Labour MP Keir Starmer calls out the media for the ‘vilification’ of trans people pic.twitter.com/dHRy7zRWML

— PinkNews (@PinkNews) March 2, 2020

Keir Starmer talks a lot of crap and makes a lot of false analogies, as Allison Bailey points out.

1/ @Keir_Starmer, no, trans extremism has nothing to do with section 28. You were a white, heterosexual male at Oxford during s.28. I was a 17 year old black girl from Cowley, who realised I was a lesbian at a time when LGB youth were vilified & abandoned. https://t.co/QVUikRPhkD

— Allison Bailey (@BluskyeAllison) March 3, 2020

Cowley is an car-factory town just outside Oxford. The juxtaposition is rather like Columbia/Harlem or Yale/New Haven or Berkeley/Oakland.

3/ You could have

… Read the rest

There’s something missing in this story…I can’t quite put my finger on it…

BBC reports:

A transgender man who has given birth to a child has begun an appeal to be legally registered as the “father” or “parent”, rather than the “mother”.

Freddy McConnell is fighting a decision made by a High Court judge last year that a person who carries and gives birth to a baby is legally a mother.

Mr McConnell, a single parent from Kent, lives as a man following surgery, having been assigned female at birth.

What is it, what is it…what is being left out…oh yes, I get it!

This shithead is suing to ensure that her child will have no mother.

Not “no … Read the rest

Iain Macwhirter at The Herald Scotland:

WHEN I started writing about the trans self-identification issue nearly two years ago it was with the utmost trepidation. Questioning, or even discussing, the proposal that men should be able legally to become women merely by making a declaration of such, was regarded as transphobia, homophobia, bigotry.

…

Cultural and health bodies, and even the Scottish Government, were ceasing to use the very word “woman” in case it offended male-bodied transwomen. Bizarre substitutes like “womxn”, “menstruators” and “ciswomen” were being deployed in the cause of inclusivity.

Which – to belabor the obvious – is a very warped way to use the word “inclusivity.” The word should mean not excluding people from public events … Read the rest

Now you want to know what damn fool or set of fools was doing a Womxn’s Day Speaker Series, right? Well it was the Gates Foundation, blast their eyes.

We’re celebrating International Womxn’s Day by hosting the United Way’s Emerging Leaders 365 Speaker Series here at the Discovery Center, featuring a panel of powerhouse womxn who are entrepreneurs and doing incredible work to give back to our community. Moderator: Mika Yamamoto with Panelists including Laura Clise – Founder & CEO of The Intentionalist, Nourah Yonous – Founder and Executive Director at African Women Business Alliance, and Sage Ke’alohilani Quiamno – Co Founder of Future For Us. Admission is a suggested donation of $10 to United Way’s Emerging Leaders 365.

… Read the rest

You can’t escape it even when it’s not the topic. I’m reading a piece from NBC on how the virus is affecting Seattle, and then thud.

Down a normally crowded hallway, Market Magic & Novelty Shop also remained quiet. A family bought a small keepsake and then walked out. No one came in after.

“We’re rethinking our business model, that’s for sure,” owner Sheila Lyon said. “People are scared. They don’t want to be in public spaces.”

…

Lyon and her husband make up a little money on the weekends, but every day seems to bring fewer and fewer customers. As a result, Lyon, who has owned her business for 47 years, is turning to social media to entice

… Read the rest

This person didn’t like Suzanne Moore’s piece at all.

https://twitter.com/JessicaLond0n/status/1234606350585548801

What’s next after what threat? There was no threat. There was a woman saying that Selina Todd should not have been told not to give her talk and that Woman’s Place UK clearly isn’t a hate group and that female is a biological classification that applies to all living species. None of that is any kind of threat, or anything like a threat, and women do have a right to organize and campaign as women without being screamed at and accused of terrorizing helpless male employees who identify as women. Jess was never in any danger from Suzanne Moore.

So today…

You know that person who had said Suzanne Moore’s

… Read the rest

All about…her?

*bangs head repeatedly on desk*
Of my many many objections to this piece, the most personal is that I was trying to have a rare day off and am now digging out a proper actual response.

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) March 2, 2020

So many people telling her to take as many days off as she likes.

Jane on the other hand has some tips.

Notes for Laurie.

1. No emotional blackmail
2. No hyperbolic statistics or claims
3. No blaming women for male violence against trans people
4. No amorphous manipulative claims about safety
5. No bullshit analogies comparing women who want to maintain their rights to racists,

— Dr. Jane Clare Jones (@janeclarejones) March 3, 2020

… Read the rest

Even in Missouri?

It’s “Women’s HERstory Month” at Missouri State so…

The Office of Multicultural Programs and the Department of Gender Studies are excited to announce the return of the annual Womxn of Distinction Awards.

I assume the Office of Erasing Women and the Department of Centering Men were involved too.

A yearly part of Women’s HERstory Month, the Womxn of Distinction Awards honor women and femme identified individuals who have excelled academically, contributed to the success of the Missouri State and Springfield communities, and demonstrated commitment to positively influencing the lives of others.

Women and “femme identified” people…because women can’t have anything that’s just for women any more. We have to share everything with men who claim to be … Read the rest

Suzanne Moore says some things in the wake of the disinviting of Selina Todd:

The radical insight of feminism is that gender is a social construct – that girls and women are not fated to be feminine, that boys and men don’t have to be masculine. But we have gone through the looking-glass and are being told that sex is a construct. It is said that sex is merely assigned at birth, rather than being a material fact – actually, though, sex is recognisable in the womb (which is what enables foetal sex selection). Sex is not a feeling. Female is a biological classification that applies to all living species. If you produce large immobile gametes, you are female. Even

… Read the rest

Thick as ten short planks.

President Donald Trump held a Cabinet Room meeting with pharmaceutical executives Monday, pressing them to deliver a vaccine for coronavirus as the epidemic spreads across the U.S.

Helpful. I’m sure they’re just being lazy, and if he presses them they’ll sigh and say “Oh all right” and come up with the vaccine by this afternoon.

At one point, Trump asked whether the normal flu vaccine could be used to prevent the spread of the current COVID-19 strain of coronavirus that is causing global disruption. “You take a solid flu vaccine,” Trump said, “you don’t think that would have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?”

“No,” came the response. Tony Fauci, the

… Read the rest

Oh god.

https://twitter.com/ultimate__facts/status/1234820158738309120

It’s a little unfortunate that the dumbest guy in the UNIVERSE has that job right now.… Read the rest

Hey, remember when liberals pinned their hopes on Ivanka Trump?

No, neither do I.

Maggie Haberman says they did though.

Three years after liberals pinned their hopes on her as a bridge within the Trump White House, Ivanka Trump has registered as a Republican, defends her father over impeachment and goes on Hannity’s show. https://t.co/g8ikc8tGo0

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 2, 2020

The only "liberals" who pinned their hopes on Ivanka were extremely wealthy New Yorkers. https://t.co/OwSvTfzGCB

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) March 3, 2020

Something I didn't realize before I read Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs" is that Ivanka Trump donated $130k to Republicans in 2012 and said she didn't want to see Obama reelected. https://t.co/nxyXep83YH

— Michelle Goldberg (@michelleinbklyn) March

… Read the rest

See the man. See the man say words. See the man say words that don’t mean anything. See the man make remarks. See the man flap his lips while an epidemic takes hold and he has no clue what to do.

“A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly” pic.twitter.com/4opyUDi0Ey

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 2, 2020

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Claire on It doesn’t.

This is actually dangerously incorrect information. Yes, for the most part endometriosis doesn’t kill (although it does slightly increase the risk of ovarian cancer). But it is a terrible condition nonetheless.

But if you say 1 in 10 people, you’ve now screwed up the statistic. It’s not 1 in 10, because almost half the population is not at risk at all. And they can’t say 1 in 10 people with a uterus because it is possible to get the disorder without one in places such as the fallopian tubes, pelvic cavity, and even the bowel.

Now imagine if we were talking about something that does kill people but has differential … Read the rest

But even tweeting that one in ten people get endometriosis didn’t save Sefton Council from the wrath of Doctor Harrop.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234499456483151873

Apparently they were too busy replying to angry women who were pointing out that only women get endometriosis to do what Doctor Harrop told them to do, so he summoned reenforcements.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234520548023132161

That did it – 15 minutes later he was crowing about his knockout punch.

https://twitter.com/AdrianHarrop/status/1234529920040284160

But women? Bah, they can get in the sea.… Read the rest

Robin Buckallew is honoring Women’s History Month by writing something every day of the month that is in her words “about women, for women, by a woman.”

She introduces today’s item:

Well, here it is. March 1. Day One of Women’s History Month, and the first day of my third annual Women’s Writes marathon. For the next month, I will post something for you every day, unless in that time period I am rendered unable by external forces beyond my control. I will start this year with something yanked from my own life, the story – modified, of course – of something that happened to me because I am a woman.

I know it may be difficult to believe;

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Oh godddddd the stupid.

https://twitter.com/seftoncouncil/status/1234414844624936962

Awareness month! So inaccurate misleading language is vital! It’s VITAL I tell you!

When queried on this gross mistake, Sefton Council replied with a smirk.

https://twitter.com/seftoncouncil/status/1234460051265458181

Editing to add: they’re rubbing our noses in it.

March is also #OvarianCancerAwarenessMonth
Getting a diagnosis at the earliest stage can double a person's chance at survival which is why we think it's important to highlight some of the symptoms to help more people get diagnosed sooner!https://t.co/kQUU3gT7ym pic.twitter.com/pVuMFUVud7

— Sefton Council (@seftoncouncil) March 2, 2020

… Read the rest

I saw a tweet saying that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had made its toilets [restrooms in American English] gender neutral, so I decided to take a look at how it describes itself.

Our specialist trauma-informed support services are open to women, all members of the trans community, non-binary people and young people aged 12 – 18 who have experienced any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives, by abusers of any gender. This includes rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation.

So their services are not open to men over 18 who don’t describe themselves as trans or non-binary, but they are open to men over 18 who do describe themselves … Read the rest

Hmm.

Really struck by Joe Biden’s words on the promise of equality in the Declaration of Independence: “We’ve never fully lived up to it, but we’ve never before, until this president, walked away from it.”

— Carlos Lozada (@CarlosNYT) March 1, 2020

Yes, that is striking, striking in being so very wrong. (That may be what Carlos Lozada meant; my disdain is for Biden, not him.)

Never before walked away from it? Is he kidding? Does he remember what “we” did to the people who were here first? The genocide, the mass expulsions, the theft, all that? Does he remember slavery?

Of course we’ve walked away from it before. We’ve failed to go anywhere near it at any time, before. … Read the rest

The UN reports:

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has warned against complacency on women’s rights at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, a landmark agenda for the empowerment of women.

…

“Women’s rights are threatened and attacked” on many fronts, she warned, adding that there over this period there has been “a backlash and the resurgence of gender inequality narratives based on age-old discrimination”.

And the surgence of male appropriation of everything belonging to women including the word “women.”

However, for the UN human rights chief, women’s rights are not negotiable: “they cannot be an optional policy, subject to the changing winds of politics,” she warned. According to Ms. Bachelet, the

… Read the rest