Dame Edna creator attacks ‘ratbag’ Caitlyn Jenner

The Australian comedian behind outrageous character Dame Edna Everage has blasted reality star Caitlyn Jenner for transitioning from male to female on TV.
Barry Humphries, who spent decades performing as fussy housewife Everage, has spoken out to support feminist writer Germaine Greer, who has likened Caitlyn’s transformation to “self-mutilation”.
“I agree with Germaine!” the comic says. “You’re a mutilated man, that’s all. Self-mutilation, what’s all this carry on?
“Caitlyn Jenner, what a publicity-seeking ratbag. It’s all given the stamp, not of respectability, but authenticity or something.”
And Humphries is upset he cannot talk as openly about transgender people as he’d like for fear of reprisals: “If you criticise anything you’re racist or sexist or homophobic.”
The comments come as Jenner opens up about her ongoing transition, with which she went public on U.S. TV and in a Vanity Fair expose last year (15), in a new interview with gay magazine The Advocate.
The former Olympian reveals she has turned to British feminist writer Caitlin Moran and her stepdaughter Kim Kardashian as she attempts to perfect her look and the statements she makes about what life is like as a woman, after upsetting transgender activists with some flippant comments she made last year (15).
“There’s more to being a woman than hair and makeup, so recently, I’ve been trying to study up on it,” she told the publication. “My publicists’ assistant told me to read this book (How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran). It’s actually very good and very funny. What I realised, when going through this book, is how my experience is so different than what a normal woman’s would be growing up – that’s obvious.
“The second chapter was about having your period. OK? I will never deal with that. So there is so much in life that I need to learn about who I am and be authentic with myself. But I never want to assume that this whole thing called womanhood, that I could ever experience all of that. I will be able to live authentically as female, but I’ve missed so much.”
And Caitlyn admits Kim has been instrumental in helping her perfect her look in public.
“Kimberly says, ‘If you do go out, you’ve got to rock it, baby!’ You cannot let them (paparazzi) get that picture. They’ll take a picture of you with no makeup on, lousy outfit – and they’ll use it forever. You’ll never get rid of it.
“Kim’s very good at that stuff. It does take a little bit more work if you do go out. You’ve got to at least look good, at least the best you can.”