NPR takes care to insult women again, via a story about metals found in tampons.

Researchers have found toxic metals — including arsenic and lead — in over a dozen popular brands of tampons, raising questions about a menstrual hygiene product used by millions of Americans.

American whats? Dogs? Cars? Barbecue grills?

Researchers say the study marks an important first step in confirming the presence of toxic metals in tampons, which are used by an estimated 52% to 86% of menstruating people in the U.S.

Ah there we go. They start slowly and build. Americans instead of American women is a jab, and menstruating people is a smash in the head with a hammer.

They say more studies are

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Please, insult us some more.

According to the cult, ‘transwomen’, who are actually men who want to pretend (and who also want the rest of us to believe) that they are women, actually are women; but the words ‘woman’ and ‘women’ aren’t ever to be mentioned in regards to adult human females; just people who can be pregnant.

In trying to decouple “sex” from the concept of “woman,” genderists are attempting to break the female monopoly on womanhood, as if menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation were as inconsequential to the definition of “woman” as hair colour and shoe size. They want an “expansive” definition of “woman” that has nothing to … Read the rest

On the one hand anybody can be a woman, men can be women, men are absolutely definitely without question women if they say they are – and on the other hand women exist for the purpose of pumping out children and can be rented for the purpose of child-production.

Or to put it another way, when greedy callous rich people decide they want to have a baby but the mommy doesn’t want to do that whole horrible carrying it and pushing it out thing, the people they pay to do the gestating for them are always, without exception, women. Never men, not even men who say they are women; always women.

The global trade in babies is big business. Research

Man who gets celebrated and flattered and high office for pretending to be a woman makes a point of pretending men can be pregnant.

A new @samhsagov funding opportunity is available to help improve access to timely, culturally relevant maternal #BehavioralHealth intervention & treatment through community referral pathways & transitions in care for pregnant people. Apply by Aug. 26. https://t.co/i1k5klATXc pic.twitter.com/6QKyojZUrR

— ADM Rachel Levine (@HHS_ASH) July 8, 2024

Is that a male body right there?… Read the rest

Originally a comment by What a Maroon on Hollowed out?

This hits close to home, for reasons I mentioned in the other thread. I hope that people don’t take this as a reason to dismiss the branch of (non-Chomskyan) linguistics that Vyv espouses, which goes under the (unfortunate) name of “cognitive linguistics”.

But anyway, yes, “gender” is a sociolinguistic construct. And I think he would agree with me when I say that the concepts expressed by language are not a direct reflection of an objective reality, but rather a result of our embodied interaction with the world, as filtered through our senses and our brain and also influenced by the culture we’re raised in.

But that doesn’t mean that those … Read the rest

And just one more thing about this Evans fella, because I hadn’t seen it, and because he’s being a ridiculous dogmatic twerp in that he’s blocking anyone who disputes his claims even though they are actual scholars in the field and he is not.

His polite, informed, in no way misogynist or anti-feminist sharing of his exciting article:

How Biology and Culture Shape Gender Identity

My latest article in @PsychToday explains how feminism led to TERFism and Gender Critical ideology, which has hollowed out the feminist movementhttps://t.co/QI7bNrFsEg#gender #identity #language #transrights #feminist

— Vyvyan Evans PhD (@VyvEvans) July 10, 2024

Ouch:

This is nonsense. You haven’t made the slightest effort to understand your opponent’s arguments.

We agree that gender

Ah I hadn’t realized when I shared Carole Hooven’s response to Vyvyan Evans’s Explanation of Woman that he (Evans) had responded to it by blocking her. Not by offering a reasoned response, or even by offering an unreasoned response, but just by officially ignoring her. How adult.

The PT article should be linked to in the original tweet that should be at the bottom of mine. But he just blocked me so I think I'll just retweet mine with a new link to his article. pic.twitter.com/JtvJJtTjtn

— Carole Hooven (@hoovlet) July 12, 2024

And he didn’t stop there.

Guy has PhD right there on his profile, yet he instantly blocks fellow academics who dispute his claims. That’s a good … Read the rest

Carole Hooven disputes Vyv Evans straight on the “biological essentialism” question:

Picking one point to explore in this article in @PsychToday that claims, among other things, that "TERF has been 'rebranded' as gender critical (GC) feminism, a 'linguistic pivot' from ‘anti-trans’ to ‘pro-woman’".

Take the idea of "biological essentialism" and Evan's claims… https://t.co/VJSwnlc4YC

— Carole Hooven (@hoovlet) July 11, 2024

Picking one point to explore in this article in @PsychToday that claims, among other things, that “TERF has been ‘rebranded’ as gender critical (GC) feminism, a ‘linguistic pivot’ from ‘anti-trans’ to ‘pro-woman’”. Take the idea of “biological essentialism” and Evan’s claims about “GC ideology.”

@VyvEvans: “GC ideology invokes biological essentialism: the idea that sex is binary and immutable, determined

Dude laboriously does us an explain in Psychology Today that gender norms are cultural. Gosh, who knew?

Never mind that we don’t need some guy telling us that, because it’s there only as a runway for a flight into the usual Women Must Do What They’re Told.

More recently, the advent of so-called trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) came to be a significant feminist ideology. In recent years, TERF has been “rebranded” as gender critical (GC) feminism, a “linguistic pivot from ‘anti-trans’ to ‘pro-woman’ … an attempted claim to legitimacy with an aim of accruing mainstream support,” according to a peer-reviewed research article by Claire Thurlow.

No, chump, “terf” hasn’t been rebranded. Terf has always been a snide pejorative for … Read the rest

Oh great.

Joe Biden introduces Zelenskyy to the stage as “President Putin”… pic.twitter.com/aEFdDEZjBP

— Andrew Doyle (@andrewdoyle_com) July 11, 2024

Furthermore he pronounces it pootin. Poot is slang for fart.… Read the rest

Ok listen up, what’s with all this endless whining and fussing about some writer, the people who really need our support and sympathy and worship and support are the ones who chat about books on social meeja.

Tilly Fitzgerald, a former Waterstones employee and a prominent figure on social media for book enthusiasts, has publicly expressed her gratitude following substantial backing from the literary community in an open letter. Fitzgerald’s dismissal from the bookstore chain has sparked significant controversy and debate around freedom of expression and the responsibilities of employees on social media.

Prominent; substantial; significant. We know we’re in the presence of Important Stuff when we get that many Inflative Adjectives in one short paragraph.

Kidding. Actually we … Read the rest

Sometimes the bitterness is overwhelming.

The Guardian puts the boot in:

More than 500 authors and book industry professionals have signed an open letter calling on Waterstones to reverse a decision to dismiss an employee who said she would tear up and throw away books written by a gender-critical author.

Yes that’s right, side with the bratty entitled snot who tried to sabotage a novelist, don’t even consider siding with the novelist who did nothing to deserve the sabotage.

Figures including Chocolat author Joanne Harris, writer and podcaster Dorian Lynskey, and author and culture journalist Jason Okundaye have backed Tilly Fitzgerald, who posts book-related content and reviews under the username TillyLovesBooks on social media. Fitzgerald was sacked after responding

Well now that’s something I realized I needed to know more about.

Goldsmiths has decided to terminate my employment as part of a devastating restructure. With no specialist staff, this means the closure of the MA Queer History, the world's only MA degree of its kind. This is an afront to my students, colleagues, and community. It is vandalism.

— Justin Bengry (@JustinBengry) July 11, 2024

The world’s only, eh? Ok then. Goldsmiths QH MA:

Why study MA Queer History at Goldsmiths

This is the world’s first postgraduate programme in Queer History. It engages with histories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other (LGBTQ+) people, identities and communities. It is innovative, creative, free-thinking, stimulating, diverse and challenging –

The BBC is incoherent with shock and rage and confusion.

Braverman sparks outrage after LGBTQ+ flag comments

What mean? What mean, BBC? Sparks outrage after comments or because of comments or at comments? And what does “sparks outrage” mean anyway? Does it perhaps just mean a BBC reporter finds the comments outrageous? And what are flag comments anyway? And do you actually mean “LGBTQ+” or do you just mean one or two of those initials?

Rishi Sunak is facing calls to expel Suella Braverman from the Conservative Party following remarks she made about an LGBTQ+ flag.

Is he? Or is that just BBCese for “I think Sunak should expel her for remarks I don’t like”?

Ms Braverman, MP for Fareham

Yikes. Lachrymose Tilly the former Waterstones employee is still publicly trying to ruin the life of Christina Dalcher.

Have you seen this Insta story from yesterday? She claims you're "really going to town" and tells people "Please don't buy her books!" pic.twitter.com/cSHOKtLGGf

— Emma Flynn (@twot134x) July 10, 2024

“This woman is really going to town,” she says, meaning Christina Dalcher is really trying to put people’s jobs at risk, when in reality Dalcher is doing precisely the opposite of that: she’s telling people not to stir anything up, including not to pile on Tilly Fitzgerald herself. It’s an infinite spiral of ironies.

And then sobbing Tilly finishes with “please don’t buy her books.”

What a piece of work.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on They win we lose.

A short list of reasons why I think this is silly:

1) It’s usually much harder to sue the government for things it has failed to do than things it has done. This is especially true when you’re trying to sue because the government didn’t do stuff to that guy/corporation over there.

2) Related to point (1), there are likely some major standing problems. An industry that is aggrieved by a regulation it contends is too restrictive has an obvious injury it can point to — we’re losing money because of this regulation. Environmental groups have to rely on more indirect theories — our members are people, and … Read the rest

More demands for submission and compliance:

A WORCESTER councillor has called for an end to the “political rhetoric” that leads to trans hate crime.

Robyn Norfolk was speaking at a meeting of Worcester City Council at the Guildhall on Tuesday, July 9. Cllr Norfolk had introduced an annual report to the council as its member champion for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). She said it had been a pleasure to work with council officers.

I suspect Robyn Norfolk is a man. The photo at the top of the article certainly looks like a man.

Cllr Richard Udall said hate crime is a growing concern for many people and that “perpetrators are causing significant harm to individuals”. He said: “Some

The sobbing Tilly saga continues to sprout new limbs.

A writer for the Independent, Emma Guinness, wrote the predictable snotty story about the big meany writer and the poor tragic Waterstones worker who raged about the big meany writer in public and got fired. Guinness is claiming – also in public – to have invited Dalcher to comment on the hit piece about her. The problem there is that she seems to have sent her invitation(s) to random people instead of to Dalcher.

Hi Christina, we contacted you three times over email before tweeting, including on your preferred media contact. We have now sent another email and multiple messages.

— Emma Guinness (@guinness_emma) July 10, 2024

My editor is happy

A piece of good news:

On the 10th of July 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued all charges imposed on Selma Taha, Divina Riggon and Danae Thomas – the #KingsCross3. The CPS attributed this to lack of evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. Speaking outside Highbury Magistrates’ Court this morning, the defence Barrister Rajiv Menon KC asserted that it’s an outrage for such a case to have been pursued for prosecution in today’s day and age.

I like that “lack of evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction” explanation – which being interpreted means they didn’t do it.

In September 2023, Selma, Divina and Danae were verbally and physically assaulted in a racist incident on London public