Fussy

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

The state of this.

https://twitter.com/Docstockk/status/1346786606217392130

Just look at that. Now they’re hunting around to check on WHAT COMMONISST FAGGOT TRAITOR TERF has failed to sign. They’re drawing up A List of People Who Need To Have Signed Because We Suspect Them and then checking the list name by name – have YOU signed the letter Condemning The Witch? And have you, and you, and you?

And, as many have pointed out, it’s pretty striking to see a philosophy academic call it “fussy” to think the facts claimed in the letter attacking a woman and a colleague should be accurate.

Comments

5 responses to “Fussy”

  1. KBPlayer Avatar
    KBPlayer

    As some day it may happen that a scapegoat must be found

    I’ve got a little list — I’ve got a little list

    Of wokieness offenders who might well be underground

    And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!

    There’s the philosophic woman who got an OBE

    There’s the TERF who keeps on flaunting her actual PhD

    There’s the one who reads before she signs and makes a stupid fuss,

    There’s the journalist who’s tweeting that she’s not One of Us.

    And all persons who won’t pronoun, however I insist.—

    They’d none of ’em be missed — they’d none of ’em be missed!

  2. Athel Cornish-Bowden Avatar
    Athel Cornish-Bowden

    I read so much belligerent ranting from nasty trans people on this site that I thought I’d draw your attention to the blog of someone who deals with her transition in a decent way:

    https://aebrain.blogspot.com/

    In her About Me section she says

    Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist. Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I’m now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.

    Her research interests are not totally different from mine, and in fact we participated in the same meeting a few years ago, she in person and me in spirit (represented by a colleague who present our paper). I’ve not met her in person, however. Notice that I’ve no objection to using “she” and “her” to refer to someone who’s honest about it. Notice also that she writes “male” — no nonsense about “gender”.

    I suspect that by “46xy” she means what I would write as “44XY” — I don’t suppose she has a total of 48 — but no matter.

  3. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Thank you, looks very interesting. The first written post (after a string of videos) on the front page is an August one on the virus, beautifully written and informative.

  4. Roj Blake Avatar
    Roj Blake

    In the same light as Athel’s contribution, here is a gay white writer’s appeal.

    Some gay white men are jerks who work to uphold the patriarchy. Acknowledging this fact matters, but generalizing is unhelpful at best. Andrew Sullivan is the conservative gay writer I mentioned earlier, and while his views are odious, his privilege blinds him. He does not represent gay men at large, and as is evident from his writing, he is incapable of understanding gay men at large.

    In a June New York Magazine article, he explicitly claims that the fight for queer equality is over and that it’s time to declare victory. He’s wrong, employing dubious logic and impossible standards of evidence to deny lived truths.

    (…)

    Gay men in the United States experience oppression just like any other queer people. Data consistently show that gay male teens report bullying and violence in larger total numbers than transgender people or lesbians. Trans people suffer disproportionate violence, but because far fewer trans youth are out, total numbers are small in comparison.

    Gay men and boys suffer oppression for the same reason other queer people do. We are disproportionately likely to violate gender norms, and when we do, people despise us for it. Homophobia is misogyny, after all.

    https://medium.com/prismnpen/no-its-not-ok-to-be-a-gay-white-man-b95f64401856

  5. ibbica Avatar
    ibbica

    Just nitpicking, but..,

    I suspect that by “46xy” she means what I would write as “44XY”

    Nope, she’s correct. Normal human karyotype is 46XY or 46XX. The number is the total, followed by the sex chromosomes specified. Abnormalities are listed if present, so someone could have a karyotype for example of 45XO, (i.e., a female with only one sex chromosome), or 45XX -21 (a female with only one copy of chromosome 21), or 47XXX (female with three X chromosomes), or 47XY +17 (a male with three copies of chromosome 17). 44XY would be a male missing two chromosomes that would then have to be specified (e.g. 44XY -21 -23).

    *doffs biologist’s cap*

    Carry on :-)

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