The Guardian is very cautious about how it talks about Rosie Duffield – cautious in one way and incautious in another, that is. Mindful of one audience and bluntly indifferent to another.

Rosie Duffield has called for Keir Starmer to meet her and other female Labour MPs to discuss the party’s policy on transgender issues, confirming she will not attend Labour’s annual conference over worries she could face abuse because of her views on the subject.

She says he says he wants to do the meeting, but…somehow it hasn’t happened yet. I suspect it will go on somehow not happening.

Then the Guardian gets cold feet.

The Canterbury MP has become a focal point for criticism from some LGBT groups

Like trying to nail melted butter to the wall.

Yes, I’m not saying they don’t. It’s all based on context. Why is it not indecent exposure for you to be naked in front of your partner?

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) September 19, 2021

No, that’s a rhetorical one. Obviously the issue is informed consent.

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) September 20, 2021

Aha! Alrighty then! So she admits it, so…

Here’s one that’s not rhetorical: is possible discomfort alone sufficient justification to exclude someone from a shared public space? I’m not talking about likelihood of assault, I’m talking about discomfort. ‘I don’t want to share space with that person because they are trans’.

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) September 20, 2021

That … Read the rest

Word is, the “expert” who said it doesn’t matter if more women are murdered is “Sophie-Grace” Chappell. (What would happen if Sophie-Grace Chappell and Sophie LaBelle encountered each other? Would the universe implode?) We’ve encountered “Sophie-Grace” before – he teaches philosophy.

Chappell admitted to not having any medical interventions in a Guardian piece last year. In other words, "transition" involves wearing a skirt.

Chappell also fathered 4 daughters and claimed, offensively, private school was "like facing the Taliban"https://t.co/dSKevFqSJD

— For Women Scotland (@ForwomenScot) September 20, 2021

… Read the rest

Oh, I see, “it doesn’t matter.” Well that’s all right then.

Pro GRA reform expert says it doesn’t matter if there’s a spike in murders of women because of Self ID because these issues can be fixed if they happen. @NicolaSturgeon says the concerns of women aren’t valid in this debate. pic.twitter.com/IS35bxZId2

— Christopher McEleny (@ChrisMcEleny) September 20, 2021

… Read the rest

Sigh.

>but the issue with the Wi Spa incident was not that the woman in question is trans, it’s that, as far as we know, she was a predator and behaving in a predatory manner.

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) September 19, 2021

Also not a woman. The “woman” in question is not a woman, he’s a man who said he’s a woman in order to get access to naked women and girls. Even if you believe every article of the trans dogma that guy is still not a woman.

And sadly, predatory men who like to do things like spy on or flash or grab or rape women in private spaces where no one will hear them scream – predatory … Read the rest

Woman’s Place UK did a transcript of Andrew Marr’s conversation with Ed Davey, head of the Liberal Democrats.

Andrew Marr: Let’s try something else. Let’s talk about free speech. What is wrong with this phrase: ‘woman – adult human female’.

Ed Davey: Well, Liberal Democrats believe that trans rights are really important because trans people are some of the most discriminated against in our society today. Huge health problems, high suicide rate and I think everybody ought to worry about that. The real issue, I think, is the toxification of the debate. There was a time…

Two sentences in and already my hair is on fire. News flash: women are discriminated against too. Read up on rape, domestic … Read the rest

Women just don’t matter.

What is wrong with the phrase, “woman adult human female”?

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey says the phrase "doesn't really encapsulate the debate… a trans woman is a woman, a trans man is a man"
https://t.co/GTXfIxL9uB #Marr pic.twitter.com/XTFOychFTA

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 19, 2021

A trans woman is a woman, and a woman is…? Not worth bothering about, it seems.… Read the rest

Suzanne Moore on Rosie Duffield and All That:

So forgive me, if when I read that Rosie Duffield cannot go to the Labour Party conference because her safety cannot be guaranteed, I am more than a little miffed. Luciana Berger had to have police escorts at conference as she was Jewish.  What a welcoming era the Corbynites created!

Duffield has actually done two crimes now that are virtually interchangeable in the Labour ranks. In 2018 she attend a rally . Enough is Enough , a rally against anti-Jewish racism. All Labour MPs should have been there, only a few were.

The second is that she thinks that “only women have a cervix”. Crazy lady !!!  She also thinks  male-bodied

Brilliant reporting. “Mouthy woman blows off conference because she’s a bitch.”

The Speaker of the House of Commons has expressed support for Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who says she won’t attend her party conference amid a dispute with LGBT+ members over her stance on transgender rights https://t.co/4dxB7yUeMl pic.twitter.com/aQT0J1GTPp

— The Independent (@Independent) September 19, 2021

She “says she won’t attend her party conference”…is there something missing here? Oh yes, the threats! It doesn’t mention the threats!

It carefully doesn’t mention that she feels she can’t attend her party conference because of the threats against her.

And the blurb on the photo is downright flippant about it – she “skips” conference. What, she had to get her nails done that day?… Read the rest

Wannabe riot fizzled.

As the Republican party and Donald Trump’s more ardent supporters work to rewrite the narrative of the attempted coup, supporters of those arrested over it sought to turn it from a political to a human rights issue with the “Justice for J6” rally near the Capitol on Saturday.

As a protest, it was a flop.

Turnout was at best half of the 700 predicted by organisers, which in itself fell well short of the many thousands who stormed Congress in January. The event organiser, Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign operative, blamed the poor attendance on government intimidation and press scaremongering.

It’s shocking when the government intimidates people just because they want to seize the Capitol, … Read the rest

Instagram might have something to do with it.

According to internal research leaked to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the app has made body image issues worse for one in three girls, and in one Facebook study of teenagers in the UK and the US, more than 40% of Instagram users who said they felt “unattractive” said the feeling began while using the app.

Instagram has more than 1 billion users worldwide and an estimated 30 million in the UK, with Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande among the accounts with hundreds of millions of followers between them….

Two in five girls (40%) aged 11 to 16 in the UK say they have seen images online that have

This is an important point.

Also: a male person seeking to be defined as a mother, or a female wanting to be defined as a father, is a gross violation of the child’s right to have a say and to have their parentage clearly defined. Parenthood is a relationship.

— Bev Jackson (@BevJacksonAuth) September 18, 2021

It’s also a gross violation of the child’s right to be told the truth.

I think that matters a lot, because children don’t know what’s true, they have to rely on adults to tell them, so it’s grossly unfair for adults to tell them lies (with rare exceptions for compelling reasons). It’s part of adults’ job to educate children, so they shouldn’t tell … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on The entitlement of children.

Mostly Cloudy #3

What on earth has happened?

As I keep saying, I think people tend to get involved in various kinds of activism or movements out of a sincere desire to do good (as they see it). But once you have identified your ingroup, other, far less admirable, motives (deference to authority, group conformity, avoiding conflict, keeping the group together, reducing cognitive dissonance, consistency with former acts or statements etc.) gradually come to supplant the original cause, even to the point of actively embracing the polar opposite of everything that got you into activism in the first place.

We see this in the case of feminists who … Read the rest

Trump sent yet another moronic (and criminal!) letter to the Georgia Secretary of State yesterday, shouting at him to cancel the Georgia vote because reasons.

Much voter fraud! 43,000! Chain of Custody rules! Many other claims! Please check it out and then decertify the Erection excuse me the Election, or whatever the correct legal remedy is, I don’t give a fuck, just put a stamp on it or a big Sharpie signature or some lipstick or whatever, just do it. I’ve told you this like a MILLION TIMES you asshole so why haven’t you done it yet? People do not understand why you don’t do it! PEOPLE I tell you. Me, and my kids, except maybe what’s her name, Tiffany’s, … Read the rest

Never mind Karens, it’s the Lavernes we need to worry about.

I just believe as a non-essentialist intersectional feminist that womanhood is constituted beyond bodies, chromosomes and reproduction. Insisting trans women are always and only "males" as you say is getting us killed and denied equal protection under the law here in the States https://t.co/iIO74IE0Ue

— Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox) September 17, 2021

“I just believe as a non-essentialist intersectional feminist that womanhood is constituted beyond bodies, chromosomes and reproduction. Insisting trans women are always and only “males” as you say is getting us killed and denied equal protection under the law here in the States”

That “just” – it’s not a “just.” There is no “just” there. There would be … Read the rest

Women must not have any private space away from men, says top man.

Trans women should be allowed to enter all public places, the Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says, as he accuses Boris Johnson of stirring up “a culture war” on the issue.

Never mind Boris Johnson, never mind men fighting over who gets to boss everyone, what about women?

Nothing. Nothing about women. Ed Davey doesn’t give a flying fuck about women. He may not even realize we exist.

There’s a transcript.

Transcript for those who, like me, couldn't quite believe what they were hearing.

Q: Do you believe that there should be spaces, places in our society where biological males can't go?
A: No https://t.co/LqAsxjZOq0 pic.twitter.com/GhHNyYBnHG

Janice Turner in the Times:

The resignation of [former shadow women and equalities secretary] Marsha De Cordova leaves a vacancy for a job one MP calls “the most poisoned chalice in politics”. Labour, like all progressive parties, is being torn apart by the quasi-religious schism of gender. Two warring tribes have emerged: “gender critical” feminists who believe single-sex spaces, in prisons or refuges, are needed to protect women; and LGBT Labour which argues if a biological male identifies as a woman they must, immediately and in every circumstance, be treated as female.

… De Cordova was vilified for meeting feminists who’ve formed the Labour Women’s Declaration on sex-based rights, and for declining to address Stonewall’s conference fringe meeting.

Covid quack becomes random Covid bullshitter:

A doctor in Oregon has had his license revoked for continually refusing to follow COVID-19 guidelines when dealing with patients and spreading misinformation about face masks.

Turns out doctors aren’t supposed to tell whoppers about a lethal virus in the midst of a pandemic.

The Oregon Medical Board issued a final order on September 2 against Steven Arthur LaTulippe for “dishonorable or unprofessional conduct; repeated negligence in the practice of medicine; and gross negligence in the practice of medicine.” He was also fined $10,000.

…

He also spread misinformation to his patients about masks being ineffective against COVID-19 and falsely claimed they could cause carbon dioxide poisoning.

…

The physician was also recorded

Girls don’t need education, any more than stoves or cribs or sex dolls need education. Female people are tools for the use of men; you don’t send your tools to high school.

The Taliban have effectively banned girls from secondary education in Afghanistan, by ordering high schools to re-open only for boys.

…

In a further sign that the recently announced Taliban government is tightening restrictions on women, the former ministry of women’s affairs building in Kabul has been handed over to the newly re-established ministry for the prevention of vice and promotion of virtue.

This was the group’s feared enforcer in the 1990s, charged with beating women who violated bars on everything from going out in public without

Originally a comment by Michael Haubrich on The entitlement of children.

I think that this is a great opportunity for purveyors of alcohol and tobacconists in the UK to join in the case so that children’s entitlement to their products is recognized as valid and wise. Who are the government to deny?

Listed below are examples of products whose sale is controlled by age restriction.

Alcohol

Cigarettes, tobacco, shisha and other smoking based products

E Cigarettes and Vaping Products

Fireworks – sparklers, party poppers, caps, cracker snaps

Dangerous chemicals – cigarette lighter fuel, glue, aerosols

Acids

DVDs, Blu Rays and computer games

Dangerous Weapons – air weapons, crossbows, knives

Lottery tickets and scratch cards

Petrol

Bookmakers

Sunbeds

Advice to … Read the rest