A woman is somebody who is born a woman or somebody who has a certificate.

Julia Long is at the @fawcettsociety asking the tough questions. @HarrietHarman thinks men are women if they have a certificate! pic.twitter.com/8BPWgpktSz

— Venice Allan (@roseveniceallan) October 14, 2023

So, a rabbit is somebody who is born a rabbit or somebody who has a certificate. A shark is somebody who is born a shark or or somebody who has a certificate. A polar bear is somebody who is born a polar bear or or somebody who has a certificate.

How does this work, exactly? How does a certificate change the facts of the DNA of a living organism? Can anyone explain it?… Read the rest

Have a hair-raisingly brilliant piece of writing by anthropologist Kathleen Lowrey:

How Anthropology Canceled Sex

We’ve met her before via Anthropologists made of crystal and Let’s you not talk last month, about the panel abruptly canceled at the last minute for the usual stupid reasons.

I was motivated to propose the panel by my concern that anthropological publications increasingly deploy “gender” in a manner that implies gender systems are neutral manifestations of human diversity. Second, more and more anthropological literature seeks to reverse-engineer “sex” as if it takes the form of a “spectrum,” while presuming that “biological sex” is possessed of no independent analytic utility.

These developments have generated a conceptual tangle in desperate need of unraveling. Happily, this is

… Read the rest

This is hard to read. I had to take it in stages.

Hamas attack on Israel kibbutz Be’eri captured by mothers’ WhatsApp group

Shortly after sunrise on the morning of Saturday 7 October, a message pings on 200 phones of the Be’eri mothers’ WhatsApp group.

Minutes later another message lands: “We have a terrorist on the stairs. Call someone.”

WARNING: Some readers may find details in this article distressing.

Hamas gunmen had just begun a day-long rampage through this kibbutz in southern Israel, and over the next 20 hours the women channelled their horror, disbelief and reassurances through the chat – as militants roamed the neighbourhood shooting residents dead and setting fire to homes.

Hiding in their safe rooms these

… Read the rest

Bonne nuit.

pic.twitter.com/ih43rzJHw8

— Rachel Rooney (@RooneyRachel) October 13, 2023

… Read the rest

Students pushing the envelope just a tad.

Hanin Barghouti, the women’s officer at Sussex University’s student union, gave a speech in Brighton endorsing the attacks by Hamas, calling them “a victory”.

Ellie Gomersall, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland, apologised after reposting messages justifying Hamas’s actions in Israel. She wrote: “I shared content last night that I deeply regret sharing. In doing so I promoted hate and division. I shouldn’t have. I have deleted it.”

Carefully missing the point as usual. The issue isn’t hate and division so much as it is mass murder. Translating that to abstract hate n division is just self-soothing, not to say self-flattery.… Read the rest

So this is what Dr Jonny Dennis got up to when feminist women dared to attend a conference he disapproves of.

Is this what you are talking about, "Jonny"? pic.twitter.com/dy9aKBX43p

— Generic Eddie (Lord/Lordship) (@genericeddie) October 13, 2023

Note the ratbag in orange next to him who is pulling or pushing at the women as they struggle to get past Jonny and his thrusting crotch to get through the opening in the fence. Jonny, remember, whined on Twitter afterwards the the women “kicked” and “stood on” the poor sad feeble tragic protesters.

I usually don’t agree with calls for universities to fire the more excitable trans “activists” but I think this toad should be out on his ass.… Read the rest

Via J.A. at Miscellany Room, a little missive from his HR department:

Written by PRIDE: LGBTQIA2S+ employee resource group

Getting to true inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees requires much more than an inclusive and respectful workplace policy or rainbow branding each year for Pride month.

True inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees means creating a psychologically safe workplace environment and expanding allyship practices across all departments.

The PRIDE employee resource group has been actively advocating and working toward inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees in both big and small changes this year, such as promoting inclusive benefits and policies for LGBTQIA2S+ employees and intentionally recruiting for LGBTQIA2S+ representation. PRIDE has also been working with HR on smaller steps like including personal pronouns in … Read the rest

Off to a good start.

I witnessed this for myself and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

These men should take a look at themselves and question why they're screaming at women. https://t.co/xey3iHteF4

— scepticalPhil (@scepticalPhil) October 13, 2023

They came out to shout at the women.

It's 8:30am. They're making the commuters feel unsafe. They're making women attending the feminist conference feel unsafe. https://t.co/BC9TK2g5h7 pic.twitter.com/btwocDiWEt

— scepticalPhil (@scepticalPhil) October 13, 2023

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Tim Harris on Objectively terrible.

There is a new book out that has received extremely favourable reviews from people I respect: The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas & Power in Our Time, by Yascha Mounk, professor of the Practice of International Affairs at John Hopkins University, and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

It arrived yesterday, and I have been skimming it. It is very well and fairly written, shows how the ideas you find in Critical Race Theory, for example, derive from thinkers like Foucault & Deleuze, and addresses the arguments (and fights) over transgender people, among many other things.

What I like about Mounk is that he takes … Read the rest

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

MADISON – Assembly Republicans passed legislation Thursday that would ban transgender girls and women from competing on high school and college women’s sports teams and bar doctors from providing gender-transition treatment for minors.

Lawmakers approved the three bills in a 63-35 vote, with all Democrats voting against the measures and nearly all Republicans voting for the measures.

…

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has promised to veto the bills.

Girls’ and women’s sports aren’t for girls and women any more, they’re for girls and women and any boys and men willing to claim they are transgender. Do what I may, I can’t see that as anything but unfair to girls and women.

Democrats pushed back on Vos’

… Read the rest

Attempt to cancel women fails:

TRANS rights activists have lost a battle to cancel a conference they claimed was transphobic after the venue was threatened with legal action.

Glasgow Trans Rally launched an unsuccessful campaign to have [the] Glasgow venue [called] Platform ditch an event planned to go ahead by FiLiA, a gender-critical feminist charity.

FiLiA said Platform, in the former site of The Arches nightclub, had initially caved in to pressure and cancelled until they were threatened with legal action and reinstated the event.

You want pressure? We’ll give you pressure. See this contract?

Organisers hailed the outcome as a victory for “freedom of speech”. 

Confirmed speakers at the event include SNP politicians Ruth Maguire and Joanna Cherry,

… Read the rest

Um.

Wisconsin State Rep. Dave Considine during debate on a bill to ban boys playing girl’s sports:

“Some parents are concerned their daughter might miss out on a scholarship… That sounds like selfishness.”
pic.twitter.com/ET3tMZ9dIr

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 12, 2023

Some parents are concerned that their daughter might miss out on a scholarship. They might miss out on playing for this team or that team. [long pause] Boy, that doesn’t sound like community, that sounds like selfishness, I’m sorry to label it that way but that sounds like what it is to me.

And it’s not selfish at all for a boy who claims to be a girl to take away a girl’s chance at a scholarship, no no … Read the rest

The Times on that Edinburgh “protest”:

Attendees of a book launch about gender politics at Edinburgh University have described being intimidated and “assaulted” by trans rights demonstrators. About 70 people answered calls from the local branch of the University and College Union (UCU) to demonstrate against the publication of Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader, claiming that the book is transphobic.

The activists attempted to block access to the launch venue, a lecture theatre at the foot of 40 George Square, the building formerly known as David Hume Tower. Protesters chanted “shame on you” at each person who entered the building, as well as “trans rights are human rights”. They also held rainbow placards.

Marion Calder,

… Read the rest

AND this. It’s being a day.

The waiting is over. As expected, but it is still a kick in the guts, the AHRC has rejected our application for an exemption to run a lesbian only event. Their rejection will be up on their website shortly.

— Lesbian Action Group (@ActiveLesbians) October 12, 2023

No lesbian events for you, Karens.… Read the rest

Background:

THE University of Edinburgh has once again been accused by a trade union of hosting an event which “contests the legitimacy of trans people and their rights”.

On Wednesday (October 11) the university is set to host a launch event for an anthology of essays titled ‘Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader’ published by academic publisher Routledge. 

However, the Edinburgh branch of the University College Union (UCU) has sent an e-mail to principal Peter Mathieson and senior management staff condemning the event and calling for it to be cancelled.

In the e-mail, which was also sent to all members of UCU Edinburgh, the union accuses university management of failing to protect transgender staff and students from transphobic abuse and

… Read the rest

This Johnny fella who turns out to be not an especially dim-witted undergraduate but a post-doc is a real piece of work. Flippant, ignorant, and malicious, while full of self-righteous hatred of women who don’t submit.

https://twitter.com/ChemBioJonny/status/1712496209649184919

See also: “I’d only read about Christianity when the book is written by a Christian”; “I’d only read about Scientology when the book is written by a Scientologist”; “I’d only read about Nazism when the book is written by a Nazi”; “I’d only read a book about Trump when the book is written by a fan of Trump.”

https://twitter.com/ChemBioJonny/status/1712495433346392242

What if the law said humans can fly? Would he jump?

https://twitter.com/ChemBioJonny/status/1712494073649455104 https://twitter.com/ChemBioJonny/status/1712156422199218217

The story there turned out to be that a few protesters … Read the rest

Just in case there haven’t been enough insults yet today…

Maybe next time select a woman.
This is a gay magazine, so I recommend a lesbian.

— scepticalPhil (@scepticalPhil) October 12, 2023

… Read the rest

Sigh.

A shocking decision @AusHumanRights https://t.co/gFk15TQapp

— The Lesbian Project (@project_lesbian) October 12, 2023

Sorry, lezzers, you have to let men in. Sux 2 b u.

The Gay Men's Network stands shoulder to shoulder with the Lesbian Action Group and LGB Alliance Australia. We will do everything we can as an organisation to help in any way fighting this ridiculous and cruel decision. https://t.co/sqMgxMKxT3

— Dennis Noel Kavanagh (@Jebadoo2) October 12, 2023

The insults just keep rolling in.… Read the rest

Cancel that book.

Academics at the University of Edinburgh have accused their own union of attempting to stifle debate after it called for the launch of a book on sex and gender to be scrapped.

Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader features essays from figures such as the philosopher Kathleen Stock and is edited by Selina Todd and Alice Sullivan, a professor of sociology at University College London (UCL) who gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament last year on the Scottish Government’s gender reforms.

Selina Todd is a professor of history at Oxford. Don’t ask me why that was omitted.

The University and College Union (UCU) Edinburgh branch committee has written to the university’s principal, Sir Peter Mathieson, saying it has “concerns about the

… Read the rest

Has to be parody doesn’t it?

Guy is there to protest the event, guy tells interviewer he doesn’t know what it’s about, doesn’t know what the book says, doesn’t know what the protest is about, but by god he’s there anyway because [insert miracle here]

We spoke to Johnny, who was protesting the book launch.

He said this:

(Unfortunately the video was corrupted, but we still captured audio.) pic.twitter.com/WlAb6IeRcm

— Ross Patterson (@Ross_Patterson_) October 11, 2023

… Read the rest