JK Rowling TERFing her legacy into the bin

[king_tubby]

I don't even think there was the novelty/shock element, it was just accepted that some people were trans. Sophie Wilson, Wendy Carlos, Caroline Cossey, Angela Morley - all trans women back in the 60s/70s/80s/90s and this was just something that happened and people got on with it.

[Barry Admin]

My memory is very different tbh. I just remember endless references to The Crying Game, and then you had all those Jerry Springer shows which again revolved around trans women being used for shock value.

[dissolute ocelot]

The old transphobia was classic male homosociality where men bond by ridiculing or attacking anything different (as well as mocking gay men, non-conforming men, or cis women, they targetted trans people). Now it's primarily women hating trans women. It's really hard to fathom why. You could say it's confusion about young people and the generation gap, but that's not really a full explanation. Some of it is grifting, and coming from the right it's culture warring, but maybe the closest thing is early 20th century antisemitism, just scapegoating.

[Mister Six]

My memory is very different tbh. I just remember endless references to The Crying Game, and then you had all those Jerry Springer shows which again revolved around trans women being used for shock value.

And Ace Ventura. And League of Gentlemen, Little Britain...

[Retinend]

The old transphobia was classic male homosociality where men bond by ridiculing or attacking anything different (as well as mocking gay men, non-conforming men, or cis women, they targetted trans people). Now it's primarily women hating trans women. It's really hard to fathom why.

It's a simple level answer, but maybe just because of the legacy of radical feminism on GC. That is, radical feminist books were meant to be "by women, for women" so to speak. GC, though more gender balanced, still has that primarily female appeal in its us-vs-them scare-mongering: "OUR changing rooms; THEIR penises".

[Sonny_Jim]

And Ace Ventura. And League of Gentlemen, Little Britain...

Don't forget the whole point of 'There's something about Miriam' seemed to be just 'transphobia'.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

As I've said before, feminism as a philosophy and a movement has a history of transphobia, with plenty of important figures within the movement who once held or continue to hold transphobic views. To me, what's changed is that powerful conservatives have decided to use trans people as a way to start rolling back the rights now enjoyed by gay and lesbian folks, and so are amplifying the "reasonable concern" crowd all worried about safety and fairness (and aren't at all disgusted by trans people).

[Dr Rock]

In the past trans people were either used as comedy device, often very cruelly, or if it was a real life individual, most(?) people had a live and let live attitude, extending in some to sympathy for their situation (much like today, despite what terfs want you to believe). But very little understanding of what it is to be trans. But they were not seen as a danger.

In the UK that new trend is the result of people like Germaine Greer and radfems beginning the terf cult. But we also have far far more people wanting to understand and support trans folk, and there's much more trans awareness in general. That's my take anyways.

[Buelligan]

I don't even think there was the novelty/shock element, it was just accepted that some people were trans. Sophie Wilson, Wendy Carlos, Caroline Cossey, Angela Morley - all trans women back in the 60s/70s/80s/90s and this was just something that happened and people got on with it.

I think, at least for some, there was some nasty pushback way back.  April Ashley in her later years was a sort of unnoficial Queen of Hay on Wye but she had suffered quite badly when she was outed by the heroic British media in the early sixties.

[lipsink]

Haven't polls shown that the majority of cis women don't actually give a shit about trans women being in their toilet spaces?

I remember Shon Faye appeared on Loose Women recently and was treated so lovely it put a big smile on my face. I don't think she was asked once about toilets.

[Mister Six]

Going to continue the Lose Women chatter over in the new thread.

[canadagoose]

The old transphobia was classic male homosociality where men bond by ridiculing or attacking anything different (as well as mocking gay men, non-conforming men, or cis women, they targetted trans people). Now it's primarily women hating trans women. It's really hard to fathom why. You could say it's confusion about young people and the generation gap, but that's not really a full explanation. Some of it is grifting, and coming from the right it's culture warring, but maybe the closest thing is early 20th century antisemitism, just scapegoating.

This is the illusion they like to present, but it's still mostly men that are transphobic. I agree that it's a lot like antisemitism though, which is why it's interesting (and disappointing) to see quite a few anti-antisemitism campaigners being transphobic.

[Paul Calf]

That quote made me laugh for some reason

The last line of that article:

"Women are beautiful".

Headline:

ROWLING ALLY BRANDS MYRA HINDLEY AND ROSE WEST 'BEAUTIFUL'.