Suzanne Harrington: Can we not talk and learn, rather than shout and cancel?

Suzanne Harrington. Picture: Andrew Hasson

Two things occur as I read about the cancellation of Róisín Murphy after her comment made on her private Facebook about puberty blockers (“They’re F***ED”), which was screenshotted and shared online.

Firstly, there is no such thing as online privacy, and secondly, why are the trans community so cancelly?

I ask my daughter — Gen Z, straight, cis — who lives and works in Brighton, England, a town with the largest and longest established Trans Pride outside the US.

Not because she’s an expert, but because she isn’t — she’s just an ordinary young woman who, unlike many of us middle-agers, has trans colleagues and trans friends, and in her community mental health job, has worked with trans teens.

“Imagine being part of a tiny minority that’s under attack,” she says.

“In the street, on the bus, in the media, everywhere.

“And unlike say, the black and brown community, which is huge and disparate, you’re all more or less on the same page because you broadly share a similar experience.

“So when you are attacked, you unite, and you cancel people. Cancelling is your only weapon.”

She’s never heard of Róisín Murphy because they’re from different generations, but wonders about individuals who condemn stuff like puberty blockers without direct experience or knowledge of what it is to be a trans kid. 

“They have no idea what they’re talking about,” she says. 

What’s the difference between puberty blockers and a teenager getting a hormone implant to stop them getting pregnant? It’s all hormones.”

The difference is that there are millions of straight teens having sex, but very few trans teens wanting to head off puberty. The so-called debate has been hijacked by rage. I wrote about this a few weeks ago, but here it is again, this time crashing down on Róisín Murphy because she privately expressed an opinion.

“Yes but this kind of opinion is based on ignorance,” my daughter says.

“Not just from this lady, but loads of people — there needs to be more education, more understanding. It’s ridiculous that cancel culture exists, but totally understandable too.

“What other powers do trans people have? It’s not like they’re represented in Government or anywhere formal.”

Róisín Murphy is no Linehan or Rowling — she has not fashioned a second, less lucrative career out of public transphobia.

An ideal outcome would be not cancellation, but communication.

The best way for people to understand each other is by talking, voicing doubts and fears, asking awkward questions, giving honest answers, correcting ignorance, offering information, giving insight, listening carefully, being open minded and open hearted.

Pretty obvious stuff, yet the current conversation is as basic and binary as knuckles tattooed with “love/hate”.

It can’t be fun for Róisín Murphy being piled upon, just as it can’t be fun for trans kids struggling with who they are versus what we expect them to be.

Can we not talk and learn, rather than shout and cancel?