“Inclusive” sport in Ireland:
https://twitter.com/JamesSharmanGY/status/1555683838092795906… Read the restAll entries by this author
Guest post: The problem is incremental
Aug 6th, 2022 9:07 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Never going back.
I have been thinking a lot about intellectually compelling problems vs. emotionally compelling problems lately: Considering that climate change – along with the strongly interlinked problem of ocean acidification, the mass-extinction of species, and the general toll the human economy is taking on ecosystems and the natural world – is the most dire existential emergency our species has ever faced, many have struggled to explain why – despite constant claims of “alarmism” and “hysteria” – there isn’t more alarm and public outrage around the issue.
The most obvious answer, and usually the first one that comes to mind – is that tackling the problem puts you on a direct … Read the rest
Olympic ignoring of women
Aug 6th, 2022 8:41 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Guardian does a long conversation with athlete and “LGBTQ+” activist Tom Daley:
Isn’t part of the problem that the LGBTQ+ community is at war with itself over trans rights? The level of fury between trans rights activists and gender-critical feminists astonishes me, I say. Daley nods, and says it’s dangerous. “The LGBT community is so fractured right now over certain issues. And that’s when the right are going to get us. They’re going to try to break us down. And if you think they’re just going to take away trans people’s rights, you’re wrong. It’s going to go much further than that, and we have to stick together as an LGBTQIA+ community to stop that happening.”
But it … Read the rest
A significant margin of victory
Aug 6th, 2022 7:39 am | By Ophelia BensonAn Irish “LGBTQ+ Inclusive” football team beat out the female competition in the 2022 Junior J Shield Final, claiming a significant margin of victory in every placing that many attribute to the fact a biological male was on the team.
For “many” read “all,” even if some of them wouldn’t admit it. Yes, Virginia, teams that are “inclusive” of males are going to beat the female competition.
Na Gaeil Aeracha, which bills itself as Ireland’s “first explicitly LGBTQ+ inclusive” football club was forced to lock down its social media accounts following backlash as sport fans noticed one of the players appeared to be an older man.
All “LGBTQ+ inclusive” means in this … Read the rest
Guest post: What are the keystone gender norms?
Aug 5th, 2022 5:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Laurent on Scoop: more men running for office!
We’re all non-binary.
I keep struggling with gender stereotypes themselves, and the whole issue clearly doesn’t clarify at all.
I really wonder what are the keystone gender norms that apply to the binary as a general inalienable truth, that almost everyone would acknowledge is actually what historically defines gender at core and still applies mostwhere, if possible independently of secondary cultural norms.
What I get is that it is not about lifestyle at all.
Men -. I was about to write down “none”, but admittedly there is one norm that became quite exceptional but may make an unexpected come-back in the future: obligation to go to war and … Read the rest
$49.3 million
Aug 5th, 2022 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonIn Alex Jones news: $45.2 million in punitive damages.
Jones spent years telling his audience that one of the worst school shootings in American history was a hoax. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, who brought the charges against Jones, told the court how he made their lives a “living hell” after Jesse, their 6-year-old son, was gunned down in the attack.
“I can’t even describe the last nine-and-a-half years,” Heslin said. “The living hell that I and others have had to endure because of the recklessness and negligence of Alex Jones.”
Not to mention the brutality and cruelty and total lack of empathy.… Read the rest
Looking forward to welcoming
Aug 5th, 2022 4:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonHoo-boy…“unethical” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Researchers are openly recruiting trans athletes who *want* to show a loss of performance. This breaks every rule in the study book.
"If you feel unjust about the recent policies, why not provide your data to influence the next policy making decisions"https://t.co/TqjHZGnMLW
— FairPlayForWomen (@fairplaywomen) August 5, 2022
FPFW:
… Read the restThere are a couple of studies being done in British universities in an attempt to prove that “transition” from male to female reduces the male performance advantage enough to make it fair for those post-pubertal adult males to play and compete in women’s sport. It’s known that testosterone suppression reduces oxygen-carrying capacity, which reduces athletic performance a bit, though it’s
Watching the little girls undress
Aug 5th, 2022 10:05 am | By Ophelia BensonA senior woman who expressed discomfort regarding a trans-identified male in the women’s changing room at her local pool has been banned from using the facilities she frequented for over three decades. Julie Jaman, 80, had been a guest at the YMCA-run Mountain View community pool in her small town of Port Townsend, Washington for over 35 years.
Interrupting for a moment to say I know that small town. It’s on the Olympic Peninsula, the remainder of the state west of Seattle and Puget Sound; it’s on a bluff overlooking the water and features a lot of gorgeous Queen Anne-style Victorian houses. It’s a lovely place.
… Read the restSpeaking to Reduxx, Jaman revealed that on
Their aim is to break the taboo
Aug 5th, 2022 9:08 am | By Ophelia BensonYoung people who bleed across Wales? What do they do, open a vein in Fishguard and march bleeding all the way to Abergavenny?
Haha, silly me, no, they mean “people” all over Wales who shed their uterine linings once a month.
Our aim is to break the taboo around periods by encouraging conversation on one of the most normal, natural topics that half the world’s population experience.
Which half? Which half which half which half which half which half which half?
Of course they don’t say. Funny that they want to break one taboo by instituting another.
… Read the restWe’re immensely proud that Bloody Brilliant was created for the young people of Wales by the young people of Wales.
Following
Beware of Ctrl+H
Aug 5th, 2022 8:38 am | By Ophelia BensonLet’s see…off the top of my head rather than looking in a dictionary…
-fer
-late
-ition
-parent (that pun is the title of a Netflix show of course)
-cendent
-itory
Quite a few words to render meaningless.
At first I thought it was a typo, but @GuardianAus is literally clipping the letters 'trans' from its tweets. pic.twitter.com/sWiJMKeTTC
— Stuart Palmer (@s_palm) August 4, 2022
And then there's the American Family Association which changed every occurrence of “gay”, even when used as someone’s surname… a report on athlete Tyson Gay ended up with the headline “Homosexual eases into 100m final at Olympic trials”
— Scott Matthewman (@scottm) August 4, 2022
H/t soogeeoh… Read the rest
Guest post: Snow is AWOL
Aug 5th, 2022 5:32 am | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Never going back.
The situation is much the same in south-eastern Norway. For the first time ever this year the trusted spring flood due to snowmelt in the second half of May has been completely absent due to record-low levels of snow in the mountains. Combine that with the driest summer on record, and it’s becoming a major challenge for hydropower companies such as the one I’m working in to keep our power plants running. To the end consumers this has the effect of driving the already economy-breaking energy prices even further up. Factor in the European over-reliance on Russian gas that is no longer available, and we’re facing the real prospect … Read the rest
The millions of others
Aug 5th, 2022 5:05 am | By Ophelia BensonAmnesty International is even dumber than I thought – or its social media intern is, but that’s the same thing, because what is Amnesty doing letting a stupid clueless woman-hating child handle its social media?
It's not just women who can become pregnant. It's women, it's girls, and it's the millions of others who can become pregnant.
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) June 26, 2022
It’s millions of men who can become pregnant.
Who knew?… Read the rest
Never going back
Aug 5th, 2022 3:44 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Western US is an empire built on snow. And that snow is vanishing.
Since most of the region gets little rain in the summer, even in good years, its bustling cities and bountiful farms all hinge on fall and winter snow settling in the mountains before slowly melting into rivers and reservoirs. That snowmelt, often traveling hundreds of miles from mountain top to tap, sustains the booming desert communities of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City — even coastal Los Angeles and San Francisco. A civilization of more than 76 million people, home to Silicon Valley and Hollywood alike, relies on snow.
Without the snow, it’s mostly desert.
… Read the rest
Dr Selfabsorption
Aug 5th, 2022 3:08 am | By Ophelia BensonIt seems I missed new jokes from Jason Stanley during my exile from internet privilege.
https://twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1555176677835251712Please, sir, tell us more about yourself.
Oh look, he does!
https://twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1555405383841218560But for the chef’s kiss –
https://twitter.com/jasonintrator/status/1555350866286333952… Read the restInfoDefeats
Aug 4th, 2022 6:39 pm | By Ophelia BensonCouldn’t happen to a more deserving guy.
… Read the restRight-wing talk show host Alex Jones will have to pay the parents of a Sandy Hook shooting victim a little more than $4 million in compensatory damages, a jury decided Thursday, capping a stunning and dramatic case that showcased for the public the real-world harm inflicted by viral conspiracy theories.
…
A separate, shorter trial during which punitive damages will be discussed is now expected. Punitive damages are awarded when the court finds the defendant’s behavior to be especially offensive.
…
“Neil and Scarlett are thrilled with the result and look forward to putting Mr. Jones’ money to good use,” Bankston added. “Mr Jones on the other hand will not sleep easy
Message in a bottle
Aug 4th, 2022 5:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonSorry! Internet torture hell. I think it’s been fixed now…… Read the rest
Communities that face barriers
Aug 3rd, 2022 1:19 am | By Ophelia BensonInteresting ploy in this one – mention racism but scrupulously refrain from mentioning sexism…when talking about an issue that is precisely about women and not men.
We can talk about racism and “discrimination”…but not sexism or discrimination against specifically women. We can’t ever ever ever talk about women and injustice against women. That would be transphobic.… Read the rest
“We”
Aug 3rd, 2022 1:09 am | By Ophelia BensonBut what it won’t do is say the word “women.”
Who? Who is “we”? Who is “us”? Whose bodies are we talking about? Everyone’s? What kind of sexual and reproductive health care are we talking about?
It’s a mystery.
See also:
… Read the restI don’t agree
Aug 2nd, 2022 5:28 pm | By Ophelia BensonNo.
Not forcing “someone”: forcing a woman.
Not “their” will: her will.
Not “Americans”: American women.
NOT PREGNANT PERSON. JUST STOP.… Read the rest
Much more
Aug 2nd, 2022 5:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonWell obviously. Nobody is “just their genitals.” That would be weird. Imagine it, just millions and millions of genitals and nothing else. They couldn’t even walk around, because no legs (this goes for the male variety too). No walking, no talking, no ballet, no eating a cheeseburger – nothing. Just genitals. You may be thinking well at least it would be sexy, but would it? Would it? When there’s absolutely nothing else? No brain, no eyes, no ears, no feet? I say no.… Read the rest
