Hilary Mantel

[jo_blogs]

I'm thinking about reviving this journal as a tentative step towards getting back to writing about my day to day life.

I was on Twitter today for work (not in a personal capacity) and came across the following extract from an interview with Hilary Mantel. I thought it was worth sharing. If anyone reads this and is moved to respond, all points of

Comments

[jo_blogs]

Amy! Yes, it's been a long time. I'm doing pretty well, thank you. Hope you are, too.

I think we agree that everyone should have the opportunity to request how they are addressed, and that preferred pronouns, where known, should be respected and observed. It's common courtesy apart from anything else. I also think that women should be allowed to refuse being misgendered in the way Mantel describes, and the space should be preserved for people not to declare their pronouns or gender identity. I don't want to refer to myself as cisgender, for example, or to put she/her pronouns in my work email signature. This is because I am well-informed about gender theory and have thought through my position on this. As a young woman at university studying feminism as part of my English degree, I came to the decision that I was a socialist feminist. I don't much care for labels but, thirty years on, that one still feels like the best description of my politics.

[jo_blogs]

Amy, I'm sorry. I don't think I expressed myself very well. I'm really unsure about how to talk about this subject and I realise I haven't addressed any of your points. I don't want to close down discussion, but when things are so polarised, it's hard. I get stuck because I want to be honest and while I do trust the people who may read this not to flame me, it's an emotive issue, and I've been very scared to talk about it because of experiences I've had

[sea_thoughts]

Yes, Hilary Mantel! I've read her memoir about struggling with what turned out to be endometriosis (Giving Up The Ghost) and what it did to her body, so I am not surprised she has thoughts about being called 'they'.

[jo_blogs]

I've only read one of her books many years ago (Beyond Black) - hoping to read Wolf Hall soon. When I was ill, I didn't feel strong enough to read her because fiction affects me so deeply, but thankfully I'm past that now and the more I hear about her, the more I want to know her work.

I think it's common for women to have a sense of their womanhood being tested for all sorts of reasons. Those of us who, owing to what used to be termed "female problems", have experienced severe, unremitting pain for years/decades and needed our organs removing to relieve it are at the sharper end of that, perhaps. I think it's also common for women to have a huge amount of sympathy for and sensitivity towards those in physical/mental/emotional distress of any kind, and I would, without a doubt, include writers like Mantel and JKR in that :).

[tdu000]

A few years ago, Germaine Greer came on Australian TV on a show called Q&A, which is like the BBC's Question Time. She go a real thrashing on social media for saying that someone who transitions to female as an adult has no experience of what it is like growing up as a girl and how that impacts on a girl's self-esteem and expectations and that male children get privileges from their upbringing (probably more true in Australia than many other countries). The response was predictable for saying something that is actually true. The flip side is also true, that the majority of us have no experience of what it is like growing up in the wrong body and how that impacts mental health etc. There seems to be way too much judgement made all round. Mind you, Germaine Greer-bashing is a sport that seems to unify most Australians

[jo_blogs]

Hi Bel, I'm so sorry I missed this at the time. I hope all is well with you.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I stopped checking LJ after Amy's response as I wasn't as resilient expressing my views on the topic as I thought.

Germaine Greer's point is correct, I think, as is yours. For me the end point of the argument is that no one knows what it's like to grow up, live and grow older in anyone's body other than one's own. I'm not a philosopher and that's not an argument in favour of solipsism. Rights should be based on all the evidence, with medical/scientific evidence given the greatest weight. Personal accounts of lived experience have their place and ideology has no place, in my view. Should everybody's rights be based on one group's stance about what constitutes sex and gender?

I wasn't taught at school that it's grammatically incorrect to use "they" as a gender neutral singular. Not that I remember anyway. My school was old-fashioned in its teaching methods. I would have thought it was correct in some contexts,

[amamama]

This is brilliantly said! I felt there was a whole lot of "woundism" going on, people tore into JKR and no matter what she said they just interpreted it in the worst way possible. What's wrong with politely agreeing to disagree?
Personally I feel this is all a symptom of the cultural genders being too tight, too narrow. Why must people be boxed? I am a woman and am happy to be so, if a biological man feels like a woman and wants to dress like one - then let him! Similarly the other way, of course. I wouldn't call that guy a woman, I'd say he's a guy with a feminine identity (or something like that), but I can't see how denying biology is the way to go. I wish it was socially acceptable to live however you wanted, and not having to have surgery and live a life on hormone pills to be accepted. I'm not sure I explain myself very well here, but I feel this issue is a symptom of a deeper issue we need to handle. Treating those who disagree as villains is not the way to go, however.

[jo_blogs]

Berte, hello! *squishes* As I said up there, to Bel, I'm so sorry I missed this at the time. Thank you for the feedback!

Hilary Mantel was a brilliant woman. One day I will get around to reading her other books.

I agree with you about "woundism" - what a great term.

"I wouldn't call that guy a woman, I'd say he's a guy with a feminine identity (or something like that), but I can't see how denying biology is the way to go."

Hear hear. We are on the same page :).

As for me, I am a woman and was not always happy to be so. I guess what I did with that was use those feelings to explore what it was that felt wrong about myself and read a lot of feminist and other theory to try and figure out the puzzle. With the result that I got very bogged down in postmodernist and psychoanalytic theories that were not always helpful. It actually terrifies me what might have happened to me as a child growing up in a rather feral state if social media and the malignant forces that prey on vulnerable teens online had been around then. It's rather a