Globe All Seasons

I'm not surprised by the younger audience - part of the Globe's marketing for this was stressing cheap tickets, ie, teenagers, this is pocket-money pricing.

My issue with this piece being staged now is that it is not happening in a vacuum. It is happening against a background when teenage girls now far outnumber boys going to gender clinics, including for mastectomies and more - the graph for girls looks like an olympic ski jump. This is a generation of girls and boys growing up 'learning' much of their sex and relationship expectations from increasingly violent and misogynistic porn, accessible to youngsters through the internet in a volume and with an ease that is historically unprecedented.

Women, they are told through this, are expected to be submissive, to expect being spat on, slapped, strangled as 'normal'. 'Lesbian' is now considered a porn category for the entertainment of males rather than a positive sexuality. It is no wonder many in this generation of girls want to identify out of that and, unlike our generation (I'm Gen X), they don't have a strong pop culture or youth venues where they can go and be goths, punks, emos, Smiths fans, indie kids or all the other ways teenage girls used to avoid a sexualising 'male gaze' without coming across as 'uncool'.

And there was also anorexia and bulimia, another way of dealing with teenage body anxiety, reinforced by 'pro-ana' websites and 'heroin chic' fashion shoots. Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria and its associated online imagery of binders and mastectomy scars feels very much the anorexia and pro-ana of today. That poster, the young woman binding her breasts, and this, in their promo words 'rediscovery' of Joan, feels like it's feeding into this trend, and I can't forgive them for that.

I think it's a legitimate concern, once I spent 6 months in a secret lair under the Royal Opera House after having watched The Phantom of the Opera

Oh gosh - many apologies - here's my info from the National Library of Medicine. 


pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35918512/

The NHS (ie. the taxpayer) will likely have to pay out tens or hundreds of millions in compensation for medical negligence claims over what went on at the Tavistock - over 1000 cases potentially. The official reasons already given for closing the Tavistock will make the cases very hard to defend. A moment of silent reflection from the cheerleaders for transition medical therapy would be welcome. 

Agreed, but I doubt that any play taking a stance that doesn’t wholly endorse the ideology would ever get put on. Certainly the writer would probably never work again!

Which is quite chilling to anyone who believes in theatres being champions of free speech. Maybe the Royal Court should have done this instead of the Dave Davidson thing - more obvious need for writer anonymity. I agree it's unlikely to happen though, especially having heard Vicky Featherstone apologise for her and Jude Kelly both being 'assigned female at birth' during a discussion after Maryland at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. A woman who feels she has to apologise for being female before discussing sexual violence against women at a women's festival is unlikely to be up to commissioning an intelligent play about gender ideology.

It is also perfectly reasonable for others to challenge and question their decision.

Too often those who don't subscribe to the current gender ideology face attempts to silence their voices.

I literally just listened to a podcast this morning that set out all the reasons why that is a genuinely terrible piece of research.

You might want to read the Response to it - by a group of gender clinicians who have the same ideological position as the authors - ‘Science and Public Health as a Tool for Social Justice Requires Methodological Rigor: A Response to Turban et al. “Sex Assigned at Birth Ratio Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents in the United States”

It appears as a comment at the end of the article on the journal’s website: publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/doi/10.1542/peds.2022-056567/188709/Sex-Assigned-at-Birth-Ratio-Among-Transgender-and?autologincheck=redirected?nfToken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

They can put on whatever they want, indeed.

And people can criticise them for it.

Is it really any different than criticising a theatre for programming too many plays by straight white men? Or for not having a diverse enough cast? Or for not having cast and creatives of the ‘right’ demographic for the subject matter of the play?

All of which regularly happens on this board, and is just as motivated by ideological beliefs about what theatre *should* do as part of society.

I am not aware of anyone arguing that the play shouldn't be staged. But there are plenty of voices arguing that seeking to impose a modern gender construct on an important female historical figure is problematic. As well as raising other genuine concerns.

These are important issues and should not be dismissed. Which is what the Globe has sought to do.

The Globe's main website page for the play advises interested readers / audiences to "visit organisations such as Gendered Intelligence for resources and more." Gendered Intelligence is a controversial lobby group with a particular focus on young people. If the Globe are going to bring them to the table, then I feel fully justified in bringing the Tavistock into the conversation. As I said before, this play isn't being staged in a vacuum but in 2022 and against a background where soaring numbers of teenage girls - now far outnumbering boys - are trying to identify out of being women and girls, going to gender clinics, binding their breasts, seeking and having mastectomies etc..

The Globe, by referring patrons to a particular lobby group, have made it relevant.

They have taken a very clear position on a very contentious issue.

It is right that they are subject to scrutiny and questioning. And that does mean that the closure of the Tavistock Clinic is very much a relevant part of that debate.

The Globe is there to put on great theatre.

The Globe is not qualified to weigh in on what is a complex and emotive area of healthcare.