All entries by this author
Jun 17th, 2022 4:44 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
This PrideMonth, the Audobon Society partnered with a man who pretends to be a woman to bring us a message of hope future planet climate change yadda yadda. God knows why a real woman talking sense wouldn’t have done just as well or in fact much better.
https://twitter.com/audubonsociety/status/1536443288240148482
Your Name’s not Bruce? tells us they’ve blocked a lot of people as a precaution against hearing any impertinent questions on this brave mumblemumble.
https://twitter.com/NoBettyInHere/status/1537605509670309889…
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
9 comments
Jun 17th, 2022 4:30 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
My opinion of people has just shot up. I thought I’d be the only one to say “Ew he thinks he’s doing Fine Writing,” but on the contrary, most people out of a large number said so, and more wittily. I hate hate hate wannabe Fine Writing except from geniuses.
Along with the bogus Fine Writing of course there’s the Don’t you wish you could have a nice vaycay in Cyprus? along with the Get me I’m writing, I’m a writer, you thought I was just a QC but I’m also a writer.
… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
7 comments
Jun 17th, 2022 11:44 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Transgender Trend summarizes some of what is known about puberty blockers and brain development:
When a child’s natural puberty is blocked we can expect to see effects not only on the body but on the developing brain. It is the surge of sex hormones at puberty which triggers the important changes in the adolescent brain which only reach completion in the mid-twenties. Hormonal changes at puberty are thought to influence the development of both brain structure and function.
Recent research indicates that there is a window of development for some cognitive functions, and if this window is missed, cognitive development does not resume later even if blockers are discontinued. A reduction in long-term spatial memory was found to persist after
…
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7 comments
Jun 17th, 2022 10:57 am |
By Ophelia Benson
We need more oil to get those prices down but don’t go producing more oil because climate.
Next up: fly us to the moon on gossamer wings.
The Post:
Battered politically by high gasoline prices and pressed to increase oil and gas production, Biden nonetheless attempted to convince countries to keep pursuing policies aimed at combating climate change.
“We cannot, we cannot afford to let the critical goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to slip out of our reach,” the president said to leaders at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. “The science tells us the window for action is rapidly narrowing.”
And the news media and vox pop tell us we have to … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
6 comments
Jun 17th, 2022 10:17 am |
By Ophelia Benson
It’s not just a few wannabe-Hitlers, it’s the Republican party.
[T]he immediate danger to American democracy stems from the fact that the Republican party is justifying all this, remains united behind the man responsible, and, worst of all, actually wants to put him back in power. This is about Trump, but not just about Trump. This is what the Republican party is: the very few voices siding against Trumpism are being shunned and ostracized, and most Republicans are united in their quest to install authoritarian rule by a reactionary minority.
And even if conservatives aren’t necessarily on board with all the specifics of Trump’s conspiracy claims, the right in general is united behind the idea that progressives are out
…
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4 comments
Jun 17th, 2022 9:09 am |
By Ophelia Benson
If they could at least manage to talk about it honestly that would be a start.
First sentence of Libby Brooks’s article on a survey of attitudes toward trans people:
The British public are not bitterly polarised over trans equality, according to new research, which found a majority agreed schools should talk to pupils about transgender issues and that one in four knows a trans person personally.
But “equality” has nothing to do with it. Nobody wants trans people to be “unequal” in some never-specified way. The well is poisoned in the title and the very first sentence, and of course goes on being poisoned throughout.
Thought to be the most in-depth UK study to date of public attitudes
…
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12 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 5:45 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Sometimes NOW remembers who women are and what the National Organization for Women is.
Just women. Not men, not trans women, just women. It’s women who need to soak up menstrual blood without getting it all over the furniture, not men.
Other times they struggle a bit.
…
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1 Comment »
Jun 16th, 2022 5:19 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
I remember when the National Organization for Women was an organization for women. Seems like only yesterday.
https://twitter.com/NationalNOW/status/1536065569098694659
When will this childish shit stop. Yes of course women are the only people who need access to abortion care. Men don’t need it because men don’t get pregnant. (There’s plenty to say about how abortion rights benefit men too, but that’s a different subject, and not what NOW means.) Women need access to abortion and women need a lot of other things too. The fight has not been won. It is not time to move on from feminism and give the men who want to pretend to be women a chance.… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
6 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 11:51 am |
By Ophelia Benson
A Holyrood equalities committee is discussing reform of the Gender Recognition Act while refusing to talk to women. It’s talking about giving away women’s rights while barring women from their talk. How do they justify this to themselves?
A former Olympic athlete turned politician has slammed Holyrood’s equalities committee, describing its scrutiny of a bill to reform the Gender Recognition Act as a “sham” after it refused to hear from female atheletes concened about the impact of legislation on women’s sport.
Brian Whittle, a gold medallist in the 4x400m relay at the 1986 and 1994 European championships, and a competitor at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, said the committee was only inviting people “who give the answers they want
…
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 10:58 am |
By Ophelia Benson
At last, the man says, finally, FINALLY, after all these years dragging ourselves through the sand, longing for water – finally a man steps in to bestow clarity on all this womany screeching.
Responses are somewhat acerbic.… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
6 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 9:52 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Billy Bragg is happy about it though. Well he would be.
Imagine working in local government (as I have, working for the Zoo and the Aquarium and the Parks Department) and having your union make declarations of belief in obvious lies. The union’s position is clear: men are women. Brilliant. … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 9:41 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Grim. Unison, the UK union for public service workers, has declared war on gender critical feminism.
UNISON local government conference unanimously passed a motion in support of trans rights this afternoon, recognising the importance of the union being loud and visible in support of its trans members.
Speaking in support of the motion, UNISON LGBT+ delegate Anu Prashar commented on the hostile media treatment of trans women in particular saying “this is the same tactic used against gay men in the section 28 era, when they were portrayed as sexual predators and a danger to children. We have seen it all before.”
No, it isn’t. It isn’t the same at all. Why is it “trans women in particular”? Because … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
4 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 9:04 am |
By Ophelia Benson
One more grovel added to the mountain.
What did he say?
You can call that “mean” all you want, but the reality is it’s true. Organizations for women obey this new rule that we must not mention women in connection with pregnancy or childbirth or nursing or mothers. The more people object the better. The more celebrities object the better. The fewer people and celebrities who apologize the … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
8 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 8:24 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Crap news out of Brazil:
Brazilian police say a suspect has confessed to burying the bodies of missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.
Detective Eduardo Fontes said the man, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, took investigators to a site where human remains were dug up.
He said police would work with Interpol to confirm the bodies’ identities.
…
Mr Phillips, 57, and Mr Pereira, 41, disappeared in a remote part of the Amazon rainforest that is rife with illegal poaching, mining and logging on 5 June.
…
Univaja, the region’s indigenous association, was the first to alert authorities when the pair went missing.
The group expressed its “deep sadness” following the news conference.
It said
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2 comments
Jun 16th, 2022 7:06 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Happy clappy castration time.
Susan Buchanan, the director of National Specialist Services Division Scotland, apologised for the documents being uploaded in error and said her organisation would now commence a full investigation into the incident.
It shouldn’t be hard to find out who tried to insert these ideas into the document. Whoever it was should be fired. Perhaps this was somebody’s trial balloon, reeled in and walked back as soon as there was pushback. Had there not been, it would have stayed in place and become normalized as policy. I’m guessing that much of the genderist agenda that’s been introduced into various institutions and organizations has followed a similar path. … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
1 Comment »
Jun 15th, 2022 6:11 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Scottish NHS hypes the joys of being a eunuch.
Eunuch should be recognised as a formal gender identity, according to documents published by the Scottish NHS.
The National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland (NGICNS) shared the claims from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that “eunuch-identified people” were the “least visible” trans group and would benefit from “gender affirming medical care”.
The paper was deleted on Wednesday night and the Scottish Government issued an apology, claiming it had been published by mistake.
Gender-affirming medical care for eunuchs is castration, so that’s what they’re suggesting.
Eunuchs “generally desire to have their testicles surgically removed or rendered non-functional”, the document states.
It adds that eunuchs should be
…
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
12 comments
Jun 15th, 2022 4:52 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
What I’ve always said about skirts – they’re designed to confine and hobble women and girls.
A North Carolina school violated the constitutional rights of its female pupils by requiring them to wear skirts, a US federal court has ruled.
The Charter Day School, in the city of Leland, had said its uniform promoted girls as “fragile vessels” deserving of courteous and gentle treatment.
But a group of parents who challenged the policy said it put their daughters at a disadvantage compared to males.
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed on Wednesday by a 10-6 vote.
How do skirts “promote girls [and women] as fragile vessels”? By inhibiting them. By hobbling them and reducing their freedom of movement. … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
15 comments
Jun 15th, 2022 3:20 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
It’s here chapter 872:
Recent climate twists have helped propel California into a third straight year of drought. Seven of the past 10 years have been dry. Some scientists say the state is in a megadrought not seen in 1,200 years.
People are starting to move away from California.
The 2020 and 2021 fire seasons were the biggest in modern California history. Last year, more than 2.5 million acres burned, an extraordinary run of flames that included destruction of the Gold Rush-era town of Greenville in the northern Sierra and the gutting of the community of Grizzly Flats west of Lake Tahoe.
And it’s not going to get better this year.… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
2 comments
Jun 15th, 2022 2:52 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Don’t take a sociology course at the University of Auckland.
No doubt Bible colleges operate like that (and thus probably render their degrees useless for most secular career purposes), but you wouldn’t expect a real university to.
…
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Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
13 comments
Jun 15th, 2022 11:29 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Bazelon on the new WPATH guidelines part 2:
When WPATH released the draft of the SOC8 for public comment, Leibowitz and his co-authors braced for the inevitable conservative attack. For teenagers who have parental consent, the draft adolescent chapter lowered to 14 (from 16 in the previous guidelines) the recommended minimum age for hormone treatments, which can permanently alter, in a matter of months, voice depth and facial and body hair growth and, later, other features like breast development. It set a minimum recommended age of 15, for breast removal or augmentation, also called top surgery. (The previous standards didn’t set a minimum age.)
It’s interesting that she admits the alterations from hormone “treatments” are permanent (while still calling them … Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
10 comments