Author: Ophelia Benson

  • By indirections find directions out

    The Telegraph on the Dodds issue:

    Anneliese Dodds, who was appointed on Monday, has been called “nonsensical” for her beliefs on gender.

    Two years ago, when she was Labour’s shadow equalities spokeswoman, Ms Dodds said in a BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour radio interview that there are “different definitions legally around what a woman actually is” and, when pressed again, said: “I think it does depend what the context is.”

    JK Rowling has hit out at [criticised] Ms Dodds following her appointment.

    Reposting a transcript of the interview, Rowling said: “And if you happen to be wondering how I have the transcript of that Woman’s Hour to hand, it was sent to me by Dodds’ office after I publicly criticised her prevarication on the programme. They seemed to think I’d find her comments less nonsensical if I saw them in print.”

    Hahahaha that’s a good one.

    Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, will also have the title minister for women and equalities because the title has to be held by someone of Cabinet rank. Ms Dodds will take leadership on the issue but does not hold a Cabinet post.

    Ms Dodds had said in opposition that she was going to be the first Secretary of State for Women and Equalities. She will combine the role with that of aid minister, in what will be seen as a significant downgrading of the position from pre-election promises.

    Probably because it is in fact a significant downgrading of the position from pre-election promises.

    During the election campaign, Ms Phillipson was criticised for refusing eight times to answer whether a biological male should be able to use a women’s toilet during a radio interview with LBC.

    Presenter Nick Ferrari then presented a specific scenario about a trans woman with a penis needing to use a public toilet in a restaurant, asking: “The trans woman with a penis would use which lavatory?”

    Ms Phillipson repeatedly suggested that businesses should provide “a range of different options”, even when Mr Ferrari specified that the hypothetical restaurant only had two options – male and female toilets.

    That’s a classic example and illustration of how this ridiculous brand of advocacy works – by ignoring all reasonable questions and simply singing little arias of hope and joy instead of answering them. There will be a range of options tralala, they will be lovely, they will be decked in ribbons, they will taste like ripe peaches, you will be so happy you won’t know what to do.

  • Different definitions legally

    JKR reminds us of Anneliese Dodds’s chat with Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour two years ago.

    Emma Barnes: And Labour’s definition of a woman?

    Annaliese Dodds: Well, I have to say that there are different definitions legally around what a woman actually is. I mean you look at the definition within the Equality Act and I think it just says someone who is adult and female, I think, but then doesn’t say how you define either of those things. I mean that’s then… you’ve got the biological definition, the legal definition, all of this kind of thing.

    Emma Barnes: With respect I didn’t ask for that. What’s the Labour definition?

    Annaliese Dodds: Well, I think with respect Emma I think it does depend what the context is, surely. You know there are people who have decided to…that they have to make that transition. You know, I’ve spoken with many of them. It’s been a very difficult process for many of those people, and you know understandably because they live as a woman they want to be defined as a woman. That’s what the Gender Recognition Act – again a Labour process – brought into place.

    Let’s think about that. “It’s been a very difficult process for many of those people, and you know understandably because they live as a woman they want to be defined as a woman.”

    It’s been hard work for these men to pretend to be women, therefore we should all pretend they are indeed women.

    Hey, it’s hard work to break into a bank vault; does that mean the breakers-in should be allowed to keep the money?

    Starmer did this as a calculated insult, didn’t he. He has to have, because he can’t not know what an insult it is.

  • Kicking the can down the road

    We need more research, and more and more and more and MORE to find out what we already know. It will take many generations to get at the truth, despite the fact that we already know.

    Much more research is needed to determine whether it’s fair or not to allow trans women to compete in the women’s category in sporting competitions, according to a leading scientist.

    In an interview with the programme’s presenter, Maxine Hughes, Dr Shane Heffernan, an expert on the physiology of elite athletes at Swansea University, says a bigger sample is needed to determine results, in current and future studies, and encourages more trans people to volunteer.

    Yes because we just have no clue, and never have had. Are men stronger than women? Are women stronger than men? No idea; it’s a black box.

    At this month’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games, for the first time in the games’ history, there will be equal representation of male and female athletes.

    Yay!

    But, of course, there’s a catch.

    However, the individual governing bodies for each sport still have the final say over whether to allow trans women to compete in each sport’s female categories, prompting the call, by many of the people interviewed for this programme, for the IOC Olympic Committee to give greater leadership.

    Non Evans has competed for Wales in several sports – wrestling, judo, rugby, weightlifting, touch rugby and boxing. She strongly believes that trans women should not compete in women’s categories:

    “I do have an issue with a man growing up with larger bones, higher levels of testosterone in the body, a larger heart, and everything else. It makes no difference to me if someone is transgender. I wouldn’t have had the same success in my career competing in judo, wrestling, rugby, weightlifting had I competed against a person who has changed gender after 20 years.”

    This is what I keep saying. It’s not the “trans” part, it’s the male part. Lazy or captured journalists keep saying it’s about trans but it’s not, it’s about male.

    Meghan Cortez-Fields from the USA is a swimmer who is a trans woman. She competed in the men’s team at college for three years before transitioning to a woman and started swimming for the women’s team:

    “A lot of people…at the forefront of this… cross that line where it comes to invalidating our identify. Claiming us to be these monsters”.

    Yeah fuck off. No we don’t. We don’t care about your precious idenniny, and what we say is that if you’re male you have an advantage and it’s grossly unfair for you to exploit it.

    There’s no doubt that, behind the headlines, there are people who are affected by this complex and sensitive debate, which has driven a huge division into the world of sport.

    But Dr Shane Heffernan is firmly of the opinion that further research and time will be able to determine if it is fair for trans women to compete in the same category as women:

    “If you come back to me in ten years time and ask this question, we’ll have ten years more knowledge that we’ll be able to apply to trying to determine the correct policies.”

    Bullshit. We have the knowledge already. We’ve had it all along.

  • It gets worse

    Sigh.

    So…it’s not just Starmer rushing through the list, it’s a calculated insult and dismissal? “Blah blah blah women, fine, here’s your minister for women; she prefers male women to the real kind also she has another more important job, kthanksbye.”
    Damn right it should.

  • Really though?

    The Guardian reported on Friday:

    Keir Starmer’s cabinet will have the highest number of state-educated and female ministers in history, as Rachel Reeves became the first female chancellor ever, although ethnic representation has fallen.

    That sounds nice but what does it mean? Will the “female ministers” actually be women or will some or most or all of them be men who call themselves women? We don’t know, do we. Labour is adamant that men can be women, as is the Guardian, so we can’t assume that when they say they’re appointing a lot of female ministers they actually mean the “female” part.

    The Labour veteran and Britain’s first black female MP, Diane Abbott, will become mother of the house in the new parliament, having served her Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency for almost 40 years. More than 40% of seats in the Commons will be held by women, a record that includes 46% of Labour MPs and 24% of their Conservative counterparts.

    But when you say “by women” what do you mean?

  • Minister for different definition depending on what the context is

    So that’s it then.

  • Everything’s fine

    We are so screwed.

    Joe Biden’s doctor met with a leading Washington neurologist at the White House this year, it was reported on Saturday.

    The report came after Biden on Friday ruled out taking an independent cognitive test and releasing its findings publicly, in an interview with ABC News arranged following his disastrous performance in last week’s presidential TV debate with Donald Trump.

    According to White House visitor logs reviewed by the New York Post, Dr Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease expert at Walter Reed medical center, met with Dr Kevin O’Connor, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who has treated the president for years.

    Biden refuses to take a cognitive test.

    Later in the broadcast, Biden was asked if he would do an independent neurological and cognitive exam and release the results. “I get a cognitive test every day,” Biden said. “Everything I do – you know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world.”

    No no no no no that’s not how that works. Also are you aware that you’re not running the world?

    He did two radio interviews in which the White House wrote the questions and ordered the interviewers not to ask any other questions. The interviews were to demonstrate how brilliant he is.

    [T]he eight visits Kevin Cannard has made to the White House over the past 11 months are certain to raise further questions about the 81-year-old president’s mental abilities in the wake of his debate with Donald Trump and subsequent verbal mistakes, including during a radio interview on Thursday when he said he was “proud” to be the “first Black woman to serve with a Black president”.

    So he’s trans now?

    We are so so so screwed.

  • Terrorist child claims to be gay not queer

    Hm. Boy says “I’m gay not queer” and all hell breaks loose.

    12-year-old boy has allegedly been referred to counter-terrorism authorities after posting an online video saying “there’s no such thing as non-binary”. The child, who remains unnamed, reportedly created the video to counter bullies who had mistakenly assumed he supported transgender rights. In the footage, he reportedly declares: “[I’m] gay not queer.”

    Are people required to say they’re queer now?

    According to the boy’s mother, school officials informed her that the video had prompted them to report her son to Prevent, the Home Office programme aimed at thwarting potential terrorists.

    Ah. Kid age 12 says he’s gay and the school concludes he’s a terrorist.

    The boy’s mother told the [Daily] Mail that both agencies had visited her in what felt like an “interrogation” after she uploaded the video on his behalf.  She said: ‘We think that he was targeted as the children believe gay people agree with trans ideology. He made a video which I uploaded to YouTube where he said ‘there are only two genders’ and ‘I’m gay not queer’.

    “The school phoned up and were incensed by it. They said that they would refer him to Prevent for that video. They said that he was at risk of radicalisation – not that he had been, but was a risk when he gets to 13 and is entitled to his own social media accounts. There was a risk he would fall in with far right groups.”

    Because it’s far-right to say you’re gay not queer.

    Make it make sense.

    Harry Miller answers the difficult question “What the hell is going on Harry?”

  • Define “women MPs”

    How can they do both?

    The Fawcett Society July 5:

    After yesterday’s election, there are more women MPs in our Parliament than ever before. It’s an historic moment, but the work has only just begun.

    There is a huge opportunity for this new critical mass to work together, across party lines, to improve the lives of women across the country. 

    Drawing on inspiration from the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament, the Fawcett Society will shortly convene all women MPs to facilitate the launching of a powerful women’s caucus.

    Ok, good, but…

    There’s their “position on sex and gender” to consider.

    In response to recent questions, the Fawcett Society’s position on sex and gender (which we consulted on widely in 2018) remains unchanged (available here).

    To be clear, we are a trans-inclusive organisation. We represent women in all their diversity in the fight for equality. Fawcett recognises the importance of intersectionality and the impact this has on women’s experiences.

    So by “women” and “the lives of women” and “all women MPs” they mean women plus men who call themselves women – so they don’t actually mean women.

  • Why not toddlers?

    The youngest MP:

    A 22-year-old elected as an MP with a razor-thin majority has said he does not want his age to be the focus as he heads to Westminster.

    Labour’s Sam Carling is likely to be the “baby of the House”…

    I.e. the youngest, the Beeb helpfully explains.

    However, he doesn’t want his age to be a focus. “I want us to get away from this strange mindset towards younger people’s age. As far as I’m concerned we’re just the same as anyone else. I just want to get on with the job.”

    Ah well there you are then, demonstrating one of the reasons there is and must be an age threshold for people in government. The younger you are, the less experience you have, and the less time you’ve had to learn and observe and think and self-correct and all that kind of thing. You don’t even have a fully mature brain yet.

    Very young people can be brilliant at campaigning (for want of a better word). The US Civil Rights movement was jam-packed with very young people, and their passion and courage were vital to its success.

    But the Nazi movement was also full of very young people, as was Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Youth does not always have the answer.

    He only recently became interested in politics, saying he saw a connection between social and economic decline and “decisions made in Westminster”. Mr Carling grew up in a rural town in the north-east of England, which he described as “a very deprived area”.

    “I saw a lot of things getting worse around me. I was concerned about shops closing on local high streets that used to be a thriving hub and are basically now a wasteland. And the sixth form closed, but I didn’t make the connection to politics until later.”

    My point exactly. Making connections is an adult skill that takes time and learning and experience to develop.

  • Pack it out

    In a colder place, Sherpas are picking up garbage left on Mount Everest by climbers. There’s a lot of it.

    The highest camp on the world’s tallest mountain is littered with garbage that is going to take years to clean up, according to a Sherpa who led a team that worked to clear trash and dig up dead bodies frozen for years near Mount Everest’s peak.

    The Nepal government-funded team of soldiers and Sherpas removed 11 tons (24,000 pounds) of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year’s climbing season.

    But there are maybe 40 to 50 tons left.

    Since the peak was first conquered in 1953, thousands of climbers have scaled it and many have left behind more than just their footprints.

    I hate that “conquered” trope. It’s so stupid and so pointlessly aggressive. Why can’t the word just be “climbed”?

    Of the 11 tons of garbage removed, three tons of decomposable items were taken to villages near Everest’s base and the remaining eight were carried by porters and yaks and then taken by trucks to Kathmandu. There it was sorted for recycling at a facility operated by Agni Ventures, an agency that manages recyclable waste.

    Nice of all those “conquerors” to leave all that crap on other people’s mountain.

    Why do climbers leave garbage behind?

    “At that high altitude, life is very difficult and oxygen is very low. So climbers and their helpers are more focused on saving themselves,” Khadga said.

    Then don’t go. If you can’t climb the mountain without leaving all your garbage behind, then don’t climb the mountain. Nobody needs you to climb the mountain, so don’t.

    By the way its name is not Everest, it’s Chomolungma.

  • Take the conditions seriously

    It’s warm over here on the west coast.

    Extreme heat continues to inflict wide swaths of the U.S. This weekend, the brunt of the hot temperatures is falling on the West Coast and parts of the East Coast.

    Afflict, not inflict.

    In total, over 132 million people were under some form of a heat warning as of Saturday evening, according to Heat.gov. “These conditions will be extremely dangerous and potentially deadly if not taken seriously,” the National Weather Service said on Saturday.

    Human-caused climate change is fueling longer and more intense heat waves, and making dangerously high temperatures more common.

    And even now, after all this time to get familiar with hot weather, Seattle people don’t understand air conditioning. Grocery stores still fasten their doors open when it gets hot. I don’t have enough eye rolls to deal with it.

  • A tale of four secretaries

    Top left David Lammy:

    It’s probably the case that trans women don’t have ovaries but a cervix, I understand, is something you can have following various procedures and hormone treatments.

    Top right Lisa Nandy:

    Q: Should child rapist Christopher Worton be housed in a women’s jail now he identifies as a woman?

    A: I think trans women are women and they should be accommodated in a prison of their choosing.

    Bottom left Louise Haigh:

    I fully support introducing self-declaration [when a man legally becomes a woman because he has said he is a woman.]

    Bottom right Bridget Phillipson:

    Q: Say I’m a male ‘trans woman’. Where do I go to the toilet?

    A: If you’ve gone through the process of recognition – the female toilets.

    The process of recognition – that should be the name of a pub.

  • More whats?

    But what do they mean?

    After yesterday’s election, there are more women MPs in our Parliament than ever before. It’s an historic moment, but the work has only just begun.

    There is a huge opportunity for this new critical mass to work together, across party lines, to improve the lives of women across the country. 

    Drawing on inspiration from the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Senedd and the Scottish Parliament, the Fawcett Society will shortly convene all women MPs to facilitate the launching of a powerful women’s caucus.

    Cool, but do they mean women, or women plus men who call themselves women?

    It does make a difference.

    Jemima Olchawski, CEO of the Fawcett Society, said:

    “Thanks to the hard work of organisations working to change the culture of politics, there are more women in the House of Commons than ever before. But this won’t mean anything unless they deliver real change for women across the country. 

    We need women to come together across parties to deliver reform that makes a tangible difference. With women still taking home ÂŁ574 less than men per month, sexual harassment rife in our workplaces and so much harm done to women by public services, the need has never been more urgent. Fawcett will facilitate this cross-party working by convening women MPs to organise the caucus.” 

    It also won’t mean anything if it turns out that by “women” they mean women and men who call themselves women.

  • The real ones?

    Good news.

    Oh but wait.

    Does she actually mean women?

    So many people are asking.

  • Surprisingly silent

    Neil Gaiman accused:

    Bestselling writer Neil Gaiman has strongly denied allegations of “non-consensual sex” and “sexual assault” reported in a Tortoise investigation led by Rachel Johnson.

    Neither of Neil Gaiman’s UK publishers ha[s] responded to requests for comment following the reports. The allegations are explored in a four-part podcast, “Master: The Allegations against Neil Gaiman”. 

    Roz Kaveney, friend of Neil Gaiman since the 1980s, and so, so proud of it, and Laurie Penny, who did a sycophantic interview with Gaiman in 2013, are both surprisingly silent on the recent (horrific) allegations of rape and sadistic violence by him against young, vulnerable women.

    We live in interesting times. Women who say men are not women get flayed while men accused of rape and sadistic violence get ignored.

    H/t Mostly Cloudy.

  • What it meant

    The Daily Beast on the Total Immunity threat:

    When the Supreme Court declared presidents immune from prosecution for their official acts Monday, one man immediately feared what it meant: Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-nemesis, Michael Cohen.

    We all immediately feared what it meant. The horror of it is all too obvious.

    But quibbling aside, he does have a specific point.

    Cohen is the only person summarily jailed by Trump, an experience he says awaits many more people if the Republican candidate wins in November.

    Cohen admitted in December 2018 that he lied to Congress and paid illegal hush money to Stormy Daniels, and began a three-year sentence in May 2019. A year later he was granted early release from prison under arrangements to reduce the number of federal prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    But he also happened to have a tell-all book—full of lurid details and one which he had heavily signaled would be damaging to Trump—coming out in September of that year.

    It was that July he was presented with new early release conditions, reproduced today by The Daily Beast. At first, the release forms seemed straightforward. But after the formal procedures about Cohen having to subject himself to home monitoring and other conditions federal inmates agree to, there was something fishy.

    The first red flag was the absence of a serial number in the top left corner. Then came language that, in effect, made waiving Cohen’s First Amendment rights a condition of his release.

    In the Federal Location Monitoring Program Participant Agreement form he was told there could be, “No engagement of any kind with the media, including print, TV, film, books, or any other form of media/news… Prohibition from all social media platforms… No posting on social media and a requirement that you communicate with friends and family to exercise discretion in not posting on your behalf or posting any information about you. The purpose is to avoid glamorizing or bringing publicity to your status as a sentenced inmate serving a custodial term in the community.”

    It was in effect a gagging order courtesy of the Department of Justice—and Cohen believes it came direct from Trump.

    He believes that the documents offer an insight into how Trump could silence his political opponents by making them sign away their First Amendment rights as a condition of release.

    Cohen refused to sign, sued, and spent 15 days in federal custody before a federal judge described the papers as an act of “retaliation,” and freed Cohen.

    So, that’s interesting.

  • W & E

    People are waiting impatiently for Starmer to name his Minister for Women and Equalities.

    Many are saying by rights it should be Rosie Duffield.

    More likely it will be India Willoughby.

  • But a Defiant Speech is beside the point

    Ugh. Speaking of that whole issue of competence versus politics…defiance and “grit” and determination aren’t always or necessarily virtues.

    US President Joe Biden vowed to stay the course in his re-election bid and defeat Donald Trump in a defiant speech on Friday, as questions continue to swirl over whether he will drop out of the race.

    At a rally in Madison, Wisconsin, the 81-year-old acknowledged his disastrous performance in last week’s CNN debate. “Ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. What’s Joe going to do?” he told the crowd. “Here’s my answer. I am running and going to win again,” Mr Biden said, as supporters in the crucial battleground state cheered his name. It marked his latest commitment to staying in the race as he seeks to defuse a political crisis that has snowballed in recent days.

    Blah blah blah. And then he put on a surge of speed and crossed the finishing line, and then she took a deep breath and danced en pointe despite her broken ankle, and then they wiped away their tears and told their mother they had no idea where the baby had gone.

    We get it. It’s a Frank Capra movie. It’s every Frank Capra movie. It’s a feel-good story. It’s not, however, a guide to what’s the right thing to do in every situation. Biden can be defiant all he likes but if he’s not in fact physically or mentally up to the job, if he’s neither physically nor mentally up to the job, all the Hollywoody defiance in the world isn’t going to change that.

    The 17-minute speech, which was more energetic than his widely-panned performance on the debate stage, comes at a critical moment for his campaign, with donors and Democratic allies considering whether to stick with him.

    I hate to break it to us but one 17-minute speech isn’t going to be the most he ever has to do in a second term.

    “I see all these stories that say I’m too old,” Mr Biden said at the rally, before triumphing his record in the White House. “Was I too old to create 15 million jobs?” he said. “Was I too old to erase student debt for five million Americans?”

    That’s a stupid question. It evades the point. Is he too old to stop evading the point? I don’t know, but he’s determined to keep doing it.

    “Do you think I’m too old to beat Donald Trump?” he asked, as the crowd responded “no”.

    Yes, I do. I don’t want to think that, I sure as hell don’t want it to be the case, but I can’t determine realities with the power of thought. I think this whole thing is a huge disaster.

  • Oh that Lexi

    Such a fine young man.

    So it turns out that that Lexi Bowen was just convicted of rape? Why yes, as the BBC reported (badly, evasively) just a couple of days ago. I objected to its distortions at the time. I’m glad I’m not the only one.