Monday, April 18, 2022
This day in Herstory: Lucrezia Borgia (Italian pronunciation: [luˈkrɛttsja ˈbɔrdʒa]; Valencian: Lucrècia Borja [luˈkrɛsia ˈbɔɾdʒa]; 18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was a Spanish-Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She reigned as the Governor of Spoleto, a position usually held by cardinals, in her own right. (more)
Modern feminism is ‘racist’ and only focuses on ‘straight, white, middle-class women’
Highgate School criticised for lecturing pupils on sexism against trans people rather than focusing on abuse claims by female students
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Sanchez Manning
April 18, 2022
Modern feminism is mainly focused on the struggles facing straight, white, middle-class women, which suggests only they face sexism, private school pupils have been told.
The message was delivered during an “anti-sexism” forum hosted by the £22,000-a-year Highgate School in north London, which counts poet T.S. Eliot and one of Boris Johnson’s daughters among its former students.
Staff and pupils organised the event last month as part of a drive to tackle sexist behaviour after the school was caught up in last year’s “Everyone’s Invited” scandal, in which students posted anonymous accounts online of sexual abuse.
Evidence of materials used at the school’s anti-sexism forum, seen by The Telegraph, has revealed how a presentation named “how inclusive is feminism” states that the “primary focus” of modern feminism is “cishet” white middle-class women. Cishet refers to those who identify with their birth sex and are heterosexual.
The document claims that as a result, a notion has been created that only this group of women experience sexism, before adding “there can’t be justice in feminism without brown, black, gay, trans etc. feminism”. … continue reading
Icy Storm
From Bandcamp (USA)
By Elizabeth Hummel
April 16, 2022
This song was born from the stories of parents of children who have tumbled down the rabbit hole of gender ideology. It is about their fears, their anger, their confusion, and their shock: but most of all it is about their love. It is love that will finally conquer this terrible spiral of harm.
I have followed these stories from loving parents through a remarkable publication called Parents with Inconvenient Truths About Trans (PITT).
Many of these parents, like me, come from the political left, others come from conservative belief systems. They are gay parents, and they are straight parents. All of them are full of brilliant insights and fierce determination to protect their kids. They have found themselves in a fight for their children’s safety and health, with little social, legal, or societal support.
These parents are not hateful or bigoted, and do not wish harm to trans-identified people. But they don’t buy the idea that their child can be born in the “wrong body” or that any child can correctly self-diagnose a non-medical condition called “trans” or “nonbinary” or other offshoots of gender ideology.
These parents read the stories of more and more detransitioners who have come to deeply regret their choices to inflict irreversible damage on their bodies. Will that be my child one day, they wonder? They are alarmed about both the psychological and physical harm to their children resulting from the religion of gender ideology, absorbed through social media, schools and other institutions. They see their once-thriving children become sullen and hostile, withdrawn and depressed.
What is happening is not the fault of these parents any more than an infectious disease sweeping through their children's schools is their fault. They birthed these children, held their hands when they took their first steps. They cherished hearing their children’s first words, relived their own childhood by seeing the beauty of nature through their children’s delighted eyes. Like all parents, none of them are perfect, but they love their children. … continue reading (and listen to this beautiful song!)
Cognitive Political Dissonance
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
April 18, 2022
For two years I could not look away from the governor of Florida’s response to the global pandemic. It felt like I was watching a train wreck in slow motion. I knew I shouldn’t read his tweets about how we didn’t need to wear masks, but I couldn’t look away, rubbernecking from several states up north. When the vaccine finally came out, I was so relieved, and I immediately signed on to get vaccinated, and later boosted. My family members in Florida did not; while some fell ill, some did not. They merely went about their lives, unmasked, ignoring this global health crisis, arguing that they knew what was best. I continued to listen to their governor with alarm, disagreeing with almost all he said.
And now here I am, in a state of cognitive political dissonance. This same governor, who angers me in so many ways, is now one of the few voices standing up against gender ideology. The new Florida law will prevent teachers from discussing gender and sexuality with children between kindergarten and third grade. That’s kids between roughly 5 and 8 years old. Should gender and sex be a focus while children are learning to read, to add, and to finger paint? I think not. Was it a topic of discussion before? Not in my memory, and not in my parents’ memory, and we are all teachers. And yet, this law has become so controversial, quickly denounced by naïve liberals and teenagers concerned about protecting their trans peers. Nicknaming the law “Don’t say gay” was a brilliant way to simplify people’s thinking. Most of the folks I’ve talked to think the law extends to 12th graders. … continue reading (and SUBSCRIBE to PITT!)
Even the Left is beginning to admit it has pushed transgenderism too far
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By KAYLEE MCGHEE WHITE
APRIL 18, 2022
Transgender orthodoxy has moved so far past the bounds of sanity that any attempt to question its effects is quickly discouraged and punished. We are expected to shut up and accept that public schools are passing policies to keep students’ gender identity transitions from parents, that medical professionals can file to remove children from their parents’ custody if parents oppose physical and chemical transition efforts, that a young man competed on a women’s swimming team and took home a women's championship title, and that a man who claimed to identify as a woman was allowed into a women’s prison where he impregnated two of his fellow prisoners .
None of this is normal or even remotely defensible, and everyone, including many on the Left, know it.
Few on the Left, however, are willing to say so out loud, in large part because their peers have made it impossible. Break from the transgender narrative in any way, and accusations of bigotry and violence will be thrown at you relentlessly. Just look at the abundant invectives hurled at Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, for example.
Still, there are some, such as Rowling, who are beginning to admit that transgenderism has gone too far. Rowling and other liberal feminists recognize that the concept of “gender identity” is a serious threat to women’s rights, especially the right to privacy and equal opportunity. Gay and lesbian activists realize that pushing effeminate boys or tomboyish girls toward transgenderism could create even more confusion and anxiety in youths who are struggling not with their actual gender but with their sexuality — two very different things. … continue reading
Frans de Waal: ‘In other primates, I don’t find the kind of intolerance we have’
What can the behaviour of apes teach us about sex and gender? A great deal, according to a new book by primatologist Frans de Waal – and his findings are already stirring controversy
From The Guardian (UK)
By Laura Spinney
April 17, 2022
Sex and gender have come to represent one of the hottest fronts in the modern culture wars. Now, on to this bloody battlefield, calmly dodging banned books, anti-transgender laws and political doublespeak, strolls the distinguished Dutch-American primatologist Frans de Waal, brandishing nearly half a century’s worth of field notebooks and followed, metaphorically speaking, by an astonishingly diverse collection of primates.
Given the world it enters, de Waal’s new book, Different: What Apes Can Teach Us About Gender, would arguably have failed if it didn’t stimulate debate. It seems safe from death by indifference, however, since it is dividing opinion even before it is published.
“I found the book to be as wise as it was humane,” the American primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy told me, while US palaeontologist and writer Riley Black , a non-binary trans woman, is disappointed the author didn’t attempt a more radical overhaul of sex.
Princeton University primatologist Agustín Fuentes, meanwhile, is full of admiration for de Waal’s descriptions of ape behaviour, but feels the book falls short when it comes to humans. Given the author’s public visibility and his masterful storytelling skills, Fuentes told me, this was his opportunity to present a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the latest research. “Unfortunately,” he said, “that’s not this book.”
What this book is is an attempt to put the biology – the sex – back into gender. For too long, de Waal thinks, gender was regarded as a purely social construct and talk of inborn sex differences was taboo. “The fact that we have genders is related to the fact that we have sexes and sexual reproduction,” he told me, ahead of a tour to promote Different. “That’s an undeniable fact, in my opinion, even though the gender concept is obviously more flexible than the two sexes that we have.” … continue reading
The Messy Politics of Teaching Gender
How the left and the right can find sanity.
From The Bulwark (USA)
By CATHY YOUNG
April 18, 2022
The controversy over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which severely curbs the ability of public schools to teach about sexual orientation or gender identity, has brought the spotlight on the extent to which the culture wars over public schools now have to do with transgender identities and the recent dramatic shifts in liberal and progressive views on the subject. Unfortunately, this controversy replicates an all-too-familiar pattern: Conservatives respond to a real problem—in this case, progressive overreach in proselytizing simplistic and strongly disputed beliefs on a contentious issue to often-young schoolchildren—in ham-fisted ways, resulting in accusations of both bigotry and speech suppression; liberals circle the wagons and deny that there is any real problem, attributing the conservative moves solely to intolerance and reactionary backlash against social progress; over-the-top accusations proliferate on both sides; and the chances of productive conversation dwindle from slim to none.
Make no mistake: Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which was signed by Republican culture warrior and likely presidential aspirant Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 28 and takes effect on July 1, is bad law. True, it does not prohibit anyone from saying the word “gay” in or out of public schools, and the groups paying for those “Say Gay” billboards in Florida could definitely find a better use for their money. On the face of it, the text of the bill may even seem reasonable: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” But it’s not clear whether, for instance, the prohibition on sexual orientation “instruction” in K-3 would cover such things as a parent volunteer during a class activity mentioning a same-sex spouse, or the use of any book or cartoon with a gay character.
The “age-appropriate[ness]” in later grades could also be a thorny issue—especially since, like some other recent social-issues legislation, the bill empowers ordinary citizens to serve as enforcers by suing. Given how stupid the culture wars have gotten, that’s worrisome. … continue reading
YouTube, the great radicalizer
Or: Try this at home (but not with your teenagers)
From Writing behavior by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
By Eliza Mondegreen
April 18, 2022
Take questions about discomfort with sexual development or sexual orientation to the Internet, and online communities and search algorithms alike will point to “trans.”
Ever felt “a sense of misalignment, disconnect, or estrangement from your own emotions”? How about “knowing you’re somehow different from everyone else, and wishing you could be normal like them”? Did you experience “a notable escalation in the severity of these symptoms during puberty”?
If so, you just might be trans!
Online communities prompt children and teens to question their gender, then tell them that if they question their gender, they’re trans. (amitransgender.net displays a simple “Yes” and a list of resources to help you solidify your new transgender identity.) YouTube algorithms rapidly move viewers from questions like “what’s gender identity?” to “how can I get top surgery [double mastectomy]?” … continue reading (and SUBSCRIBE to Writing behavior!)
Maternity madness! Midwives are urged to avoid using proper words for anatomy so trans patients won't be upset
Don't use 'old-fashioned' terms to avoid upsetting trans patients, nurses advised
Health chiefs in Sussex told midwives to say 'human milk' instead of 'breast milk'
'Vagina' now banned in favour of 'front hole' or 'genital opening', care guide says
Last night a midwife said a number of staff are unhappy but fear speaking out
From Daily Mail (UK)
By SANCHEZ MANNING
April 17, 2022
Midwives have been discouraged from saying 'vagina' when dealing with pregnant transgender patients if they dislike the terminology.
The guidance has been introduced by health chiefs in Sussex as part of their policy on perinatal care – previously known as maternity services – for transgender and non-binary people.
Last month it emerged that the same trust had begun a policy in which staff were told the phrase breast milk could be replaced with 'human milk', 'breast/chest milk' or 'milk from the feeding mother or parent'.
In the care guide from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, midwives and obstetricians are told: 'Some individuals may have preferred terminology for their anatomy.
These should be used wherever possible. For example, some people may talk about 'front hole' or 'genital opening' rather than 'vagina'.'
Staff are encouraged to record these requested terms on a document called 'My Language Preferences'.
It has a list of anatomical parts such as cervix, uterus and breasts alongside a column where the preferred words can be written. … continue reading
Abolish the dream of gender abolition
But not for the reasons you think
From Kathleen Stock (UK)
By Kathleen Stock
April 18, 2022
There’s a lot to love about radical feminism, resurgent in many countries at the moment including in the UK. It’s a grassroots movement, prohibited in nearly all Universities, and which therefore has mostly remained immune to the various forms of progressive left-liberal stupidity metastasising within the academy and on the North London dinner-party circuit. Most obviously, radfems have been able to remain focused on the gruelling work of advocating for the political interests of (only) women and girls, at a time when nearly every other branch of feminism has retired and gone off on a cruise.
Modern radfems understand the importance of the body you inherit at birth and then again at puberty. They are fully aware of how, if you’re female, your body is placed in a web of alienating and objectifying social meaning beyond your control. Even so, they have no truck with sophistic parlour games that pretend that this social meaning is all there is. Radfems understand the fact that basic aspects of males and female bodies, produced by natural selection, causally contribute to predictable patterns of behaviour even across otherwise very different societies. They grasp that some of these patterns involve male sexual and domestic violence against women (and violence against other men too); and that however you dress it up, sexual and domestic violence hurts women because it strikes at the heart of a woman’s capacity for self-determination and peace of mind. They also understand that women need strong social and legal systems to protect them from violent men - but that even so, the problem never entirely goes away. … continue reading (and SUBSCRIBE to Kathleen Stock!)
Gamete Identity Theory
Can a man have a penis?
From Structured Openness (USA)
By Structopen
April 18, 2022
Quick note. This post is just to clarify a niche issue in the debate about sex and gender. I'll be using terms I’ve already defined in my post Biological Sex, and will write freely without too much concern for making it accessible to a non-scientific audience. Normal service will resume after this post!
Idea: people’s intuition about how to identify and classify human males and females is supported by science. The attempt to replace this with theoretical ideas from biology may be unhelpful in the battle against gender identity ideologues.
Across nature, males produce small gametes called sperm, and females produce large gametes called eggs. Due to its consistency, gamete size can be used for sex classification (ie, whether an animal is male or female). There are no gametes intermediate in size, and each sex can only produce one type of gamete. Scientists have also theorised that sexual dimorphism may have evolved due to the emergence of anisogamy (ie, differences in gametes). Due to these properties, gamete size has become a rhetorical tool used by people who wish to challenge Gender Identity Theory and its claims that sex is socially constructed and can be changed.
I don’t have a problem with the ‘gamete argument’ when it is used as a proxy for the real, underlying biology. The problem I have is how this rhetorical tool is sometimes used. I’ve seen it used in a way that reduces the complexity of the biology of sex to this single feature, elevates gamete size above equally important parts of the biology, and treats this component in an absolutist, ideological way. I’ll illustrate the first two problems using the most extreme example I can think of. … continue reading (and SUBSCRIBE to Structured Openness!)