One year ago today, Harper's published "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate". On Twitter, trans people read it as a direct attack on them. When I read it, I was struck by how such a bland text of strawmen and clichés could be read so specifically. When I posted my two texts on the letter in various threads, including a Facebook post supporting it, two women in Scotland who'd been criticized for transphobia took issue with my interpretations and said they'd specifically felt defended by the letter. So though the letter said nothing about transgender issues, both transgender people and those accused of being transphobic felt it was about them. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 7 July 2021)
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