Start at 50 minutes on this to see and hear Neil deGrasse Tyson being sillier than you or I would have thought possible.

He tells his hosts he can tell women and men apart by looking at them, and that women are more expressive with their jewelry, and that women don’t have short hair, and a whole list of things of that kind. (Every single one of them, by the way, failed to be true of me, and I’m very far from the most strikingly butch woman on the planet, so…) He tells them that with much passion and emphasis, as if he’s saying something novel or surprising or clever. The point seems to be (I got too … Read the rest

What naïve credulous babble.

Gender identity is real

We all have a gender identity. Mine is male

Womens' gender identity is female

Trans women have a gender identity that is not the same as their chromosomal sex

Their trans identity is different but equally as valid as the female identity of other women pic.twitter.com/xGBsRgevZB

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) September 21, 2023

Oh it’s real is it? How do you know? Why am I not aware of having one? How do you know you have one?

Also what is it? What does that mean? Please explain without tautology – without using the word or its cognates.

And what is a “valid” identity? How do you know trans ones are … Read the rest

A few more turns of the screw in Scotland:

Police Scotland is setting up a dedicated hate crime unit ahead of Humza Yousaf‘s hugely controversial new laws coming into force early next year, it can be revealed.

The unit is expected to go live in November and training of the force’s 16,400 officers gets underway in December in preparation for the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act being implemented in early 2024. The legislation consolidates existing law and extends protection for vulnerable groups with a new offence of “stirring up hatred”.

So we can expect even more of the kind of opinion-sniffing and women-punishing that prompted Women Won’t Wheesht. What a brilliant plan!

Under the Act, offences

The contortions they indulge in, in order to avoid saying the word “women.” Columnist Monica Hesse in the Washington Post:

‘Abortion tourism’: A tidy phrase for punching down at desperate people

Subhead:

Republicans made it harder to get abortions in red states. Now they have a punchline for trivializing the journeys people undertake to get the procedure.

But it’s not “people” who undertake the journeys. If it were, Republicans wouldn’t oppose abortion rights. It’s not “people”; it’s those harlots known as “women.” It’s those weak, stupid, yet eternally plotting and rebelling people with no penis and too much freedom. Women must be forced to carry and push out babies they don’t want to carry and push out, because they are … Read the rest

Attitudes.

Support for any form of legal recognition of trans peoples gender has also dropped. In 2019 53% of people thought trans people should be able to change their birth cert, now just 30% of us think this should be possible. 2/5

— Nancy Kelley (@Nancy_M_K) September 21, 2023

That drop in support for faking birth certificates is a good thing. It’s good that more people think blatant absurd lies should not be “legally recognized.”

While other social attitudes continue their long post war liberalisation, trans people are experiencing the opposite – a hardening of attitudes, and a lack of openness. They are demonised in the press and by many in public life, and feeling increasingly unsafe and unwelcome. 4/5

How sweet: just as Birmingham offers a new statue of The Hijabi Woman, Iran beefs up its punishments for women who try to escape the damn thing.

Iran’s parliament has passed a controversial bill that would increase prison terms and fines for women and girls who break its strict dress code.

Those dressed “inappropriately” face up to 10 years in jail under the bill, for which a three-year “trial” was agreed.

And by “inappropriately” they mean for instance a stark naked head and neck. Funny how men are allowed to have stark naked heads but women are not.

Under Iranian law, which is based on the country’s interpretation of Sharia, women and girls above the age of puberty

The bullies win another round.

The trans activist terrorists won. They rushed the stage and the cops had to shut down the entire event half way through my speech because it was too dangerous for us to continue. #1MillionMarch4Chidren

— Meghan Murphy (@MeghanEMurphy) September 20, 2023

Let me make one thing very clear: Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country. We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians across the country – you are valid and you are valued.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 20, 2023

But it’s not “very clear.” It’s very unclear. Define “transphobia.” Define “biphobia.” Explain why you burble about transphobia but not misogyny. Explain why you seem not … Read the rest

It’s psychological cult capture, that’s what it is.

Would you say that Scientologists who believe that "body thetans cling to their body because they have lost their free will as a result of events in their past lives" have a psychological condition? Or would you say that they have been subject to cult indoctrination?

Buying into…

— Amy E. Sousa (@KnownHeretic) September 20, 2023

Would you say that Scientologists who believe that “body thetans cling to their body because they have lost their free will as a result of events in their past lives” have a psychological condition? Or would you say that they have been subject to cult indoctrination? Buying into the thinking that leads you to believe you

How utterly revolting.

A new sculpture believed to be the first of its kind in the world will be unveiled next month to celebrate women who wear hijabs.

The Strength of the Hijab was designed by renowned sculptor Luke Perry and will be installed in the Smethwick area of Birmingham in October. It is believed to be the first sculpture in the world of a woman wearing the head covering, worn by many Muslim women.

The sculpture is five metres tall and weighs around a tonne.

It’s not a “head covering” that is “worn by many Muslim women.” It’s a bandage that wraps the hair and neck leaving only the middle of the face exposed, and it is imposed… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Tim Harris on More to a woman.

Anna Funder’s book is a brilliantly written and forensic analysis (she is a trained lawyer, and acutely sensitive to words and what they don’t say, but nevertheless express) of Orwell’s bullying & abuse – sexual & otherwise – of women, including his wife, and his moral cowardice where those women closest to him were concerned. As I read, I found myself almost trembling with rage at times, racked with guilt at my own deficiencies toward others, but, above all, appalled throughout at the manipulativeness, cruelty & furtive hypocrisy of Orwell.

I am not, as it happens, a great admirer of Orwell, apart from ‘Animal Farm’, the idea for … Read the rest

Now there’s a headline.

Doctors say transgender women should be allowed to compete in female sports because it boosts ‘their mental health and self-esteem’

Yes and adults should be allowed to compete in children’s sports because it boosts their mental health and self-esteem.

I’ll be boring and spell it out. Why does the mental health and self-esteem of men who pretend to be women matter more than women’s mental health and self-esteem? Why does the former in fact simply cancel the latter? Why should men be allowed to trample women into bleeding fragments to boost their own mental health and self-esteem? Why do men count while women are so much garbage?

Researchers at Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, said participating in

A gender-atheist academic writes:

And now children, here's your bedtime story:

A French philosopher named Michel Foucault, who was alleged to have abused young boys in Tunisia, was primarily responsible for a theory that came to be known as postmodernism. This theory was adopted by mediocre academics who were…

— Prof. Gary Francione (@garylfrancione) September 20, 2023

A French philosopher named Michel Foucault, who was alleged to have abused young boys in Tunisia, was primarily responsible for a theory that came to be known as postmodernism. This theory was adopted by mediocre academics who were unable to do any serious thinking. These academics came up with a number of bizarre ideas, including but not limited to, that sex was not

The Guardian last month on Orwell and women:

George Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, made his work possible at the cost of her own by taking on the household drudgery and typing up his writing instead of completing her master’s in psychology. But Wifedom, a remarkable new book by Anna Funder, shows there was much more to a woman who appears only fleetingly in her husband’s work and is poorly served by his biographers. Shortly before meeting Orwell she wrote a dystopian poem titled End of the Century, 1984; she suggested that he write an animal fable instead of an essay denouncing Stalinism; and she noted her husband’s “extraordinary political simplicity”. In Homage to Catalonia, Orwell mentions a

Aw, sad – Vivian Wulf had to close that petition to tell Peter Tatchell to shut up, because The Wrong People found it. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and queasy that I am one of those Wrong People – I found it, I shared it, I made fun of it. Oh dear, I seem to be making fun of it again, even now. What is wrong with me?

SEP 20, 2023 — Contrary to their bleating on social media GCs clearely love having Tatchell on air if it means trans people don’t ge a voice. He is the perfect strawman for them. They can attack trans people by attacking him and simultaneously his presence helps keep trans voices out of the

Deepities flying.

Yes, while I was a student at Rutgers.

No, it does not “deny biology.” It acknowledges when biological “facts” are choices rather than actually as the material realities they are said to describe.

No one in this space “denies biology.” They just reject the normativity of it.

— Look at This Cool Ben Shapiro Being Stabbed Tattoo (@ShapiroTattoo) September 19, 2023

Ah the normativity of it. It’s so normative (and white and cis and Republican) to say that ospreys are not mammals or that whales are not plankton. Don’t be like Norman Normative; reach for the stars; call your dick a girl-dick and live on Cloud Freedom forever.

Challenging the objectivity of descriptions of reality, yes. Absolutely.

Not

On the one hand, women standing up for women’s and lesbians’ rights. On the other hand, men (and some women?) screaming at them “You’re fucking fascists!!”

#TeamTERF: We support lesbians. #Trantifa: YOU’RE A FUCKING FASCIST! #TeamTERF: We’re also against rape culture. #Trantifa: FUCK YOU! pic.twitter.com/7WuvdE5ghc

— Kara Dansky (@KDansky) September 19, 2023

… Read the rest

Crisply said.

Nonsense, Andrea. People who identify as trans have the exact same rights everyone else has. The problem is that at least some who identify as trans seek a privilege–to require others to accept trans beliefs and to give up their rights to accommodate those beliefs. That is… https://t.co/9W8GIavuQn

— Prof. Gary Francione (@garylfrancione) September 19, 2023

The whole thing without the irritating break at the end:

“Nonsense, Andrea. People who identify as trans have the exact same rights everyone else has. The problem is that at least some who identify as trans seek a privilege–to require others to accept trans beliefs and to give up their rights to accommodate those beliefs. That is something NO other group gets. … Read the rest

Another stanza of the epic Men Are Better at Everything:

Missouri High School Crowns Male Student as “Homecoming Queen”

It’s tempting to say “Let them have that one” because wtf is a “homecoming queen” anyway? There is no homecoming king, nor are there beauty pageants for men in general, so why does this creaky antiquated “all women can do is stand around and look pretty” brand of competition keep hanging around?

But, it does keep hanging around, so it is just one more insulting theft for men to insert themselves into such contests.

A high school in Kansas City, Missouri, is facing mockery after crowning a trans-identified male student as “Homecoming Queen” this past weekend. After the news hit social

That’s funny.

Truer than he (Brand) perhaps intended – Orwell was indeed a shit to women.… Read the rest