Tuesday, June 28, 2022
This day in Herstory: Gilda Susan Radner, born June 28, 1946 (died May 20, 1989), was an American comedian and actress, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). In her routines, Radner specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, she won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy. (more)
US - Views on gender identity are increasingly complex, heavily split, study finds
While a majority of Americans favor transgender nondiscrimination laws, a large share also believe a person’s gender cannot be different from their sex assigned at birth and back laws that would make gender-affirming health care for transgender minors illegal.
From The Hill (USA)
By Brooke Migdon
June 28, 2022
Story at a glance
Nearly two-thirds of American adults support laws that would protect transgender people from discrimination, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
Americans are more split when it comes to thinking about gender identity more abstractly, the study found.
Large percentages of Americans believe transgender athletes should be barred from sports teams consistent with their gender identity and support opening child abuse investigations into the parents of transgender children, although views on such policies are deeply divided by party. … read full article
US - Education Politics: Gender Ideology Lessons on the Rise in Some Schools, Off-Limits in Others
As the national debate over teaching gender ideology to children in schools rages, some schools are putting in restrictions while others are doubling down.
From Breitbart (USA)
By Breccan F. Thies
June 28, 2022
While seven states require gender ideology training in their schools, five other states have put in restrictions, at least until later in a child’s education.
Some of the demand for teaching the ideology has been met by curriculum developers with increased options for all grade levels.
The National Sex Education Standards group has called teaching about “gender identity” as “one of seven essential topics, alongside puberty, consent, sexual orientation, and other subjects,” according to the Washington Post. … read full article
US - Reddit Bans Popular Anti-Woke Subreddit For Sharing Gender Critical Posts
The popular subreddit TumblrInAction, with almost 500,000 active users, received a no-warning ban for ‘promoting hate’ on the platform.
From The Federalist (USA)
By Peter Pischke
June 28, 2022
In the wee hours of Monday morning, June 21, down came the Reddit ban hammer. The popular subreddit TumblrInAction, with almost 500,000 active users, and its little sister sub, SocialJusticeInAction, with 96,000 users, each received a no-warning ban for “promoting hate” on the platform.
What did these Redditors do wrong to merit such a punishment? These subs allowed users to post anti-woke and often truthful, gender-critical content that pushed “identity invalidation.” Reddit’s victims had employed free speech on the platform, thus becoming popular and therefore had to go. ... read full article
US - Overturning Roe Reminds Liberals They Do Know What a Woman Is
From The Daily Citizen (USA)
By The Daily Citizen
June 28, 2022
It’s not your fault if you’re confused. Not at all.
It’s that the left can’t keep its story straight on what a woman is and who needs access to abortion. Daily Citizen doesn’t say this to be mean or “own the libs.” It’s simply a demonstrable and inconvenient fact that must be recognized.
Thanks to the whip speed success of trans ideology, we have all been thoroughly schooled over the last year that men can have babies too. To disagree is to be the new worst thing someone can be: transphobic. Examples of this new liberal orthodoxy which turn basic biology on its head are plentiful. ... read full article
US - 'Gender Identity' Policies Stop Therapists From Asking Important Questions
From Newsweek (USA)
By Raquel Rosario Sánchez
June 27, 2022
On June 15, the White House issued an executive order promoting the expansion of gender-affirming services, including for children and teenagers. The order represents the Biden administration's latest effort to expand legal protections based on sexual orientation and "gender identity."
While sexual orientation is widely acknowledged and respected, the concept of "gender identity" remains novel and highly contentious. Dissenters, including many feminists, argue that allowing people to identify into whichever sex category they choose carries negative consequences—particularly for women and children's rights.
... read full article
US - My story about my daughter
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
June 28, 2022
A year ago, during the pandemic lockdowns, I started noticing changes in my daughter's dress. (She was 11 at the time.) She went from a girl who liked to wear dresses to wearing all black. She cut her hair extremely short, even though she had always worn it long in the past. She would only wear sports bras and slouched considerably to hide her developing body. One day, I even noticed her trying to change her walk and how she swung her arms.
Then, one day, I walked in on her and asked to see what she was looking at online. She was on TikTok and YouTube viewing trans influencers (without my permission). She looked up at me with tears and terror in her eyes. I was terrified, too. ... read full article
Canada - Lies, Trans Lies and Statistics
How gender ideology uses logical fallacies and bad data to fool people
From justdad7’s Newsletter (Canada)
By justdad7
June 28, 2022
I have been following the gender debates (if you can call them that) for nearly three years and it has been an eye opening experience. In many years of being involved in law and politics I have never encountered as much intellectual dishonesty as I have seen from the people who try to defend males in female sports or destroying healthy body systems in gender confused children.
I emphasize that this is intellectual dishonesty. Direct lying of the kind that could result in a perjury charge is rare. What is everywhere is fallacious reasoning, equivocation and misleading use of statistics. Most of the popular media outlets that have historically challenged this type of misinformation have been captured by the new orthodoxy. ... read full article
UK - Transgender care GP's fitness to practice impaired, tribunal finds
The fitness to practice of a doctor who ran an online clinic for transgender children is impaired by a "serious misconduct", a medical tribunal has found.
From BBC News (UK)
June 28, 2022
Dr Helen Webberley put patients at "unwarranted risk of harm" by failing to provide follow-up care in 2016.
Two patients, 12 and 17, were prescribed testosterone.
The tribunal said it was satisfied that Dr Webberley would implement changes if she returned to practice.
The founder of the website GenderGP was accused of failing to provide good clinical care to three patients transitioning from female to male. ... read full article
UK - Now the NHS quietly removes the word 'women' from its MENOPAUSE page
'Women' and 'woman' quietly omitted from NHS' advice about the menopause
Online guidance used to refer to women six times in overview about condition
Comes amid row about gender-neutral terms overcomplicating health advice
From Daily Mail (UK)
By JOHN ELY
June 28, 2022
The NHS has ditched the terms 'women' and 'woman' from its menopause guidance, despite ministers promising to crackdown on woke gender-free language in medical advice.
Last month, MailOnline revealed how NHS Digital had quietly scrubbed all mention of women from its landing pages for ovarian, womb and cervical cancer. ... read full article
UK - Trying to erase the biological definition of sex isn’t just misguided – it’s dangerous
Proposals to rewrite the law take gender self-identification too far. Here’s the feminist case against
From The Guardian (UK)
By Susanna Rustin
June 28, 2022
In one sense, old-fashioned feminists like me should be grateful for The Future of Legal Gender, a four-year publicly funded research project. That’s because it makes crystal-clear what is sometimes denied by advocates of the new gender politics: that there are some who aim to reduce the importance of sex (the set of biological characteristics that distinguish male and female people) in law and society, and to replace it with the more slippery concept of gender. ... read full article
UK - Woman suing rape charity over transgender row
A woman who is suing a rape crisis charity says she felt unable to speak at a support group after a transgender woman began attending the same meeting.
From BBC News (UK)
By June Kelly
June 28, 2022
"Sarah", who says she was raped in her 20s, stopped going to the sessions, saying she became uncomfortable sharing details of her past with the group.
She says the centre could have offered separate groups, telling the BBC: "I think my case is about women's rights." ... read full article
UK - Why did my daughter become trans?
The school encouraged her at every turn
From UnHerd (UK)
By JO BROWN
June 28, 2022
Our third child was a quirky girl, into gymnastics, baking, music. She liked things requiring new outfits. She was keen on Disney princesses. She had some particular passions — fluffy clothing for a while, a collection of handbags, cast off heeled shoes, models of movie characters. ... read full article
UK - Sharron Davies shuts down Tom Daley over trans comments: ‘He’s male. This doesn’t affect him in the slightest'
From GBN (UK)
By Aden-Jay Wood
June 28, 2022
Sharron Davies has shut down Tom Daley after he spoke out on the decision to ban transgender athletes from swimming in female events.
Earlier this month, swimming’s world governing body FINA voted to ban athletes who have gone through male puberty from racing in women’s events. …
Many people have since come out in their support for the decision, but Daley slammed it, saying it was “not on”. ... read full article
UK - Culture Secretary says elite women's events should be 'reserved for people born of female sex'
From BBC News (UK)
June 28, 2022
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has told the heads of UK sporting bodies that "elite and competitive women's sport must be reserved for people born of the female sex".
Dorries met representatives from 15 sports including football, cricket, rugby, tennis and athletics plus UK Sport and Sport England bosses.
Swimming's world governing body Fina recently voted to stop transgender athletes from competing in women's elite events if they have gone through any part of the male puberty process.
Britain's Olympic diving champion Tom Daley has said he is "furious" at Fina's decision. ... read full article
UK - Tom Daley should not wade into swimming’s trans row
From The Spectator (UK)
By Debbie Hayton
June 27, 2022
Swimming's governing body, Fina, made a wise and sensible decision last week. It declared that transwomen were ineligible to take part in elite female competitions if they have experienced any part of male puberty. There were caveats, but it was a huge stride in the right direction. It was a ruling that was fair to female swimmers. But not everyone is happy. ... read full article
UK - It’s time to take down the Pride flag
With this eyesore flag flying on every street, London feels like a city under occupation.
From Spiked (UK)
By Brendan O’Neill
June 28, 2022
London feels like a city under occupation. Cycling through town yesterday I saw a foreign flag fluttering from every major building. There it was on top of Drummonds on Charing Cross Road, the poshest bank in the land. It flew from the tallest building in Trafalgar Square, too. That structure, peering down on poor Nelson, had five flags in total: four Union flags and, in the middle of them, taking pride of place, seeming to assert its political primacy over the flapping Union Jacks, this new flag, this strange flag. … The entire boulevard was festooned with the new standard. Scores of them hung above the street, from building to building, in perfect militaristic formation, as far as the eye could see. It felt chilling. ... read full article
UK - Puberty Blockers for Children: Can They Consent?
From The New Bioethics (UK)
By Antony Latham
June 27, 2022
Abstract
Gender dysphoria is a persistent distress about one’s assigned gender. Referrals regarding gender dysphoria have recently greatly increased, often of a form that is rapid in onset. The sex ratio has changed, most now being natal females. Mental health issues pre-date the dysphoria in most. Puberty blockers are offered in clinics to help the child avoid puberty. Puberty blockers have known serious side effects, with uncertainty about their long-term use. They do not improve mental health. Without medication, most will desist from the dysphoria in time. Yet over 90% of those treated with puberty blockers progress to cross-sex hormones and often surgery, with irreversible consequences. The brain is biologically and socially immature in childhood and unlikely to understand the long-term consequences of treatment. The prevailing culture to affirm the dysphoria is critically reviewed. It is concluded that children are unable to consent to the use of puberty blockers. ... read full article
Australia - 'Alarming sign of cultural regression': There is 'no reason' children should be attending events like ‘Drag The Kids To Pride’
Taking children to a drag show is the equivalent of sitting them in front of the latest music video featuring a twerking pop star in very little clothing, writes SkyNews.com.au Contributor and Political Commentator Daisy Cousens.
From Sky News (Australia)
By Daisy Cousens
June 28, 2022
Over the last couple of years, the notion that drag queens are good for the social and moral development of primary school-aged children has been slowly pushed by left-wing activists.
It began with Drag Queen Story Hour, which, as it sounds, is drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, bookstores, and (at least once in 2020), Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. ... read full article
Australia - The Emptiness of Constructivist Teaching
In teaching students that all knowledge is constructed through their own interactions, we fail to give them satisfying answers about the world and its meaning.
From Quillette (Australia)
By Patricia Rice Doran
June 29, 2022
Browse any mainstream educational source, from articles to curriculum, and you’ll quickly encounter a learning theory known as constructivism. Presented as a foundational belief in many teacher education programs, and forming the basis of many curricula, constructivism is a worldview that posits that individuals create knowledge for themselves by interacting with the world. This sounds positive, affirming, and child-centered, making it particularly attractive to educators. But constructivism, which has served as the theoretical and conceptual basis for much educational practice, provides an unstable foundation for understanding objective reality and, as a result, is an untenable approach to help students understand meaning in the world. ... read full article