Very even-tempered.

I'm an infamously even-tempered man, but if you take Terry Pratchett's name in vain for some small-minded bigoted fuckwittery I will push you down a set of fucking stairs and laugh at the bounce.

— John Rogers (@jonrog1) July 31, 2021

The small-minded bigoted fuckwittery of course is skepticism about a magical ability to change sex.

https://twitter.com/And4women/status/1422694329026441219

I don't much care for grave-robbing plagiarists, regardless of gender or intent.

— John Rogers (@jonrog1) August 3, 2021

There are a lot of things I don’t care for, but I don’t threaten to push people down a set of stairs and laugh at the bounce because of them.

https://twitter.com/Lungbarrow1/status/1422862592700305408

It’s all in the bounce.… Read the rest

Originally two comments by Seth on Fair and includey.

If you believe that he really does have gender dysphoria

See, this was the first step on the road to getting where we are now, this notion that someone having “gender dysphoria” makes them “really trans”, as opposed to a faker. But in its own terms, “gender dysphoria” is a mental illness, a delusion, either very starkly akin to or actually the same as the body dysmorphia which afflicts anorexics or compulsive exercisers.

The proper treatment for the latter two expressions of body dysmorphia, you’ll note, is not to completely reform society to give the stick-thin girl the “validation” that she is “in the wrong (obese) body” and is a … Read the rest

The Telegraph:

Male-born sex offenders who self-identify as women can be placed on female-only NHS wards, hospital trusts have said in guidance.

Devon, Oxford and Nottinghamshire hospitals all tell staff that a criminal history should be part of a risk assessment when placing male-born people on female-only wards, but do not say it is a bar to admission.

There’s a funny thing going on here…Men can be placed on women-only wards, but women can’t. Men can request women-only but women have to put up with women and men who claim to be trans.

I’m not sure that’s entirely fair.

It comes as The Telegraph has found that NHS Trusts across the country have issued guidance that says patients should

… Read the rest

I wrote a column for The Freethinker about stupidity that’s not genuine involuntary stupidity but chosen stupidity, deliberate stupidity, stupidity in aid of ideology or tribe or hatred. That’s what much of the anti-vax bullshit is: not really about the vax and not really a mistake, but just a kind of point-scoring.

It’s incredibly cut off your nose to spite your face, but it seems millions of people find it entirely worth it for the sake of irritating the libbruls.

Some of them stop finding it worth it once they’re gasping for breath though.… Read the rest

Here we are again.

Covid-19 hospitalizations are surging across the US and stretched hospitals are warning that the overwhelming majority of coronavirus patients are unvaccinated and their serious sickness preventable.

Preventable, yes, but then you turn into a Democrat and your dick falls off. (Applies to both sexes.)

Health officials are especially concerned about Florida, where cases are the highest they have been since the pandemic began.

On Monday, there were more Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida than at any time in the pandemic. The chief executive of the Florida Hospital Association, Mary Mayhew, told MSNBC that about 95% of those hospitalized were unvaccinated.

Look, it’s Florida. Trump country. DeSantisland. Collapsing condo towers built on sand as sea level … Read the rest

What do you know, it turns out there’s a price to pay for disvaluing female people.

Men are set to dramatically outnumber women in coming decades, new global modelling of birth sex ratios has found.

Of course they are. Now that technology can tell people what sex the baby is, girls can be Prevented. Amartya Sen famously pointed this out decades ago.

Researchers warn that global long-term stability could be at risk due to the “cultural preferences” for boys in certain countries. Nations with skewed sex ratio at birth are set to “lose” another 4.7 million girls by 2030 — a figure that could reach 22 million by 2100.

The study, published in the journal BMJ Global Health,

… Read the rest

Janice Turner is doing her best to get Owen Jones to listen though.

What about women's rights? As you said to Piers Morgan on your own programme "Sport is a difficult one". You acknowledge there is a conflict of rights. Why not debate with women? You'll talk to men with gender critical views. Why not feminists?

— Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) August 3, 2021

But men who hold the same views, even eg Rees Mogg, who is outright hostile to LGBT issues, are fine. But not feminists. I see. You block women who disagree with you & caricature their views on Twitter. But you aren't prepared to have an honest debate with women. Why?

— Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) August 3, 2021

… Read the rest

What Owen Jones always ignores:

The British media is indeed a cosy club, in which transphobia is rife and acceptable, and the whole "Owen is a Twitter bully" meme was invented by anti-trans activists who object to a LGBTQ commentator using his platform to support LGBTQ rights.

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) August 3, 2021

I think the very major problem in this whole "debate" is anti-trans opinions dominate the British media, but anti-trans activists position themselves as marginalised victims which they deploy as a central weapon against the very few commentators to openly support trans rights.

— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) August 3, 2021

What? What is it that Owen Jones always ignores? What are these tweets examples of Owen Jones … Read the rest

Originally a comment by latsot on Define “hate”.

The BBC ran a piece on Hubbard yesterday, which I overheard from another room. NOTE: distance from source does not mute rage. They were doing the usual dance around all of this to avoid screaming, wide-eyed into the camera “IT’S A BLOKE!!!! WE CAN ALL SEE IT’S A BLOKE!!!!! IT’S OBVIOUSLY A GADGIE!!!* HE’S JUST CHEATING!!!!!”

Then they seemed to change the subject and had a correspondent phoning in to talk about something else and they asked him what they thought of the whole men cheating in women’s sports thing. The correspondent was very careful to explain that he didn’t know anything about the subject and couldn’t possibly comment but that … Read the rest

Oh it’s all so complex.

As the first openly transgender female athlete to compete at the Olympics, Laurel Hubbard was making history and huge controversy in the Tokyo International Forum. It certainly looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

If you believe that he really does have gender dysphoria. If you believe he’s just cheating, it looks a bit different.

Hubbard had met all the requirements set by the International Weightlifting Federation, though those rules — requiring athletes to demonstrate their total testosterone level in serum has been below 10 nanomoles per litre for at least 12 months before their first competition — are regarded as wholly inadequate by a battery of sports scientists. At

… Read the rest

How about a little feel-good item for a change.… Read the rest

US right-wingers are rejoicing that the US women’s soccer team lost.

I support watching Megan Rapinoe lose.

They kneeled. They shouldn’t represent America.

— Nick Adams (Alpha Male) (@NickAdamsinUSA) August 2, 2021

https://twitter.com/lavern_spicer/status/1422197248247713793 https://twitter.com/WayneDupreeShow/status/1422180470905790464

All because they kneeled (or knelt). The horror.… Read the rest

From last week but still of interest:

House Republicans on Wednesday angrily criticized a new order from the Capitol Hill physician to wear masks inside the Capitol due to the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, leading Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “moron” over his argument that the decision was not based on science.

Oh that’s why she called him a moron. Well, yes – that is a moronic thing to say. The whole anti-mask pageant is strikingly stupid and perverse.

“This is some serious nanny-state stuff that will only breed resentment. No kidding,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) said on the floor, complaining that the House should be focusing on border

… Read the rest

Oh did they indeed.

Internationally acclaimed author @ChimamandaReal presented a lecture at @UCT_news Univ. of Cape Town. The @UCT_SRC tried to have her lecture cancelled, then held a counter-lecture by Dr Anastacia Tomson, who spoke on the "dangers" of Adichie's feminism.https://t.co/7jzPkIQUu0 pic.twitter.com/j2K2W2H5xd

— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) August 1, 2021

What’s SRC? Student Representative Council. Apparently a misogynist racist Student Representative Council.

Who is the simpering “Anastacia” Tomson?

Mister Catchme-fuckme shoes, that’s who. The kind of pretend woman who thinks crippling “sexy” footbinding shoes are a metonymy for women.

News 24 reported last week:

The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Student Representative Council (SRC) wants an open lecture by writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie cancelled, accusing her of transphobia.  

“As

… Read the rest

The facts:

Transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard made Olympic history but failed to record a successful lift in the women’s +87kg weightlifting.

Stupid kind of “history” to make. He “made history” by being the first man to steal a woman’s place at the Olympics. Not something to brag about.

She became the first openly transgender athlete to compete at a Games in a different gender category to the one in which they were born.

Carefully worded to sound acceptable. The accurate wording would be “He became the first openly male athlete to compete at a Games in the women’s category.” It doesn’t sound quite as brave and stunning put like that, does it.

Why is the BBC wording it in … Read the rest

The BBC is mad at us. Livid, in fact. The BBC won’t have it. The BBC is taking names. The BBC will report us to the relevant authorities. It replies to its own tweet about “reluctant history maker” Laurel Hubbard:

I’ve never seen BBC Sport make such a statement or pre-emptively threaten to report social media comments for, say, sexism or misogyny, despite abuse against women in the public eye being well documented. Why is that?

— Helen (@fancyhatslady) August 2, 2021

… Read the rest

There’s this CNN piece from four months ago that I don’t think I saw at the time, so I don’t think I’ve already ranted about it.

It’s irritating because CNN is a news outlet, so it’s supposed to deal in verifiable facts for the most part (along with a lot of political commentary, it’s true). Reporter Devan Cole wrote about trans athletes and there’s hardly a fact to be seen.

South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem banned transgender girls and women from competing on women’s sports teams at public high schools and colleges via a pair of executive orders issued Monday.

In other words she banned male people who claim to be trans from competing on women’s sports teams. It … Read the rest

Preserving the dogma:

https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1421954005270466563… Read the rest

Oh come ON Beeb – “reluctant” is the LAST thing he is. If he were reluctant he wouldn’t be doing this sadistic unfair thing.

The reluctant history-maker at the centre of sport's transgender debate https://t.co/59yLC6dzLx

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 1, 2021

And it’s not “history” he’s making, either.

The ridiculous story, by Joshua Surtees:

“I’m not here to change the world,” said Laurel Hubbard in 2017, the year she first competed as a female weightlifter.

The year he first competed “as a female” as if that were something people can just do, the same way they can just comb their hair or eat a sandwich.

“I just want to be me and do what I do,”

… Read the rest

It’s Satanic Panic all over again.

https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1421278581863419907 https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1421279215308132353

Last paragraph of the statement:

CAAPS supports eliminating the use of ROGD and similar concepts for clinical and diagnostic application given the lack of empirical support for its existence and its likelihood of contributing to harm and mental health burden. CAAPS also encourages further research that leads to evidence-based clinical guidelines for gender-affirming care that support child and adolescent gender identity development.

CAAPS does not encourage further research that leads to evidence-based clinical guidelines for watch and wait care that support child and adolescent body-acceptance.

At this rate, 5 or 10 years down the road, will psychology organizations be supporting “species-affirming” care that helps children and adolescents look like horses, cheetahs, giraffes, … Read the rest