o being a member of Team Progressive. From a distance, if you didn’t think very hard about it, trans activism could look a bit like the fight for gay liberation. After all, it seemed to annoy the very people who’d get annoyed about the latter. It’s therefore incredibly ironic that so many people who claim to want an end to binaries have found themselves supporting a misogynistic, homophobic movement because they can’t conceive of there being more than two sides.
It is much easier to don a “Protect the dolls” t-shirt than to answer any of the following questions: what’s the difference between a trans woman and a man who says he’s a woman? How do you conflate sex and gender without reinforcing sexism? How is gender diversity promoted by telling gender non-conforming children they’re actually the opposite sex?
Ask such questions, and you will be commanded to shut up and listen to trans people. Alas, as many of us who did this discovered, you were only ever really expected to obey the first part. Genuinely engaging with the arguments of trans activists is a surefire way to turn anyone into a Terf. This is arguably one of the reasons why Rowling has been excluded and denounced by so many supposedly thoughtful, kind people. They can’t refute her arguments.
Columbus might have no in-depth knowledge about this particular issue. That he, like so many others, is so willing to condemn Rowling without any clear justification is nonetheless to his shame.
If you’re in favour of puberty blockers for confused children and the end to all single-sex resources and spaces, you ought at least to own it. Tell us why. Otherwise, you’re just a man throwing rocks at a woman because all your mates are doing the same.
As I said yesterday, I don't suppose Columbus has given the subject much thought, beyond picking up on the general opinions of the nice "be kind" sort of people with whom he mixes. For them trans people are an oppressed minority to whom Rowling is, inexplicably, unpleasant. And that's it.
