1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 hello, hello and welcome back to A Bit 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Fruity, the show where we think that you 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 should never live in the closet, Harry, 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 even if the woman who created you changes her mind. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If you would like to support the show 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or perhaps want a little bit more of the 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 show, we are on Patreon and by the time 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this episode is up, it'll be around the 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 same time that I upload March's deep dive 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on Patreon, which I do every month 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this month it is on the wokeness of 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sydney Sweeney, the right just figured 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 out who Sydney Sweeney is because 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they saw her on SNL and they never watched 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Euphoria and her being hot is, uh, is 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 causing a freakout of epic proportions. 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So we're going to do a little analysis 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of a woman's body, which is something 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm fairly new to. 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, you know, wish me luck. 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Today we are joined, once again, by 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 someone I'm honored to call a friend 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the show, Natalie Wynn, or as you may 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 know her online, ContraPoints is, an 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ex-philosopher, she is a youtuber 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but I think calling her a youtuber 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is kind of diminutive to her craft. 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She puts out a couple feature film length 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 videos a year that you've probably 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 watched but if you haven't, you really 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 should go check those out. 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She talks about philosophy, sex and 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 gender, and capitalism, and twilight. 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Natalie Wynn welcome back to A Bit Fruity. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Thank you much for having me back on. 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I am excited to be here again. 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm honored to be a friend of the show. 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm honored to have you as a friend 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the show. So, a couple weeks ago 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 J.K. Rowling, she got caught up in a 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 little Holocaust denial. 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 She does Holocaust denial a little from 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 time to time, (laughter) yeah. 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It wasn't always this way. J.K. Rowlings 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wasn't always on Twitter denying 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that, uh, queer people were persecuted in 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the Holocaust. Until 2019, J.K. Rowlings 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was a universally beloved children's 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 author who taught every kid that there 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was magic inside of them no matter how 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 cast out they may feel. Today, though, 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how would you characterize her position 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the culture today? 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well, her position in the culture is 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of weirdly split, right, cause on 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the one hand, there is her continuing 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 legacy as the author of the wizard books 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and on the other hand, there's like 59 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 almost her entire public persona, that 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which we mostly experience through Twitter 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 which is basically obsessive bigotry 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 towards trans people. That's become 63 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 sort of her definitive thing, right? 64 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think that people who don't follow this 65 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of don't understand the extent of it 66 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because, you know, I don't know, people 67 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 throw around like all kinds of accusations 68 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on Twitter, so it's easy to think that 69 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is some kind of internet drama 70 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 blown out of proportion. But what you're 71 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 missing is that if you have not been 72 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 paying attention to J.K. Rowling's Twitter 73 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the last, at this point, we're 74 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 talking about four or five years, which 75 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a long time. Like, she's basically used 76 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 her platform more often than not to do 77 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trans-bashing. There's a reason why that 78 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this gets talked about so much because, 79 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean, she's one of the most famous 80 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 authors in the world with an enormous 81 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 platform, and she's just using it 82 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 constantly to target this small and, 83 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, already besieged, minority of people 84 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who are facing, like, all kinds of, like, 85 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 legislative and cultural backlash in 86 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the U.S. and the U.K. So it's like really 87 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 devastating (chuckle) that an author 88 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that, that's this influential is also, 89 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, this obsessively devoted to 90 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 persecute, you know, to contributing 91 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the persecution of this group of 92 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 people, who's already so harassed. 93 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But it's also, I don't know, it's also 94 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of a bizarre spectacle, like, in 95 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's own right it's kind of like another 96 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 reason I feel like we're drawn to this 97 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe, is that it's kind of like darkly 98 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 fascinating. How does this happen? 99 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like, how do we go from, like, the 100 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Gryffindor common room and, you know, 101 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Severus Snape, to, like, these unhinged 102 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 rants about the transexuals. It's weird. 103 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It, it is weird and I think also, I mean, 104 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 yeah, if you go to J.K. Rowling's Twitter 105 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right now and scroll through her feed, 106 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it is literal years of talking every 107 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 single day, almost exclusively, about 108 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 transgender people, for years. 109 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Which I think is the type of behavior 110 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we associate, with like boomer facebook 111 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 moms, and then I guess in a sense, she 112 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of would have been that, if she 113 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 hadn't become a billionaire and one of 114 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the most famous and beloved children's 115 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 authors of all time. But she is those 116 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 things and the idea of her behaving the 117 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 way, like, our homophobic aunt does 118 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or whatever, but like from some castle 119 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the U.K., is just like a very jarring 120 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 image. (Natalie) I think that summarizes 121 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it really well, right, like, it is, like, 122 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 your bigoted aunts deranged Facebook post 123 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 except on a platform with millions of 124 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 people as the audience. I feel like we 125 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a society, have, like, yet to know how 126 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to deal with this type of thing cause 127 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 J.K. Rowling's not the only case of it. 128 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I mean, like, Elon Musk has dabbled 129 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a little bit in some similar forms of 130 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 bigotry with a (inaudible) or even 131 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 larger platform. But I feel like what's 132 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 unique about J.K. Rowling is that 133 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she's, like, single mindedly focused on 134 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trans people as this one issue. 135 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Matt) So she wasn't always this way, 136 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 though and what we're gonna do today 137 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is use J.K. Rowling as what I think is 138 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a valuable case study in the worm hole 139 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that transphobia is. The way that it 140 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 can serve as it has for J.K. Rowling 141 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so many millions of other people 142 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a portal into the broader world 143 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of right-wing ideology that gets pretty 144 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 scary pretty quickly. We're gonna 145 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 try to understand why transphobia, and 146 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think especially when it's cloaked, 147 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 no pun intended, as a progressive feminist 148 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 cause and especially effective 149 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 gateway into the alt right. One day 150 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you're reminding people that you 151 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just like to be preferred to as a woman 152 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that you are a woman and then, 153 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, the next day you are 154 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 participating in Holocaust denial. It can 155 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 happen to you. (Natalie) Many such cases. 156 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Matt) Many such cases. And so, to begin 157 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this story I wanna go back to 2019 158 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the first tweet that I remember 159 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 seeing of J.K. Rowling's, her foray into 160 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the anti-trans movement, which at the 161 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 beginning was very tepid. I am going to 162 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 send you the tweet. (Natalie) "Dress 163 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 however you please. Call yourself 164 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 whatever you like. Sleep with any 165 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 consenting adult who'll have you. 166 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Live your best life in peace and security. 167 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But force women out of their jobs for 168 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 stating that sex is real? Hashtag I 169 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 stand with Maya. Hashtag this is not 170 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a drill." (Matt) So what was the 171 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 context of this one? 172 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Natalie) So, the context is that there 173 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was a English consultant named 174 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maya Forstater who, I guess she wasn't 175 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 fired but her contract was not 176 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 renewed because she had, like, refused 177 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to use the correct pronouns for a trans 178 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 coworker or something along those lines. 179 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And a lot of so called "gender-critical", 180 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that is "transphobic", people in the U.K. 181 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 decided to turn this into a celebrated 182 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 cause, they, you know, rallied behind 183 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this hashtag "I stand with maya". 184 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The idea being, like, "oh, we shouldn't 185 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 have to submit to gender ideology by, 186 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you know, using the correct pronouns 187 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for trans people in the work place or 188 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 whatever. This is where J.K. Rowling 189 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 decided to join this discourse 190 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 officially. She decided to jump in on 191 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the side of people who think that it's 192 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 terribly oppressive to have to use 193 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the correct pronouns for a trans person. 194 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I guess at first, you know, there was 195 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 some ambiguity because you could be 196 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, "Well she's not transphobic. Maybe 197 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she just believes in free speech, and she 198 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thinks that, you know, that people 199 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 shouldn't be fired for having different 200 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 opinions." (inaudible) okay, like, at 201 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 first you could sort of plausibly think 202 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that maybe, given the benefit of the 203 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 doubt, that's why she was getting 204 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 involved in this. But, like, to people who 205 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of know the pattern that 206 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 transphobia takes place, we all pretty 207 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 much knew that, "Oh, okay she really 208 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is transphobic behind the scenes". 209 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like, there is no way that you would 210 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -go decide to die on this hill unless - Matt: Hmm. 211 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you already were. At least that's what I 212 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 think now. I mean, I think J.K. Rowling 213 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 was at her most dangerous in 2019 and 214 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in 2020 because of the stuff she was 215 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 saying seems kind of plausible and 216 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 reasonable to the average person, you 217 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 know. And so, there's this kind of like 218 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 clever selection of which topics to 219 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 get behind, right, instead of just, 220 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know, calling trans women "men" 221 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in dresses, or whatever, it's like she's 222 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 defending the "right" of people to not 223 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 use the correct pronouns if they don't 224 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 agree, right?. (inaudible) this people 225 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of hedge in this way, like, when 226 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they have a kind of like bigoted opinion 227 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 instead of just stating it out, right. 228 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They sort of defend their right to have 229 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -that opinion. - Matt: Mhmm. 230 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, that was very much with this thing 231 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with Maya Forstater is, right. It's like 232 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she's not saying something sort of 233 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 directly transphobic, but she is kind of 234 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 indirectly getting there by being like, 235 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 "I am going to publicly champion Maya's 236 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right to be transphobic. " 237 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Matt) I feel like in the early days 238 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she did so much of this plausible, 239 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 deniability stuff where it's like, you 240 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 know, "I'm just saying sex is real". 241 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Right? And the average person who 242 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 isn't, like, a terminally online queer 243 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is going to be like, "Yeah, sex is real, 244 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 whatever, like, who cares." 245 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You know? It's like not a big deal. 246 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Natalie) Yeah, she was very effective 247 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 early on at kind of like deciding what 248 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it was that she thought people 249 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 were mad about, right? And so she 250 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 framed the conversation, "Oh here's why 251 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm getting backlashed. I'm getting 252 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 backlash because I said quote on quote 253 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 'sex is real'. And so, it kind of seems 254 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like if you believe her account of what 255 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 people are mad about, then it sounds like 256 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 everyone whose mad is unreasonable 257 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because they are mad at her for taking 258 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this kind of - taking what? An abstract, 259 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 philosophical position about the 260 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 metaphysics of biological sex? Like, 261 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that what people are mad about? 262 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No, right? It's of course not that 263 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because she is intervening in this 264 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 social and political debate, right, 265 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on the side that wants trans people 266 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 functionally not to exist in public 267 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 life, or not to be acknowledged in 268 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 public life. So, that is what people 269 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are mad about, right? But early on, 270 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think she was able to kind of 271 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 frame her position as being this 272 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, I don't know, almost philosophical 273 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 position about the reality of sex or 274 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 something, you know? That is what she 275 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 wanted to make it sound like instead of 276 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a political position about the place of 277 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 transgender people in society. 278 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When you first saw that tweet were, like, 279 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 alarm bells ringing? 280 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Oh, absolutely. I mean, at that point 281 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was like, yeah I basically internally 282 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thought there was like a nine 283 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 hundred and ninety-nine out of 284 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 one thousand percent chance that 285 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -it's, as people say, over, right? -Matt: (laughter) Right 286 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's so over, right? Like I already 287 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 basically already kind of knew that. 288 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But I also kind of knew that, like, 289 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 well, most people aren't gonna notice 290 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that it's over until she says something 291 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 more explicit. 292 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Until she's doing Holocaust denial. 293 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Until she's doing Holocaust denial, 294 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 exactly. But, of course, I've seen 295 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 enough people who kind of start this way 296 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with this flirtation with bigotry where 297 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 stage one is usually like, "Well I 298 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 support the right for people to be bigots" 299 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like, I don't like that there's this, 300 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, cancel culture, whatever politically 301 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 correct - you can't say anything anymore. 302 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like, that's usually the prelude to a 303 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 bunch of bigoted stuff. It's kind of 304 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like a softer way of getting a foot 305 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the door. Like, you're not necessarily 306 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 committing yourself to saying anything 307 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 bigoted. But you'll stand up for the right 308 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of people to say that and you don't 309 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like how, you know, how vicious people 310 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are being towards people who are getting 311 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 criticized for saying more bigoted things. 312 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In retrospect, it's clear that she's 313 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 preparing the way to be the one saying 314 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 those bigoted things herself. 315 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 For a while longer, well into 2020, 316 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 she, like, continues this road of 317 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like, "sex is real". And so I'm going to 318 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 send you another thread. 319 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's funny how I know all of these 320 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -like, by heart practically -Matt: Oh (laughter) 321 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -It's like song lyrics (laughter) -Natalie: Right? I'm a scholar 322 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -of the things she has said about -Matt: (laughing) 323 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trans people, right? Like, "Ah yes, 324 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -tweet seven, verse three". -Matt: (wheezes) 325 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I know, cause, like, we've read these 326 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -f***ing tweets so many times -Natalie: I know, 327 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the last four years has been 328 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 dominated by having to read these 329 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 terrible opinions again and again. 330 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is, honestly, no one should be 331 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 allowed to get this famous. It's too 332 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 dangerous. 333 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (laughter) 334 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Okay, but for the normal people listening 335 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who aren't so online, do you want to read 336 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what she tweeted on June 6, I believe, 337 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 2020? 338 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (Natalie) Dear normal people, this is me 339 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 reading from the book of Rowling, 340 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 chapter six (laughter). 341 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Quote, "If sex isn't real, there's no 342 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, 343 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the lived reality of women globally 344 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is erased. I know and love trans people, 345 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but erasing the concept of sex removes 346 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the ability of many to meaningfully 347 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 discuss their lives. It isn't hate to 348 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 speak the truth." 349 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Tweet two, "The idea that women like me, 350 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who've been empathetic to trans people 351 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for decades, feeling kinship because 352 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 they're vulnerable in the same way 353 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as women - ie. to male violence - 'hate' 354 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 trans people because they think sex is 355 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 real and has lived consequences - 356 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it is a nonsense." 357 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 -Natalie: Sorry, (inaudible) I feel -Matt: (laughter)