Shorter Julie Bindel – “Lie back and think of England”

Once upon a time, Julie Bindel wrote something that really resonated with me: she spoke of being out with a group of women and getting harassed by some tool who just couldn’t abide by the little ladies going out unsupervised. I recall he called them “carpet-munchers,” among other things.

I’m not a lesbian, but I know what it’s like to be harassed for showing my face outside (hey, guy who started cussing me out on my way to the gym today? I understood every word, you miserable swine), and I had to shake my head at just how much our world sucks, and perhaps will always suck, when things like that still happen to people.

And yet, this is the same Julie Bindel who, in her latest expression of transphobia and general disdain for anyone who doesn’t quite live up to her standards, stated the following:

…But I for one do not wish to be lumped in with an ever-increasing list of folk defined by “odd” sexual habits or characteristics. Shall we just start with A and work our way through the alphabet? A, androgynous, b, bisexual, c, cat-fancying d, devil worshipping. Where will it ever end? – Comment Is Free.

Irony much, Julie?

Oh, but I get it. You’re a proper, upstanding citizen. You want nothing to do with nasty “trannies”, or any of those other improper types. Your rights matter, because you are right.

Taking a page straight out of the fundie book, Bindel likens the undesirables to Satanists and zoophiles, and doesn’t blink an eye. I suppose for Bindel, those comparisons only hurt when directed against HER. In a stunning display of arrogance and hypocrisy, she even went ahead and titled her column “It’s Not Me, It’s You.” You keep believing it, Julie.

If you want more background on this situation, I’d suggest this take on it here. The gist of the issue is that Julie Bindel and the organization Stonewall UK have been taken to task for transphobic bullshit, and that is just wrong, according to Bindel. The cat-fanciers and devil worshipers are out to get the poor dear. If Jerry Falwell were still around, I’d suggest she go cry on his shoulder.

I also found Sarah’s take on the situation funny and to-the-point. I had no idea that Bindel went as far as threaten the people who organized a protest Facebook group against her. Hey, having a protest Facebook group organized against you must suck, but I’m fairly confident that this is a very clear case of “it’s not them… it’s Julie Bindel.”

And you know what else is funny? As far as I can tell, none of the people that have taken Julie Bindel and Stonewall to task are out there writing for the Guardian. No prominent figure is out there trying to get out their side of the story – about what it’s like to be told that you pretty much shouldn’t exist – and not many people have cared. But the protesters here are the ones who are big, oppressive meanies apparently.

Maybe they’re “just jealous,” Julie, eh?

The bottom line is: some people (Julie Bindel) have a right to enjoy their bodies and identities and lives as they see fit, while others (trashy “trannies”, scary kinky people, lesbians who don’t live up to some invisible standard of true lesbianism, and, well, anyone who shouldn’t be out there polluting the pristine ambiance of progressive movements) must contend themselves with lying back and thinking of England. Or just cease their existence altogether.

That’s the spirit!