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- Sep 20, 2018
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I haven't really been following it, but as I recall the fuss started over her taking exception to the phrase "people who menstruate" rather than "women who menstruate" in some medical advice, which seemed to me simply wrongheaded on her part, unless she thought the advice wasn't applicable equally to girls who have reached puberty and whose periods have started and to trans men who still menstruate, but then it seemed to go off the deep end rather.I usually find Jim Sterling to be entertaining. But it seems he's joined the strange crowd of people who think J. K. Rowling is somehow transphobic. Therefore the eyeroll. In this instance I'm with Rowling. But I'm not going to call people names.
If she's not transphobic, why are so many trans people saying she is, or don't they understand transphobia properly? She might not have intended any offence, but generally that's not the point, in my experience -- men explaining to women what's sexist and what isn't, or white people explaining racism to black people, or supporters of Jeremy Corbyn explaining antisemitism to Jews, doesn't normally end well, and I'd have thought a similar principle should apply to Cis people and transphobia.
As I keep on saying, I've always taken the view that, if I've said something that hurts or offends someone, and I didn't intend any harm or offence, then the appropriate course of action is to apologise and hope that the offended party will accept my assurances that no insult or injury was intended, and it won't happen again.
Anything else seems bound to lead to a fight, which is something I generally try to avoid unless I have good reason to do otherwise.