Yes but how do you know?

You and I are and men, Tom. We have no right to enter women’s private spaces because men commit the overwhelming majority of sexual and violent crimes, and predatory men will exploit any weakness in safeguarding. Our ‘individuality’ is irrelevant, as is any other man’s.

— Gareth Roberts (@OldRoberts953) March 28, 2022

Men should not be allowed in women's spaces. No one is saying they should.

— Tom Harwood (@tomhfh) March 28, 2022

Oh yes they are. But of course Tom is being evasive here, in the usual way. By “men” he means men who don’t identify as women, while we mean men.

If you declared that on a whim, no.

— Tom Harwood

… Read the rest

First ever all-transgender team to play a football match!

There’s just one slight problem.

The transgender team is all trans women.

The other team is all women.

Of course the news article doesn’t admit that up front. They never do.

A local football club will play against a team of solely transgender women in a “world first”.

Dulwich Hamlet will compete against Trans Radio UK United FC (TRUK) on 31 March.

TRUK United’s squad will consist only of transgender women, who will take to the pitch against Dulwich Hamlet’s womens team.

Very validating for the trans women no doubt, but what about the physical safety of the women? Not to mention the fair competition aspect.

Event organiser Lucy Clark says

… Read the rest

Well but wait though.

A reminder that @NickFerrariLBC told me on air that being gay is a choice, and refused to apologise https://t.co/CMtsGWZgS4

— Benjamin Cohen (@benjamincohen) March 28, 2022

Right, being same-sex attracted is not a choice and it’s homophobic to tell people it is. But then what about trans people? What are same-sex attracted people supposed to do here? Specifically, are lesbians allowed to be not attracted to trans lesbians (men who identify as lesbians)? If a radio presenter asked Benjamin Cohen that question what would he say?

No, this is not what I think or indeed “tell” lesbians. I think lesbians should be able to decide, like everyone else, who they have sexual relations with.

— Benjamin

… Read the rest

Mikhail Iossel shared a remarkable piece of street art from Lyon:… Read the rest

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on Never mind Ukraine what about trans people?

It’s probably not helpful to make this about intelligence. I have been interested in cults for a while now*, and one particularly pernicious myth is that only weak or stupid people (or at the very least people who suffer from other major problems) join cults, when in fact cults are usually not interested in “damaged goods”: They are mainly interested in strong, healthy, intelligent, highly functional people who can go out there and recruit others (not a simple task!) and put down countless hours of voluntary work (including some highly specialized tasks that require great skill and competence) for the cults. In fact, I seem to … Read the rest

I get the feeling the venom is getting more venomous.

As a woman I am not being erased by the inclusion of my trans sisters.

As a woman I am not at increased risk of physical harm by the inclusion of my trans sisters.

As a woman I do not welcome the policing of our bodies as a means to define us.

As a woman transphobes are cunts.

— Mitten d'Amour (@MittenDAmour) March 27, 2022

I guess that’s the “d’Amour” part? Very lovey-dovey I must say.

Anyway Philip Pullman approves of it.

Go to hell then.

— Philip Pullman (@PhilipPullman) March 27, 2022

Feminist women are cunts, and Philip Pullman tells us to go to hell if we object to … Read the rest

They’re obsessed.

You’d think this was the only civil liberties issue on the planet. I see variations on this ad often and I don’t see ACLU ads that talk about mass incarceration or abortion rights or workers’ rights or any other civil liberties you’d think the ACLU would care about. Maybe this is because of Facebook’s algorithms but I talk about women’s rights a lot more than I talk about trans rights yet the ACLU seems to want to convert me. All it’s doing is convincing me it’s completely lost the plot.… Read the rest

Nancy Kelley says look look it’s all been proven look for yourself.

https://twitter.com/Nancy_M_K/status/1508059878077698049

So I’m reading. First item: the title, subtitle, and first sentence all carefully obfuscate the issue in the way the obedient media outlets always do.

Title: Critics accuse trans swimming star

But the issue isn’t “trans” it’s man. He has an unfair advantage because he’s a man competing against women.

Subhead: The NCAA champion has sparked controversy and become a hate figure among conservatives, but statistics show little evidence that she performed any differently to other women, Io Dodds reports

That one’s a whole list of obfuscations. He became a “champion” by competing against women. He didn’t randomly become “a hate figure”: he cheated women … Read the rest

The Washington Post on Putin’s repression of all traces of dissent:

The speed of Russia’s transformation to Soviet-style “self-purification” has been astonishing. When Russia invaded Ukraine last month, state TV went to wall-to-wall propaganda blaming Ukrainian “neo-Nazis” and “nationalists.” Now, shadowy pro-Putin figures are daubing the words “traitor to the motherland” on the doors of peace activists and others.

The propagandists are seriously busy – I’ve even had a couple here trying to post the “Ukraine–neo-Nazis” crap in comments.

Despite the risk of fines and jail time, others keep protesting. More than 15,000 people have been arrested since the war started.

Anastasia, wearing a jacket with the words “No to War,” was grabbed by riot police earlier this

… Read the rest

And speaking of the worship of Peak Bullying, Trump is still flattering his tits-out hero.

Donald Trump chose a rally in Georgia on Saturday night once again to praise Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian president “smart” even as he said the invasion of Ukraine amounted to a “big mistake”.

Putin is “smart” the way any successful crook is “smart.” It’s not a very admirable form of intelligence.

The Republican former president also had warm words for China’s president Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and referred to such leaders collectively by saying: “The smartest one gets to the top.”

The “smartest” in the sense of the most ruthless, shameless, brutal, determined, conscienceless.

He spoke admiringly of Xi

… Read the rest

There’s conservatism and then there’s whatever this is:

After Donald Trump lost the November 2020 election to Joe Biden, Fox skewed further from news to comment, ending its 7pm nightly broadcast, firing the political editor who had been part of Fox accurately projecting on election night that Trump had lost the crucial state of Arizona and promoting Tucker Carlson, the populist commentator and host who has consistently downplayed the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, by extremist Trump supporters, the New York Times noted.

Carlson and other voices aired by Fox have spent the past four weeks playing down Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, going soft on Putin, and undermining the messages of the invaded country’s

… Read the rest

Another Lia Thomas looms into view.

Top women cyclists who have helped Great Britain to historic triumphs face losing their team places after a trans woman announced she would now compete in female events.

Emily Bridges has continued to race against men for the past year while undergoing hormone therapy, and her successes include a gold medal at the recent University Championships in Nottingham.

However, her testosterone levels are now low enough to meet the criteria set out by British Cycling, the sport’s governing body, for her to compete against women.

So he’ll be guaranteed to win everything in sight! Progress!

The 21-year-old recently spoke candidly about her transition and revealed it was ‘always the plan’ to compete in

… Read the rest

More war crimes:

There have been more than 70 separate attacks on hospitals, ambulances and doctors in Ukraine with the number increasing on a “daily basis”, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

…

Since 24 February, the WHO has reviewed and verified 72 separate attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine causing at least 71 deaths and 37 injuries.

Most have damaged hospitals, medical transports and supply stores, but the WHO has also recorded the “probable” abduction or detention of healthcare staff and patients.

“We are concerned that this number is increasing daily,” the WHO’s Ukraine country representative Jarno Habicht told the BBC.

“Health facilities should be safe places for both doctors and nurses, but also patients to turn to

… Read the rest

The BBC has lost its damn mind.

Heavy periods, debilitating pain and infertility – those are some of the causes of endometriosis, a condition that affects one in 10 people of any age in the UK, who are assigned female at birth.

They mean women. Endometriosis affects one in ten women in the UK. Simple, clear, easy to understand. The way they put it not so much.

But what is it really like living with the gynaecological condition?

Two women shared their story for Endometriosis Awareness month.

There you go! Gynaecological; women; you can say it.… Read the rest

A Russian-Canadian academic (he emigrated to Canada from the Soviet Union) writes a public Facebook post about Putin’s absurd invocation of JK Rowling:

Earlier today, Putin railed against the alleged “Russophobia” in the West and, moronically enough, attempted to compare Russia to J.K. Rowling in that context.

He shared JKR’s prompt response. The rop comment on his post? Rebecca Solnit libeling JKR.

What a stunningly ugly and untrue thing to say – especially to a Russian-born critic of Putin at this particular time.

She goes on in the same vein, on and on. Kill the witch blah blah blah kill her some more.

She recommends a piece by Laurie Penny of all people.

More from Solnit:

Leaving aside that this

… Read the rest

There are some very strange ideas about rights and entitlements out there.

Russia has approximately 6,000 nuclear warheads – the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. In an interview on Saturday, Medvedev said Russia’s nuclear doctrine did not require an enemy state to use such weapons first.

It’s a nuclear doctrine, you see. Bullies have a fist doctrine, murderers have a gun doctrine, Russia has a nuclear doctrine.

He said: “We have a special document on nuclear deterrence. This document clearly indicates the grounds on which the Russian Federation is entitled to use nuclear weapons. There are a few of them, let me remind them to you: number one is the situation, when Russia is struck by a

… Read the rest

Here’s a surprise. Protesters in Ukraine did such top quality protesting that they got Russian soldiers to go away.

A mayor in a Ukrainian town occupied by Russian forces has been released from captivity and the soldiers have agreed to leave after a mass protest by residents.

Slavutych, a northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site, was taken by Russian forces but stun grenades and overhead fire failed to disperse unarmed protesters on its main square on Saturday.

The crowd demanded the release of mayor Yuri Fomichev, who had been taken prisoner by the Russian troops.

Attempts by Russian troops to intimidate the growing protest failed and on Saturday afternoon Fomichev was let go by his captors.

I find … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on The obvious rejoinder.

Maybe the trans people aren’t getting enough recognition after all, so let’s create trans athlete divisions…. Give them what they want; proper divisions with little sexless statuettes for the winners.

But that’s not what they want. Having a separate trans division would deny them their validation as “women” in exactly the same way that “third space” toilet facilities would. Trans activists don’t want a solution that’s “fair” that does not give them the hit of affirmation they crave. They don’t want to put a spotlight on their “transness”, they want to be centered, celebrated, and rewarded for their “womanliness.” The idea behind TWAW and “NO DEBATE” … Read the rest

Sometimes it just takes the breath away. This isn’t some pink-hair young adult, this is a middle-aged man with a book to advertise, and this is how he presents himself to the world.

https://twitter.com/pdkmitchell/status/1507091047301758986

He brags of standing outside a feminist meeting with a bunch of people shouting in order to drown them out and disrupt their meeting. He brags of it.

https://twitter.com/pdkmitchell/status/1507136157389316102

“Good and inspiring” to try to shout down women meeting to discuss women’s needs and rights.

https://twitter.com/pdkmitchell/status/1507450551927197704 https://twitter.com/coccinellanovem/status/1507377345195249668

At what point did you think a middle aged man traveling to shout aggressively outside a meeting hall full of women discussing how to lessen violence against women and children was a good and noble act?

— Shropshire Wendy.

… Read the rest

Megan McCardle writes about Lia Thomas:

I’ve now written two columns about Thomas, and it is striking how many people — almost all of them liberal — have spontaneously erupted when I told them what I was writing about. All made the same complaint: It’s not fair.

What’s striking about that? Of course it’s not fair. The unfairness is laughably (enragingly) obvious. He’s mocking us.

There’s little question that Thomas has retained some of the many biological advantages conferred by male puberty, such as height, heart and lung capacity, and strength. But the obvious rejoinder is that of course biology isn’t fair; it never was, and never can be.

That rejoinder is not obvious at all. It’s flippant … Read the rest