I’ve been watching the intense debate surrounding @Mermaids_Gender unfold in recent days - including the publication of Janice Turner’s article on the training Mermaids offer - based on a training session that was recorded in January 2018.
This has become a very toxic environment in which to try and be heard, but one thing I hope we can all agree on is that shitty journalism, misreporting, & twisting evidence have no place in any kind of constructive dialogue.
With that in mind, I have listened in full to the Mermaid lecture that is being so widely reported on and vilified & strongly urge you to do the same before commenting any further. It’s linked in the first tweet.
Here is what I have found.
Yes, the Mermaid spokesperson does indeed make reference to gender ‘jelly babies’ and puts them on a spectrum with ‘barbie jelly baby’ at one end and ‘GI Joe jelly baby’ at the other. BUT
The instructor is quite clearly using this to demonstrate social constructs of gender. She says at several points that these are ‘stereotypes’ and she wouldn’t ‘insult your intelligence’ by suggesting they were anything else.
The discussion is on how we socially see gender expressions. In psychology, these archetypes are called ‘hyper masculinity’ and ‘hyper femininity’ - mermaids have just renamed them to be more accessible. This isn’t new or unique to Mermaids.
These stereotypes are only being used to represent extremes of gendered expression. Perhaps it is clumsy - but at no point does the speaker try and reduce gender to this stereotype. There is no suggestion women are just pink, frilly princesses.
The ‘jelly baby’ spectrum being used in the lecture is basically a visual representation of gender identifying markers. In academic terms these are ‘gender identity’, ‘gender expression’, ‘biological sex’ and ‘sexual orientation’.
Mermaids have just renamed them ‘head jelly baby’, ‘jelly baby for your expression’, ‘sex jelly baby’ and ‘heart jelly baby’. They ask the audience to locate where each of their ‘jelly babies’ are on the spectrum to show how diverse we are.
At no point does anyone suggest children who act in ways that do not conform to a gender are trans. At no point does anyone suggest gay children are trans. In fact, the woman taking the session self identifies as lesbian - and FULLY understands she is not trans.
At no point does the trainer suggest tomboys or boys who play with ‘girl’s toys’ are trans or in need of ‘treatment’ - in fact, quite the opposite.
She says she was a ‘tomboy’ and is not trans. Clearly, mermaids are not trying to push Surgery on a child for being a ‘tomboy’, ‘queer’ or gender fluid. The woman representing mermaids here is queer and not trans!
Yes - the journalist recording the lecture is told to ‘take a step back academically’, but this is because he is interrupting to talk about the gender pay gap when she is trying to talk about gender as a spectrum.
She also tells him several times that she is ‘getting to that’ and he needs to be patient and wait - or ‘take a step back’.
She is not dismissive of facts, scientific papers or existing research. In fact, she can back up everything she says with research from the Lancet and Stonewall.
You might not agree with it and there may be other research to counter argue with - but you can’t say she’s making her stats up, or that’s it’s ‘Cod science’. That’s just not fair.
At no point does she say that children should be given cross sex hormones or surgery! It’s just not in there! She talks about some children who “might and it’s a big might” be given reversible puberty blockers with GP and parental consent.
This is very different to the claim that mermaids want children to be given cross sex hormones that will make them infertile.
She doesn’t advise teachers to go behind parents backs in referring trans children for treatment. She urges teachers be aware that some children may be ‘out’ at school but unable to express this to their parents.
The journalist recording this is rude, belligerent and constantly trying to trip the speaker up. At one point, he claims feminists can’t be cis gendered because they don’t do things ‘Women are supposed to’ - like vote and stay at home.
The speaker repeatedly has to explain that this is not what cisgender means and that behaving in an unfeminine or unmanly way do not constitute being transgender.
I strongly urge you all to listen to the lecture in full as this is not what is being reported. Whatever your own thoughts are around gender ‘jelly babies’, let’s at least get the facts straight about the training mermaids are offering.
