Bigmouth Strikes Again: Carrie Marshall's blog

Carrie’s books | Carrie’s band

Author: Carrie

  • Flip your wig

    Here’s a photo from the GRR Bill debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

    The response on Mumsnet, aka Prosecco Stormfront, was swift. “They can’t help themselves,” one poster wrote. “…it’s typical male pattern aggressive sexualised behaviour”.

    Others agreed, until they realised that the protester isn’t a trans woman; she’s an anti-trans woman, Elaine Miller of For Women Scotland. Miller decided that she’d flash her (fake) pubic hair in front of an audience including schoolchildren. If it weren’t for the fake pubes, that would have been an arrestable sexual offence.

    You’d think that effectively committing a sex crime in the Scottish Parliament – it wasn’t initially obvious that Miller was wearing a wig over tights and initial reports claimed she was flashing her genitals – would be newsworthy, and I have no doubt that had Miller been a trans or non-binary person she would be all over the front pages and leading the broadcasts today. The fact that she isn’t speaks volumes.

     

  • Read it in books

    I read a lot of books this year. Here are some of my favourites.

    Orpheus Builds A Girl, by Heather Parry

    This tale of a man who believes he can cheat death is gloriously gothic, beautifully written and by the final act had me reading from behind my fingers.

    I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy 

    This is as good as everybody says it is, and some bits had me jumping out of my seat in surprised horror. It’s a story of terrible things but it’s also very funny.

    Fix The System Not The Women, by Laura Bates

    Everyday Sexism founder Laura Bates’ latest is another must-read, a rallying cry for reform and likely to make you very angry.

    Surrender, by Bono

    Like the man himself this is insightful, annoying, funny, pompous and utterly charming. I’d strongly advise the audiobook version of this one, where you can hear the laugh in his voice.

    The Cruelty Is The Point, by Adam Serwer; Troll Nation, by Amanda Marcotte; American Fascism, by Brynn Tannehill

    Sadly the culture wars and far-right troll politics of the US haven’t stayed within its borders, and we’re seeing very similar anti-democratic activity here.

    Flip The Script by Arusa Qureshi, The End by Katie Goh and The Appendix by Liam Konemann

    The main reason I wanted to be published by 404 Ink is because I love their eclecticism, and I’m very proud to be in such distinguished company. These Inklings – shorter than a book, longer than a longread – are fascinating, fun and thought-provoking.

    Exit Stage Left, by Nick Duerden

    A fascinating look at the lives of ex-pop and rock stars that’s much more interesting than you might expect. How do you find meaning when the most exciting thing you’ll ever do, the one thing you always dreamed of doing, is in the past?

    Good Boy, by Jennifer Finney Boylan

    Jenny Boylan is a hero of mine, and the author of several memoirs about her life as a trans woman. This warm, wise and often very sad book tells the tale through the dogs she’s loved and lost.

    Get Rich or Lie Trying, by Symeon Brown

    A genuinely disturbing insight into the reality of influencer culture, the sharks swimming in it and the people destroyed by it.

    Sandy Hook, by Elizabeth Williamson

    An astonishing piece of journalism about some of the most despicable people in America: not the school shooters, but the conspiracy theorists, hatemongers and grifters who swarmed around this terrible event to push their own demonic agendas.

    The End of Innocence, by Simon Garfield

    A clear-eyed and devastating account of the AIDS crisis in the UK. It’ll make you rage and weep.

    Themes For Great Cities by Graeme Thomson and A Perfect Silence by Ben Wardle

    Sublime writing about sublime music: Thomson on Simple Minds in their imperial phase and Wardle on one of my great musical heroes, the late Mark Hollis of Talk Talk.

    Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan and This Is Memorial Device by David Keenan

    Beautifully written and observed books that start off about music-obsessed teens and become something much greater. Memorial Device has been out for ages so I know I’m coming very late to it, but I now understand why it has such a cult following. It’s glorious and sometimes uncomfortable reading if like me you were a quite pretentious member of various unsuccessful bands.

    These are just a small selection, because 2022 turned out to be a great year for books. Apologies to anybody I’ve raved about online and haven’t mentioned here.

  • Hate Mail

    After writing a very honest and often horrific account of her teenage experiences online, a trans woman I know was approached by a sympathetic journalist who wanted to share her story: amid the “debate” over banning conversion therapy, the journalist wanted to make her readers aware of its horrors and lasting damage.

    My friend was wary, especially given the publication, but the journalist was very persuasive. Promises were made about photos, context and framing; the journalist offered to share the final piece for approval and to make any last-minute changes.

    You can probably guess what happened next.

    What was supposed to be an informative, sympathetic story became a hit piece. The photos that the writer promised not to use were used. The framing was changed, the context too. Online, the sole link to her social media wasn’t to the main account page or any of her conversion therapy posts; instead, the site linked to an old retweet of a joke post about the late Queen’s handbag colours that details the handkerchief code for various sex acts.

    In this case the paper was the Daily Mail, but these tactics are used across the media. In this case I think there are multiple breaches of the IPSO code, but even if the regulator found in her favour months from now the damage is already done. She’s been discussed by hundreds of people online in the most awful ways, and the paper could still twist the knife further if one of its rabid columnists decides to use her as a subject for yet another anti-trans screed.

    My friend was aware that this might happen but took a calculated risk, hoping that the article would help raise awareness of what conversion therapy and associated horrors entails. But the paper, and many like it, are waging a culture war in which marginalised people are only ever the enemy.

    Trans Media Watch has spent a very long time monitoring mainstream media’s coverage of trans people, and its guidance is very helpful. It’s important to have trans and non-binary people telling their stories, but all too often publications and broadcasters have already decided which stories they want to tell – and if your story doesn’t fit, they’ll change it until it does.

  • Book people are good people

    Thanks so much to everybody who came along to my book launches this week, to the wonderful people at Argonaut Books in Edinburgh and at Category Is Books in Glasgow, and to my excellent hosts Kirstyn Smith and Louise Blain. Book people really are the best people, and I had the best time on both evenings.

  • “The politest possible version of blood libel”

    An absolutely blistering piece by Ben Miller on the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs:

    I have been expecting a mass shooting at a gay bar for at least a year. This is not because I’m clairvoyant, but because I am a gay person with eyes and ears. The mass-murder at Club Q in Colorado Springs on November 19 was the result of what is now all-too-familiar rhetoric—a campaign that is both a cynical attempt to gain political power and a conscious effort to inspire stochastic violence that murders gay and trans people on the theory that there should be fewer of us.

    The only reason this hasn’t happened in the UK yet is because we don’t have the same access to guns. The rhetoric may be (slightly) milder, albeit not online, but there is the same intent: to  create a climate of fear and rage against trans people that encourages someone to act violently. It’s hardly a new tactic: the line “will no-one rid me of this turbulent priest?” is attributed to Henry the second, and he was kicking about in the twelfth century.

    Miller:

    What liberals are desperate to call “legitimate debates” are united with the cruder, crasser incitement of less-sophisticated reactionaries by the same underlying argument: that some nebulous group of queer and trans “activists” are pushing an “agenda” that might permanently mutilate children, who must be protected from the threat. Matt Walsh and Chris Rufo say it’s drag queens committing sexual abuse in gay bars. Abigail Shrier says it’s the “transgender craze seducing our daughters” into “Irreversible Damage.” The liberal outlets describe it as misguided doctors and activists going too far, contributing to a social contagion of trans kids. All of them are making versions of the same argument designed to convince different audiences of the same age-old blood libel about queer people: that we are preternatural abusers from whom your children need protecting.

  • More tales from the fast track

    I had my annual gender clinic appointment yesterday, and I asked about a referral I’ve been waiting two years for. Ah, the doctor told me. We made an appointment for you about that in May.

    That’s the first I knew about it. I hadn’t received a text, letter or email, so of course I didn’t go. The next available appointment? The end of February 2023.

    This is how trans people lose years of their lives on waiting lists.

    Another trans woman I know emailed the same gender clinic after four years on the waiting list with no sign of a first appointment. We’re sorry, the reply said. When you registered with us, the wait time was 16 months. Now it’s 55 months. Our service does not fall into the same waiting list criteria as our services in the acute sector, and therefore we do not fall under the treatment time guarantee of 18 weeks.

  • Jinkies!

    In the introduction to my book I talk a little bit about Velma Dinkley, the Scooby-Doo character who became an LGBT+ icon. If you’d like to know more about that, this piece by Maggie Chirdo is a great overview of how a cartoon character became part of LGBT+ culture:

    Throughout the 43 films, 14 television series, and various Scooby-Doo spinoffs created since 1969, Velma’s character has generated a massive following of lesbian and bisexual women who grew up watching those meddling kids unmask costumed culprits.

    I love this detail:

    William Hanna and Joseph Barbara drew inspiration for the character from child actor Sheila Kuehl, who played a tomboy in the 1950s family series The Stu Erwin Show and, years later, became the first openly gay California legislator.

  • “We’re just ordinary people who’d really appreciate decent healthcare and snacks”

    I’m in the new issue of the excellent Books from Scotland magazine, which you can read online for free.

    …we Scots are brilliant at mining comedy from pretty dark seams sometimes, and we’ll tell the most horrendously embarrassing stories to make our friends laugh. I’ve done that all my life, so it was natural to do it in the book too.  

  • Let’s have a party in Glasgow

    I’m absolutely delighted to be doing my Glasgow book launch event in Category Is, one of my favourite places. Tickets are free but very limited so I don’t think they’ll be available for long. The event is on 8 December at 7pm and everything you need to know is at the end of this link.

  • CKAM pre-orders are arriving now

    Pre-orders of Carrie Kills A Man started arriving in readers’ homes this morning, and I received my author copies too. I had a bit of a moment when I opened the box and saw the pristine copies, because of course books are more than just paper and ink.   They’re magical things.

    I’ve had many books published, but not a book like this. It’s a very strange feeling to publish something so personal. Good strange, but strange nevertheless.