Julie Burchill is a writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Julie Burchill was born on July 3, 1959 in Bristol. After graduating Brislington Comprehensive School, she began writing for New Musical Express in 1976. Her future husband Tony Parsons took an interest in the 17-year-old. They soon married, and she then started freelancing as a culture writer. They divorced in 1984.
She did a lot of drugs and wrote a lot of obnoxious things through the 1980s. She married Cosmo Landesman in 1985; that lasted 7 years. She co-founded Modern Review and had a brief affair with Charlotte Raven in the 1990s. She also lost a big libel case and several writing gigs. From 1998 to 2003 she had a weekly column at The Guardian, where she wrote anti-Irish pieces and supported the invasion of Iraq. She made Channel 4’s 2003 poll of 100 Worst Britons. She continued to fail upward, landing a gig at The Times until she was fired in 2007, returning to the Guardian, then a gig at The Independent for 18 months.
Anti-transgender activism
In 2013, Burchill wrote an article for The Observer defending a transphobic piece by Suzanne Moore. Burchill quipped it showed “chutzpah” to have one’s “cock cut off and then plead special privileges as women.”
Burchill has since gone on to write many other anti-trans pieces.
References
Burchill, Julie (13 January 2013). “Transsexuals should cut it out”. The Observer.
^ Kaveney, Roz (13 January 2013). “Julie Burchill has ended up bullying the trans community”. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
^ Pearce, Ruth. “Transphobia in The Guardian: no excuse for hate speech”. Lesbilicious. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
Philipson, Alice (13 January 2013). “Lynne Featherstone calls for Observer’s Julie Burchill to be sacked following ‘disgusting rant’ against transsexuals”. The Telegraph. London. Archived
Stephen Pritchard “Julie Burchill and the Observer, The readers’ editor on why the paper was wrong to publish slurs against trans people” The Guardian, 18 January 2013Archived
Burchill, Julie (19 April 2018) I knew I was right… The Spectator https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/i-knew-i-was-right/
Tatlock, John (January 14, 2013). “Nasty Idiotic Tripe”: Stand Against Julie Burchill’s Years Of Transphobia. The Quietus https://thequietus.com/articles/11108-julie-burchill-suzanne-moore-transphobia
Bindel, Julie (March 19, 2018). Why you can’t rely on the news media to understand… trans issues. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2018/03/cant-rely-news-media-understand-trans-issues/
Burchill, Julie (October 12, 2022). What incels and trans activists have in common. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/10/12/what-incels-and-trans-activists-have-in-common/
Resources
Substack (substack.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)