Read on Twitter
1/ To @Flaneurble and @kellybeemorgan
that showed me this article by @KatyMontgomerie: 1st, thank you again, it was very detailed and albeit not agreeing with it all and having some reservations on how Rowling& #39;s words were perceived, I found it insightful. https://medium.com/@completelykaty/addressing-the-claims-in-jk-rowlings-justification-for-transphobia-7b6f761e8f8f">https://medium.com/@complete...
that showed me this article by @KatyMontgomerie: 1st, thank you again, it was very detailed and albeit not agreeing with it all and having some reservations on how Rowling& #39;s words were perceived, I found it insightful. https://medium.com/@completelykaty/addressing-the-claims-in-jk-rowlings-justification-for-transphobia-7b6f761e8f8f">https://medium.com/@complete...
2/ I promised to share some of my notes after reading so here (not edited or very organised, just a flow of mt thoughts as I& #39;ve read):
3/ The Maya Forstater case - I didn’t know of what she said about trans ppl in Re: working with children and her ludicrous claim they need to state their birth sex. I agree this is a very problematic view worthy of debunking! though I wish we could do that with public debate.
4/ Re: some GC speakers like Posie and the late M.Berns- very insensitive inflammatory language indeed woven in their arguments. Also ignores science that gender dysphoria exists and can be addressed successfully by transitioning. They literally spill the baby with the bathwater.
5/ Freedom of speech is indeed not freedom of hate speech but we obviously need a broad societal debate where to draw the line. Some people may draw subjective lines that may result in silencing other people.
6/ There is a lot of ignorance indeed about transitioning and frankly much that we still don’t fully know as professionals in the field. We especially don’t know enough about children which is naturally far more complex than when speaking about the transition of young adults.
7/ We as adults have to b humble and drop any agendas because we must not make mistakes with children out of any dogma this way or another. All adults of all sides of the debate must be careful here. In many ways, clinicians working with children are in the dark Re: LT outcomes.
8/ To give 1 example of such concern regarding children that was mentioned in the article, I as a gay man that could have been considered “gender non-confirming” kid am worried from reports I see & talking with my colleagues that some parents display homophobia & may pressure...
9/ their gay child to go through transition. I could have been that child, but my parents were supportive and today I’m a happy and often camp gay man. Such errors can occur these days but we might only be hearing about the consequences a few years from now.
10/ The system as it is now is not the main issue (though flawed) but attempts to change the system to be more lenient and by some activists, to cancel the diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” altogether.
11/ There is also the emergence of non-binary IDs which makes the debate even more loaded and complex - such as in Re: the popular “bathroom” question that indeed gets much more attention than it deserves. Mostly unhelpful attention that does not allow some nuance and sense.
12/ think that we can all acknowledge that we have different lived experience, all equally valid. My experience as a gay man is different than straight men or women etc. Women can intuitively connect with some but not all of the experience of trans women and vice versa.
13/ That gap can be closed by listening and respecting our differences. This debate is heated, and the rights and needs of one group may be seen by another group as infringing on theirs. There is no way to solve this but to talk openly without accusations and combative language.
