Huge, huge fan of Past Eddie - the “Executive Transvestite”. Owned every DVD. Went to two tours. Read the books.
Utterly baffled and bemused by current trans Eddie, who is far to long in the tooth to be playing these games. I cannot, will not be able to take this version of Eddie seriously. Especially if he takes opportunities away from women in organisations of authority.
Bring back the Eddie of the past - a much cherished and brilliant comic, who also happened to cross dress.
Eddie, I know you love women. Don’t let us down like this.
I feel exactly the same! I paid for my family to go see him in Glasgow when he was an honest ‘executive transvestite’. He was such a clever comedian, I mean, who on earth could make having a conversation with a bowl of fruit funny, except Eddie Izzard as was. I wouldn’t part with a single penny to see him now. Not one.
Eddie's bright enough to understand every argument you've made so if he fails to respond or responds negatively it can only be because he's chosen not to understand in order to preserve his Executive Transvestite status.
Thanks again Graham, it's along the lines of what I've wanted to say to Eddie, a great comedian i used to admire for his gender non conformity. I thought he knew he is a man.
Eddie has been quite handy when arguing with TRAs. If anyone pulls the marginalised victim narrative - just point to Eddie. If anyone wants to suggest transwoman are different from crossdressers again - tell then to take it up with Eddie. Most people thought good for him when he said they weren't women's clothes they were his.. now everyone is just thinking creepy old man.
He totally knows what is going on, but his fetish overrides all of it. I used to like Izzard, seen him live. Now I am rethinking all those marathons he has done. I remember a celebrity from the 1970s who used charity work to make himself untouchable.
I do so hope he reads it. I can't believe he could be so blind if he actually understood - bothered to explore - the issue. Having Eddie drop the pronouns and to publicly explain why - whilst still allowing himself to dress as he wishes - would be a massive bonus. xxx
Until that's definitive, there's always the possibility that he just doesn't get it because as Graham suggests in his open letter, the real issue and dangerous ideology hasn't penetrated his ego or orbit yet. That doesn't mean he agrees, could just be ignorance and I very much hope it is. Backing people into corners by condemning them before being sure that they know what they're tying their flag to isn't helpful. His response to GL's open letter (assuming there is one) will clarify. Eddie was cross dressing before half of these TRAs were born. I'd believe that he has missed the point of the pronouns if he corrected it now. I know too many people who think this is the new gay crusade and they're fighting for the underdog - because they haven't informed themselves, any contrary voice is cancelled, and the mainstream media have been egregiously negligent in their coverage.
When someone suggests they are standing for public and elected office I am afraid 'not getting it' isn't an option. You have to 'get it' as part of that office and to serve those who you are elected to represent. 'Getting it' is part of the job and he has plenty of people around him paid, and full time, and in wider networks and in politics, to 'get it'. Someone supposedly so ignorant of this wider activist movement and ignorant of the damage it is causing cannot stand for office.
Yeah, you're right - absolutely. I just desperately want to give an option for people - especially of influence - to change their mind. It's so powerful if they do. I'm gutted about EI - someone I admired and rated with empathy, compassion and intelligence. 🤯
Of course, but he has options, no one is taking anything from him. He is taking options from others. He has the option to realise and admit he got this very wrong indeed. It would cost him nothing. That would garner respect. Or he could continue down the path he's carving which is disappearing women and our needs and safety in pursuit of his selfish desires and fetish.
We've been far too 'kind' for far too long. And are being screeched at and threatened to be 'kinder' still. It's not 'kind' to allow people with such delusions to have such free rein to tip all our reality upside down to 'be nice'.
“This is what he wants.” I finally get it. This is exactly it. It’s not a question of seeing reason at all, is it? It’s just a question of WHAT HE WANTS.
I really thought he was going to pave some of the way towards equality and the eradication of gender steretyping but i can only assume he, like many middle class white men, have realised that doing so requires him to give up some of his pie for others. So he's claiming it back through woman- face
That's the best j'accuse letter I've ever read!. Absolutely agree that this letter also needed to be an open letter, which included so many important FACTS! And yes it is extremely silly that Eddie Izzard wants to be addressed as she/her.
Mr. Izzard has shown his true colours. A complete narcissist in high-heeled boots, fishnets, and short skirts -- damn the consequences to children and vulnerable women and society for his selfish embrace of a disastrous cult. He's already ruined his reputation. There's no coming back from this.
Bravo Graham. One of the best articles you have shared here. I would just add women to that list of the stakes that are at risk - womens right to safety in a single sex space which includes (but is not limited to) toilets, changing rooms, prisons, hospital wards, rape centres and refuges. Rapes and sexual harassement have all taken place in these spaces and are becoming more prevalent as AGP men and sexual predators are taking advantage of gender ideology.
I used to have huge respect for Eddie. I respected the way his cross-dressing helped break-down sexual stereotypes. I loved his comedy and when he spoke it was usually with compassion, respect, humour and insight. That is all gone now. He is treating my sex with such flippant and casual disdain and disrespect. He is harming all of those groups of people that you listed. he is helping to reinforce sexual stereotypes. I do hope he is able to stand apart from his own delusions and his wish to be seen as a woman and acknowledge the truth of this.
And speaking of cross-dressing men... Cheltenham Literature Festival has a "pantomime dame" Elmer story hour as part of their offerings with Mama G. Let's face it, unless you are playing a part in a pantomime then you are not a panto dame - you are a cross dressing man in the style of a panto dame. Their Facebook page doesn't seem to have the hyper-sexualised adult content so that is something but there is an awful lot of Pride and Queer story times in there and the name "Mama G" bothers me. A cross-dressing man in highly exaggerated woman-face is not their mother and should not be positioned as such to children. Yet, here we have the hugely influencial Cheltenham Literary Fair promoting this.
Ugh. They have also included an event on Gender: Beyond the binary. Across the world, people of all ages are doing fascinating, creative, messy things with gender, part of a rich trans history. Kit Heyam (Before We Were Trans) tells the stories of people across the globe – from Renaissance Venice to 17th century Angola, from Edo Japan to First World War internment camps – whose experience of gender has been transgressive. Writer and performer Travis Alabanza (None of the Above) reflects on their experiences as a Black, mixed race, non-binary person and explores what it means to live outside the boundaries imposed on us by society. In conversation with Abigail Bergstrom (What a Shame) they celebrate gender in all its fluidity, ambiguity and complexity.
Very disappointed to see this well respected literary fair promote this harmful cult:
I've never found him funny either, but obviously that's subjective. He's an arrogant, narcissistic man which, based on something I read about him on here and elsewhere, is far from being a new development. I'm referring to the seeming gratification he felt after intimidating teenage girls by being in a female public lavatory with them.
I can't remember all the details but I think it concluded by Izzard feeling a sense of victory over some young girls who'd laughed at him and supposedly chased him out of their space. Good for them. I doubt that would happen now, and if it did, they'd be condemned as bigots, and Izzard would be the victim.
He is another astronomically entitled man who doesn't appear to question his entitlement. He feels able to invade women's spaces and claim them as his, entirely on the basis that it's what he desires. He's in "girl mode". A 60 year old man infantalising womanhood and what it means be a woman, and to be treated as a woman. All whilst having no real sense of what that means or involves. Womanhood is something to be put on and taken off like one of his ill fitting dresses. And what about when he's grown bored of being a woman? That's up to him. It's Eddie's show and he expects everyone who isn't him to cooperate regardless. And so many will continue to oblige.
Graham, I appreciate greatly everything that you do, your angry words to Matt Lucas, the approaching of those whom you asked to sign the JK Rowling open letter.
Eddie Izzard isn't ever going to care for us above his own frenzied wants and wishes.
Upon his announcement, I decided to deduce why he was doing this and I back through his work and words and found may too much misogyny. In the Cake or Death DVD, he describes falling over in heels as a man wearing heels to be a worse experience than a woman falling over in heels. How does he know this? The assumption that as a man he knows best, the dismissiveness of women's experiences and feelings and lack of care of this.
He meets a young (his adjective) lesbian and fancies her and his first thought is if that would work. Obviously not, you twit, but wondering how women can be of benefit to your life matters more than accepting the woman in question's reality, that she loves women, not dick in clothes that *men* decided were the clothes for women when they had laws preventing women from wearing trousers, not dick in a pink box. It is she whom he asked to meet with him on his first day out wearing women's clothing, the day he also decided that his feelings, safety and dignity mattered more than women's and girl's by using the women's facilities to change back to his other clothes rather than to go home in them.
Immediately putting the woman he fancies into terms of "what can she do for me?" What emotional value can she offer me if not sexual. (Since he said that he hadn't the confidence to pursue feelings for her then)
Women using his pronouns evokes the special feeling in him. He won't give it up.
I believe he did speak in support of JK Rowling but I consider that a minimum standard, nor do I find it redeeming.
I deeply appreciate that you reach out to and call out people and explain what is going on, and I commend you trying here. This one's always been willing to dismiss women if it suits him. It's surprising how much this has been true from early on.
Extremely insightful, thank you, pointing out that AGPs like Izzard get a lovely “special feeling,” which they won’t give up, from being acknowledged as women. I thought it was just a power dynamic sort of thing.
Huge, huge fan of Past Eddie - the “Executive Transvestite”. Owned every DVD. Went to two tours. Read the books.
Utterly baffled and bemused by current trans Eddie, who is far to long in the tooth to be playing these games. I cannot, will not be able to take this version of Eddie seriously. Especially if he takes opportunities away from women in organisations of authority.
Bring back the Eddie of the past - a much cherished and brilliant comic, who also happened to cross dress.
Eddie, I know you love women. Don’t let us down like this.
I echo this. Loved him before. Not sure what has happened.
I feel exactly the same! I paid for my family to go see him in Glasgow when he was an honest ‘executive transvestite’. He was such a clever comedian, I mean, who on earth could make having a conversation with a bowl of fruit funny, except Eddie Izzard as was. I wouldn’t part with a single penny to see him now. Not one.
Desperate for attention and adulation.
I am not sure I ever saw him as someone who 'loves women'. I know he loved his mum. And here we are...
Eddie's bright enough to understand every argument you've made so if he fails to respond or responds negatively it can only be because he's chosen not to understand in order to preserve his Executive Transvestite status.
Cake or death Eddie?
I wore the cake or death t shirt proudly
Cake for me now , I won’t say death for Eddie as that sounds like a terrible threat , but I do fear for his ‘comedian ‘ life now
Sad I loved his shows
I was feart to say with pride
Thanks again Graham, it's along the lines of what I've wanted to say to Eddie, a great comedian i used to admire for his gender non conformity. I thought he knew he is a man.
He used to say so anyway.
Eddie has been quite handy when arguing with TRAs. If anyone pulls the marginalised victim narrative - just point to Eddie. If anyone wants to suggest transwoman are different from crossdressers again - tell then to take it up with Eddie. Most people thought good for him when he said they weren't women's clothes they were his.. now everyone is just thinking creepy old man.
Totally agree. When he was an unashamed bloke in stereotypically feminine clothes and makeup he was awesome. Still not funny, but just cool.
He totally knows what is going on, but his fetish overrides all of it. I used to like Izzard, seen him live. Now I am rethinking all those marathons he has done. I remember a celebrity from the 1970s who used charity work to make himself untouchable.
That turned out well !!! Not
now then now then
I shouldn’t like but I will , lol
Can any of these people actually SEE themselves? Is there not even the slightest little niggling voice that says, "Jesus! I look like a total twat!"
I do so hope he reads it. I can't believe he could be so blind if he actually understood - bothered to explore - the issue. Having Eddie drop the pronouns and to publicly explain why - whilst still allowing himself to dress as he wishes - would be a massive bonus. xxx
It's not a matter of understanding. This is what he wants.
Until that's definitive, there's always the possibility that he just doesn't get it because as Graham suggests in his open letter, the real issue and dangerous ideology hasn't penetrated his ego or orbit yet. That doesn't mean he agrees, could just be ignorance and I very much hope it is. Backing people into corners by condemning them before being sure that they know what they're tying their flag to isn't helpful. His response to GL's open letter (assuming there is one) will clarify. Eddie was cross dressing before half of these TRAs were born. I'd believe that he has missed the point of the pronouns if he corrected it now. I know too many people who think this is the new gay crusade and they're fighting for the underdog - because they haven't informed themselves, any contrary voice is cancelled, and the mainstream media have been egregiously negligent in their coverage.
When someone suggests they are standing for public and elected office I am afraid 'not getting it' isn't an option. You have to 'get it' as part of that office and to serve those who you are elected to represent. 'Getting it' is part of the job and he has plenty of people around him paid, and full time, and in wider networks and in politics, to 'get it'. Someone supposedly so ignorant of this wider activist movement and ignorant of the damage it is causing cannot stand for office.
Yeah, you're right - absolutely. I just desperately want to give an option for people - especially of influence - to change their mind. It's so powerful if they do. I'm gutted about EI - someone I admired and rated with empathy, compassion and intelligence. 🤯
Of course, but he has options, no one is taking anything from him. He is taking options from others. He has the option to realise and admit he got this very wrong indeed. It would cost him nothing. That would garner respect. Or he could continue down the path he's carving which is disappearing women and our needs and safety in pursuit of his selfish desires and fetish.
We've been far too 'kind' for far too long. And are being screeched at and threatened to be 'kinder' still. It's not 'kind' to allow people with such delusions to have such free rein to tip all our reality upside down to 'be nice'.
“This is what he wants.” I finally get it. This is exactly it. It’s not a question of seeing reason at all, is it? It’s just a question of WHAT HE WANTS.
Perfectly put. Eddie: once an icon of gender irrelevance now a poster-boy for misogyny
I never trusted him
I really thought he was going to pave some of the way towards equality and the eradication of gender steretyping but i can only assume he, like many middle class white men, have realised that doing so requires him to give up some of his pie for others. So he's claiming it back through woman- face
That's the best j'accuse letter I've ever read!. Absolutely agree that this letter also needed to be an open letter, which included so many important FACTS! And yes it is extremely silly that Eddie Izzard wants to be addressed as she/her.
Mr. Izzard has shown his true colours. A complete narcissist in high-heeled boots, fishnets, and short skirts -- damn the consequences to children and vulnerable women and society for his selfish embrace of a disastrous cult. He's already ruined his reputation. There's no coming back from this.
Bravo Graham. One of the best articles you have shared here. I would just add women to that list of the stakes that are at risk - womens right to safety in a single sex space which includes (but is not limited to) toilets, changing rooms, prisons, hospital wards, rape centres and refuges. Rapes and sexual harassement have all taken place in these spaces and are becoming more prevalent as AGP men and sexual predators are taking advantage of gender ideology.
I used to have huge respect for Eddie. I respected the way his cross-dressing helped break-down sexual stereotypes. I loved his comedy and when he spoke it was usually with compassion, respect, humour and insight. That is all gone now. He is treating my sex with such flippant and casual disdain and disrespect. He is harming all of those groups of people that you listed. he is helping to reinforce sexual stereotypes. I do hope he is able to stand apart from his own delusions and his wish to be seen as a woman and acknowledge the truth of this.
And speaking of cross-dressing men... Cheltenham Literature Festival has a "pantomime dame" Elmer story hour as part of their offerings with Mama G. Let's face it, unless you are playing a part in a pantomime then you are not a panto dame - you are a cross dressing man in the style of a panto dame. Their Facebook page doesn't seem to have the hyper-sexualised adult content so that is something but there is an awful lot of Pride and Queer story times in there and the name "Mama G" bothers me. A cross-dressing man in highly exaggerated woman-face is not their mother and should not be positioned as such to children. Yet, here we have the hugely influencial Cheltenham Literary Fair promoting this.
Ugh. They have also included an event on Gender: Beyond the binary. Across the world, people of all ages are doing fascinating, creative, messy things with gender, part of a rich trans history. Kit Heyam (Before We Were Trans) tells the stories of people across the globe – from Renaissance Venice to 17th century Angola, from Edo Japan to First World War internment camps – whose experience of gender has been transgressive. Writer and performer Travis Alabanza (None of the Above) reflects on their experiences as a Black, mixed race, non-binary person and explores what it means to live outside the boundaries imposed on us by society. In conversation with Abigail Bergstrom (What a Shame) they celebrate gender in all its fluidity, ambiguity and complexity.
Very disappointed to see this well respected literary fair promote this harmful cult:
https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2022/gender-beyond-the-binary
Mama G is being hosted at Manchester Library too, he raises money for Mermaids🤢🤢🤢🤢
Ugh. That makes him even worse. I wonder if the organisers know what they are inadvertently supporting and directly promoting!
100%
This alone is more than worth the subscription fee Graham! 👍
I have never found Eddie Izzard funny.
He appears to be knowledgeable but then cannot understand that men who who claim to be women are not real!
"The actor and comic on making her female pronouns permanent, shouting down abuse, enduring a marathon a day – and running for Labour"
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/12/eddie-izzard-ive-had-boob-envy-since-my-teens
Jimmy Savile ran a lot as well!
I've never found him funny either, but obviously that's subjective. He's an arrogant, narcissistic man which, based on something I read about him on here and elsewhere, is far from being a new development. I'm referring to the seeming gratification he felt after intimidating teenage girls by being in a female public lavatory with them.
I can't remember all the details but I think it concluded by Izzard feeling a sense of victory over some young girls who'd laughed at him and supposedly chased him out of their space. Good for them. I doubt that would happen now, and if it did, they'd be condemned as bigots, and Izzard would be the victim.
He is another astronomically entitled man who doesn't appear to question his entitlement. He feels able to invade women's spaces and claim them as his, entirely on the basis that it's what he desires. He's in "girl mode". A 60 year old man infantalising womanhood and what it means be a woman, and to be treated as a woman. All whilst having no real sense of what that means or involves. Womanhood is something to be put on and taken off like one of his ill fitting dresses. And what about when he's grown bored of being a woman? That's up to him. It's Eddie's show and he expects everyone who isn't him to cooperate regardless. And so many will continue to oblige.
A funny guy who appeared to understand the complexities of his situation but in the end,he's just an arrogant bloke .
Love this. I truly hope E.I. can be reached.
Graham, I appreciate greatly everything that you do, your angry words to Matt Lucas, the approaching of those whom you asked to sign the JK Rowling open letter.
Eddie Izzard isn't ever going to care for us above his own frenzied wants and wishes.
Upon his announcement, I decided to deduce why he was doing this and I back through his work and words and found may too much misogyny. In the Cake or Death DVD, he describes falling over in heels as a man wearing heels to be a worse experience than a woman falling over in heels. How does he know this? The assumption that as a man he knows best, the dismissiveness of women's experiences and feelings and lack of care of this.
He meets a young (his adjective) lesbian and fancies her and his first thought is if that would work. Obviously not, you twit, but wondering how women can be of benefit to your life matters more than accepting the woman in question's reality, that she loves women, not dick in clothes that *men* decided were the clothes for women when they had laws preventing women from wearing trousers, not dick in a pink box. It is she whom he asked to meet with him on his first day out wearing women's clothing, the day he also decided that his feelings, safety and dignity mattered more than women's and girl's by using the women's facilities to change back to his other clothes rather than to go home in them.
Immediately putting the woman he fancies into terms of "what can she do for me?" What emotional value can she offer me if not sexual. (Since he said that he hadn't the confidence to pursue feelings for her then)
Women using his pronouns evokes the special feeling in him. He won't give it up.
I believe he did speak in support of JK Rowling but I consider that a minimum standard, nor do I find it redeeming.
I deeply appreciate that you reach out to and call out people and explain what is going on, and I commend you trying here. This one's always been willing to dismiss women if it suits him. It's surprising how much this has been true from early on.
Extremely insightful, thank you, pointing out that AGPs like Izzard get a lovely “special feeling,” which they won’t give up, from being acknowledged as women. I thought it was just a power dynamic sort of thing.