It’s just awful to read this. This is nationwide. Two members of my family (12 & 16) are suffering enormously because of this constant judgment & bullying. Neither really understand what it all means, but it certainly does bring out the worst in teenagers, especially on social media. Self harming, self loathing, hysterical crying, poor self image…all damage done by this insidious intolerance of trying to get answers. As usual, Julie gets to the heart of the matter and Kate, keep strong; you have my full backing. Question everything.

Kate, you are a mature student already. And brave, articulate and right. You are also supported by untold numbers of us.

“The further the society drifts from the truth, the more it hates those who speak it.”

Here’s to hoping some of those girls who had been Kate’s friends, as they mature into adulthood, will come to look back with regret and sadness at what they did to Kate and reach out to her to apologise and to try and make amends.

More broadly there needs to be many more two way, respectful conversations across this divide, such as the one that Kate attempted but was not allowed to have with the visitor to her school. If we go on shouting at each other or allowing the mob to rule out rational debate we’ll get nowhere.

Hello, Kate.
My son is a trans man and I support you 100%.
You are a hero.
Those bullies and the lunatics who indoctrinated them are not helpful to my son or to society in general.
Trans men are very different from genetic men, just as trans women are very different from genetic women. But we’re not allowed to say that without being accused of “literal violence”.
My suspicion is that actual sex dysphoria is rare and that it is a neurological disorder. The only treatment for it is palliative care that requires hormones and surgery to make the body appear as much like the opposite sex as possible.
This does not mean that my son is “really” a man; it means he is a genetic female with sex dysphoria who requires medical treatment to feel comfortable in his body. In other words, my son is a trans man, not a man.
I love my son more than I love anyone else in the universe, but I would be accused of “hating” him and denying his existence if I spoke the truth about his life and his condition.
My son is a very kind human being, and he would NEVER endorse the vicious bullying that you have endured. Had he been there, he would have stood up for you. He has always taken a stand on behalf of the vulnerable.
My son also thinks the attacks on JK Rowling are insane, and he has no need to erase female reproductive reality – his own included – to feel good about himself.
Please don’t think that all trans people are like the perverts and abusers you see online.
Most trans people who are like my son are too terrified to express themselves on social media – they are attacked as viciously as you were.
You are on the right side of history Kate.
You stand with compassion and reality and truth.
Sex dysphoria is a (probably) neurological disorder that is trivialized and made a mockery of by trans trenders online, and by your cruel classmates.
One day very soon, if not already, you will look back and feel proud of your courage and integrity.
Sending hugs and support!

I am afraid most Universities are rotten with this ideology also. Choose your discipline and University carefully. If you can, join the Newman Society. I say this as an academic.

The crowd spirit is all-powerful. It’s a real power on earth because it can conquer even wise intellectuals. Follow the crowd – what else may they say? If I have the same enemy you have, I am one of yours. We can see what the incentives are. I commend Kate for not listening to these voices, however pious. How do we come to all have the ideas of our time? Not so many centuries ago, everybody automatically believed in heteronomy. It didn’t mean much. Today automatically, no one may believe in heteronomy. But it’s purely a mob phenomenon. It’s not like there are powerful scientific arguments. These students don’t know what they’re doing – they’re unconscious of what they are really doing. They just behave like everybody else. 

The most significant part of this interview is Kate’s comment on the necessity of ‘external social validation’: she’s hit the nail on the head there. This is the reason that so many ‘trans’ people, whether male or female, are so sensitive to even the remotest suspicion of scepticism: they are aware at some level that biological reality is, well, real: that, however much they protest, they are not the sex they desperately want to be. Threats of suicide aren’t necessarily empty, and accusations of ‘harm’ can be quite sincere: they rely on others’ perception to compensate for their own lack of certainty. That’s why even ‘misgendering’ via unwanted pronouns or honorifics (‘Sir’ instead of ‘Ma’am’ or vice versa) can be traumatic for them: it implies that they haven’t convinced at least one onlooker, and that feels like a slap in the face.
I’m not, of course, affirming their delusion* in any way – just trying to understand why they might feel this way. In Othello, Iago tells the audience that ‘Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of Holy Writ’, and the ‘trans’ person is jealous of his / her assumed identify.
*Kate makes a distiniction between the two types of ‘trans’ people, and if she’s right, the other type isn’t exactly deluded, but suffering “profound psychological distress” which may be alleviated to some extent by medical intervention. I’m not sure whether this is correct, but readers of Unherd have all seen articles by Debbie Hayton which argue something similar.

Even if it was Owen Jones who said it, it would actually be useful (though impossible) to know more about the background and the other side. What did they refer to when they talk about ‘provocative history, going back five years’? Was there a background of conflicts (or bullying) between these girls so that this episode was just an excuse for the pack to turn on her, or did this arise out of nowhere only because of a single question in public (as it has done for JK Rowling and others)? It is unlikely to change my opinion much: No one deserves this kind of thing, ‘Kate’ seems remarkably understanding and considerate in her comments, and it was both commendable and brave of her to speak out instead of letting herself be bulldozed. Still, a bit more detail would have made this easier to understand.

Very impressed with this young girl’s composure and intellect. But the article reinforces the stunning power of the media/social media to corall young people into particular behaviours and modes of thinking. How is it that teenagers, who left to their own devices will be curious, open-minded and adventurous, can be turned into a fascist hate mob who are triggered into frenzy by rational argument? The school in question should be shielding its young people from the overbearing influence of media-fuelled social pressure and encouraging them to think for themselves, and respect the right of others to do the same. Instead, like so many other institutions, it has become part of the problem, actively working with an extremist organisation to impose a contentious ideology on its primary stakeholders. This is a grievous breach of a school’s duty of care, one which government must respond to.

Sad to say but this will follow her to college and beyond, some of those little Hitlers at her previous school will make sure of that.

The Stepfordian conformity is one of the more chilling aspects.

I can’t speak for others but one of my family members is using a kitchen knife in the bathroom, to cause deep wounds. She’d said ‘razor blades ..useless’. Only my experience.

This is fine piece of journalism, Julie has given a chance for this person to speak for herself.

The bullying that Kate endured deeply shocked me.

I often wonder what these people would be identifying/thinking of themselves as if they were on a desert island for the rest of their lives.