Just a little more on Dr Gina Gwenffrewi: what you learn if you click on the Research button.

The study of global transgender female identities and their representation in the arts and media. This includes a particular focus on trans female identities excluded from mainstream trans narratives in the Global North, and their relationship with structural inequalities connected to socio-economics, nationality, and race and ethnicity. Methodologically, I draw on Lacanian/post-Lacanian thinkers, from Jacques Lacan to Julia Kristeva, Jacqueline Rose, and Judith Butler. However, my work currently is hugely informed by and indebted to perspectives gained from the scenes of trans artists of colour especially in North America, including persectives on race and socio-economics from writers/artists such as Jamie Berrout,

Pathetic. Utterly wall to wall pathetic.

In light of the recent appointment of Simon Fanshawe as Rector at the University of Edinburgh, the society has written a statement expressing our thoughts. pic.twitter.com/Hawhn8wsDd

— Edinburgh Labour Students (@EdLabStudents) February 12, 2024

One, replies are closed. Two…they don’t even bother to say what they object to. That’s a pretty striking omission for a “statement” intended to shape public opinion. “We don’t like it that Fanshawe is the new Rector. We can’t explain why. We stand around.”

Yet again we see that trans ideology makes people stupid.… Read the rest

The Telegraph on the worked-up “controversy” over Simon Fanshawe.

In 2019, Mr Fanshawe signed an open letter accusing Stonewall of undermining “women’s sex-based rights and protections” and “demonising” anyone who dissented from its gender policies as transphobic.

Transgender rights campaigners at the university are attempting to drum up support for an open letter calling on the university to axe the appointment and find “a true advocate of equality, accessibility, diversity and inclusion” instead.

They claim Mr Fanshawe’s appointment  “creates a hostile environment for the many trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming students studying at the university”.

No it doesn’t. The presence of people who have thoughts that are different from yours does not create a hostile environment for you. If that … Read the rest

The BBC reports the Simon Fanshawe news with more restraint than usual.

Writer and activist Simon Fanshawe has been named as the new rector of the University of Edinburgh.

The former comedian, who now works as a consultant on diversity and inclusion, will take up office on 4 March following an uncontested election.

Second sentence in they admit he’s a diversity and inclusion boffin, which kind of pre-empts claims that he’s a right-wing fiend. Good job.

After a lot of neutral factual detail they get to the pachyderm in the parlor.

Mr Fanshawe has a long history as an activist for LGBT rights but has in recent years become a critic of Stonewall, the organisation he helped found.

In a 

Now here’s a brilliant thoughtful rebuttal of claims that Trump’s attack on Nato is a bad thing.

Last year, Marco Rubio co-sponsored a law preventing presidents unilaterally withdrawing from Nato. On Sunday the Florida senator, whom Trump ridiculed and defeated in the 2016 primary, also dismissed Trump’s remarks about Russia.

“Donald Trump is not a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,” Rubio told CNN, referring to a Washington thinktank. “He doesn’t talk like a traditional politician, and we’ve already been through this. You would think people would’ve figured it out by now.”

Ahhh right, that’s ok then. Trump is a brainless ignoramus, and we’ve already figured that out, so it’s fine that he wants to trash Nato. … Read the rest

Andrew Sullivan has an interesting take on Trump in this conversation, saying he didn’t do all the authoritarian things he said he was going to do.

FS: So the authoritarian rhetoric didn’t materialise. Do you think that’s because it was always just talk, part of a tough guy image? Or do you think he just wasn’t capable of executing it?

AS: I don’t think he actually likes the exercise of power. He’s not that interested in controlling the lives of everyone around him, or indeed most Americans. He’s concerned primarily with his own ego, with his own glory, and with his own sense of being right in a particular moment. And so when it comes to difficult things, like

A bit of academic news:

Simon Fanshawe OBE has been named the Rector of the University of Edinburgh following an uncontested election.

He will take up office on 4 March 2024. 

Simon is a consultant and practitioner in the field of diversity, author, broadcaster and activist.  

He was formerly Chair of the Governing Council of the University of Sussex from 2007 – 2013.

He will replace Debora Kayembe, who has served as Rector since 2021.

[whispers] He knows men are not women.

Simon was one of the six original co-founders of Stonewall in 1989. In 2011, he co-founded the international charity Kaleidoscope, which campaigns for the human rights of LGBTI+ people around the world. 

In 1989 Simon won the Perrier

Gather round everyone, it’s time to CATASTROPHIZE.

Ten days since the judge at the trial of Brianna Ghey's killers identified transphobia as partial motive for the murder, the University of Edinburgh announces its new Rector is a founder of LGB Alliance, an organization categorized in Ireland as an "anti-transgender" hate group. https://t.co/6mP1965Wcm

— Dr. Gina Gwenffrewi (@GinaGwenffrewi) February 12, 2024

Ten days after random thing happens, unrelated thing happens in another part of the forest. BE APPALLED. Also, here’s this fella, that someone in Ireland said was something. ARE YOU APPALLED YET?

You’ll be surprised to learn that the person who composed that ridiculous sentence has a PhD. You’ll be less surprised now that I tell you it’s in “transgender … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The president he so admired.

(Third story: his enemies lie about him. This one is handy for wiping up any lingering cognitive dissonance.)

Usually listening to Trump for any length of time is proof enough that he’s a narcissistic, bullying, thin-skinned, know-nothing, blowhard who shouldn’t be put in charge of a lemonade stand, let alone a government, but that’s just me. Maybe he’s actually brilliant, and all I’ve seen are Deepfake clips manufactured and strung together to make him look like a complete fucking moron. That nobody seems to be claiming this gives me some confidence that this is not the case, and that his manifest self-centered cruelty and stupidity … Read the rest

Foxy Jo tells women what we should be doing instead of what we’re already doing that he doesn’t like.

Did he really just tell women to do something useful with their lives? As determined by him?
Well. pic.twitter.com/ki3ChBLnOO

— Simon Myerson KC (@SCynic1) February 11, 2024

… Read the rest

He’s right you know.

Trump inviting Russia to attack NATO allies should be one of the biggest stories of this election. The fact that it's not even on the front page of the NYT or Washington Post (while stories about Biden's age are) is a disgrace to journalism. https://t.co/1urTOFyq4e

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) February 11, 2024

… Read the rest

A little frivolity break. A story via Facebook (public):

I’ve been so busy between getting home and staying warm and skijoring and doctor’s appointments…I forgot to tell you the story of our journey home.

Well, our original flight was to be early February but the Alaska Airlines flight with the blown door changed everything. Flights were canceled and then the weather came in and more flights were canceled and then there was so much backup that Alaska Air would not fly the dogs for fear of delayed flights and the dogs getting stuck somewhere. I do appreciate that Alaska Air keeps a good eye out for the animals on their flights.

So, I had three canceled flights and was getting

The Journal of Gender Studies presents:

(Re)producing sex/gender normativities: LGB alliance, political whiteness and heteroactivism

Do pause to drink it all in before moving on to the abstract. It’s so…how shall I say…predictable. Formulaic. Conformist.

The author is Helen Clarke of Oxford Brookes University. We are told:

Helen’s research explores how decolonial feminism can be used to create alternative practices of solidarity, tackling trans-hostility in cis lesbian communities. She is involved in various feminist projects, working at creating more inclusive and supportive activist environments for all women, non-binary folk and gender diverse people.

Weird, isn’t it, claiming to be a feminist who specializes in feminism while she deletes women from feminism.

So, the abstract:

LGB Alliance, as a prime example

Tom Nichols at the Atlantic is eloquent on Trump’s NATO lunacy.

Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States and the presumptive Republican nominee, said earlier today that he would side with Russia against NATO and encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to brutalize our allies…

Trump issued this unhinged threat while telling one of his “sir” stories, a rhetorical device in which some unnamed interlocutor shows Trump great deference while humbly seeking his advice.

And we all recognize the pattern. We’re all familiar with the childish boasting, the infinite sea of conceit, the relentless focus on precious self at the expense of any other concern.

Trump’s feelings about NATO are well-known. He is gripped by the stubbornly ignorant belief,

Ya gotta pay your bills (unless you’re Trump of course):

Donald Trump has said he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance.

At a rally on Saturday, he said he had once told a leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments, and would “encourage” the aggressors to “do whatever the hell they want”.

This is money we’re talking about. Money is all that matters. Not alliances, not resistance, not peace; just money.

Addressing crowds during the rally in South Carolina, Mr Trump said he had made his comments about Russia during a meeting of leaders of Nato countries. He recalled that the

Look at this smug creep:

Trans identifying Oxford academic, gives his opinion on Women's toilets and safe spaces.. pic.twitter.com/gRQSdiCwav

— Jonny Bell (@Jonnywsbell) February 10, 2024

“There shouldn’t be this tension between trans women’s rights and non-trans women’s rights. I think a lot of that has been stirred up to drive division and devise [?] hate. Most of the time I’ve been – I transitioned ten years ago and – you know – [little laugh, or snicker] I’ve always felt comfortable using the bathroom and I’ve never been challenged -“

As if the only possible issue were how he feels while using the women’s bathroom. “I force myself on women and I’ve never been challenged.”

Nice hairdo though.… Read the rest

Meet the Zioterfs.

New term has dropped. ZioTERF. For the avoidance of any doubt I stand with Jewish people and always will. And I utterly detest antisemitism seen in Leeds and elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/k4dgPsHao9

— TheVikingDane (@TheVikingDane) February 10, 2024

I bet at least half of Hamas is trans women.… Read the rest

There’s a big internecine war over The Pronoun Issue at the moment. I’m staying out of it, partly because it’s too volatile and partly because I see what the “It’s ok to be polite/kind to individuals” side means.

But. If someone grabbed me by the throat and insisted on knowing what I think about it, I would say I continue to think we shouldn’t use luxury pronouns for anyone.

(I’m so ancient I remember gay friends calling each other “she” in a jokey camp way. See also: Nathan Lane in The Birdcage. An innocent time.)

Here’s why I continue to think that: it’s because the luxury pronouns nudge us into thinking of the luxury people just the way they want … Read the rest

The Daily Mail tells us:

The NHS has axed a programme backed by Stonewall which told hospitals to stop using the words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’. Health service bosses have ended funding for the NHS Rainbow Badge Scheme after the Mail revealed how it rewarded trusts for dropping ‘gendered language’.

As if it were a good idea for hospitals to drop gendered language. Sure, in hospitals, nobody knows what sex is.

As many as 77 NHS trusts across England had signed up to be graded by Stonewall and the LGBT Foundation, which back trans rights, on how inclusive they were towards patients and staff. They gained points for referring to women in maternity wards as ‘clients’, renaming female health clinics

The Times has a long flattering piece on celebrity archaeologist and “trans ally” Alice Roberts. There’s an interesting moment where…

She says she chooses her words carefully, and it is not long before she is doing so again. We have been talking about men’s and women’s brains and whether there are fundamental intellectual differences between them. Ten years ago, she made a Horizon documentary with Michael Mosley called Is Your Brain Male or Female?. “And the answer is very simply, no. You cannot separate the brain from the culture that it is immersed in from the moment the baby is born, and even before. Your brain is going to develop in a way that is responding to that culture.”