Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Mission creep creeps again.

YNnB? #20

Exactly, it’s roughly analogous to saying “I am entitled to get for free what you have to pay for”.

If they had better arguments, they would use them.

Indeed, and as you have correctly pointed out several times already, if they had any real examples of feminists stirring up “hate” against trans people, denying their “rights”, advocating “violence” etc. they would use it for everything it was worth. It should be a huge red flag to anyone when an ideological pressure group keeps making such outrageous accusations without providing any specifics apart from the words that they themselves put into the mouths of their opponents (like … Read the rest

Abigail Shrier has a couple of thoughts on the subject.

Here's how @ScienceBasedMed works:
1) Publish positive book review of a controversial book, written by a well-published physician
2) Editors deluged w emails from angry activists
3) Editors panic & delete review
4) Editors assert that they will "never cave to outside pressure." pic.twitter.com/Akm16rMO5t

— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) June 18, 2021

Here is the editor at @ScienceBasedMed who retracted Dr. Harriet Hall's favorable review of my book, claiming her review "was below the minimal acceptable standard for SBM."

Yes, clearly, they're very serious about Science at SBM.

"OK Karen." pic.twitter.com/fFkyfJFCm3

— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) June 18, 2021

Ok, Karen with eyeroll and facepalm is very science.… Read the rest

The feud widens.

So a certain prominent Skeptic has claimed that we at @ScienceBasedMed "have long openly displayed a far-left progressive political bias that has compromised their otherwise stellar reputation as a trustworthy source." Yet he cannot give any concrete examples from SBM.

— David Gorski, MD, PhD (@gorskon) June 18, 2021

The certain prominent skeptic is Michael Shermer.

https://twitter.com/michaelshermer/status/1405614760368902150

Harriet Hall’s review is in the Skeptic reading room.

To be honest I can kind of see why they might have wanted some tweaking even if they agreed with the content. Hall doesn’t always make it clear whether she’s summarizing the book or offering her own generalizations. I don’t usually read SBM (not for any particular reason, I just … Read the rest

David Gorski’s statement on why he retracted Harriet Hall’s review of Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage:

After careful review, the editors of SBM decided to retract this book review. Because we allow trusted authors to publish without prior review for the sake of efficiency and timeliness, occasionally corrections need to be made post-publication. In this case we felt there were too many issues with the treatment of the relevant science, and leaving the article up would not be appropriate given the standards of SBM.

Already there are false accusations that this move was motivated by pressure from readers. This is not the case. SBM had and never will cave to outside pressure. We have endured a great extent of

… Read the rest

Suzanne Moore on the RA shop v Jess DeWahls:

Her work is desirable and sold in the shop of a prestigious museum. Yet her thoughts which she sometimes blogs about, these terrible thoughts mean that now this work must be banned from the museum’s gift shop because it “conflicts” with the values of “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion” that the institution stands for.

You know, I would have thought that the values the institution stands for are values that relate to art. It’s not a social work institution or a political institution, it’s an artistic institution. There are basic, background values that we generally assume public institutions adhere to, like not barring The Wrong Kind of People, but they’re basic … Read the rest

It’s really extraordinary. That tweet has been sitting there since January 4 (with replies turned off, gee I wonder why). Why does Twitter permanently ban women who reject trans dogma while leaving a machete threat alone?… Read the rest

On the one hand and on the other hand –

Today:

https://twitter.com/LGBTfdn/status/1405559049203163137

Six months ago:

https://twitter.com/azemezi/status/1346268453221658624

People who will pick up machetes to chop up Adichie & Rowling – and the LGBT Foundation is whining about non-existent “transphobia.”… Read the rest

Hmm.

Science shows using correct pronouns can impact trans people’s health by significantly reducing their risk of depression and suicide. This is one of many reasons why we have been working to improve our product for trans and non-binary customers. Learn more https://t.co/QAtKwHY0fp pic.twitter.com/rdZ26jl4xS

— 23andMe (@23andMe) June 15, 2021

If people are “at risk of depression and suicide” because of pronouns then their problems go way deeper than pronouns.

Also what does this have to do with genetic testing?… Read the rest

Even…wait for it…Science-based Medicine.

Two days ago:

This is a very welcome, honest and brave review by Harriet Hall at @ScienceBasedMed on @AbigailShrier ‘s book Irreversible Damage. I am quite sure a lot of her colleagues on this site will not be happy. https://t.co/eCvtDopTpC

— Andy (@lecanardnoir) June 15, 2021

Yesterday:

https://twitter.com/dvank_van/status/1405431198160199686

SBM:

Book Review: Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, by Abigail Shrier

According to Harriet Hall, Abigail Shrier’s book describes a disturbing trend: an increasing number of adolescent girls who suddenly self-identify as transgender and demand puberty blockers and gender surgeries. We have no data on how many of them will suffer irreversible damage and regret their decision, and it appears that at least

… Read the rest

Oh look, the Royal Academy wants us to draw something we would think but not say.

All this week #RASketchClub tutor Jake Garfield is setting our #RADailyDoodle challenges.

Day 3: "Draw something you would think but not say."

— Royal Academy (@royalacademy) June 16, 2021

People are hastening to oblige.

#RADailyDoodle I also doodled Royal Academician Georg Baselitz telling a group of female artists that “women can’t paint”.

Again, you seem happy with this belief of his, but not with women defending their sex-based rights. Why is that? pic.twitter.com/ICJMgkuOEL

— Bill Moon (@BigBillMoon) June 17, 2021

I hope you like my contribution. pic.twitter.com/jXSuA6ADp7

— Delyth Rennie (@Lammysaurus) June 17, 2021

https://twitter.com/context_outside/status/1405484801658953736

#IStandWithJessDeWahls pic.twitter.com/ap2Q88iwse

— Rachel Edney: Thoroughly Indecent Woman (@redney71)

… Read the rest

The Telegraph reports:

The Royal Academy of Arts has pulled an artist’s work from its gift shop following claims she expressed “transphobic” views.

And it has issued a crawling apology.

Jess de Wahls was found to be in “conflict” with the values of the institution over opinions expressed in a 2019 blog [post] criticising “gender identity ideology” and the LGBT charity Stonewall.

Really. So the Royal Academy of Arts requires total agreement with everything an artist is known to have said or written or embroidered before they sell that artist’s work in its gift shop? Really? It must take weeks to go through it all for just one artist, so how do they keep up?

No, of course … Read the rest

Here’s how it’s done.

https://twitter.com/aptstitches/status/1405171920534913025

“gina” is an embroidery artist too, but a more obscure one. I’m sure that has nothing to do with this bullying attempt to destroy someone else’s work.… Read the rest

The stupid is out of control.

An apology regarding transphobia and a speaker listed for the 'It's Up To Us' rally on June 19. https://t.co/VHjbGsJ2Ee

— Labour Nexus (@NexusLabour) June 16, 2021

Look look look we’re apologizing please don’t hurt us please please please

THE APOLOGETIC APOLOGIZING APOLOGY

Written by Kerry Stapleton – Chair of Labour Nexus.

Earlier this evening, Labour Nexus messed up, and we announced that a transphobic Labour councillor would be speaking at our rally. We are sorry. The rally organisation team only vetted Laurie three weeks before we announced that he would be speaking before he had outed himself as a transphobe and did not check his timeline again before linking to his profile.

Laurie? Who … Read the rest

Another target selected.

.@royalacademy this is absolutely craven. @JessDeWahls is a brilliant artist and a proud, brave feminist. Which other female artists will you banish for being the wrong type of feminist? Who’s next for the stocks?

Women won’t forget this.

I stand with Jess. pic.twitter.com/1xotGjP0zq

— Girls To The Front (@obsolete__units) June 16, 2021

Just like that. One inquisitor tells the Royal Academy that an artist is (or has been) “expressing transphobic views” and bam, the Royal Academy goes belly-up and says please don’t hurt us – and throws the artist to the wolves and stops selling her work. Just like that.

And what are these “transphobic views”? What is their content? Just that women are women, and … Read the rest

Southampton Antifascists warns of an impending outrage:

Portsmouth Guildhall will be hosting an event for the Transphobic group Filia on the 16th – 17th October.

Filia have openly called for conversion therapy for those in the Trans community and openly act as gate keepers of womanhood.

Can you imagine?? Women are actually having the brass neck to act as gate keepers of womanhood. Who the hell do they think they are?

Filia are a hate group masquerading as a feminist charity and should not be able to hold events unchallenged.

In fact they shouldn’t be able to hold events at all, or go outside without supervision, or have jobs, or vote, or go to school.… Read the rest

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote an essay.

In a lengthy essay published on her website on Tuesday, Adichie accused a former student of publicly attacking her after a 2017 interview in which Adichie said, among other things, “I don’t think it’s a good thing to talk about women’s issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women.” Adichie held up the personal feud as a cautionary tale about how social media has been used by “certain young people” as an ideological battering ram rather than a place to communicate and seek understanding.

Let’s read some of what she said:

After the workshop, I welcomed her into my life. I very rarely do this, because my past experiences

… Read the rest

Ah yes both sides. Thank god there is someone to wade in at this late date to bemoan the “cruelty” on “both sides.”

I’ve been attacked for not having the courage to wade in on the trans debate. Well time to fess up! I was & am terrified because the voices can be so cruel on both sides. Here are some thoughts on the need for more moderate voices. If you need me, I’ll be hiding all afternoon. https://t.co/lxpYooxZ3v

— Ayesha Hazarika (@ayeshahazarika) June 16, 2021

She’s a columnist for the Evening Standard and a board member of the Fawcett Society.

And right on cue… https://t.co/aFJwwUshPD

— Ayesha Hazarika (@ayeshahazarika) June 16, 2021

Right on cue what? Disagreement? Is that … Read the rest

No you’re the ones who are weak on Russia.

President Joe Biden sat down in Geneva this morning with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of an important summit that’s expected to last several hours. As the meeting got underway, the Republican National Committee issued a press statement, letting reporters know the party’s takeaway from the international gathering.

“Giving Putin a meeting is just the latest win that Joe Biden has handed Russia,” the RNC said.

It is? So what was it when Trump gave Putin a meeting? And when he left his own table and went to hang with Putin with no US officials present that one time? And when he met with Putin in Helsinki alone … Read the rest

Biden and Putin have been having their chat.

Biden gave Putin a list of Don’t You Dares.

A reporter asked Joe Biden if he outlined for Vladimir Putin how his administration would respond if there were a Russian cyberattack on critical US infrastructure.

“I pointed out to him that we have significant cyber capability, and he knows it,” Biden said. “I pointed out, if they violate basic norms, we will respond.”

Biden noted he gave the Russian president a list of 16 critical infrastructure entities that should be off limits for attacks, whether cyber or otherwise.

So he’s saying everything else is fair game. Okaaaaaaay…

Putin went the “you’re just as bad” route.

Joe Biden was asked

… Read the rest

Come on now. Don’t be silly.

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1405080248564211712 https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1405219215347486722

Silly. Just plain silly. “Trans” means “not” in this context, which “tall” and similar descriptive adjectives of course don’t. A trans man is a woman who identifies as a man, so the word “trans” in this context is not comparable to “tall.” Obviously. It’s just silly to attempt such a feeble ploy. I know it’s an old favorite, but it’s still silly.

https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1404873195405066243

He says, a man telling women what to think.

You couldn’t make it up.… Read the rest