In a fashion hostile

Jolly is taking the war to the phobes again.

That’s a very peculiar argument, or attempt at an argument. There doesn’t have to be any “link of logic” between three claims to preserve them from being bigotry. There can just be three claims that are all true, without being particularly linked to each other. There can be three (or two or five) claims that are linked in some ways and separate in others. There can be a lot of things. Joly’s first two claims are linked, actually, but if they weren’t that wouldn’t make them untrue or proof of bigotry; you need more than that.

Let’s look at them.

Maybe you think trans women shouldn’t compete in women’s sport.

I do; of course I do. Why? Because men have many physical advantages over women.

Or trans women are a danger to cis women.

That’s the wrong way to put it. Trans women are potentially a danger to women for the same reason all men are potentially a danger to women, which is the same as the reason trans women shouldn’t compete in women’s sport. Men are stronger than women. There’s more to it than that – some men like to bully women, some men like to terrorize women, some men like to assault women, some men like to rape women. Men who disguise themselves as women are potentially a threat, yes. That’s not saying all trans women are a threat, it’s saying women have no way of knowing which ones are, so we can’t just assume they’re all safe the way women are (generally) safe.

Or being trans is a mental illness requiring therapy.

Again, wrong way to put it. Thinking you’re the other sex can be a mental illness, or something between mental illness and perfect mental health – in short it may benefit from therapy. It is after all a delusion, in the sense that no one is literally the opposite sex, so why wouldn’t it sometimes benefit from therapy? That, again, is not bigotry. I suppose Jolyon is taking the line that being trans is fabulous and joyful and no one would hesitate to be it for a second if it weren’t for all the bigotry, but that can’t really be right, given the fact that people can still see what their bodies are.

Zero for three.

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