This day in Herstory: The Woman Suffrage Procession on March 3, 1913, was the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C. It was also the first large, organized march on Washington for political purposes. The procession was organized by the suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Planning for the event began in Washington in December 1912. The parade's purpose, stated in its official program, was to "march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded."
Participation numbers vary between 5,000 and 10,000 marchers. Suffragists and supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday, March 3, 1913, the day before President Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. Paul had selected the venue and date to maximize publicity, but met resistance from the D.C. police department. The demonstration consisted of a procession with floats, bands, and various groups representing women at home, in school, and in the workplace. At the Treasury Building, a pageant of allegorical tableaux was acted out during the parade. The final act was a rally at the Memorial Continental Hall with prominent speakers, including Anna Howard Shaw and Helen Keller. … (more)
National Academy of Medicine in France Advises Caution in Pediatric Gender Transition
Medical care of children and adolescents with transgender identity
From Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (USA)
March 3, 2022
The National Academy of Medicine in France has issued a press release in which it cautions medical practitioners that the growing cases of transgender identity in young people are often socially-mediated and that great caution in treatment is needed. The Academy draws attention to the fact that hormonal and surgical treatments carry health risks and have permanent effects, and that it is not possible to distinguish a durable trans identity from a passing phase of an adolescent's development.
SEGM has translated the press release, which is provided in full below. Both the original press release in French, and its unofficial SEGM translation are appended.
The 125 women killed by men since Sarah Everard – and what it tells us about Britain today
The list is myth-shattering, but every death on it is almost unbearable to contemplate. We must remember their names...
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Joan Smith
March 3, 2022
Their names are barely known, except to families and friends. But two other women and a teenage girl were killed by men in the same week that Sarah Everard’s murder shook the country to its core a year ago. Four murders of women in such a short space of time is unusual – it tends to be between two and three per week – but it is a stark reminder of how many of their deaths go unremarked.
Around 125 women have been killed by men since March last year. The figure is not definitive because the perpetrator has yet to be identified in some cases. But we know that the victims ranged in age from 16 to 88. Most were attacked by someone known to them and many died in their own homes, challenging the notion that the streets are the most dangerous place for women. … read full article (paywall)
Behind the story: Gender Recognition Act
From The Times (UK)
By Constance Kampfner
March 3, 2022
Reforms to the Gender Recognition Act have been on the Scottish government’s agenda since 2017, when it began reviewing the process by which trans people can change their legal gender to bring it “in line with international best practice”.
A UK-wide consultation in 2018 gathered more than 100,000 responses showing support for reforms, but the Westminster government abandoned the idea amid pressure from women’s rights groups arguing that the proposals would threaten women’s “sex-based rights”. This was labelled as “a missed opportunity to simplify the law on gender recognition while maintaining robust safeguards” by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. … read full article
Tenfold increase in gender changes expected after self-identification law introduced
From The Times (UK)
By Kieran Andrews
March 4, 2022
The number of people applying to change their gender is expected to increase tenfold after laws are introduced to allow people to self-identify as a man or a woman.
Estimates by the Scottish government suggest that the present level of 30 people seeking to change their gender each year will rise to between 250 and 300 when the reforms are in place.
The calculation is based on international comparisons, particularly in Ireland, which introduced a similar process in September 2015.
Annual monitoring of the number of people applying for and being granted a gender recognition certificate (GRC) will take place as part of the law change.
The age at which people can apply to change their gender will drop to 16 from the current level of 18. … read full article
Iowa BANS Males from Competing in Women's Sports
From REDUXX (USA)
By REDUXX Team
March 3, 2022
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a law that bans trans-identified males in the state from competing in women's sports. The measures apply to public and private K-12 schools and community colleges, as well as colleges and universities affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Taking place just hours ago, Iowa Governor Reynolds signed into law Bill HF2416, surrounded by young female athletes and Republican lawmakers who supported the legislation at the state Capitol building in De Moines. The bill takes effect immediately.
"Our state has an impressive legacy of advancing women's equality. As Iowa's first female governor, this aspect of our state's character fills me with gratitude and pride," Reynolds said at the signing event, listing off a number of important historical female figures before noting that "great things happen when women have access to the fair and equal playing field they deserve." … read full article (and SUPPORT REDUXX)
Response to PBS News Hour piece: "Claiming abuse, Texas tries to prevent gender-affirming care for trans children"
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
March 3, 2022
The PBS News Hour did a public relations piece for the gender clinics on February 24, 2022 titled, Claiming abuse, Texas tries to prevent gender-affirming care for trans children.
The below response has been emailed to PBS.
PITT readers: Please consider sending emails like this to the PBS News Hour at viewermail@newshour.org — the more people they hear from, the better.
Dear New Hour Editors:
As the parent of a trans-identified child, I am begging you to take a closer look at the safety and efficacy of transgender medical care.
In her February 24, 2022 story, Reporter Amna Nawaz and her guest, Dr. Stephen Rosenthal, told us that medical experts, including every reputable medical and mental health organization in this country, have endorsed an interdisciplinary model of care for gender dysphoric minors that includes puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and surgery. While it is true that many American medical and mental health organizations endorse this model, a number of European countries are pivoting away from this type of care.
I would like to share with you what European experts are saying about using puberty blockers and cross sex hormones to treat minors. … read full article (and SUBSCRIBE to PITT!)
Alabama Bill Seeks to Ban Hormone Treatments for Transgender Youth
From Alabama News Network (USA)
By Alabama News Network Staff
March 2, 2022
Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday advanced legislation that would make it a crime for doctors to give transgender minors puberty-blockers, hormones or surgeries to help affirm their gender identity.
The bill is one of several such measures being proposed in statehouses across the country.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the Senate-passed legislation, which now moves to the full Alabama House of Representatives. The committee also approved an identical House version of the bill. The bills would make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones or perform surgery to aid in the gender transition of people 18 years old or younger.
“Adults are free to do what they want to do, but this is to protect children,” said Rep. Wes Allen, the Republican sponsor of the bill.
Allen argued that children are not mature enough to make a decision about the medications and likened it to how lawmakers have passed legislation to protect children from alcohol, smoking and vaping. … read full article
'Woman' Not Mentioned Once at Barnard’s Feminist Conference Opening Panel
Pseudofeminist speakers at “Willful Subjects*: Decolonizing the Psychiatric Institution” used a language meant to dominate and silence.
From 4W (USA)
By Phyllis Chesler
March 1, 2022
Ibegan the research that led to my pioneering work, Women and Madness, fifty-three years ago. It challenged institutional psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis. Thus, I was especially interested in attending the opening panel of Barnard’s 47th Scholar and Feminist Conference on Living in Madness: Decolonization, Creation, Healing. The panel was titled: “Willful Subjects*: Decolonizing the Psychiatric Institution.”
With some exceptions, the speeches were entirely incomprehensible.
The conference was a feminist conference, hosted by Barnard’s Center for Research on Women. Yet, not a single speaker mentioned the word “woman.” With one exception, once, not a single speaker referred to the work of any female psycho-analytic theorist or critic of psychiatry. The only female theorist mentioned was Sara Ahmed, a British-Australian-Pakistani “queer lesbian” of color who pioneered the idea that “willful subjects” are actually “resisting.” (Please don’t ask me what this means).
Although the speakers employed a pseudo-Mandarin language meant to impress, dominate, and silence, I was nevertheless able to comprehend this much: they argued for the destruction of boundaries and borders of all kinds; viewed chaos as “liberating” and “revolutionary;” and tended towards romanticizing “madness.” While I pioneered the view that psychiatric diagnoses are stigmatizing and punitive in ways that are sexist, racist, and classist—I have never romanticized psychological suffering as “liberating” or “revolutionary.” It is, rather, a trip to Hell, one never chosen.
I hate to say this but: “mental illness,” a term hotly contested by many sufferers, is real. It is not just a reaction to social or political forces. If it were, then everyone would be “mad” in the same way—or in some way. That is not the case. Living under the imagined paradise of socialism or communism, the right kind of nationalism, or during a euphorically bloody uprising, does not automatically “cure” all those who suffer from schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, suicidal ideation, and other post traumatic stress symptoms and/or who are sociopaths, psychopaths, alcoholics, drug addicts, rapists, or batterers. And it’s true: People who suffer from “mental illness” are not being helped—witness the hallucinating homeless on New York city streets and subways, some of whom are violent, most of whom are in urgent need of care that simply does not exist. … read full article