McKinnonsplaining
So philosophy instructor and prize-winning cyclist Rachel McKinnon decided it was time to take on Martina Navratilova.
Welp, guess Navratilova is transphobic. https://t.co/Wv3ScAziBV
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 20, 2018
[Navratilova deleted that tweet in response to McKinnon’s bullying.]
No, you are not "pro- trans people" if you say that trans women with a penis must not compete in women's sport. That's transphobic.
Genitals do not play sports. What part of a penis is related to tennis? How does that 'level' any playing field? https://t.co/h7ZLsCVOQy
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 20, 2018
You said that trans women with a penis shouldn't compete in women's categories. No one is misrepresenting you. You were really clear. https://t.co/7ewgu8d5Hy
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 20, 2018
Yes how dare she. In case we’ve forgotten who McKinnon is –
That’s McKinnon in the middle, taking first prize.
People: genitals are IRRELEVANT to sports performance. Totally irrelevant.
The difference between a trans woman (especially on testosterone blockers) with a penis…and a trans woman without a penis is NOTHING.
So focusing on the genitals IS transphobic#SorryNotSorry #Facts
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 20, 2018
That’s complete nonsense. There are many physical differences, which are highly relevant to sports performance. Some are visible at a glance, as in that photo.
McKinnon’s complete indifference to that fact and to what it means for women like the two on either side of “her” ironically do more to highlight “her” real sex than any number of terfy remarks.
No seriously, show me a competitive advantage that having a penis confers. @Martina, I'll wait.
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 20, 2018
Mediocre dude athlete insulting Martina Navratilova; that’s a good look.
This is exactly how you NOT handle being called out for saying something transphobic. https://t.co/JIQVvky7Fk
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 21, 2018
I tend to agree. A “fuck off” would have sufficed.
Updating to add the latest:
Fighting back after I call you out for naked transphobia never ages well for people. No one wins, but someone sure loses…and it's never me.
Just thank us for correcting you, apologize, and do better.
It's really that simple.
— Dr. Rachel McKinnon (@rachelvmckinnon) December 21, 2018
“Fighting back after I call you out for naked transphobia” – in other words objecting to name-calling by a bullying stranger. “never ages well for people” – in other words “I am a massive narcissistic bully so I can bully you forever and nothing you say can stop me.” “No one wins, but someone sure loses…and it’s never me” – in other words “I am a massive narcissistic bully.”
“Just thank us for correcting you, apologize, and do better.” In other words never mind whether what I call you is true or not, just thank me for it and apologize. Don’t argue, don’t reason, don’t have your own views, don’t point out that you know more about being a woman than I do, just shut up and obey ME or else.
If McKinnon really wants to convince people he is a trans woman and therefore a woman, why does he enact every entitled male trope in the playbook? Against women? Why does it never cross his mind what a tell it is? Why does he never have the slightest whiff of empathy for women?
I’m presuming that in the deleted tweet, Navratilova used the phrase “with a penis” as a shorthand for “trans,” and rather than engaging with the underlying substantive argument about the possible unfair advantages that (formerly) male-bodied people might have in women’s sports, McKinnon went on a tirade about how Martina must think that penises help one’s tennis serve.
But remember, it’s everyone ELSE who is “obsessed with genitalia”!
The women in that photo are already physically exceptional… Sports, freaks perhaps even…
Still only about 75% of the size… Nope, the dick isn’t what is conferring the unfair advantage; the Y chromosome has already taken care of that.
This is going to prompt some utterly dreary posts over at Certain Other Blogs.
More to the point… When you start adding pink Reinhardts to a league of Zaryas it doesn’t work all that well (I don’t remember who was winning the arm wrestling contest)
I hope they’re proud of themselves for knocking all those straw penises down (nobody ever claimed a penis, rather than physical characteristics that accompany it, gave one improved sports performance).
Screechy Monkey, exactly.
Of course, McKinnon is absolutely right. A penis, in and by itself, does not play sports, and does not confer a sporting advantage on its possessor.
And of course, that isn’t really the point.
Note how slippery McKinnon is being. McKinnon is using a strictly literal reading of Navratilova’s words to misdirect the reader’s attention away from Navratilova’s actual point. He does this while attempting to bully her into admitting she’s a bigot–or, at least, into silence.
Then he gloats about how he “always wins.”
McKinnon is a disgusting man.
McKinnon did something else disgusting during that pile-on.
Navratilova said something about Renee Richards, and McKinnon (naturally) disparaged Richards for being an old “truscum” dinosaur who thinks there ought to be some medical or social gatekeeping around who gets to declare himself a woman.
Navratilova then referred to Richards thusly:
“a woman who has done more for trans people than you can ever dream of”
McKinnon then took those words of Navratilova’s out of context and implied that Navratilova was talking about HERSELF.
(This exchange can be found in Jane Clare Jones’s writeup.)
Jane Claire Jones with the awesome, as usual: https://janeclarejones.com/2018/12/21/disciplining-martina-heretics-and-the-church-of-trans-normativity/
Oops, didn’t see that Lady Mondegreen beat me to it.
I love Jane’s post, and she collected a lot of tweets, so it’s useful as well as satisfying.
McKinnon, from Jane’s post
Such draw-dropping arrogance from a nobody to Martina Navratilova, Martina Navratilova, for crying out loud.
How Navratilova resisted the urge to reply that she knew exactly who McKinnon was; a man who couldn’t cut it against other men so took the relatively easier route to success, I’ll never know. She obviously has better self-control than I do, although I may have gone with ‘No, no idea and even less interest. Nice hair, by the way. Did you steal that from a woman, too?’.
I don’t think I’d be allowed to keep a Twitter account for very long.
So, the presence of a penis, and the absence of a penis are indistinguishable?
2+2=4 AND 2+2=5. Until I need to say otherwise to demonstrate my infallibility.
Previously I had wondered what goes through McKinnon’s mind when she’s on that trophy platform or sees the picture of it. Does she think “that’s ME! I’m the BEST! I EARNED this!” Sadly, that is pretty much confirmed now.
No, no NO! Sheesh Don’t you know anything? It’s an exterior vagina! A doctor told me so! Can’t you see the clear difference between the two? Plain as day.
(How’s my re-education coming along Dr. M? Am I woke enough yet? I love Big Sister!)
It just occurred to me how rare it is for someone to use “Dr.” in their Twitter display name. Even rarer for a non-M.D. like McKinnon. Not Dawkins or Sam Harris; hell, even Massimo “I have three doctorates” Pigliucci doesn’t do it. (It’s like when U.S. lawyers refer to themselves as “Esq.” — it’s a reliable sign of douchebaggery.)