Saturday, September 3, 2022
"A university feminist society has been 'purged by trans activists', with its email accounts shut down and members quitting for their safety."
This day in Herstory: Marguerite Higgins Hall, born September 3, 1920 (died January 3, 1966), was an American reporter and war correspondent. Higgins covered World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and in the process advanced the cause of equal access for female war correspondents.[1] She had a long career with the New York Herald Tribune (1942–1963), and later, as a syndicated columnist for Newsday (1963–1965). She was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Foreign Correspondence awarded in 1951 for her coverage of the Korean War. (more)
US - Foundation Run by Trans Billionaire Funds Overnight Camp for ‘Transgender and Non-Binary’ Eight-Year-Olds
From Breitbart (USA)
By Spencer Lindquist
September 3, 2022
The Tawani Foundation, created by a transgender billionaire, funds an overnight camp for transgender eight-year-olds. The foundation has also put $1 million into Lurie Children’s Hospital, which performs sex change operations.
The Tawani Foundation donated at least $25K to Harbor Camps, which runs an “overnight summer camp program for transgender and non-binary youth ages 8 through 18.”
The goal of the camp is to “build confidence, resilience, and community for transgender and non-binary youth and their families through camp experiences.” Their website boasts that they are “the first-ever summer camp established for transgender and non-binary/gender-nonconforming youth.” … read full article
US - Gender-affirming care for transgender kids is going to backfire: experts
From New York Post (USA)
By Rikki Schlott
September 3, 2022
When her biological daughter Alex* came out as transgender at the age of 12, Anna* offered her support instantly — but she also had concerns. The New York City-based mom knew her child also suffered from autism, severe depression and self-harm, and hoped that any psychologist exploring a transition with her child would consider all those conditions as part of the treatment.
Instead, she says her child was offered puberty blockers after a 10-minute evaluation at “the best possible clinic” for transgender care in New York. “My child’s autism was completely overlooked,” Anna told The Post. … read full article
US - 'Yeet the teet' doctor poses with teen patient after double mastectomies
Fresh surgical incisions were visible on the young patient's chest as she stood with her Hawaiian shirt opened and unbuttoned, under a sign that reads: "be yourself."
From The Post Millennial (Canada)
By Libby Emmons
September 3, 2022
A young patient, a biological girl, could be seen smiling while posing with her doctor, a woman who appears to be her mother, and a fluffy dog after having undergone a double mastectomy for the purposes of treating gender dysphoria.
Fresh surgical incisions were visible on the young patient's chest as she stood with her Hawaiian shirt opened and unbuttoned, under a sign that reads: "be yourself."
… read full article
US - Southern Utah Professor Sues Over Mandatory Use of Pronouns
From Jonathan Turley (USA)
September 3, 2022
There is an interesting new lawsuit out of Southern Utah University where theater professor Richard Bugg has refused to use plural pronouns for a nonbinary student. It is only the latest such challenge on free speech grounds by those who reject the use of different pronouns for religious, social, or purely grammatical reasons. There are a couple of aspects of the case that are particularly interesting.
Bugg has had a distinguished career in the arts, including his founding of the Neil Simon Festival. (The Simon family later changed to the SimonFest Theatre Company in 2019). … read full article
US - New data shows thousands of transgender Medicaid recipients sought care in Florida
Florida’s Medicaid regulator released the data about three weeks after it blocked coverage for transition-related medical care in early August.
From Politico (USA)
By Arek Sarkissian
September 3, 2022
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida saw the number of transgender Medicaid recipients seeking gender-affirming treatment almost double in recent years — yet the state still banned its program from covering such medical care.
The number of adults and children who received Medicaid coverage for behavioral therapy, hormone treatments and, in rare cases, surgery for gender dysphoria increased from 593 enrollees in 2018 to 1,209 in 2021, according to new data from Florida’s chief Medicaid regulator. Gender dysphoria refers to the feelings of discomfort or distress some transgender people experience when their bodies don’t align with their gender. … read full article
US - Is there any Bullsh*t Time Won't Promote?
The billonaire owner of Time believes in such fruity religious baloney it's not a surprise he publishes so much gender identity BS.
From Malcolm’s Newsletter (UK)
By Malcolm Richard Clark
September 3, 2022
Ey up.
Time magazine is back with another reminder of how much it, and the rest of the self-identified American liberal left, has descended into idiocy. How else to explain how a once respected news journal can publish an article that uses the pronouns ey/eir. Without sniggering. … read full article
US - Goody Jamil and a Study in Scarlet Letters
“What would Nathaniel Hawthorne write?”
From The Distance (USA)
By Donovan Cleckley
September 3, 2022
I had been drafting Mad Libs based on Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble and the blurred lines between the avocado and the human species, but I had to pause. Something far more pressing and surprisingly delicious happened, like a ray of the stupidest light. Indeed, Jameela Jamil “misgendered” a singular “they/them”—that is, a “nonbinary” person.
According to chronically online people, as we know, this kind of thing is basically dancing ‘round the may-pole, per that old time religion of Puritanism. Or, at least, one may imagine Goody Jamil walking the scaffold for mob “social justice”—or whatever the plural they call it these days. … read full article
Canada - Letter: Reforming the treatment of Gender Dysphoria
The following letter was submitted to the Florida Board of Medicine on September 2, 2022 in support of their efforts to reform trans healthcare. It is now a public record.
From Gender Dysphoria Alliance (Canada)
By Aaron Kimberly, RN
September 2, 2022
Dear Mr. Vazquez, (Executive Director of Florida Board of Health)
I am an adult who has medically transitioned and is happy with my own transition. If I had been asked five years ago what I thought of childhood transition, I probably would have thought it was great. It’s easy to look back on my experience of childhood onset gender dysphoria (GD) and imagine the benefits of having undergone childhood transition: If I’d been put on puberty blockers, I probably wouldn’t have needed a double mastectomy and therefore wouldn’t have scars. If I’d socially transitioned and started testosterone as a teen, then maybe my GD wouldn’t have interfered with my social development as it did. Despite these possible benefits that some may argue they would have experienced via childhood transition (which of course is no more than a thought experiment), I am now of a different mind: I strongly disagree with childhood transition. I’d like to explain to you how I’ve arrived at this conclusion. … read full article
Canada - Informed consent for gender-questioning youth seeking gender-affirmative care is a complex issue
From BC Medical Journal (Canada)
Issue: BCMJ, vol. 64, No. 7, September 2022, Pages 286-287
By Joanne Sinai, MD, MEd, FRCPC Leonora Regenstreif, MD, FCFPC, MScCH
In their guest editorial for Part 2 of the Gender-affirming care in BC series, the authors state that “not all parents are supportive of their transgender youth, and some are even openly malicious.” The disregard for the role of the family and the overemphasis on the adolescent’s gender identity as something “only they can fully know” disregards all prominent theories of adolescent identity development and the growing understanding of the complex etiological pathways to gender dysphoria. Their position is concerning given that the field should be advancing cautiously, with the long-term best interests of the individual in mind. These authors would have us believe that those who do not immediately affirm these youth and support medical transition are causing harm.
The authors acknowledge that the care of gender-questioning youth is an area of controversy. However, they neglect to mention that the scientific evidence for gender affirmation is extremely weak. In fact, based on systematic reviews of the literature, Sweden, Finland, France, and the UK have concluded that the risks of these interventions outweigh potential benefits and are now tightly regulating medical treatments for youth under 18, in favor of psychological treatments. The Cass Review’s interim report reviews some of these concerns. … read full letter
UK - University feminist society ‘purged by trans activists’ with members frightened into quitting
Swansea society accused of transphobia after publicly supporting Kathleen Stock and books by feminist author Helen Joyce
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Ewan Somerville
September 3, 2022
A university feminist society has been “purged by trans activists”, with its email accounts shut down and members quitting for their safety.
The women-only Swansea University Feminist Society had dozens of students attending its meetings, advertised as a “space away from men” to discuss issues such as the Welsh city’s surge of spiking incidents.
But campus activists made “transphobia” allegations and demanded its leader be expelled after the society publicly supported Kathleen Stock, the professor bullied for her trans views at Sussex University, and promoted the feminist writer Helen Joyce's book. … read full article
UK - Who do the high priests of cancel culture most resemble? The witch hunters of Salem: Author of thought-provoking new book claims woke warriors brook no dissent and mete out cruel punishment while claiming to be on the side of the angels
From Daily Mail (UK)
By Andrew Doyle
September 3, 2022
We are living through a time in which unproven accusations are once again enough to see a person damned.
Charges of ‘racism’, ‘homophobia’, ‘transphobia’ and even ‘fascism’ are commonplace and no evidence is required to secure a ‘cancellation’. People have had their careers destroyed and personal relationships ruined simply for expressing unfashionable opinions.
It will be oddly familiar to anyone who has seen Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. In the 1953 dramatisation of the 17th Century Salem witch trials, our tragic hero John Proctor cries out: ‘Is the accuser always holy now?’ … read full article
UK - Protesters seeking to stop trans women using Hampstead Heath's ladies pond
Since 2019, anyone who identifies as a woman has been able to use the pond and changing rooms
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Ewan Somerville
September 3, 2022
Trans women must stop bathing in Hampstead Heath’s famous ladies pond before its looming centenary anniversary, campaigners have demanded in a fresh row.
A debate has erupted over the gender identity policy introduced by town hall bosses three years ago for the beauty spot in north London. … read full article
UK - The Police Have Been Captured
From Children of Transitioners (UK)
September 3, 2022
For some reason, male sexualised and misogynistic behaviour around children has been repackaged as a progressive endeavour. But it’s important to consider how our desire to seem kind and inclusive can enable behaviour that would normally be challenged.
As someone who was exposed to my father’s fetishes at a young age, I’m horrified that parents are taking their children to events like this. The idea that events are being held to normalise transvestism is abhorrent. Given the connection between male transvestism and sexual offending, surely the opposite should be the case. … read full article
UK - RFU hit by legal action over transgender women ban
Governing body say they will 'robustly defend' their case after trans player Julie Curtiss issues them with pre-action protocol letter
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Fiona Tomas
September 3, 2022
The Rugby Football Union have been rocked by a legal challenge against their ban on transgender women from female contact rugby.
The governing body’s council narrowly voted to ban trans women “assigned male at birth” in a bid to “prioritise fairness of competition and safety of players” in July this year. … read full article
UK - Fatima Whitbread backs ban on trans women in sport
FORMER world champion Fatima Whitbread has backed moves to stop transgender female athletes competing in women's sports.
From Express (UK)
By JULIA KUTTNER
September 3, 2022
The retired javelin thrower lent her support to campaigners, including Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies, and called for a new category for transgender athletes.
Fatima, who appears tonight in Celebrity SAS: "Who Dares Wins, says if she ever competed against a transgender athlete she would still “kick their a***”. … read full article
UK - Soma Sara: Extreme porn is rewiring boys’ brains to sanction rape culture
When Soma Sara set up Everyone’s Invited in 2020, teenage girls told horrifying tales of rape culture. She says that nothing has changed
From The Sunday Times (UK)
By Alice Thomson
September 2, 2022
The testimonials are devastating, yet they keep coming — 50,000 teenagers have posted on Everyone’s Invited since it was launched two summers ago.
Thirteen-year-old girls forced to smile as they are choked by a line of boys in the school lavatories, 15-year-olds watching nude pictures of themselves being shared at parties and projected on the walls, desperate tales of children too terrified to tell adults about the culture of harassment, assault and sexual humiliation that they are enduring in the playground. The authors remain anonymous but the sense of pain is overwhelming. The most recent starts: “I was 12 when I was raped. I had forgotten my homework . . .” … read full article
UK - The Left has mummy issues
Maternal instinct is not a chauvinist myth
From UnHerd (UK)
By MARY HARRINGTON
September 1, 2022
A little friend of my daughter’s has just had one of her parents walk out, to start a new life with a new partner. Given that they were a heterosexual couple, and based on your observations about the world, can you guess which parent stayed behind to feed, care for and try to comfort a shocked and grieving little girl?
Go on. You know the answer. We all know which way round this usually works.
This is a problem for our most assiduous egalitarians. Despite more than 50 years of efforts to abolish “gender stereotypes”, the difference between mothers and fathers is still such that it is almost always — as it was in this case, too — Mum who picks up the pieces when Dad takes off. But you can’t pursue “equality”, “progress” and “freedom” to their logical ends, without making men and women functionally interchangeable. And this means that every such pronounced asymmetry between men and women is not so much a natural feature of human nature, as a problem to be solved. … read full article
UK - You are a danger to children, Church of England tells school chaplain who said pupils could disagree with woke dogma: A sinister twist in Rev Bernard Randall's fight for his career after he was reported to an anti-terror unit by his bosses
Dr Bernard Randall, 49, won widespread public support last year
He defended pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies
However an investigation found that he posed a ‘moderate’ risk, and might cause children ‘anxiety’ if they came to him with ‘a sexuality or relationship’ issue
From Daily Mail (UK)
By IAN GALLAGHER
September 3, 2022
A school chaplain claims he was ‘betrayed’ by the Church of England after it branded him a safeguarding risk to children for giving a sermon on identity politics.
The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, 49, won widespread public support last year when The Mail on Sunday revealed that he was sacked by a fee-paying school and reported to terrorism watchdogs for defending pupils’ rights to question the introduction of new LGBT policies. … read full article
UK - Quantifying collective identity online from self-defining hashtags
From Scientific Reports volume 12, Article number: 15044 (2022)
By Alexander T. J. Barron & Johan Bollen
September 3, 2022
Abstract
Mass communication over social media can drive rapid changes in our sense of collective identity. Hashtags in particular have acted as powerful social coordinators, playing a key role in organizing social movements like the Gezi park protests, Occupy Wall Street, #metoo, and #blacklivesmatter. Here we quantify collective identity from the use of hashtags as self-labels in over 85,000 actively-maintained Twitter user profiles spanning 2017–2019. Collective identities emerge from a graph model of individuals’ overlapping self-labels, producing a hierarchy of graph clusters. … Our work reveals a rich landscape of online identity emerging from the hierarchical alignment of uncoordinated self-labeling actions. … read full article
Scotland - Gender reform is a dog’s breakfast, says policy expert
Doubts increase over cross-border validity of self-ID certificates
From The Sunday Times (Scotland)
By Mark Macaskill
September 4, 2022
Gender reform in Scotland has been branded a “dog’s breakfast” by critics as confusion grows over the cross-border validity of gender recognition certificates.
The issue has led to further criticism of the SNP’s push to make it easier for people to switch gender in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. The proposed law is said to be riddled with “loose ends”.
The SNP’s gender reforms are at stage one scrutiny in the Scottish parliament and will be contained in next week’s programme for government. However, the prospect of different rules either side of the border has led to concern that those issued with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) in Scotland will not have their acquired gender recognised in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, potentially causing confusion for individuals and organisations. … read full article