Latest news with #Terfs
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Stephen Fry says JK Rowling's been ‘radicalised'. I've got just one question for him
Sir Stephen Fry, the renowned psychoanalyst, says he believes that JK Rowling 'has been radicalised'. I must say that I for one was somewhat taken aback by this diagnosis. Because, if Ms Rowling has indeed been 'radicalised', that means she harbours beliefs that are 'radical'. In which case, would Sir Stephen be so kind as to tell us which of her beliefs he has in mind? Take, for example, Ms Rowling's belief that women don't have testicles. Or her belief that men can't give birth. Is either of those beliefs radical? Extreme? Wildly at variance with established medical science? Perhaps he's thinking of her belief that biological males should not be entitled to enter the female changing room at their local swimming pool and strip naked in front of small girls. Or her belief that confused children should not be pumped with drugs designed to prevent them from going through a normal, healthy puberty. Or her belief that we should not grant a convicted rapist his wish to be placed in a jail full of women merely because he's suddenly taken to sporting a blonde wig and pink leggings. Does Sir Stephen consider those beliefs to be radical? I do hope he'll let us know. It's urgent. Otherwise, there's a serious risk that innocent members of the public will become radicalised, too. In the meantime, I'm anxious to ascertain how exactly Ms Rowling came to fall for the outlandish notion that women are female and men are male. Who radicalised her? Sir Stephen reckons it was 'Terfs' (i.e., trans-exclusionary radical feminists). But I wonder if she was brainwashed at an early age – by, say, an O-level biology teacher. Or perhaps some appallingly irresponsible school librarian gave her access to a dictionary. Whatever the source of her indoctrination, I dread to think what crazed ideological nonsense this dangerous woman will pollute our children's minds with next. The Earth is round? Water is wet? Members of the family Ursidae typically defecate in arboreal environs? Then again, I suppose there is an alternative way to look at this story. Which is that the beliefs Ms Rowling espouses have been completely mainstream since the dawn of humanity – and that it is, in fact, her opponents who have been 'radicalised'. Just a thought. Lost in translation A 29-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, we learnt this week, attempted to defend his rape of a 15-year-old Scottish girl by claiming that he had not been 'educated' about the 'significant cultural differences' between Afghanistan and Britain. As it turned out, the court didn't buy this excuse. Which is a relief. After all, doesn't his argument imply that Britain was somehow at fault, for failing to 'educate' him about these 'differences' when he arrived? God only knows what he thinks the authorities should have said, the day his dinghy washed up here in 2023. 'Good afternoon, sir, and welcome to our country! Please do make yourself at home. But, if you don't mind, we'd just like to help you fit in by giving you a quick introduction to a few traditional British customs. 'Number one: we're completely obsessed with talking about the weather! Number two: we drink endless cups of tea! Number three: we all absolutely love the adorable adventures of Paddington bear! 'Oh, and number four: we generally tend to frown on grown men who rape children in the street. 'We appreciate, sir, that as a newcomer you may find this a touch puzzling. But then, all cultures have their distinctive little quirks and foibles, don't they? And 'not sexually assaulting terrified pubescent girls' just happens to be one of ours. So we thought we'd better give you a little heads-up, to save you from making a rather embarrassing faux pas! 'Of course, there are some people in our country who have been known to disregard the above convention. Late BBC disc jockeys, for example, and Pakistani grooming gangs. The feeling among the wider British public, though, is that it's still something of a no-no, and best avoided. After all, you can't be certain that our police, social workers and politicians will cover it up for you! I mean, they might, but it's not guaranteed. 'Anyway, thanks for listening, sir, and have a lovely new life! The hotel's this way, we'll just come and check you in.' A question of Pride LGBT Pride is about to enter its fourth week. Best wishes to all who are still celebrating. I hope no one will be offended, however, if I respectfully ask why this event now has to last for an entire month. It does feel like quite a long time. Especially when you compare the lengths of certain other annual events. For example, we have Pride month – but Remembrance fortnight. So we now spend twice as long waving rainbow flags as we do honouring those who died defending us. There's nothing hateful about suggesting that Pride has started to drag on a bit. When people complain about shops putting their festive decorations up in September, it doesn't mean they hate Christmas. It just means they think Christmas should last 12 days, not four months. Mind you, there are now so many different groups under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, I suppose it takes about a month just to list them all.
Telegraph
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
I will never stop arguing for women's rights – even when the trans lobby call me the enemy
When I saw the WhatsApp messages of Labour ministers dismayed that the Supreme Court had clarified the law (Sex in the 2010 Equality Act means biological sex), I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to these people. A couple of them were people I once put myself on the line to stand up for, but now they cannot stand up for women's fundamental rights. In 2003, when Chris Bryant was being smeared in the tabloids – a picture of him posing on Gaydar in his knickers had been published – I wrote pieces defending him, even in the very Right-wing papers that were trying to bring him down. It seemed to me it was his business, he harmed no one. He spoke about what a horrible time that was, he didn't sleep, journalists were doorstepping his family, friends of his were being abused. All this behaviour I found vile and still do. The man has never spoken to me – I am not important enough – but there you go. In 1997 when Angela Eagle no longer wanted to hide her sexuality, she came to me. I knew her and her girlfriend through mutual friends and respected her as a hard-working MP and as a feminist. I knew how to make it into a lovely, happy story and did so. It was a sunny day when we went out for the pictures. My main concern was to get Angela to take off her boxy jacket – in those days a lot of Labour women wore hideous suits. It all worked very well and she got very little kickback. The world was ready to embrace a lesbian MP. Things had changed since the only other 'out' lesbian MP, Maureen Colquhoun, had been deselected for her sexuality in 1979. What I wanted to do was to make sure that this was a 'coming out' where we supportively controlled the narrative. The last time I saw Angela, she was having a terrible time under the Corbyn regime and burst into tears. My commitment to gay rights has never wavered, but now I find myself cast as the enemy of such people who have signed up to the trans agenda. It's weird frankly but there are a lot of them in the party and this is why despite last week's win, we still have to argue for women's rights. Trans people lost no rights last week, but heterosexual men can no longer barge their way into lesbian spaces. Does Dame Angela really think this is a bad thing? I would love to discuss it with her. Last weekend we saw the reaction of those angry at the Supreme Court ruling. It is obvious that their understanding of it is as good as their understanding of biology. They are utterly clueless, regurgitating slogans rather than having read the judgment. That is not dangerous, but their rage is. Keir Starmer, having recently discovered 'toxic masculinity' by watching the drama Adolescence on TV has said nothing. Yet this toxicity was on full display on our streets. There were the usual calls to murder JK Rowling and now Wes Streeting, placards about lynching Terfs and mass urination. Why oh why would women not want to share private space with these p---y men? Two women were assaulted and on X, some have said it's a shame they were not killed. But what has got both the Met and Yvette Cooper worried is that statues – including the one of Millicent Fawcett – a symbol of female suffrage were defaced and peed on. They have appealed for information on this. They are more concerned with protecting statues than actual women. This is par for the course. Whatever they say, violence against women is not a priority for this Government. We saw it with the refusal to hold an inquiry into grooming gangs and we are seeing it again now. Those who have fooled themselves that trans rights are the new civil rights movement – so 2020! – cannot climb down. They must scurry about to organise. What exactly? Breaking the law. Does Starmer, a man of the law, condone this? Meanwhile union bosses and various nutjob MPs join demos where men in horrible dresses call for violence against women who disagree with them. How much more clear does it need to be? These activists are Men's Rights Activists using the trans issue to spill their misogyny everywhere. And yes, of course there are women who are their support animals endorsing this because they naively think the world should be a nicer place. Their feminism is as deep as the greeting on a hallmark card. I haven't spent a decade being threatened to give up now. Indeed, the last week has been one of mood swings. Victory yes, but why did we have to go through this? What does solidarity mean to these Labour MPs I wonder? When the chips were down, I knew what I stood for: that no one should ever be persecuted for their sexuality. Now I have seen though that none of this was reciprocal. Solidarity is transitory and conditional to ambitious politicians. Those now in government who think my sex-based rights are something to be ignored can have as many secret meetings as they like. WhatsApp me if you want to be fully 'inclusive'.
