Category: Notes and Comment Blog

  • Unable to specify which rights they are being denied

    Joan Smith on the both-sidesing of trans “activists” who threaten women with violence:

    On Saturday, a convicted criminal got up in front of a cheering crowd in central London and publicly incited violence against women. “If you see a terf, punch them in the fucking face,” he declared to whoops of approval from his audience at Hyde Park Corner.

    …

    After Baker called for assaults on women at Saturday’s London Trans Pride event, the organisers defended him. They insisted they did not condone violence, but added that “Sarah and many others in our community hold a lot of rage and anger and they have the right to express that anger through their words.” 

    In other words many trans people are rageoholics. We know. That’s one reason we think trans ideology is so poisonous.

    This goes to the heart of the matter. Time and time again, we are told that transgender people are the most oppressed and marginalised in society, and that their rage is justified. Politicians, including the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who published a grovelling message of support before the march, claim that trans people don’t have full human rights — but are unable to specify which rights they are being denied. (I asked Khan three years ago; I never got a reply.) 

    The claim is untrue. Trans people have the same legal rights as the rest of us. What militant activists are demanding is a wholesale takeover of women-only spaces by men who claim to be women.

    Women-only spaces, scholarships, prizes, sports – women-only everything of value. They don’t so much want to take over scrubbing toilets and being vulnerable to male violence.

    The response, when we politely and reasonably refuse, is a form of aggression instantly recognisable to any woman who has witnessed male violence.

    Male violence and male rage. Males don’t always have to resort to physical violence to terrorize women, because their rage does such a good job of signaling what comes next.

    The dishonesty doesn’t stop there, however. The notion that “the debate is toxic on both sides” only aids trans activism. There is not a grain of truth in it, but the movement has so successfully indoctrinated supporters that it’s repeated even by Parliamentarians who should know better.

    Thus the Labour MP Clive Lewis condemned Baker’s advocacy of violence,  but went on to claim that “violent language and actions are not unique to one side on this issue”. Really? When did feminists bang on windows and let off smoke bombs to disrupt peaceful meetings? When did we threaten to rape people with whom we disagree?

    When did we stand up at protests and shout at each other to punch men in the fucking face?

  • Listen up Clive

    Sir sir can we have some rights please? Sir just a few sir? Not being punching bags please sir?

  • Permission to punch

    Not just a convicted violent felon but a wit, too.

    Hur hur thank you to the police for not caring that a violent felon incited violence against women hur hur.

  • Be really fluffy

    Finally some news coverage. The Daily Mail has it and so does the Telegraph. Gee, thanks, Guardian and BBC and Independent; nice to know you’re studiously avoiding news about male felons who incite violence against women.

    London Trans Pride has defended a convicted kidnapper who called for protesters to “punch” gender critical people “in the f—— face.”

    Sarah Jane Baker, a trans activist who campaigns on behalf of trans prisoners, addressed attendees at the march on Saturday.

    She was released from prison three years ago after serving 30 years for the kidnapping and attempted murder of her stepmother’s brother, and for attempting to kill another prisoner while incarcerated.

    At the march on Saturday, Baker told a cheering crowd: “I was going to come here and be really fluffy, be really nice and be really lovely and queer and gay and laugh.

    “But if you see a Terf, punch them in the f—— face.”

    Break their eye sockets, break their noses, smash their teeth, break their jaws, give them TBIs. All in good fluffy fun of course.

    London mayor

    When asked if Mr Khan supported Baker’s comments, a spokesman said: “The mayor is a proud LGBTQI+ ally and has been clear in his support for the trans community. He is also clear that violence is never acceptable.”

    So he supports the trans community but not the women community? Why’s that? Why do trans people – or rather, let’s face it, trans women, who are men – matter while women don’t matter? Why doesn’t the Mayor of London support the women’s community? Does he hate women, look down on women, think women don’t matter?

    The London Trans Pride speakers demonstrated at Wellington Arch in London’s Hyde Park Corner on Jul 8. There were 10 scheduled speakers of which Baker was not one, organisers said. She instead took to the stage during the “open-mic” portion of the event.

    However, organisers said that while it does not condone violence, many speakers at the event “hold a lot of rage” which they “have the right to express” through words.

    So it claims it doesn’t condone violence, while condoning incitement to violence.

    A London Trans Pride spokesman said: “Sarah and many others in our community hold a lot of rage and anger and they have the right to express that anger through their words.

    “We do not condone violence, we do not back a call to arms for violence of any kind. We do condone righteous anger and the right to the free speech that was expressed yesterday. We have and will continue to march in peace.”

    So the spokesman is just a liar. Condoning the right to say “punch women in the face” is in fact condoning a call for violence. You can’t punch a woman in the face non-violently.

  • Unilateral

    It’s not a Both Sides issue.

    It’s really really not.

    Where does that feeling of male entitlement to make and act on threats of violence against women and girls come from? From human sexual dimorphism, of course. Men are stronger than women, so they know they can punch us with impunity while we know the opposite. That’s their entitlement: they know they can, so they do. We know we can’t, so we don’t, and we also know they can, so we are subject to fear.

    I don’t think we should let this Clive Lewis thing fade away. I think he should be pressured to explain why he lied about us and shrugged off the threat against us.

  • Closing the file

    Inciting violence against women is perfectly fine, says someone who claims to speak for the police.

    That doesn’t sound like the police to me. It sounds like a teenager who is maybe there to sweep the floors and empty the bins. It sounds ignorant and wrong. The issue isn’t “a hate crime” so much as it is incitement to violence, in particular from a violent ex-con out on lifetime parole. “The female” is not a female, he’s a male, calling for violence against women. The issue isn’t the hate, it’s the violence. Freedom of expression has exceptions, and incitement to murder or violence is high on the list of exceptions. If whatever fool wrote that bilge is really a cop, London is in even more trouble than I thought.

  • Nicer safer n friendlier

    Sarah Jane Baker, the “punch a terf in the face” guy, is running for office.

    JOIN SARAH JANE BAKER FOR MP

    AND MAKE BRITAIN A NICER, SAFER, AND FRIENDLIER PLACE

    FOR US ALL TO LIVE IN

    How to make Britain a nicer, safer, and friendlier place to live in: address a rally to tell people to punch feminist women in the face.

    Our mission is to inspire and promote impactful solutions to some of the most critical issues we face through the power of civic engagement. Join our community of activists and allies as we work towards a better and more just world.

    And by “impactful” he means punching women in the face.

  • While the Met looks on

    And a male Labour MP says feminist women do it too, without troubling himself to offer a shred of evidence.

  • So normalised

    But of course they’re absolutely not something everyone would condemn regardless of sex/gender views. We’ve already seen that Labour MP Clive Lewis brushes them off with the ridiculous lie that radical feminists also call for punching trans people in the face.

    Of course they won’t. Stonewall thinks we deserve to be punched in the face.

    It is indeed so depressing.

  • General toxicity in your eye Mr Lewis

    This is pretty appalling coming from an MP.

    We’ll be aware of no such fucking thing, because it’s not true.

    What a stinking cowardly woman-hating liar.

  • In things that never happened…

    I think the BBC is telling a whopper here.

    A teenage boy who was sexually assaulted by two women woke up with his clothes removed and injuries to his head and body, Sussex Police have said. The 15-year-old was walking along Cants Lane in Burgess Hill before heading through a wooded area towards World’s End at about 18:15 BST on 4 June. He was assaulted and woke up on the floor, police said.

    The floor? The forested area has a floor? Ffs Beeb, you’re not teenagers. He woke up on the ground.

    But more to the point – I don’t believe you. Women don’t sexually assault teenage boys. Why would they? What would be the payoff?

    Both women were between 18 and 20 years old, one being 6ft 3in (1.9m) tall and with bright dyed red hair.

    A 6ft 3in woman sexually assaulting a boy in a wooded area? Nope, I don’t believe you.

  • 20,000 flights

    Pouring gasoline on the fire.

    H/t Rev David Brindley

  • If you see a TERF

    This is nice.

    So enlightened and progressive.

  • Nothing may be removed

    Shock-horror:

    Young V&A removes trans poster and LGBTQ+ books

    A poster supporting transgender rights and two books discussing LGBTQ+ identities have been removed from the Young V&A (YVA) ahead of the museum’s reopening on Saturday (1 July).

    According to an email sent to Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members at the V&A, shared anonymously with Arts Professional, the decision to remove the poster and books was made by V&A Director, Tristram Hunt, last week.

    The poster was produced by charity Stonewall and read: ‘Some people are trans, get over it!’. The books removed from the YVA bookshop – Seeing Gender and Here and Queer – are illustrated books, the first on expressing and understanding the complexities of gender and the second a guide aimed at girls to educate on aspects of queer life, such as coming out and Pride.

    Well, museums do change their exhibits regularly. I daresay they even alter exhibits sometimes. Why wouldn’t they? Curators aren’t there just to take up space.

    I think a poster with that silly message merits removal, on grounds of silliness plus rudeness. It’s not actually true that “some people are trans” in the sense of “some people are the other sex.” Some people think of themselves as trans, yes, but that doesn’t mean we have to agree with them, much less that we have to “get over it.”

    But then posters in museums aren’t necessarily there because they make truthful statements. (The Holocaust Museum is full of lies, because it’s there to document them.) The Stonewall poster is a piece of propaganda for the idea that people can and should change sex. Maybe the V&A, or at least its director, has decided it doesn’t want to display that particular brand of propaganda at this time. I think they’re allowed to do that.

    The letter says PCS union has been working with the V&A Staff LGBTQ Working Group and fellow trade union Prospect to explore ways to have the objects returned to display before the museum reopens.

    It adds the working group, Propsect representatives and several PCS representatives met with Hunt to discuss the issue on Monday afternoon. 

    In the meeting, the request to return the poster and books was rejected.

    …

    Asked for comment, Steven Warwick, PCS Culture Group Secretary, said: “PCS is absolutely clear that we oppose the removal of these objects and urges the V&A to reverse this decision. The poster was simply a statement of fact that ‘Some people are trans’. That the director of the V&A considers this to be a controversial statement is disappointing.”

    Ah but it’s not simply a statement of fact. Some people say they are trans; that’s a statement of fact; but the claim that they are trans is hotly contested. Some of us don’t believe there’s any such thing as being trans.

  • Celebrate

    Happy birthday to WRN!

  • Luxury climate “activism”

    This headline looks like a rebuke of Steven Spielberg’s absurd “climate activism” in light of his purchase of a gigantic yacht, but the article offers no hint of rebuke or even surprise.

    Outspoken climate activist Steven Spielberg has taken delivery of his $250 million superyacht – Even longer than a football field, the diesel-powered 4,444 ton vessel has two swimming pools and, in all possibility, a plush movie theater and a helipad.

    Mind you, that’s also not a headline – it’s a lede where a headline should be.

    Anyway. Spielberg sold one giant yacht and bought another. Conclusion: Spielberg is in no sense a “climate activist.” A climate vandal, yes, but activist, no.

    The $250 million vessel built in 2022 can accommodate 14 guests in 7 suites serviced by a crew of 30. While details are scarce at this point, Superyachtfan has observed a large swimming pool on the main deck and a spa pool on the sundeck. As the predecessor flaunted cabins with wardrobes, desk space, a private bathroom, a ballroom size main saloon, 17 televisions, several spas, and stellar diving equipment, the new pleasure craft will undoubtedly bring more to the table.

    Yes: an enormous climate burden for one guy.

  • Looming weather danger

    So maybe we should actually do something? Or nah?

    A remarkable spate of historic heat is hitting the planet, raising alarm over looming extreme weather dangers — and an increasing likelihood that this year will be Earth’s warmest on record.

    New precedents have been set in recent weeks and months, surprising some scientists with their swift evolution: historically warm oceans, with North Atlantic temperatures already nearing their typical annual peak; unparalleledlow sea ice levels around Antarctica, where global warming impacts had, until now, been slower to appear; and the planet experiencing its warmest June ever charted, according to new data.

    And then, on Monday, came Earth’s hottest day in at least 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.

    “We have never seen anything like this before,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. He said any number of charts and graphs on Earth’s climate are showing, quite literally, that “we are in uncharted territory.”

    …

    It’s not just that records are being broken — but the massive margins with which conditions are surpassing previous extremes, scientists note. In parts of the North Atlantic, temperatures are running as high as 9 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, the warmest observed there in more than 170 years.

    Never mind – New Cruise Ships in 2023, 2024, and 2025:

    There’s a lot to look forward to over the next few years, with new cruise ships on the horizon from so many of your favourite cruise lines. From luxury expedition vessels to family fun, there’s something for everyone in the long list of exciting new arrivals set for the seas.

    There are 17 new ships due this year. 19 made their debut last year.

  • Four in a row

    Uh oh.

    Earth’s temperature was off the charts last month as an extreme heat wave scorched the Southern US and Mexico and ocean warmth soared to alarming levels, a new report shows.

    The analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that last month was the planet’s hottest June by a “substantial margin” above the previous record, which was set in 2019.

    The nine hottest Junes have all occurred in the last nine years, according to the agency – evidence the human-caused climate crisis is driving temperatures to unprecedented levels.

    In other words it’s speeding up. A lot.

    “This is alarming,” Jennifer Marlon, a climate scientist at the Yale School of Environment who was not involved with the analysis, told CNN. “It’s hard to imagine what summers will be like for our children and grandchildren in the next 20 years. This is exactly what global warming looks like.”

    Four days in a row.

    Earth’s average temperature has set a new unofficial record high once again, the fourth day in a row it has broken or equalled such a milestone.

    The planetary average temperature hit 17.23 degrees Celsius on Thursday, surpassing the 17.18C record set on Tuesday and equalled on Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.

    A previous record of 17.01C was set on Monday.

    But the SUVs still go to and fro, the planes fly, the cargo ships and cruise ships circle the globe.

    H/t Mike B

  • Who’s exclooosionary now?

    Belfast Pride wants to see more women injured by men in women’s sports.

    Ulster Rugby will not be allowed to march in Belfast’s Pride parade because of the ban on transgender women playing in female contact rugby games. The organisers of the Pride parade said any group which was “engaging in trans exclusionary practices” would not be permitted to participate in the march.

    But of course keeping men out of women’s rugby isn’t a “trans exclusionary” practice, it’s a male exclusionary practice in women’s sports. Women should be allowed to have their own sports, because otherwise they can’t have any sports at all.

    In August 2022, the IRFU said only rugby players whose sex was recorded as female at birth would be allowed to compete in the female category. At the time, the IRFU said its ban was based on “medical and scientific evidence”. It said there were “physical differences between those people whose sex was assigned as male and those as female at birth”. The IRFU added that “advantages in strength, stamina and physique brought about by male puberty are significant and retained even after testosterone suppression”.

    As everyone knows and always has known, but we’re supposed to pretend it’s all up in the air.

    Ulster Rugby was one of many organisations which applied to take in the annual Pride parade through the city on 29 July. Following its exclusion, Belfast’s Pride organisers described their festival as “unapologetically trans inclusive”.

    “Trans, non-binary and gender-diverse people have helped lead and shape not only the Pride movement, but the wider LGBTQIA+ civil rights movement, and are an integral part of our community and wider society,” they added. “We believe trans, non-binary and gender- diverse people should be supported, accepted and celebrated within families, communities and across wider society.”

    But they can be all that without invading women’s sports.

  • A vile wave

    Solidarity with that man who pretends to be a woman and a nursing mother:

    The most important thing for any child is love and care. And the most important thing for a mother is to have the adequate support and resources to raise her child. 

    Love and care are two things, so it should be “the most important things.” Support and resources are also two things, so again, “the most important things.” Also the statements are a tad obvious and banal, but whatever.

    As feminists and mums, we give our wholehearted support to Mika Minio-Paluello who has faced a vile wave of personal attacks for speaking on TV while trans. 

    Ok what? Why would feminism and mum-hood be a reason for anyone to give wholehearted support to a man playacting being a mother? And the criticism of him wasn’t for “speaking while trans,” it was for appropriating womanhood and doing godknowswhat to his baby by having it suck on his tit. Also, doing it on a bus.

    Motherhood looks different for all of us – as does family. The title of ‘mother’ is often the only thing we have in common with other women.

    No it isn’t. Being women is another thing women have in common with other women. I can think of others.

    Whether we parent alone or with a partner, we are mothers. Whether we have birthed, adopted or fostered, we are mothers. Whether or not we had IVF, we are mothers. Whether we bottle-fed or breastfed, we are mothers. Whether queer, straight, cis or trans, we are mothers. 

    Ahahahahaha no you don’t. You can’t rush it past us like that; we still see it. All those are true until the very last one – the “cis or trans.” Men are not mothers, not even if they’re trans.

    No solidarity with the cuckoo in the nest.