Julie Burchill: Not in my Name

[miss_s_b]

I am a cis white feminist, like Julie Burchill. I have quite a lot of privilege, although perhaps not as much as Julie Burchill, given that national newspapers don't give me a platform for my views. Also like Julie Burchill, I do not pretend to understand the experience or feelings of transfolk

Where I differ from Julie Burchill appears to be that I consider trans people to be human beings whose thoughts and experiences are just as valid as my own. I can't understand but I can empathise and I can listen and I can try to not be an ignorant hate filled shitstain. The article printed in today's observer under Burchill's name is filled with the kind of prejudicial language that makes any person with a heart feel sick. The observer would never have printed an analogous article on the subject of (for example) race. If somebody wrote a piece saying niggers and pakis should shut up and stop whinging and making "jokes" about curry, the observer would rightly refuse to publish it. Why in the name of Cthulhu they thought this article was acceptable, then, I can't even begin to fathom. Perhaps it's Daily Mail style link bait. Perhaps it's talking up controversy for the sake of website hits. Whatever it is, it's naked and unadorned hatred, and it's unacceptable from a newspaper which claims to be progressive.

Julie Burchill does not speak for me, and if she speaks for you then you are not a person I want to pay any attention to whatsoever.

Comments

[ginasketch]

Oh, how did I know Julie Burchill would stick her oar in?

Oh yes, it's because she's a vile, hateful unapologetic transphobe and has been for years.

My finger is seriously hovering over the defriend button at some people on FB.

[miss_s_b]

I'm playing on tumblr where it's safe. Or at least safer than twitter.

[ginasketch]

Tumblr has its own problems, but at least they are easier to ignore.

[miss_s_b]

Yes. and mostly it is pretty pictures and silliness.

[ginasketch]

And hilarious gif sets :D

[ginasketch]

Also, I heart you for writing this.

[miss_s_b]

♥ you too

[royalmarriage]

I got as far as "dicks in chicks' clothing" and gave up. What a vile disgusting article, from someone who I'm led to believe is a pretty vile, disgusting woman.

[miss_s_b]

but sadly has a platform and an audience

[stephmog.livejournal.com]

Agree entirely, couldn't have put it better myself. Mainly because I was too much torn between tears and vomit on reading it to form words.

[miss_s_b]

yeah it took me a while to be coherent enough to write

[shishmish]

Seems to be the day for journalists being arseholes; there's this and Liz Jones slagging off Claire Balding because she supports horse racing. From what I've heard and seen, she starts by saying she doesn't hate Balding because she's a lesbian and has 'appalling' dress sense. So why the fuck mention it?

[miss_s_b]

Clare Balding's response to it was fabulous though.

[shishmish]

Oh it really was, good for her! How anyone would want to be interview by anyone from the Daily Fail is beyond me.

Normally these things come in threes so I wonder what's next.

[miss_s_b]

this is why I am hiding under the duvet. I'm not sure I want to know.

[staceyuk]

Agreed.

[(Anonymous)]

There is a fairly heated discussion going on on my Facebook right now about this. I'm horrified by the attitude of some people who are liberals.Some who aren't,too.

Burchill's article is horrible and hate filled. And may well lead to trans people being beaten up or abused in some way, more than they are already.

But having two lots of people shouting at each other isn't going to tackle the prejudice and bust the myths. We need illumination, not conflagration, as they say.

[miss_s_b]

Yes, getting angry doesn't convince anyone whose views are different, but mostly because tone arguments have always been used by the powerful to suppress the powerless. The problem is that when you have two groups who both have a legitimate claim to oppression the instinct seems to be to attack each other rather than bonding together against the actual oppressors.

This is why I am hiding under the duvet.

[sassy_scot]

Ok, that Anon was me. Here's my response to all of this - linking to you, of course... We all post one thing that will lead to greater understanding of trans people and the issues they face every day this week. Not going to change the world, but it's better than doing nothing. What do you think?

http://carons-musings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/how-do-we-deal-with-transphobia-when-it.html

[miss_s_b]

was just about to read that lol. I'm wary of trying to do something and getting it wrong or being patronising. I'm willing to give it a go though

[sassy_scot]

I'm going on the assumption that if I do fuck it up in some way, someone will tap me on the shoulder and tell me so and I'll listen to what they have to say. Let's face it, we can't be any worse than Moore and Burchill...

[miss_s_b]

good point there. Maybe we should ask some trans people though. I don't want to be whatever the equivalent of a white Knight would be.

[magister]

Given that it seems to be blatant clickbait, I figured complaining to the readers' editor at The Observer was a better response than posting in the comments section.

http://magister.dreamwidth.org/15815.html

[evilawyer]

Just heard that there are protests in France today protesting against gay marriage. I don't have many regrets (being somewhat provincial in terms of recognizing world figures is one of them), but it does make me sad that I won't live long enough to see the day when a person's gender isn't an item of consideration for anything.

[shishmish]

Have you seen the article has been withdrawn and an apology issued?

[miss_s_b]

Yeah, and the Torygraph has reprinted it :(

[kankurette]

Thank you for writing this, Jennie. (Found this through Complicity.) I'm furious about Burchill and her apologists, but glad that so many people are telling them where to get off.

Burchill does not speak for me as a Jew, a cis woman or a feminist.