Thanks Edward.... I don't mind making an unpopular position less popular and it's part of the Penguin modus operandi. If a Trumpist can see someone taking their sensible position seriously, they might listen when the same person argues that the 99 other things they say aren't great. I think I probably have one of the most diverse commenters on Medium and have encouraged people to read people outside of their bubble; that means a commitment to making occasionally unpopular statements.
With regard to Katie... I'm going to add what I left to another commenter who asked a very similar question. And i'm going to quote Mark Larsen (another commenter) who managed to summarise what I was trying to say. This is Mark
Interesting discussion if it’s fair to compare Jgln here. It’s an asymmetrical comparison, but gender has some asymmetrical problems. Men writing into bro chambers generally have to own being assholes. Women writing into feminist echo chambers can sell themselves as heroes. Dismantling patriarchy, inspiring women and protecting feminism from unwarranted criticism. The worst part is Jgln is a bright, talented writer, surrounded by awful incentives. Her mix of feminism and faux feminist is hard to argue with. But any space that systematically shuts down polite disagreement is destined to become more biased and less feminism.
That in a nutshell is what's wrong with Katie. It's not Katie... in the same way it's not really Andrew Tate.... both are separately symptoms of a wider disconnect. Tate is the sort of symptom that feels like a broken leg... because it's like 'fuck me, something is wrong' - whereas Katie is akin to pins-and-needles. It might be nothing, but it might be something - and if it's something, we should probably do something now.
Annoyingly, Katie has now blocked me... (I hadn't realised before now) but this demonstrates more succinctly what I'm trying to say. If nobody is ever allowed to disagree, if nobody is ever allowed to dissent no matter how carefully they frame their arguments, then the conversation goes nowhere. Katie is an excellent writer, very talented and her growth on Medium has been explosive - but she's been incentivised towards tub-thumping and echo chambers and that's bad news for the rest of us.
And yes, the boys are not okay.... Feminism may indeed assert what matters is between our ears and not between our legs; but much of what is put out into the world is a generalist expression of discontent. Any attempt to shut down a generalist expression is met with hostility and any attempt to have a good faith conversation is considered 'oppressive' and met with the block button. Society should be able to disagree as SC and I do (quite frequently) but such disagreements are not to be had within either the Tatesphere or the Jgln-world, those places are for agreement only.
