Equal Pay Day falls earlier this year. Here’s what to know.
March 15 marks how far into the new year the average woman must work to match what the average man made the year before
From The Washington Post (USA)
By Anne Branigin
March 15, 2022
For more than a quarter-century, the United States has recognized Equal Pay Day: the day that marks how far into the new year the average woman must work to match what her male counterparts made the year before.
Today, that day arrives earlier than it has in its 26-year history, a fact that the Biden administration lauded on Monday.
“The earlier that Equal Pay Day arrives, the closer our Nation has come to achieving pay fairness,” the president said in a prepared statement. This means that in 2020, the average woman working full-time, year-round, made 83 cents to a typical man’s dollar — up one cent from the previous year. … read full article
Doctors Have Failed Them, Say Those With Transgender Regret
From Medscape (USA)
By Alicia Ault
March 14, 2022
In a unique Zoom conference, a number of detransitioners enumerated the ways they said the medical establishment initially failed them when they transitioned to the opposite gender, and again, when they decided to go back to their natal gender.
The forum was convened on what was dubbed #DetransitionAwarenessDay by Genspect, a parent-based organization that seeks to put the brakes on medical transitions for children and adolescents. The group has doubts about the gender-affirming care model supported by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other medical groups.
"Affirmative" medical care is defined as treatment with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for those with gender dysphoria to transition to the opposite sex and is often followed by gender reassignment surgery. However, there is growing concern among many doctors and other healthcare professionals as to whether this is, in fact, the best way to proceed for those under aged 18, in particular, with several countries pulling back on medical treatment and instead emphasizing psychotherapy first.
The purpose of the second annual Genspect meeting, held March 12, was to shed light on the experiences of individuals who have detransitioned — those that identified as transgender and transitioned, but then decided to end their medical transition. People logged on from all over the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Chile, and Brazil, among other countries. … read full article (requires free registration)
JK Rowling is being made out to be a hate preacher – it is as absurd as it is troubling
I think we should all get over the fact that a 56-year-old woman has dared to air a legitimate opinion over a deeply divisive issue
From The Independent (UK)
By Jordan Tyldesley (@pippybing)
March 15, 2022
A few years ago I thought about JK Rowling very little; particularly as I muted her for a time on Twitter when she wouldn’t stop bleating on about Brexit (no offence Joanne, I’m sure many have done the same to me). Nevertheless, it didn’t change my opinion of her and the gift she’s given to the world: Harry Potter.
But these days, I feel the need to constantly come to her defence against an unrelenting wave of intolerant attacks by men and women who appear to be hell-bent on depicting her as the devil incarnate. I neither wish to worship or condemn her; rather, I simply think we should all get over the fact that a 56-year-old woman has dared to air a legitimate opinion over a deeply divisive issue.
First of all, it really needn’t be this way – the whole situation is an absurd mess. Gender-critical women and those who would like to discuss their rights are too often shunned by the left, who are unduly distrustful of their position. On the other hand, those who identify as trans or who are gender-dysphoric are understandably fearful of a bigoted backlash, when they simply wish to live an authentic, peaceful and happy life.
This issue is complex and requires careful consideration, as both parties are an oppressed category. Women do not hold some sort of privileged stake in this debate. And yet it often feels as if we are a nuisance for suggesting that is the case.
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that allowing a male-bodied person – no questions asked – into a vulnerable female space could potentially lead to unscrupulous men taking advantage of a loophole. It is my belief that those who blind themselves to this risk are doing it either because they’re naive, or they are simply willing to relegate women’s safety in the name of faux-progressivism. … read full article
'Schools are transitioning pupils without parents' knowledge', MPs told as Schools Minister insists trans issues MUST be taught in the classroom
Schools Minister Robin Walker reiterated that schools will teach LGBT content
MPs met to discuss guidance given to schools around political impartiality
Conservative MP Miriam Cates asked why trans issues weren't in the guidance
She claims parents wrote to her worried that children are being 'transitioned'
Mr Walker said: 'People do transition... We need to talk about the world as it is'
From Daily Mail (UK)
By Stewart Carr
March 15, 2022
Schools Minister Robin Walker has said schools will continue to teach LGBT content and there are no plans to 'rule out' teaching about trans issues.
The minister made the statement to the House of Commons' Education Select Committee this morning as MPs discussed recent guidance issued to schools on political impartiality.
Mr Walker said that 'we need to talk about the world as it is' - adding that trans people do exist in Britain and are a protected group under the Equality Act.
His comments came in response to Conservative MP Miriam Cates, who told the committee 'you cannot change sex' and insisted that this was a 'biological fact'.
She asked why examples around what she termed 'gender ideology' which she said 'has no basis in science' were not included in the guidance to schools - saying it contained 19 instructions around impartiality on racism, different political systems, environmentalism and other topical subjects but none about trans issues.
Ms Cates said: 'Why can't we add to that what you do when you come across this issue of gender ideology? … read full article
UK: 'Herstory' Festival Features Trans-Identified Male Composer
From REDUXX (USA)
By REDUXX Team
March 15, 2022
A poetry event is under fire for featuring a male poet who identifies as a woman for a women's history month event.
On March 11, Poet in the City, a London-based poetry and arts organization that has been running since 1998, announced a woman-centric event during women's history month. The event, titled WHAT A WOMAN, was advertised on Twitter with the intended purpose of "[celebrating] the women in our lives, from artists to friends, family and more."
The free-to-attend event, which will be held on March 23 in Newcastle and March 30 in Exeter, will feature "an evening of poetry, storytelling, and music celebrating the unique experiences of womanhood."
But it is the program for the March 23 event being held at the Newcastle Public Library that is currently raising eyebrows, with one prominently advertised feature apparently being a male who identifies as a woman.
According to Poet in the City's Twitter, Alexis Beaufoy-Salguero's "original composition will top and tail the event, drawing on her own response to who inspires her and her experience of womanhood." … read full article (and SUPPORT REDUXX!)
Keir Starmer is gaslighting women
Could Labour's first female leader be a man?
From UnHerd (UK)
By Joan Smith (@polblonde)
March 15, 2022
Does Sir Keir Starmer know there’s a war on? Last week the Labour leader visited a country literally on the doorstep of Russia. Speaking to a Times journalist at the biggest military base in Estonia, a Baltic state with every reason to fear the intentions of its aggressive neighbour, he had a very important message. Employing the forensic skills that made him a QC, he homed in on the most significant issue of the day: “Trans women are women”, he declared. “And that is not just my view — that is actually the law”.
It actually isn’t, but let’s leave that fact aside for the moment. Is this man stupid? A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have said so. A couple of years ago, I voted for him in the Labour leadership contest, not because I thought he would be brilliant, but because I imagined he would at least be adequate. My expectations weren’t high, but they’ve still been disappointed. Last week he showed himself to be either stupid, or so committed to an extreme ideology that he has lost sight of its disastrous impact on women. … read full article
Patient safety must trump trans rights in hospital wards
From The Times (UK)
By Emma Nicholson
March 15, 2022
A key element of the debate on women’s rights is the stealthy erosion of single-sex spaces, particularly single-sex wards in hospitals. These hard-won rights are vital for patients at their most vulnerable. Yet we have sleepwalked into a situation where gender self-identification, elevated by NHS policy in defiance of the law, trumps sensible decisions about patient dignity and safety.
Men who declare themselves women, even without the legal fiction of a gender recognition certificate, are being allowed into women’s wards. A fiction is being imposed on other patients, their concerns disregarded, even being smeared as bigotry. Nurses are left in a difficult position.
This is insulting to patients and a safeguarding disaster. That is why tonight in the House of Lords debate on the Health and Care Bill, Lord Blencathra and I have introduced an amendment with cross-party support. This requires that NHS guidance for trans people in single-sex wards be reviewed. It must take proper regard of the opt-outs included in the 2010 Equality Act, and not wilfully ignore them.
There is a wider point about the corruption of official data in hospitals but in prisons and crime statistics too. According to Dr Nicola Williams, of Fair Play for Women, although the NHS has an IT system to register both sex and gender identity, it is not using it. In fact, it has not used the sex category for years and has data only on self-declared gender. It is shocking that the NHS does not know something as basic and important as the sex in which patients were born. It’s why females who identify as males do not automatically get called for cervical screening. … read full article (web page archive)
Big Tech must let gender critics speak under online safety law
From The Times (UK)
By Chris Smyth
March 16, 2022
Social media giants will be told to focus on rooting out racist abuse and trolling rather than debates on trans rights under a revamped online harms bill to be published tomorrow.
In an attempt to assuage fears that wide-ranging new powers will make Facebook and Twitter censor political discussion, ministers are drawing up a list of “priority” harms that companies will be required to seek out.
Measures to ensure journalism by recognised media outlets is not taken down will be added to the bill later, it is understood.
Tomorrow the government will publish its overhauled Online Safety Bill, which will impose a duty on tech giants to have systems for removing harmful content or risk fines of up to 10 per cent of their turnover. The bill has been rewritten after a year of intense debate over whether it strikes the right balance between making the internet safer for children and the vulnerable and protecting free speech.
Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, has acknowledged the “horrifying spectre” raised by some MPs and journalists “that the bill will give people like Mark Zuckerberg and Nick Clegg unlimited power to decide what is and isn’t acceptable to say online”, but she insists this already happens. In an article for the Conservative Home website she wrote that Silicon Valley is able to “decide who gets to speak online, and who is silenced or cancelled from public life”. She claimed that the revamped bill would introduce “considerably stronger protections for free speech”.
In changes to the bill, ministers aim to narrow the scope of “legal but harmful” material, which companies will be held accountable for, by setting a “priority” list of topics. It has yet to be finalised but is expected to include racist abuse and trolling but not areas of contention such as discussions about rights of self-identification for transgender people. … read full article (web page archive)
Documentary | XX ≠ XY: The Fight To Save Women’s Sports
From Independent Women’s Forum (USA)
By Elizabeth Tew
March 15, 2022
Watch the Documentary
Margaret’s* daughter is a swimmer in the Ivy League who’s been forced to compete all season against XY athlete Will “Lia” Thomas. Thomas — who competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania Men’s Swim Team — has dominated women’s collegiate swimming competitions this season and broken numerous female legacy records. The NCAA, USA Swimming, the Ivy League, and University of Pennsylvania have all turned their backs on female athletes. When biological males are allowed to swim on women’s teams, female athletes lose. They lose opportunities to win and to compete. And… they lose self-confidence. Dividing athletes by biological sex gives women the chance to compete and win.
*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.
What happens to activism when the click-bait frenzy ends?
From Spectator | Australia
By Edie Wyatt
March 15, 2022
The news of a man who has become pregnant probably won’t make the right-leaning tabloid media like it used to. It’s clickbait that has run its course. We all know that this is a biological woman identifying as a man. The regularity at which this keeps happening may lead us to ask some more serious questions with broader implications on the sexual health and safety of women.
The Mirror in the UK has reported that Ryan, a 24-year-old drama student from Manchester, discovered a blessed miracle nine weeks into their female-to-male gender transition. Ryan was pregnant even though ‘he’ identifies as a man. Ryan wants to warn other trans men that they can get pregnant as well.
The Mirror has turned an unremarkable heterosexual shag ending in pregnancy into a ‘teaching’ moment for trans people. The real story is, why do some trans people not understand the basic principles of biology and conception?
In 2013, when gay rights were really gay rights, The Mirror was nominated for a Stonewall Award. At the time, Stonewall was still a well-respected gay rights charity in the UK. Like most legacy gay rights organisations, Stonewall is now almost exclusively concerned with gender identity activism. While their focus has changed, the organisation sits loftily on years of goodwill, social acceptance, and the recent euphoric political victory of the gay rights movement. Stonewall has also developed a coveted model for training organisations and populations in its political ideologies.
The Stonewall Diversity Champions program provides a ‘gaming’ model for media, government, and private organisations to compete for awards and rankings on a ‘Workplace Equality Index’. A higher ranking on the scheme is gained by training staff, purchasing consultancy, using language guidelines and ultimately reflecting Stonewall’s views and politics on sexuality and gender. In return, organisations get to share in the cultural capital of the once-great Stonewall. … read full article
Champion Women, WSPWG Release Results of Petitions Asking Congress, Sports to Prioritize Fairness for Biological Women
From Swimming World (USA)
By Dan D’Addona - Swimming World Managing Editor
March 15, 2022
Champion Women, WSPWG Release Results of Petitions Asking Congress, Sports to Prioritize Fairness for Biological Women
Over 5446 athletes, parents, coaches and sports officials and others, including almost 300 Olympians and Paralympians, have signed onto two petitions: The Women’s Sports Policy Working Group positions and model legislation and the ChampionWomen.com petition that call upon legislatures and sports governance organizations to prioritize fairness and safety for females over blanket transgender inclusion or exclusion in girls’ and women’s competitive sports.
Both petitions ask that legislative bodies and sports organizations ensure that females receive equal opportunities to participate in competitive sports, in the same fair and safe competitive environment as afforded to male athletes.
Sports are sex-segregated around the world, in recognition of the biological, male-puberty athletic advantage. This universal practice is not about privacy, modesty, or to make up for past sex discrimination. Instead, sex-segregated sport is necessary to provide females – half the world’s population – with equal opportunities to participate. It is the only legal basis to continue the practice of sex-segregation.
• Read the full signed petition here
From the onset of male puberty, male bodies develop to be faster, stronger, and more powerful than female bodies as a group. The performance gap emerging from that point forward ranges from 8% to 50% depending on the sport and event. The more explosive strength the sport or event requires, the bigger the gap between males and females. … read full article
Court refuses to order Arizona to pay for transgender teen’s surgery
From AZCentral (USA)
By Camila Pedrosa
March 15, 2022
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has refused to order Arizona’s Medicaid program to pay for the transition surgery of a transgender teen who claimed the state’s failure to do so amounted to sex discrimination.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upheld a lower court that said the 15-year-old had not shown that male chest reconstruction surgery was “medically necessary,” and noting that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System does pay for gender dysphoria counseling and hormone therapy.
But the appeals court did not rule on whether the AHCCCS policy violates the civil rights of the teen, identified as John Doe, giving advocates hope that the district court will uphold Doe’s constitutional right to federal health care when the case returns to the lower court. … read full article
Louisiana lawmaker proposes ban on transgender health care for minors
Legislation would override parental consent, block insurance coverage
From Louisiana Illuminator (USA)
By Wesley Muller
March 15, 2022
A Louisiana lawmaker wants to deny minors access to gender-affirming health care, even if parents approve of the procedures. The sweeping proposal would also override medical advice and stop insurers from covering transgender treatments.
House Bill 570, sponsored by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, is calling his proposal the SAFE Act, short for Saving Adolescents From Experimentation. It would prohibit a wide swath of medical services – from hair transplants to liposuction and many other treatments – for anyone under 18 if their goal is to “promote the development of feminizing or masculinizing features in the opposite sex,” according to the text of the bill.
The bill defines various terms such as “genital gender reassignment surgeries,” which would include procedures like testicle implants, and “non-genital gender reassignment surgeries,” which would include hair transplants, liposuction, breast augmentations and most other common aesthetic procedures. However, it considers all of them, including hormone therapy, under the blanket term “gender transition procedures” and would allow the state to render any of them illegal depending on the patient’s treatment goal.
Breast implants or cosmetic lip fillers, for instance, would be legal if the patient is a 17-year-old biological female who wants to appear more feminine, but those same procedures would be prohibited in a 17-year-old biological male who wants to look more feminine — regardless of parental consent.
It would also prohibit medical professionals from referring anyone under 18 to another doctor for “gender transition procedures,” and it lists various reasons when such treatments would be acceptable or illegal. It would further prohibit health insurance companies from covering such procedures for anyone under 18, and it would force nurses, guidance counselors and teachers to report to parents if their child perceives that “his gender is inconsistent with his sex.” … read full article
JK Rowling has shone a light on Labour cowardice
A debate that has so far managed to remain largely below the radar of the public is threatening to expose Labour’s “progressive” instincts
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Tom Harris
March 15, 2022
Two interventions over the weekend should make the Labour Party and its leader, Keir Starmer, sit up and take notice.
The first is a report by American academics Bill Galston and Elaine Kamarck entitled “The New Politics of Evasion”. This is something of a follow-up to their previous groundbreaking and influential report published in 1989, as Democrats fretted about their inability to win national elections in the wake of their third successive presidential defeat. That analysis paved the way for Bill Clinton and his New Democrat insurgency that shifted opinion behind his party for a decade.
This follow-up by Glastonbury and Kamarck presents and disposes of some favoured electoral myths and charts a way forward for the Democrats as they brace themselves for a hiding in this year’s mid-term elections.
Among those myths is the notion that “people of colour” are a political monolith who can be relied upon to vote as a bloc and who are united by a common experience of discrimination. In fact, the authors point out, black and Hispanic Americans don’t see themselves as victims of oppression, and tend to have more moderate views than white, middle class progressives.
Crucially, “The New Politics of Evasion”, according to The Hill, concludes that “social, cultural and religious values are intrinsically important to US voters of all stripes, whatever their economic circumstances. So simply amping up economic populism isn’t going to allay voters’ qualms about progressive rhetoric on crime, immigration, education, race and gender.” … read full article (web page archive)
This day in Herstory: On March 15, 1946, President Harry Truman appointed former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt as U.S. representative to the United Nations. She worked on a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writing parts of its text, helping to keep the language direct and clear and focused on human dignity. She also spent many days lobbying American and international leaders, both arguing against opponents and trying to fire up the enthusiasm among those more friendly to the ideas. She described her approach to the project this way: "I drive hard and when I get home I will be tired! The men on the Commission will be also!" (more)