Interesting. A bunch of “church leaders” in Cornwall think they have a veto over public artworks.

Since its dramatic appearance in a Cornish town centre, Earth Goddess, the tallest ceramic sculpture in the UK (and possibly the world), has provoked its fair share of controversy, with unkind critics condemning it as a gaudy piece of junk more suited to the land of the Teletubbies.

But the row has taken a religious twist after a group of church leaders wrote to St Austell town council claiming it was “offensive to God” and calling for the brightly coloured 11.5-metre-tall piece to be rebranded or removed.

That seems remarkably medieval, doesn’t it? Or papal? Or Saudiish? What business is it of theirs … Read the rest

Step one: learn what “inherent” means.

The only inherent difference between trans women and cis women is that trans women were assigned male by a doctor. Trans is an adjective that describes that assignment.

— Eli Erlick (@EliErlick) August 18, 2022

Being “assigned” something is the opposite of “inherent.” Way to ruin your own punchline.

As to the substance of the first tweet – of course they’re not. Trans women are men, by definition. “Natural women” is more a song title than a meaningful claim. “Normal women” means – ??? But biological women and born women are clear enough, and obviously men are not either of those, no matter what they call themselves.

Dumb counter-factual assertions are just dumb counter-factual … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Artymorty on All aboard the gender train.

What is it with everyone suddenly deciding that the naturally diverse ways humans express “gendered” interests are suddenly not just interesting, but specifically, medically interesting? It’s weird enough that we’re all suddenly obsessed with everyone’s gender “nonconformity” when at most we should just casually acknowledge that gender expression is a thing that matters to some people more than others, that different people have different gendery tastes and that’s perfectly normal, then move on. But in this crazy time we’re in, people seem to think the only way to give “gender” the weighty aura of seriousness it supposedly deserves is to put it under a medical spotlight. How is … Read the rest

The Stranger also sneers at feminist women.

On Monday night, the Port Townsend City Council and Mayor David Faber delivered a message loud and clear: transphobia is not welcome in Port Townsend.

It isn’t a phobia for women to want to take their clothes off without male strangers present.

After a nasty instance of transphobic bullying at the Port Townsend YMCA made national headlines across conservative media, the quiet town refused to cede an inch to transphobic outrage culture. In a much-appreciated symbolic gesture, the Mayor proclaimed the town a welcoming place for transgender people and an unwelcoming place for discrimination of any kind. 

But it wasn’t transphobic bullying, and it wasn’t nasty. Women need spaces away from … Read the rest

Port Townsend’s mayor is a tad flippant about women and their rights.

Women who don’t want men in their locker rooms? Bah, evil TERFs from out of town. Mute them all.… Read the rest

A local outlet reports on the Port Townsend protest:

As the City Council read a proclamation affirming the city as a welcoming place for all people, including transgender people on Monday night, the streets outside City Hall were full of people, the majority carrying pride flags or signs declaring support for transgender people.

Blah blah. The issue isn’t “welcoming,” especially not at the city level. No one is saying trans people are not welcome in Port Townsend. The issue is men in women’s locker rooms. Men should not be welcome in women’s locker rooms, because women don’t want to take their clothes off around random men they don’t know. It’s pretty simple.

Small scuffles broke out between protest groups

This may be the creepiest one yet.

“working with gender-expansive individuals 3 to 25 and their families” – ah yes those gender-expansive 3-year-olds, aren’t they adorable.

In this video Christy Olezeski, PhD admits that Yale Medicine is treating kids as young as 3 YEARS OLD in their "gender journey". She’s the co-founder of the Yale Pediatric Gender Program. 3 YEAR OLDS should not be led to change genders! Leave them alone @YaleMedicine. pic.twitter.com/lA20Yd7W2K

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 16, 2022

This is Yale. Not BCH, Yale. Is it something about New England? Just Massachusetts and Connecticut? Just Boston and New Haven? Do they grow special creepy warm-voiced doctors in tubs of earth in a lab there?… Read the rest

Wait a second.

Florida court rules teenager ‘not mature enough’ to have abortion

Quick question – which requires the most maturity: having an abortion or having a baby?

I’d say it’s having a baby. Even if the teenager doesn’t raise the baby, just having it requires a lot of maturity. There are things you should do or avoid doing while gestating a baby; it takes maturity to find out what they are and do or avoid doing them. It takes physical maturity just to deal with the whole thing. It takes a hell of a lot of maturity to push a baby out.

The 16-year-old initially petitioned to terminate her pregnancy, citing being a student and unemployed as reasons she

Erm…this isn’t already the case?

Police officers violent to women will be sacked under new guidance

New guidance? What was the old guidance?

The College of Policing has reviewed the penalties for breaches of police standards in a bid to “bring common sense and consistency” to the process.

It concludes violence against women or girls by police officers will always have a “high degree of culpability”.

What did it have until now?

Setting out the current problems, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, the college’s chief executive, said: “I have spoken before about my frustration at having to re-admit officers to my workforce who I thought should have been shown the door.”

That does sound frustrating.… Read the rest

Another target:

A female comic and healthcare worker says she has been spat at on the street and shunned by long-time colleagues for daring to put on a performance about biological women.

Well…women. They’re garbage, innit. The only decent women are men.

Award-winning funny woman Elaine Miller’s Fringe show Viva Your Vulva: The Hole Story has been the target of abuse from those judging her as a “transphobe”. She says that at the end of the Edinburgh show she makes a reference to the importance of language in getting across healthcare messaging.

She doesn’t mention trans women, because they’re not what she’s talking about. Can you imagine?

As well as attacks from strangers Ms Miller said fellow comics and

Honestly. They can’t even be consistent.

On the one hand Dundee man, on the other hand people who menstruate. It’s only the word “women” that is unsayable. Why is that? Is it because women are such unspeakable garbage that our rights and dignity and worth are all blotted out by the horror of us?… Read the rest

Outrage as man put in charge of period dignity:

Jason Grant was announced as the period dignity officer for the Tay region in a role believed to be the first of its kind, after Scotland became the first country in the world to protect the right to free period products in law.

Critics say the job should have gone to a woman instead. Ya think???

Susan Dalgety, a columnist for The Scotsman newspaper, told Sky News the appointment “takes mansplaining to a new level”.

“Jason has said being a man will help him reduce stigma and that it is time to normalise topics like menstruation and menopause,” she told the broadcaster.

“Periods are normal life for women, we don’t

Solidarity with Salman:

Hundreds of writers are to gather in New York this week to read from Salman Rushdie’s works, in a recreation of an event first held after the fatwa on the author was issued in 1989.

Authors including Paul Auster, Tina Brown, Kiran Desai, Amanda Foreman, AM Homes, Siri Hustvedt, Hari Kunzru and Gay Talese will be among those taking part in the “Stand with Salman” event.

The writers will gather on the steps of the New York Public Library on Friday morning, exactly a week after 75-year-old Rushdie was stabbed during an event at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York.

…

Friday’s event is being organised by PEN America, the New York Public Library,

Word is that Boston Children’s Hospital has removed all its Whoopee Gender-affirming Everything videos from its website, so it’s useful that people have saved them. Here we have another example of the oh so perky cheery celebration of tampering with adolescents’ puberties.

“Potentially sensitive content” indeed.

“And the really nice thing about puberty blockers? is that they are reversible. So it’s a really nice way for an adolescent to be able to explore their gender.”

Yes it’s all just so nice.… Read the rest

So that’s women’s rights gone.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has become the first appellate court in the country to find that gender dysphoria is covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act, after a transgender woman sued Fairfax County for housing her with men during her time in jail.

Oh ffs. Gender dysphoria may be a disability; it doesn’t follow that men get to force themselves on women.

“Being transgender is not a disability,” the court wrotein an opinion issued Tuesday, but “many transgender people experience gender dysphoria,” or distress over the discrepancy between their identity and their assigned sex. “A transgender person’s medical needs are just as deserving of treatment and protection as anyone

BCH tries to convince us that it’s the victim here.

Condemnable behavior for harassers who bullied and threatened the #1 children's hospital in the country. Leave our doctors and nurses alone. pic.twitter.com/ckgGbXvVUs

— Against the Palestinian Genocide (@chrisiousity) August 17, 2022

BCH does not and will not, it says fiercely, “perform a hysterectomy as part of gender-affirming care on a patient [that is, a girl] under the age of 18.” But it will on a girl 18 or older. It will also continue to refer to medically unnecessary hysterectomies as “part of gender-affirming care,” as if that category were as well-established and reliable and sciencey as how to mend a broken bone.

What if they’re wrong? What if the whole … Read the rest

Boston Children’s Hospital is claiming to be the victim in all this.

Boston Children’s Hospital has become the target of a harassment campaign based on inaccurate information about its transgender surgery program. Hospital staff say the campaign includes aggressive calls, emails and death threats for some providers.

Obviously there shouldn’t be threats, but “aggressive calls”? Define “aggressive.” Is it aggressive to say hospitals shouldn’t be performing medically unnecessary hysterectomies? Especially on girls age 18 or 19? Is it aggressive to say hospitals – especially children’s hospitals – shouldn’t be actively promoting and celebrating such elective surgeries?

“We are deeply concerned by these attacks on our clinicians and staff fueled by misinformation and a lack of understanding and respect for our

Libby Brooks at the Guardian raises an eyebrow at the hiring of a man to be period wrangler:

The appointment of a man to a new regional role promoting period dignity has provoked criticism and consternation.

Why? Perhaps I can explain. It’s because men don’t know, do they. They don’t know what it’s like to have a period. They don’t know what it’s like to be mocked or shunned or banished for having a period. They don’t know what it’s like to be a young girl and have this thing happen to you. They don’t know what it’s like to wonder if you’re smelly that day. They don’t know anything about it from the inside. With half of humanity to … Read the rest

Saudi Arabia has sentenced a woman to 34 years in prison for having thoughts.

A Saudi student at Leeds University who had returned home to the kingdom for a holiday has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for following and retweeting dissidents and activists.

…

Salma al-Shehab, 34, a mother of two young children, was initially sentenced to three years in prison for the “crime” of using an internet website to “cause public unrest and destabilise civil and national security”. But an appeals court on Monday handed down the new sentence – 34 years in prison followed by a 34-year travel ban – after a public prosecutor asked the court to consider

News from Port Townsend:

An angry white crowd screaming at a Black woman pleading for civil rights. Threatening her. Intimidating her. Senior women linking arms to protect a rape survivor trying to speak. A lesbian being shouted down by a mostly male mob decked out in Pride colors. A man with an AR-15 imposed over a Trans flag on his ball cap, the impression of a handgun in his left cargo pants pocket, hiding behind sunglasses and a mask that made identification difficult.

This man:

“DEFEND EQUALITY” with an assault rifle and a concealed face. That kind of equality.

Most of the jeering, intimidating mob of hundreds pressing elder women against the wall of the Cotton Building appeared to