From the Department of Easy For Him to Say:

Keir Starmer has pledged to end the Tory culture wars if he becomes prime minister. In an exclusive interview, the Labour leader told HuffPost UK that people are “exhausted” by the political battles over issues such as trans rights. And he said he wanted to focus on “bringing people together” rather than creating further division.

Man blows off women’s rights as “culture war” and thinks that will “bring people together.” Is it 1968 again? Are men of the left really still sneering at pesky women and our pesky insistence on our pesky rights?

Starmer has been criticised in the past for shifting his own position on transgender rights. However, the

… Read the rest

Another dude dismisses women’s concerns while claiming the women don’t know what they’re talking about.

The new BBC Director of Sport, @AlexKayJelski,a man who said @sharrond62 @Martina weren’t experts & compared excluding men from women’s sports to excluding Jamaican or Ethiopian women
(btw – he knew what a woman was when picking a surrogate)#DefundTheBBC https://t.co/AIvOS8rquB https://t.co/HWyCLo6bob pic.twitter.com/yZx8p4cnJN

— Le_Sorelle_Arduino KPSS (@Sorelle_Arduino) June 10, 2024

Martina is not impressed.

This is pretty pathetic- never heard of this man, looked him up here and found myself blocked.
Once again, good to know that men apparently know what women like myself and Sharron know about biology and sports etc. Just amazing to be this confident, no? https://t.co/PeYjqHFa2W

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina)

… Read the rest

Nothing but mashed potatoes between those ears.

Trump complains at length about credible reports (that had nothing to do with Biden) that he called dead soldiers "suckers" and "losers" pic.twitter.com/4H1KiKc5Fk

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 9, 2024

… Read the rest

Keir Starmer promises to continue ignoring women.

Keir Starmer has pledged to end the Tory culture wars if he becomes prime minister. In an exclusive interview, the Labour leader told HuffPost UK that people are “exhausted” by the political battles over issues such as trans rights.

So he’ll just continue to ignore women’s concerns. Thanks Mister Sir!

Starmer has been criticised in the past for shifting his own position on transgender rights. However, the Labour leader said his government would look to bring an end to those controversies on day one. He said: “I think people are exhausted by culture wars. My clear view is that the vast majority of the public in general in the UK are reasonable,

… Read the rest

Well, maybe, but a question arises. How, exactly, are you defining “transphobia”? How are the people reporting it defining it?

The UK has seen a 462% increase in sexual orientation hate crime reports since 2012

The number of reports regarding transphobia has shot up even further with a 1,426% increasehttps://t.co/iswYDhjOAy

— Metro (@MetroUK) June 10, 2024

The full caption says “Map shows hotspots for sexual orientation and transgender hate crimes” but the tweet twice says the issue is reports of such “hate crimes.” The two are not the same thing, to put it mildly. Trans “activists” see “hate crimes” everywhere. Of course the stats have shot up when there is so much hyperbolic shouting about dangerous women who refuse … Read the rest

You what?

There are tentative signs of high pressure building from the west but cool, wet weather is likely to continue across the UK, forecasters say. After a cool and windy weekend, Monday and Tuesday will remain cool for the time of year, the Met Office said, although will feel warmer in sheltered sunshine.

Heavier showers on Monday should ease up by Tuesday, and overnight temperatures will be in the single figures with a chance of grass frost in rural areas. Ellie Glaisyer, a Met Office meteorologist, said the temperatures were “disappointing for June”. 

Oh dear oh dear if only it were hotter.… Read the rest

Shocking news out of Spokane, a famously boring city in the eastern half of Washington state – the eastern half being the dull, dry, not so scenic, next to Idaho half. You don’t expect much shocking out of Spokane but here it is all the same.

Lime, a popular electric scooter and bike rental service

Lemme stop you for a second right there. It’s not popular with me. I hate the damn thing. People ride the scooters on the sidewalks [pavements in UK-speak], endangering pedestrians who aren’t expecting them and can’t hear them approaching because they’re SILENT. They’re a menace and should be illegal.

Lime, a popular electric scooter and bike rental service, has announced it will be

… Read the rest

Eeeesh. No it’s not.

The answer is contained in the question, if trans women weren't women they wouldn't be trans women. it's like asking whether blue cars are cars, or whether tabby cats are cats. Don't waste my time with tautologies.

— Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) June 8, 2024

No it’s not like that at all. It’s like asking if pretend cats are cats or if fake cars are cars. “Trans” isn’t comparable to “blue” or “tabby” in this attempted analogy, because “trans” means “not real.” Prisoners of the ideology don’t define it that way of course, but all the same that’s what it means.

It’s not a humdrum adjective that simply names an attribute of a person or thing. … Read the rest

That’s depressing.

NO TERFS https://t.co/Ya5YGj8KKS pic.twitter.com/0YeFNHGHvC

— GLAAD (@glaad) June 6, 2024

Replies are indignant. … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? at Miscellany Room.

A local greenspace was the site for a Pride event today. We went through, checking out the vendors. The last time I felt this out of place was back in the days when I used to do wedding photography, when I ended up shooting a wedding where the parents and pastor did the whole Evangelical, loud, praying over the couple routine. Most of the church weddings I shot tended to be in more staid, bland, formalized, un-zealous traditions, which I found less jarring to my atheist sensibilities. I’ve usually found unbridled, vocal, demonstrative piety disconcerting, partly because displays of delusional thinking, however sincere, are kinda creepy. More creepy … Read the rest

A thing I often wonder: why is the subjunctive so taboo in the UK even when it’s necessary for meaning?

I ask because I’ve just happened on an example of the kind of thing.

From a statement issued by Durham University:

While individuals and groups within the University community may express lawful views on any issue, we insist that this is done in a safe and respectful way.

See that’s not what they mean. By not using the subjunctive they said something they’re not trying to say. They say they’re insisting that this is in fact done in a safe and respectful way, when what they’re trying to say is that they insist it should be done … Read the rest

Slowly, inch by inch, institutions are rediscovering that people can’t change sex even if a piece of paper says they have done so.

The equalities watchdog is urgently reviewing its guidance for employers on single-sex jobs as women’s refuges are “routinely” and “unlawfully” advertising positions to male-born applicants.

The Equality Act has exemptions which allow employers to restrict a job role to a particular sex if they can show it is an “occupational requirement” and is “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. Under these rules, it is lawful for women’s domestic violence and rape charities to advertise female-only positions.

But there’s a catch!

However, the feminist campaign group Fair Play For Women (FPFW) has alerted the Equality and

… Read the rest

I’m nostalgic for the days when we didn’t sell T shirts for little girls urging them to Bend Over.

So this is for sale on @tiktok_uk as suitable for 8 year old girls. It baffles me any mother would buy this for her little girl, or that any woman would sell it but here we are. #childsafeguarding pic.twitter.com/3P6AIYEYwW

— Joolz Denby (@JoolzDenby) June 8, 2024

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The New Republic reminds us that what Trump is doing is not legitimate response to rivals but something else entirely.

The idea that Trump should pursue “revenge” and “retribution” for prosecutions is everywhere on the right. After a federal judge ordered Steve Bannon to surrender to prison, numerous MAGA influencers, including the MAGA God King himself, angrily vowed such payback. Republicans have said Trump should “fight fire with fire” (Senator Marco Rubio) and that GOP district attorneys should declare open season on Democrats (Stephen Miller). Trump, of course, has offered many versions of this, including to Dr. Phil and Hannity.

In the media, this story tends to be framed as follows: Will Trump seek “revenge” for his legal travails,

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Oh good GOD.

How do they get this way? How do they not see it?

Do you know what is ‘toxic’, @Keir_Starmer?
To respond to a question about the abuse and harassment of one your own female MPs with a story of a murder.

Still no comment from you or @UKLabour about the trans activist protest at Rosie Duffield’s launch in Canterbury tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/c2gupNoGpq

— Venice Allan (@roseveniceallan) June 8, 2024

The woman asks him why he said, in connection with Rosie Duffield, that “only women have a cervix” is “something that shouldn’t be said” and “is not right.”

“Well,” he says, “look, what I said then and on other occasions is simply that I do not like the … Read the rest

You will sign the Loyalty Oath or else.

Staff at a top university say they feel coerced to subscribe to a Stonewall agenda by signing a pledge to oppose transphobia and demonstrate “allyship” by sharing their pronouns.

Exeter University last week asked its academics to sign the “inclusive practitioners commitment” produced by its “LGBTQ+ colleague and student” group.

Well that will be why they feel coerced, then – the fact that their employer “asked” them to sign a pledge to believe in bullshit.

The online document requests staff make six pledges to prove they are “the kind of person that LGBTQ+ people can confide in and feel safe around”.

Isn’t it fascinating that universities have never “requested” (actually demanded) … Read the rest

I saw this

https://twitter.com/babybeginner/status/1798896923740618993 and rolled my eyes and moved on, but later decided to see if I could find more and whaddya know, the whole thing is there for the reading.

Shall we sample? Let’s.

Page 1:

Menstruation is defined as “the monthly shedding of the lining of [the] uterus”
(Cleveland Clinic, 2019, para. 2). Although menstruation is often considered in the
context of the experiences of cisgender women (Brantelid et al., 2014; DeMaria et al.,
2020; Donmall, 2013; Jackson & Falmagne, 2013; Mason et al., 2013), many scholars
have begun to critique the idea of menstruation as an experience unique to women and a
mark of womanhood.

Menstruation is defined as that but it also is that. … Read the rest

There’s a thing called Clarks Village, for (it says) Somerset Outlet Shopping. Lots of stuff to buy, for up to 60% off! Whoopee! Also have you heard about our lord and savior the things you can do to support the LGBTQIA+ community? HAVE you?

https://twitter.com/ClarksVillageUK/status/1797662310867128692 You may think you’re there to find bargains but nope nope nope you’re there to support the LGBTQIAZXNRMWD%%%% communinny. Get supporting or get your ass outa here.

Wait there’s more. It has a Pride Tree! And a whole long list of things you can do!

This year, the fabulous Bristol Pride Day takes place on Saturday 13th July on The Downs. A Pride event with the community at its heart, international headliners, and all

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Pragna Patel on why religious courts are bad for women.

On 1 June 2024, the world’s first Sikh court will open in London. This demands our urgent attention. For many years, I – as the co-director of Project Resist, and the former director of Southall Black Sisters – along with groups such as One Law for All have campaigned against the growth of religious courts because we believe they are tied to a wave of religious fundamentalism targeting the rights and freedoms of women.

Let’s face it: one of the core claims of most (or all) religions is the inferiority hence subordination of women. A goddy court that doesn’t think women are lesser beings is unlikely in the extreme.… Read the rest

Awkward.

Now that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, his list of countries to visit has gotten much shorter.

Trump was found guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying records in an effort to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels quiet about an affair that occurred in the 2000s. That means certain freedoms Mr Trump once enjoyed may be out of his reach — and could have a serious effect on his ability to carry out his presidential duties, including travelling to foreign countries.

Nearly 40 nations – including Canada and the UK – have strict policies when it comes to allowing individuals with criminal records across their borders, and barring a special accommodation, Trump would be held

… Read the rest