Newspaper columnist Julie Burchill has been accused of making transphobic comments in an article defending her friend Suzanne Moore.
In Moore’s original article she said that some women were angry at “not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual”. When a number of transsexuals said that they found this comment offensive, Moore tweeted: “People can just fuck off really. Cut their dicks off and be more feminist than me. Good for them.” Moore has since deleted her Twitter account.
Writing for the Observer, but also published in the Guardian‘s Comment is Free, Burchill described those transsexuals who had complained about Moore as “a bunch of dicks in chicks’ clothing” and “a gaggle of transsexuals“. She also referred to transsexuals as “shims, shemales, whatever you’re calling yourselves these days” and “a bunch of bed-wetters in bad wigs“.
Government minister Lynne Featherstone tweeted that the article was a “bigoted vomit” and has called for the Observer to sack Burchill.
Burchill’s column is now the subject of an inquiry by the Observer‘s readers’ editor.
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