So these are the 2 tweets that have landed my career in hot water.
I’m #Linguaphilic, not #Transphobic!
Why would I be transphobic when I introduced the term #Neurodiversity to advocate for a movement for respect, recognition and inclusion of all neurominorities? Which obviously include sexual minorities since sex is a property of both minds and bodies, which in any case are inseparable.
What I was intending to say in the scant 240 char Twitter allotment, (and clearly failed to get across) was the importance of self-naming for minorities. It should be obvious that if only the dominant cultural mainstream has the power to name its minorities, it rarely happens in a "good" way. Such names marginalise or diminish the subordinate class. The power to name confers the dominants with“power over” the subordinates (aka subalterns). It was the dominant culture that came up with the Psycho-Medical Model of Disability which lumped us all together under the label of“autistics” .This was designed to to help us or cure us, (or so they thought)). And at first, it was helpful to the extent that it reduced stereotypes. But in the end the label acted to enhance the status of the psycho-medical profession, while disempowering those labelled with a litany of everything that was wrong with us. The psycho-medical model limits itself to weaknesses, and undermines strenths.
In the same way, the dominant Western culture enforced the gender binary through the power of limiting the acceptable names for sexuality. In my impulsive tweet, I was literally trying to say "empower yourselves by naming yourselves"
As times and mores change, old words no longer fit - and we have to create new words. Thus "Neurodiversity" constellated. I have said this before, that it is not a term that came out of some special genius I had, but out of a node in world history,which I occupied. This node stood slap-bang on the intersections of my geographical location, my family history, my ethnicity, (I won't use the word "race", because it was the idea that wiped out almost my whole Hungarian Jewish family), my genetic make- up, and my socio-economic class, and on a very positive point, Australian social democracy providing me with free tertiary education. And more
The Linguaphilic Argument
Sex |
biological; determined by X and Y chromosomes |
Gender |
socially constructed identity |
Woman |
historically reserved term for adult biological
females, XX chromosomes |
Man |
historically reserved term for adult biological males,
XY chromosomes |
Intersex/ DSD |
Awareness grew in the 19980s. Estimates by UN 1.7 % of world population. There are more than 30 configurations of X and Y chromosomes |
The words Man and Woman are historically reserved.
Can a man simply up and decide that he is a woman, and if not, why not? According to me, and I am confident, to the majority of the world's population, the answer is simply: "No, he can't"
NB: I am talking about language not morality.
If anything, the fault lies with historical patriarchal Christian sexual repression and binarism. Initially, it was "marry or burn" or be damned by eternal hell-fire. Can't begin to image the torment this put people through. Or be a Catholic priest, but we now know how that worked out.
We grew up having the choice of being either Male or Female, and as recently understood, in under 2% of humans, DSD aka Intersex.
Nowadays the binary persists because while there are only 2 sex chromosomes, X and Y, the guardians of the binary model seemed to be unaware of "permutations and combinations". It is now recognised that there are at least 30 viable variations of these combinations. .
Those people whose experiences do not fit this binary, but who are culturally acclimatised to adhere to the dominant linguistic paradim, then fight to legitimize themselves within a rigid nomenclature that fits their bodies but not their desires. This is never going to work. If the language to recognise a common new experience, often due to changes in traditional norms does not exist new words must be invented. An obvious example being "Neurodiversity".
Sadly, the conservatives of the West.- with its invisible patriarchal sky god, divorced from land, nature, its seasons - pride themselves on our supposed "enlightenment". Yet they are anything but when it comes to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
But peoples who are closer to Earth are much more realistic and humane. Many of those cultures recognise many genders:
World gender customs that recognise more than 2 genders
and honour them with names
Acault (Myanmar) Alyha and Hwame (Mojave) Ankole (Uganda) Aravani (Tamil Nadu) Ashtime (Maale Ethiopia) Bakla (Philippines) Bangala (DR Congo) Burrnesha (Albania)Calabai, Calalai and Bissu (Indonesia) Chuckchi (Siberia) Fa'afafine (Samoa) Fakaleiti (Tonga) Femminiello (Italy) Guevedoche (Dominican Republic) Hijra (South Asia) Jewish Talmud (6-8 Named Genders) Kathoey (Thailand) köçek (Ottoman Empire) Lhamana (Zuni) Mahu (Hawaii) Mamluk (Egypt) Mashoga (Kenya Tanzania) Metis (Nepal) Mino (Benin) Muxe or Muxhe (Zapotec of Oaxaca) Nadleehi and Dilbaa (Navajo) Ninauposkitzipxpe (Blackfoot) Quariwarmi (Inca Peru) Sekrata (Madagascar)Sistergirls and brotherboys (Aboriginal Australian) Skoptsy (Russia) Transsexuality in Iran Travesti (South America) Waria (Indonesia) Whakawahine (Maori New Zealand) Winkte (Lakota) Xanith (Oman)
See https://www.thirteen.org/program-content/independent-lens-a-map-of-gender-diverse-cultures/
The Tweets in Question
The point I wanted to make is actually based on something I learned from Australia's indigenous culture. They have an excellent method of defining "Who is an Aboriginal":
While such definitions are always changing as times change, the current official definition (here pared down), is that an Australian Aboriginal is a person who :
- is of Aboriginal descent;
- identifies as an Aboriginal; and
- is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives or has lived
What this means to me in relation to the trans issue is that it is location-specific.
Location specificity
This says to me that if you are, say, Anglosaxon, and decide to identify as Aboriginal, you can't just show up in the community and butt in. You have to seek permission from the community, and only join in if you are invited.My views in a nutshell
1. Because I am Linguaphilic: The word “Woman” is historically reserved for adult biological female. I trust I don’t have to spell out the biology. I understand that language evolves, but in the case of women who have just struggled out of millenia of patriarchal dominance
2. Initially, a dominant culture has the power to name
minorities. Often the names marginalise or diminish what is known as the subordinate
or subaltern class. This confers “Power Over”
the subalterns. Thus we had the Psycho-Medical Model of Disability whose practitions
labelled us “autistics”, (in order to
help us or cure us, as they thought) but the label acted as a disempowering litany
of everything that was wrong with us.
3.
The Autistic Self-Advocacy movement arose in the late 20th century - aka the “Postmodernist Era”, a time when identity
politics changed society for People of Colour, Women, LGBTQIA etc -.
4. Noticing that many other neurological minorities
were following a similar path, I saw the need for an Umbrella Term as a banner
for all. Thus in an Aha! Moment, I thought “Neurodiversity”. I can’t say I full
understood why but I knew it was perfect for its times… Later I realised that it
was because in our Era, the rise of Neuroscience was eclipsing Psychodynamics,
and the rise of the Environmental movement taught us the value and importance
of biodiversity.
Caveat
There is a tendency in all social movements to polarise. Important
to note that some people erroneously think that Neurodiversity Is a diagnosis
that means “Neurodisability”. It is not. It is a measurement of the
degree of human variation in a location, which happens to be our planet. From
my POV it just happened to to be a catchy name for a movement to reevaluate the
pros and cons for society of neurological uniqueness with all our
strengths and weaknesses.
And Neurodiversity is not a moral concept, To adapt
George Orwell’s masterpiece, Animal Farm, (an aetiology of the rise and fall of
all noble movements), our slogan is not “one leg good, two legs bad”, but we
need to find a valued niche and role for everyone. For psychopaths and
criminals for example, that niche is Protective Custody
The background
I wrote this about a month after my return to Sydney from my speaking
engagements in London. It was a marvellous experience and I was on a high about
it. However it’s a gruelling journey to Australia from the UK, made worse by
the fact that I lost my wallet and documents on the plane and could not rest,
while looking for it everywhere. It finally turned up, thank goodness, but I was
a wreck, when I arrived. On top of jetlag which affected me badly, remembering
that I am aged in my 70s, also caught a virus on the plane, and did not recover
for another another month, when I woke up one morning bursting with energy.
That was the 13th of June, the fateful day where full of pent up
energy, I burst onto twitter. My intention was to vent my anger and outrage about Putin’s invastion of Ukraine, but the
first thing that Twitter fed me was the JK Rowling tweet above, and my emotions
hijacked me.
It was stupid of me in my heightened state to rush into the
twitter sewer, but it is supposed to be an autistic trait to be absolutely
passionate about our Truth however we see it, whatever the consequences.
Throughout my life, I have always stuck my neck out for my
beliefs in the face of conventional wisdoms. It’s my superpower! Hmm… could I
be “autistic”??? … OTOH, Greta Thunberg has kind of ruined the concept of Superpowers,
dubious though it always was. Shades of Icarus!. We must be careful
I’m sure I was considered eccentric when I kept spruiking about
my insights into the Autistic Self-Advocacy movement and how it was shaping up
to be the last great social movement to
come out of the postmodern era. I was confident
was because I saw that many other neurologically labelled minorities were
finding common cause. That is when I
realised a new word was needed to name this emerging movement juggernaut –
that’s when the word “Neurodiversity” popped into my head.
I should say that I believe I am a born linguist – inherited
from my mother. Like so many autistic women, I have always believed there are two kinds of
people:
1.
Those who would never give up a comfortable life
for the sake of speaking out for the truth
2.
Those who would never give up the truth for the
sake of a comfortable life.
“What never?”, you may ask.
“Well … hardly ever![1]”
I reply
I should state at the outset that I am definitely on JKR’s
side. I have not listened to her in detail,nor read her books, audio, video
whatever, so I may or may not agree on every single point she makes. But I
absolutely agree with her stance on Trans “Women” which I avidly follow on
social media.
I did not explain myself well on Twitter, not surprisingly…
240 char… what can I say … it was a moment of sheer impulsivity.
So here is what I was alluding to.
By nature, I’m a linguaphile. I love precise language. I am
very aware of the power of words, in particular the power of “self-naming”. When a dominant culture names a minority, it
is exercising “power over”. You cannot be powerful until you name yourself.
Autistic people were named by the psycho-medical complex – the term conferred the
status of deficient upon them, That’s’ why the term Neurodiversity was so powerful,
it came from my and my family’s experience of outsiderhood and poverty, a position of multiple disadvantages: class,
ethnicity, “race”, gender, dislocation etc and disability of which “hidden
disabilty” is the worst of both worlds.
Also though I am professionally identified as a sociologist,
my favourite major was Anthopology.
[1] Fans of Gilbert and Sullivan will recognised the song.
I was just involved in a production of the same 😊.So apt