From an article in the current Scientific American:

“Sex” typically refers to biological sex, which can be defined by myriad characteristics such as chromosomes, hormone levels, gonads, external genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. The terms “female” and “male” are often used in relation to biological sex. “Gender” refers to how an individual identifies—woman, man, nonbinary, and so forth. Much of the scientific literature confuses and conflates female/male and woman/man terminology without providing definitions to clarify what it is referring to and why those terms were chosen.

So “woman” and “man” don’t label biological sex? They’re purely social? They label only how people “identify” and not what people are? And this is settled knowledge and everyone agrees with it? But … Read the rest

Gareth Roberts takes a blowtorch to the “thinking” of Owen Jones:

‘Oh, and by the way’, said Owen Jones in his ‘sassy’ mode the other day on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, ‘it wasn’t actually Hamas who introduced the law banning homosexuality in Gaza. Guess who it was?’ He then gave an extra pause for extra sass. ‘The British Empire.’ (Dramatic chord!)

There’s an ordinance! A British Mandate Ordinance! Can’t argue with that, now can you.

Jones, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestine during the current conflict in Gaza, clearly thought he had got one over on those critics who have tried to remind him of Hamas’s less than savoury attitudes to gay people. Never

This is a useful mini-essay.

Karen Carpenter's tragic battle triggered a social contagion of anorexia; Princess Diana's public struggle with bulimia had the same effect.

The book Sybil kicked off the multiple personality disorder epidemic in the 80s. Running parallel to that was the Satanic Panic, set off… pic.twitter.com/B2z59I157r

— Mia (@_CryMiaRiver) October 20, 2023

Karen Carpenter’s tragic battle triggered a social contagion of anorexia; Princess Diana’s public struggle with bulimia had the same effect.

The book Sybil kicked off the multiple personality disorder epidemic in the 80s. Running parallel to that was the Satanic Panic, set off by the book Michelle Remembers. As a result, thousands of lives were destroyed.

As cutting started to appear in movies and TV

Steerpike at the Spectator has more:

In the past fortnight, pro-Palestine marches in London have attracted some unseemly elements to their cause. One such example was offered today at an event for Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in central London. After one speaker asked the crowd ‘What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp of Palestine?’ a chant of ‘Jihad, jihad, jihad’ echoed out around the speaker. An incitement for holy war? Surely grounds for a police intervention…

Unfortunately not, it seems. For the Metropolitan Police have now used their overactive Twitter/X account to confirm they will not be taking any action:

“The word jihad has a number of meanings but we know the public will…”

blah … Read the rest

In London today:

The word jihad has a number of meanings but we know the public will most commonly associate it with terrorism. We have specialist counter terrorism officers here in the operations room who have particular knowledge in this area.

They have assessed this video, filmed at the Hizb…

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 21, 2023

They have assessed this video, filmed at the Hizb ut-Tahrir protest in central London today, and have not identified any offences arising from the specific clip. However, recognising the way language like this will be interpreted by the public and the divisive impact it will have, officers have identified the man involved and will be speaking to him shorty to discourage any repeat

Dang that really has it all.

I am delighted to be invited to close the National Menopause Summit Cork this evening. The Government is committed to working with employers, employees and trade unions to make workplaces more inclusive places for all. pic.twitter.com/TudbDMNUhJ

— Roderic O’Gorman TD (@rodericogorman) October 20, 2023

He closed comments. There is a good deal of rage in the quote tweets. Like…

He did what?

The Irish Independent last March:

Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman has been accused of playing “parish pump politics” after his department transferred €1.1m to LGBTQ+ projects. The money was originally allocated to schemes for the Traveller and Roma communities, migrant integration and Magdalene laundry redress.

So, obviously, just the right man … Read the rest

Trump is having a bad day.

A former lawyer to Donald Trump has pleaded guilty in an election subversion case in the US state of Georgia. Kenneth Chesebro is the third of 19 co-defendants to plead guilty in a deal with Fulton County prosecutors. He is accused of putting forward a slate of fake pro-Trump electors in Georgia and other states to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

That is, to steal the election. “Overturn” makes it sound vaguely legitimate. It’s important to be very clear and uneuphemistic about this.

Under the plea deals, the former defendants will have to testify under oath in forthcoming trials.

…

His guilty plea can be seen as a victory for Fulton

Judge holds Trump to account.

A New York judge has fined Donald Trump for violating a gag order in his civil fraud trial.

Mr Trump was fined $5,000 (£4,100) by Judge Arthur Engoron on Friday. The judge said in court that the former president had failed to remove an online post mocking a clerk at the court. He also threatened Mr Trump with jail time, and demanded he take down the “untrue and disparaging” post made about the clerk earlier this month.

Trump’s flunkies took it off social media but left it on his website. He can fling insults around but apparently he’s too important to erase them himself: that kind of menial work is for the underlings.

Later

Reduxx reports:

A trans-identified male musician in California is currently touring and performing songs calling for the murder of women critical of gender identity ideology. Precious Child, who previously involved himself in the Wi Spa controversy, utilizes graphic sexual and violent threats against “TERFs” in his music.

During his most recent performance at the Knockout Bar in San Francisco, Precious Child performed his song “TERF Killer,” riling the audience into chanting “kill a TERF today.”

That is, today kill a feminist woman who knows that men are not women.

In a video of the performance shared to his YouTube account, Precious Child can be seen chanting “kill a TERF today” while the accompanying music video is shown on

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

A lesbian community organisation will be forced to keep its events open to men, straight women and transgender women after the Australian Human Rights Commission refused to grant it an exemption from anti-discrimination laws.

The AHRC’s decision prohibits the group from staging a planned “Lesbians Born Female” event to commemorate International Lesbian Day. It also challenges traditional notions of sex as a biological concept as the commission concluded that sex is non-binary and changeable.

Ok Australian Human Rights Commission, let’s see all of you change your sexes. Go on, show us how it’s done.

“The commissioner submits that the word ‘sex’ is not a biological concept referring to whether a person at birth had

Lying seems to be an occupational hazard of trans ideology. Not that being a trans ideologue is a real occupation, but it might as well be.

Despite how it is billed the only quoted clinician is Dr David Bell – a long term opponent of care for trans kids.
It is based on Stock’s perception of the services, not on any actual knowledge of the services. Truly shameful GC/Terf ‘journalism’ https://t.co/kTIoIvxHIW https://t.co/Akl5PS0xNO

— Prof. Stephen Whittle OBE, PhD, DLaws, FAcSS, (@stephenwhittle) October 20, 2023

Of course Bell doesn’t oppose “care for trans kids.”

If your ideology causes you to tell lies like this in public, get rid of your ideology. It’s poison.… Read the rest

Originally a comment by KBPlayer on No No No.

My corporate lawyers employers really value getting inclusive awards and they sent us 10 commandments for Happy Pronoun Day.

Only about 4-5% of employees put pronouns in their signatures. The pronouns are in fact what you would expect – he for the blokes, she for the women, and nothing like they or zi. Annoyingly, this does include some colleagues that I like. No-one ever talks about it though, not in my hearing anyway.

The 10 commandments:-

1. Normalise pronoun sharing – this is to make an inclusive atmosphere, where everyone is comfortable expressing their gender identity. [And those who don’t believe in this feeling pretty damned uncomfortable. Everyone should genuflect … Read the rest

Once more unto the breach dear friends – we will square the circle, we will we will we will.

A ‘balance between fairness and inclusion’: USA Cycling unveils new Transgender Athlete Participation Policy

Raises hand

Excuse me excuse me this is competitive sports you’re talking about. It can’t be “inclusive” at all times because of the competitive bit. The whole point of competition is to exclude everyone but the winner. Inclusion isn’t the goal.

Also, of course, what they mean by “a balance between fairness and inclusion” is inclusion of men who pretend to be women at the expense of women. You can’t “balance” that. You might as well try to balance a piano on your finger.

As of 17

Wait, what???

1. Almost of these ‘trans’ Sex offenders were convicted as men. Those who work in the field know there is a tendency for convicted sex offenders to claim they are trans women. Some hope it will cure them (& oestrogen is a very good libido dampener), some think it will give … https://t.co/HCuyvzIDiY

— Prof. Stephen Whittle OBE, PhD, DLaws, FAcSS, (@stephenwhittle) October 19, 2023

“Those who work in the field know there is a tendency for convicted sex offenders to claim they are trans women”?????? How can “he” say that?! It’s illegal and evil to say that anyone is lying about being a trans woman.

2. … them easier access to women & children. Both are wrong.

Maxim Australia Names Trans-Identified Male Football Coach In “Hottest 100 Women” List

A transgender former football champion has made the Maxim Australia’s Hot 100 list for the second year in a row, prompting confusion amongst Aussie netizens. The list, intended to highlight the most successful and beautiful women in entertainment, sports, and pop culture, ranked Danielle Laidley in 92nd place.

Laidley is a former star coach who played for the West Coast Eagles and North Melbourne in the Australian Football League from 1987 to 1997. He “officially” announced his transition in 2020, shocking many fans with his dramatic transformation from “Dean” to “Dani.”

Dean:

But wait, it gets better.

Laidley, who is over 6-feet tall, was arrested in

Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty.

Sidney K. Powell, a member of Donald J. Trump’s legal team after he lost the 2020 election, pleaded guilty on Thursday morning to six misdemeanor counts instead of facing a criminal trial that was to begin next week. She was among 19 defendants, including Mr. Trump, who were indicted in August for their efforts to subvert the election results in Georgia.

Ms. Powell, 68, who appeared in a downtown Atlanta courtroom, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference of election duties. That is a significantly less-severe outcome than she would have faced if found guilty of the charges for which she was originally indicted, which included a violation

Poor Willz, he’s so transparent. (No not that way, the usual way.)

Tss. He doesn’t feel sorry for anyone. It’s not in him. He’s far too obsessed with his own precious self to spare a moment to feel sorry for anyone else, let alone people he hates as much as gender-disobedient women.

And as for angry, nasty? Really, sir? Really? You are calling us angry and nasty?

He’s an excellent spokesman for his cause. Long may he rave.… Read the rest

The hilarity has generated even more hilarity.

‘Last year, one of Britain’s biggest tv production companies wanted to do a show where Buzz Aldrin and I spent a week together-to see if our views on space travel had changed. We’d go clothes shopping, a health spa, gym, sport, outer space-all the things that are supposedly a… pic.twitter.com/AjEOJ1y9t2

— James Dreyfus (@DreyfusJames) October 19, 2023

I daresay by now there’s a whole library’s worth of tv companies wanting to do a show where Willoughby and someone hyper famous and talented and busy would spend a week together giggling and gossiping and painting their toenails.

One genius remembered there’s a source document – Willz put his pathetic fantasy on Twitter way back … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Mostly Cloudy on Decency and Julia.

Der Durchwanderer @41

If we are to be judged by how our words might one day be used by the spiritual descendents of our current political enemies, then none of us should write anything at all, because that is a game none can hope to win. Unless you are fanatically certain that history does indeed have a singular arc and that you will somehow always land on the correct side of it forevermore, that is.

You have a point there. We know that Martin Luther King, for instance, would not have approved of the politics of Rand Paul, and would be dismayed to hear Paul appropriating his words.… Read the rest

Human rights? You sure about that?

One – get those clapping hands out of my face. Clapping at us is not the way to persuade or convince us of anything.

Two – yes using specialty pronouns damn well is optional. People don’t get to pick out their very own pronouns as if they were a party dress and then force other people to use them. My words are not yours to control.

Three – of course it’s not “a huge form of support, respect & love” – don’t be so ridiculous! Calling a man “her” is neither support nor respect nor love.

Four, why do trans people get their very own special day about 700 times a year now? … Read the rest