Tuesday, April 26, 2022
This day in Herstory: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, born April 26, 1886 (died December 22, 1939), was an American blues singer and influential early blues recording artist. Dubbed the "Mother of the Blues", she bridged earlier vaudeville and the authentic expression of southern blues, influencing a generation of blues singers. (more)
Vice-chancellors told to promote free speech or ‘be on the wrong side of history’
Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, says institutions can no longer ‘shy away’ from ‘the intolerant mob’ who are stopping debate
From The Telegraph (UK)
April 26, 2022
Vice-chancellors have been told they must actively promote, not just protect, freedom of speech as the universities minister warns them “not to be on the wrong side of history”.
Michelle Donelan said campus chiefs would no longer be allowed to “shy away” from the “real threat” to academic freedom now that ministers are tackling it “like never before”. … continue reading
Feminist Philosopher Disinvited from Speaking at Harvard over Trans Views
From National Review (USA)
April 25, 2022
A feminist philosopher was disinvited from speaking at Harvard University for penning academic literature that pushed back on some demands of the transgender movement.
Dr. Devin Buckley had prepared a highly specialized talk on British romanticism “that had nothing to do with gender or feminism,” she told National Review, until coordinator Erin Saladin of the college’s English Department unearthed some of her scholarship on the Internet. She discovered that Buckley is a board member of Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a radical feminist organization that has been outspoken about maintaining sex segregation in women-exclusive spaces to protect vulnerable females. Because of this involvement, Saladin determined that Buckley was a guest for whom the department could not provide a platform. … continue reading
If Stonewall doesn’t represent a woman like Allison Bailey, then who is it for?
Because she didn’t swallow the charity’s ‘gender identity’ dogma, they wanted her gone – but she is everything they were meant to support
From The Telegraph (UK)
April 26, 2022
It cannot have been easy to be a black woman of Jamaican heritage in the late 1980s, living in Oxford and realising you were a lesbian. It must have been desperately lonely. Section 28, which was implemented in 1988, left gay teenagers with little support.
It cannot be easy, after a lifetime of supporting radical causes and becoming a criminal barrister, to find that at your workplace there are complaints about you orchestrated by a group set up originally to protect gay rights: Stonewall. … continue reading
State House OKs limits on transgender athletic participation
From Associated Press (USA)
April 26, 2022
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s GOP-led House on Monday voted to limit which public high school sports teams transgender athletes can compete on.
House members on Monday voted 93-41 to require transgender students to compete on teams that match the “biological sex” listed on their birth certificates.
The provision was added to Republican Rep. Kurtis Gregory’s bill on public school busing, a tactic often used to pass legislation as the end of session nears. Lawmakers face a May 13 deadline to send bills to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. … continue reading
Transgender Inmate Convicted Of Raping Female Prisoner at Women’s Facility
From REDUXX (USA)
April 26, 2022
A trans-identifying male inmate at Rikers Island has been convicted of raping a female prisoner while in the women’s section of the New York prison. Ramel Blount, 33, who uses the alias Diamond Blount, was sentenced to seven years after accepting a plea deal for a lesser charge of attempted rape.
While housed in the female facility, Blount approached a 33-year-old woman in the bathroom at the Rose M. Singer Center of the Rikers complex on February 8, 2021. The victim had just finished showering when Blount grabbed her by the neck, held her down and sexually assaulted her. … continue reading
The most marginalized women in the country are being ignored by those who claim to care the most
From The Feminist Current (Canada)
April 25, 2022
Across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, society’s most vulnerable women are being put into the hands of predatory men. The majority of the feminism-espousing left has completely abandoned these women. Where on earth have the self-described defenders of defenseless women disappeared to?
Just a few years ago, mainstream, liberal-left feminists were emoting over celeb groping incidents and knitting themselves pussy hats — a fierce stand against the patriarchy if there ever was one. When Ruth Bader Ginsberg died, my Twitter feed filled up with young women screaming into their dashcams. When a California academic recalled — just about — being felt up by a future Supreme Court Justice against her will in 1982 at a prep school party, the liberal-left discourse swelled with outrage and a general recounting of “trauma.” … continue reading
The parental revolt against woke indoctrination
Mums and dads are rising up against the politicisation of education.
From Spiked (UK)
April 26, 2022
There is something very wrong in our schools. Each new day brings reports of some ideological madness being foisted on children. In the past week alone we’ve heard about Welsh plans to teach kids as young as three about sexual attraction and gender identity. We’ve heard that the education department in the Northern Territory in Australia is wondering out loud if schools should drop apparently oppressive phrases like ‘boys and girls’ in order not to offend kids who may be ‘questioning their gender identity’. We’ve heard about a school in South Carolina that planned to separate kids by race so that they could be counselled by an external speaker on ‘how to cope with being a student in a predominantly white school’. Oh good, racial segregation is back. … continue reading
Ex-Tory MP guilty of molesting boy was on panel advising on grooming gangs
Imran Ahmad Khan advised government on child sexual exploitation while under police caution
From The Guardian (UK)
April 26, 2022
An MP found guilty this month of molesting a 15-year-old boy advised the government on child sexual exploitation while under police caution, the Guardian can disclose.
Imran Ahmad Khan, the then Conservative MP for Wakefield, joined an expert panel offering advice on grooming gangs and went on to contribute to a policy paper entitled “Group-based child sexual exploitation characteristics of offending”.
He attended online meetings with the panel of sexual exploitation experts in July, September and November of 2020. Staffordshire police say he gave a written statement under caution in May 2020 addressing claims he had assaulted a minor.
… continue reading
Tennessee governor signs transgender athlete penalty bill
If passed, public schools that permit transgender girls to participate on female sports teams could have a portion of their state funds withheld.
From NBC News (USA)
April 26, 2022
Tennessee will soon add harsh penalties against public schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, under legislation recently signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee.
Lee quietly signed the proposal last Friday without comment. The governor had previously signed a measure last year mandating that student athletes must prove their sex matches that listed on the student’s “original” birth certificate. If a birth certificate was unavailable, then the parents must provide another form of evidence “indicating the student’s sex at the time of birth.” … continue reading
Oklahoma Senator files two bills against sexualization, gender reassignment in children
From ABC7 News (USA)
April 26, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — An Oklahoma Senator filed two floor substitutes that would aim to protect Oklahoma children from sexualization and unnecessary gender reassignment surgeries.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, filed House Bill 1074 and House Bill 1076 as an effort to protect children in the state from sexualization and unnecessary gender reassignment surgeries.
HB 1074 is modeled after Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, more commonly referred to as the "Don't Say Gay" law. This legislation would prohibit educators or school personnel for grades Kindergarten through fifth from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity. It would also direct that any curriculum taught in grades 6th through 12th must be age appropriate, as well as developmentally appropriate for students. … continue reading
UK: Pedophile who Identifies as a 5-Year-Old Girl Spared Jail After Breaching Sexual Harm Order
From REDUXX (USA)
April 26, 2022
A 60-year-old pedophile who claims to identify as a 5-year-old girl has avoided jail despite having beached a long-standing sexual harm prevention order by approaching and kissing two children.
Janiel Verainer, of Chatham, had an initial sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2016 after he was found kissing a small girl outside a restaurant. A subsequent police investigation also found child sexual exploitation images on Verainer’s devices. The man was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and a directive ordering him to stay away from children was implemented. … continue reading
Colette Colfer: A New Religion
From Broadsheet (Ireland)
April 26, 2022
I’ve been lecturing on world religions for sixteen years. Prior to this, I worked as a journalist and often wrote articles and made radio programmes about Ireland’s changing religious landscape.
As someone who is hugely interested in religion, I have noticed that as the Catholic Church is declining in importance in Ireland, new belief systems are emerging to take up some of the spaces vacated. One of these in particular – gender identity theory – is rising to prominence and quickly becoming dominant. … continue reading
Women who need hormone replacement therapy unable to access it due to a “doubling of demand." Hmmm...wonder why that might be? - ED
‘It’s looking bleak’: how HRT shortages have affected women in England
Manufacturing and supply issues have forced women to turn to private sector to access medication
From The Guardian (UK)
April 26, 2022
Shortages of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products in the UK have forced women to resort to the private sector, ration their doses and procure supplies from abroad.
Although the last five years have seen the number of prescriptions double in England, shortages of HRT products have been a problem for several years, with shortfalls blamed on manufacturing and supply issues.
Four women describe the lengths they’ve had to go to to access their medication.
In one week at the beginning of April, Kerri Sharp said she visited 12 pharmacies across London to try to fill her HRT prescription, with no luck. … continue reading
Grammar and grievance
A tweet from Legal Feminist disagreeing with Acas advice on pronouns provoked a storm…
From Legal Feminist (UK)
April 26, 2022
The other day, Acas tweeted out the suggestion that putting pronouns in email signatures could help create a more open and inclusive workplace. Legal Feminist disagreed:
There followed a storm of engagement, unprecedented for the Legal Feminist account: over 600k impressions, over 500 quote tweets and nearly as many retweets. I think the quote tweets in particular are revealing, and they are the main subject of this blog. … continue reading
Letter to my Employer: why I won’t be adding my pronouns
From The Glinner Update (UK)
April 26, 2022
Ever since the training, I’ve been scrolling down and see who’s doing as they’ve been told and has added their Pronouns. And there’s definitely been an uptick. The nicest people I work with – the women who care about outsiders and underdogs – have all added them. And it’s not surprising really, given how it was spelt it out so clearly: it might seem like a little thing, but it means a lot. It signals acceptance, validation, allyship. And it hardly takes a moment to do.
You’ve added yours. But not everyone has. Why not? Is it because they can’t be bothered? Did they not read the email? Or are some of them – like me – using this silence as the only way to express defiance. … continue reading
Why does gender dysphoria get worse when you realize you're 'trans'?
From Writing behavior by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
April 26, 2022
This question comes up all the fucking time:
That’s very normal, same thing happened to me. Honestly, every step I’ve taken in transition has increased the gender dysphoria I felt towards anything about me that is even remotely tied to my agab. I’d say before I came out my chest dysphoria was about 2/10, after coming out but pre T was about a 6/10, now it’s a full on 10/10 and nearly unbearable. …
In other words, it’s “totally normal!” for gender dysphoria to get worse once someone comes out as transgender and to worsen with every step they take toward transition.
… continue reading
Purification Rites
An autobiographical essay
From Cut Down Tree
April 26, 2022
There's a concept which I was exposed to a lot while I was transitioning: "testosterone poisoning". It's talked about online and in trans spaces, and is pretty common; I've seen multiple trans women wearing "I survived testosterone poisoning" t-shirts.
The idea is that, for male-to-female trans people, the testosterone naturally produced by their bodies is toxic. It makes them grow hair, causes their bodies to develop in a masculine direction during puberty, deepens their voices, changes how they smell, increases their libido, and often makes them more aggressive and prone to anger. Later in life, it can cause male-pattern baldness. … continue reading
No Competence Needed
The Medical Practitioner's Tribunal delivers some dubious "facts"
From Void if Removed
April 26, 2022
Between July and October 2021, the Medical Practitioner’s tribunal sat to hear the case against Dr Helen Webberley, of GenderGP, and her competence to treat gender-questioning children. The determination of facts has now been published, and runs to 203 pages. It is, quite simply, a complete travesty.
It is hard to summarise without excerpting it at length, but, in brief:
The case focused on minors A, B and C, aged 12, 17 and 11 respectively at the time of treatment. In each case it was alleged that Webberley treated the children lacking competence in this area of medicine, and with inadequate psychological assessment beforehand or followup afterwards, giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children without establishing their capacity to consent or understanding of the likelihood that this would result in infertility. For example, in the case of C, the method of establishing that the child understood the treatment would render them infertile was to talk only to the mother, over the phone. … continue reading
A community at war with itself
From The Glinner Update (UK)
April 26, 2022
Yesterday Linda Riley, who owns what was once the UK's premier lesbian mag (now a platform for people who think men can be lesbians) and claims to have invented #LesbianVisibilityWeek, launched an attack on @jk_rowling for daring to praise black lesbian activist Allison Bailey.
Linda's tweet has so far received 28k likes – 28k people (many of them men with beards or people with anime avatars who weren't born when that pic of Allison was taken) who think it's 'hateful' to celebrate a veteran campaigner for lesbian and gay rights in #lesbianvisibilityweek. … continue reading