
Oh shite, the “transphobia” saga has broken out again. Front and centre this time is Jo “Harry Potter” Rowling, who in December voiced support for a researcher who posted that “men cannot change into women”. More recently, JK responded to a headline which read “creating a more equal post C-19 world for people who menstruate”. Rowling wrote ” ‘people who menstruate’? I’m sure there used to be a word for them… wumden? wimpund? woomud…”.
Naturally howls of protest have greeted these comments, and JK’s been accused of “hating upon” marginalised people. Virtual signalling luvvies have been lining up to have a go. The most famous, Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, opined pompously that “respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and I’ve been trying to constantly educate myself… I want to make it clear where I stand… trans women are women, trans men are men”.
Now personally I’m for people living the best life they can, as the cliché has it. If Joe wants to call himself Joanne, take hormones, have surgery, wear a dress, that’s his business. Same goes for Georgina who wants be George. But I sincerely disagree with the dogma that says that it’s biologically possible for a person to change their sex. This to me is a fact of genetics; it’s in the DNA. Ultimately any changes that are made to this effect are cosmetic. It might hurt some people’s feelings to say this, but it isn’t being transphobic, it’s just pointing out the way something is in life.
Now I could walk around in a funny hat and long coat, demanding that people shout “long live the emperor!”. I could squat on all fours and howl at the moon. I could paint myself green and claim to be from the planet Zog. Persistent insistance on my part would not, however, make me Napoleon, or a wolf, or an alien. Indeed, if I persisted in identifying as an amputee, demanding the removal of a healthy limb, I’d probably be sectioned. What any of these things would make me is delusional, and I’d be regarded as such.
Transgender people travel a tough road, and I admire and respect them for the choice they make. But I do believe that sadly, they too are delusional if they think that they can actually change their sex, and I won’t collude with anyone in their delusion. That goes double for any “woke” doctrine which expects complete compliance with the view that “trans women are women, trans men are men”, and with those zealots only too ready to treat a differing view with a scream of “phobic bigot!”. If they can’t tolerate a differing view, that’s too bad.
No doubt the zealots will expect a snivelling apology from Rowling for causing “emotional trauma and stress” or what-have-you (it’s par for the course these days) but I hope she doesn’t offer one. She’s got a valid point of view and has nothing to apologise for.
Nominated by: Ron Knee