rettahb

Nothing to see here..... Move along.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

Every word.

[Meidas_Charise Lee @charise_lee]

This is sickening…This makes perfect sense now how there’s just nothing but crazy shit posting, it’s whatever they want to make up, and they just post it.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

I’ve just seen a post from yet another man who thinks my position has shifted since I wrote my 2020 essay about gender identity ideology and the consequent clash of rights https://t.co/pasxBD1Hzl

For the avoidance of doubt, I stand by every word I wrote then. For instance: ‘woman isn’t a costume.’ If it surprises you that I say men don’t become women by wearing make up and dresses, you didn’t understand the essay. I’ve been crystal clear all along that I believe people are free to live and present themselves as the opposite sex if that’s what feels comfortable and authentic TO THEM. This appears to have been interpreted (most often, tellingly, by men) as ‘and it naturally follows that I, as a woman, will validate a man’s belief that he is now, to all intents and purposes, the same sex as me, and I will use only the speech he deems appropriate and will be very careful to protect his sensitive ego, no matter the cost to myself in pretending to believe a falsehood, or the loss of my own rights due to this pretence.’

Dress as you like within normal bounds of situational decency, wear lipstick, sequins and a beard if you want, call yourself whatever you like, have sex with any consenting adult you please: I wish you health, happiness and safety. What you don’t get is the power to compel my speech and belief.

When I call a man a man, I am speaking verifiable truth. It is essential to be able to accurately name sex when discussing fair sport, facilities and services for women and girls and the right of gay people not to be demonised for their same-sex attraction. In years to come, a lot of useful idiots are going to awake to the fact that they’ve been complicit in enormous harm done to women, girls, gay people who stood against the insanity, and some extremely vulnerable young people. I don’t doubt we’ll hear a lot of, ‘I thought I was just being kind.’ Such individuals, especially those in positions of power, should be asked why they never had anything to say about the loud, public, widespread unkindness directed against those who refused to adopt their fashionable, elitist beliefs, eg, the detransitioners being bullied and vilified by former ‘allies’, the whistleblowers who tried to stop an unregulated experiment on troubled children, the women who lost their careers and livelihoods by standing up for all women’s rights.

Some people appear to believe it a worse crime for a woman to call a man a man than for trans activists to call loudly and publicly for the assault and assassination of all women who refuse to bend the knee. I have never wished violence or any other kind of harm on a trans-identified person, but, like many other people who’ve defended women’s and girls’ rights over the past few years, I have received thousands of threats of death, rape and torture. The wilful blindness of those who bleat ‘both sides’ will rightly be judged harshly in times to come.

TL;DR Trans women aren’t women, and if that hurts your feelings, be grateful you live in a society where you are just as free to espouse gender ideology as I am to speak the truth. As Orwell said: ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.’

[Maeve Halligan @MaeveHalligan]

"No, I don't subscribe to this 'kindness' - I'll tell the truth instead."

I spoke at the Cambridge Union last night about LGBs, children's safety and women's rights. Full video here:

[rettahb @rettahb]

Living in Hell https://t.co/y0py1dvdbD via @YouTube

We’re in big trouble.

[🇨🇦 Women Exist ♀ @Women___Exist]

@jk_rowling Reading through your excellent post, this kept ringing at the back of my mind:

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

'He has a point, but he's too blunt.'

From the start, a key tactic of the gender identitarians has been linguistic prescription, and it's proved shockingly successful. Trans activists' shibboleths and euphemisms have been allowed to penetrate the upper echelons of our culture with devastating consequences to freedom of speech and belief. Huge swathes of liberal media, the arts, academia and publishing have thrown themselves with gusto into the defence of a quasi-religious belief causing provable real world harm, and in their arrogance they've been outraged when people they assumed were part of their In Group have refused to march meekly along in lock step.

Time and again, I've seen and heard well-educated people who consider themselves critical thinkers and bold truth-tellers squirm when put on the spot. 'Well, yes, maybe there's something in what you're saying, but it's hateful/provocative/rude not to use the approved language/pretend people can literally change sex/keep drawing attention to medical malpractice or opportunistic sexual predators. Why can't you be nice? Why won't you pretend? We thought you were one of us! Don't you realise we have sophisticated new words and phrases these days that obviate the necessity of thinking any of this through?'

As the vibe shifts, and a lot of people in the elite professions start trying to reposition themselves, the obvious place to start is, 'it's not that I couldn't see your point, but did you have to say it that way?' We dissenters were supposed to find a way of questioning the chemical castration of children while calling it 'gender affirming care.' We were meant to defend the rights of vulnerable women while also using female pronouns for male rapists. We should have found a way to discuss fairness for women and girls in sport, while pretending that the ineradicable physical advantage men have over women doesn't exist.

Either a man can be a woman, or he can't. Either women deserve rights, or they don't. Either there's a provable medical benefit to transitioning children, or there isn't. Either you're on the side of a totalitarian ideology that seeks to impose falsehoods on society through the threat of ostracisation, shaming and violence, or you're not. The alternative to being 'blunt' - using accurate, factual language to describe what was going on - was to surrender freedom of speech and espouse ideological jargon that obfuscated the issues and the harms caused. We've always needed blunt people, but we need them most of all when being asked to bow down to a naked emperor.

[rettahb @rettahb]

@JuryTrialReport @JenniferSey … as long as they play with their own biological sex. Otherwise, what’s the point of female sports?

[Lisa Mackenzie @lnmackenzie1]

Gay men and lesbians having to meet in secret because same-sex attraction is denied by gender identity ideology. Welcome to the new homophobia. https://t.co/16TWmCdbFn

[Jahanzib Wesa @jahanzebwesa]

In Kandahar, near the Taliban leader’s residence, women face hunger and despair. One widow says: “My family served in the former army, they were killed. Now I have nothing. We’re banned from work and even from begging for food.”

This is life for Afghan women under Taliban rule.

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

If you believe free speech is for you but not your political opponents, you're illiberal.

If no contrary evidence could change your beliefs, you're a fundamentalist.

If you believe the state should punish those with contrary views, you're a totalitarian.

If you believe political opponents should be punished with violence or death, you're a terrorist.

[Amber Woods @AmberWoods100]

🚨🚨 BREAKING: Epstein survivors will hold a press conference on Capitol Hill Sept 3rd, 10:30AM ET.

For the first time, many will speak publicly about what happened and demand the release of the Epstein Files.

I’ve been on this relentlessly and won’t stop now.

I will be live covering—follow me for updates and coverage they can’t bury.

Please share this so survivors voices are heard in the madness of the news cycle. This is important. 👏🖤

#EpsteinTrumpFiles

[Just saying @kangaroos991]

👇 Thank you for your service! 🙏💙

[TizzyEnt @TizzyEnt]

Des Moine, Iowa. Who is he?

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

The Twilight of Nicola Sturgeon
My review of Frankly
https://t.co/2TBwrFEs2b

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

YEP.