That’s an amazing story.
https://twitter.com/SpeechUnion/status/1476474387880505344… Read the restProve that you can’t sweat sir
Dec 31st, 2021 12:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonInnocent on grounds of inability to sweat m’lud.
Lawyers for a US woman who has accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault are seeking proof of the British royal’s alleged inability to sweat.
Virginia Giuffre’s legal team made the request as part of a civil case against the prince in a New York court.
Ms Giuffre, 38, alleges that Prince Andrew sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager at the homes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied the allegations.
In a 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, he said a “problem” with her account was that a medical condition at the time meant he could not have been sweating, as she claims he was.
So … Read the rest
More lies
Dec 31st, 2021 11:33 am | By Ophelia BensonThey just straight-up shamelessly lie about her.
When HBO announced its upcoming reunion special “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts,” the star-studded lineup did not include You-Know-Who.
In the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated program, streaming New Year’s Day on HBO Max, not a single teaser, trailer or poster has featured “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has come under fire in recent years for repeatedly expressing anti-transgender views.
That’s a lie.
Rowling has been known to object to lies of that kind, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Los Angeles Times (normally a respected newspaper) issue a correction with apology.
She hasn’t “expressed anti-transgender views.” It’s not “anti” to point out that … Read the rest
Movers and shakers
Dec 31st, 2021 11:15 am | By Ophelia BensonSpeaking of people who disagree –
“A heritage of slavery would be a step forward for us! Think about that the next time you call a trans woman a man!”
2015 TED talk by Nina Arsenault, Canada's most influential trans figure, who shapes university policies and advised hospitals which medically "trans" children. pic.twitter.com/3qqwjrUeWY
— Women's Voices (@WomenReadWomen) December 29, 2021
Did you know other people disagree?
Dec 31st, 2021 10:47 am | By Ophelia BensonGenius is still at it.
Following his clash with Kellie Jay-Keen over 'sex based rights', Ulrika in York tells James Max: "The word woman is our word."
"If you say trans women are women, you are erasing our sex class."@thejamesmax | @StandingforXX pic.twitter.com/RKW8JWogiS
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) December 31, 2021
Ulrika in York is a Twitter comrade; she gives him a good pasting, and he keeps coming back with “Yes but other people disagree!!”
You don’t say. What the hell does he think we’ve been doing all this time? We know other people disagree, and that they’ve been dismantling women’s rights because they disagree, and that’s why we’re fighting back.
Other people always disagree. That doesn’t mean they’re right. People … Read the rest
Engulfed
Dec 31st, 2021 8:13 am | By Ophelia BensonKnoxville’s Planned Parenthood building was engulfed in flames early Friday morning and is a total loss.
Fire crews were called about 6:40 a.m. as heavy smoke was coming out of the back of the structure, Assistant Chief Brent Seymour said. There were no injuries to report. The building was being renovated and the clinic had not been used in some time.
Seymour said it’s too early in the investigation, with parts of the building unsafe to enter, to be able to say what caused the fire.
We can make some educated guesses though.
… Read the restIn January 2021 someone fired a shotgun at the doors of this Planned Parenthood clinic, shattering the glass and lodging bullet holes in the
The shrill voices
Dec 30th, 2021 4:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonMy god, this guy!
Less about that. I don’t actually mind being wrong (if I am) or learning from an experience. But much as the shrill voices continue in my ears about biology – rightly or wrongly, I think that’s a dangerous smokescreen for a lot of prejudice that’s remains alive and well. Sadly.
— James Max (@thejamesmax) December 30, 2021
Shrill. You couldn’t make it up.
Oh sir, please sir, sorry sir, we’re sorry our shrill squeaking voices hurt your ears, but you see sir, we’re made that way sir, we have higher voices than you strong wise large better people do, which is why we have such a struggle to get people like you to listen to us, … Read the rest
Just that one pesky majority
Dec 30th, 2021 3:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonI wouldn’t call it reflection, exactly.
James Max reflects on his interview with Kellie-Jay Keen.
"I found a lot of what she said deeply uncomfortable. We've seen how minorities are treated in society. We've seen what happens when minorities are treated badly for being slightly different from the norm."@thejamesmax pic.twitter.com/vxPWl6p3lU
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) December 30, 2021
He doesn’t reflect on it so much as explain why he was right about it.
He tells us he found what Kellie Jay said deeply uncomfortable, and compared it to “the stereotypes and tropes that were used twenty years ago to describe gay people and to um not allow them the human rights that thankfully we have in today’s world” – about what’s … Read the rest
He’s learned that he has a point
Dec 30th, 2021 11:21 am | By Ophelia BensonPoints still being missed.
What hostile argument??? You're really going with that? You were shockingly rude and contemptuous toward KJ but you're claiming she made a "hostile" argument?
You're an Encyclopedia of Misogyny all by yourself.
— Ophelia Benson (@OpheliaBenson) December 30, 2021
Ok. You've already had this explained to you but I'm willing to give it another go. Women are not worried about 'trans people'. They are worried about losing the boundaries of 'woman only spaces' if anyone who says they are a woman, is allowed in. 1/2
— Milli Hill (@millihill) December 30, 2021
It doesn’t have to be a trans person, it doesn’t have to be a man who identifies as a woman, it can be a … Read the rest
When women don’t melt
Dec 30th, 2021 10:21 am | By Ophelia BensonI have to say, full marks to Kellie-Jay for that interview. Starred double first. I have different political views from hers in general, but she’s exactly what’s needed for the James Maxes of the world. She’s direct and calm and decisive, and men like him can’t stand that. He interprets it as “she is evil” when all she’s doing is telling the truth, very crisply. Her performance and his freakout over it are a master class in The Marriage of Trans Dogma and Misogyny. He would take her presentation for granted in a man, but in a woman it looks like creepy supernatural power.
James Max is responding to people on Twitter and with each response he underlines how clueless … Read the rest
The hostile argument
Dec 30th, 2021 9:34 am | By Ophelia BensonNo YOU’RE the baddy.
Yesterday u accused me of 'creating untold harm and damage' & 'bullying' – simply on the basis that I pointed out yr discussion with KJ showed yr ignorance. As by yr admission you're only just beginning to understand this debate, don't u think that u owe both me & her an apology?
— Milli Hill (@millihill) December 30, 2021
… Read the restSo, let me get this right, you don't know me, or anything about me, but on the basis of one tweet saying you got trounced in that interview (you were), you felt free to call me a harmful and damaging bully, but you are not sorry? Nor are you sorry to KJ for insulting her? OK!
—
If you were disappointed
Dec 30th, 2021 9:19 am | By Ophelia BensonThis guy – honestly.
James Max: "What did I get wrong?"
Journalist Debbie Hayton: "There are two sexes. Male and female. What you got wrong was forgetting that and concentrating on gender identity."@thejamesmax | @DebbieHayton pic.twitter.com/EOtQHy0jrq
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) December 30, 2021
I’m sorry if you were disappointed. To be fair I was somewhat taken aback by the approach taken by KJ and some of the things she said. Debbie took a much more pragmatic approach to the debate.
— James Max (@thejamesmax) December 30, 2021
To be fair, he was somewhat taken aback by the fact that KJ is sharper than he is and knows a lot more about the subject than he does and was not shy … Read the rest
A familiar accusation
Dec 30th, 2021 5:59 am | By Ophelia BensonKellie-Jay eviscerates that smug conceited prat in the Spectator:
‘I just get the impression she hates men’, said a wound-licking James Max, on TalkRADIO, after he interviewed me on Wednesday. It’s a familiar accusation from those who fail to drum up rational arguments for the destruction of women’s rights.
He got that impression because she’s a great deal more intelligent than he is, not to mention skilled at arguing on live radio. Naturally a woman who makes him look stupid by being cleverer than he is must hate men.
… Read the restThe tone was set when Max tried to link the views of J.K. Rowling to the notorious outing of George Jamieson by the Sunday People in 1961 — four years before
Another psyops manual
Dec 30th, 2021 4:55 am | By Ophelia BensonLook behind the curtain, see how they plot the manipulation.
Someone sent me this, from US. It's a "messaging guide" aka psyops manual, written by @Lake_Research @TransLawCenter and ASO communications. It advises attaching demands that males should be in female spaces/sports to a "race class narrative". https://t.co/ScHfa4bW5K pic.twitter.com/KzkYNgyfMg
— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) December 30, 2021
It’s all about them there “effective opening values” – which turn out to be the inevitable banal “freedom to be ourselves” – which in fact is not any kind of progressive (let alone left-wing) value at all but sheer narcissism.
Also, it’s funny how they say “a race class gender narrative” but then go on to ignore class entirely…as they always always do. Class just … Read the rest
A much darker truth
Dec 29th, 2021 3:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonJames Max is still digging.
This is simply nonsense. The argument from KJ is a well honed piece of narrative to cover a much darker truth. Her ‘factual’ replies simply highlight the prejudices she holds. https://t.co/pSKdcsL8BC
— James Max (@thejamesmax) December 29, 2021
What is the “much darker truth”? He doesn’t say. I guess we’re supposed to surmise that she wants them all killed, or something. Very respectable way to argue.
https://twitter.com/carolinmcmillan/status/1476174484356968453So he thinks the “physicalities” don’t exist? So, what, then? We’re all just spirits?
Really not a clever man.… Read the rest
Sex trafficking a minor
Dec 29th, 2021 3:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonGhislaine Maxwell found guilty on all but one of the charges.
Maxwell has been found guilty on five of six counts – including the most serious charge, that of sex trafficking of a minor.
This carries a possible 40-year sentence, which means the 60-year-old could spend the rest of her life behind bars.
This charge relates to the testimony of Carolyn, who testified about being paid for sex during visits to Epstein’s Florida home between 2001 and 2004.
At the time of her first visit, she was just 14.
Maybe she should decide she’s a man.… Read the rest
Annoy some of you
Dec 29th, 2021 3:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonStupid person makes bid for glory, fails utterly.
I know this will annoy some of you, but I'm 100% behind trans rights. I've heard all the arguments, but I can't be a progressive and also decide equality doesn't apply to one group. That's not OK.
Trans rights are human rights.
I won't be answering questions.
— Russ Jones (@RussInCheshire) December 29, 2021
Oooooh brave and daring, saying he’s all for trans rights, as if that’s The Unpopular View in his circles.
Vanity aside, what does he mean? Does he think feminists who don’t agree that men can be women are not “behind trans rights”? This is where the stupid comes in. We’re not opposed to trans rights, unless they are … Read the rest
He met a lot of sex offenders
Dec 29th, 2021 11:18 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother front in the war:
I came across sex offenders who converted to Islam or Christianity and tried to change names or exploit weaknesses in legislation. Who posed really significant risk to Women, Girls and Boys. I think I should talk about gender self ID, and why I have concerns
— James Treadwell (@James_Treadwell) December 27, 2021
The idea that sex offenders are manipulative individuals who would exploit systems and laws could only be unreal to those who do not know how manipulative sexual offenders can be. All groom, seek to exploit and control. It's different, They have different plays, but all do it.
— James Treadwell (@James_Treadwell) December 27, 2021
Also, why would sex offenders not do that? Why … Read the rest
Not the end
Dec 29th, 2021 9:59 am | By Ophelia BensonAnother oh so confident man telling a woman how stupid she is for not believing that sex is all in the mind.
Again your deliberately misinterpreting to suit your agenda.
Given the unfathomable complexity of the human machine (and our relative ignorance of it) I have zero problem imagining a condition where someone 'feels' they are one sex while their body displays another.
The end.
— JON CAMPLING Storyteller (@joncampling) December 29, 2021
The end? Hardly.
What does it mean to “feel they are one sex”? Nothing, really. Do we “feel we are” humans? Primates? Mammals? Do we feel we are alive now at the end of 2021 as opposed to 1921? Do we feel we live on planet earth … Read the rest
Guest post: Back to the Argument from Damage
Dec 29th, 2021 7:42 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Sastra on Verification.
when a trans person says they are male or female, that is what they are and that is how we should treat them. It is damaging to them to say otherwise.’
If the second statement is removed, would that change the truth of the first statement? In other words, is “a transwoman is female and a transman is male” dependent on “ trans people are damaged when other people say otherwise?”
If so, then the damaged trans people would be conclusive evidence of their sex, in the same way the fact that people believing in God is conclusive evidence that God does, in fact, exist. Or, a closer argument: because religious people … Read the rest