Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Whenever one imagines that “progressive” postures on transgender rights couldn’t become any more bizarre, some new controversy emerges to prove you wrong.
This day in Herstory: Judy Chicago, born Judith Sylvia Cohen on July 20, 1939, is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history and culture. During the 1970s, Chicago founded the first feminist art program in the United States at California State University Fresno (formerly Fresno State College) and acted as a catalyst for feminist art and art education. Chicago's most well-known work is "The Dinner Party", which celebrates the accomplishments of women throughout history. (more)
EU - Gender Ideology Comes to Germany
In June, my co-authors and I published an article describing the reality of biological sex. The resulting controversy persists to this day.
From Quillette (Australia)
By Uwe Steinhoff
July 20, 2022
Whenever one imagines that “progressive” postures on transgender rights couldn’t become any more bizarre, some new controversy emerges to prove you wrong. This has been the pattern in English-speaking countries for years now. But the trend has now made its way to Germany where, if you can believe it, “gender-critical” scholars who dispute the excesses of gender ideology have been compared to Holocaust deniers.
In June, a group of five authors—biologist and journalist Rieke Hümpel, biochemist Antje Galuschka, University of Munich gender-dysphoria expert Dr. Alexander Korte, Humboldt University behavioral physiologist Marie Vollbrecht, and myself—published an article in the German newspaper Die Welt, in which we highlighted our open letter demanding that publicly-financed German television broadcasters ARD and ZDF stop indoctrinating children with fake news about biology, such as the nonsense claim that human sex lies on “a spectrum.” (Our appeal, we are glad to report, has inspired a French version.) ... read full article
US - Transgender 'bill of rights' would erase women
Democrats' Trans Bill of Rights guts protections and programs for biological women
From Fox News (USA)
By Carrie Lukas
July 20, 2022
More than 80 House Democrats recently introduced a resolution they call the Trans Bill of Rights. The authors claim it will ensure that transgender and nonbinary people are, as a lead sponsor Rep. Marie Newman put it, "free to live as their authentic self."
In practice, the Trans Bill of Rights guts protections and programs for biological women. Every American must now decide: do I support this vision of trans rights, or do I stand for women’s rights? It is impossible to support both because they are in direct conflict. ... read full article
US - Sadistic Pedophile Who Used His 7-Year-Old Daughter to Make “Transgender Porn” Quietly Moved to Women’s Prison in New Jersey
From REDUXX (USA)
By Anna Slatz
July 20, 2022
A trans-identified male who used his own 7-year-old daughter to make sadistic child sexual abuse material has quietly been transferred to the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey.
On May 6, Marina Volz, born Matthew, was sentenced to 25 years on charges of human trafficking, aggravated sexual assault, conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child. His charges had stemmed from a 2019 investigation into his conduct after the New Jersey Department of Child Protection became aware he was creating pornography in a home where a child resided. ... read full article
US - Sexual Liberation in Public Schools
Los Angeles Unified School District adopts radical “trans-affirming” programming and instructs teachers to work toward “the breakdown of the gender binary.”
From City Journal (USA)
By Christopher F. Rufo
July 20, 2022
Los Angeles Unified School District has adopted a radical gender-theory curriculum encouraging teachers to work toward the “breakdown of the gender binary,” to experiment with gender pronouns such as “they,” “ze,” and “tree,” and to adopt “trans-affirming” programming to make their classrooms “queer all school year.”
I have obtained a trove of publicly accessible documents from Los Angeles Unified that illustrates the extent to which gender ideology has entered the mainstream of the nation’s second-largest school district. Since 2020, the district’s Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity department has created an infrastructure to translate the basic tenets of academic queer theory into K-12 pedagogy. The materials include a wide range of conferences, presentations, curricula, teacher-training programs, adult-driven “gender and sexuality” clubs, and school-sponsored protests. ... read full article
US - Revisiting the Impossibility of Informed Consent for Transgender Interventions
An important new study finds that the informed-consent process that governs “transitioning” is too often more of a box-checking exercise than a serious discussion and deliberation. The study concludes that clinicians in the rapidly growing transgender industry have gone beyond simple negligence or incompetence; instead, they are engaging in demonstrably unethical practices.
From Public Discourse (USA)
By Jane Robbins
July 19, 2022
The ideology glorified by “Pride” month has overtaken much of the medical profession. Burgeoning numbers of trans-identifying individuals demand euphemistically labeled “gender affirming treatment,” or GAT (puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, surgeries), and clinicians in the thriving trans industry are often happy to provide it.
At the very least in this experimental area of medicine, these professionals should be scrupulous about obtaining truly informed consent before proceeding. Informed consent is the process by which physicians educate patients about the risks and alternatives of a medical intervention, to ensure that patients can fully understand and consent to the path chosen. ... read full article
US - Puberty Blocker Producer Sponsors Left-Wing Youth Trans Group
From Daily Caller (USA)
By Nicholas Pope
July 20, 2022
A pharmaceutical company that sells a leading puberty blocker medication is a prominent corporate partner of a left-wing 501(c)3 promoting youth transgenderism.
AbbVie, Inc. is a Chicago-based pharmaceutical company that produces Lupron Depot, a drug that transitioning youth utilize to disrupt puberty while undergoing so-called “gender-affirming” healthcare. ... read full article
US - Detransitioner Perspective: Light Persists How My Mum’s Love Saved My Life and Led Me Home
In the midst of darkness, light persists.” – Mahatma Gandhi
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
July 20, 2022
Everyone experiences tragedy; it is a universal human experience. As someone diagnosed with depression in secondary school, I am intimately familiar with its inner workings. The despair that comes with transition regret, on the other hand, is nearly unbearable. Detransitioning was much more than top surgery regret and the cessation of hormones for me. It also included the failure of all the systems on which my life depended. When I couldn't see a future for myself, my mother's compassion saved my life. ... read full article
US - Disney fans outraged after ‘fairy godmother’ ditched for gender-neutral titles
From New York Post (USA)
By Alexandra Steigrad
July 20, 2022
Disney said it is ditching “fairy godmothers” for more inclusive, gender-neutral titles at dress-up boutiques inside its theme parks — and some fans are less than enchanted with the news.
Specifically, the Mouse House is getting rid of the “fairy godmother” title at its Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutiques located in both Disney World and Disneyland, according to an update on Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort’s websites. ... read full article
US - Why the Dictionary Is Trying to Redefine ‘Woman’
From National Review (USA)
By ALEXANDRA DESANCTIS
July 20, 2022
One of our summer interns, Jack Wolfsohn, noted in a great post yesterday that Merriam-Webster has added a second definition of the word “woman,” with the descriptor “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.”
Jack did a good job exposing this for the lunacy that it is, and in his conclusion he pointed to a further idea on which I want to elaborate: the question of why this sort of lunacy has become so common so quickly. There is an objective reality to what it means to be embodied as a human being. We all know which bodily characteristics indicate maleness or femaleness; these are realities that go all the way down to each cell in our body, indeed, to our very chromosomes. Some of the ways in which we live as men and women might change across cultures, but the fact of being either a man or a woman doesn’t. Embodied sex is not a social construct or a manufactured structure of oppression. ... read full article
USA - No, you don't have to update your protest signs
From gender:hacked by Eliza Mondegreen (Canada)
By Eliza Mondegreen
July 20, 2022
American women and girls lost a constitutional right last month. And some reproductive-rights organizations just can’t stop policing the way we talk about this loss and what it means.
Planned Parenthood wants us to talk about “bans off our bodies”—language that conveniently lumps abortion rights with Planned Parenthood’s new cash cow: sterilizing gender-nonconforming minors—not women’s rights.* REPRO Rising Virginia wants us to “update [our] protest signs” to be “more effective and inclusive.” But effectiveness and inclusivity are at odds here. Effective communication about abortion and women's health requires clarity about who is affected and on what basis. Inclusive language deals in obfuscation. Effective organizing requires clear constituencies, targets, and asks. Inclusive language muddles all of these things.
Effective organizing requires setting priorities—and setting priorities means putting some goals above others or leaving some causes to other organizations. Inclusivity says every cause must be about every other cause. Gridlock results. When we should be talking about abortion, we end up talking about 'genders.' ... read full article
US - Transgender Medicaid recipients in Georgia can get gender confirmation surgery
American Civil Liberties Union settles lawsuit against Georgia Department of Community Health
From CBS 46 News (USA)
By Alexandra Parker
July 20, 2022
ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Transgender Medicaid recipients in Georgia will now be able to receive gender confirmation surgery. The American Civil Liberties Union settled a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Community Health that claimed the department’s ban on gender confirmation surgery violated the Constitution, the Affordable Care Act and the federal Medicaid Act. The settlement followed court-ordered mediation in the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia.
Under the settlement, the department agreed to adopt clinical guidelines and provide gender confirmation surgery when it is medically necessary. The department will also pay $350,000 to the plaintiffs and their counsel. The lawsuit was filed in June 2021 on behalf of Delshone Thomas and Gwendolyn Cheney. Plaintiff’s attorneys were King and Spalding LLP, the ACLU and the ACLU of Georgia. ... read full article
US - Shocking New Study Shows Big Tech Censorship Is A Way Bigger Problem Than You Thought
From The Federalist (USA)
By BETH WHITEHEAD
July 20, 2022
When people talk about censorship, they typically regard the victim as the particular person or entity whose speech is suppressed by some aggressor — which in recent memory has been predominantly Big Tech. But what about all the people for whom that information is no longer available? These people are victims of secondhand censorship, which massively compounds the issue, as revealed by a shocking new study.
The Media Research Center (MRC), which defines secondhand censorship as “the number of times that users on social media had information kept from them,” found that Big Tech has engaged in direct censorship of individuals and organizations at least 4,000 times. Other users, however, were blocked from seeing these posts or videos at least 144,301,713 times in the first quarter of 2022 alone. That’s more than 36,000 times the instances of direct suppression. ... read full article
US - Now Quidditch ditches JK Rowling! Sport inspired by Harry Potter series will be renamed 'Quadball' to distance itself from author over her trans views
'Harry Potter' inspired sport, Quidditch, changes it's name to Quadball in efforts to distance themselves from book author J.K. Rowling
Rowling, in the past few years, has caused an uproar after a series of contentious statements about transgender people, particularly her views of trans women
The fictional sport was adapted to real life in 2005 after being inspired by Rowling's books
From Daily Mail (UK)
By VANESSA SERNA
July 20, 2022
The name of the Wizarding World of 'Harry Potter' inspired sport, Quidditch, will be changed to quadball as the sport’s three governing bodies distance themselves from controversial author JK Rowling.
The Major League Quadball organization, formally known as the Major League Quidditch, announced the name change on July 19, to distance themselves from Rowling who has made contentious comments on transgender issues, particularly against trans women. ... read full article
UK - NHS transgender worker wins payout after boss asked about underwear
From The Times (UK)
By Jonathan Ames
July 19, 2022
A transgender NHS worker has won a discrimination case after a manager asked if she took her underwear off in the women’s changing room.
The employee, who was transitioning to become a woman at the time, said that she had suffered transphobic abuse at her teaching hospital, including a colleague leaving an offensive note in her locker. ... read full article
UK - If you can’t say sex, how can you say sexual harassment?
From Sex Matters (UK)
July 20, 2022
An employment tribunal in Leeds has handed down judgment in a case involving catering staff at a Sheffield NHS Hospital Trust.
A female employee reported that a male colleague had asked her to go into a private room and then had quipped about removing his underwear. Another reported having seen the same male colleague naked from the waist down in the women’s changing rooms. ... read full article
UK - SNP accused of flouting court ruling to define biological men as women
Nicola Sturgeon's government is trying to ‘redefine women yet again’, campaigners warn
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Daniel Sanderson
July 20, 2022
SNP ministers are facing a new legal battle over the definition of women, after they were accused of flouting a court ruling stating that biological men cannot be counted as female.
The campaign group For Women Scotland claimed Nicola Sturgeon’s administration was attempting to “redefine women yet again” by issuing transgender rules it says are “wholly incompatible” with a landmark court victory, which it won only five months ago. ... read full article
UK - Why the public reject trans ideology
New polling shows that campaigners are undermining themselves
From The Post by UnHerd (UK)
By Debbie Hayton
July 20, 2022
New YouGov polling should be a wake-up call to campaigners and politicians who have been playing politics with transgender rights. The headlines look dreadful. “There has been an erosion in support for transgender rights since 2018”, YouGov finds. But dig a little deeper and a different story emerges.
The key finding for me is that most people don’t much care. Of the 1751 Britons surveyed at the end of May, only 8% had paid “a lot of attention to the trans debate”. Meanwhile two thirds had paid either no attention or “not much attention”. But they still have opinions. Among the “not much attention” crowd, 49% suggested that discrimination against trans people was a significant problem, compared to 37% who disagreed. But we don’t know how those opinions were formed. ... read full article
UK - Where does the British public stand on transgender rights in 2022?
There has been an erosion in support for trans rights since 2018
From YouGov (UK)
By Matthew Smith
July 20, 2022
The fight over transgender rights has become increasingly prominent in recent years. The government caused a major row in April when it sought to exclude conversion therapy aimed at transgender people from its ban on the practice. A YouGov poll at the time showed that the majority of the public disagreed with this decision.
But where does the public stand on the broader transgender discussion? A new YouGov study, the third, and most expansive, in a series spanning back to 2018, shows evidence of an overall gradual erosion in support towards transgender rights. In some areas the shift is very pronounced. ... read full article
UK - Children make up a quarter of patients using trans services in NI
Excessive waiting list for specialist treatment ‘blocking access to key medication’
From Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland)
By Brett Campbell
July 19, 2022
More than a quarter of the almost 1,000 people accessing specialist transgender services in Northern Ireland are children, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Official figures obtained by this newspaper show 950 individuals were put on waiting lists at two Belfast Trust-run centres in the past five years, with 258 (27%) below the age of 18. ... read full article
UK - Monty Python icon John Cleese slams woke culture for having a 'disastrous effect' on creativity and 'canceling comics'
The star, 82, said comedians are too worried about offending people with jokes
He says it has led to the 'death of creativity' because of the lack of freedom
The Monty Python star said no comedian should ever be 'canceled' over a joke
From Daily Mail (UK)
By JACK NEWMAN
July 20, 2022
Monty Python star John Cleese has slammed woke culture for having a 'disastrous' effect on comedy.
The veteran funnyman, 82, said he does not believe comedians have the freedom to be funny anymore, blasting today's cancel culture as the 'death of creativity'. ... read full article