… Read the restShe made this claim because we ran an article, and have run many articles previously, describing groups like Sex Matters as “anti-trans”.
I would like to take the opportunity to defend this newspaper against Rowling’s frankly ridiculous description, and explain why “anti-trans” is indeed suitable language for these activists.
In the social copy for the article, we stated: “An anti-trans campaign group is threatening further legal action against the Scottish Government, saying ministers are failing to implement the recent Supreme Court judgment on biological sex in equalities law.”
On Wednesday night, Rowling tweeted: “For Women Scotland is a feminist campaigning
All entries by this author
Who is most anti?
Jun 20th, 2025 5:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonAlready tense
Jun 20th, 2025 5:25 pm | By Ophelia BensonVance is going to Los Angeles to rub their noses in it.
The vice-president will meet with law enforcement and military leadership deployed by Donald Trump in the city to help control violent protests.
“Vice-president JD Vance will travel to Los Angeles, California, where he will tour a multi-agency federal joint operations centre, a federal mobile command centre, meet with leadership and Marines, and deliver brief remarks,” according to a readout.
The visit risks inflaming the already tense relationship between Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, and the White House.
It doesn’t so much risk inflaming it as make a point of inflaming it.
… Read the restAn appeals court on Thursday allowed Mr Trump to keep control of National Guard troops he
The Hallmark soundtrack in the head
Jun 20th, 2025 8:58 am | By Ophelia BensonThis is such a key point for the resistance to trans ideology and blurghy thinking generally.
“Hallmark soundtrack” is an excellent label for it.
I hate it, not in a calm all in the head way but viscerally – I hate slushy elevated pompous look at me wording the way I hate fat buzzing flies anywhere near me, or noisy crowded shouty spaces, or cigarette smoke. I hate self-conscious posturing look at me writing. I hate the substitution of manipulative drool for actual arguments and reasons. And of course trans ideology is riddled with it, for the obvious reason that it has nothing else.
Beware the Hallmark Effect.… Read the rest
You you you no not you
Jun 19th, 2025 6:05 pm | By Ophelia BensonExtras for everyone except women. Women are the privileged class you know. Bitches and Karens all of them.
An amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that would introduce tougher sentences for hate crimes committed against LGBT people and people with disabilities is being backed by East Thanet MP Polly Billington.
The new law, if passed by MPs, would make serious crimes motivated by prejudice against anyone because of their disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity “aggravated” offenses – as is currently the case for hate crimes motivated by race or religion. Aggravated offenses carry tougher sentences for perpetrators.
Got that?
Disability, sexual orientation, genner idenniny, race, religion.
But not sex. No extras for women: women don’t need extras … Read the rest
Guest post: They believed science was in the clutches of ‘big’ everything
Jun 19th, 2025 3:47 pm | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by iknklast on Break everything.
As for how [anti-vaxxers] can live with themselves, they are sure they are doing the opposite of killing people. They believe they are saving people. (I don’t think that’s the case with Trump; I think he doesn’t think at all, and doesn’t give a damn about anyone but himself.)
I met a lot of anti-vaxxers in the years I was part of the environmental science program in my doctoral program. For the most part, they were the youngsters, those born after we managed to solve so many problems of diseases. They had been raised on a media drumbeat of the evils of big Pharma, big Medicine, and science denialism, but they … Read the rest
One extremely divisive subject
Jun 19th, 2025 10:20 am | By Ophelia BensonThe BBC does a surprisingly good job of letting Martina Navratilova state her views on trans ideology without interrupting to throw rocks at her. The article is about her views on Trump (briefly: not what she emigrated to the US for).
… Read the restThere is, however, one extremely divisive subject on which she has previously said she agrees with President Trump – transgender women’s participation in sport. Navratilova is firm in her belief that the inclusion of trans women in women’s tennis is “wrong”.
She says she doesn’t agree with current World Tennis Association (WTA) rules, which state transgender women can participate in women’s games if they provide a written and signed declaration that they are female or non-binary, that their testosterone
What to say
Jun 19th, 2025 7:45 am | By Ophelia BensonIt’s so very blatant. Instead of saying the true thing, say this manipulative lie.
The email goes on to advise MPs to avoid saying they accept the SC ruling. Here is what they advise LD MPs to say: pic.twitter.com/RZKgafCAzg
— Liberal Voice for Women (@LibVoice4Women) June 18, 2025
I especially like the ones where they just delete “women” and substitute something completely different. Yes we know, thanks for documenting.… Read the rest
Stephen Fry is a rat
Jun 19th, 2025 6:54 am | By Ophelia BensonIf you’re a sleb you have to stand up in public and tell abusive lies about JK Rowling or you won’t be a luvvie any more. Stephen Fry energetically complies.
Speaking on the Show People podcast, Sir Stephen said: “She has been radicalised, I fear, and it may be she has been radicalised by terfs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her, I am afraid. I am not saying that she [should] not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.”
Yo, Sir Stephen, take a … Read the rest
Delighted to launch
Jun 18th, 2025 11:18 am | By Ophelia BensonCool cool. Something for women for a change.
… Read the restWe are delighted to launch the first West Cheshire Women in Leadership programme, in partnership with women leaders at Chester Racecourse, Cheshire West and Chester Council, the Countess of Chester Hospital, Lloyds Banking Group and the University of Chester.
The programme grew out of a panel discussion at the 2024 Storyhouse Women festival, entitled The Future of Chester is Female. With so many of Chester’s key organisations now run by women, we asked ourselves ‘how can we use this to benefit other women?’
That question led to the development of this programme. We are not representative of all women, but we have come together to share our lived experience with others,
That lowest of bars
Jun 18th, 2025 10:57 am | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restAmong the weighty roles and responsibilities placed on the American president’s shoulders, the least controversial is the practice of calling other politicians, in the face of personal or public tragedy, to make sure that they have everything they need. If a president wants to go above and beyond that lowest of bars, they offer condolences, and act like a human instead of a partisan hack.
This week, after a spree shooter killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman [and] her husband, and severely injured state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, President Donald Trump hasn’t bothered to pick up the phone to speak with Minnesota’s head of state.
…
By Tuesday morning, it appeared
Mess
Jun 18th, 2025 10:45 am | By Ophelia BensonThis is disgusting. You have to lean in to hear what he says – and what he says is nausea-inducing.
Days after a Minnesota state lawmaker was killed and another was injured in a “politically motivated assassination,” President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would not call the state’s governor, eschewing a traditional presidential response to tragedies.
“Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue,” Trump said, referring to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who was the vice presidential contender facing off against Trump’s ticket last year. “He’s a mess. So I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”
He does actually say that.… Read the rest
A thtunning thetback
Jun 18th, 2025 10:34 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Associated Press is staffed by teenagers.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights.
Stunning shmunning. There is no “right” to be mutilated or prescribed harmful drugs or both. The whole idea of “gender-affirming care” is both absurd and malign.
Imagine if people started claiming to idennify as trees, and doctors rushed to provide transarborial rights. Yes, certainly, we will encase you in bark and replace your head with foliage, and behold, you are affirmed as a tree.
… Read the restChief Justice John Roberts wrote for a conservative majority that the law does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated
Break everything
Jun 18th, 2025 7:26 am | By Ophelia Benson… Read the restIn 13 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Fiona Havers crafted guidance for contending with Zika virus, helped China respond to outbreaks of bird flu and guided safe burial practices for Ebola deaths in Liberia.
More recently, she was a senior adviser on vaccine policy, leading a team that produced data on hospitalizations related to Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus. To the select group of scientists, federal officials and advocates who study who should get immunizations and when, Dr. Havers is well known, an embodiment of the C.D.C.’s intensive data-gathering operations.
On Monday, Dr. Havers resigned, saying she could no longer continue while the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., dismantled the
Guest posts: Eternal vigilance
Jun 17th, 2025 6:06 pm | By Ophelia BensonOriginally a comment by Nullius in Verba on Veering.
I recently joined the local YMCA because it’s the only gym within anything like reasonable driving distance. When filling out the application online, there was a gender identity field that was marked mandatory. Since I don’t play that game, I went the next day to ask about it in person. My mother went with me, as she was also incensed about it. The girls at the front desk weren’t even aware of the field, since it isn’t on the paper app. (They also were clearly unaware of the significance of the language.) In any case, they said they’d contact their CEO about the issue and have him get back to … Read the rest
Veering
Jun 17th, 2025 12:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonFeminism? Meh. Anti-racism? Bleh. Internationalism/multiculturalism? Yawn.
The Green Party=The Trans Party.
The Green party is veering away from its founding culture towards a more leftwing authoritarianism, its former health spokesperson has claimed.
Dr Pallavi Devulapalli said trans rights had become an obvious totem in the new climate, and accused the party of trying to purge anyone with gender-critical views.
Devulapalli, a GP and member of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council, was expelled from the party for a rules breach that she has said was due to her beliefs on gender. Her expulsion this month, she said, has exposed a rift in the party’s leadership on transgender issues that threatens to widen during this summer’s leadership election.
But the … Read the rest
Handcuffed and detained
Jun 17th, 2025 11:15 am | By Ophelia BensonMore Nazi-style takeover theater:
… Read the restNew York City Comptroller Brad Lander was handcuffed and detained by federal agents Tuesday afternoon while escorting migrants from immigration hearings in Lower Manhattan — with video of the incident packing a politically potent punch for his suddenly energetic mayoral campaign.
On Tuesday morning, Lander was at 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan to observe an immigration hearing when he walked out of the courtroom locking arms with a Yoruba-speaking immigrant, according to Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, who spoke to reporters at a press conference.
When federal agents moved to detain the immigrant in the hallway outside the courtroom, Lander asked for them to show a judicial warrant. The agents did not and put him
Be sure to add scary emojis
Jun 17th, 2025 10:11 am | By Ophelia BensonWorst possible time to have a pinhead in That Office.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iranian leader Ali Khamenei that he is an “easy target” and that “our patience is wearing thin,” before demanding Tehran surrender in its conflict against Israel.
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Yeah great, war by social media, that will work out well.
… Read the rest“He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” he wrote. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
Trump added in a subsequent post: “UNCONDITIONAL
It takes one
Jun 17th, 2025 9:27 am | By Ophelia BensonDonald Trump slammed his “publicity seeking” French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in an excoriating social media post overnight, saying “whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong.”
Trump called someone else “publicity seeking”???… Read the rest
A million miles from the thoughtless acceptance
Jun 17th, 2025 8:33 am | By Ophelia BensonSarah Ditum on the decline in sanctimony:
… Read the restWhen actors in the new [Harry Potter] production are challenged about Rowling’s views, they tend to respond in robustly live-and-let-live style.
Asked whether criticism of Rowling had put him off accepting the role of Dumbledore, John Lithgow offered a genial: “Heavens, no.” Nick Frost, the new Hagrid, shrugged: “She’s allowed her opinion and I’m allowed mine.”
Frost’s comment might be the lowest possible bar of support for free speech imaginable, and part of me unkindly wants to demand a point-by-point explanation of exactly how he disagrees with Rowling. But it’s a million miles from the thoughtless acceptance of five years ago that, by demurring from activist talking points, Rowling was maliciously endangering
Devout
Jun 16th, 2025 4:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonHow interesting. Deep religious convictions are compatible with mass murder. Deep religious convictions even inspire and motivate mass murder.
The man accused of assassinating the top Democrat in the Minnesota House held deeply religious and politically conservative views, telling a congregation in Africa two years ago that the U.S. was in a “bad place” where most churches didn’t oppose abortion.
How deeply deeply deeply religious of him to draw up a list of legislators to murder for the crime of not wanting to force women to bear children against their will. Many deeply religious people see men as people and women as tools. Apparently murder-guy is of that clan.
… Read the restFriends and former colleagues interviewed by AP described Boelter as
