I'm pretty sure her parents had exactly as much reason to believe that she was a girl when she was 2 as I do to believe my daughter is a girl, and I'm kind of pissed at you telling me I need to stop saying I have a girl, and instead that I have a undefined until sex test or successful pregnancy.
Like for God's sake. You are not the person standing for common sense when you say that there are some people born with vaginas who obviously are not girls and never were.
I think there’s a miscommunication here because of the general conflating biological sex and gender. If Khelif has XY chromosomes she’s not female in a biological sense, but I think it’s also reasonable for her parents to have assumed she was a girl and to see her that way.
What is odd is people insisting she is still biologically female if she instead has a male DSD. We can’t lose the words to describe these fundamental physical and chemical distinctions, even while respecting people’s sense of self.
I think you are confusing 'biologically male' with genetically male. People with this condition are biologically ambiguous, because phenotype is part of biology, but genetically unambiguous.
You are using the phrase 'biologically male' to hide an argument that you are pretending is the same as what is unambiguously true but which is actually more ambitious.
They are biologically male, with underdeveloped genitalia.
There are lots of conditions where someone’s anatomy does not develop along normal lines due to a developmental problem. We recognise that those people have physical differences without trying to recategorise them because they don’t match the usual ‘phenotype’.
It is completely understandable in the absence of blood tests to mistake a male with the more extreme form of 5ARD for a female at birth and up until puberty. At puberty they will start to look and sound more male than female, and they won’t menstruate - even the densest parents should be visiting a doctor if their ‘daughter’ has not started menstruating by their late teens.
The thing is, someone which 5ARD is not born with a ‘vagina’ -which is completely internal and not viewable externally - they are born with ambiguous external genitalia. That ambiguity can range from a micro-penis to a pseudo-vaginal pouch - something that looks very much like a vulva externally but is basically a fold that goes nowhere. However, the difference becomes obvious at puberty, even for the latter - a micropenis will get somewhat bigger, and there will be no menstruation.
The boxing controversy shows pretty shameful - and as you say, dangerous - behaviour - from the sporting authorities. Time to use male pronouns for those competitors who know they’re male…and I include Semenya in that, who fathered children & who says ‘my testicles don’t make me any less of a woman.’ We can have sympathy for athletes in this position, without colluding in the persistent deceit of ‘she/her’.
"not her singular purpose, and not a strange indulgence on her part to be grudgingly tolerated"
Absolutely critical point by Sarah Ditum - pro birth is not the same (and is almost never in practice) pro mother and baby. US States who want to prevent abortion don't seem to want to achieve that by supporting women to have children safely and with support for them and their children once born. In this country women are both damned if they do and damned if they don't - viz. "you're not ill, just pregnant" and the same Nigel Farage who has uttered remonstrances about how reasonable it is for employers to shy away from employing women with children or of child-bearing potential.
So is it your or your publishers’ view that Up North (of Buxton, which is a long way from here) - let alone in Scotland or Wales - we don’t have any [mythical] geniuses? I’d gladly come to one of your events if it didn’t mean more than 2 hours travel each way!
No, it’s about the lack of invitations — the only thing I’ve had north of Derbyshire was a festival in rural Scotland, which was impossible to fit around a full time job. Take it up with your local library, university or bookshop!
It’s just been revealed that Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, has been appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, despite having no apparent experience of working in literature, publishing or festivals.
I'm not sure that Sofia Coppola's films are not all about the male gaze. The Virgin Suicides is literally about that. The book and film are marvels. I wish I was the writer, but still veryuch male gazey. If you want a film that is 100% female gaze, try Portrait of a Lady On Fire. It's quintessentially feminist.
I'm not smart enough to pass judgement on the Laura Mulvey essay but I will die on the hill that Lena Dunham's "Girls" was a real breakthrough in how women are portrayed on screen. Issa Rae's "Insecure" too, with race as an added ingredient. Brilliant writing all around.
Ella Dorn gets the title of Mulvey's article wrong, which seems pretty basic. It doesn't occur to her (or she doesn't seem to know) that Mulvey herself has revisited the arguments in her 1975 article many times, or that Mulvey isn't responsible for mis-readings or simplifications of her arguments, including those by this author.
It was an interesting read but whenever I read something like this I think that the claimant is simply looking for examples that confirm their priors - which is what Dorn is claiming Mulvey did:
"Quite often when someone has a bad, Mulvey-tinged take about sex relations in cinema I go on their Letterboxd and find it completely blank before the 1980s, with the exception of Disney animation and one or two standards you shouldn’t take out of context, like Breathless and Citizen Kane. This state of affairs is much more common among ‘film girls’ than ‘film bros’"
And yet there are *still* people who fervently believe that Imane Khelif is female. Blows my mind.
I'm pretty sure her parents had exactly as much reason to believe that she was a girl when she was 2 as I do to believe my daughter is a girl, and I'm kind of pissed at you telling me I need to stop saying I have a girl, and instead that I have a undefined until sex test or successful pregnancy.
Like for God's sake. You are not the person standing for common sense when you say that there are some people born with vaginas who obviously are not girls and never were.
I think there’s a miscommunication here because of the general conflating biological sex and gender. If Khelif has XY chromosomes she’s not female in a biological sense, but I think it’s also reasonable for her parents to have assumed she was a girl and to see her that way.
What is odd is people insisting she is still biologically female if she instead has a male DSD. We can’t lose the words to describe these fundamental physical and chemical distinctions, even while respecting people’s sense of self.
I think you are confusing 'biologically male' with genetically male. People with this condition are biologically ambiguous, because phenotype is part of biology, but genetically unambiguous.
You are using the phrase 'biologically male' to hide an argument that you are pretending is the same as what is unambiguously true but which is actually more ambitious.
They are biologically male, with underdeveloped genitalia.
There are lots of conditions where someone’s anatomy does not develop along normal lines due to a developmental problem. We recognise that those people have physical differences without trying to recategorise them because they don’t match the usual ‘phenotype’.
It is completely understandable in the absence of blood tests to mistake a male with the more extreme form of 5ARD for a female at birth and up until puberty. At puberty they will start to look and sound more male than female, and they won’t menstruate - even the densest parents should be visiting a doctor if their ‘daughter’ has not started menstruating by their late teens.
The thing is, someone which 5ARD is not born with a ‘vagina’ -which is completely internal and not viewable externally - they are born with ambiguous external genitalia. That ambiguity can range from a micro-penis to a pseudo-vaginal pouch - something that looks very much like a vulva externally but is basically a fold that goes nowhere. However, the difference becomes obvious at puberty, even for the latter - a micropenis will get somewhat bigger, and there will be no menstruation.
The boxing controversy shows pretty shameful - and as you say, dangerous - behaviour - from the sporting authorities. Time to use male pronouns for those competitors who know they’re male…and I include Semenya in that, who fathered children & who says ‘my testicles don’t make me any less of a woman.’ We can have sympathy for athletes in this position, without colluding in the persistent deceit of ‘she/her’.
"not her singular purpose, and not a strange indulgence on her part to be grudgingly tolerated"
Absolutely critical point by Sarah Ditum - pro birth is not the same (and is almost never in practice) pro mother and baby. US States who want to prevent abortion don't seem to want to achieve that by supporting women to have children safely and with support for them and their children once born. In this country women are both damned if they do and damned if they don't - viz. "you're not ill, just pregnant" and the same Nigel Farage who has uttered remonstrances about how reasonable it is for employers to shy away from employing women with children or of child-bearing potential.
So is it your or your publishers’ view that Up North (of Buxton, which is a long way from here) - let alone in Scotland or Wales - we don’t have any [mythical] geniuses? I’d gladly come to one of your events if it didn’t mean more than 2 hours travel each way!
No, it’s about the lack of invitations — the only thing I’ve had north of Derbyshire was a festival in rural Scotland, which was impossible to fit around a full time job. Take it up with your local library, university or bookshop!
Have you been invited to appear at the Edinburgh International Books Festival? 🤞
Nope!
It’s just been revealed that Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, has been appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, despite having no apparent experience of working in literature, publishing or festivals.
Further proof the EIBF is rubbish these days.
That Sam Parker piece is just wonderful (and I am childfree by choice). So joyous.
Yeah, I really liked it as a change of pace from all the woe!
To be fair to Bristol, Clifton probably has the highest percentage of NIMBYs in the city.
I'm not sure that Sofia Coppola's films are not all about the male gaze. The Virgin Suicides is literally about that. The book and film are marvels. I wish I was the writer, but still veryuch male gazey. If you want a film that is 100% female gaze, try Portrait of a Lady On Fire. It's quintessentially feminist.
I'm not smart enough to pass judgement on the Laura Mulvey essay but I will die on the hill that Lena Dunham's "Girls" was a real breakthrough in how women are portrayed on screen. Issa Rae's "Insecure" too, with race as an added ingredient. Brilliant writing all around.
When you say last “Strong message here” please dont mean final - as in, the end, no more, never again.
I’m coming back for the last two of the series, but that’s your lot from me!
Sad to hear. But good luck with whatever you decide to do instead.
Enjoyed the podcast with Jon Stewart, but did feel it missed a guest appearance from your friends Jesse and Katie at blocked and reported!
I love the energy and humour in your writing.
Ella Dorn gets the title of Mulvey's article wrong, which seems pretty basic. It doesn't occur to her (or she doesn't seem to know) that Mulvey herself has revisited the arguments in her 1975 article many times, or that Mulvey isn't responsible for mis-readings or simplifications of her arguments, including those by this author.
It was an interesting read but whenever I read something like this I think that the claimant is simply looking for examples that confirm their priors - which is what Dorn is claiming Mulvey did:
"Quite often when someone has a bad, Mulvey-tinged take about sex relations in cinema I go on their Letterboxd and find it completely blank before the 1980s, with the exception of Disney animation and one or two standards you shouldn’t take out of context, like Breathless and Citizen Kane. This state of affairs is much more common among ‘film girls’ than ‘film bros’"