How very refreshing to read this piece! Who ever would have thought that we would need "sensitive readers" to keep us safe and untroubled? Especially from archaeologists and art historians. Crikey!
Oh stop. We’ve all listened to these arguments for years. “Intersex”, as it has been coined - a rare medical abnormality, being used as a defence for the existence of trans IDing people (the vast majority of whom are not “intersex”) and held up as proof that sex is not binary. Please - never has a human child been born without a female egg and male sperm. There is no mystery to solve, unless you believe in the immaculate conception.
Can we talk about sexual orientation and stop trying to trans away the gays? What would you guess the speaker’s sexual orientation as? Do you know or bother to inquire? Because my gaydar goes off the minute he speaks and moves. Nothing wrong with effeminate boys or men and tomboy girls or butch women. Nothing wrong with homosexuals either. We don’t need medicalization and we don’t need to fit into tired gender stereotypes like the speaker.
The "Immaculate Conception" is the name for the conception of Mary without original sin (not the conception of Jesus!)—so, that one needed the usual sperm and egg too. (:
I did not know this about the immaculate conception, alewifey. Thank you for clarifying. I do wonder how Joanie thinks he managed to breed 3 children, given he says he’s always been a female and was previously married to a woman. Perhaps these children were born by immaculate conception too? Or perhaps him possessing a “female brain” is enough to reproduce the human species. Personally, I’m not buying it because no matter how much lesbian sex I’ve had, no one has ever gotten pregnant.
For the record, I have known many trans people and spent much time with them so you can stop lobbing the “you have never listened” ball. By the same token, how many gay and lesbian people have you known and really listened to?
There are few things more sexist than talking about a female brain in a male body. The male sex is inscribed in the DNA of every cell of the body of a person born male - including brain cells. Only a misogynist can believe a female brain can somehow inhabit a male body.
And there are few things more infuriating than a person born male describing himself as a “lesbian”.
The word “lesbian” is taken. It refers to sexual love between two women, whose every fibre, every experience etched into their bodies, their voice, their expressions as they talk about growing up as a girl - every detail of the way they move and respond, is that of a woman. And that is something of which no person born male can have the remotest experience. People born male are men and remain men. They have no business invading lesbian spaces and should stay out of them.
Did you watch the TED talk? Have you even heard of epigenetics? Or do choose not to believe in epigenetics? Who’s running away from science now? I’m sorry my existence “infuriates” you, but that’s really your problem, not mine. :-)
I’ve read your profile. You clarify you’re exclusively attracted to women and were born male. What do you see your sexual orientation as? Do you believe you’ve changed biological sex?
Did you watch the TED talk by Karissa Sanbonmatsu? Biology includes epigenetics. There was a discrepancy between my physical sex and my mental sex, what health care professionals call my gender identity. A person’s identity, their self, is in their brain. If a soldier goes to war and has an arm blown off, they are still the same person. If someone loses their mind as a result of Alzheimer’s, they are not the same person. So in a very real sense, my gender identity having always been female, I have always been female. I see myself as having same sex sexual attraction.
I disagree. Thank you for sharing your viewpoints so others can see more clearly your arguments.
At present, I’m working on an art project. Would you object to me quoting you as there’s some classic lines we’ve heard here from “You are correct that what makes me a woman is not my bottom surgery … What makes me a woman is the mind I was born with.” to a biologically born male stating “I have always been female. I see myself as having same sex sexual attraction”?
Interesting read. I thought a “translator” just meant rendering words in one language to another? Like, if you were translating Hitler’s Mein Kampf you wouldn’t ‘correct’ his inanities (perhaps put editorial footnotes though?) Anyway, glad to hear you were listened to & prevailed 💪! Also, what you were discussing seems more archeology than “art”? Granted, some nice cave paintings by our ancestors. Surely beads & axes could be art too?! Thanks.
It’s a common misunderstanding. If that were the case, people could rely on the many digital translation tools that are available. Cultural context of both languages and the appropriate register for the intended readership are key, as are stylistic consistency, the avoidance of repetition and a zillion other things. Most of my work is research. It is impossible to translate in a given academic field without researching the subject. So although I have studied art history more than many other disciplines and mainly focus on art history texts, I have worked in other fields, which therefore involve far more research. The book I translated on the first liquefaction of helium, for instance, required an immense amount of research. Fortunately nothing I do could be replaced by a digital tool. Also fortunately - I choose what projects to take on, and would obviously not take on the book you mention or any other racist or antisemitic text.
How very refreshing to read this piece! Who ever would have thought that we would need "sensitive readers" to keep us safe and untroubled? Especially from archaeologists and art historians. Crikey!
"Sensitivity reader"? Oh dear oh dear
Wait until you hear what happened to Roald Dahl's books.
That’s fascinating…and what a cool career!
The correctly translated passage sounds like something my mother would’ve said to me as a child in the 70s.
It’s not nonsense. It’s something real that you choose not to believe because of how it makes you feel.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YdeChkf68eU&pp=ygUeMTUgbWludXRlcyBrYXJpc3NhIHNhbmJvbm1hdHN1
Oh stop. We’ve all listened to these arguments for years. “Intersex”, as it has been coined - a rare medical abnormality, being used as a defence for the existence of trans IDing people (the vast majority of whom are not “intersex”) and held up as proof that sex is not binary. Please - never has a human child been born without a female egg and male sperm. There is no mystery to solve, unless you believe in the immaculate conception.
Can we talk about sexual orientation and stop trying to trans away the gays? What would you guess the speaker’s sexual orientation as? Do you know or bother to inquire? Because my gaydar goes off the minute he speaks and moves. Nothing wrong with effeminate boys or men and tomboy girls or butch women. Nothing wrong with homosexuals either. We don’t need medicalization and we don’t need to fit into tired gender stereotypes like the speaker.
The "Immaculate Conception" is the name for the conception of Mary without original sin (not the conception of Jesus!)—so, that one needed the usual sperm and egg too. (:
I did not know this about the immaculate conception, alewifey. Thank you for clarifying. I do wonder how Joanie thinks he managed to breed 3 children, given he says he’s always been a female and was previously married to a woman. Perhaps these children were born by immaculate conception too? Or perhaps him possessing a “female brain” is enough to reproduce the human species. Personally, I’m not buying it because no matter how much lesbian sex I’ve had, no one has ever gotten pregnant.
But you have never listened, and you are not listening now.
For the record, I have known many trans people and spent much time with them so you can stop lobbing the “you have never listened” ball. By the same token, how many gay and lesbian people have you known and really listened to?
You sound like someone who says, “I have black friends.” As far as other gay people, I have worked with them politically so I know a lot of them.
There are few things more sexist than talking about a female brain in a male body. The male sex is inscribed in the DNA of every cell of the body of a person born male - including brain cells. Only a misogynist can believe a female brain can somehow inhabit a male body.
And there are few things more infuriating than a person born male describing himself as a “lesbian”.
The word “lesbian” is taken. It refers to sexual love between two women, whose every fibre, every experience etched into their bodies, their voice, their expressions as they talk about growing up as a girl - every detail of the way they move and respond, is that of a woman. And that is something of which no person born male can have the remotest experience. People born male are men and remain men. They have no business invading lesbian spaces and should stay out of them.
Did you watch the TED talk? Have you even heard of epigenetics? Or do choose not to believe in epigenetics? Who’s running away from science now? I’m sorry my existence “infuriates” you, but that’s really your problem, not mine. :-)
I’m listening. What is the speakers sexual orientation and what is yours?
Are either of you intersex or qualified to speak for them?
https://substack.com/@joaniewimmer/note/c-81579664?r=qjgnp&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1VwXwNRmTw7Jz13rljOxoXzb8_Wxv7xQ9z1i1ecriMpWDwjT8fe0q4WhE_aem_vFNDPtk-yEcU1V-YqvwmRg
I’ve read your profile. You clarify you’re exclusively attracted to women and were born male. What do you see your sexual orientation as? Do you believe you’ve changed biological sex?
Did you watch the TED talk by Karissa Sanbonmatsu? Biology includes epigenetics. There was a discrepancy between my physical sex and my mental sex, what health care professionals call my gender identity. A person’s identity, their self, is in their brain. If a soldier goes to war and has an arm blown off, they are still the same person. If someone loses their mind as a result of Alzheimer’s, they are not the same person. So in a very real sense, my gender identity having always been female, I have always been female. I see myself as having same sex sexual attraction.
I disagree. Thank you for sharing your viewpoints so others can see more clearly your arguments.
At present, I’m working on an art project. Would you object to me quoting you as there’s some classic lines we’ve heard here from “You are correct that what makes me a woman is not my bottom surgery … What makes me a woman is the mind I was born with.” to a biologically born male stating “I have always been female. I see myself as having same sex sexual attraction”?
Interesting read. I thought a “translator” just meant rendering words in one language to another? Like, if you were translating Hitler’s Mein Kampf you wouldn’t ‘correct’ his inanities (perhaps put editorial footnotes though?) Anyway, glad to hear you were listened to & prevailed 💪! Also, what you were discussing seems more archeology than “art”? Granted, some nice cave paintings by our ancestors. Surely beads & axes could be art too?! Thanks.
It’s a common misunderstanding. If that were the case, people could rely on the many digital translation tools that are available. Cultural context of both languages and the appropriate register for the intended readership are key, as are stylistic consistency, the avoidance of repetition and a zillion other things. Most of my work is research. It is impossible to translate in a given academic field without researching the subject. So although I have studied art history more than many other disciplines and mainly focus on art history texts, I have worked in other fields, which therefore involve far more research. The book I translated on the first liquefaction of helium, for instance, required an immense amount of research. Fortunately nothing I do could be replaced by a digital tool. Also fortunately - I choose what projects to take on, and would obviously not take on the book you mention or any other racist or antisemitic text.