Men who are trans do not commit violence
New Zealand Greens co-leader and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Marama Davidson is asked what she thinks of the violent “protests” at the Let Women Speak rally.
She says it very smugly, too, and concludes with “transphobia is not welcome here!”
So it’s ok for a man who claims to be a woman to assault a woman, because the man claims to be a woman? Violence from cis men is bad but violence from men who claim to be women is good? According to the Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence? So, if a married man decides he’s a woman and his wife objects it’s fine if he knocks her about?
Davidson appears to be slightly drunk on her own superiority.
I can’t follow her reasoning at all.
Of course society has a problem of violent men; that’s why women are trying to keep our male-free spaces. Race doesn’t come into it. Claims of being the opposite sex don’t come into it.
Is she claiming, against all the reams of evidence, that the man who assaulted KJK was a white cis man?
Or is she saying, as you suggest, that all the recorded violence by men claiming to be ‘trans’, or men of other races, doesn’t count as violence somehow?
My impression is that she is totally ignoring attacks by trans-identified men and trying her darnedest to deflect the questions. She is asserting that “transwomen are kinder” and that “the problem is white cis men”. Sort of a “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”.
There is a little context missing here that partially explains, but certainly doesn’t excuse Davidson’s actions either at the time or later.
There were three very disparate groups gathering that day. LWS, the TRA’s, and Destiny Church. Destiny were gathering nearby, but separately from the other two. Destiny is really big amongst Maori and men who want to project a particular type of macho image. Let’s call it motorcycle gang adjacent. Hundreds of their members turned up on motorcycles dressed in their habitual black leathers. It is more likely than not that it was one of these guys who knocked Davidson over while she was crossing a pedestrian crossing on her way to join the TRAs. She was hurt and shaken.
The person who asked her the gotcha question was a well known conspiracy theorist, anti-vax, covid nutter who is generally taken to be alt-right/white adjacent.
My view is that in the moment Davidson made a stupid and indefensible remark designed to pushback against someone she despises. Utterly moronic thing for a Minister to do. The next day when she had cooled down and recovered she then attempted to spin the answer into something it clearly hadn’t been. Fact checkers tore her to bits – rightly too. What she should have done was honestly said that her answer was wrong and silly and came from a place of pain and anger. Instead of leaning into the Greens image of truth and honesty and being above petty politics, she further tarnished their image by behaving like a, well, politician.
I also think that having reflected on her own experience that day and KJK’s, she might have come out a bit more strongly on the need for civility and safety in public debate, but no. More spin justifying the behaviour of TRA’s.
Thanks Rob, that’s informative.
Here is the full footage of the 70 year old woman being punched.
Watch it again and again.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1641626762936479744
The guy has decided to punch her before any sort of interaction has taken place. He just wanted to punch someone and she was the easiest target. That’s all there was to it.
And for what it’s worth, the guy has obviously had some training, almost certainly karate. Thankfully, he’s terrible at it.
But this is a man drunk on being bigger, younger and fitter than a 70 year old woman with a bit of training who used all of that to beat her to the ground for daring to be the first, least frightening person he encountered.
Jeeezus.
Also Rob @3, if you are part of a mob of overgrown spoilt children (definite Verucca Salt vibes), are you going to take on a bunch of mainly Polynesian men all built like Jonaf Lomu, or a much smaller group of mostly middle-aged women?
Also “Bishop” Brian apparently offered to co-host Posie Parkers gathering. She declined.