When I was growing up in the 80’s, my mates & I used to walk past a house, on the way to school, where we’d occasionally have a snigger – because the village Transvestite lived there.
We didn’t feel threatened, or that this person was going to corrupt us, this person’s sexual pecadilo was just a little different from the ‘norm’.
Why mention the village Transvestite?
Most of the stories, including Graham Linehan’s, often revolve around cross-dressing people (mainly men, but not exclusively) when confusing them with trans-sexuals.
Example: Linehan tweeted:
“If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
So here’s the point: Does Caitlyn Jenner have any balls?
The absolute answer is NO, she fully transitioned in 2017 after initially sharing her journey in 2015. This includes years of hormone treatment and surgery.
And this is fundamentally part of the problem, the conflating of the two separate types of people, I guess that’s easily done for the hard of thinking, as they both have the prefix of Trans.
If a man wants to transition to a woman, then maybe society should be more accepting and supportive of those people making such monumental decisions and fully commit to the process. Not villifying them because of a tiny % of bad actors. Let’s not forget, the vast majority of convicted sex offenders in the UK are White, usually males, not the Asian grooming gangs that GB News would have you believe.
Graham Linhan’s Freedom of Speech
This seems to be the main stick that Reform supporters, & the party itself, want to beat those of us who are sensible enough to understand that ‘Freedom of speech’ comes with responsibilities.
Freedom of speech isn’t freedom from consequences.
Just ask Lucy Connolly. She tweeted:
And was subsequently jailed for incitement when she pleaded guilty.
What’s this got to do with Linehan’s arrest?
Well, the Right wing of politics jumped on the fact that Linehan been arrested at Heathrow by five armed officers. Lots to point out to the hard of thinking;
- Police officers at airports are armed as a matter of course due to the very nature of the security risk.
- When Tommy Robinson was arrested on his arrival in to the UK, there was at least six armed officers – So this would point out it’s a procedural motivation rather than being heavy-handed with Linehan tried to portray it.
- Linehan is also currently in court on harassing a Trans activist, so hardly a beacon of understanding about the consequences of his actions & his freedom of speech.
- Linehan also accuses transsexuals of grooming (presumably minors, although Linehan has never mentioned minors, it’s hard to think of another scenario)
- Before going into court, Linehan posed with a sandwich board sign that said on one side: “There’s no such thing as a ‘transgender child’,” and on the other: “Keep men out of women’s sports.”
Let’s address this last point, as another anti trans mouth piece, Sharon Davies, seems to think that trans athletes produce better results than their biological opposites.
Trans athletes have an advantage?
When it comes to trans athletes who have medically transitioned, studies based on cis athletes are not always relevant. Gender-affirming treatments, such as hormone therapy, can significantly affect both body composition and hormone levels. This raises an important question: how do those changes actually influence athletic performance?
Scientists on all sides agree on only one thing; because the number of trans athletes is so small, research specifically focused on them is extremely limited. While there are several studies comparing anatomical traits, such as muscle mass in women who transition, these don’t directly measure how performance is affected.
In fact, we could only identify 12 studies that tested the physical fitness of trans adult women in controlled settings. Of those, eight involved fewer than 20 participants, and two focused on just one athlete. Drawing broad conclusions from such small samples is risky.
Overall, these studies generally find that medical transition does affect performance, but they disagree on the extent of the impact. Researcher Joanna Harper conducted the only longitudinal study so far involving multiple athletes, tracking eight long-distance runners. After at least a year on hormone therapy, their race times became more comparable to those of cisgender women than cisgender men. However, Harper herself acknowledges the study’s limitations and the nuance in its findings:
“It is undoubtedly true that trans women will maintain advantages in some sports. Probably not so much in endurance sports, but in size and strength sports. Trans women will also have some physiological disadvantages. Larger frames are now being powered by reduced muscle mass and reduced aerobic capacity, and that can lead to disadvantages in terms like quickness, recovery, endurance, things that maybe aren’t quite as obvious as being bigger and stronger.”
Most people know the name Lia Thomas, She began her collegiate career on the University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team, competing for a year while undergoing hormone therapy in line with NCAA regulations at the time. She gained national attention after winning the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle championship, achieving her best time of the season in that race.
However, her winning time was still nine seconds slower than Katie Ledecky’s record. It was also the only event she won at that championship. Thomas placed eighth in the 100-yard freestyle and, in a notable twist, tied for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle with Riley Gaines, who later rose to prominence in US Republican conservative circles partly because of that result.
Whilst it’s unfair to take that one individual and pin all evidence on that one swim meet, it also dismisses the myth that trans athletes have a distinct advantage.
Conclusion on the Trans issue.
A man in woman’s clothes isn’t a trans-sexual, they are a transvestite. That’s not opinion, but fact – as supported by the UK Supreme Court.
But because this is now more nuanced, ask yourself this: Which bathroom does Caitlyn Jenner now use?
And that should be the barometer. Not binary, blunt tweets from supposed educated writers trying to be relevant – Twitter lacks nuance and subtlety, and Graham Linehan would know this.
Linehan is banking on the faux outrage from the Right of politics for his own agenda. Should a pre-op trans-sexual be in a woman only space, no. But someone who has fully transitioned is, for all intense purposes now adopted that gender & lifestyle (it also pulls a hole in Linehan’s “punch them in the balls” incitement), then yes.
It’s a nuanced debate & shouting on Twitter isn’t the answer.
