Tuesday, October 4, 2022
"A trustee of the transgender charity Mermaids resigned last night after it emerged that he had spoken at a conference hosted by an organisation that promotes services to paedophiles."
This day in Herstory: Mary Two-Axe Earley OQ, born Mary Two-Axe on October 4, 1911 (died August 21, 1996), was a Mohawk and Oneida women's rights activist from the reserve of Kahnawake in Quebec, Canada. After losing her legal Indian status due to marrying a non-status man, Two-Axe Earley advocated for changes to the Indian Act, which had promoted gender discrimination and stripped First Nations women of the right to participate in the political and cultural life of their home reserves. (more)
UK - Trustee of the transgender charity Mermaids quits over speech to paedophile aid group
From The Times (UK)
By James Beal | Lucy Bannerman
October 4, 2022
A trustee of the transgender charity Mermaids resigned last night after it emerged that he had spoken at a conference hosted by an organisation that promotes services to paedophiles.
Dr Jacob Breslow was a graduate student in gender research at the London School of Economics when he gave a presentation at an event for the US-based B4U-ACT in 2011.
According to its website, B4U-ACT promotes services and resources “for self-identified individuals . . . who are sexually attracted to children and desire such assistance”. … read full article
UK - Today’s Reading List: a short thread
This Twitter thread is republished here in full with the kind permission of the author - Ed.
From Twitter (USA)
By Helen Joyce
October 4, 2022
From the Times, a short piece by @JamesSBeal outlining the most damning facts
Trustee of the transgender charity Mermaids quits after speech to paedophile aid group
An in-depth article in @ReduxxMag about the scandal. It demonstrates pretty conclusively that Mermaids isn’t using the Safer Recruitment framework: either it knew Breslow’s interests and didn’t care, or didn’t know them. Both are damning.
Trustee of Trans Youth Charity Resigns Over Speech at Pro-Pedophile Event
Last January @sarahstuartxx took one for the team, attending a talk by Breslow on how “TERFs” rely on non sequiturs to insert their insidious nonsense about sex being real into other people’s psyches.
Cambridge Uni presents a ‘TERF Grammar Book’
Yet more on Breslow, he co-ran a course at the LSE, in which a student presented a paper recommending violence against feminists: “I hold a knife to your throat…Are you scared? I sure fucking hope so.” Writeup from @SexMattersOrg
Gender studies and sexualised threats - Sex Matters
One last fact about Breslow: here’s a letter from his department at LSE calling for the OU to rescind its support for the gender-critical network founded there. Second-hand source because the original has been pulled … https://butterfliesandwheels.org/2021/no-gender-critical-research-allowed/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=no-gender-critical-research-allowed…
As if there wasn’t enough equivocating about child rape around, here’s an academic hand-wringing about the threat to free speech posed by criticisms of an academic paper that consisted of a write-up of two months masturbating to Japanese child pornography
Retraction of masturbation study ‘troubling for free speech’
Moving on to more savoury topics, the Canadian school where a teacher has been turning up to work wearing balloon-sized fetish-wear prosthetic breasts is still parroting the line that this is “gender expression”, and trying to silence all criticism.
FUREY: Here's the latest on viral prosthetic breast teacher scandal
Brendan O’Neill on the tricky question of Eddie Izzard’s sex in Spiked, pretty much the only UK outlet that has no truck with “preferred pronouns”
Eddie Izzard was born male and he will die male
It’s time to stop playing along with the transgender delusion.
The shocking (but quite predictable) news that Misogyny Inc is kicking off about the upcoming @FiLiA_charity conference in Cardiff – police are investigating threats against the venue
Police investigate threat to 'burn' venue hosting a feminist conference
The online comments are being investigated by South Wales Police
UK - Trustee of Trans Youth Charity Resigns Over Speech at Pro-Pedophile Event
From Reduxx (Canada)
By Shay Woulahan
October 4, 2022
A trustee who sat on the board of a trans activist children’s charity has resigned following revelations he spoke at a conference held by an organization founded by a convicted child rapist.
Dr. Jacob Breslow became a trustee for trouble-plagued trans charity Mermaids in July of 2022. Breslow is an Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality at the London School of Economics’ Department of Gender Studies.
On October 3, Breslow resigned after it began to circulate that he had a disturbing history of ostensibly pro-pedophile sentiment, including having spoken at a symposium held by B4U-Act — a charity founded in 2003 by convicted child rapist Michael Melsheimer. … read full article
UK - Another shocking scandal at Mermaids
Why did a trustee of the trans-kids charity give a presentation at a 'paedophile aid' event?
From spiked (UK)
By Lauren Smith
October 4, 2022
Mermaids, the charity for transgender youth, continues to unravel before our eyes. Last night, one of its trustees resigned. A Times investigation found that he had given a presentation at an event hosted by B4U-ACT, a US organisation that advocates on behalf of ‘minor-attracted persons’. The Times describes B4U-ACT as a ‘paedophile-aid group’.
Dr Jacob Breslow, assistant professor of gender and sexuality at the London School of Economics (LSE), had been a trustee of Mermaids since July 2022. In 2011, Breslow gave a presentation at a conference in Baltimore, Maryland organised by B4U-ACT.
B4U-ACT was founded in 2003 by Russell Dick, a social worker, and Michael Melsheimer, a convicted paedophile. One of its aims is to break down the ‘stigma’ surrounding paedophilia. It stresses on its website that paedophiles ‘often show a desire to protect children and make them happy’. B4U-ACT consistently refers to attraction to minors as a ‘sexuality’. And Breslow’s talk – titled ‘Sexual Alignment: Critiquing sexual orientation, the paedophile, and the DSM V’ – took up precisely this theme. … read full article
Australia - Language
From Spectator | Australia
By Kel Richards
October 4, 2022
According to American journalist Kaylee McGhee White (writing in the Washington Examiner) it is now officially okay to use the word ‘woman’ again. As you know I have written in the past about the attempt by the thought police to stop us using the word ‘woman’ – so that, instead of saying ‘pregnant woman’ we had to say ‘pregnant people’. This had something to do with the so-called ‘trans’ movement – although why it was deemed so important was never entirely clear. Now the edict has been rolled back. And what great authority has made this change? It is found in the latest version of the Associated Press Style Guide. Kaylee McGhee White says Associated Press has ‘updated its guidance to say it is “acceptable” to use the phrases “pregnant women” or “women seeking abortions”. Considering women are the only people in the world capable of conceiving and bearing children… it’s a wonder this language was considered unacceptable in the first place. But alas, when a crazy and unfortunately influential segment of society has decided to let go of its grip on reality, basic concepts like biological sex become taboo subjects one must defend’.Is good sense returning to the woke world? We live in hope. … read full article
US - I am a women's track and field champion. Here's why I continue to fight for the future of women's sports
Track and field is my passion and that's why I must speak up about what's happening with biological males competing in women's sports
From Fox News (USA)
By Selina Soule
October 4, 2022
Everything is a competition to me—from sports to carnival games at the fair. Even when I’m stopped at a red light, I want to be the first to go when the light turns green, beating the car next to me. I attribute my competitive spirit to growing up in an athletic family and playing sports from as early as I can remember.
I wanted to try everything, so at three, my parents brought me to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center and taught me how to skate. I loved skating, so in high school, I became a coach and started teaching it alongside my mom. At five, I started competing in fun runs in my hometown of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and loved winning. I also participated in swimming, gymnastics, cheerleading, and skiing.
It wasn’t long before I discovered that athletic associations have the power to make rules that directly impacted my ability to win races. No matter how hard I trained, enduring long hours of practice, I just couldn’t beat a boy. … read full article
UK - British Rowing's trans stance is nothing short of indefensible
Rowing's governing body has sacrificed competitive balance in its desperation to parade greater diversity
From The Telegraph (UK)
By OLIVER BROWN
October 4, 2022
The sport of rowing emphasises, to a greater extent than almost any other Olympic discipline, the inherent physiological advantages enjoyed by men. It is one where speed is determined by the interplay of upper body strength, lung capacity and length of levers, all metrics that are influenced decisively by biology.
Among women, the average lung volume is 4.3 litres. For men, this rises to 5.8 litres. For British Olympic champion Pete Reed, it was a scarcely credible 11.7 litres, the highest reading ever recorded by a sportsman and one that helped propel him to gold medals at three consecutive Games. The difference that this creates on the time-sheets is self-evident, with the world’s best time for a men’s coxless four over 2,000 metres 37 seconds faster than for the equivalent female crew. … read full article
US - Angelina Jolie's Daughter Shiloh Once Thought She Was A Boy And Asked To Be Called John, But She Outgrew It
From Evie (USA)
By GINA FLORIO
October 2, 2022
Angelina Jolie is a single mom to six children, three of whom are adopted. She gave birth to Shiloh, Vivienne, and Knox when she and Brad Pitt were married, and they raised all six kids together for a number of years. Sadly, Angelina filed for divorce in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. Shiloh was Angelina and Brad's first biological child and she was born in 2006. She was only a child when it was revealed that she thought she was a boy and requested to be called by a boy's name.
In 2008, Brad Pitt told Oprah Winfrey that Shiloh "only wants to be called John." Or Peter. He attributed it to "a Peter Pan thing," saying that every time someone tried to call her Shiloh, she corrected them, "John. I'm John." … read full article
US - CDC allocated $85 million for grants requiring schools to start student-led clubs supporting LGBT youth
From The Center Square (USA)
By Richie Malouf
October 4, 2022
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent $85 million on a grant program requiring public schools to start Gay-Straight Alliances, public documents show.
According to a notice of funding report for a grant offered by the CDC, the federal agency has a total of $85 million to spend over a five year period from 2018-2023 with a twelve month budget period.
To access that funding, a school must apply for the federal grant. Once a school is deemed eligible, the school can be awarded anywhere from $12,000 to $350,000 for the program. … read full article
US - New California transgender law endangers parental rights worldwide, legal group warns: 'Drastic overreach'
'This one could really affect a child from anywhere in the world,' a lawyer told Fox News Digital of SB 107
From Fox News (USA)
By Jon Brown
October 4, 2022
A new state law in California could incentivize "bad actors" from around the world to skirt custodial laws by relocating to the Golden State, a conservative legal group claims.
"We think it's a drastic overreach by California," Emilie Kao, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), told Fox News Digital. "Not only does it violate parents' fundamental rights to direct the upbringing of their children, it also violates federal law on child custody and jurisdiction because it basically supersedes the federal law that gives jurisdiction to states on child custody matters."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week signed SB 107, which will block state officials from enforcing laws from other states that hinder access to transgender medical procedures and drugs. … read full article
US - No More Mister Nice Mom
ROGD Moms: Steal this letter.
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
October 4, 2022
Hello Principal ——, Mr. —— and Teachers,
I'm writing to follow up on the letter I sent opposing Administrative Regulation 259 on August 15. I've only heard back from Sonia Robertson, who implied that my position was unjustified based on the overwhelming support and applause the policy received. Her response resolved nothing and instead confirmed my unease with the school's current approach to kids like Jamie*.
Our case is not unusual. Cash/Ash (legally Jamie) showed zero signs of gender dysphoria as a child; in the past year or so, after coming out as pansexual in sixth grade and a lesbian in eighth grade, she has now come to believe she is not a woman but a gay man, i.e, "transmasc." Partly responsible is the culture at large which has heavily influenced our daughter, plus thousands of girls around the world. Based on this phenomenon, along with the sixteen years we've spent raising her, it is our conviction that Jamie is not transgender. Additionally she is neither and has never been suicidal, meaning, she is not at risk if she is not affirmed. If affirmed however, she is at risk of medicalizing her beliefs due to psychosocial treatment at school and at risk for mental distress. … read full article
Canada - Gender agitprop
From gender:hacked by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
By Eliza Mondegreen
October 4, 2022
Breathtakingly dishonest article in Vox that challenges the reader to “stop worrying about what happens if we let kids transition. Worry about what happens if we don’t.” Shifting the burden of proof is what you do when you don’t have the evidence you’d need to make a real argument for radical interventions on children.
What follows isn’t journalism but pure propaganda.
“This is not experimental care. This is care that’s been around, in a very formal fashion, for over 50 years,” says Michelle Forcier, a professor at Brown University’s medical school and co-editor of Pediatric Gender Identity. “We know that there are studies that demonstrate efficacy and safety.”
This is not experimental care because experiments track outcomes. But countries like Sweden and Finland are pulling back because the risks and unknowns are so great, and the benefits are dubious. … read full article
US - What Do Girls Do?
Girls Become Women
From Natural Selections (USA)
By Heather Heying
October 4, 2022
There is an eight-year-old girl who likes to play in streams and look under rocks for squirmy critters. She not only knows how to throw a ball but enjoys doing it. She loves math and logic, and has no interest in dolls or dresses. She will grow up to be a woman. Because that’s what girls do.
There is another eight-year-old girl who likes to give tea parties for her stuffed animals. She likes to dance all the dances, often with other girls who like to do the same thing. She loves to read, and has no interest in trucks or trails. She will also grow up to be a woman. Because, again, that’s what girls do.
One of these girls may want to be an astronaut. The other, a chef. Or a mother. Or a lawyer. An actress. A racecar driver. Are all of these desires equally likely among girls? They are not. Girls are likely to want some things more than others. But guess what: the girls who aren’t girly are still girls. You can tell, in part, by the fact that they grow up to be women. Because that’s what girls do. … read full article
Re Helen Joyce's twitter storm:
"One last fact about Breslow: here’s a letter from his department at LSE calling for the OU to rescind its support for the gender-critical network founded there. Second-hand source because the original has been pulled"
Here's an archive of it that I found:
"Statement of Solidarity": https://archive.ph/sLeHz
The link to the "Open Letter from OU Staff and Postgraduate Research Students" therein, although the format is a bit odd - grey background; not sure what's going on there:
"Open Letter": https://archive.ph/TqOQR
But methinks some heads should roll there at the LSE; some people clearly feeling enough heat to try covering their tracks.
Something of an addendum - a slightly later archive of the Open University Letter which lists all of the signatories, at least as of June 19, 2021:
https://archive.ph/nj9rb