rozk | Catchup

I deliberately didn't post on Tuesday, because Julie Bindel attended the screening of Regretters, the Swedish documentary in which two detransitioners interview each other,and the panel afterwards, which I was on. I think it likely that she will post a piece at some point which we are going to have to rebut, especially if she misrepresents anything Christina and I said, so all I will say is that 1. it was very moving 2. the way that they interviewed each other meant that no-one was putting words into their mouths and 3. it was terribly intelligent programming to couple it with the short Latecomers which made the point that some people regret not transitioning when young and leaving it to a time when their adult commitments are time-expired.

As Christina said, everyone has their journey...

On Wednesday, I did my reading at Middlesex University, and it went well, in spite of having to go on immediately after Moazzam Begg talking about being shipped off to Guantanamo. I did the Keats/Alien poem first simply because it is so intense and that worked - I did some Heine, some Sappho, Stonewall, a chunk of the novel and ended with Theroigne de Mericourt because that does seem to be a good showstopping finale...

The thirty or so people there seem to have loved me.

I'm tired now - so I will post tomorrow about the programmes of shorts and the film about trans in Iran...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I agree Roz - both films were incredibly moving and I was really glad to see them.

I will not be writing about the evening, and nor was that ever my intention. I attended because my friend Claudia, who is one of Russell Reid's victims, asked me to go with her.She sat there open mouthed during much of the conversation between you and Christina where you claimed you would be sympathetic and understanding if a transperson dared to come out to your group as having regretted the surgery. She was treated appallingly by the community when she spoke out. Since then this brave and formidable woman has been slated by many trans people who insult her by claiming she is my 'puppet'. Far fromit - Claudia is the reason I began to write about this topic in 2003. She asked me to give her a voice which had been denied her by the 'community'.

Best, Julie

For someone "denied a voice", she's very noisy.

It also occurs to me that you're demonstrating a remarkable lack of knowledge about the people to whom you're talking when it comes to surgical outcomes. Aren't journalists supposed to, you know, do research?

Dear Julie

I can't speak for the community as a whole; I am involved, as a member and occasional advocate, with a couple of bits of the community.

All I know is that the first I knew of Claudia was your article. I felt nothing but sympathy for her, and a vague concern that, with the best overall intentions no doubt, you were in an ethically complex position. You are, at the same time, her friend and the holder of a particular feminist analysis for which you argue by any means necessary. Your giving Claudia a voice has been inextricably linked with a public campaign in which you have said, and had said to you, many hurtful things. If, as a consequence, Claudia has been hurt, or traduced, that is regrettable.

It's precisely so that people at all stages in transition can get the emotional support that they need that Tessa and Christina set up TransLondon a few years ago.

You refer to Claudia as a 'victim' of Russell Reid - I do feel obliged to register that a lot of people in the community have very different views of Russell Reid and that the GMC hearings against him were a time of high drama for those people. If people said, or did, anything to hurt Claudia in the heat of that time, it was a time when a lot of people were unhappy.

BTW, putting quotation marks round community - or even communities - is not entirely helpful. We are a community and we do our best to look after our own, with no funding whatever.

As you know, my own history is not, in some respects, all that different from Claudia's; medical mistakes were made in the course of my surgery and I was left with chronic health problems. Yet, I don't regret a thing - I think that part of the reason for this is the emotional support that I got from my women friends, both trans and otherwise, at that time and during that process.

In the end, we all need to be a part of communities, receiving support and giving it. I've always regarded Claudia as my trans sister, however much I disagree with her. And I am glad that you are her friend and that you regard her as a brave and formidable woman, because clearly she has needed you.

Roz

Hi Julie,
if Claudia was treated badly - and I do not disbelieve that even though i did not see it happen - then it is a pity and I am very glad that she found the films and panel discussion to be "a healing experience" as she said at the screening. Other people have since told me that they found it similarly healing and mind-expanding.

It is always difficult to come out - and coming out as a regretter, ex-trans or ex-gay is extremely difficult. I can see that it would be brave for someone to sit with a whole group of transitioners and say that it was all a big mistake for themselves. If I were in that position myself, I would be worried that people would not want to hear it or that they would judge me badly. All I can say is that a couple of friends have discussed their regrets with me privately in the past and I have done my best to be sympathetic and supportive. One of them was able to come out as 'neutrois' or non-gendered at one of our meetings and they were supported at the time and consequently when they went in for partial-reversal surgery.

I hope you understand that Russell Reid's tribunal was a very emotionally-charged time for many in the trans community because he was the only private gender specialist at the time and had helped thousands of people. He was found by the General Medical Council to have made mistakes that hurt some of his patients but many people are still grateful for the help he gave them and respect him for all of the good work he did over many years. It is sad if Claudia feels that she is "one of his victims" (your words or hers?) and I hope that she is able to find happiness and resolution in her life like Orlando did in the film 'Regretters'.

You refer to Claudia with the words she, her and woman. Yet she is an MTF trans person.

We have asked in the past if you consider transwomen to be women, to just be called a woman and you have refused to answer, allowing us to believe that you do not. Indeed I believe Christine Burns specifically asked you this with regard to herself just 18 months ago. Yet her, with regard to a transperson you call a friend, she is a woman unambiguously.

This is not some GOTCHA point, you are moving the goalposts (again ?) and leaving us confused about your real opinions. There seems to be a disconnect between the real person whom some of us have met and felt to be a warm and sympathetic human being and Julie Bindel, old sty;ee feminist crusader who seems to have an ideologically-based disgust at our very existence. I won't ask you to explain as I know you don't do that sort of thing, but you should understand it's this sort of two-faced behaviour that makes us doubt your every act.

She was treated appallingly by the community when she spoke out.

I would feel much better about believing this if I had independant confirmation. Frankly Julie, your blatantly hostile attitude toward the entire trans community and your known proclivity to be less than truthful when you try to support your agenda renders anything you now say suspect.

I will say nothing more about your attempt in this very thread to silence another woman than to note that for an avowed feminist you tend to use the tools of the oppressor all too frequently when they suit your purposes.

Catchup

Regretters

Re: Regretters

Re: Regretters

Re: Regretters

Re: Regretters

Re: Regretters

Re: Regretters