All entries by this author

A spiritual battle

Jun 24th, 2022 9:07 am | By

Next level:

Another speaker—Matt Sande, legislative director of Pro-Life Wisconsin—calls the likely repeal of Roe v. Wade “a great first step,” adding that his group will then work to remove the exception for saving the life of the mother from the 1849 Wisconsin anti-abortion law that could go back into effect if Roe is overturned. “This is a spiritual battle,” he says, urging people to “just pray they stick to this [leaked draft] Alito decision.”

Emphasis mine.… Read the rest



Guest post: Just a particular kind of bondage

Jun 24th, 2022 8:48 am | By

Originally a comment by artymorty on A pivotal moment.

That openness attracts some transgender people who empathize with Ariel’s agony of being trapped in a body that feels wrong.

That’s a euphemistic way of saying there’s a big overlap between crossdressing and roleplaying as a mermaid (or a furry, or something infantile like a child’s doll or even a child in diapers). And I can imagine that mermaid-dom has much of the same problem as furrydom (and babydom and doll-dom and trans-dom): that parents let kids and young people get involved thinking it’s harmless roleplay or some kind of special identity, completely unaware that for a lot of the adults in the group, it’s a highly sexual activity. I’ve … Read the rest



SCOTUS to women: sucks to be you

Jun 24th, 2022 8:25 am | By

As expected, Trump’s Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade.

The Supreme Court on Friday overruled Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years in a decision that will transform American life, reshape the nation’s politics and lead to all but total bans on the procedure in about half of the states.

In a decision that sends a message to American women that we are not fully autonomous humans, that we don’t have basic human rights, that we don’t deserve basic human rights, that we are not allowed to veto a takeover of our own bodies, that our own bodies don’t even belong to us.

In a decision that sends a message to … Read the rest



A pivotal moment

Jun 23rd, 2022 5:33 pm | By

Uh oh. Are terfs about to be shoved off the naughty step by merfs?

Mermaids, that’s what the M stands for. We take you now to Sydney for

There was a pivotal moment in Queen Pangke Tabora’s life that eclipsed all others: It was the moment, she says, when she first slid her legs into a mermaid tail.

She what? Where did she get it? Did she murder a mermaid? Did she buy it on the black market from someone who murdered a mermaid? Those things don’t just come off like a pair of jeans you know – they’re the mermaid’s below the waist body.

For the transgender Filipina woman approaching middle age, seeing her legs encased in vibrant, scaly-looking

Read the rest


For understanding feminism

Jun 23rd, 2022 3:45 pm | By

Verso deleted the “womb carriers” tweet, and then tried to claw back a little of its credibility.

You first.… Read the rest



Joining a raft

Jun 23rd, 2022 11:12 am | By

It looks as if the blockage has been dissolved.

The International Hockey Federation (IHF) and World Triathlon have joined a raft of governing bodies reviewing their policy on the involvement of transgender athletes in women’s sport following last weekend’s ruling by swimming’s top body FINA.

Yesssssssssssssss. Do that.

“We are conducting a review of our transgender policy and this is a current work in progress in consultation with the IOC (International Olympic Committee),” a spokesperson for the IHF told Reuters on Wednesday.

World Triathlon are working on their own guidelines which will be released after the approval of the Executive Board in November, following a review by the medical committee, women’s committee and equality, diversity & inclusion commission.

Once

Read the rest


Cementing

Jun 23rd, 2022 10:09 am | By

Two different issues:

The Biden administration on Thursday proposed new rules governing how schools must respond to sex discrimination, rolling back major parts of a Trump administration policy that narrowed the scope of campus sexual misconduct investigations and cementing the rights of transgender students into law.

Sexual harassment and assault are one issue, and what “transgender” means is another. They shouldn’t be mashed together in a single sentence.

The proposal would also address discrimination under Title IX, the federal law signed 50 years ago today that prohibits the exclusion from, or denial of, educational benefits on the basis of sex in federally funded programs.

In other words, I think, the proposal would hijack Title IX’s protections for women’s rights … Read the rest



Blam

Jun 23rd, 2022 9:05 am | By

“Conservative.”

The US supreme court has opened the door for almost all law-abiding Americans to carry concealed and loaded handguns in public, after the conservative majority struck down a New York law that placed strict restrictions on firearms outside the home.

That’s not conservative – it’s reckless, it’s homicidal, it’s dangerous. It’s labeled “conservative” only because lefties have better sense about it than righties do.

The New York law struck down on Thursday required anyone wanting to carry a handgun in public to prove that they had a “proper cause” to do so.

The decision in the case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen renders the law an unconstitutional violation of the second amendment right to

Read the rest


Strong contender

Jun 23rd, 2022 6:01 am | By

Verso Books joins the competition to see who can insult women the best.

https://twitter.com/VersoBooks/status/1539942040682758145… Read the rest


About nine genders

Jun 22nd, 2022 11:36 am | By

Hmm. Nine genders? Are we drawing close to precision and clarity at last?

“About” nine. Interesting mix of precision and vagueness.

Starts here:

It was all going well at first, she says, but now there’s “the kind of debate, divisive debate that we have seen in the UK, America and Canada.” Sorry for being so divisive … Read the rest



Step back

Jun 22nd, 2022 9:32 am | By

Where Megan Rapinoe talked all this nonsense is in an interview with Sean Gregory in TIME that starts with a discussion of Title IX.

What does Title IX mean to you?

Oh, goodness. I mean, Title IX gave me the opportunity to play soccer in college and get a scholarship. I don’t think I even knew about it until probably I got to college, or a little bit after. It wasn’t in my consciousness. That’s kind of the amazing thing about my generation is, we didn’t have to think about it. It was just there for us.

Ok stop right there. Title IX gave her those opportunities as a woman, which she wouldn’t have had without it. Athletic scholarships … Read the rest



Someone’s right & freedom to participate

Jun 22nd, 2022 8:58 am | By

People allow themselves to say the most bizarre nonsense on this subject.

The thing is Samantha Lewis isn’t just a random bystander (like me for example). She’s a women’s football writer. This makes her questions extremely odd – like a doctor asking “What is the point of medicine? Why do we interfere with people’s right to be sick?”

Why should success in sport trump someone’s right & freedom to … Read the rest



58%

Jun 21st, 2022 4:45 pm | By

I remember when Republicans talked about law and order. Must have been a long time ago.

State election officials testified before the January 6 committee on Tuesday, recounting how Donald Trump and his allies pressured them to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election in the weeks leading up to the deadly Capitol attack.

Trump continued his efforts even after members of his own party repeatedly told him that reversing the election results would violate state laws and the US constitution, the officials testified.

As a result of Trump’s persistence, election officials and poll workers were subjected to violent, hateful and at times racist threats from the former president’s supporters.

And yet he’s still not in prison, … Read the rest



Guest post: How many future Rapinoes?

Jun 21st, 2022 11:22 am | By

Speaking of the necessity of choice between competition and inclusion –

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on When you operate with the value of compassion first.

If participation in sports is now to be based on “compassion,” and “inclusion,” then trans-identified prospective athletes are going to have to line up behind the millions of boys, girls, men, and women who fail to make the team of their choice. Or is their “exclusion” somehow okay? The vast majority of these “excludees” are not going to be allowed to try to game the rules by trying out teams they’re not qualified for. High-schoolers aren’t going to be permitted to sign up for primary school teams. Adults aren’t going … Read the rest



Compete or include; you can’t do both

Jun 21st, 2022 11:10 am | By

About that World Athletics item – Sean Ingle yesterday:

The World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, has hailed swimming’s decision to ban transgender women from elite female competition as in “the best interests of its sport” – and hinted that track and field could soon follow suit.

If it’s in the best interests of one sport it’s surely in the best interests of all of them.

Lord Coe was in Budapest on Sunday as swimming’s governing body, Fina, voted to bar from women’s events trans athletes who have experienced any part of male puberty. Within 24 hours he announced that the World Athletics council would also be reviewing its transgender and DSD (differences in sex development) athletes policies at the

Read the rest


Elite cheaters

Jun 21st, 2022 10:49 am | By

Sean Ingle notes that finally the powers that be are having to pay attention.

The biggest battles in this summer of sport are being fought over in the boardrooms and backrooms, as federations wrestle with the thorniest question of all: should transgender women be allowed to participate in female sport?

It’s only “thorny” because fools made it thorny. It wasn’t thorny before. It was settled practice: men didn’t play on women’s teams or race against women or get in the ring with women.

For years most have regarded the issue as too dangerous to touch: the sporting equivalent of playing pass the parcel with a live grenade. Now, though, they have no choice. The emergence of elite trans women,

Read the rest


They really hate him

Jun 21st, 2022 9:18 am | By

Jeez. Trump can’t even subjunctive.

“If I didn’t endorse him [DeSantis], he wouldn’t have won,” Trump told the New Yorker, which published an in-depth story profiling DeSantis’s rise.

Tsssss. No no NO. “If I hadn’t endorsed him, he wouldn’t have won.”

Anyway, the point is, the repellent governor of Florida Ron DeSantis is getting too much attention for Trump’s liking, so he very naturally announces that that attention is all thanks to him, the great and powerful Oz.

The governor’s rising star and declining interest in hanging out with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, are fuelling resentment among the former president’s inner circle. One Republican political consultant told the New Yorker, “Trump World is working overtime to find

Read the rest


Guest post: Make sure it’s not you

Jun 21st, 2022 7:19 am | By

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on When politics becomes identity.

Re. communist China, on of the main lessons I learned from Jung Chang’s biography of Chairman Mao was that the endless purges and show-trials were not even meant to smoke out any real dissenters. At least that wasn’t their main function. The real purpose was conveying the following message: “Someone is going to get it during the next purge whether they are in fact guilty or not. Make sure it’s not you!”. And of course the way to make sure it wasn’t you was by making sure it was somebody else. In other words, it wasn’t enough to be “innocent” of any heretical tendencies. In fact, … Read the rest



He enjoyed it

Jun 21st, 2022 6:30 am | By

Gee, thanks, BBC. What star woman athlete did they book onto the Today program to talk about men in women’s sports?

Fallon Fox. A man who broke a woman’s skull.

Read the rest



Self-congratulation is it?

Jun 20th, 2022 6:03 pm | By

Man who identifies as woman says it’s all a big mistake.

Those who support these moves sometimes argue that segregation between trans and cisgender women in sports is regrettable, but necessary for fairness.

It’s not “segregation.” That’s a loaded word in this context, and it’s not the right one in any case. Women and men are already separate categories – women and men. That’s not “segregation,” it’s reality.

Also, I don’t say keeping men out of women’s sports is regrettable. I don’t think it’s the least bit regrettable; what’s regrettable is not doing that. What’s regrettable is letting William Thomas and Rhys McKinnon steal all those wins from women.

They argue that the performance gap is so large that

Read the rest