The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike) Part 1653 by Angharad Copyright © 2012 Angharad All Rights Reserved.

The next day I spoke with all the children about Jacquie living with us as another sister, an older one for Julie. They were all perfectly happy with the idea–well not quite. Julie wanted to think about it.

“What’s the problem, the others are okay with it?”

“Yeah, but I’m the big sister–if Jacquie moved in–she’d become the big sister.”

“Ah, okay, so are you worried because of loss of status with the youngsters or because you are concerned she’s more female than you?”

She blushed and coughed and spluttered. So it was the female bit. What is it about trans women, that they have some sense of inferiority to those born with two X chromosomes. I know that I’m probably the worst offender, unless I see it in others, then I can put them right–I can’t take the mote out of my own eye though.

“Look, woman, what else do I have to say? The GRP thing is in progress, that should be a finalising of the fact in law. What else have you to prove?”

“What about when those louts who put comments on the Daily Mail say things like, ‘show us your ovaries,’ how do I deal with that?”

“There are lots of women who no longer have ovaries for all sorts of reasons and some who never did have them.”

“You mean like AIS women?”

“Amongst others, yes.”

“You’re AIS aren’t you, Mummy?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not that interested in finding out.”

“Oh, I would.”

“Why? What would it prove?”

“A biological cause.”

“And?”

“Well, I could show it was more than a whim of mine.”

“I don’t think many people have full gender reassignment surgery on a whim.”

“What about that one who sued the psychiatrist?”

“He was rather strange anyway and perhaps someone with stricter adherence to the Harry Benjamin rules might have prevented things happening, I’m not sure it would have done. He’d have gone to Thailand and got it done there, he was impulsive and immature, remembering him driving that boat up the river, he didn’t even know how to start it and was all for suing the vendor.”

“What about those whose medical research accuses us all of being delusional and cites all the ones who regret their surgery or top themselves after it?”

“You can prove almost anything you want by research, especially if you set out with an agenda to do so. On the other hand, the research should lead you to the conclusions which are demonstrated in the data, assuming the data is correct. It isn’t always. So if you want to prove SRS is wrong, you only talk to people who were misdiagnosed, had poor surgical outcomes or have some other reason for regretting it. Then you speak to those who disagree with surgery from a professional point of view–often coloured by extreme religious or political views held by the individual.

“Finally, you talk to one or two who are happy with the outcome and try to upset them, even if you don’t, you suggest in your survey only so many per cent were happy while a majority regretted it, and the same is true of the professionals you interviewed.

“Science can prove everything except the existence of god. If it did that, I’d want to double check the results. There is loads of bad science out there and some of the gender stuff is in that category.”

“But, Jacquie is still more female than I am, isn’t she?”

“Apart from chromosomes, where?”

“She’s got ovaries and so on, hasn’t she?”

“No, she hasn’t nor has she a uterus or even a cervix–it was all ripped away by a very poor piece of surgery.”

“So she isn’t any more female than I am?”

“I tried to tell you that.”

“Wow,” she beamed at her own pleasure-she was a female as a biological woman. Then her expression changed, “Poor Jacquie–must be a real bitch for her.”

“I’m glad that occurred to you, Julie–because that’s the lesson in reality for today.”

“Bit of a bugger though, isn’t it?”

“Very much so.”

“Can’t the blue light restore her to wholeness?”

“No, I tried that.”

“What about stem cells?”

“One day, but wombs are rather complex objects and a cloned one might not work or need to be removed. Remember, she has massive scarring and so on inside her.”

“Why did that happen?”

“She was raped at age twelve and was given a compulsory abortion by a doctor who was either drunk or incompetent or both.”

“Can’t she sue him?”

“We’d need to prove it was him and that he was negligent or acting against the best interests of his patient. If there are any notes from the period, they’ll have been written to support the action taken not the best course of action.”

“That really sucks, Mummy.”

“I’m well aware of that, I’m hoping Jason will find evidence which supports Jacquie’s side of the argument. Then we can go to town once we confirm the individuals concerned. If Jason gets them in court, he will destroy them.”

“Can we go and watch if he does, I think I could quite enjoy that.”

“You can if you want, I won’t be going. I rather hope the GMC prosecute instead and he gets struck off and the reasons perhaps can then be leaked to the sympathetic press.”

“Gets complicated, don’t it?”

“Doesn’t it just.” I tried to correct her grammar while agreeing with the spirit of her remark.

Daddy was fine, more grandchildren for him and possibly of an age, that had Catherine produced babies, they would be.

Stella was a bit harder to convince. “I don’t need any more nieces or nephews, especially long lost ones who are looking for handouts.”

“Stella, you know how much this girl has suffered.”

“Yeah, haven’t we all?”

“She isn’t transgender.”

“Okay, so she has one redeeming feature.”

“She needs us.”

“What can we provide no one else can?”

“A sense of love and trustworthiness; security and protection.”

“Because we’re wealthy?”

“I’m not especially wealthy?” Well I wasn’t.

“Cathy, last time I looked you were worth a couple of million.”

“How come?”

“You make films, you sell them, you work for the university and you raise the dead, isn’t that enough?”

“But none of those would accumulate anything like two million.”

“No, but together–plus the sell off a while back. Then, what if she’s gay?”

“So what?”

“You say that now but your body language and the questions you were asking tended to reveal a fear of lesbians and gays.”

“I’m terrified for the safety of my children.”

“You’re a liar, Catherine Cameron, but you might not appreciate me showing you why.”

“Probably not, no.”

“So go with the flow and stop worrying about things which might not happen.”

“You are in favour then?”

“No, just screwing with your head–it’s good fun, you should try it.”

“I might if I can ever hack yours off in the first place.”

“Tut-tut, Cathy dear, violence is no solution to any problem.”

For a moment, I was tempted to disprove her there and then, instead I went home to find more information on these matters–I can’t be the first and won’t be the last.