All entries by this author
Jan 15th, 2022 12:30 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
School urges girls to wear “shapewear” to deal with body image issues. Mother not impressed.
So this is what my 8th grade daughter brought home from school today. I am beyond pissed, though I’m not sure if I’m more pissed at the fact that they had the “balls” to send this home or the VERY IGNORANCE of the “counselors” at the school.
So you begin this masterpiece detailing how damaging a negative body image is for girls, how the stress of conforming to an impossible perceived image can adversely affect their mental health, and then OFFER TO GIVE THEM SPANX SO THEY CAN BETTER FIT THE PERCEIVED IMAGE?!? What. The. Very. F@$&. How, in the hell, are you promoting
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8 comments
Jan 15th, 2022 12:17 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Cunning plan: give convicted rapists the option of joining the army instead of going to prison.
Brandon Scott Price, a former Kentucky jail guard convicted of sexually assaulting a female inmate, was recently told his one-year sentence would be probated (meaning no jail time) if he joined the US military. “You’re getting a huge break,” the male judge said. Price may have a little trouble enrolling, however, as an army spokesperson has said you’re not eligible for enlistment if you’re convicted for a sex offense. Which seems sensible since the military already has a massive sexual assault problem: female service members are reportedly more likely to be sexually assaulted by a colleague than shot by an enemy combatant at
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4 comments
Jan 15th, 2022 11:14 am |
By Ophelia Benson
She was out for an afternoon run by the canal.
Vigils are taking place across Ireland and the UK in memory of murdered 23-year-old teacher Ashling Murphy.
Irish police are continuing to hunt for the killer of Murphy, who was found dead on Wednesday after going for a run on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore, County Offaly. The Garda Síochána said it had made “significant progress” in its investigation amid reports that detectives had identified a person of interest.
The canal. Canals are good places to walk and run. I seek them out, myself. There are canals here that link Lake Washington to Puget Sound; I like to walk along them. The first morning of my … Read the rest
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1 Comment »
Jan 15th, 2022 8:58 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Yeah. Women are either fuckable or My Auntie, i.e. old boring stupid wrong female woman.
She only wrote the thing that is the only reason anyone has ever heard of Rupert Grint let alone gives a shit what he thinks of her. Ungrateful misogynist little toad.… Read the rest
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10 comments
Jan 14th, 2022 4:34 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
So now it’s your sexual preferences.
Yers it’s “rigid” to be either heterosexual or homosexual. Truly decent people are omnisexual, not that we’re judging you or anything, we’re just judging you.
Nobody should ever be pressured, but everybody should definitely be judged. Nancy Kelley is judging you.… Read the rest
Posted in Notes and Comment Blog |
10 comments
Jan 14th, 2022 4:16 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
I took my dog friend/client to Union Bay Natural Area this afternoon. It’s on top of what used to be a garbage dump but is now teeming with wildlife.
The trees were bare, unlike in this photo, but you can see what it’s like. On our way in I thought I saw an eagle perched up ahead then decided nah then decided oh, yes it is, and it was. Looking around, and then grooming under a wing. Cooper and I kept going after I watched the eagle for a while, and we were somewhere along this trail in the photo when I saw a couple of swans fly by, and then saw a whole group of them on the water. … Read the rest
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3 comments
Jan 14th, 2022 12:15 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Is it still 2015?
How original. ALL women, including men. Yes dear, we know, we’ve heard it before. We’ve replied before. It seems a bit dim to be saying that at this late date as if it were a brand new and interesting thought.
Also, big, small, short, tall, aren’t the same kind of modifier as “not.” Big and small women are of … Read the rest
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4 comments
Jan 14th, 2022 11:08 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Life with Lia:
The crux of the swimmers’ complaints is the biological advantage that Lia has over female teammates. The swimmers were promised competition between females, not men who want to be female. Yet, there’s also the matter of an apparently inflated ego.
“She compares herself to Jackie Robinson,” the female swimmer told me. “She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports.”
But Lia Thomas isn’t in trans sports. If he were there would be no problem. Lia Thomas has forced his way into women’s sports, thus ruining it for the women. He’s not the Jackie Robinson of trans sports, he’s the comet striking women’s sports.
“I try not to be around her because the whole
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8 comments
Jan 14th, 2022 9:59 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Accused.
Yesterday evening Professor James Treadwell, a criminologist at Staffordshire University, announced his dismay on Twitter at being accused of “transphobia”. The details are vague, even to him. He has not been presented with evidence and he doesn’t and may never know who has accused him.
The issue is Professor Treadwell’s tweeting in favour of the right of female inmates to a single-sex prison estate. In a series of tweets on 27 December 2021, Professor Treadwell outlined his experience of the manipulative behaviour of violent sex offenders who will use loopholes to “game” the criminal justice system. He was clear that his tweets were not directed at the transgender community. He wrote:
“The idea that sex offenders are manipulative
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8 comments
Jan 13th, 2022 4:29 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
A breach in the defenses perhaps:
An upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a debate among doctors over when to provide these treatments.
An international group of experts focused on transgender health last month released a draft of new guidelines, the gold standard of the field that informs what insurers will reimburse for care.
How about informing the well-being of the patient first?
A new chapter dedicated to adolescents says that they must undergo mental health assessments and must have questioned their gender identity for “several years” before receiving drugs or surgeries.
How about questioning the very idea of “gender identity”? How about not treating it as … Read the rest
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9 comments
Jan 13th, 2022 11:59 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Oath Keepers guy charged with sedition.
Stewart Rhodes, the leader and founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was arrested on Thursday and charged with seditious conspiracy for organizing a wide-ranging plot to storm the Capitol last Jan. 6 and disrupt the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory, federal law enforcement officials said.
I think that might be a fairly serious crime.
The arrest of Mr. Rhodes was a major step forward in the sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack and the case marked the first time that prosecutors had filed charges of sedition.
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The Oath Keepers, along with the Proud Boys, have emerged as the most prominent far-right extremists to have taken part in the
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7 comments
Jan 13th, 2022 9:39 am |
By Ophelia Benson
But he identifies as royal; surely that’s all that’s required?
The Queen has removed a range of military affiliations and royal patronages held by Prince Andrew, Buckingham Palace has said. The move comes after a US judge gave the green light for her second son to face a sexual assault civil lawsuit.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Thursday: “With the Queen’s approval and agreement, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen. The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
The dramatic move comes hours after more than 150 military veterans wrote to the Queen to ask
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5 comments
Jan 13th, 2022 8:27 am |
By Ophelia Benson
She thought of it, therefore it’s true. Boy does that make fact-checking easy!
She couldn’t unsee “the connection” she made up in her own febrile brain. Well hey, I can play that game too. She posted this article at the height of the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, so I can’t un-see the connection. It’s right there, staring me in the face!
Shall we take a look? … Read the rest
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4 comments
Jan 12th, 2022 4:14 pm |
By Ophelia Benson
Open Democracy adds its lashes to the dead horse.
“When the trans community is discussed in the British media, there is a particular word that crops up again and again,” said Niamh Simpson, a trans illustrator and community organiser from Oxford. “That word is ‘debate’.”
A trans illustrator? So he identifies as an illustrator but actually can’t draw a recognizable stick figure?
“Trans people cannot simply exist. We must justify our existence in the public arena – in a format that is inherently dehumanising because it assumes that a fundamental aspect of our personhood is up for discussion.”
Ha no. “Trans people can’t simply exist” because they have to be always telling us about themselves. Trans people are the … Read the rest
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16 comments
Jan 12th, 2022 10:53 am |
By Ophelia Benson
Linda Blade on the Lia Thomas question:
The recent editorial in Swimming World Magazine defending the right of Lia Thomas (LT) to swim as a woman deserves a response.
Allow me to begin this critique with applause for author Lucas Draper (LD). As a female athlete who self-identifies as a man, LD has chosen the ethical pathway in competing in a much more difficult field with male swimmers rather than to be competing unfairly against fellow females while doping.
Unfortunately, in the manner typical of proponents of gender ideology, LD’s editorial comments deploy escalating levels of emotional gaslighting.
Facts and arguments don’t make their case, so emotional bludgeoning is all they have. Unfortunately it works.
Fourthly, there is an
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