Identity Crisis

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With the view that all this right wing “hate” somehow drives up the desire of the stupid, racist, uneducated English to want to vote for English to leave the UK (???!!). But we’re so easily manipulated. Sigh. Comfortable in skin. The term denotes a person whose gendered identity matches their biological sex. tranny' is used in Elton's book by characters who 'just don't get it'. It is seen as disrespectful. Trans-men or trans-women are biological males who identify as women, or biological women who identify as males. Movements like #MeToo have challenged patriarchal entitlement, usually characterised as an amoral or immoral abuse of women by men by using their social or professional power to manipulate them. It also just describes a failure to understand that women also have choices, and are not merely there for the benefit of men A police investigation into sexual abuse allegations, particularly against Jimmy Savile, a media personality. Elton references Yewtree and Savile in his novel.

A term used to describe a person or topic that has become so unpopular in the public discourse that to support it or even be associated with it could damage one's reputation Obviously I'm not going to give away the plot even though it's predictable in places, and I won't get bogged down in discussing specific characters for fear of ruining it. Simply, I enjoyed the reading and it's a well thought out book. the story structure is typically Ben Elton and the cynical(?) and o#well observed story is clearly based on the state of our modern fast moving world... Someone who intends to stir trouble, usually on social media, and relies upon their anonymity to escape reproach in their everyday lives Sometimes, however, it seems that it is a dizzying forest of hash tags driving the novel forward. If one moral or political position is acceptable this week, the death of another marginalised group member or the exposure of another predator changes the conversation next week. It’s all too easy to find oneself on the wrong side of history or to become toxic. And it’s not just the perpetrators (alleged or real) who suffer. There’s quite a touching story somewhere in the middle of the novel of Cassie Trinder, a hopeful actress who finally lands her dream position playing the young Princess Elizabeth in a movie, The Royal Closet. She even undergoes the humiliating casting couch charade of a final reading with Harvey Weinstein to land the role, just before Weinstein is exposed as a sexual predator and the whole project becomes too ‘toxic’ to proceed. Years later, with her career yet to take off, a new production of The Royal Closet is announced, except she’s now deemed too old to play the part. Cassie fights for a role in the production, yet her success is once again frustrated when Rodney Watson (a serial predator himself who has revived his career by playing the role of the ‘woke’ male) is exposed. Cassie ‘s career seems to be once more stalled when the production is cancelled a second time.A movement against the sexual harrassment and exploitation of women. The movement gained momentum after the revelations that Hollywood executive, Harvey Weinstein, had used his position f power to take advantage of women for many years. I've included some of the terms that appear in Elton's Identity Crisis that relate to identity culture in this table below. The list is not exhaustive and my definitions extremely basic, so anyone interested in the subject should look elsewhere for more comprehensive discussions of these issues. But my little glossary does give a sense of the breadth of issues covered by the novel. #MeToo A later wave of feminism that advocates the use of internet tools like social media to help advocate gender equality and an equal voice for all I found this book to be remarkably contemporary in a way very few authors even attempt. Ben Elton navigates the convolutions of modern society quite adeptly.

Reading is a good time to get a break from politics, and there are so many big hitting subjects here, I couldn’t fathom how they could all be written so well within one standard length piece.Feminist who wrote The Female Eunuch. In her later career she came under fire for critisising transgender identity. Victimhood is passive and helpless,’ Kate continued. ‘It denies the assaulted woman agency over her own self. We prefer “survivor”.’ Ben Elton pulls off the balancing act of giving us an out-of-touch protagonist who is a bit confused and overwhelmed by the fast-paced societal changes but is nonetheless doing their best with honest good intentions so that we can have concepts explained to us directly in a way that doesn't feel condescending or overly contrived. Other colourful characters are represented just on the edge of too much so as to feel abrasive but the author doesn't ever tip into disrespectful or outright offensively ignorant representations. I applaud Ben Elton for his sincerity, wit and insight into contemporary society and am flabbergasted that the twisting plot remained solid and intact the whole way through to a satisfying conclusion.