It depends on how you define “definition”…

The Cambridge Dictionary has updated its definition of “woman” to include anyone who “identifies as female” regardless of their sex at birth. 

If you mean some people use the word to mean anyone who identifies as, then that’s what the CD has done. If you mean the actual, generally understood, longstanding, literal definition of the word, then the update is absurd and an insult to almost everyone.

Funny thing: the more “inclusive” you make your definitions, the less useful they are. The more you broaden them to take in the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the less they mean anything. If you “update” the definition of women to include men then … Read the rest

Oh oh oh, what an outrage, a horror film called Adult Human Female has not been banned from the University of Edinburgh.

A screening of the film Adult Human Female is scheduled to occur in a lecture hall on the university’s George Square campus on Wednesday, hosted by the University of Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom group.

However the Edinburgh branch of the University and College Union (UCU) wrote to the university’s principal, Peter Mathieson, and called for the screening to be cancelled over concerns it contained content that was “a clear attack on trans people’s identities.”

What is an attack on a set of people’s identities? What does that mean? People have gotten so settled into the jargon … Read the rest

Genevieve Gluck at Reduxx on another comrade:

A woman in Norway is facing criminal charges and a possible prison sentence of up to three years for stating that men can not be lesbians. Tonje Gjevjon, a lesbian artist, was notified on November 17 that she was under police investigation for hate speech over a statement she posted to Facebook.

…

“It’s just as impossible for men to become lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant,” Gjevjon wrote, “Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes.”

Gjevjon particularly singled-out the actions of prominent Norwegian trans activist, Christine Jentoft – a man who claims to be a lesbian mother, and who currently serves as a representative for the

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot at Miscellany Room.

I forgot to mention that the book Transpositions, compiled by Sarah Phillimore and Al Peters (moley) is available on Amazon.

It’s a collection of people’s peaking stories. I have the Kindle version, but I’d recommend the paperback, it’s one of those books that’s good to flick through. Some of the stories are heartbreaking.

I went to the book launch event, which was some high quality TERFing. As you might have heard, Sarah advertised it on EventBrite who pulled the event for “Hateful, Dangerous, or Violent Content.” Then the venue contacted her to ask her not to mention the venue online because they were afraid of violence. In the end, there … Read the rest

https://twitter.com/moleatthedoor/status/1602084643355987969… Read the rest

Joan Smith on that ridiculous (and insulting) ruling:

“Sex is not limited to biological or birth sex,” according to one of [Scotland’s] most senior judges.

Yes, you did read that right. We are plunging ever deeper into la-la land, where sex is no longer determined by boring old things like biology or physical characteristics. It can be changed by a piece of paper, known as a gender recognition certificate (GRC), with unpredictable consequences for women-only services such as the new sexual violence service set up by JK Rowling in Edinburgh.

Usually the law has no truck with la-la land. It can’t afford to. We can’t afford it to.

The decision explodes the argument by Nicola Sturgeon’s government that its

… Read the rest

A court rules that men can be women.

A court has thrown out a challenge against the Scottish government’s definition of a woman in law.

Even governments can’t make lies true. Even courts can’t make a lie the truth. They can pass laws, they can issue rulings, but they can’t just waves their hands and make nonsense The Truth.

The For Women Scotland group complained about the way a bill aimed at gender balance on boards had included trans people under the definition of women.

Imagine if it were about British boards and a bill aimed at national balance, but England insisted that English people who identify as Scots are Scots despite having zero evidence of any Scottish ancestry. … Read the rest

And in come the sneery “wtf is her problem” think-pieces on JK Rowling’s astounding baffling incomprehensible move to open a women’s space in Edinburgh. Why would she do such a thing??? A smug young guy called Ryan Coogan wonders for the Independent:

…up until about a year ago, I held out hope that Rowling was somehow misunderstood or that I just “read her out of context”, as her defenders keep insisting. But I’ve given her the benefit of the doubt, and I’ve seen the context, and if anything it just makes things worse as time goes on. It’s a shame, because she gave me a lot of great memories as a kid, but for me at least, a

… Read the rest

TransLucent has me blocked of course but I’m sampling its tweets anyway. Have a nice sample of the intellectual quality:

Cisgender.
The definition is in the dictionary. @murdo_fraser https://t.co/ybl7MFdfgC pic.twitter.com/enb7YEaxRw

— www.TransLucent.Org.UK (@TransLucent_Org) December 12, 2022

A peach, isn’t it? Murdo Fraser notes that many women find the neologism “cisgender” offensive and demeaning, and genius answers that it’s in the dictionary. Guess what!! Lots of offensive and demeaning words are in the dictionary! The fact that they’re in the dictionary doesn’t make them not offensive and demeaning. The dictionary isn’t a private exclusive club that rejects words that don’t wear the right clothes; that’s not the purpose or job of the dictionary. Also there is no “the dictionary”; there are … Read the rest

There’s something called TransLucent, which used to be called Steph’s Place, which was a website that did (crude) public relations for trans people, mostly (of course) the male ones. The Steph’s Place About Us page is…well let’s just say it’s hard to tell it’s not a parody. Anyway now it has a more spiritchuwal name, and an apology tweet.

Apology. pic.twitter.com/8KNwbWKalb

— www.TransLucent.Org.UK (@TransLucent_Org) December 13, 2022

The writing is even worse than the writing at good old Steph’s Place. We get some of the drift, I think – they claimed to have an article about being trans as a biological condition, and now say they’re not publishing this important article because um er um. What’s not clear is whether … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on He was made to feel uncomfortable.

Anyway, we don’t know what was actually said at that party, and it’s entirely possible that something transphobic or otherwise shitty was said. But I am not inclined to take that assertion at face value, especially given the lack of specifics.

I wonder what this “transphobia” consisted of. They never say.

Failure to affirm the lie demanded of those around him? Disagreement on what constitutes a “transphobic issue?” More likely a case of perceived lèse-majesté than anything actually “phobic.” Refusal to bow down and kiss the ring. Their feelings of discomfort are always entirely justified and sacrosanct. But what of the feelings of everyone … Read the rest

Victoria Smith on women the contaminants:

Should universities — hallowed places of learning, temples of the mind — allow themselves to be contaminated by the presence of females? What if their passive, bovine intellects were to slow the lively exchange of ideas? What if their inferior morals should poison the purity of free enquiry? What if, God forbid, they were to menstruate all over the books?

It sounds satirical but that is in fact how women have been seen since forever, and still are, more than is generally admitted. Menstrual huts may be Way Over There somewhere but the thinking behind them isn’t entirely distant. Terf=cunt=slut=filth.

In a report compiled by lawyers and academics at Garden Court Chambers and

… Read the rest

Oh is that so.

You’ll read a lot today about Jk Rowling setting up a centre for rape victims in Scotland, which on the face of it seems a laudable a gesture.
But the motivation behind the billionaire’s philanthropy has nothing to do with women. It’s about an opportunity to ban trans people.

— India Willoughby (@IndiaWilloughby) December 12, 2022

It’s not about “banning trans people.” It’s about women running a facility for women. That’s all. It’s none of Willoughby’s business. He should stop trying to bully women into joining his cult.

So it it ok for rape crisis centres to say “no blacks and no Irish”?

I mean black and Irish are adjectives like trans.

— Elanore Transsaurus-Rex BSc.

… Read the rest

The Scotsman June17 2019:

A police investigation has been launched after a feminist campaigner was allegedly verbally abused and “almost punched” after a women’s rights discussion at Edinburgh University.

Julie Bindel, a campaigner against violence towards women, had claimed she was attacked in George Square after delivering a speech at an event which had been branded “transphobic” by trans campaigners as it focused on the future of women’s sex-based rights.

Women talking about their rights is transphobic. Ok…………..

It was revealed on Twitter that the person who had lunged at Ms Bindel was a trans-woman called Cathy Brennan. The freelance film critic has said: “I will not be discussing it personally with anyone I do not know.”

December 12 … Read the rest

You know…as I look at this photo something occurs to me, not entirely new but a bit more forcefully than usual.

https://twitter.com/MeechSteph1/status/1601875889800740866

What? What is it that occurs to me?

Fear.

The fact that the photo sparks fear. I looked at it a little longer than I usually look at such photos and then noticed a feeling and then realized what it was. If I were cornered by that guy and berated over pronouns or terfs or his genner idennniny I would feel fear. He’s big, he looks like a bruiser, he looks angry. I’ve been cornered by guys like that when they were angry, as I think probably all women have. This is just built in. We feel … Read the rest

But how do you know which side that is?

My pronouns are he/him. And I want to thank Dr. Fauci for his long service.

Be on the right and respectful side of things. It’s better for your own soul, and better for others.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) December 11, 2022

The issue of course isn’t the Fauci part, it’s the pronouns part. (Tiresome of Musk to jam them together.) How does he know it’s right and respectful to pretend that people can and should decide what pronouns other people use to refer to them? How does he know it’s not, on the contrary, rude and narcissistic to make that demand? He doesn’t, because he can’t, because it is rude and … Read the rest

This guy fancies himself a feisty contrarian (which is an amusingly banal thing for a contrarian to do) and yet he’s strikingly non-contrarian on The Orthodoxy de nos jours.

https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1601167337214070790

The argument of course isn’t that trans athletes are just like e-bikes. Read the introductory text again, or just read Jon Pike’s tweet again while paying attention.

The argument is that unfair advantage is unfair advantage.

The underlying implication is that people (including relevant officials) are systematically ignoring the fact that being male is an unfair advantage in women’s sports just as riding an e-bike would be an unfair advantage in the Tour de France.

https://twitter.com/RogerPielkeJr/status/1601171949077815297

Basic courtesies like not misrepresenting the other party’s argument?… Read the rest

Susan Dalgety at The Scotsman on the opening of Beira’s Place:

Beira’s Place, named after the Scottish goddess of winter, will offer support and advocacy to women in the Lothian region, aged 16 and over, who have experienced sexual violence or abuse at any time in their lives.

The service has been launched to follow the global 16 Days Campaign for the elimination of violence against women. It is free and has been set up in response to demand from female survivors for a women-only service.

J.K. Rowling, who will fully fund Beira’s Place, said that she had founded the project to provide what she believes is an unmet need for women in Edinburgh and the Lothians said: “As

… Read the rest

Rowling has done a thing.

https://twitter.com/DalgetySusan/status/1602238740197511168

BREAKING:

Today, J.K. Rowling will open a new, women-only sexual violence support service called Beira’s Place | @bindeljhttps://t.co/LyJIMMSo09

— UnHerd (@unherd) December 12, 2022

BREAKING @jk_rowling is funding a new service in Edinburgh, called Beira's Place, for women who have experienced male violence pic.twitter.com/NjlKAIkbUx

— @GinaDavidson (@ginadavidsonlbc) December 12, 2022

… Read the rest

Trans scholarship…

I'm reading, and re-reading this book, and I'll share snippets as I go along. This thread is about the piece by Madeleine Pape. Pape is employed by @iocmedia to promote the IOC framework document…https://t.co/n6G5oYkWXM

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite) December 11, 2022

I’ll repeat that: Pape is employed by @iocmedia to promote the IOC framework document…so her “scholarship” on this subject is compromised by a conflict of interest.

…@sharrond62? Pape gives an account of this which seems fairly straight – it's drawn from the @Youtube record, whcih I think starts here: https://t.co/MlSQlx9vrL

— Jon Pike (@runthinkwrite) December 11, 2022

Jon links to a few more speakers.

… Why? well, this is a Case Study of a

… Read the rest