A fascinating and poignant look at human misery over their gender identity and the child as on looker - happily Tara grew up loved and appears to have avoided the pain that dogged her father. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/hea…
The video that inspired this examination is here. Many have found it disturbing and it’s stayed with them for a long time - all worried about the little girl being so exposed to her father’s pain and rage.

vimeo.com/ondemand/167119
At the time of filming in the 80s ‘Laura’ claimed to be ‘between two sexes’ but later reverted to living as Robert. The intersex condition is not specified but appears to be a hormonal condition that delays or stops puberty.
Tara notes that she was used by her father as a tool to gain sympathy. He grew up in an orphanage and was punished for spying on girls and made to dress as a girl. He denied that he was transsexual. The stigma he faced in the 80s increased his mental distress.
So surely we must be in a better place now. That those who wish to adopt a gender that does not reflect stereotypes around their biological sex may do so - when Robert was Laura he dressed as a 1950s housewife, that was his vision of womanhood.
But what I fear doesn’t change is the way in which children are used as props on this adult stage. But it is very good to see that Tara has grown up loved and supported by her family. None of them could remember the video.

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More from @SVPhillimore

16 Nov
I did hestitate to engage with what I considered to be an obvious bad faith interjection - but then I thought I need to put my money where my mouth is and show that discussion is nothing to be scared of. So let’s go. Image
First, the obvious false equivalence. The debate was not about an existing criminal practice, such as FGM, that has no evidence at all to support it as something that is for the benefit of the children subjected to it. The debate was about 'conversion therapy'.
This is interesting as yet another example of 'forced teaming' which has served the TQ+ pretty well over the years. The Government seeks to ban attempts to 'convert' gay people but also attempts to 'convert' people away from a certain gender identity.
Read 11 tweets
15 Nov
EVERYONE DOES HARD THINGS
What is this? Everyone has pain in their lives. Most people do the best they can with what they have got. There are no medals for any of us I am afraid. No one group should be elevated above any other.
Of course we should not be unkind or dismissive of anyone's struggle if we can help it. But as a disabled person I am growing more and more frustrated with this message of 'awareness' and 'most vulnerable'. Where is #DisabledAwarenessWeek?
Let me show you.
Read 5 tweets
15 Nov
1. Identify the lies
2. Identify the misinformation
3. Identify what ‘rights’ I wish to remove
4. Explain how I wish to ‘enforce’ gender when I deny its existence
The incoherence and frankly the stupidity of many of those who deny the existence and importance of sex is a big part of why we are now in the mess we are. The mystery is why they are given any kind of respect or platform by people who are not stupid.
Unless of course their intellect is overridden by a particular kind of stupidity - that of believing oneself morally superior and failing ever to examine that assumption.
Read 4 tweets
13 Nov
So now it’s a ‘binder outreach service’ @LushLtd ? Does your head office have any idea what your Paddington store is doing? Well, the local children’s safeguarding boards soon will. Image
So your Paddington store is going to be cemented as an ‘ongoing’ service to children? I would be interested to see your risk and safeguarding assessments, which I am sure exist <cough> Image
As you claim to be the ‘only’ such service and have been providing binders to persons of age unspecified since at least June, then I assume your safeguarding assessment is a model of its kind that you can share for the benefit of others? ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
13 Nov
In a selfish way, I hope that Helen Joyce and Julie Bindel are otherwise engaged when it comes to the debate with Grace Lavery, because I would very much like, on a public as stage as possible, to unpick just what the hell is being advocated here. And why.
Children are not ‘innocent’? Do you mean children can lie, bully, whinge, be rude and unpleasant? Of course they can. Children aren’t saints. But what they are is innocent of adult desires to use their bodies for sexual pleasure.
Because children, by virtue of their age and lack of capacity cannot consent to sexual activity with an adult. This is not because all us vanilla straights are prudish bigots who want to deny children access to a wonderful world of fun and play.
Read 6 tweets
12 Nov
Some musing on echo chambers and their dangers. A tweet by Jolyon Maugham. I could find only one negative comment on his timeline. Image
The rest were more like this. Because anyone who might be negative, critical or challenging was blocked long ago. ImageImageImageImage
So I wonder. In the chicken and egg of astonishing self regard and removal of all negative content - which comes first? Was he always this way - or has social media made him worse?
Read 5 tweets

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