Steven Shaviro, a professor of English at Wayne State University, has a modest proposal.

So here is what I think about free speech on campus. Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.

When right-wing groups invite such speakers to campus, it is precisely because they want to provoke an incident that discredits the left, and gives more publicity and validation to these reprehensible views than they could otherwise attain. The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes;

… Read the rest

Meanwhile, at the Arts Council…

The Arts Council England created a “toxic” culture of “fear” for staff who dared to question transgender views, a senior grant officer has said as she accuses the charity of harassment and victimisation.

Denise Fahmy claims Britain’s biggest arts quango risked “closing down free speech” after a grant was withdrawn from a charity that campaigns exclusively for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights.

Ms Fahmy, 54, who has worked for 15 years as an Arts Council England (ACE) grant officer, says she was targeted after she questioned why £9,000 of funding was withdrawn from LGB Alliance.

That’s not just transgender views, it’s actions. Homophobic actions at that.

She’s quit but she’s taking them … Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot on Not letting women speak.

I know some women who were there, I was seriously worried. They are safe, though! My friend spotted there was going to be violence and managed to take her group away from the crowd before it happened.

One of her friends was beaten, though. I found myself typing “thankfully it was not serious” and while I’m indeed thankful it’s not serious, it appals me that that’s the sort of thing I have to be thankful for.

She reports:

A 70 year old woman being punched in the face.

A child being pushed over so that a trans rights activist could scream more closely in another woman’s face

Two women … Read the rest

The Guardian reportage is predictably disgusting.

The anti-trans activist known as Posie Parker has cancelled further events and reportedly left New Zealand after chaotic and at times violent protests ended her planned appearance in Auckland.

The label “anti-trans” is of course intended to make readers think she’s a big meanie to trans people. She’s not “anti-trans”; she’s opposed to the ideology that says men are women if they say they are, and she’s in favor of women’s rights. She defends women’s rights against the hostility and usurpation of trans ideology.

Keen-Minshull’s appearance in New Zealand had been highly controversial before her arrival. An earlier appearance in Australia had been attended and supported by white supremacist groups, who marched

… Read the rest

The guy who dumped tomato sauce or soup or whatever it was on KJK brags about it:

https://twitter.com/ElianaRubashkyn/status/1639499718945574913

This guy:

@ElianaRubashkyn the man that attacked kellie.. he should be charged pic.twitter.com/PI3rgsN1ll

— daz (@darrenkett2) March 25, 2023

Extra added dudely hatred of women:

https://twitter.com/ElianaRubashkyn/status/1639582734250299393… Read the rest

Of course he did.

https://twitter.com/IndiaWilloughby/status/1639422873008844801… Read the rest

How the New Zealand Herald reported it:

More than 2000 counter-protesters – including one armed with a bottle of tomato soup – have seen British anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aborting her central Auckland rally.

How it should have reported it:

More than 2000 counter-protesters made so much noise and were so violent that women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was forced to cancel her central Auckland rally.

It does a little better in para 3:

In ugly scenes Keen-Minshull – who was in the country as part of her Let Women Speak tour aimed to support women’s rights – was drowned out by protesters galvanised by the LGBTQIA+ community.

As she was standing on the rotunda stage at Albert Park

… Read the rest

Well. It seems that in Auckland, there was such a huge loud screaming mob that KJK wasn’t able to say anything, and was at one point afraid she and the people around her were going to be crushed to death.

In Auckland – henceforth to be known as Misogynistic Pimple on the Arse of the World Where Women's Rights Go to Die – #LetWomenSpeak protestors punched, assaulted and nearly crushed to death, while police fails to keep insane misogynistic mob at bay. https://t.co/pFkdm5JoJq

— la scapigliata (@lascapigliata8) March 24, 2023

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Sastra on On the cusp of instantiating the gender cult (by Der Durchwanderer).

It’s interesting that a “right to personal honor” is explicitly spelled out here, because I’ve been reading arguments that the Honor Culture of the past shares this concern with the emerging Culture of Victimhood. When a focus on public reputation is combined with a sensitivity to slights and a conviction that these must be avenged, the Enlightenment’s belief that humans have inherent dignity and a reasonable person ignores insults as beneath them loses ground. We return to the past — though with one significant difference.

In Honor Cultures, it was up to the person insulted to take revenge, usually through violence. The Culture … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Der Durchwanderer on People who menstruate.

(Are we quite sure “menstruate” shouldn’t be “peoplestruate”? Have we researched it?)

You jest, but I recently saw a campaign poster for the city state of Bremen with the Social Democrats campaigning “für Bremen und Brewomen”. I’m sure it won’t be long before the party is reeducated to add more nonsense to the slogan. Perhaps in the next election they’ll be “für Bremenschen”, which would at least be a fully German pun (unless of course they fear being seen as right-wing extremists for using German wordplay in Germany).

In the meantime, you can rest assured that in Germany, we’re allowed to use the word “woman” — indeed we may … Read the rest

Trump is inciting violence again.

Over on Truth Social, Trump indicates there could be “potential death and destruction” if he is charged in the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into hush money payments. pic.twitter.com/rI3fVllvdM

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 24, 2023

The Post comments:

The posting after midnight on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, was his latest — and most explicit — allusion to violence that could follow an indictment stemming from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), whom Trump called a “degenerate psychopath.”

Trump wrote: “What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and

… Read the rest

The author of the article, Jo Faragher, is careful to avoid saying “women,” but the people she he they quotes not so much.

Broadcaster Channel 4 has launched a period policy with the support of its gender equality employee network, 4Womxn.

The company said the policy would help employees who experience difficulties with their periods, particularly those who experience health conditions such as endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and may be struggling to manage their symptoms at work.

As part of the policy, employees will be able to access flexible working arrangements, a working environment assessment, free period products in the office, and a microwaveable wheat bag to ease painful symptoms. It will also offer a quiet room

… Read the rest

Trump having a normal one.

Over on Truth Social, Trump indicates there could be “potential death and destruction” if he is charged in the Manhattan district attorney’s probe into hush money payments. pic.twitter.com/rI3fVllvdM

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 24, 2023

… Read the rest

All this angst and hand-wringing and mollification over something that should never have been an issue in the first place.

World Athletics has voted to ban transgender women from elite female competitions if they have undergone male puberty, in a decision the governing body said had been taken to “protect the future of the female category”.

Speaking after the ruling, which comes into effect on 31 March, the World Athletics president, Seb Coe, accepted that the decision would be contentious but said his sport had been guided by the “overarching principle” of fairness, as well as the science around physical performance and male advantage.

As it should have been all along. “Males not allowed in female competitions” – that shouldn’t … Read the rest

The doctor of marketing has thought of an exciting new angle.

One thing I have noticed about the anti-trans crowd is that they seem to be almost entirely middle aged and older. They’re closed minded and don’t accept the world changing around them. They can’t keep up. They’re backward. I have hope younger generations aren’t so hateful.

— Victoria Fielding (@DrVicFielding) March 22, 2023

That’s the ticket! Women over 35 are hags and witches! What an original and perceptive new insight.

… Read the rest

Jo Bartosch in The Critic on the mobbing of Moira Deeming:

Deeming is facing a vote to have her removed from the Liberal Party for “organising, promoting and attending” a Standing for Women (SfW) rally that was gatecrashed by far-right extremists. In a statement following the event, Deeming said neither she nor SfW had done anything wrong, and that the “event was attended by Muslims, Christians, Atheists and members of the Greens, Labor, LDP and Liberal Parties”.

SfW organise events in countries around the world with the aim of encouraging women to talk freely about the impact of transgender activism on their lives. The gatecrashers at the SfW rally in Melbourne were later identified as members of the National Socialist Network. Dressed in black,

… Read the rest

The smug self-admiration of Billy Bragg is a sight to behold.

Because I’m in the business of calling out hate merchants, not sitting down with them while they lecture me on the error of my ways.

— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) March 24, 2023

He says, merching hatred of women as hard as he can.… Read the rest

Call me crazy but I kind of think schools should try to teach things that are true as opposed to made-up wacky fantasy.

Scottish children as young as 11 are being taught in school that they are “queer” if they do not yet know their sexual orientation, it has emerged.

So….infants are queer, babies are queer, toddlers are queer. That doesn’t sound very true.

Teaching materials at Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh’s top state school, also claim that there are three biological sexes and suggest that highly controversial concepts around sex and gender are facts.

Highly controversial, and new, and derived from fashion and nagging rather than biology.

The Boroughmuir High presentation states that “queer” is a term “many people

… Read the rest

The Independent reports:

World Athletics has banned trans women from international competition, Sebastian Coe has confirmed.

That is, World Athletics has banned men from international competition. You’d think it would go without saying. If it’s women’s, it’s not men’s.

The governing body has opted to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes and those with differences in sex development (DSD) from female competition if they have gone through male puberty.

…

Lord Coe, president of World Athletics, has confirmed the “difficult” decision to change its rules starting on 31 March.

“Difficult” only because of tons of senseless pressure. I actually remember when everyone took it for granted that things for women were for women.

“The decision that the council made is a

… Read the rest

Starmer is perhaps reconsidering.

Sir Keir Starmer signalled a climbdown on Labour’s transgender stance on Thursday as he said lessons have to be learned from Scotland.

…

Sir Keir had previously vowed to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow trans people to self-identify, but appeared to back away from the pledge during a press conference in Stoke-on-Trent.

Sir Keir told reporters: “I think that if we reflect on what’s happened in Scotland, the lesson I take from that is that if you’re going to make reforms, you have to carry the public with you.”

But who says they are reforms? Changes aren’t automatically reforms. If you’re going to make “reforms” that trash women’s rights, you don’t have … Read the rest