Month: January 2016

Transgender photographer and activist Sophie Cook calls for Jeremy Clarkson to apologise for recent transphobic remarks in the Sunday Times.

In his Sunday column Clarkson compared transgender people to “Bangkok Ladyboys”, and said that they were “nothing more than the punchline in a stag night anecdote” and suggested that transgender children were merely having their “whims” indulged by parents.

Sophie said: “I was disappointed, but not overly surprised to read Jeremy Clarkson’s deeply misinformed and misjudged transphobic comments in the press this week.

“He’s already displayed every other form of bigotry so an attack on transgender people was long overdue.”

“If I had been able to come out to my parents at the age of 7 when I knew that I was transgender I would have avoided a lifetime of pain and self harming which included my first suicide attempt at the age of 12.

“Funnily enough, although my children have a transgender parent they aren’t being led astray or influenced by my gender identity, in fact my 15-year-old son is obsessed with cars and Top Gear.

“I recently took him to the O2 to see the Clarkson, Hammond and May Live show, a treat for him and an evening being subjected to Clarkson’s endless childish swearing – “I’m not on the BBC anymore so I can say what I f**king well like” – and bigotry for me.”

In his article Clarkson was outraged at the idea that a child can self identify their gender at an early age.

Sophie continued: “but the reality is that all of us make a decision about our gender identity as we’re growing up. For most people, that decision is congruent with the gender they were assigned at birth but for some it isn’t.”

“My lack of knowledge about what my gender identity meant at the age of 7 led me to attempt suicide for the first time at the age of 12, and children that age shouldn’t be condemned to the level of despair that drives them to that.

“As I was about to go on stage for my show in Bournemouth recently I received a message from an old school friend that I hadn’t seen in 30 years.

“He expressed amazement at the revelations of my gender dysphoria and with the fact that I’d known I was transgender from the age of 7. He felt that a part of his childhood had vanished and asked ‘couldn’t I have told someone?’

“Unfortunately, back in the late 70s, there was no internet and no knowledge of being transgender in society, there were no role models, no positive press coverage and certainly no understanding.

“So, no, I replied, it wasn’t really possible for me to tell someone.”

Since Sophie was young, society has changed in so many ways, knowledge of every subject is freely available to all via the internet and society on the whole has grown, become more understanding and open to diversity.

The stories of young people transitioning at an early age is testament to the strength of both them and their families and this early realisation can only be a good thing in the long-term, saving them from the pain and suffering that I, and many others, have been through.

Gender dysphoria is not something that trans people choose, it is an intrinsic part of their very souls and to deny it led Sophie to a lifetime battling self harm and suicidal feelings.

The teenage years are hard for everyone, even more so if you suffer from gender dysphoria, and with understanding and support hopefully the days of young people being driven to suicide over these feelings are a thing of the past.

Sophie added: “Unfortunately Clarkson is not alone, there will always be bigots, and they will always feel justified in proclaiming their views as gospel wherever they can.

“Like the bigots of the past, the anti-semites, the sexists, the racists and the homophobes, their days are numbered. The casual racism of the Saturday night TV comic of the 70s looks as out-of-place as a dinosaur striding up Brighton beach, although it would appear that bigotry is still perfectly acceptable on a programme about cars.

“In time people will tire of this casual bigotry, the TV shows and newspaper columns will disappear and Clarkson and the transphobes will join the rest of life’s bigots on history’s naughty step.”

Ex-RAF officer, Sophie Cook is a former motorbike racer, newspaper editor, rock photographer, self harm and suicide survivor and the first transgender woman to work in the Premier League. She is the Patron of the LGB&T Dorset Equality Network, a Healthwatch Dorset Champion, and a member of the Pan-Dorset LGBT Health Advisory Group.

Sophie will be appearing in her show Grab Life By The Balls at the Marlborough Theatre, Princes Street, Brighton on February 4 at 7.30pm. During her show she talks about the fears that held her back in life – of loss, of failure, of success, of being sad, of being happy, of myself, of being outed, of being loved – and how she overcame them to be true to and, finally, start loving herself.

To book tickets priced £10, click here:

For recent articles on Sophie, click here: