The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021
- Thread starter GordonM
- Start date
Hazelberry
sister
Another video recommendation:
Tony L
Administrator
At present all of the money and power is pushing one side of the argument as it is such a useful tool of division in the far-right culture war armoury that is dominating our politics and media. There is no money on the other side. The reality is trans folk are amongst the most vulnerable and disenfranchised groupings in any population, they are tiny in number (0.2% or so IIRC, maybe less), and are still routinely criminalised or even murdered in many authoritarian/religious states across the world. They need all the support and empathy the rest of us can give as the current political environment is genuinely an existential threat to this grouping.
Trans women are an ideal target. Unlike previous victims of this technique (Jews, Black people, Muslims, Gay men, Irish, Romanians, Somalis, take your pick) trans women are so few in number that your chance of actually meeting such a person and having your prejudice challenged by reality is quite low.
Rowling's original concerns were based on the highly unlikely premise of the abusive "man" claiming to be a trans woman to gain entry to female-only refuges. This is a fairly unlikely scenario, but in the way it interacts with the law it is no different to a situation that does arise with women fleeing abusive same-sex relationships. Surprise, surprise, the people who run these spaces are very aware of the risks to the people within, and "I am a woman" has never been grounds enough to be granted access.
I do think the vitriol she was met with from some well-meaning but unhelpful quarters after her first pronouncements had the effect of driving her away from civilised debate and into the orbit of some really nasty specimens, from where she has been given moral support to double down on her uninformed and hurtful pronouncements.
Rowling's original concerns were based on the highly unlikely premise of the abusive "man" claiming to be a trans woman to gain entry to female-only refuges. This is a fairly unlikely scenario, but in the way it interacts with the law it is no different to a situation that does arise with women fleeing abusive same-sex relationships. Surprise, surprise, the people who run these spaces are very aware of the risks to the people within, and "I am a woman" has never been grounds enough to be granted access.
I do think the vitriol she was met with from some well-meaning but unhelpful quarters after her first pronouncements had the effect of driving her away from civilised debate and into the orbit of some really nasty specimens, from where she has been given moral support to double down on her uninformed and hurtful pronouncements.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Many others, particularly in Scotland have smelled a rat with her propaganda, in large part because she has used it as one component of a much broader attack on the party of govt in Scotland and in particular a vendetta against Nicola Sturgeon for not kowtowing to her. I see her role as exactly the same as any Frank Hester, Crispin Odey or Legatum organ grinder.