Blimey.

Academics have demanded an apology from the London School of Economics (LSE) over what it claims is a “hostile environment” for students and staff with gender-critical views.

A group of leading scholars have written an open letter condemning an “ideological cabal” at the Russell Group university’s gender studies department – the largest in the UK.

The letter was sent from academics from the Open University Gender Critical Research Network (OUGCRN). The group brings together a range of academics and scholars who share a common interest “in exploring how sexed bodies come to matter in their respective research fields”.  The network also shares a “commitment to ensuring that a space within academia is kept open for rigorous exploration

Biologist Luana Maroja on An Existential Threat to Doing Good Science:

The restriction of academic freedom comes in two forms: what we teach and what we research.

Let’s start with teaching. I need to emphasize that this is not hypothetical. The censorious, fearful climate is already affecting the content of what we teach.

One of the most fundamental rules of biology from plants to humans is that the sexes are defined by the size of their gametes—that is, their reproductive cells. Large gametes occur in females; small gametes in males. In humans, an egg is 10 million times bigger than a sperm. There is zero overlap. It is a full binary. 

But in some biology 101 classes, teachers are

Society of Authors boffin continuing to win friends and admiration.

That’s your choice, Simon. But the @Soc_of_Authors is run by its members, not some rando on Twitter.

— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) November 8, 2022

… Read the rest

Times Higher Ed reports:

Mathematics degrees in the UK are being “unnecessarily politicised” because of expectations that lecturers decolonise the curriculum, leading academics claim.

Decolonize math? I can see decolonizing a lot of things, but math?

A letter shared with Times Higher Education accuses the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) of trying to mandate a “narrowly skewed perspective on the history of mathematics” via its new subject benchmark instead of giving academics the freedom to design courses as they see fit.

Are we talking the history of math, or math itself? I can see decolonizing the first, but not the second.

The benchmark statement for mathematics, statistics and operational research (MSOR) – a document intended to establish a common understanding

This is revolting.

This picture of world leaders discussing *our* future was taken yesterday at #COP27.

There's a reason why we Women go on fighting for our voices, needs & realities to be heard.

It's 2022.

We're STILL here.

We go on until these scales of power change. #SHEchangesclimate pic.twitter.com/JQixXpaGZ3

— onjali rauf (@OnjaliRauf) November 8, 2022

I can find only three women, stuck way off in a back corner. One is the Italian PM according to a reply.… Read the rest

The net tightens.

Writers in Scotland have warned that a code of conduct imposed by a national book charity threatens to infringe on the free speech of authors and poets who disagree with “gender identity theory”.

The Scottish Book Trust sent the code to 600 writers on its Live Literature register, advising that they must sign up in order to keep their listing. Inclusion on the register is essential for writers, poets and spoken-word artists who want to earn a living from public events in schools and libraries.

It’s a new version of the code, and it includes the threat that the trust “will not tolerate bigotry and transphobia.” Since the censorious word “transphobia” can mean simply saying men … Read the rest

Another entry for the Encyclopedia of Pointless Groveling: The Jam Jar Bristol posts an apology to The Trans Communinny on Facebook and then issues a second apology a week later saying the first one wasn’t groveling enough.

The Jam Jar is “an independent arts venue.” What they’re apologizing for is that time a bunch of trans activists bullied and threatened a group of non-submissive feminist women, blocking them on a staircase and screaming in their faces.

The first apology starts with this:

We apologise for how long it has taken us to publicly address the concerns of the Trans community regarding an event in April 2018 organised by a group with controversial views. The panel discussed issues affecting trans people,

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on “Updating”.

…but the general public are not at all informed about the issues.

And if they rely on mainstream media to inform them, good luck with that. Their style guides and codes of conduct are preventing them from reporting honestly.

Asked “do you support giving trans people rights?” they say yes, of course. Asked “should biological men who claim to be women compete in female sports, use female changing rooms, have open access to women’s refuges?” they say no, don’t be daft.

Showing the importance of framing what little debate there is, and clarity of language. If the media manage to wake up and smell the lipstick, and start doing … Read the rest

How ugly.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley thinks that America should deport Senator Raphael Warnock. It’s not clear where exactly she wants to deport him to, given that he was born in Savannah, Georgia.

Haley called for the deportation of Georgia’s first Black senator at a rally in Hiram, Georgia on Sunday, as she stumped for Warnock’s Republican challenger, Herschel Walker.

“Legal immigrants are more patriotic than the leftists these days,” she said. “They worked to come into America and they love America. They want the laws followed in America. So the only person we need to make sure we deport is Warnock.”

Hur hur. A “joke,” no doubt, in the style of the former guy, … Read the rest

I think I see a bit of tension looming. The Guardian tells us:

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has invested £1m in a new education toolkit, which is to be made available to all secondary schools in the capital to help pupils recognise and call out sexist and misogynistic behaviour.

Really!? That’s a thing? Those are things? Sexism and misogyny exist?

“We must put the onus of responsibility on men and boys to change the way they perceive, treat and talk about women if we are going to truly fix the problem of violence against women and girls and build a safer, fairer London for everyone,” said Khan.

I’ll be darned.

But…what if the boys all … Read the rest

Back in the old days, 40 years ago or so, scientists and journalists were cautious in talking about climate change. Didn’t want to be seen as cranks and alarmists doncha know. Those days are over.

More and more scientists are now admitting publicly that they are scared by the recent climate extremes, such as the floods in Pakistan and west Africa, the droughts and heatwaves in Europe and east Africa, and the rampant ice melt at the poles.

That is not because an increase in extremes was not predicted. It was always high on the list of concerns alongside longer-term issues such as sea level rise. It is the suddenness and ferocity of recent events that is alarming researchers,

Which counts, reality or dogma?

The hearing continues:

MG: In LGBAs own evidence they are forced to push back on othodoxy that they disagree with. We note that CC was satisfied that LGBA was engaged in political purposes but were ancillary. MM do not have to prove that CC was wrong. 

CC view is that more evidence has been made available since decision. It is clear that LGBA has purposes that are political. These are not ancillary. LGBA was established for lobbying and political purposes. They suggested investigation against Stonewall. It is clear beyond doubt that they want to change policies that are relevant to GC beliefs. BJ said in this tribunal that they were building an org that

The Mermaids-LGB Alliance hearing resumed today.

They talk about political versus charitable, and the complexities of distinguishing between them.

MG: LGBA say gender is a construct. One needs to go beyond articles on any footing. What other material is admissable? Who is the audience to whom the article is addressed? [Bev Jackson and Kate Harris] contacted “stroppy” people re formation of LGBA.

GC views – no comprehensive definition but says sex is immutable. So people should be described with ref to their sex so male or male-bodied. Says GI orgs are homophobic. Also a view that LGB rights are not same as GI rights. The effect is to challenge or be against trans rights.

Who is the audience to

Erase erase erase, don’t stop until every last trace is gone.

The Midwifery Council of NZ is updating its Midwifery Scope of Practice guidance for midwives to entirely remove the words ‘mother’ and ‘woman’.

So then it will have to be the Midpersonry Council of NZ, yes? No point in deleting “mother” and “woman” but leaving “wife.” Husbandry, like “man” and “father,” will continue as before.

With midwifery arguably the most woman-centred and mother-centred of all health professions, [Dr Sarah] Donovan says clarification is needed on what evidence base and advice underpinned the Midwifery Council’s decision to remove these words entirely. The words ‘wahine’ and ‘māmā’, used almost universally in other maternity care material in New Zealand are also

What are the nations going to be talking about in Sharm El-Sheikh this week? Payments due.

Last year’s UN climate conference in Glasgow delivered a host of pledges on emissions cuts, finance, net zero, forest protection and more.

Yay pledges! Unless…they haven’t been carried out?

Egypt says their conference will be about implementing these pledges.

What that really means is it will be all about cash, and specifically getting wealthy nations to come good on their promises of finance to help the developing world tackle climate change.

So expect the main battle lines to be between the north and south, between rich and poor nations.

And expect the rich nations to do the least they can possibly get away with. … Read the rest

The second contributor to the Guardian’s civil war in the US roundup is Stephen Marche, a Canadian novelist and essayist.

One of the surest markers of incipient civil war in other countries is the legal system devolving from a non-partisan, truly national institution to a spoil of partisan war. That has already happened in the US.

The overturning of Roe v Wade, in June, was both a symptom of the new American divisiveness and a cause of its spread. The Dobbs decision (in which the supreme court held that the US constitution does not confer the right to abortion) took the status of women in the US and dropped it like a plate-glass window from a great height. It

In the Guardian three scholars tell us how a civil war could unfold in the US. The first is Barbara F. Walter, political scientist and author of How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them. She starts by pointing out that a second civil war here won’t resemble the first.

If a second civil war breaks out in the US, it will be a guerrilla war fought by multiple small militias spread around the country. Their targets will be civilians – mainly minority groups, opposition leaders and federal employees. Judges will be assassinated, Democrats and moderate Republicans will be jailed on bogus charges, black churches and synagogues bombed, pedestrians picked off by snipers in city streets, and

I found this pretty exhilarating. (Too exhilarating: I couldn’t sleep afterwards.) It’s streaming until December 2.

About

… Read the rest

They are if they say they are. No really.

A notorious transgender pedophile in Scotland was forced out of his house on October 19 following a citizen’s protest against his presence in a public housing complex in which many children resided.

Katie Dolatowski, 22, a trans-identified male, appeared in Kirkcaldy Sheriff’s Court on October 18 after breaching a probation condition which required Dolatowski [to] inform police of his address changes. Dolatowski is a registered sex offender, and his conditions stem from two incidents involving young girls.

On February 8th, 2018, Dolatowski was caught filming a 12-year-old girl in a women’s bathroom at an Asda supermarket in Fife, Scotland. Dolatowski was with a care aide using the women’s restroom and

Remember Dr Carol Hay? The philosophy academic who mourned the tragic plight of trans women in Ukraine while cheerfully calling actual women “terfs”? She’s still busy living her definition of feminism as a movement for men who call themselves women.

"Who counts as a woman?" is reprinted in this excellent new collection. #byeTERFs https://t.co/trd6Y48BhR

— Carol Hay (@DrCarolHay) October 27, 2022

“Feminist professor of philosophy” her Twitter bio calls her. Yes it’s so feminist to welcome men into feminism, to center men in feminism, and to call feminist women who object rude names.

If 30-plus years of intersectional feminism has taught us anything, it’s that this is precisely the move that feminists need to stop making.

— Carol Hay (@DrCarolHay)