Behaviour like this is not acceptable
The Telegraph has more on the “women=adult human females” crime wave in Oxford:
Some of the stickers, which have been dotted around the city centre, state: “Woman: noun. Adult human female” and “Women don’t have penises”.
Thames Valley Police has announced that those responsible could be charged with a public order offence and has appealed for witnesses.
It said: “Officers are investigating a large number of offensive stickers that have been placed across Oxford city centre containing transphobic comments.”
Who says they’re “transphobic”? How does Thames Valley Police know they’re “transphobic”? How can it be “transphobic” to state a humdrum fact or definition? Why does Thames Valley Police even call them “offensive”? What if women find it “offensive” to be forced by the police to pretend that men can be women?
PC Rebecca Nightingale, the investigating officer, added: “Behaviour like this is not acceptable and we take incidents of this nature very seriously.”
But it is “acceptable.” “Incidents” of what nature? Why do they take it “very seriously”?
Do they really not have anything more pressing to take seriously? Do they really have time and resources to try to bully feminist women out of saying that men are not women? Does the entire state system of law enforcement really mean to make it illegal to tell the difference between women and men? REALLY?
The Telegraph provides a mug shot:
Michael Biggs, Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Oxford, suggested that the police had overreacted.
“This is literally the Oxford English definition of what a woman is,” he said.
“I can’t believe that needs any stance at all. To say that a dictionary definition is a terrible hate crime is extraordinary. The police is being incredibly irresponsible.”
Or more like incredibly repressive and tyrannical. It really can’t be the business of the police to force us all to pretend that men can be women.
Thames Valley Police did not reveal the content of the stickers when it issued a statement appealing for witnesses.
It reportedly said that the content and appearance of the stickers was “not suitable for sharing.”
Which is hilarious, in a way, as I mentioned the first time I fumed about this. “Report these stickers that we can’t tell you what are!”
Latest figures suggest there were more than 1,000 violent and sexual offence crimes in Oxford in the 12 months to August, an increase of almost 20 per cent on the previous year.
Other crimes including anti-social behaviour, theft and criminal damage had also risen.
The maximum sentence for threatening behaviour, the most common public order offence, is six months plus a fine.
Even if you think it’s mean and hateful to say that men are not women, and even if you think it’s all the more mean and hateful to put up stickers saying so, it still seems like an enormous leap to call it a crime that the police need to take Very Seriously.
I saw somewhere (Twitter?) that contrary stickers were going up on top of these stickers, saying “transwomen are women” and “transmen are men”, and there was apparently no outcry from the police.
Yet another example of why I oppose “hate speech” laws — give the government the power to prosecute “hateful” speech, and it’s going to use it primarily against vulnerable groups.
Hate speech laws and de-platforming should just have a high bar: shut up actual Nazis and stop there.
I could see people being upset about “#transcult”, but I’d think even in the UK you could suggest someone’s group is cult-like without it turning into a police matter.
The police are going to have to round up a lot of dictionaries if they want to forbid these stickers. Which makes me wonder… is the next ‘logical’ step in this a law forbidding that dictionary definition?
Also, I wonder what the level of police response would be if the stickers had said the male equivalent statements. If there was not much fuss caused by such, that would give the game away – energies are being spent to let men colonise female spaces only.
Between Trump and trans, it’s hard to be optimistic about much anymore.
iknklast, between trans and Trump in any good dictionary is….tripe.
Apparently Posie Parker is offering prizes for photos of people wearing ‘woman: adult human female’ T-shirts or hoodies standing with uniformed police officers–bonus points for officers serving in particularly ‘woke’ forces. She has a real knack for publicity and direct action. (After hearing about her being Islamophobic I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard her speak in person; her response to a question someone asked about Muslim women made me think the reports of her unacceptability have been greatly exaggerated, which on reflection shouldn’t surprise me.)