Hijacking the Dead? Terry Pratchett & the Trans "Debate"

[@iamsemjaza]

The dead being brought back as zombies for endless political debate does sound like a Terry Pratchett story.

[@theantipope4354]

Like Reg Shoe?

[@geraintthomas4343]

Also Johnny and the Dead "we counted, and turns out they outvote you 20 to 1"

[@wolfbones666]

So if anything, he'd be proud!!

[@angusmarch1066]

He did write a character, Mr Slant who is a Zombie lawyer and the best/shadiest lawyer in Ankh Morphork who has memorised several hundred years worth of law and legal precedent.

[@iamsemjaza]

@@angusmarch1066 Thanks for the info :)

[@abbym9954]

Duuuuude Neil Gaiman himself has endorsed and recommended this video on his Tumblr.

[@NububuChan]

Fuck yeah! Neil Gaiman approved content!

[@Doctor_Drama_Mama]

Hell Yeah Neil Gaiman says yes

[@BlindErephon]

Neil Gaiman: Swell dude. Thanks, bro.

[@gentlesandladymen]

I love his tumblr so much 😂😂

[@zrajm]

I honestly misread that as Terry Pratchett having endorsed this video. :)

[@yazef8940]

I love that that the one twitter user claimed transgenderism "wasn't a thing on anyone's radar" to Neil Gaiman, an author who very openly and clearly wrote a trans character into Sandman in the 80s, a character that is treated in an incredibly complex and sympathetic light throughout her journey, exploring her relationship with the family that rejected her, her friends who are sometimes confused but still support her, and even exploring her anxiety when it comes to sex-reassignment surgery. To me it read as a very well crafted, nuanced, and thoughtful take on a character that didn't have to be there, but he chose to write her in, because he had something to say. "Not on anyone's radar" indeed. God, people are dumb. I'm surprised Neil didn't bring that up, but I suppose he didn't want to make it about him, because he's just that f**king classy.

[@avedoncarol4280]

Neil was working closely with Roz Kaveney, one of Britain's premier trans activists, back in the '90s, I think. Maybe even the late '80s. But ffs, "Lola" came out in 1970, where were these people?

[@ezkibela]

@@avedoncarol4280 he wrote the comic about Wanda, the transgender character in 1989 in the Sandman histories "A game of you" so it would be in the 80's

[@leonardogomez8812]

That should be Twitter's Motto "God, people are dumb" lol

[@mnomadvfx]

" God, people are dumb" As least as many people are presumptious, pompous, elitist pr1cks like you just demonstrated yourself to be - ever presumtious that just because you have read something that therefore everyone must have also, and must therefore be fools for overlooking details therein. I love Gaiman's work, but to this day I still haven't read any part of Sandman - he has quite a significant body of work and I don't have the time to read everything from every author I follow, especially as new authors get time in the spotlight and reading their works becomes more interesting than treading old paths. I imagine the same can be said of most people who don't have a whole lot of time on their hands.

[@afoolishfopdoodle3284]

We love Neil Gaiman

[@kiddwong4186]

People who think Sir Terry was anything other than a progressive thinker are the same people that were surprised when they discovered Rage Against the Machine aren't particularly keen on Trump...

[@MissCaraMint]

Yeah that’s an accurate comparriaon.

[@notoriousgoblin83]

Rage against the Machine are ..... COMMIES????????????

[@heyna1185]

Or people getting mad that Star Trek is “turning woke“

[@Kyran1996]

I remember seeing people blasting "Killing in the Name" at a Blue Lives Matter event in a counter-protest to Black Lives Matter following the death of George Floyd.

[@taiyoqun]

@@heyna1185 or people getting mad about dr who "turning woke". It's as if they loved it and agreed with it when they didn't know it was progressive, but when someone mentioned the new stuff was, they lost the ability to enjoy it. Like, those people were progressive all along and when someone mentions it they deny it just because they don't want to rethink how they view themselves

[@NaughtMax]

I think people often mistake “people weren’t aware of the subject” with “I wasn’t aware of the subject” it’s like a toddler lacking object permanence.

[@antonioscendrategattico2302]

A deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance, really. They didn't know, so nobody did. Because they already know everything that they need to know.

[@isabellelam9818]

especially ridiculous considering they're fighting with Neil Gaiman about it. an author who touched on the topic in the early 90s with Wanda Mann in Sandman #32-37. I have my gripes about that story, and I'm sure Neil would've written it differently today-- but that should be unquestionable evidence enough to invalidate the "Terry wouldn't have known about the subject"-argument. Sandman is one of the most celebrated comic books of all time, released by a close friend of Terry's! and Neil certainly isn't the first author to write about transpeople! When do these people think Terry passed, in the 50s??

[@VoiceofKane3]

Closely related to the "I don't have a problem with [societal issue], therefore nobody does" defence.

[@moonkeele]

You've just described many 'ancient mysteries' conspiracy theorists: they think just because they've only just learned something that it's a secret someone has been trying to cover up.

[@neeneko]

I seem to recall this subject having quite a bit of visibility even as far back as the 80s (the limit of my personal experience), so the idea that this was not a subject is rewriting history to fit a modern narrative that 'omg this came out of nowhere!'.

[@Lucas-rz3vl]

I wrote my thesis on the Monstrous Regiment, titled ''Soldiers, Socks, and Sex: Crossdressing, Performative Gender, and Gender Roles in the Monstrous Regiment''. Using Judith Butler's performative gender to analyse the gender roles and norms (and the breaking thereof) portrayed in the book. A direct quote from the novel: ‘’She had gone from boy to girl just by thinking it, and it had been so…easy’’ (Pratchett, 2003, p. 89). Somehow reading this book and going ''Pratchett had no opinion on transgenderism or gender norms'' would require a level of tone deafness that's actually impressive.

[@bentaylor809]

Its great to see passion become scholarship

[@cyburger7257]

Where would I find this paper? Would love to give it a read!

[@lergia]

yeah exactly throughout this whole video i was sitting there almost screaming “have they fucking read the monstrous regiment” bc they claim they read the books or any other of his books. like you can tell he wasnt really transphobic (there are some not so great stuff in earlier books but thats an another discussion i think) and his stance on gender roles and trans “issue” is so transparent!

[@cecilie...]

I would also love to read your paper, Lucas! I'm currently thinking about topics for my next essay and have thought about covering Pratchett's discworld for the longest time!

[@dzanderallison]

I reckon Sergeant Jackrum said what Terry had to say on the subject.

[@evelynstarshine8561]

I am lucky enough to have talked to Pratchett when he was still touring, giving talks and signing books. He recognised the transphobia and drag jokes in his earlier books and worked hard to change once he learnt more. He wasn't just incidentally pro-trans, he talked to trans people to understand how he could support them in his books, and then he did.

[@callawright8813]

I love reading the Discworld books in publication order, because it's so evident how much Pratchett grew and changed as a writer and a person over the course of the books. It's incredible how much his writing of women changed from The Color of Magic to Granny Weatherwax. Reading the books in order is a fantastic picture of a man who strove to better his understanding of complex issues with every book he wrote.

[@alexbennet4195]

What a champ

[@wren7195]

@@callawright8813 As someone interested in writing and more importantly as a human being in general, I hope my life (like his) ultimately reflects my sincere efforts to grow and understand the complex issues you mention. Best wishes everybody

[@allisonwalker-elders6319]

this makes me literally cry happy tears

[@NafNav32]

Like Rincewind encountering Petunia, the Desert Princess? Pratchett was a treasure, and I miss him.

[@Vesperitis]

Terry Pratchett once wrote that sin is when you treat people like things, including yourself. I do not think a man with such simple and profound wisdom would be a bigot.

[@cosmiccutie6687]

"Evil is when you use the weak for your own gain and crush them under your foot." - Kujo Jotaro

[@isabellelam9818]

"as a self-professed Discworld-expert, please allow me to waffle about it for a bit." Yes, yes god please

[@lostandlikingit]

I could take a full feature movies worth of time listening to Shaun waffle about Discworld.

[@phil0934]

@@lostandlikingit Many would I bet

[@Yahuaa]

More waffles on all the tales, please.

[@scofah]

Yes! When I saw a Shaun video re Terry Pratchett I got a little nervous, "You're not going to ruin this for me are you, Shaun?!" 😂🥰 Thank goodness no.

[@hollandscottthomas]

I literally hit this comment at the exact moment he said it in the video and it was bizarre XD

[@timdunn0]

The thing about "not on anyone's radar" that got me is... it was said to Neil Gaiman. Who, at the same time he was writing Good Omens with Sir Terry, was also writing trans women in his comics and other stories. Waaaaay back in the 1980s, which to these folks must seem as far off as the Stone Age. Telling a guy who was writing trans women that the existence of trans women wasn't on anyone's radar? I mean, the sheer arrogance of it.

[@dano8902]

More like ignorance. Whoever that douchecanoe was he must not have read Sandman. Or lived outside of a Florida retirement community.

[@Nerobyrne]

There are accounts of trans people (or what we today have concluded were most likely trans people) as far back as ancient Rome. People who think this is new are either totally ignorant of history or willfully hiding from reality.

[@thursoberwick1948]

@@Nerobyrne It all depends on your definition of it. Heliogabalus is sometimes roped in as a historical trans icon, by people who have never looked into all the other things Heliogabalus did... i.e. H. is not the kind of person you want to idolise.

[@Nerobyrne]

@@thursoberwick1948 nobody is idolizing him (or they shouldn't, at least), the question is "was this person trans", not "were they a good person". I personally find Caitlynn Jenner disgusting as a human being, but that doesn't mean she's not trans. Being trans doesn't make you good or bad, it's just a thing you are. Like having a certain hair color.

[@thursoberwick1948]

@@Nerobyrne They use Heliogabalus as a historical reference point. If they knew anything about H., they wouldn't touch H. H. is not the kind of person you want to publicise for your cause, he was cruel and debauched.

[@claytoncook731]

Damn I miss pratchett. I cannot get over how uncomplicatedly funny premise like "oops all mulans" and make an earnest and loving story amid the luaghs.

[@neuralmute]

@Joseph Douek Take a story as good as I Robot, (at least when Pratchett was at his best!), and then filter it through sharp satire, clever wit, bizarre names, and some downright silly-to-brilliant level wordplay, put it in an odd version of a fantasy-ish setting, and you've got Terry Pratchett. He is much missed.

[@fluffynator6222]

Isn't that a cliche in itself or did he create that cliche?

[@paullemay6596]

'Oops all mulans" lmao

[@viv2568]

I’ve never heard it described it as oops all Mulans, but yeah, that’s definitely accurate

[@patttrick]

Aint it funny, I take it your a sceptic tank? None of our lot went to yankee land . Im within 5 miles of Clayton ,clayton le moors , clayton le woods and clayton le dale,here its a town there its a first name, were all working class peasents, miners and cotton workers. I bet your a millionaire ?

[@thoperSought]

11:20 _"... how proud he was that trans people saw themselves in his dwarfs."_ after the shock of Rowling going TERF, this is so, so gratifying. I need to reread Good Omens again, now.

[@paulelroy6650]

jk rowling has never once said she has a problem with trans people. all she has said is there is a different between trans woman and woman . that being the TRANS part

[@thoperSought]

​@@paulelroy6650 yes, exactly. I couldn't agree more. all she has said is that trans women are different from cis women, just like all Charles Murray has said is that black people are different from white people. the thing is, literally no one I have every heard is saying that trans women are identical to cis women. cis women are not identical to each other, ffs. what people are asserting is that, just like black people are *people,* trans women are *women.*

[@alekseyl172]

I would recommend reading "The Fifth Elephant" (1999). There's a story line in connection to dwarves, which I believe tells everything you need to know about Pterry's thoughts on trans people, especially the ending.

[@thoperSought]

​@@alekseyl172 in the context, that sounds a little ominous, but I do need something to read, and I haven't read one of his in ages, now

[@alekseyl172]

@@thoperSought No, no, I didn't mean anything bad at all. I am myself fighting with deep gender dysphoria issues on a day to day basis (living in a mostly conservative country doesn't really help either) and when thinking about Pratchett's books, that I've been reading and adoring since the earliest of childhood, I often come back to 'The Fifth Elephant' (1999) because of how well it speaks on this topic. It kind of reflects many of my own old self-hating transphobic thoughts on the matter. It's not the biggest part of the book, but it is certainly there.

[@Runningfromtheredqueen]

Terry Pratchett's Discworld formed so many of my ideas on gender, race, class and religion as a teenager. Just about everything about his writing tells me the man had a very humanistic and progressive view on people, even if he let characters like Vetinari air some of his inner cynicism. Anyone who would claim Pratchett as a transphobe should probably read Monstrous Regiment and Fifth Elephant, for starters.

[@seacatlol831]

S in other words; Terry Pratchett was progressive. (based)

[@jonathanwessner3456]

Or any of the Watch books in which Cheery existed. She chose to live as a female, not a dwarf female (shaved her beard)

[@thepanpiper7715]

For me, Pratchett was very much an exasperated humanist; most people aren't cruel because they're evil, they're cruel because they're thoughtless/having a stupid moment. I also appreciated the ways that his works demonstrated that just because you didn't *mean* to be cruel, doesn't automatically mean you weren't cruel or that no one was hurt or that it's nothing you need to take responsibility for.

[@saexy_potato]

​@@thepanpiper7715 as seen in Going Postal, for example

[@hpalpha7323]

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

[@ellentheeducator]

I've had multiple people talking about this, and every time I see the "how proud he was that trans people saw themselves in his dwarfs" I cry a bit. It hits me more than just seeing trans themes in a work, or even when an author says "trans rights." It was something private, when he said it - there was no way he was expecting that statement to go on twitter and build his fame or anything. He was just really, genuinely proud that people like me felt seen and understood by his work. There will never be anyone quite like Sir Terry again. GNU Terry Pratchett

[@krankarvolund7771]

Fuck you make me cry too now....

[@choronos]

I'm not trans, but I welled up a bit too when Shaun was reading that Tweet from Neil Gaiman. It warms my heart both to know that young trans people found a message of love and acceptance in the work of Terry Pratchett, and that he was aware of this and appreciated it. This video convinced me to start reading Discworld novels.

[@fpedrosa2076]

@@choronos If you'll allow me to nerd out here a little, I would suggest starting at "Mort" or "Guards, guards". His early books can be a little rough, but these are agreed by most of his readers as being his best early stuff. That being said, even the first one still has some good gems, and the books only get better and better as the series goes on. Happy reading!

[@ianking7511]

@@fpedrosa2076 The first couple of books started making more sense to me after I read the Lankhmar books. When he started he was pretty self consciously parodying older fantasy works. It wasn't until later on that he settled in and developed his own voice and idea of what he wanted to do with the world he'd created.

[@alchemicpunk1509]

I seem to have contracted an onion-cutting ninja infestation off of that. I'll let them stay a while longer.

[@danc4558]

Ditum: "You can't hijack the dead." Shaun: "I am a skull."

[@jedkeenan00]

"YOU CAN."

[@ladywaffle2210]

"You can't hijack the dead." "Who said anything of a hijacking? They follow me willingly."

[@SirBlackReeds]

Nah, he's a dude with some serious issues regarding Undertale and its genocide route. No seriously, he let that crap leak on Twitter.

[@scribbly2983]

The idea that a daughter wouldn't be the end of it is nuts to me, especially given how close they were. I could pretty accurately describe my Dad's views on Trans issues and how they've evolved and changed since I was a kid. I should note my father is a physician and has had Trans patients as long as he's been a doctor. He graduated from medical school in the 1970s.

[@ChJuHu93]

There are examples of children telling lies about their parents. But that accussation should be build on mountains of evidence.

[@catherinestickels2591]

"No, he's wrong, trans people didn't exist before 2015"

[@catherinestickels2591]

*quotation marks to show that I'm satirizing transphobes, have to specify because this is the internet. Transgender people have existed as long as gender has.

[@mnomadvfx]

"The idea that a daughter wouldn't be the end of it is nuts to me" You don't get out much do you? I've spent 8 years in university - and the number of disaffected post teens who declare that their parents don't get them and vice versa would clearly shock you based on that statement. Not a statement on Pratchett himself, just your woefully ignorant view of familial understanding of character.

[@gregbasore2108]

The writer arguing that "we can't really know" is likely assuming that Rhiannon Pratchett would lie about Sir Terry's opinions, because she'd do the same thing if she thought it would work. She's on the side of the transphobes, but realizes this is a losing battleground.

[@indigohalf]

"You, Neil Gaiman, are old enough to remember that trans people weren't on anyone's radar..." Yeh he's old enough to have written an explicit sympathetic trans woman character into Sandman in like the early 90s. To say nothing of Desire, of course.

[@no_peace]

I was born in 80 and I knew about trans people (trans women) and how people treated them. They were adults, artists and progressive people, of course trans people were on their radar. It's ridiculous

[@ScorpionViper1001]

How can this person be a Neil Gaiman fan and not have read "Sandman." Really, how is that possible?

[@samniel]

Worse, they later claimed that said character was actually transphobic because a moon goddess says she's not a woman because "chromosomes" but then another character sees a dream-vision of her with Death who confirms she's a woman. They claimed that Gaiman recognized that she was a man and the dream thing didn't count because it's a dream... In Sandman, where Dreams are literally the main plot point of the series, "gods" are nothing but dreams humanity dreams, and the Ultimate authority on someone's identity is Death...

[@SplotPublishing]

I was born in the late 60s. I was aware vaguely of trans people and some of their issues by my pre=teens through the work of NUMEROUS science fiction and fantasy authors including Heinlein, Farmer, and Pournelle. By the 80s they were being featured on Donahue. By the time I read my first Pratchett novel, most authors had at least clumsily included a trans character in an ensemble cast, or used some stand in for trans gender people, like dragons or unicorns or aliens. Star Trek addressed it, for goodness sakes. It was on television cop shows and sitcoms starting in the 70s, if often played for laughs. Archie Bunker had a friend who turned out to be trans. To claim that Pratchett lived at a time when the trans issue was unknown is such an admission of ignorance that you would think this "journalist" would be embarrassed to assert it.

[@Jermbot15]

@@ScorpionViper1001 It's called the Deep Blue Something principle. Where you vaguely recall kind of liking something, and you imbue it with whatever undo significance it requires for you to make your point.

[@coolgirl3890]

Terry Pratchett strikes me as the type of old man who might get the terminology wrong sometimes but is actually 100% more progressive and well-meaning than most activists

[@lilyjackson6460]

I'd agree but... 66 isn't even that old I feel. He really was gone too soon.

[@coolgirl3890]

@@lilyjackson6460 damn, I forgot he died so young.

[@BaneRain]

Watch his documentary on assisted suicide. Really interesting

[@Davesknd]

That implies that he didn't partake in activism himself, which is insulting to him. He had clear views and he was fighting for them.

[@ponivi]

Eh, it sounds like he kinda was an activist, friend

[@XTremeCaffeine]

As we know, attempting to talk over an author's daughter, assistants, and friends, with regard to that author's views is an abomination unto Nuggan

[@StAngerNo1]

What we can see here, is conservative people realizing that most of their idols are not on their side, when it comes to this kind of issues. And they cling as hard as they can to the few they have left. That is why they are not saying "Alright, Pratchett was pro tras, whatever, I didn't like his writing anyway" but instead try to argue even on a lost cause.

[@thomasmerzlak6001]

Along with rocks, oysters, and the color blue

[@ronanstephens1597]

@@StAngerNo1 oh shit remember when they did this with Steven King? 😂 One second he was their favourite author ever and the next they'd never even heard of him.

[@oldgus01]

To be fair, people who do that likely believe they will be fine. Since they have their potato.

[@TheShadowChesireCat]

I don't think they got the satire. Which is the part I worry about. His themes are consistently "conservatives are awful people". Like I don't think Terry could make it more clear without specially training a fleet of eagles to drop a tortoise with a note tied to its shell on every conservative's head that reads "you suck. Yes, you, I am personally saying you make society worse by holding us back. Sincerely, Terry Pratchett".

[@WinningSidekick]

Pratchett really wrote a trans man who followed his boyfriend into the army back in 2003. As a queer trans guy, that blows my mind. To this day I still haven't found a better published work with a gay/bi trans man in an important role. And Pratchett let Jackrum be complicated, deceptive and tricky rather than either a stereotype or a safe, boring example to follow as good representation. Jackrum's a person, not a paragon. God I love Pratchett.

[@thatlesbianartist3624]

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas has a gay trans boy protagonist and it's a really good book!

[@bastardslayer5625]

Sorry, a woman putting on mens' clothes as a disguise does not make her a transman.

[@WinningSidekick]

@@bastardslayer5625 You're right that a woman disguising herself as a man doesn't make her a trans guy, but that same person continuing to don the disguise way after it's become unnecessary does have some implications. To elaborate a bit on that: I don't read Mulan as a trans man, lol. She goes back to presenting as a woman as soon as she's able both in the myth and the movie. Sergeant Jackrum, on the other hand, genuinely provides a lot of textual evidence for a trans reading. Shaun's analysis prompted me to go back and re-read the text, and yeah, it's about as explicit as you can get without an actual coming out scene.

[@bastardslayer5625]

@@WinningSidekick But the disguise has not become unneccessary for Jackrum. Her lover may be dead but that does not mean she can continue to don the disguise for agency so she can do good for other women caught in the same situation she was. You talk about textual evidence in the book, like what? I remember Jackrum subtly described like a mother taking care of her children, which align pretty much with Jackrum donning the disguise for agency she does not have as a woman in that fictional country. The book is about sufragette and not trans stuff, please stop hijacking IP for your fad of the decade.

[@WinningSidekick]

@@bastardslayer5625 Well, I meant at the end of the book, which is when it's officially made legal for women to join the military-- and even if it weren't, Jackrum retires. Jackrum, in retirement, continues to live as a man. That's what I meant. :) As Shaun points out in the video here, Polly switches to referring to the other disguised girls and women as "she" when she learns their identities, but with Jackrum she switches back to saying "him" after they discuss the possibility of Jackrum continuing to live as a man in retirement and Jackrum expresses a preference for that idea. So, again, that's the textual evidence. I'd rewatch the video if I were you, Shaun summarizes it a lot better than I can! I don't recall Jackrum ever being referred to as motherly, but I'd be really interested to see a citation for that; I'm open to the idea that I might be wrong! It has been a month since I read the book, after all.

[@MazDance]

I feel for Neil and Rhianna so much, it must be absolutely horrible to have people claim to know your friend and father better than you, to witness these people trying to warp Terry Pratchetts legacy in real time.

[@madsgrams2069]

Right-wing reactionary p1llocks do this kind of BS with every popular person that is unfortunately dead and can't tell them to shove off... A prime example is MLK Jr.

[@maxgrozema1093]

@@madsgrams2069 Orwell is also an example of people they try to hijack

[@johnmartinez7440]

"Stop hijacking the dead!" they scream at his daughter and close friend.

[@LuizAlexPhoenix]

@@madsgrams2069 MLK was getting closer and closer to open revolt, which he and Mandela both made clear they would never renounce as viable tools of struggle against opression, then he was killed. The NYT called anti Vietnam War protestors, civil rights activists and even MLK radical tankies, while Mandela was considered a terrorist instead of a political prisoner. There has been a severe whitewashing of late 20th century history to fit the theme of "peaceful resolution", to erase the violent struggles and convince people that violence is supposed to be won through peaceful and orderly protests, the supposed "high ground" of "when they go low, we go high". All of which is then further connected to violent moments like the US War of Independence and the movement that led to it. People were violently attacking British soldiers, tax collectors and those in the colonies that cooperated with them, people had their precious private property destroyed, not only the British tea was thrown into the harbour but small businesses were destroyed by mobs, the Guns of Ticonderoga were taken by a self formed militia, the whole war was triggered because the colonists were amping up their violence, they didn't sit on squares with slogans and flags, they beat people and soldiers up. It's not surprising, when the people fighting for independence post WWII were opposed to NATO members, the peoples of Africa, India, South East Asia and so on were fighting against the powers that mostly let them to die against Japanese invaders and/or hunger, like that time Churchill took badly needed food from India to bribe and support rabid anti communist groups in the Balkans. Vietnam and Korea were both under Japanese occupation and pretty much kicked the Japanese out themselves, set up local governments and were about to unify but the US and the UN saw the direction they were taking, so intervened and reinstated former leaders to maintain dictatorships in the southern half of each country while ignoring promises of plesbicitum to reunify the respective nations. Their fights were legitimate so the best way to delegitimize them was to condemn violence as evil and counterproductive, like Kissinger lying through his teeth about the US offering Vietnam everything they asked for "merely under our supervision".

[@madsgrams2069]

@@LuizAlexPhoenix True. But these clowns have gone so far with their lying, BS rhetoric, that now they're even implying that Dr. King was opposed even to...affirmative action, which is beyond ridiculous.

[@ComfyMarius]

I just wanted to say, I found this video, and my dad is a really big Pratchett fan, not all that enthusiastic about me being a trans guy. I never read Pratchett because "that's dad stuff" and this video allowed him & I to have a good conversation about trans stuff. Thank you.

[@slimmccoy8863]

I'm sure that Sir PTerry would have appreciated hearing this. He struck me as a man who enjoyed good conversations.

[@raina8334]

That's wonderful, I hope you and your dad can bond over this and he can accept you, bro! Mich love from a fellow trans person!

[@TimvanderLeeuw]

This is perhaps the most wonderful comment I’ve read on this video so far. ❣️

[@donaldbarber3829]

Must remember...it's the onions....

[@Ipam6]

That's wonderful to hear!

[@RaistlinMajereFistandantilus]

Painting trans issues as a new thing that didn't exist 6 years ago is an extremely important part of both their world view and their rhetoric. They didn't know about trans issues, therefore, they assume, no one did. And more importantly, if they paint trans issues as a completely new invention, they come across as the rational normal people just trying to return to reality, vs these crazy people just making new things up.

[@blindbrad4719]

I only learned yesterday that there was a totally legal, Pay what you can but never more than $500nut snipping Surgery created in a barn in rural America back in the 70s that flew totally under the radar. They both learned how to do the surgery and performed it on themselves. Totally unselfish and incredible women that only charged at cost if the patients could afford it because healthcare towards them was next two zero. I nearly 40 and have known trans people have existed for decades, but that was totally new to me.

[@brook_angel]

@@debesysg6959 the ball barn is an amazing name

[@GuyChapman]

Wendy Carlos transitioned long enough ago that I barely knew her deadname.

[@thenerfkid9228]

@@brook_angel they'll take your nuts at your consent, put em in a truck and send em off to bed. BALL BARN

[@LunarVixen]

rose by any other name.... are trans issues new... no.. is the term new? i kind of think... it is an evolving movement.. as people become more aware of themselves, stand up for each more, and labels become more defined.

[@alicecourtney5816]

When I first read Monstrous Regiment I hadn’t figured out that I was trans yet. At the part at the end with Jackrum, I burst into tears and cried for about two hours. I didn’t understand why, but it spoke to me on a deep level that I couldn’t even begin to put into words. Pratchett was a wonderful man and an amazing author, and the suggestion that he didn’t know or didn’t care about trans people is preposterous.

[@vinkei4521]

The same happened to me, but with a comic called Magical Boy, that I read when I was 16, about to turn 17. I called my boyfriend crying because I was having a mental breakdown over how much I related to the protagonist and his experience with gender dysphoria

[@leirumf5476]

I haven't reached that book yet in the series. But after finding myself moping the floor with tears. I'm considering to order that book rn. I love Terry Pratchett books and finding out just how supportive of trans people like me fills me with joy.

[@seekingabsolution1907]

​@@leirumf5476I'm not even trans and that ending with Jackrum still makes me tear up. Pratchett knew how to make a happy ending, made all the stronger by how wretched the journey had been till then.

[@malaksafa4074]

​@@vinkei4521the web comic? I read it to!

[@nmat6183]

I remember reading Monstrous Regiment when it came out, and the pronoun switching to she and then again to he for Jackrum was something that stood out instantly. To me that was Polly understanding and accepting his identity. As well as a suggestion to the reader to do the same.

[@CamelDance]

All us trans guys are Pratchett's little lads in spirit

[@chaosundividedreborn]

YES! My favourite part of that book. The one that puts it all in perspective and years later makes you realise “Holy shit Pratchett pulled out a trans character perfectly naturally and so many people missed it because it was so natural and subtle.”

[@Shamaroth]

The little bit riiiiight at the end, the photograph of Jackrum and his family, and his son so very proud of his war hero dad.

[@Groffili]

I missed this. I must have read Monstrous Regiment a dozen times by now... and I missed this. I know that such things- like: intent - are always open to interpretation, and thus naturally subject to _personal_ interpretation. As with my personal views on that topic, Jackrum has always been just Jackrum. Regardless of "man" or "woman". He was Jackrum. She was Jackrum.

[@KatBlaque]

Loved this video as someone who literally has never read a Terry Prarchett book. Now I kinda wanna.

[@WhamyKaBlamy]

You definitely should if you get a chance. They're really good stories and can actually make you burst out laughing at times :D

[@BryceJ80]

Make sure you look up a reading guide. If you just go in published order you will not enjoy it as much.

[@susim4503]

Do so, you won't regret it.

[@cameronanderson19]

Don't start at the beginning. Mort is a decent stand alone book

[@Merusdraconis]

He is the most shoplifted author in the UK for a reason. Probably don't start at the beginning (the first few don't really hold up), but otherwise pick the one that sounds most intriguing; most of the best ones can stand alone, and only the very last ones don't work well for first-time readers.

[@Martin-xd4jl]

The funniest part of the whole thing on Twitter was when people started arguing that Neil Gaiman wasn't pro trans rights. ...with Neil Gaiman. I mean you'd think he'd know.

[@paulelkin3531]

I can see this for Gaiman specifically, but I would note that a lot of people think they're fine with a minority group that they aren't decent to. As one example, fetishizing of gay people doesn't disqualify somone from being homophobic.

[@helenl3193]

@@paulelkin3531 yes, you can absolutely be pro-LGBTQ+ but still hold unconscious biases, etc. And as a good ally/advocate it's important to be open to criticism/call-outs when you mess up. But in this instance I don't think they had a leg to stand on, I'm sure he's messed up in his representation of LGBTQ+ characters at times, just as he has in the representation of other religions/myths and native American spiritual beliefs in books like American Gods, but hopefully he is receptive to feedback and will do better in those areas in future. And at least he was attempting to represent those groups in the 1990s, when many others wouldn't/couldn't. He just needs to collaborate more with those communities so he can more effectively use his platform for true representation and allyship. (imho)

[@Tester-sh1mn]

Terry Pratchett: Makes a book called Equal Rites all about defying gender norms Sarah Ditum: "Imma pretend I didn't see that..."

[@maecooper8540]

Sadly, a lot of TERFs seem to think that trans people are pressuring people to transition. That a girl being a wizard is fine, but that the "trans agenda" is to make it so that only men can be wizards, and a girl who wants to be a wizard would have to transition. There are a lot of straw men in this discussion...

[@FarremShamist]

@@fuckamericanidiot Well, if you're specifically searching for the low-context biased pieces that are construed awfully, and generally always reference the same few cases, then yes, that's exactly what you would look up. It's not "Many trans people" it's a minority even then, and often times it's to do with regrets of not passing well, or other such things. And of course they wouldn't use "cis", most of the people who figure out they aren't actually trans end up being pretty right leaning, and wouldn't use terms typically found within the left. That's just a silly point to make. And I mean, I would blame cis culture for some of my issues for instance. I have no possibility of even going forward to transition medically because my family, and everyone else in this state is so close-minded. Another common thing is that they actually have experienced great hardship over their transition from (specifically bigoted) cis people, but again, they don't use the same language. You are trying to make an argument saying "Are these trans people lying" when you yourself would never have believed they were ever trans at all, because you view it as a complete falsehood. It is an extremely distasteful bad faith argument.

[@agilemind6241]

@@fuckamericanidiot Your very obvious what-about-ism, cherry picking, misconstruing evidence and other tactics of those who are trying to deny overwhelming evidence are simply not going to work here. Might I suggest you save both your self and us time and either decide you want to keep pretending the world is how you wish it to be and go away, or that you actually want to know how the world is and accept the mountains of evidence that transpeople are people - complex with diverse values and experiences - just like any other group of people only united by a singular common challenge of severe distress with how they are perceived and treated by other people and themselves related to gender.

[@maecooper8540]

@KZbin is highkey garbage Right. That is why they can see him as an anti-trans ally. Because she defies gender norms without transitioning. In practice they end up policing gender bending of all types. In theory they like people who bend gender expectations without medically transitioning.

[@bentaylor809]

@@FarremShamist I was very confused for a moment, it seems some comments have been deleted aha

[@obviousghost5895]

"with what is becoming Britain's principle cultural export: miserable complaining about trans people." My DUDE you didn't have to destroy the whole island like that

[@theslyphooka]

If only

[@Dx-Dm]

He really did.

[@_ikako_]

germany couldn't do it, so we'll just have to do it ourselves, i guess.

[@jdprettynails]

Yeah he kind of did lol I live here and even I'm like "burn it all down at this point. It's kinder this way."

[@MarceldeJong]

If he did destroy the whole island, it was very much deserved

[@JagoHazzard]

What I love about Pratchett's use of metaphor is that he makes them serve multiple functions. With the dwarf struggle over the right to express gender, you can read it as covering transgender issues, feminism, sexuality, fundamentalism or just as a silly take on traditional fantasy tropes. It's very cunning.

[@neoqwerty]

@@SchlubTheSecond I would read a massive College Master's thesis length essay on Pratchett's subtle commentary skills and breaking the books down, not gonna lie. Not on a youtube comment because formatting here is a nightmare, but I'd totally read it, as a hobby-writer who likes subtlety and nuance.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@neoqwerty so what you’re saying is instead of KZbin it should be on LiveJournal? Or a series of chapters on a fanfic website? 😉

[@coobk]

@@SchlubTheSecond i fucking love the sam vimes boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness

[@fergochan]

Exactly! They can be read so many ways. I'm glad that as a relatively sheltered kid I read these books and they gently exposed me to these kinds of ideas. It never strikes you as being beaten over the head with a theme because they are still so complex.

[@weatheranddarkness]

Oh hi Jago! Love your channel! And very on point observation. The excerpt Shaun used from the ending of Monstrous Regiment is an object lesson in how all encompassing his approach is.

[@Ranmara]

I'm a trans woman who holds the Discworld books in a special place in my heart having been captivated by them as a child. Back when I read Monstrous Regiment I genuinely didn't know trans people existed so didn't conceive of myself as being trans yet, but it still made a huge impact on me and at the time I couldn't really appreciate why. I'm also a huge long-time fan of your channel and you might not think of this video as being that big a deal but it does mean a lot to me as a trans Discworld/Shaun fan that you considered this a subject worth doing a video about and I'm sure I'm not alone in that. AND what's more you have in fact released it on my literal birthday, so thankyou!

[@humbledaoist]

Happy birthday!

[@MrPiptron]

Happy Birthday! 🥳

[@Mokona127]

Happy birthday! ;3

[@krankarvolund7771]

When I first read Monstrous Regiment, I wasn't really aware of trans issues, so I just thought it was a good take on Mulan, and women's rights. And yesterday when I read it with trans persons, and the fact I'm certainly a trans woman in mind, I was like "hey, this is like trans issues.... And this character is not just crossdressing" etc.... Your comprehension of books can only grow when you're more knowledgeable 😁

[@adamdonahue2079]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[@peterbyrne5004]

What's so important about this video, I think, is the way you make it clear that Pratchett didn't just *happen* to not be a transphobe, but that his respect for trans rights was the natural, logical result of a larger worldview which is evident throughout his entire body of work, to one degree or another. The truly insidious thing about TERFs is their central, implicit lie that it's possible to be against the rights of one marginalized group while supporting the rights of others (as opposed to the garden-variety transphobes more common here in North America, most of whom wouldn't be caught dead self-identifying as feminists, and who tend to be more blatant in their view of basic human rights as a zero-sum game that they mean to win). But you do an excellent job here of showing that Pratchett respected the rights of trans people for *exactly the same reason* that he respected the rights of other marginalized groups: because he fundamentally believed in the agency of individuals, and was fundamentally opposed to any system that would deny such agency to *any* individual or *any* group based on a narrow view of what their role in society should be. I'm sure he learned new things and broadened his perspective over the course of his life and writing career, as we all must do, but ultimately he was a principled person who showed that support for trans rights isn't just a concession to "wokeness run amok" or whatever, but is in fact the *only* viable position for anyone with an honestly-held belief in the agency of the individual.

[@gpweaver]

I think Pratchett's most brilliant, and true, statement was the one he spoke through Granny Weatherwax: "There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." "It's a lot more complicated than that--" "No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts." "Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--" "But they *starts* with thinking about people as things..."

[@bellatordei3440]

Trans rights doesn't exist

[@a.r.glad.5490]

Perfectly put. And it shines through every line in his books.

[@Olivman7]

"and who tend to be more blatant in their view of basic human rights as a zero-sum game that they mean to win" Okay, I don't know if that's a perfectly accurate characterization of conservatives, but it's *amazingly* well put.

[@snowyalice]

The most insane part of the debate was someone asking how would Terry feel about having trans women use the same bathroom as his daughter. One of the people he was addressing this to? Rhianna Pratchett.

[@mothersbasement]

Spent the whole video waiting for you to bring up monstrous regiment and I was not disappointed

[@ctcstan1406]

Good to see you here

[@queeny5613]

Good to see you

[@_ikako_]

can you please make a video about female representation in anime? it's a massive issue, especially with some of the extreme fan-service aspects of Kobayashi's and i think it deserves at least a mention. it's quite a taboo topic in the anime community, but it is an issue that needs to be brought up.

[@jdprettynails]

You're a Pratchett fan too?? Just when I thought you couldn't get any cooler, dude...

[@taggonius7197]

Oh hey, wasn’t expecting to see you here

[@AsbestosMuffins]

He literally had genderless golems deciding which gender they wanted to identify with and nobody particularly cared especially the woman who complained about golems acting male. In fact by the 2nd book of Von Lipwig's tale the golem was acting positively feminine throughout the whole thing, even going so far as to leave his service as she realized she could do any job she wanted

[@SongWitch]

Oh my gosh I forgot about Gladys, holy shit, thank you for reminding me

[@NapsAndNoodles]

Even a level deeper than that: an old-fashioned lady complained about a genderless golem cleaning the ladies' bathroom. So, Von Lipwig gave the golem a dress to wear to make the lady more comfortable. It's got no gender so why does it matter how it's dressed, right? Except then the golem started reading books on how to act ladylike, and started caring about femininity... So which matters, then, how the golem was made, how it dresses, or how it sees itself? Von Lipwig himself in the book backs off from that debate and just decides that if the golem wants to act like a lady and be seen as a lady, well, he's not going to argue with that.

[@angusmarch1066]

Gladys is probably one of the funniest parts of the Moist Von Lipwig Arc.

[@malcr2325]

I had forgotten Gladys as well. Thank you.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Trans people are golems now? 🤨 That's pretty offensive.

[@wiiseeyou]

This whole "Trans people didn't exist before 2015" argument reminds me of Gimli talking about dwarf women. "Gimli: It's true you don't see many dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they are often mistaken for dwarf men. Aragorn: It's the beards. Gimli: And this in turn has given rise to the belief that there are no dwarf women, and that dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground! Gimli: Which is, of course, ridiculous." There where of-course trans people before 2015, and didn't just "spring out of holes in the ground."

[@guyferrari8124]

@Nobody You Know trans people existed, it just wasn’t a fad that people slapped on to themselves to get oppression points (see: truscum)

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Do you know this was meant to be funny because the idea of the women having beards and looking identical to men is also ridiculous? Gimli didn't think so but holes in the ground was somehow far-fetched. That was the joke. I mean good lord if you don't know that, you are truly lost.

[@Eudaletism]

Don't you know? The universe came into existence in 2015, complete with false memories.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

@@Eudaletism No no.....transgenderism became a cultural thing in 2013. No one ever said transgender 10 years ago. Everyone said transsexual. If there were people saying transgender, it was a not a popular known term at all.

[@Eudaletism]

@@fuckamericanidiot I'm a direct counterexample, so your comment is amusing. Public awareness increased again around that time, but the term was coined in the 60s. The usenet group alt.transgendered was founded in 1992 and you can still read discussions there. The wikipedia page for transgender was created in 2001, the year the site was founded. "She's Not There" was a bestseller in 2003. Even business articles from 2004 when the "LGBT" stock ticker went up on Nasdaq mention the T stands for transgender. I'm sure you only found out in 2013, but you are overgeneralizing your own experience.

[@GabrielRodriguez-oe9li]

“6’2” and about 260 lbs” That’s a GIANT skull. How do you even FIND sunglasses that size?

[@josephperez2004]

Novelty stores I imagine.

[@seekingabsolution1907]

Imagine how large he was when he was alive?

[@chinggiskhan6678]

The size of his ego must be huge as well

[@michaelhird432]

I'm just imagining walking into a gilded, ancient catacomb and finding a giant skull wearing sunglasses that starts to explain to me why Ben Shapiro is wrong about native history and artefacts

[@basedbattledroid3507]

Lenses as big as the sun itself

[@emmadebeer8134]

"You get better swear words and the trousers are useful" Terry stripped gender down to its bleeding core in one line, beautifully

[@weatheranddarkness]

there may not yet be full trouser parity, but I'd like to think there's finally swear word parity?

[@FreeTheDonbas]

So a woman can have useful trousers or swear without being a man? Men are male. The "ideal" man is masculine, but someone who is masculine & female is a woman, otherwise half of all lesbians & feminists are men.

[@emmadebeer8134]

@@FreeTheDonbas I think perhaps you've missed the point, the quote demonstrates that gender can be stripped back to styles of language and dress, by describing that as the bleeding core of gender I'm wryly poking fun at the existence of gender while willfully ignoring the biological argument. The characters in the book fool everyone and in at least one case fully transition, and the most important aspect of that transition was wearing trousers and swearing. I'm so far from suggesting that any girl who wears jeans with deep pockets has a dong, please relax

[@emmadebeer8134]

@@FreeTheDonbas Oh, and at the risk of sounding like a parody of myself, I'm trans and I think your statement that "men are male." Is very reductive of you xP

[@FreeTheDonbas]

@@emmadebeer8134 If being disguised temporarily as a man doesn't make you a man then neither does doing it permanently. All definitions are "reductive" they are also "exclusionary". Your ideology never bothered coming up with a replacement definition, until such time stumm.

[@TheCountOfMommysCrisco]

This drives me up the wall as much as Conservatives pretending George Carlin would have been a Trump Supporter. Like, clearly you never got the message of the work.

[@woflpack2390]

First video you find online he's shitting all over things conservatives like, among those: golf courses... yeah, he'd totally been a Trump supporter... yeah, sure....

[@Bacony_Cakes]

Or like me just coming up right now saying that Aesop was a furr- Wait, he definitely was. Nevermind.

[@rickydo6572]

That's because they can only see things in a surface level, they see Carlin's crudeness and he being politically incorrect ( a concept they rarely understand tbh) and think he would be just like them.

[@2DRonaldo]

Videos and podcasts George Carlin made about political correctness do have a Republican vibe to them.

[@krankarvolund7771]

@@2DRonaldo Yeah, but individuals are complex 😁 You can have a republican view on one concept, and be supportive of democrates view on all the others. I myself is a leftist and communist completely assumed, but I can agree with the right from time to time.

[@emilyfarfadet9131]

I remember gifting my newly out Trans cousin a copy of Monstrous Regiment. I hadn't run into many Trans people much in my personal life at that time, but I loved the book, and I felt it would be timely. I hadn't fully processed his new gender identity, or really explored the politics and nuance of Trans perspective at that time, there were many things I didn't understand. In subsequent years I often fretted over whether it was a good gift in the end. I read and re-read this book as I matured and became more aware of evolving Trans discourse and Trans history, always checking and re-checking the book, and how I used to think. And I kept waiting to sour on the book and who I used to be.... His characters often get things wrong, need to learn and grow like all of us...and really that's what makes them last. Whenever he wrote he did research, because he knew there was so much he didn't know. His Characters self reflect and think about how they are thinking, they see their own flaws and ignorance. But the heart of his work always comes with compassion, curiosity, and openness. He was always willing to learn, as we all should be no matter how old we get.

[@HawkOfGP]

Yes, I think that through all of Terry's works, whether he or his characters got everything right or not, his thoughtfulness and good-heartedness shines through.

[@TheTop5OfEverything]

Ah yes, I remember in the 2000s and early 2010s when the "T" in LGBT meant just the letter "T". Then suddenly after Sir Terry's passing *BOOM* people decided it stood for "Trans"

[@MrPiptron]

😂

[@Johncornwell103]

Or how the stonewall riots and LGBT rights movement wasn't started by trans people

[@barleysixseventwo6665]

Lesbian Gay Bisexual i like Trains-*Vrooom*

[@aralornwolf3140]

"LGBTQ = Let's Get Building Transit Quickly" - This Hour has 22 Minutes

[@johnnunns1136]

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Terry Pratchett. Trans only filled the space when he left

[@VoltieBird]

I literally had to leave work the day Terry Pratchett died I was so grief-struck. Not only did his books massively influence my worldview, but he's one of the biggest inspirations for my own writing. Claiming that his close friends and family are "hijacking" him for some agenda, rather than *informing* people about his views which they obviously knew about is fucking insane.

[@bobgilbert1953]

I balwed. I ain't ashamed of it, I cried for three hours when I got the news.

[@joriankell1983]

Lol

[@cl8804]

lul

[@annafdd]

I kept it together but I bawled like a baby when Iain Banks died, because I had met him.

[@annafdd]

On the other hand I cried long and hard all the way through The Shepherd’s Crown. And I am close to tears every time I listen to “I shall wear midnight”.

[@fnord3125]

When I saw the title of this I had a brief moment of fear where I was like "Oh no, did someone unearth transphobic opinions Terry had?" but then i immediately though "wait, no, i've read a ton of Discworld. there's no way that's possible."

[@aazhie]

I was on some obscure section of a site a couple years and heard someone whinging about Pratchett being a TERF and I was like.... how is this possible? ! It does give you a moment of pause given that some other folks have been Monstrous Disappointments XD

[@krisisk1]

Yes but alot of people that have not read most of his books, have read on a forum that he was GC and of course they are more knowledgeable about this than those that knew him personally and has read most of his works. This also explains all their arguments with the level of objective, deep thought research and fact checking why they are always right. If they managed to find out Prachett was GC then clearly everything else must be the same level of research. And of course as we all know Prachett was a big fan of Jingoism so he would look fondly upon the Jingoism happening in UK right now as well.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

There's no way Pratchett was dragonphobic. He wrote about dragons in a completely fictional universe with magic, dragons and many many other things that don't exist. The wonders of fantasy writers, amazing imagination.

[@someonerandom8552]

@@fuckamericanidiot Have you never heard of metaphors before? Star Wars was Lucas writing about the Vietnam war. Just because it’s fictional doesn’t mean it has to be brain dead and ignore reality.

[@ZanathKariashi]

@@someonerandom8552 I thought it was ripping off a japanese movie he really wanted to make but couldn't get the rights for?

[@lilyposting]

Have these people read… equal rites? Sourcery? Hell, *any* Terry Pratchett book. They’re all very clear about PTerry’s stance on the topic: when the circumstances of someone’s birth affect the roles they’re allowed to perform in life, that’s bullshit. Fight your destiny.

[@lilyposting]

How can I forget pyramids, the story of a born king who just wants an ordinary job and none of this prophecy shite.

[@thomaslavitola7789]

Some must have by pure statistic... i think

[@Ntwolf1220]

They haven’t. They just know that he’s beloved and they want someone held in such high regard to agree with them. If they had read Terry Pratchett they would have maybe even changed their minds.

[@Vesperitis]

For the love of Mike, even friggin DEATH's shtick is defying fate. He's been SAVED by people who defied fate to give him life (which is not a typo but a paradoxical yet awesomely true fact). In the other books, we see dwarves, golems, trolls, werewolves, vampires, dragons, humans, orcs, goblins, and Nobby Nobbs all defy the circumstances of their birth to be better, happier individuals.

[@keelanmurphy9941]

I always read 90% of the jokes about Corporal Littlebottom's coming out as mocking the traditions that kept her down in the first place. It isn't her fault that she doesn't know how to apply makeup or pronounce the word "lingerie", and half the charm of the whole plotline is Angua helping her to settle into her new identity.

[@RobinClower]

And another big part of the charm is her not knowing Angua is a werewolf and Cheri just thinking how cool it is that Angua's smile can instantly turn people's attitudes around

[@professorbutters]

That is beautiful. Of course she’s feeling her way along! She doesn’t have any models or mentors, just Angua’s friendship. It really underlines just how important even one accepting person can be to a trans kid. I particularly love her insisting that yes, she’s still going to wear her iron helmet. Being trans doesn’t make her not a dwarf.

[@mothmaiden]

​@@RobinClowerand in Angua's introduction in Men at Arms, a running gag was the audience expectations of her being a woman being a problem, rather than a werewolf, until she hooks up with Carrot and she becomes a wolf to his almost violent suprise - while she's also mentioned to stay in a boardinghouse that specializes in various magical beings like herself and people show predjudice via unwittingly worrying she doesn't belong there because it's implied mixing with them is dangerous or bad. It's queer/minority coding the whole way down.

[@breadpilled2587]

As someone who's been trans for 10 years, I think it's hilarious that I didnt exist 6 years ago.

[@josequiles7430]

@Antartic Schizo that's a new one. Since when do bones have gender?

[@MrAapasuo]

@Antartic Schizo Thats funny, I thought bones were things. Stuff that every human has. Calcium mostly I think. I didnt know they could express gender too

[@MrAapasuo]

@Antartic Schizo Nope still dont get it. Havent met a skeleton that cant express gender either as you kind of need to be alive to do that. And I havent seen skeletons walking on their own yet

[@OneEyeShadow]

@Antartic Schizo ah yes, the skeleton, the most sensual part of the human body. The most important of all secondary sex characteristics. Are you even a man if you don't have a one?

[@philippebrehier7386]

@Antartic Schizo You should watch Robert Sapolsky's courses on human behavioral biology. He doesn't talk about bones but I'm sure you will be grateful nevertheless. :-)

[@Lumina_Red_Panda]

Pratchett's death is the only celebrity death that has ever moved me. As an author he shaped so much of who I am, and how I view the world. His writings, not just Discworld, helped me come to terms with my own trans identity, and in 2015 when it was reported that he died, that part of me that relied on him felt it. Last month to see transphobes trying to destroy Pratchett's legacy, trying to weaponise a dead man against me was like having him die again. Pratchett understood the value of a man's legacy, his legacy is what keeps him alive. Watching his legacy being attacked, baseless, senselessly, just to push hatred further is just cruel. I'm just thankful that enough of the people who were close to him have made it clear what his books, articles, interviews, and life should already have made clear.

[@turquoisesnowflake4613]

Honestly, I felt the same way. I only saw the godfather once before he died, and that was sort of my only expreance with him. But I just remember being so moved by it that when I found out the guy behind it died, I felt like someone I cared for deeply had left forever

[@turquoisesnowflake4613]

*hogfather

[@nightchild2428]

According to TP it's a choice, which is transphobic.

[@miannekahkol9556]

@@nightchild2428 I think you've misunderstood. Being trans is not a choice, but living as your authentic self is, and in the passage cited by Shaun near the end of the video, the character in Pratchett's novel is saying that the recruits have the choice to live and serve as men, if that's what feels right to them, which is an affirmation that you can choose to live as your authentic self.

[@nightchild2428]

@@miannekahkol9556 You're clearly the one who misunderstood. Shaun thinks that being trans is a disguise that you don't take off because you like having useful trousers & the ability to swear.

[@brain_apostrophe_t]

...at which point, Magnus Hirschfeld's corpse, having spent its living years researching literal thousands of trans identifying people in the 1910s and 20s, spun in its grave so fast, that it rocketed through time and space, unintentionally triggering the big bang in a final burst of uncontrollable gayness...

[@bethanybrookes8479]

It's not uncontrollable, he just blasted off what the gays and other LGBTQ were lying under, exposing us to not only the people who were accepting and welcoming, but also the people who were horrified by our sight (sometimes this included people who identified as one of the many identities under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, unfortunately. Not even a harmless little AroAce like me is safe, apparently im a repressed lesbian or something.) We were always there, we just came out into the open, emerging into the light from our closets.

[@bethanybrookes8479]

It's not uncontrollable, he just blasted off what the gays and other LGBTQ were lying under, exposing us to not only the people who were accepting and welcoming, but also the people who were horrified by our sight (sometimes this included people who identified as one of the many identities under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, unfortunately. Not even a harmless little AroAce like me is safe, apparently im a repressed lesbian or something.) We were always there, we just came out into the open, emerging into the light from our closets.

[@somedipshtinthecomments2507]

"Transgenderism wasn't invented until 2015" is certainly **A** take.

[@somedipshtinthecomments2507]

​@@FreeTheDonbas Well that sucks

[@mycterism]

@@FreeTheDonbas Literally nobody is called "trans-womxyn" except by you and your ilk, so it's not exactly the slam dunk you act like it is.

[@Junebug89]

@@FreeTheDonbas I have literally never heard anyone use that term and decided to google it. The only people who use this are "GC" aka terfs. So yeah, this is another example of reactionaries making something up so they can get mad about it. The word for trans women is "woman".

[@FreeTheDonbas]

@@Junebug89 which sex do they belong to?

[@FreeTheDonbas]

@@mycterism It's just an alternate spelling to remind you of their chromosomes. It's not some conspiracy, so keep your wig on. Unlike self-id, sex is actually consequential.

[@adamrosenquist9531]

I was left without words once when a conservative dude told me that George Carlin would have supported Trump if he was still alive. It was such a disconnect with reality that I simply couldn’t process it. But conservatives seem to enjoy taking the support of people who can’t speak up for themselves anymore. See: Jesus.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Right. The reality is that he is 13 years dead and you don't know for certain either way.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Conservatives claim Jesus was a conservative? Hmm I'm not sure about that. Is there any dishonest tactic you won't use to maintain your nihilist religion called Wokeism?

[@adamrosenquist9531]

@@fuckamericanidiot It’s pretty simple to see George Carlin’s political leanings. There are many videos out there for reference. But of course I still wouldn’t claim the support of the dead in my arguments anyway. It’ would just be another appeal to authority argument.

[@adamrosenquist9531]

@@fuckamericanidiot This is just odd.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

@@adamrosenquist9531 Glad to hear it, it's only insulting to people it applies to.

[@seabright8648]

It's honestly such a bizzare take of TPs work. How can you read Discworld and think Terry isnt supportive of whatever people are and want to be?

[@blackbeard00]

I think the answer is that they didn't read the books?

[@hquq77q85]

@@kronosbach5263 I think he's pretty against religion repression, not religion itself.

[@renfineout5350]

Consider the source. Reactionaries try to coopt every single thing they can even when they are unfamiliar with it or lack any comprehension of it

[@longliverocknroll5]

I mean, the dude who wrote Altered Carbon, which is literally about people not liking their bodies being able to switch into new ones that they’d prefer, turned out to be a massive transphobe, so I can actually see where they’re coming from in terms of “ why wouldn’t an author that uses analogies that line up perfectly with being a trans ally be a transphobe?”

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

@@longliverocknroll5 That's because cyberpunk was coopted by centrists and CHUDs on its aesthetics and nihilism and the fact that libertarians think it's an ideal society. That was the whole Sad Puppies controversy, morons who preferred science fiction as escapism and liked dumb pulp nonsense

[@rikkirikki4892]

You made me FINALLY read discworld after your Harry Potter video (my third time watching it, too). I just… no other series has ever captured my imagination like HP, not in that same “I NEED TO DEVOUR EVERYTHING NOW” kind of way and I didn’t like that about myself. I started with Guards a couple weeks ago. I wish I could thank you in person and I wish I could go back in time to give my young self a nudge to read these. Thank you thank you thank you. I haven’t read like this since I was a child. Genuinely.

[@Cruelty-Torture]

Hope ye are enjoying your Pratchett still. Superb series o books. :)

[@thunder_bug_1451]

This has a very "I thought the machine we were raging against was my mom telling me to go to bed" vibe to it

[@espinacasable]

Funny how kids are naturally rebellious against what they perceive are unfair, authoritative systems until their edge is shaven off by family and their education Still, alt-righters will think they are rebels and revolutionaries, not realizing rebelling against the rebels is just falling in line with their oppressors

[@samo5566]

@@espinacasable i agree, it always confuses me when american conservatives say how horrible and corrupt the government is but then suck off trump, or various senators, cops,etc and dont grasp that those people are the literally corrupt government they claim to hate

[@whawhawhawhaaaa]

@@samo5566 No, no, you don't understand. It just the filthy Liberal Democrat leftists (same thing basically don't look it up) who are corrupt and the corruption never, ever bleeds into OUR side, obviously s/

[@skyleryarroll2369]

People arguing about politics, and I'm just over here reading Thunder_Bug_'s comment in Stephen Briggs' voice.

[@samo5566]

@@whawhawhawhaaaa i can't even tell if this is meant as a meme or not, this sounds like something an uncle that no once wants to talk to would say

[@SheeplessNW6]

Pratchett's writing celebrated diversity, rooted for those struggling to be themselves against opposition, and shone an unflattering light on the socially conservative. And I don't think you could claim he was especially subtle about this: he wanted the reader to get the message, and had enough skill to present it with clarity without it feeling like you were being lectured to. It beats me how a TERF could read the Discworld books and think "yep, this guy would definitely hate the same people as me". You'd have to be an amazingly blinkered reader. They don't even get to play the "death of the author" card, since they're claiming authorial intent, not simply saying "my interpretation of the text is as valid as anyone else's, including Pratchett's".

[@thewittyusername]

Spoiler Alert; they've probably never read any of his books. 🤦

[@TehMomo_]

TERFs tend to be lacking in critical thinking skills...

[@LiberalSquared]

TERFs don't know what "death of the author" is.

[@neuralmute]

@@LiberalSquared they also don't know what humour is, hence never having read any Pratchett.

[@GraphiteShores]

It's what happens when you become more and more radicalized. You put more of your own readings and politics in things you like, regardless of whether they actually make sense.

[@NurseGundam]

It's so weird that anyone could read a Pratchett novel and think he'd be against people being allowed to be themselves.

[@renfineout5350]

The, I've yet to encounter a reactionary argument that isn't entirely disingenuous

[@bdp8102]

To be honest, I thought the same about JK Rowling. So it is nice to know that other authors are different from her.

[@wolverinetuzla]

how can anyone read Monstrous Regiment and say "Well this guy would be a transphobe"

[@UserJWR]

@@bdp8102 Rowling is kind of different in that most of her characters follow external expectations. Harry is kind of a typical hero, Ron is the goofy, clumsy, street-smart loyal friend and Hermione is the book-smart sidekick. Those premises never really change. Voldemort is a pretty one-dimensional character in that he is just evil because. There are some well-written multidimensional characters like Snape, Draco and in the end Dumbledore, but they also never truly deviate from what people expect of them. Also, the Harry Potter books take themselves very seriously most of the time, which is probably the biggest difference to Pratchett.

[@bdp8102]

@@UserJWR yeah I guess, but besides all that there was a pretty heartwarming "always be yourself" message at the core of the HP saga that was shattered dramatically when she came out as an ignorant hateful manipulative bigot, right? I personally never would have thought that the person who came up with the Mirror of Erised would be one to not understand what it must mean to stare longingly at your reflection, wishing for something different, or that the person who wrote about outsiders and the power of community would go after one of the most marginalized groups in modern society. Yes, growing up you realize that she is not in fact that great a writer, and that her so-called feminism was infested with "not-like-the-other-girls" misogyny from the get-go, but for her to stoop as low as she did... I dont know, that hurt, and I can only imagine how much it hurt for her trans fans.

[@erraticonteuse]

3:28 Incidentally, P.G. Wodehouse lived through the 1918 flu and wrote a novel, The Adventures of Sally, where the main character's fiancé complains about it being an exaggerated hoax and lamenting his theater being closed; Sally "had never noticed before that he was remarkably self-centred, but he was thrusting the fact upon her attention now", and later in the book she dumps him. But ~who knows~ how PG Wodehouse would have felt about lockdown???

[@lydrowl]

Sounds like he was pretty pro-trans rights to me by what you said about the last book you covered. He is just like 'yup, that's a woman' when they wish to identify as a woman and 'yup, that's a man' when they choose to identify as a man. That is like the best way to be about trans people.

[@username45739]

If they look the part, sure why not.

[@Teknokraatti]

@@username45739 Going by mere external visage is wont to be highly misleading. Albinism doesn't change, say, an Ethiopian to a Samoyedi. Inactive Y-chromosome will produce a genetic man that looks and develops exactly like a woman. So too will deficiency in male hormone reception, which is a bit like the gender version of type 2 diabetes, a very real health problem caused by desensitization to insuline. A switch in hormone balance midways in pregnancy from feminine to masculine will not trigger the change from the change of development from a female body, the biological default, to a male body anymore, but the brain will develop more in the masculine fashion. Furthermore, the more pregnancies a woman undergoes, the stronger the production and transference of hormones to the fetus gets which means that the deviancies from Just use the pronoun or if it's too hard to stomach, learn a language that doesn't have gendered pronouns. Estonian, Ingrian and Finnish are a few examples. Hungarian might be as well, it belongs to the same language group.

[@gamongames]

@@username45739 your contribution here looked really dimwitted but Im sure you wouldnt want people to think thats all there is to you, would you?

[@hairymcnipples]

@@Teknokraatti calling someone with an inactive Y chromosome a "genetic man" is very silly indeed. She's a cis woman, and like every cis woman has one active X chromosome in every cell and no active Y chromosome (one X chromosome is inactivated in every cell to avoid a surplus of cellular products derived from the X chromosome). The only difference is that it's the same one in every cell rather than being random as in XX women.

[@mahna_mahna]

@@hairymcnipples What constitutes a cis "man" or "woman" (to even buy into the binary) is pretty fluid. Were there no cis men or women before we understood chromosomes? Before we understood chromosomes and realized that they could be present but inactive? These aren't definitions that are written in stone, and we're discovering more and more that genetics aren't the beginning and end of how a human being is made. And it's useless to go off what someone looks like to another person, because that puts their sexual identity on the _observer_, which is so fraught with interpretation that it's useless. In the end, the best thing to go off of is what a person identifies as. Yes, there can be differences from the average development that got them to that point, or no differences at all.

[@nonistra]

impossible for Terry Pratchett to have been a right-winger or bigot: he was actually funny

[@optillian4182]

Based.

[@davenickolchuk6969]

100%. I think the root of most (all?) humor is empathy. Conservatives ain't got it.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

You: **Imparting your own views on to a dead man because you can't stand the idea of anyone not thinking like you** Me, and most other people: **Honestly has no idea what he thought because he's dead and I would never insist that he had any problems with transactivism just because it confirms my worldview** Do you see the difference? I'm not claiming the opposite argument to you.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

@@davenickolchuk6969 Do you have empathy for people you disagree with or dislike? Because if you don't, that's not empathy. It's just standard human behaviour. To be empathetic, is to be kind, is to seek to understand, is to tolerate. I know empathetic conservatives. Why? Because I seek to understand others and I sense it. Simple.

[@optillian4182]

@@fuckamericanidiot They were joking. Why you mad?

[@guilleroji]

"This wasn't on anyone's radar" they said to Neil Gaiman, author of "A Game of You".

[@ChrisBode]

In 1993, would you look at that.

[@msai257]

The pronoun thing in Monstrous Regiment is really interesting! I've only read the books translated into my native language, in which there are no gendered pronouns. The trans themes and trans characters were still veeery clear, it baffles me how someone could miss them.

[@pills-]

Suffice to say that everything said on Twitter should be cross-referenced.

[@greatorder]

Finnish?

[@ilexdiapason]

and when the world missed him the most, shaun returned

[@OhSome1HasThisName]

twice in one day, the Lord is good

[@HotFezVideos]

I suspect that Shaun actually lives underneath Glastonbury Tor and awakes in our hour of need.

[@_ikako_]

@@HotFezVideos brb gonna drive like 20 minutes to pay him a tenner to make a new video

[@jzdude01]

@@_ikako_ don’t know why I laughed at this when I understood less than 50% of it

[@arnoldkotlyarevsky383]

The quote from Gaiman is really all anyone needed to know about Pratchett, "Terry was Wise. Terry was kind...". Wisdom and kindness rarely walk with intolerance to change or the indifference to oppression.

[@mayayamato7351]

one of the worst things that wasnt covered was how Graham Linehan, famous for getting dunked on for trying to defund a trans charity and ending up just raising more money for them oh and I guess he wrote comedy shows at one point, called that touching statement about Gaiman's departed friend "smearing" Sir Pratchett.

[@chucklebutt4470]

Damn, a great writer can afford to put a killer statement like that in a frickin' TWEET! re: Graham Linehan, I'm American and all I know that guy for is his constant self-dunking. I don't know if anyone could do it better than him!

[@prospero4183]

Being labelled as transphobe has nothing to do with caring about trans, u can be wise and kind, but if it helps the movement to label someone, that person will be labeled

[@ashencometmom5291]

@@mayayamato7351 he also got really shocked and upset at gaiman for telling him to be unconditionally kind to his daughter in a mail so i think hes just allergic to being a good person

[@mayayamato7351]

@@prospero4183 name one major figure either author or politician or pundit that was labeled transphobic "just to help the movement"

[@Financiallyfreeauthor]

People assume older people are all cut from the same cloth. They fail to understand that there is variety in people's beliefs no matter what generation they are

[@crnkmnky]

_’Nobody ever talked about transgender issues in the 20th century. To imply otherwise is disingenuous.’_ 🤦🏿‍♀️ What a massive waste of everyone’s bandwidth and time. Thank you Shaun, for doing the work to put these zombies into their rightful context.

[@falconeshield]

He died in 2016 like Umberto Eco (what timing) and the Terfs act like he died 209 years ago because urgh, he might (never mind his daughter) MIGHT have been progressive. Imagine!

[@Gyrono]

Especially because the reality was that "Nobody ever talked about transgender issues in the 20th century. To do so was dangerous." We're talking about a century where African American men were still regularly lynched for most of it and Stonewall and the AIDs pandemic occurred.

[@crnkmnky]

@@Gyrono As always, "nobody" is hyperbolic generalization or whatever. 🙂 Trans activists spent decades voicing grievances, while the LGBT lobbyists and "leaders" repeatedly de-prioritized our needs and placed us on the backburner of the "gay agenda," because there were other injustices to address first. I'm sure they are _loving_ this compounded erasure. 😐

[@crazydragy4233]

​​@@Gyrono Let's not forget they're special, I still remember people saying this about gay people in 2018... It's an old idea bigots have clung to since probably the first sunrise lol

[@chemguyleland]

There's a great parallel to Equal Rites-where a girl becomes a wizard- in his last book, Shepard's Crown, where a boy becomes a witch

[@charlottebowman4033]

Truly, there is a magic in not conforming to one's gender. And in having a pet goat.

[@manutar6666]

@@FreeTheDonbas A boy deciding for a women-dominated occupation, prevailing despite social backlash and finally succeeding in his desire. Where is any phobia in this? It is not a trans character, so he does not "become" a girl. People see themselves in his experiences because they parallel their own. Everyone whose identity is more diverse than the Conservative cookie cutter view of gender can relate to that struggle and take comfort in his example and companionship. And, if you watch the video you'll see that pratchett did in fact write trans characters, and treated them with the same affection and humility as all of his other creations.

[@charlottebowman4033]

@@FreeTheDonbas I mean the boy-witch girl-wizard storylines are more about someone's response to gender norms than anyone being trans - adjacent to trans issues but more a talk on gender in general. Although I see you've gone on everyone's comments to say "everyone is transphobic really", which is a negative view on things. Maybe instead of commenting everywhere on how things might be transphobic, try actively looking for people supporting trans rights: focus on the positives in the world. Read a nice book about a boy becoming a witch and say "wow, I would also like to challenge gender norms and have a cool pet goat".

[@pennygadget7328]

@@charlottebowman4033 no, they're also saying that JK Rowling _isn't_ transphobic. They're just being an annoying little shit to jerk off their ego♦

[@FreeTheDonbas]

@@manutar6666 the trans view is the same as the the conservative cookie cutter view. According to trans ideology if a boy is feminine he needs to take cross-sex hormones & feminise his name & pronouns.

[@WhichDoctor1]

I wondered why Id seen a couple of articles by trans people talking about how nice Terry was to them when they met him. Gods, what a self own by the turfs bringing him up as a possible ally 😂 For some reason, Monstrous Regiment seems to be one of the less recognised novels. Even Id kinda forgotten about it and only remembered like a year after I came out as enby. So I reread it and what a fascinating book. I wish he was still around today. Such a special and compassionate man, with such deep and nuanced insights into human nature. Taken from us too soon 😭

[@Corrodias]

I remember not caring much for Monstrous Regiment when I read it, so many years ago, not because of the trans themes, but just because something about it felt a little flat or boring compared to most of the novels. In retrospect, I wonder if it may have been because transgenderism just wasn't something I cared about at the time. I wasn't hostile to it but didn't have any thoughts on it, so I imagine I had no investment in the meat of the story. It's also possible that it's just a bit more of an awkward book, focusing on new characters who never show up again. Nevertheless, it deserves respect for its role, here. I should re-read it, this decade, and see what I think of it now.

[@whereisawesomeness]

“Sarah Dittum is one of the 600,000 identical opinion piece authors whose sole job is to fill British newspapers with what has become Britain’s principal cultural export: miserable complaining about trans people.” Brilliantly done, a genuinely excellent sentence

[@kittredge5167]

To be fair, they are worth complaining about. No group of people that demand so much attention, should simultaneously escape without any kind of scrutiny.

[@spinecho609]

@@kittredge5167 maybe they want their human rights sweetie

[@kittredge5167]

@@spinecho609 Sugar pie, they have them. Legally they are a protected class of people. That's all well and besides the point.

[@bettyunicorn6132]

@@kittredge5167 Bleh

[@sylenzos6869]

Even before we exit eurocentric politics we're unequal. Literally just written recorded fact in law. ????

[@rickiechristine]

As a Long time Terry Pratchett fan and an open trans woman, I am glad that you made this video. I couldn’t of said it better myself.

[@PinkXxKiss]

I love Monstrous Regiment so much. My introduction to the book was literally one of my trans friends lending it to me way back in 2010 so they could judge my reaction to see if I would be safe to come out to!

[@julespecools9572]

That is acutally realy cute. Hope they and you are doing well :D

[@isntitabeautifulday1648]

You made me smile tenderly. Thanks.

[@rooty]

I want to know the rest of the story!

[@PinkXxKiss]

@@rooty I didn't read the book for many years, because me... but they came out to me long before then and have been out and flourishing for over a decade now. I'm so happy for them and lucky to have someone like them in my life

[@jamesoblivion]

"Not on anyone's radar" is Narcissist for "not on my radar."

[@anna-flora999]

Maybe don't throw a mental health issue under the buss to make a point. Close minded or ignorant work just as well and aren't (hopefully unintentionally in this case) albeist

[@Saje3D]

@@anna-flora999 Yes… because narcissists need defended.

[@godofnothing428]

@@Saje3D they do…

[@avastepanian567]

@@Saje3D just because you call someone a narcissist doesn’t mean they have a personality disorder, it just means you think they’re selfish and self-centered. People with narcissistic personality disorder specifically have trauma related to abuse, usually neglect, and respond later in life by seeking perfection and validation to protect an ego that has been damaged into extreme fragility. People with npd are people and have nothing to do with random assholes who don’t bother to consider that someone different than them could exist. To repeat johannes’ statement, maybe don’t throw mental health issues under the bus to make a point. Closed-minded and ignorant work just fine without being ableist and perpetuating stereotypes that cause people with personality disorders (which btw are harmful to the person who has them, not the people around that person) harm

[@garbledsand-which2321]

@@avastepanian567 So...to understand your saying Narcisst is bad? So...basically saying /speaking generality's about any sub set of people is bad because it creates harmful ripple effect's for them. And ultimately does not allow for a compassionate take on people that instead of judging whole can instead as the invidual's as they are? Also say to many people narcist literally mean's super jerk...and MOST people have meet or know (or related too...which all on it's own bad. Ugh!) of closed minded jerlk face with problem's with empathy. Also...allow stating more nuanced statement's then sole generality's would allow?

[@stormb4833]

Well, you've convinced this trans girl to start reading discworld. Also this video and comment section are so wholesome and wonderful thanks for being like that everybody

[@quelquunparla824]

I wish you a wonderful journey in this magical land, Discworld is so amazing

[@lucywucyyy]

i dont want to be politics i just wanna be a girl :(

[@anasain6590]

I feel you :((

[@taihapegirl]

I really hope you're in a place you can be who you are and be safe (I hate that I have to add that second part).

[@lucywucyyy]

@@taihapegirl for the most part

[@primrose9693]

One thing that really helped me, from one girl to another? Gender is entirely self-definitional. Gender is just how you describe, and express, innate facts about yourself. So, if you want to be a girl, then you are a girl. And only you get to decide what girl, as a word, as a concept, means to you. Do not feel as if you must make yourself to fit society's perspective of a girl, recreate yourself in the ways that most bring you joy. And, if you are in a situation where you cannot, I promise, no state is final, and you will not be there forever.

[@SpeedyTheGoddess]

Not to mention that literally his last book also has a guy who becomes a witch. Pratchett worked with gender expectations throughout almost the entirety of his writing career, constantly turning the expectations on their head. And a fun idea thanks to the way witching works on the disc (which sometimes involves believing so strongly in something that it is true - ie, Tiffany's first pointy hat, most of the headology that the witches use, etc), is that a trans person on the disc could probably magically influence their own bodies until it matches their own view of themselves. Or to have a witch prepare a potion (really just a placebo) that would change your body to match your brain, and oops, they believe it is what they've been given and so it *works*. Oh, to live on the disc...

[@doctortalisman9861]

yes! plus, the way geoffrey talks about himself in shepherd's crown could also be read as nonbinary or genderqueer in some respects: "“I am intrigued, Geoffrey,” [Tiffany] said. “Why do you want to be a witch instead of a wizard, which is something traditionally thought of as a man’s job?” “I’ve never thought of myself as a man, Mistress Tiffany. I don’t think I’m anything. I’m just me,” he said quietly."

[@itsalwayshalloweenexceptwh5118]

If they could turn Greebo into a man, I'm pretty sure they can turn a male person into a female person. "The morphogenic field is the field that defines an organism's shape. This means that in order to change a creature's shape a magic user has to change how the creature thinks of itself. While this is possible for animals and other thinking creatures, it is much harder for plants and other non-thinking organisms."

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Don't the discworld books have magic and dragons in them too? Is the Frog and the Princess written by a transspeciesist?

[@itsalwayshalloweenexceptwh5118]

@@fuckamericanidiot I'm not sure what kind of reaction you're trying to get here. Care to explain?

[@fuckamericanidiot]

@@itsalwayshalloweenexceptwh5118 It's fantasy. I.e. a fictional universe invented by a unique imagination.

[@karoliinalehtinen6701]

My favorite tweet in this whole mess was someone answering to Terry Pratchett's daughter tweeting how he was not a transphobe (I'm paraphrasing): "Well I think Terry Pratchett would be horrified knowing his daughter would be in changing rooms with males." To his daughter!!! Very embarrassing. I laughed a lot

[@karoliinalehtinen6701]

@@oneterrorbyte Yeah that makes it so absolutely ridiculous. Daughter: "I am not afraid of transpanic and I'm for trans right." someone: "More importantly would her dead father be afraid for her safety????????" Reeks like patriarchy

[@mophead_xu]

@@oneterrorbyte nah but fr. saw on jessie gender's video about "gender critical" and found out apparently a whole ass feminist group in uk (i think, iirc) gladly aligned themselves with a conservative group that're pretty much against their whole cause _except_ to push trans people as far back into the closet as possible then farther. so yer last paragraph is spot on.

[@melaniey.5596]

@@mophead_xu yeah, we all hate them, they are called TERF and are the misandrist feminist stereotype that the anti-sjw claim all feminism is. Because I’m pretty sure that part of the transphobia comes from misandry, hate for the trans women for entering womanhood and trans men for abandoning it.

[@KindredBrujah]

@@melaniey.5596 It's really frustrating. When who should be your greatest ally is your greatest enemy, something has gone very wrong. Makes you question just how much 'equality' these people are actually after, really.

[@theomegajuice8660]

Ah but if he had a completely different daughter who agreed with them... then she'd agree with them! What do you say to that!

[@Ironysandwich]

"We can't just assume what opinion a dead person would have about a modern day issue." He died last week. "This issue didn't exist in such a far off time and there's no way at all for us to know what they thought of it." Here's a signed letter detailing his exact thoughts about this precise issue. "The dead cannot speak for themselves and so will remain forever silent in our modern day..."

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Just a quick correction. Pratchett died six years ago.

[@mg9681]

Equal and opposite of "my husband died many years ago" "no I didn't, I'm right here!" "sometimes I still hear his voice"

[@matthewstephenson5781]

"look, we can't assume they meant what we wrote, if he's not here to ask directly they clearly agree with me" It's thhe same vibe as the trial of a corpse

[@SirRebrl]

@@rickardkaufman3988 Ironysandwich was exaggerating for effect, not literally referring to Pratchett.

[@slimmccoy8863]

This put me in mind of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: "I'm not dead." The Dead Collector: "'Ere, he says he's not dead." Large Man with Dead Body: "Yes he is." The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: "I'm not."

[@cupids_favourite_aro4578]

I think we should also mention Gladys, from Going Postal. In that book, many Golems are employed at the post office. Golems don't have a biological sex, cause they're big people made out of clay and fire, however most of them are referred to as he or Mr. When an older female member of the postal staff complains to Moist Von Lipwig, the post master general, he renames one of the golems Gladys, and everyone starts referring to her as she so she can clean the women's bathrooms and so on. Gladys also starts acting differently after that, starts wearing dresses, and becomes good friends with the female staff. I just thought that was also an interesting point😅

[@cyancookie1937]

I apologise for giving you a random notification on a comment you made 2 years ago but I completely misread what you wrote as "Glados from Portal" and I was so confused 😓

[@cupids_favourite_aro4578]

​@@cyancookie1937 no worries! That would be confusing!😅

[@Pinksugarelephant]

I recently read this book, and I was in awe that he predicted the pearl clutching about bathrooms with such accuracy.

[@lacquerluster]

"Journalist...I suppose, Sarah Ditum" signature Shaun timing turning polite words into a complete burn

[@sebcw1204]

i would say that pratchett is the one who made me AWARE of gender as social construct in the first place. before reading him, i literally never thought about it.

[@Corrodias]

In retrospect, I think I was in the same boat, and perhaps it helped prime me to be accepting of people, because of course it makes sense that it's really not a big effort to treat people with the identity they need, once you've seen it in action.

[@NotLaurel6578]

I love how his jokes were never "this person is different", the joke is on you for ever assuming there was a norm to being with

[@Dradeeus]

Since trans people have always existed and, to my knowledge, there wasn't some event that dramatically elevated the trans community, they're essentially saying Pratchett's opinion can't be weighed because he died before they recently decided to be uniformly angry about it. He may have known about trans issues, but not before THEY had an opinion about it.

[@spacefacecadet]

I've been reading Pratchett transly, as a trans person, who is trans, since 2009. When in Fifth Elephant, (spoilers!) the bigoted traditionalist dwarf says "Why should /they/ be allowed to [be openly women]?.../I/ can't!" I cried. Terry's still with us in his way.

[@tsatt22]

❤

[@joriankell1983]

You will never be a woman

[@spacefacecadet]

@@joriankell1983 I know baby, it's great 😘

[@alexandrahumphrey4653]

@@spacefacecadet Gotta love it when the transphobes accidentally gender you right because they cannot comprehend transmen exist. ;)

[@the_exegete]

@@joriankell1983 You will never be truly happy.

[@Taumpy]

I mean just framing something as being between "trans activists" and "gender critical feminists" is a capitulation to GC ideas because it's using their language. Kinda obvious what Ms. Ditum's opinions are.

[@admiralpaco507]

Showing her hand a little bit, isn't it?

[@katt.1787]

It's the same as framing all of queer rights as a debate. There very much shouldn't be a debate over whether all humans deserve the same rights, but here we are.

[@jonathanclarke6808]

@@FreeTheDonbas always funny to see such bad bait that could have almost been written by a very disturbed idiot but is too stupid and polemic even for them. Thanks for the chuckle but do something worthwile with your life now buddy

[@FreeTheDonbas]

@@jonathanclarke6808 Sorry for taking empiricism seriously. I should have just chanted dysphoric men are women uwu.

[@jonathanclarke6808]

@@FreeTheDonbasMeh, 2/10. I am sure you can do better if you strain yourself mate

[@henkkarlbaluwagener5013]

It's great how the ancient writings of Pratchett still find an audience in this entirely different world, eons after he penned his works

[@Nyxsayeth]

I watched this when this came out and I've now read about half the discworld novels. It's insane to pretend Pratchett never acknowledged these issues

[@atlantahunter4401]

It's kind of tangential, but I absolutely love everyone who acts like we can't know what people who lived hundreds of years ago would think about quarantine. This is not a new concept you freaking plague rats. Stay inside!

[@steerpike66]

It's not 100% reliable but you can read Defoe on the plague year. People nailed into their homes and guarded by watchmen.

[@astaiannymph]

Also I remember being encouraged in high school to engage in literary criticism to consider what writers would think of a situation alien to them. In some situations it's a lot less likely to be able to draw a conclusion, but to therefore take very hard solipsism as one's approach feels lazy, misguided, or malevolent.

[@IamAlmostRealWitch]

yes this! epidemic and quarantine are really not new concepts.

[@username45739]

1 rat a dai keeps the plague awai

[@SleepingLionsProductions]

You see, during the plague, there was no quarantine! People just went outside and fucking died. It's fine! /Sarcasm

[@trikkinikki970]

[@mirdala5231]

Stay strong, sister! You got this!

[@FreeTheDonbas]

It's a thinly veiled anti-feminist video. Like all Lefttube pro-trans videos. hm...

[@annafdd]

May you emerge from your struggles into the beautiful light of day, my sister.

[@JanPospisilArt]

The GC argument for Pratchett seems nonsensical and strange until you realize they focus on two things: 1) The Witches, whose stories mostly deal with liberation of women and other feminist issues. And Granny Weatherwax does seem to make a bit of a GC argument in one of the oldest books. (though they completely miss that she's WRONG in that, which the book agrees on.) And she just fits their "crone" aesthetic, which many of them adopt on Twitter an elsewhere. (curiously also forgetting Nan Ogg, who is very much NOT that.) 2) Sgt. Littlebottom, weirdly. Because IF, and that's a big if, you read her story with your brain turned off or high on GC ideology propaganda, you can conceivably miss the very obvious trans parallel. And you can read her situation literally. She's a woman who lives in a society where gender is forced onto women by men and she rebels against that. So if you ignore everything else that clearly points to a trans reading of the material, and if you believe that women in real life are living under the heel of patriarchy that's somehow oppressing women by inventing gender, and thus deceiving confused girls into becoming trans and pushing filthy violent males into female spaces under the guise of being trans...yeah, that's how GCs/TERFs are seeing themselves in Pratchett's dwarves. But yeah, as you correctly point out, they're completely omitting Monstrous Regiment from their "analysis", and for a good reason.

[@AtticKnight]

Never liked the Littlebottom thing, reads like some dumb "lEt WoMeN bE fEmInIne" liberal nonsense

[@theomegajuice8660]

I really don't get how people can see Cheery Littlebottom's story as anything other than a coming out story with themes of gender identity and dysphoria. All female dwarves are effectively trans in Discworld because they're all treated as and identified as male regardless of how they personally identify.

[@vyt2622]

I was going to comment something like this. That, speculating what a transphobe would read Littlebottom's story, my guess would be they would focus on how Cheery is female, and thus theoretically emphasizing her biological sex as opposed to identifying with a gender. This reading of course, completely ignores how the entire context (dwarves being read as universally men) is purely social and constructed in the first place. I've seen a lot of historical trans men dismissed by transphobes as "well they were disguising themselves as men for social reasons (to escape sexism, be able to hold x job etc.) and didn't identify as men", so I'd guess that's also how they'd read literally every character in Monstrous regiment, which, as pointed out in the video, completely ignores Jackrum's decision to continue identifying as a man past any social or practical need.

[@Slysheen]

@@theomegajuice8660 Very good point. It mirrors the real world well with the emphasis on social pressure as most of the time I see a "biology" argument it's usually a fallback and to anyone who does research on sex and biology; so flawed as to be nonsensical.

[@ianking7511]

It relies on the idea that trans people and their allies are necessarily anti-feminist.

[@Pennywise12528]

You can go even deeper in Monstrous Regiment. *Spoilers for a damn good book, pass over if you want to find out yourself* When the Mulan regiment is eventually found out, the climax is essentially a court marshal of their 'Crimes' before a council of the old guard who uphold such rules in the military. It seems to be going badly, until Jackrum asks for a private moment with a good chunk of the council; Sending a few out, but with a majority still remaining. Jackrum, himself having seen and helped the remaining old guard rise from their beginnings to top stations, then reveals to the old guard that each and every one of them are biological women posing as traditional men to each other. For ages they had the majority vote to change things, but their assumption that they were alone and fear to step forward and let others know their stance led to them all suffering in silence instead of working together. It is this revelation which -- eventually -- breaks the status quo which had been needlessly upheld for so long. And lets the Regiment get off without major punishment, of course. Jackrum is my favorite one-book character by far. I hope his son learned well from the sly old bastard.

[@ecamville2928]

Yes! I found this part so incredibly compelling. The fact that they all continued to uphold their own oppression because they weren't unified. The fact that so many of them continued to live as men afterward. All of that. And with Polly, earlier in the book, realizing there are other girls in the regiment. In that moment, she gives another girl a pair of socks, because she feels responsible for taking care of the others like her. Consistently, throughout the book, they survive and thrive through being responsible for one another. They take care of one another. Jackrum did that with all of those councilmen, one by one, but it's different when it's a whole regiment. It's different when you're not alone. And at the very end, Polly sees more people like her, and she does what Jackrum did. "You're my little lads, now." As a trans person, I can't even summarize how many levels it hits at. Taking care of each other, looking out for each other, banding together with a secret that shouldn't have to be secret--older generations who prefer to keep certain things private anyway, younger generations building on the guidance and kindness from the old, and then passing it on to the new... Basically, I'm just so grateful for this book

[@jameslarimer9211]

Even if you wanted to continue to argue that Pratchett lived exclusively in a time when trans issues were not on anyone's RADAR, an even more important point is that it was at least on SOMEONE'S RADAR, even if that only someone was Terry Pratchett. To deny this would be roughly the equivalent of claiming Douglas Adams was a born-again Christian.

[@boiwifeyasmr4U]

It's kind of terrifying for me as trans girl clicking on a video about us from a channel I don't know not knowing if it's going to supportive or hateful. Luckily, this one's the former. I have to kee watching until I figure it out and due to this there's this continuing fear that could end with relief or devastation.

[@nacmegfeegle2310]

Hugs. I hope you can feel someday that you don't have to take all the idiocy to heart.

[@ShinyAvalon]

It's a bit late now, but a strategy I often use is to pause the video immediately and glance down at the comments. You can usually get a pretty good measure of the tone from that. :)

[@PH0B0PH1L1A]

handshake emoji as a trans guy!

[@JarLoz]

I remember reading Monstrous Regiment as a teenager, and having had little exposure to trans issues at the time, I remember regarding it as a funny joke, just shenanigans with women in men's clothing. But the ending with Jackrum stuck with me, the hopeful and accepting tone of someone simply being who they feel like they are. Rest in peace Terry.

[@jodders619]

When Pratchett writes about all dwarves having beards whether male or female and then later says that some female dwarves started shaving their beards in order to appear more feminine I read that as a people choosing how to define their gender identity against a cultural norm. Pratchett's views on trans people can be reasonably inferred from his writings. I would suggest that Pratchett viewed trans people as people worthy of respect and basic human decency. The reason I love Pratchett's books so much is the fact the he embraces all of sentience with equal fascination and wonder and never advocates for judging people on their outward characteristics. Even Sam Vimes over comes his own prejudices against certain mythical races being in the watch. If I can conduct my life with half as much humanity and human kindness as Pratchett writes into his books I will consider myself to have lived a good life.

[@andrewtennant1889]

Pratchett's daughter and his close friend: "Terry was not a transphobe" TERFs who never met Pratchett: "Yes he was"

[@Corey-dk3xi]

Pratchett, as well as being a prolific author, was a far-traveled and well-read man. It's an unfortunate and curious thing that any of his readers would imagine him to have had the same prejudices they do. It betrays a lack of imagination- a thing most foreign to Discworld and its stories.

[@Feethei]

A lovely turn of phrase!

[@garbledsand-which2321]

Well said, Darling!

[@gilesclone]

I would guess the vast majority of terfs trying to claim him as an ally never read a word he wrote.

[@funktimusrhyme]

Aww Ditums, P.G Wodehouse lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic, so I'm pretty sure he *would* have had an opinion about large scale public health measures

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Don't forget the Founding Fathers of America inoculated the Continental Army against small pox which lowered the mortality rate. Heck, they even practiced quarantine measures during an outbreak in Boston.

[@GuiSmith]

@@rickardkaufman3988 That reminded me of how smallpox was eradicated in 1977. It was eradicated in the US and Asia in 1975, the year he died, and I think he just missed it, but the measures were being discussed and put forth vehemently in the decade prior in an attempt to get rid of the virus. Wodehouse _definitely_ would've known about that.

[@Gyrant]

There are times, in a debate, when you get the opportunity to dunk on someone. Then there are times when a marching band plays along as you dance up a set of golden stairs to the net, where a mustachioed butler hands you the ball on a velvet cushion. It's been a pleasure to watch you backflip off the top step and dunk the ball behind your head into the net before trust-falling into the arms of 4 burly attendants who carry you off the court on a trail of flower petals scattered by a dancing child.

[@gr13v0u5]

This is now my favourite metaphor and I will shamelessly copy-paste it for future personal use.

[@brenosilvamorais2510]

That's so beautiful 🥲

[@fairsaa7975]

"I know you knew the guy sort of personally, since yaknow, he was your DAD, but I'm sure I know better than you"

[@duke86fan]

"trans people weren't a thing on anyone's radar at the time" he died in 2015 chaz bono came out in 2008 lana wachowski was 2012 its like no one knew they existed until a right wing kardashian came out

[@omp199]

Those are hardly household names in the UK. I had to Google them to check who you were talking about.

[@thecthuloser876]

I feel like someone telling Neil Gaiman "that people didn't have trans issues on the mind back then" is a rather strange thing to say... Especially considering that Neil Giaman wrote an explicitly trans character into Sandman in the early 90s.

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Wanda Mann? One Twitter us6ed accused him of being a Terf as a means to troll him without reading the rest of the strip he linked where Wanda defends herself from that hideous head. Plus, when she dies (I haven't read the novel. I'm just recounting certain scenes), she's buried under a deadname and a close partner of hers strikes out her deadname with her favorite lipstick to put her own name on the gravestone. I may not be trans but that really touched me.

[@Posiman]

@@rickardkaufman3988 I've read the comic. And you are right, her conservative family absolutely erasing her whole life and identity after her death was a seriously soul-crashing moment. The whole framing of the story is extremely sympathetic to her struggle (both with societal rejection and her personal insecurities) and affirming of her identity. The moral of the story can't be more explicit, it basically screams at you "The transhobes are wrong, Barbie and the Dream are correct. Wanda IS a woman."

[@shazam2826]

@@rickardkaufman3988 That was one of my favorite panels from that story.

[@fuckamericanidiot]

Not really. Tolkien wrote about a tall dwarf who tricked a dragon.....did people have tall dwarves killing dragons on the mind back then? No. Sometimes, people write about things which people aren't talking about. Crazy.

[@Posiman]

@@fuckamericanidiot And right here I can see that you never read a single Terry Pratchett novel. Tolkien was somewhat inspired by the politics of his time, but he really tried to create a world that is totally seperate from the real world outside there. Sir Terry Pratchett always used his fictional world to comment on the topics of our present-day modern world...

[@letsdancetojoydiv]

This video got me to finally read discworld books and I'm so glad that it did