Targeting / HarassmentHow “Cancel Culture” Repeatedly Emerged in My Attempt to Make a Film About Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova

submitted by quickbeam from theintercept.com

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[–]Jamiethiel2018 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Interesting. One wonders, with all that time, why not investigate the science, look beneath the hood co to speak? Why does he object to Martina's views without engaging with what is actually known? The author doesn't bother to check what effect the hormones do and don't have. I also wonder if he had been aware of all the physical advantages, he would change his mind.

I doubt it. Doublespeak makes critical thinking difficult.

[–]Radfem_the_Hun 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Wow, I didn't know about all that happened to Kimberly Peirce:

Another thing I learned is what happened to Peirce after being invited in 2016 to speak about “Boys Don’t Cry” at Reed College in Oregon. The speech was to take place after a showing of the film. But almost immediately after Peirce tried to begin to speak, student protesters rushed the stage and began screaming and hurling insults and epithets. Signs had been posted aimed at Peirce that read: “Fuck Your Transphobia,” “You Don’t Fucking Get It,” and “Fuck This Cis White Bitch.” For more than two hours, screaming students refused to let Peirce speak and vowed never to let the event happen at Reed. Peirce stood accused of transphobia.

How did the gender nonbinary director of one the most groundbreaking films for trans people ever produced by Hollywood become the violent enemy of these trans activists to the point of being deemed so irremediably evil that Reed students could not hear the event? They accused Peirce of being a profiteer off of trans lives and a privileged “cis woman” for having cast another cis woman, Swank, in the role of Teena, rather than a trans male actor.

. . .

These posters voiced a range of responses to the film including: “You don’t fucking get it!” and “Fuck Your Transphobia!” as well as “Trans Lives Do Not Equal $$” and to cap it all, the sign hung on the podium read: “Fuck this cis white bitch”!! The protestors waited until after the film had screened at Peirce’s request and then entered the auditorium while shouting “Fuck your respectability politics” and yelling over her commentary until Peirce left the room. After establishing some ground rules for a discussion, Peirce came back into the room but the conversation again got out of hand and finally a student yelled at Peirce: “Fuck you scared bitch.” At which point the protestors filed out and Peirce left campus.

Is this really what these privileged assholes think activism is?

[–]blackrainbow 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

TRAs are ridiculous, we shouldn't take them so seriously

[–]PainfulTruthsMatter 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Is this really what these privileged assholes think activism is?

Yes. The trans movement is basically its own worst enemy.

[–]sallytomato 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Wow. Just wow. The fact that Brandon Teena had not started HRT or had SRS means it was not that far-fetched to cast Hilary Swank in the role. There's also a very good resemblance between Brandon and Hilary. And why is the director's race relevant? Brandon was also white. Peirce puts the spotlight on a trans person's life in a way that had not really been seen before this film came out and now is being accused of profiting off of trans people? Do you want stories about trans people told or not? Or should they only be told by trans directors and trans actors? These people make my head hurt.

[–]emptiedriver 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Fascinating article and so frustrating too. The entire time it is simply assumed that Navratilova is unfortunately misled, emotionally riled up into becoming bigoted and backwards. There's no room for the possibility that she actually did the research as she promised to do and rationally concluded that the fair answer is also what initially seemed to make sense: that male-bodied people should not compete in female sports, and if exceptions are made they must be strict & non-reversible not just based on self-identification. How is what she's saying a sad, discriminatory, unacceptable viewpoint that doesn't even deserve to be part of documentary anymore? It's so boringly obvious, and also scientifically evident...

[–]ImPiqued1111111 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Hi there. I have a bit of a different take. I'm very familiar with Greenwald's work. I believe based on the tone of the article and his careful choice of words that he agrees with Martina.

He takes pains throughout the article to paint her as an admirable figure. He demonstrates how appalling TRAs behave. He shows what an asshole MacKinnon is, and how respectful Martina was in that exchange.

As for the issue of how he handles trans women in sports itself. Greenwald is an honest, factual journalist. He's legendary, as well as a lefty. Also in the LGBT community. He's not quite in a position to come right out and agree with her on this or he'll be canceled out of existence. Instead what he did is walked a fine line. He said he believes his intentions were good, that she wants to uphold the institution of women's sports that she worked so hard to build up (true). He throws a few bones to the TRAs that he KNOWS are rabid and says maybe she's misinformed (not necessarily inaccurate from a factual perspective, he's not a mind-reader). And then ultimately says I don't personally understand the science enough to ultimately make my own judgment on this matter (so not actually disagreeing with her). Which, he can get away with because he's not a science reporter. And he can eke by without enraging the TRAs, while also indicating to his sane readers that he doesn't necessarily buy into all of that.

When you take this all together with the overall tone of the article, I'm going to read between the lines and infer that he actually is Team Martina on this, and very cleverly gets this across while toeing the line enough. Or, at the very least, has constructed the article in just such a way to present this issue to a wider lefty audience where Greenwald is highly respected to show them the madness that is really going on in the trans/TRA community. If you take a look at the comments, people are peaking hard.

*New to Saidit, longtime lurker on reddit, hope I'm welcome here.

[–]emptiedriver 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the insight. I sometimes forget how hard it can be to get a word in edgewise if you aren't extremely subtle, which of course just makes people accuse even the most softly spoken comment as being secretly transphobic...

[–]ImPiqued1111111 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for taking the time to read my comment! Appreciated. :)