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I’m at a bus stop in Glasgow, early on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Two neds stare at me as they swagger past. Ned #1: [unintelligible] Ned #2: That’s no’ a wumman! Ned #1: Ah’d still stick it with ma willy. The neds swagger on, laughing. I’ve been outside for four minutes. [more]
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It was Edinburgh Pride day yesterday. SNP MSP Joan McAlpine spent much of it indulging in the “legitimate debate” she’s so fond of by circulating faked tweets in order to create a social media pile-on against a trans ally and human rights campaigner. At the actual event some anti-trans activists came along to shout their… [more]
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Psychology Today asks a question: what precisely do transgender people threaten? The piece is based on a single study, albeit one that draws on multiple others and widely accepted social phenomena. The short version is that trans people get shot by both sides. transgender individuals can be perceived as simultaneously transgressing the gender norms of… [more]
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Today, the Scottish Government and the SNP effectively threw trans people under the bus. After a lengthy public consultation that found the general public and women’s groups overwhelmingly in favour of its proposals for gender recognition reform, the next step is… to water down the proposals and have another consultation and maybe water them down… [more]
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Music fans of a certain age will recognise the name of Ian Penman, one of the best writers ever to work for NME (the NME of its glory days, not the shallow lifestyle brand of today). Here, the London Review of Books gets him to review two biographies of Prince. It’s an incredible article about… [more]
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Game designer Owen Goss injects a healthy dose of reality into the “if I can do it, you can too!” school of careers advice. As he points out, privilege and luck have a huge role to play. Indie games are a hard thing to make a living at. And yes, I’ve worked very hard to… [more]
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This, by Darcey Steinke, is fascinating. Without hormones my femininity is fraying. Twice I’ve been called “sir.†Once by a parking lot attendant and a second time by the young man who bagged my groceries. I did not correct them. Instead I tried to sit with the idea I’d been misgendered. I don’t possess the… [more]
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PinkNews’ headline says it all: After 30 academics sign letter opposing trans rights, 3600 sign letter in support (Update, the same day: it’s more than 4,000 now) This is the reality, away from the social media echo chamber and the furious clickbait columns. Again and again, the public is overwhelmingly in favour of treating trans people… [more]
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This is the British Army’s guide to spotting dangerous extreme right-wing (XRW) people, courtesy of James Wallis on Twitter. Heres’s a summary. They describe their opponents as traitors They become increasingly angry about perceived injustices and threats to their national or cultural identity They say their critics have been indoctrinated They make sweeping generalisations and… [more]
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Herald columnist Iain Macwhirter, pictured, has gone off on one about trans people again. Yesterday he claimed on twitter that calling cisgender women cis “is the most extreme form of misogyny”, which I’m sure will be news to many women who’ve endured much worse things than being accurately labelled with a latin prefix. Cis is… [more]
Read me in books
My debut memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was a Scotsman book of the year and Damian Barr’s Literary Salon book of the week, and it was shortlisted for the 2023 British Book Awards book of the year in the Discover category.
My latest book, Small Town Joy, is a celebration of queer influences on and queer artists in Scots music and is out now.
I’m also a contributor to the excellent anthology Fierce Salvage, which is also out now.
