New outrage – healthcare systems asking what sex you are.

https://twitter.com/christineburns/status/1360537496912859136

It’s medical. It’s about physical bodies. The medical people need to know some basic facts about the bodies in order to treat them. It’s not about “outing” and it’s not something to stir up Twitterfury about.

Active endangerment of trans and intersex patients by @NHS_111. "Sex at birth" is irrelevant to most medical conditions, may cause misdiagnosis for others, and collecting this data risks outing vulnerable people. https://t.co/TMqWvXEO95

— Ruth Pearce (@NotRightRuth) February 13, 2021

Sex at birth may cause misdiagnosis, while giving fictional sex…won’t?… Read the rest

It won’t make any difference to the outcome, but it’s still good to know that Trump’s lawyers’ claims are falling apart because of that phone call.

Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense is looking more threadbare: New statements by Republican lawmakers appear to undercut key claims from his defense team about how much Trump knew about the unfolding January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and when he knew it.

New details emerged Friday about a January 6 call between Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, in the midst of the attack. First recounted in January by Washington state Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who was one of just 10 House Republicans to vote for impeachment, the

… Read the rest

You know, if at least 50% of the wording of your Denunciation is simply a copy of 9 million other Denunciations you could at least pause to wonder if any of it is actually true.

https://twitter.com/OxUniLabour/status/1359089358897373185

Sanctimonious inquisitorial toads.… Read the rest

The Senators are part of cancel culture. Impeaching Trump is exactly like petitioning the university to cancel a talk by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers put up a pugnacious if brief defense presentation in his impeachment trial Friday, saying his rally speech before the Capitol riot was “ordinary political rhetoric” and blasting the proceedings as a “sham” fueled by Democrats’ “political hatred” for the ex-president.

If it’s true that Trump’s rally speech before the riot was ordinary political rhetoric, then why did all those people storm up Pennsylvania Avenue and batter their way into the Capitol? Why did they beat people with flagpoles, smash windows, storm along corridors shouting threats, walk the halls yodeling “Naaaaaaaaaancy, where … Read the rest

They know he did it. They were there.

In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did.

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy.

McCarthy insisted that the rioters were Trump’s supporters and begged Trump to call them off.Trump’s comment set off what Republican lawmakers familiar with the call described as a shouting match between the two men.

A furious McCarthy told the President the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows,

… Read the rest

Nailed it.

Actor James Dreyfus today slammed trans activists as ‘misogynistic guys in skirts’ for waging a war of hatred against Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

The Gimme, Gimme, Gimme star, 52, claimed those involved were ‘angry, young, anarchist people’ who harboured a deep hatred of women and ‘what they represent’.

He also accused them of being behind an alleged campaign of threats to kill and rape women in order to ‘put them back in their place’. 

Gee, where would he get that idea? Apart from Twitter and Facebook day in and day out.

A group of trans activists condemned Dreyfus last year when he was among 50 actors, writers and journalists to sign a letter in support

… Read the rest

Instagram bars a vax denialist:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now blocked from Instagram after he repeatedly undercut trust in vaccines. Kennedy has also spread conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, accusing him of profiteering off vaccines and attempting to take control of the world’s food supply.

“We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told NPR on Thursday.

Kennedy has been a prominent voice in the anti-vaccine community for years, speaking out against childhood vaccines and promoting controversial and disproven claims that seek to link vaccines with autism.

In the past year, Kennedy’s beliefs about vaccines have intersected with the COVID-19 pandemic. He has told his

… Read the rest

Helen Saxby wrote about Allison Bailey and Garden Court Chambers and Stonewall in October 2019.

Garden Court Chambers is ‘investigating’ Allison Bailey for being a founding member of the LGB alliance. This is no surprise given its associations.

Two years ago, on Tuesday October 3rd 2017, I attended a meeting in central London entitled ‘Progress and Challenges in Advancing Equality for Trans People in the UK’. It was held at Garden Court Chambers, in association with the Human Rights Lawyers Association.

That was just two weeks after the assault on Maria MacLachlan at Speakers Corner, Saxby points out.

Bex Stinson of Stonewall was first to speak. We were told that the Trans Inquiry was incredibly important regarding the recommendations it

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It’s on.

https://twitter.com/VictoriaPeckham/status/1360253969424125952… Read the rest

A…what?

Yes, There’s a Safe Way to Have a Cannibalism Fetish.

A…what?

As a fetish educator, I’m so tired of seeing the Armie Hammer allegations used against the BDSM community.

A what educator? The what community?

But most stories and commentary have remained focused on the sensationalism of his supposed cannibalism fetish and have ignored the real issue: that the foundation of true BDSM relationships is consent. We spoke to Jet Setting Jasmine, a master fetish educator, licensed clinical psychotherapist, and co-owner of Royal Fetish Films, to discuss why this is so damaging.

Ah yes consent. As long as you consent it’s fine if this strapping lad starts cutting away bits of you for dinner. I’m guessing that … Read the rest

This week’s Jesus and Mo:

There are, naturally, some sanctimonious comments about “punching down” – because of the obscure but binding rule that if a man puts on a skirt and tilts his head coquettishly he becomes the most marginalized person in the universe.

The Patreon… Read the rest

Massive surprise – some of the insurrectionists have a history of violence against women. Who could possibly have predicted that?

The message popped up on Katya Brock’s phone just after 10 a.m. one morning in September: “Do the right thing and kill yourself already.”

She was alarmed, but no more so than she had been by all the other messages: “I have better things to do than speak to a whore”; “Nobody loves you”; “Narcissistic whore.” Her ex-husband, Larry Rendall Brock Jr., had been sending them like clockwork for three years. A court had ordered the couple to communicate through a specialized portal while their contentious divorce was finalized. Larry often used it for threats.

And Larry was at the … Read the rest

Another one. (You’re ok with this, ACLU? This is what you want? This is what you consider a civil liberty?) Another man wins a women’s race. I hate having to cite The Federalist, because I really do not like their politics on any other subject, but nobody else is reporting on it.

Sherry Mix puts in 10 to 15 hours a week training for elite-level mountain and fat-tire bike races in the region. The Verona, Wis[consin] woman says it’s hard work but rewarding to the women who ride.

But as “equity” politics are further infused into just about every aspect of life, including competitive sports, cyclists like Mix are forced to compete on an unequal course. Last month, Mix

… Read the rest

I’ve been meaning to get back to that paper by Alison Phipps, kind of the way one gets back to a mosquito bite.

Reactionary feminisms, which coalesce around debates about sex workers’ rights and transgender equality, magnify the political whiteness of the mainstream and deliberately withhold womanhood and personhood from marginalised Others.

Now there’s an outright lie. Feminism that opposes pimping doesn’t withhold womanhood or personhood from prostituted women, it argues that prostitution exploits women. Gender critical feminism doesn’t withhold womanhood or personhood from anyone, it simply doesn’t repeat the lie that men can become women by identifying as women. It’s not “witholding womanhood” from men to say they are men, any more than it’s witholding bearhood from rabbits … Read the rest

Meanwhile today –

We are today attending the virtual hearing for #AllisonBailey’s claim against Stonewall & Garden Court Chambers.

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

Attending and reporting on in tweets.

Much of the reporting is procedural, on questions like whether names can be redacted.

#allisonbailey

Ben Cooper QC: Gender critical beliefs held/expressed by claimant are those held by a women’s movement of female feminists. Indirect discrimination on grounds of sex, also on grounds of sexual orientation, many that hold these beliefs are lesbians.

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

#allisonbailey

Ben Cooper QC going through claimants loss of earnings since openly expressing gender critical views

— Safe Schools Alliance (@SafeSchools_UK) February 11, 2021

#allisonbailey

… Read the rest

They weren’t playing.

The evidence is now undeniable. What we saw on Wednesday was the definitive proof that what broke into the Capitol last month was a hunting party. They came to kill people. “Hang Mike Pence” was not a metaphor. Hearing the hunters caroling, “Nannnnnn-cy? Nannnnnnnn-cy?” in that horror-movie sing-song was to hear the trilling of murderous intent. They came to the Capitol to kill people. Mitt Romney probably was saved by Officer Eugene Goodman, and this was before Goodman saved everyone else. (A security camera caught Goodman encountering Romney outside the Senate chamber as Romney was headed unwittingly into the teeth of the mob. Romney pivots like genuine Barry Sanders and beats feet in the other direction.)

… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/oliverburkeman/status/1359887719321776128

He’s reading it correctly.

In which @ReadingsBooks apologise for apologising for their apology and apologise profusely to their community of upstanding warriors that supply Melbourne's alternative community with pink and blue hair dye.

— Julie Bindel (@bindelj) February 11, 2021

2021:
Young trans author demands bookshop apologise for hosting someone the author disagrees with, 3 yrs ago – or else they won't appear at upcoming event.
Bookshop caves in, apologises.
Bookshop boss says he now regrets apology.@bindelj @ReadingsBooks https://t.co/p5NnFC9GaE

— Lucy Bannerman (@TimesLucy) February 11, 2021

Bookshop boss now says he now regrets apology for apology. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of Who Will Apologize Last?

https://twitter.com/tuibguy/status/1359895255060013066… Read the rest

The Sydney Morning Herald on that slimy apology for letting Julie Bindel speak:

In 2018 Bindel, a campaigner against male violence, spoke at a Hawthorn bookshop event about her book, The Pimping of Prostitution, about the global sex trade.

On Tuesday, Readings issued a statement on its website saying it “regrets programming Julie Bindel in 2018”. The independent bookseller apologised for “any hurt caused by highlighting the work of an author whose current stance is to divide our community”.

Bindel told The Age that she believed the apology was directly linked to an online event with transgender author Juno Dawson, which Readings would be hosting later this month.

Why would she believe that? Because Readings posted a tweet … Read the rest

That depends on what you mean by that innocent little word “be.”

There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.
There's no wrong way to be a woman.

— UN Women (@UN_Women) February 7, 2021

Looked at one way it’s just an empty platitude. Looked at another way it’s an insulting lie. Suzanne Moore looks at it that second way.

The right way to react to this ridiculous mantra is surely to feel murderous. What is this slogan for?

… Read the rest

My god this is infuriating.

https://twitter.com/SaveWomensSport/status/1359537041378316288

I don’t know what hearing this is. There was a hearing on a bill on transgender athletes in Montana in January and I couldn’t find one on a federal bill so this is probably Montana, but I don’t know for sure.

But anyway – it’s astounding. He asks the obviously relevant question, if in 20 years there is a women’s team that is all “biological males” would you support that? And she doesn’t answer. She’s so flummoxed she asks him to repeat it, so he does, and she just outright refuses to answer, and even says “I apologize for not answering the question,” and then robotically repeats the moronic formula. Answer the fucking … Read the rest