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Helen Joyce: All Trans People Break the World
It sounds metal, but actually, she just doesn’t like us
Shortly after the release of the Cass Review, John Anderson, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, interviewed anti-trans writer Helen Joyce. You can hear the 1 hour, 16 minute video on YouTube. It’s called “Transgender Ideology, The Cass Review, and Stopping Child Harm.” A month later, it has over a hundred thousand views.
Joyce uses eliminationist language against trans people, so I think this is important to pay attention to.
Trans People Are Not Invited to the Table
Anderson’s first question is: “Can you give us a summary of the background and the history of this thing we’re calling ‘transgenderism’?” (1:45–52)
The very wording of the question reveals their flawed approach. They could have begun by acknowledging that some people are transgender, wonder what it’s like for them to be trans, invite them on the show to speak for themselves, and allow them to use their own language. Instead, they’re sharing a framework in which there’s a “thing” and they get to decide what it’s called. The “thing” is not tied to any particular humans who might live that experience and make cogent statements about it.
