James Beal sounds as if he’d have liked to be there.

Over bottles of wine at an Italian restaurant, they put their arms around each other and hugged like old friends.

But the Sunday lunch in west London was in fact the first time JK Rowling had met Maya Forstater, whose legal battle has had a profound effect on them both.

Friendships can form in advance of [and even without] meeting though. They can, and they make first meetings much easier than the cold open kind.

Rowling organised the lunch, at The River Café, Hammersmith, for campaigners, including the Labour MP Rosie Duffield and the philosopher Kathleen Stock, who have been targeted by the trans lobby.

As have … Read the rest

NPR has a “book review” that in a surprise twist turns out to be a polemic attacking feminist women.

In an apocalypse where a virus turns anyone with enough testosterone into a feral, cannibalistic beast, who survives?

In Gretchen Felker-Martin’s electric debut novel Manhunt, the book’s nightmare world is populated with everyone left –

That’s a confusing half-sentence. I guess it means the survivors are the ones who populate the nightmare world, unless it means everyone left wing. Anyway…

the book’s nightmare world is populated with everyone left — mostly cisgender women, but there are also plenty of non-binary people, transgender men, and transgender women.

Oh, that kind of nightmare world – where we no longer have women and men, … Read the rest

Details on Blunt’s booboo:

The Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has resigned as chair of the LGBTQ+ parliamentary group and withdrawn comments that a fellow MP found guilty of sexual assault was a victim of a “miscarriage of justice”.

After an outcry from MPs across the political spectrum, Blunt deleted the tweet defending convicted MP Imran Ahmad Khan and removed the comment from his website after an intervention from Tory whips overnight.

I’m picturing them taking turns to scold him all night long. No sleep for him!

His retraction tweet says, idiotically:

I am sorry that my defence of him has been a cause of significant upset and concern not least to victims of sexual offences.

Like saying “I’m sorry … Read the rest

Now there’s a headline:

Crispin Blunt’s defence of sex offender MP revives stench of impunity

The attempt by Crispin Blunt to taint a court’s verdict of sexual assault against the former Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan will put the apparent culture of impunity at the Palace of Westminster in the spotlight again.

While the #MeToo scandal led to major reforms to try to protect staff members and parliamentary aides from bullying and abuse, there have been multiple attempts over the past few years to cast aspersions on those seeking justice.

Three Conservative MPs in recent years have been found by courts to have committed sexual assault or rape, two of them with character references provided by fellow Conservatives. Throughout the

… Read the rest

Back atcha, “sister.”

https://twitter.com/alisonphipps/status/1513487278710181896… Read the rest

Crispin Blunt’s statement on a colleague convicted of sexually assaulting a minor has angered a lot of MPs (including Joanna Cherry).

The Tory MP Crispin Blunt is facing calls to quit as chair of a Parliamentary Group on LGBT+ rights after he defended a colleague found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Mr Blunt, who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global LGBT+ Rights, made a public intervention on Monday after Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexual assault.

Khan, who has been expelled from the Conservative Party, continues to deny wrongdoing and does not intend to stand down as an MP but is likely to face removal from office after he is sentenced.

In

… Read the rest

Remember Crispin Blunt MP? I wrote about him last August, in a post about the pressure being put on Lisa Townsend, Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner, who was being accused of “transphobia” for saying men shouldn’t be in women’s prisons. A Surrey news outlet reported:

Marc Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), came to her defence, saying: “Some services quite simply can’t function in a gender neutral way”, which Reigate MP Crispin Blunt said was an “evidence-free panicked response”.

We don’t. But too much more of this exaggerated and evidence free panicked response and we will do even more harm to trans and gender fluid people whose challenges the rest of us are

… Read the rest

Oh really.

As of today, we have become aware that the charitable status of the organisation is being questioned. In line with our usual practice where a grantee is under investigation or review this grant is suspended.

(2/2)

— The London Community Foundation (@London_cf) April 11, 2022

Can’t have LGB without the T. Not allowed.… Read the rest

More from Willoughby.

https://twitter.com/IndiaWilloughby/status/1513281198860259330 https://twitter.com/KarenPheiffer/status/1513497029527453696

Whilst it is unpleasant for women to be stalked and derided for their appearance whilst at a female lunch ,it does serve a valuable purpose of shining some sunlight on the pure misogyny of India Willoughby .

— kate commonsense (@KateCommonsense) April 11, 2022

https://twitter.com/debateisokay/status/1513293079737999364

And there is a difference between the two. Imagine!… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/stueymaco/status/1513105179180257282… Read the rest

Dominic Lawson in the Mail part 2:

…the Today programme interviewed Veronica Ivy, born male, but who as Rachel McKinnon (I know, it’s confusing) became the first transgender world track cycling champion in 2018, at an event for women in the 35 to 44 age bracket.

Wait a second, let’s talk about why it’s confusing. It’s confusing because Rhys McKinnon changed his first name to Rachel because he Became a Woomonn, but then he changed the whole thing to Veronica Ivy because ?????? I don’t think he ever said why – it appears to be just another bit of attention-getting weirdness.

Armed with the knowledge that peer-reviewed scientific papers demonstrate that, even after the testosterone reduction sporting bodies have demanded

… Read the rest

Dominic Lawson writes (in the Daily Mail, usual apologies apply) about not getting abuse for writing about the mismatch between trans demands and women’s rights:

As it turned out, I encountered no abuse at all, just a lot of mail from female readers of this newspaper to the effect that they were delighted I was speaking up for them. 

Yet I am sure that if I were a woman and had written such a column in the issue of April 8, 2019, I would indeed have been monstered on social media, especially Twitter.

Look at what has happened to J.K. Rowling, who has endured death threats and the foulest of personal abuse after she defended Maya Forstater.

And what happened … Read the rest

India Willoughby doesn’t get it.

https://twitter.com/JessDeWahls/status/1513487468586323973… Read the rest

And there’s more. Lots more.

Two ex-single mums now united for women’s rights ❤️ @RosieDuffield1 #RespectMySex pic.twitter.com/9iSXPifHa2

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 11, 2022

Thank you @jk_rowling for a fantastic day. pic.twitter.com/PYJkfMe549

— Allison Bailey (@BluskyeAllison) April 10, 2022

I had the best day yesterday. Thank you ⁦@jk_rowling⁩ for bringing together so many of the women who’ve helped sustain each other through difficult times. #SisterhoodIsPowerful. #WomenWontWheesht pic.twitter.com/1xfT9lvbNd

— Joanna Cherry KC (@joannaccherry) April 11, 2022

It was a memorable lunch yesterday with @jk_rowling snd some but by no means all of the wonderful women standing up against the new misogyny pic.twitter.com/BsbwaY0quw

— Helen Joyce (@HJoyceGender) April 11, 2022

. @jk_rowling has been such a source of strength

… Read the rest

Not jealous, no no, not at all.

Such an honour to be with all these women! Thanks @BluskyeAllison for the picture!!! @jk_rowling pic.twitter.com/IUUfjw0jk0

— GetTheLOutUK (@GetTheLOutUK) April 10, 2022

… Read the rest

Soooooooo let’s just start over from the beginning as if nobody had ever said anything over the past 5 or 10 years, that should be fun and productive.

Fascinated to know the answer to this one. Can any ‘Gender Critical’ activists name any parts of society where they think it’s ok for people to be openly trans? Political institutions? Universities? Hospitals? Schools? The media? Can you name three places trans people DO belong?

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) April 10, 2022

In comes a flood of replies and quote tweets saying “You know where: everywhere except women-only spaces.”

This I think is partly the fault of all those Guardian and BBC and Independent pieces talking about trans people and transgender activists … Read the rest

The riddle is “how are feminists like racists and anti-Semites?” and the answer is they’re not.

Feminists who fear [that] a radical overhaul of transgender laws in Scotland will threaten their rights and safety have been compared to racists and anti-Semites by a minister in Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

A woman, at that.

Lorna Slater, who was handed a ministerial post last year under the SNP’s coalition pact with the Greens, was accused of making “grossly offensive” remarks as she appeared to demand that media organisations censor critics of the Scottish Government plans.

In remarks about the trans rights debate published on Sunday, she said the BBC had “only recently stopped putting on climate deniers because they required balance”. She

… Read the rest

Meanwhile of course this is fine.

And then there's this. Today outside No.10 pic.twitter.com/g0Q0JJKFSY

— Mumma Blue ¯_(ツ)_/¯ zftg (@mummabeeblu) April 10, 2022

Do what we tell you or we will kill you.… Read the rest

The pink blue and white flag is sacred.

The University of Melbourne said they have counselled one of their academics over a ‘transphobic’ post on social media on Transgender Day of Visibility.

And the next thing we see is a trigger warning – not a warning about misogyny or anti-feminism but a warning about, of course, “transphobia.” I wonder if stories about violence against women include trigger warnings after the first paragraph.

Trigger Warning: This story has details of a transphobic post, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.

Any numbers for … Read the rest

Last week Grace Lavery, this week Veronica Ivy.

@EmmaSPearce you have invited Veronica Ivy onto @BBCWomansHour next week. Are you aware that Ivy is on record saying women should “die in a grease fire”, and also spoke outright lies on @BBCr4today today? You might want to get details from @ithompsonfdn @coachblade @AlisonSydor

— Mara Yamauchi (@mara_yamauchi) April 9, 2022

Now, maybe the idea is to give these creepy misogynist men the rope to hang themselves with, but is it worth it? And maybe that isn’t the idea, maybe the idea is just provocative, name recognition, noise. Rhys McKinnon is a loathsome, sadistic individual who relishes cheating women out of opportunities to race and medals. It’s not really cute to reward … Read the rest