No, I don’t think that’s right.

Rape doesn’t have to (and it mostly doesn’t) include violence. It’s often a mundane practice. It often goes unrecognised and brushed off as bad sex. It can be hugely traumatic and/or an annoyance. It happens in and out of ‘relationships’ and across sexualities and genders.

— Sally Hines (@sally_hines) September 3, 2021

If it doesn’t include violence in some form, including the form of a permanent inescapable situation/relationship in which the woman does not have the option of saying no, then it’s not rape. But a relationship in which the woman can’t say no is a rape-relationship, for sure. And they’re not rare, of course – arranged marriages with no consent for the woman … Read the rest

Slate’s trans guru Evan Urquhart had to correct a sleazy piece she wrote for Slate in July about the Wi spa exhibitionist.

Update, Sept. 2, 2021: The New York Post reports that on Aug. 30, “charges of indecent exposure were discreetly filed against a serial sex offender for the Wi Spa incident, following an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.” The accused, Darren Agee Merager, denied the allegations in an interview with the Post, but indicated that she plans to turn herself in to authorities.

“She” is a man – a man who preys on women.

Urquhart tells us in the July piece that the police were treating the Wi spa incident as a hoax.

Soon after the

Person charged.

If you’re wondering if the Guardian journalists who amplified the Wi-Spa-is-a-hoax-hoax will do any kind of soul searching after being so thoroughly wrong, the answer is right here and it’s no https://t.co/OXd7720PzS

— Katie Herzog (@kittypurrzog) September 3, 2021

They not only do no soul-searching, they do more evasion and obfuscation and changing of the subject. They’re not journalists at all.

And then there’s trans journalist Evan Urquhart:

The following tweets are a great example of why activist journalists can never be a thing. These people are so righteous that they could never fathom a retraction or correction to their work, and asking them to be honest in their stories is almost an insult to them. pic.twitter.com/yE8P3RnH4q

—

The Guardian really seems to be having a Lie About Trans Issues day.

They are not “protesting against trans rights.” That’s such a malicious and incendiary lie it’s startling. What they’re protesting is the invention of new fictitious rights about being “validated” and “included” as something you’re not. That’s not a right. As I’ve said some 9 billion times by now, it doesn’t take much effort to see why that can’t possibly be a right: reasons to do with fraud, competence, safety, relationships, everyday functioning, and the like. If women have to agree that men are women just because they say so, then women can never have safety or privacy again.

I’m not the only one infuriated by … Read the rest

Dahlia Lithwick wonders why the fanatical conservatives on the Supreme Court opted to do it in such a sloppy and late-night haha sucks to be you way.

[A] careful look at the shoddy, contemptuous jurisdictional reasoning of the five justices in the majority suggests something even darker. It’s not just that the majority of the Supreme Court functionally ended abortion rights for most women in Texas last night merely because they could. And it’s not just that they did so because—as is so often the case with impressionistic, frayed shadow docket reasoning—their personal feelings about the constitutional right to abortion are quite robust. It’s almost impossible to not go one further and declare that the court opted to end virtually

Dave Hewitt is also unimpressed by that dishonest Guardian news story on the Wi spa predator.

This piece contains new information that was first revealed by right-wing outlets, and serves to demonstrate how The Guardian – by doggedly pursuing a specific ideological angle and denigrating anything that does not fit – has become wedded to a pernicious false consciousness that prevented them from breaking this news themselves.

These two reporters, specifically. They’ve been on the story all along. I’m wondering if they have any editorial supervision at all, and if their editor is afraid of them, because surely it’s not good journalistic practice to refuse to specify the sex of the Wi spa predator when it’s the core of the … Read the rest

You have to be really careful about what ideologies you subscribe to. I could just say don’t subscribe to any, but I’m not sure that’s possible, or desirable. It can be considered an ideology to think that other people exist and have rights, and that the self doesn’t have a right to trample other people’s rights. Maybe we have to have some ideology to avoid total ruthless self-interest. But we do have to be cautious. Unlike…

The reason it doesn’t change my position is that restricting the rights of an entire category of people on the basis that one of them might commit a crime is the essence of prejudice.

— Laurie Penny (@PennyRed) September 3, 2021

What’s her problem … Read the rest

They just can’t tell the truth, no matter how obvious it becomes.

Person charged with indecent exposure at LA spa after viral Instagram video

“Person” ffs! When what he indecently exposed was a penis.

Charges filed two months after woman’s claims about Wi Spa sparked anti-trans protests

They can call the woman a woman, but they can’t call the man a man.

Los Angeles authorities have charged a 52-year-old with indecent exposure at a popular Korean spa that was the subject of a viral Instagram post earlier this summer.

A 52-year-old what?

The LA police department (LAPD) announced late on Thursday that it had put out an arrest warrant for Darren Merager, who is now facing five felony counts of

Pliny’s latest:… Read the rest

Can’t be shared too often.… Read the rest

We did tell you.

In perhaps the clearest example of #ThisNeverHappens since Karen White, a serial sex offender has been charged with indecent assault over the Wi Spa incident.

As you may remember, in June, Wi Spa customer ‘Cubana Angel’ posted a viral video to social media from inside the Los Angeles spa in which she told a front desk employee that a man had exposed his penis in a female-only steam room to women and girls, only to be told that there was nothing staff could do because the man claimed to be transgender.

Which is the problem in a nutshell, isn’t it, as we’ve pointed out at least 7 trillion times. Men can claim to be … Read the rest

National Equalities Convener for the SNP here.

Solidarity with the counterprotesters at Holyrood today – please keep yourself safe when/if the fascists show up to stand with the anti-trans protesters.

Don't leave the protest on your own, keep faces covered, don't put yourself or others in harm's way. Look after each other ❤️

— Fiona Robertson fionaswriting.bsky.social (@FionasWriting) September 2, 2021

Now don’t you dare say she’s claiming gender critical protesters are fascists. Not at all!! She’s saying fascists might show up to stand with anti-trans protesters. Completely different! Not at all meant to mislead people into thinking feminist women are anti-trans fascists!

If you are still, for some reason, quibbling on the name, I'd like to know exactly what

The dogma:

Please do not erase trans men, nonbinary, genderqueer, and nonconforming people from the issue of reproductive health. Already seeing a lot of posts today that only include cis women.

— Jason Rosenberg (@mynameisjro) September 1, 2021

Please don’t erase “trans men” and “nonbinary people” and the rest of the list of navel-gazing narcissism, instead erase women, because let’s face it, women are garbage.

Use the preferred term. Apparently the “preferred term” for women is “people who menstruate”…which seems an odd preference.

The preferred term is "people who menstruate," "people who are pregnant," etc. Be inclusive. It costs nothing, and means the world. https://t.co/0Pjq2sKrU5

— Sam J Cohn, MD (@samjcohn) September 1, 2021

Lots to notice here. One, … Read the rest

The installation was asking for it.

An appeal for information has been launched after a sculpture in a Sheffield park created to highlight violence against women was destroyed by arsonists.

A little too on the nose, perhaps. “You oppose violence against women? Here, have some symbolic violence against women!”

The six-foot tall hexagonal installation in Ponderosa Park, in Netherthorpe, was razed during the night of August 21.

It was created by students from and funded by Sheffield’s universities to protest violence against women and was only installed three weeks before the fire at an unveiling in late July.

The wooden sculpture was handmade and included poems by members of the Our Bodies Our Streets feminist organisation in Sheffield. It

Still at it. They should transfer their social media person to a different job – one that has nothing to do with women’s civil liberties.

Late last night SCOTUS denied our emergency request to block Texas’ cruel and dangerous abortion ban, SB8, which has stopped most abortion in the state.
 
This law has had a devastating impact in just 24 hours, particularly for communities of color and those without resources.

— ACLU (@ACLU) September 2, 2021

Particularly for WOMEN of color and WOMEN without resources. The matter of who is affected by this is not random.

The average Texan WOMAN and HER abortion provider.

Women women women women women women women women women women women women women women women … Read the rest

Even NOW the ACLU won’t say our name. It’s as if they’d deleted the word “Jews” from their vocabulary in 1933.

The law bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy — before many people even know they’re pregnant.

The result is that many Texans will be forced to carry pregnancies against their will.

— ACLU (@ACLU) September 1, 2021

People, people, Texans.

This is a full-scale assault on patients, our health care providers, and our support systems.

This abortion ban is blatantly unconstitutional. We won’t stop fighting until it’s blocked.

— ACLU (@ACLU) September 1, 2021

People, anyone, patients.

Not a woman to be seen.… Read the rest

Even Kamala Harris ffs. If even she can’t say it…

Texas law SB8 blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago. It will disproportionately affect communities of color and individuals with low incomes from getting access to the health care they need.

We must protect that right.

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 1, 2021

WOMEN of color, WOMEN with low incomes. Not generic communities, not generic individuals, but specifically and exclusively WOMEN.

Updating with

Texas law SB8 will significantly impair people’s access to the health care they need—particularly for communities of color and individuals with low incomes.

We are deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade and will protect and

But they have to exclude, no matter what.

Will new Olympics rules exclude or include transgender athletes?

Most athletes are not included in the Olympics. That’s why the Olympics are such a big deal: they’re a contest among the very best.

Backlash against transgender and non-binary competitors in Tokyo has highlighted the problems preventing inclusion in sports at all levels

But “inclusion” isn’t a goal of the Olympics. They’re not supposed to exclude for reasons irrelevant to the competition, but they are both allowed and supposed to exclude most hopefuls, because that’s the whole point – excluding competitors over and over until there are only three left, who win bronze silver and gold.

When Grace McKenzie decided to undergo gender

Yet another of these patronizing “reminders” of utter bullshit, and in this case harmful bullshit.

Your periodic reminder that not all women need access to abortion care, and that some trans men and non-binary people do.

Saying “people who need abortion access” or “patients seeking care” or etc. is more accurate and inclusive.

— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) September 1, 2021

Here’s your periodic reminder that it is ONLY women who need abortion.

(Abortion, not “abortion care.” Is she squeamish about abortion? So squeamish that she feels she has to try to veil it?)

It is only women who need abortion. That includes women who claim to be trans men, and women who claim to be the meaningless “non-binary.” Be … Read the rest

Lawmakers trying to make corporations defy the legal process.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have warned telecommunications companies against sharing information with the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

McCarthy and Greene on Tuesday both suggested that the companies would face repercussions for complying with the committee’s request for data once Republicans are in control of the government. The committee asked 35 telecommunications and social media companies to supply it with the records on Monday.

They didn’t “suggest” it, they said it.

“This is leading us into waters that we’ve never been in in America,” Greene said during an appearance on Fox News‘ Tucker