Gazing Into The Abyss

How do you manufacture a moral panic? Statistics are your friend. Today,  The BBC , along with several other UK news agencies, reported: "Transgender hate crimes recorded by police go up 81%" So you would be forgiven if you thought that transgender hate crimes had gone up 81% in a year.  That's what the headline implies.   Only the Huffington Post included "...in the last three years" in their headline. And even then it's wrong. "Data obtained by the BBC showed there were 1,944 crimes across 36 forces in the last financial year compared with 1,073 in 2016-17." For a start the piece includes Scottish figures, which are usually logged separately but I still don't know where they get the figure of 1,073 for 2016/17 as the figure for that year in England and Wales was 1,248.   The government's own hate crime figures for the last five years are  here . Of course, those champions of science based data, Stonewall are consulted to r...

1969 - 2015 2015.  The year that Transgender became an issue.   In that year, Owen Jones wrote his first piece on transgender back in those pre-Brexit, pre-Trump halcyon days;  Stonewall is right to bring our trans brothers and sisters in from the cold , in which he argued that: "Trans issues have been neglected by progressives – myself included – for far too long, but at last this mistake is being rectified." Oh god, yes, it has certainly been rectified.   In four years we've gone from discussions about what transgender means and what it means for biological women being biological women to no platforming anyone who has a contradictory view to the new consensus.   Women are cautioned for arguing that trans women are not women on media platforms.   Irish comedians are cautioned for "misgendering" a trans woman and has to change their Twitter account to private to avoid the barrage of abuse.   When a trans woman was employ...

Why is the T in LGBT?  Few appear to question why Transgender has been accepted as part of the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual movement.  But that isn't the end of it, of course.  The definition of transgender itself is evolving.   And with it the acronym for queer and trans rights.  LGBT is often now referred to as LGBTQ or GLBTQ or LGBTQQ or LGTBTI or LGBTU or LGBT+, the most common now so that it's inclusive of gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, transsexual, gender questioning, intersex, or just "unsure." But that's not the end of the definitions.   As ever, fortunately, Pink News clarifies why the T is in LGBT by pointing out that it probably should be LGBTQQIAAP; Asexual and Ally, Pansexual (though they omit polysexual and omnisexual), Curious, Transvestite, 2s Two spirited and O for Other, "anyone else on the spectrum of gender and sexuality." The New York Times  helpfully complicate things by adding Gender Neutral, Gender Fluid,...

When is a zealot not a zealot?  When the zealously zealot is arguing against zealotry. Apparently. Owen Jones righteously exclaims in  The Guardian  "Anti-trans zealots, know this: history will judge you." Just in case you're wondering who the anti-trans zealots are, the rollcall of honour is: US tech reporter for The Daily Telegraph Olivia Rudgard Chief Political Correspondent for The Telegraph Christopher Hope Daily Mail columnist Peter Hitchens Daily Mail columnist Steve Doughty Times journalist Janice Turner And everyone else who fails to agree with Owen Jones. The piece conflates so many ideas and tropes it's hard to untangle it all.  Janice Turner, who received much ire from Jones for her transphobic stance on Munroe Bergdorf's dismissal by the NSPCC for pointing out that someone who did a Playboy shoot, wrote homophobic tweets and, most importantly, suggested children get in touch with her privately, gets a lot of Jones's, dare I say almo...