Thread by @simonjedge

There's a Q&A in today's Observer with Eddie Izzard. The standfirst reads: 'The comedian, 59, talks about her love of running, gender fluidity and her plans to go into politics'. 1/16
theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

That's not what it originally said, as you can see from the thumbnail. 2/16

The piece now comes with an apology at the end: 'This article was amended on 31 July 2021. The original incorrectly used the possessive determiner “his”. Izzard uses the pronouns “she” and “her”.' 3/16

Is it really 'incorrect'? Eddie said only eight months ago (very reasonably) that she/her is 'a request, never a demand'. 4/16
pinknews.co.uk/2021/01/07/edd…

Eddie also says 'I came out as trans at 23'. That's interesting. In this interview from 2004, Izzard said he – NB Eddie didn't request female pronouns in those days – came out as trans at 29, offering a detailed description of how he did it. 5/16
independent.co.uk/news/people/pr…

What's also interesting about this interview is how he – NB the Eddie of 2004 was definitely a he/him – described himself then: 'I'm a straight transvestite or a male lesbian.' He also explicitly acknowledged that he was a 'straight male transvestite'. 6/16

Fast-forward to today and Eddie Izzard requests she/her and now claims to have come out as trans at 23, nearly 20 years *before* giving that interview to the Indy saying 'I'm a straight male transvestite'. 7/16

Is Izzard's memory playing tricks? Or is Eddie rewriting 'her' own narrative, history and gender identity to comply with current ideological thinking? 8/16

We keep being told that a man who feels like a woman has always been a woman. But Izzard evidently didn't feel like a woman in 2004, despite now claiming to have come out as trans in 1985. 9/16

Why didn't 'he/him' Eddie of 2004 explain he was a woman, and that he had been all his life? He was laying himself bare to interviewers and audiences, in a way that many of us thought hugely brave at the time. If he felt like a woman then, would he really have held back? 10/16

I understand that dysphoria is confusing. It messes with your head. People used to describe it as 'gender confusion', which I thought was very helpful. You rarely hear that term any more, perhaps because it acknowledges the person may be wrong. 11/16

I'm also conscious that Izzard is way more reasonable than many of the activists and allies of the extreme trans movement. Unlike far too many shamefully silent people, Eddie has publicly spoken up for JK Rowling. Bravo/a. Hear hear. 12/16
news.sky.com/story/jk-rowli…

I merely mention it in the context of the Observer saying they 'incorrectly' used 'his'. 'Incorrect' implies some objective rightness or wrongness. GC people say there *is* an objective rightness or wrongness about pronouns: you're either male or female and that's immutable 13/16

But even for people who are more indulgent than that, and are willing to adapt language to meet polite requests, isn't it hard trying to keep up with individuals' every request/demand about their identity, when their own description of that identity changes over time? 14/16

We all have things that change over time. Our tastes, interests, priorities, politics may meander all over the place during our lives. But the entire world doesn't have to change its language and laws in line with those meanders. Why should it with gender identity? 15/16

I admire the bravery Eddie showed in the 80s and 90s. I have great memories of a stand-up routine that made me cry laughing. I respect Izzard's right to be confused. But attempting to reconstruct the world to accommodate every demand of that confusion is a terrible idea. 16/16