In New Zealand news:

The Ministry of Health is urging doctors to take a “precautionary approach” before prescribing puberty blockers, as the Government moves to limit access to the medications.

Those moves came as the ministry released a highly anticipated evidence brief about the use of puberty blockers, which said there was insufficient evidence supporting their use.

The Ministry of Health also announced new rules, effective immediately, for prescribing puberty blockers. It told doctors that they should be prescribed only be clinicians working as part of “an interprofessional team offering a full range of supports to young people presenting with gender identity issues”.

Puberty blockers are medications prescribed to young transgender patients.

No, they’re not. They’re not medications. … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The persistent framing.

As much as I sympathize with Hutchinson, I wish everybody on the gc “side” would stop bringing up whether or not TIM have had surgeries, taken hormones etc. as if it made a difference. Even if he had, it still wouldn’t make him a woman, nor make it any more acceptable for him to enter women’s changing rooms.

I agree, but sometimes I think it’s important to spell out for the naive and clueless (like me from a few years ago) that things are worse than they seem. How many are aware of the fact that most TiMs have not undergone surgical “transition”? I wasn’t. Under self-ID … Read the rest

Woman’s Hour hostile interview of woman who doesn’t agree that men are women if they say they are Part 2.

McGovern: There’s kind of two parts to that in a way Bethany. If the person dressed more traditionally as a female for example would that make a difference?

Me, interjecting. What a stupid question! Sure, it would make the same difference it made to Little Red Riding Hood. Oh hello sir I see you have a skirt on, by all means come in and watch us changing into our work uniforms, your skirt renders you miraculously harmless and trustworthy.

Hutchinson: Ah, not necessarily, no.

McGovern: If this person had surgically transitioned, would that be something you would … Read the rest

No they’re not.

I literally just got out of meetings with members of Congress & used the bathroom on my way out.

Trans women are women—full stop. We're every bit as "biologically female" as cis women & @SpeakerJohnson's statement doesn't change the fact that women's spaces include trans women. https://t.co/B4gpBkuXRo

— Rep. Zooey Zephyr (@ZoAndBehold) November 20, 2024

Zooey Zephyr is a trans woman, aka a man. Full stop, if it makes you feel any better. Trans women are of course not women, because that’s what the “trans” in “trans woman” means. Trans women are of course not every bit as “biologically female” as cis women, because, again, that’s what the “trans” part means.

How did a man who … Read the rest

There’s a surprise.

Ahoo Daryaei released without charge

An Iranian woman will not face charges after she stripped to her underwear in an apparent anti-hijab protest at a university in Tehran, Iranian authorities say.

Earlier in November, video went viral on social media capturing the moment the woman, named by BBC Persian as Ahoo Daryaei, undressed on a university campus before being forcibly detained.

A spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary said the woman had been treated in hospital and returned to her family.

…

Iranian authorities at the time said Ms Daryaei was “sick” and had been taken to a psychiatric ward. It is not the first time Iranian authorities have branded a woman protesting compulsory hijab laws with

Criminal’s lawyers demand his conviction be thrown out because it would be “destabilizing” to let it stand.

Donald Trump’s attorneys are demanding the judge who presided over his New York hush money trial and conviction immediately throw out the case, saying it would be “uniquely destabilizing to the country” otherwise.

Hey, you know what’s really destabilizing? Electing a convicted criminal president.

“Immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interests of justice, in order to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election,” attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan that was made

Some reactions to that “why won’t you let men into your changing room” interview on the women-hating BBC Woman’s Hour:

Why aren't you publicising the outrageous interview by @BBCNuala of a female nurse describing how her & her colleagues consent to be watched undressing by male colleague is disregarded?

Utterly appalling
Hostile
Biased

This is woman's hour fgs

I shall be complaining

— Marjorie Hutchins (@leakylike) November 20, 2024

The cognitive dissonance by @BBCNuala going from this story to the shocking disrespectful interview with Bethany #DarlingtonNurses is unbelievable. That was an absolute disgrace @BBCWomansHour. Bethany was brilliant remaining clear, calm & respectful in the face of such vitriol.

— Jane McLenachan (@jane_mclenachan) November 20, 2024

https://twitter.com/soulfoodie/status/1859194352762769691

There are lots … Read the rest

Ugh I’m probably going to have to transcribe every word of this disgusting conversation on Woman’s Hour – because the very first thing Nuala McGovern the woman host of WOMAN’S HOUR does is confuse the issue by referring to the man in the women’s changing room as “a trans woman” instead of a man or a male. Ok Nuala McGovern so why talk about women on Woman’s Hour at all? Why not just make it all about trans women instead? Why not replace you with a trans woman? Eh?

It's difficult to know where to start unpicking this interview with Darlington Nurse, Bethany, on @BBCWomansHour by @BBCNuala.

Bethany did extraordinarily well considering the persistent framing of her as a

The Guardian insults women yet again.

For many trans and non-binary people, top surgery – the process of removing breast tissue to get a flatter or masculinized chest – is not an elective procedure. It’s essential to them feeling at home in their bodies.

Wrong. Sorry. “Feeling at home in their bodies” is indeed elective. Removing breasts to feel at home in one’s body is like removing a leg to feel at home in one’s body. Both are elective because they are not physically necessary. Emotionally necessary is elective territory. If you had to triage patients waiting to have their breasts removed you wouldn’t (one hopes) put the “at home in my body” ones ahead of the breast cancer … Read the rest

He’s a guy.

I’m not a spokesperson for a movement, I’m a voice for all Delawareans — and when we see the incoming administration talk negatively about any vulnerable community, I guarantee you it’s an attempt to distract from the fact that in that same moment, they are picking the pockets of… pic.twitter.com/0ODe5H0uM0

— Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) November 18, 2024

He’s a guy.… Read the rest

Noah Berlatsky on the murderous ignorance and arrogance of Worst Kennedy:

It really should go without saying by now, but despite what RFK Jr. claims, vaccines are in fact one of the most transformative medical advances in human history.

The smallpox vaccine eradicated a 3,000 year old disease that killed 300 million people just in the two decades between 1900 and 1920. Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, 400 to 500 Americans died of the disease every year, and some 48,000 a year were hospitalized. In the early 1900s, polio paralyzed hundreds of thousands of people a year; a devastating 1952 outbreak in the US killed 3,000.

And then of course there’s covid. Researchers believe that

It’s a very small group of people in one city, but……..well, it’s that kind of very small group.

Ohio officials have denounced a small contingent of neo-Nazis who paraded Saturday afternoon through a Columbus neighborhood – waving flags featuring swastikas and shouting a racist slur – in the latest public demonstration by White nationalists in recent years across the United States.

Around a dozen people in black pants, shirts and head coverings – their faces obscured by red masks – marched along the street near downtown Columbus as three carried black flags emblazoned with red swastikas, footage provided to CNN affiliate WBNS shows.

At least one person yelled, “N***er,” again and again, according to the video that’s garnered online

Oh dear oh dear confused muddled baffled person is at a loss to figure out which sweet Italian grandparent to emulate in which toilet! Be concerned!! Be very concerned!!!

I wonder though why cmbp is so upset about that rather than the fact that xir has several pieces of metal poking out of xir face. Kid! Watch out! You have bits of shrapnel in your face! That’s gotta sting!

I don’t know. Why do people put this kind of thing out in public where just anyone can see it? “Hello, watch me performing Whiny Sniveling Self-obsessed Fool.” Do they think it makes them look good?

This is very telling.

No, I'd think it a disgusting – and really quite remarkable – act if a woman decided to mark her territory by somehow urinating on a "trans woman's" car.
It's male behaviour. https://t.co/9l4gaeBisM

— Helen Staniland (@helenstaniland) November 18, 2024

It’s so telling that this fool thinks we’re like them. This fool thinks the hostile entitled enraged aggression of so many trans-identified men is normal behavior, and righteous in a good cause. This fool doesn’t get that the foundational sense of entitlement baked into trans ideology encourages people to act accordingly. This fool doesn’t get that the result is a lot of deeply unpleasant self-obsessed demanding belligerent people. This fool doesn’t get that rejection of … Read the rest

Oh but it’s so complex, you outsiders can’t possibly understand it because of the very complex complexity of it. The BBC reports how complex it is:

A protest over the Football Association’s transgender inclusion policy took place outside Wembley before England men’s match against the Republic of Ireland.

It was sparked by the banning of a teenage girl over remarks she made to a transgender opponent in a grassroots match.

So what is the background to what the FA calls “a complex case”?

Earlier this month, a 17-year-old female footballer was banned for discrimination after she was found to have repeatedly asked a transgender opponent during a match “are you a man?”.

But what does “a transgender opponent” mean? … Read the rest

We need some clarity on the details.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday confirmed he would declare a national emergency to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.

Interesting ambiguity there. Which without legal permission? Migrants living in the US or Trump carrying out mass deportations?

Already, he’s tapped several immigration hard-liners to serve in key Cabinet positions. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was picked to be homeland security secretary, pending Senate confirmation. Former Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan was named “border czar.”

Homan previously discussed his vision for mass deportations, saying they would first concentrate on expelling criminals and national security threats. He didn’t

With little consolation anywhere we have to take some from internecine quarrels.

Elon Musk weighed in over the weekend on the increasingly tense battle for Treasury secretary in the second Trump administration—and that has reportedly raised the hackles of some Trump advisers, who worry his influence might have grown too large.

Oh surely not. Musk is a very cautious humble self-effacing guy.

The Washington Post reported that Musk’s endorsement via social media of Howard Lutnick, who is co-leading the Trump transition team, could add confusion to the process. One adviser suggested to the Post that Musk was acting as a “co-president” and could be overstepping his advisory role with Trump.

Not possible. He’s a genius. There’s no such … Read the rest

Yet another iteration of Margaret Atwood v the wicked gender critical women.

And your evidence for this is? Let’s see it. Don’t spread misinformation. https://t.co/n5zW5dq4bN

— Margaret E Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) November 14, 2024

The evidence for it is as always promptly forthcoming.

Don't spread misinformation?

That's rich.

When I was the victim of unlawful discrimination by my employer you spread misinformation about me.

I pleaded to you on social media and by email to correct the mistake and stop smearing my name.https://t.co/Es47wTyvTa

— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) November 17, 2024

Audience: She did not delete them. https://twitter.com/AjaTheEmpress/status/1858208854456127737

The good old slug sex :) defense.

Oh, sit down.

You amplified a dumb Scientific American article re ‘sex not being binary’ (it

Sometimes speed is not the goal. Sometimes it’s downright dangerous. That’s why speed limits exist.

Trump is zooming.

President-elect Trump has set a modern record for staffing his government, with 12 Cabinet-level appointments in the 12 days since the election.

That’s five times faster than President Biden made the same number of picks for his administration — and four times faster than Trump’s pick for his first administration, according to calculations for Axios by David Marchick, dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University and an expert on presidential transitions.

And it’s confirmation that he’s a reckless brainless wrecking ball.

Trump either “has the best and most efficient transition ever,” Marchick said, or “is blowing up

Alex Massie writes a think piece about whatisawoman without much apparent thinking.

Few people, after all, hold a GRC. Nevertheless the theory also matters, not least because expanding the definition of woman, and indeed, that of man, creates a cascade of further questions. The distinction between people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and hence qualify for a GRC and those we might dub “lifestyle” trans people is both important and, I would add, a means of protecting GRC-holders themselves.

What is legal, after all, is not the same as what is decent. The social reality of trans people and their rights to dignity and respect, including being addressed and, typically, treated as they would wish to be,