This day in Herstory: Vera Menchik, born February 16, 1906 (died June 26, 1944) was a Russian-born British-Czechoslovak chess player who became the first women's world chess champion. She also competed in tournaments with some of the world's leading male chess masters, with occasional successes including two wins over future world champion Max Euwe. (more)
Shortly after Sexual Assault, Female Teen Girl Identifies as a Boy
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
Feb 16, 2022
This is a transcript of a Partners for Ethical Care (PEC) parent story. The original version can be found here, and the podcast version can be found here, as part of PEC’s podcast series, “The Witness: True Stories of Children and Gender Identity.
The story I am about to tell you is still evolving. It began in the year 2019. It is a story of struggle but also one of hope. I pray that our stories make change.
In the summer of 2019, my daughter had been joyously homeschooled for 4 years. She excelled. She was happy, social, and outgoing. She expressed herself through her art and inspired her friends. That summer, though, she made a decision that I would later regret submitting to.
…
In May, my daughter asked if we could meet up with a girl she met in camp who lived about an hour away. They had been chatting and started up what I thought was an innocent little romance. Little did I know that this girl who was just a few months older than my daughter was much more experienced. I thought it was just kids being kids.
There was a sleepover at this girl’s house at the end of May. After that is when everything changed. My daughter told all her friends to call her a boy’s name. Her once creative fashion turned into boring boy’s and men’s clothes. She became despondent. Her activity online over the next month or so increased. I had thought I had her tech on lockdown, but I am sad to say she found ways to get around it. By the time I realized fully the impact of what was going on, it was in full swing. I didn’t know what had happened at the sleepover.
I spent a lot of time over the next few months working with my daughter to understand what was going on. She had been coached by the internet trans activists to tell me she would kill herself if I didn’t accept her “identity.” (This is a huge issue that needs to be dealt with. We need to go online as young people like they do to lure pedophiles out and see what these people are saying.) Luckily I have some mental health background and know how to assess these types of situations.
Eight months later, when I found out that at that sleepover this girl had pushed herself on my daughter sexually I was furious. Nonconsensual, oral sexual assault. This girl is nearly twice my daughter’s size. I was angry at this girl but all I can think now is “where did a 13 year old learn to do this?” I pray it was from the internet and not from abuse. But neither is ok. I now am learning that oral sex is taught about in school sex-ed classes.
Now, here’s the BIG ISSUE. I cannot get a licensed therapist in my state for my daughter that will not affirm her as a boy. They will lose their license. It is considered conversion therapy in my state and is illegal. She is on a 6 week waiting list for an out of state therapist who does not take our insurance. … read full article (and subscribe to PITT - free!)
UBC Okanagan student pleads guilty to filming woman in washroom after RCMP allegedly hesitate to pursue charge
From CBC (Canada)
Victim claims case nearly didn't make it to prosecution after officer expressed concern for suspect's future
By Rhianna Schmunk
Feb 16, 2022
A student at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan (UBCO) campus has admitted he filmed a fellow student in a campus bathroom, pleading guilty to a criminal charge the victim believes might not have been laid because of the RCMP's initial response to the case.
Sari Siyam, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism in B.C. Supreme Court in Kelowna, B.C., on Friday. He sat in the gallery as his lawyers spoke and read aloud an apology letter addressed to the victim.
…
In an agreed statement of facts presented to the court Friday, Siyam admitted to filming Taylor. He'd pointed his iPhone under the divider between his stall and hers and watched the video from his Apple Watch.
In a subsequent interview, court heard, he told police he'd filmed another "five or six" students the same way as they used the bathroom the previous day.
Those students still don't know they were filmed. … read full article
Stonewall is about politics not common sense
As the equality commission is discovering, the LGBT charity carefully polices views that deviate from its ‘consensus’
From The Times (UK)
By Joanna Williams
Feb 15, 2022
Everything is politics,” said the novelist Thomas Mann. The problem, he should have added, is that we only ever realise this when confronted with opposing views.
This dynamic has long played out in universities. To some, free speech on campus is curtailed by trigger warnings and no-platforming. To others, the whole idea that censorship is rife is a right-wing myth. Which side you fall on correlates with the extent to which your own views rub against the grain of fashionable thinking.
If you agree that the curriculum needs decolonising, that people should declare their pronouns and that sexual consent training should be mandatory, you are unlikely to find yourself challenged or silenced. “What free-speech crisis?” you may well ask. Question these practices and the censorious nature of higher education soon becomes apparent. … read full article (share token)
End womb trafficking
The feminist fix: Normalising surrogacy means dehumanising women
From The Critic (UK)
By Julie Bindel
Feb 16, 2022
Where there is money to be made from women’s bodies, the sharks will circle. Whether it’s the sale of breastmilk, prostitution or the rent-a-womb trade, impoverished women’s bodies are regularly mined for the benefit of the privileged.
Advocates of commercial surrogacy insist the practice is a win-win: the “parents” get a longed for baby, and the surrogates are making an informed choice, even earning enough money to feed their own children in the process. These well-meaning liberals can often be heard to say how nice it is that a woman is able to help a childless couple, while simultaneously supporting her own family.
The wombs of poor, brown women are trafficked to rich westerners
In this narrative, reproductive tourism is viewed as an act of kindness to the surrogate and her family — after all, the women who carry the babies have no other way to earn such a good living. And so, across the global south, the wombs of poor, brown women are trafficked to rich westerners. … read full article
Oakland school launches 'Transition Closet' to help students hide gender dysphoria from parents
"The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are."
From The Post Millennial (USA)
By Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons)
Feb 16, 2022
The Transition Closet has come to Oakland's Fremont High School. The concept, which began in an Arkansas church, first launched at the Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Fayetteville, is designed to let trans-identified youth circumvent their parents and socially transition without their knowledge.
The Transition Closet announced with glee the new chapter with Fremont High School, writing that "We are extremely excited to begin our journey in working with Fremont Highschool [sic] of Oakland California, alongside our favorite teacher of TikTok @justaqueerteacher," as was first reported by Twitter account Teacher Exposed. A video of the teacher was also shared.
"The goal of the transition closet is for our students to wear the clothes that their parents approve of, come to school and then swap out into the clothes that fit who they truly are," said Thomas Martin-Edwards, a Spanish teacher at the Oakland Unified School District and founder of the Queer Teacher Fellowship. Martin-Edwards previously served as the Assistant Principal of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. … read full article
Twisting my words
From Writing Behavior by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
Feb 16, 2022
One of the strangest things about the clash over gender identity is the inadequacy of language to resolve it. It’s strange to be full of words and yet know they won’t bridge the divide. I’ll write words down and they turn on me. Anything I say comes out twisted, inside-out.
If you have friends or loved ones who identify as trans, you know what I'm talking about when I say the meaning gets lost. Words that should mean something don’t. Words that should connect separate.
What do we mean when we talk about self-acceptance? To trans activists, self-acceptance means changing everything about yourself, from your body and your name to your once-thoughtless gestures, so they won’t give you away. … read full article (and subscribe to Writing Behavior)
Unions are failing women
The NEU is the latest to bow to trans activists
From UnHerd (UK)
By Josephine Bartosch
Feb 16, 2022
“I just don’t understand why we can’t get women to meetings,” complained the beery-breathed, dandruff-flecked secretary of the UNISON branch. As he told me this, I recalled that his own partner, a woman with an avid interest in politics, was at home looking after the couple’s children. So began my disenchantment with trade unions.
The comments of this “union man” popped back into my mind today when the National Education Union (NEU) announced they would be undertaking “a review” following complaints about a webinar. Educational professionals who attended a session run by Elly Barnes, chief executive of the LGBT+ training provider Educate and Celebrate, were advised to ask students for their pronouns and that the words “boys” and “girls” could be replaced. Some union members were angry. One told the Times:
Teachers will take what this woman says as fact because the training was organised by the NEU and they’re not going to question their union. - THE TIMES
The NEU spokesperson claimed that the training had been organised locally, “but the NEU does not believe that schools can or should adopt gender-neutral language across the board”. … read full article