This angered me so so so much when she was saying “all these women are now being diagnosed with ADHD but it’s just TRAUMA”. A total misinterpretation of cause and effect: the traumatic experiences in my life have been significantly magnified by long-term undiagnosed ADHD. Dopamine-seeking meant I sought out risky situations and short term satisfaction, I ended up with awful men and failed at things I should have easily succeeded at, and felt all these failures and hurts much more deeply without knowing WHY. Honestly so invalidating to hear a supposed expert tell you your experiences aren’t real. I can only imagine how much this is amplified when she’s gaslighting survivors whose stories she has stolen for her own gain.
- Status
New to Tattle Life? Click "Order Thread by Most Liked Posts" button below to get an idea of what the site is about:
The thing is she's not even an expert on ADHD, autism, etc. Her PhD was in forensic psychology and she's not a psychiatrist. Jess uses her PhD title to give faux authority to opinions outside her expertise, again it's like Charlotte Proudman who is a family lawyer not a criminal one and is always Tweeting inaccurate and damaging messages about criminal process and the criminal courts.
This has Rachel Dolezal vibes.
Like others I followed her because she can be plain speaking about women's issues, but she sets alarm bells ringing I honestly think the stuff she says about BPD not being real is pure projection.
I have a few friends with borderline personality disorder (which I've no doubt is caused by trauma, is a stigmatising label and is misdiagnosed in women a lot) and Jess so reminds me of them. Very good at presenting the veneer of empathy and beibv quite charming when it suits her, quite sensitive to criticism, very scattergun in their manner of communication and lots of dramatic stories of trauma and abuse that are either talked about with inconsistencies or mentioned once then never again. Bad decisions or decisions they regret always dressed up as someone else's fault, an abuse or trauma dynamic, publicly very intense relationships and very all or nothing/black and white thinking.
I had no idea she had been married to a man. I did know her wife is younger than her - I remember seeing them celebrate her 23rd birthday I think, and thought it odd then even if the age gap isn't that big. Even smaller age gaps are creepy when one of the couple is very young.
I also don't think she ever says anything particularly insightful. It's very much a constant steam of polarising Internet soundbites. That said, I bought her most recent book out of curiosity so if i ever get round to reading we'll see.
I have a few friends with borderline personality disorder (which I've no doubt is caused by trauma, is a stigmatising label and is misdiagnosed in women a lot) and Jess so reminds me of them. Very good at presenting the veneer of empathy and beibv quite charming when it suits her, quite sensitive to criticism, very scattergun in their manner of communication and lots of dramatic stories of trauma and abuse that are either talked about with inconsistencies or mentioned once then never again. Bad decisions or decisions they regret always dressed up as someone else's fault, an abuse or trauma dynamic, publicly very intense relationships and very all or nothing/black and white thinking.
I had no idea she had been married to a man. I did know her wife is younger than her - I remember seeing them celebrate her 23rd birthday I think, and thought it odd then even if the age gap isn't that big. Even smaller age gaps are creepy when one of the couple is very young.
I also don't think she ever says anything particularly insightful. It's very much a constant steam of polarising Internet soundbites. That said, I bought her most recent book out of curiosity so if i ever get round to reading we'll see.
I’m getting strong Jameela Jamil vibes from this - stay away from bees, Jess!
Dr Jameela oops, I mean Jess Taylor has so many amazing stories!
Attachments
The old tweets certainly show she likes a bit of a story.
I find her not respecting others privacy really concerning. I feel especially for the woman she's currently fighting with on twitter.
I also really side eye her absolutist distrust for psychiatry and lots of diagnoses. I think you can (& should) acknowledge that many women have been ignored or harmed by some within the world of psychiatry without completely dismissing the whole field.
I find her not respecting others privacy really concerning. I feel especially for the woman she's currently fighting with on twitter.
I also really side eye her absolutist distrust for psychiatry and lots of diagnoses. I think you can (& should) acknowledge that many women have been ignored or harmed by some within the world of psychiatry without completely dismissing the whole field.
I am so annoyed I bought her book early last year. I haven't read it because the print was blurry! Such a cheaply printed book. Glad I haven't read it, will recycle it. It's a shame someone like Jess can have some important messages but ruin the credibility of said messages by pretending she knows everything. I admit I was duped into following her on twitter last year, but now I can see nothing adds up.
Glad to have found that there are some others who have had similar thoughts to me. I bought her book but it’s just awful - really badly set out and edited, and it’s all over the place - unreadable. Don’t even want to give it to charity.
Something about her really doesn’t add up. It all feels very performative.
Something about her really doesn’t add up. It all feels very performative.
Must have been in the same puddle where Jack monroe gets all her sideboards from!
Another woman whose story she claims she didn’t use has posted this morning:
Even if she hasn’t used the stories (which tbh I think she has as her Victim Focus report shows she’s not averse to peddling dodgy data) she’s done enough to make some of the interviewees identifiable. God, she’s awful.
Even if she hasn’t used the stories (which tbh I think she has as her Victim Focus report shows she’s not averse to peddling dodgy data) she’s done enough to make some of the interviewees identifiable. God, she’s awful.
Last edited:
Performative is right. I think social media gives these people (Jess, Jack, Jameela, Vonny etc) a place to create a hyper extreme version of themselves but it also leaves the receipts for that.
I haven’t got much to add to the discussion that hasn’t already been said but I would just like to mention that her fringe is bleeping awful
Amen to that. It's criminal.
I nearly edited my last post to add this at the end
. I have a short fringe and she makes me question my decision, although I'm pretty sure my friends wouldn't be seen with me if I had that sort of hedge trimmer job.Sure you did Jess
.Attachments
Last edited:
I heard of her through a campaign she led to ban schools from showing "awareness" films designed to prevent sexual abuse / grooming, her argument being that many of them depict graphic scenes of kids being sexually assaulted, etc. and this can be traumatic or victim-blaming to those that have already experienced abuse. My sister who works in youth mental health supported it, it sounded like a good argument but reading Taylor's website etc at the time she came across as kind of ... performative? using a lot of buzzwords? (She said one of her children is the result of rape when she was a teenager, in which case I'm truly sorry for her but yeah, something came off "weird" about her approach to that campaign)
Their relationship seems v performative too...
I wonder what her PhD supervisors think of what she's doing now...
She has said something about an academic slating her. I can't remember if it was bullying or something else.
Oh tit, that ring! I knew the story was BS, but wow!
As for her stories about her youth - hasn’t she said she was groomed and was regularly r*ped from the age of 12? I felt like she’s hinted that it was a Rotherham-type scenario… or maybe that’s just my brain filling in the gaps from what little detail she’s given. Whenever she mentions it, it’s to score points. I’ve never seen her use that lived experience to educate people about how and why it happens to young girls, or do anything remotely positive.
And I believed her, until I realised what a habitual liar she is. It’s like the boy who cried wolf, I just can’t believe anything she says now.
As for her stories about her youth - hasn’t she said she was groomed and was regularly r*ped from the age of 12? I felt like she’s hinted that it was a Rotherham-type scenario… or maybe that’s just my brain filling in the gaps from what little detail she’s given. Whenever she mentions it, it’s to score points. I’ve never seen her use that lived experience to educate people about how and why it happens to young girls, or do anything remotely positive.
And I believed her, until I realised what a habitual liar she is. It’s like the boy who cried wolf, I just can’t believe anything she says now.
The way she tells half a story is intentional I think - it's meant to make your mind fill in the gaps. And it's one of those things you can't question - if you want more details, you're a ghoul and why do people need to disclose their trauma to be taken seriously blah blah blah, but at the same time it's used to lend legitimacy to the things she says and these stories are rolled out when it benefits her.
I also think she implies she works with victims as a therapist/psychologist when clearly her qualifications would prevent her from doing that. I don't think she's explicitly said it, but the way she describes her work, plus using the title Dr. at every opportunity (fair play a PhD is impressive)... it all seems carefully designed to lead people down a path and implies she's in some sort of clinical practice.
I also can't bear adult women posting selfies with song lyrics but perhaps that's just me.
- Status