven
I put "or whatever" because I don't personally understand it and was not sure if I was being entirely accurate in saying they "want to feel like women" (maybe someone will correct me with some nuance that I barely understand or care about).
@taylan
