The rise in pseudo-science is it? Concerned about that are you? All of it are you?

But Humanists UK apparently has no problem with the pseudo-science of magic gender.

In the first in a series of posts from LGBT Humanists where guest authors offer humanist perspectives on issues faced by the LGBT community in the UK, LGBT Humanists Campaigns Officer Kristína Zaťková marks Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March) by looking at the persistent attacks on trans people – from media rhetoric to bullying in schools to hate crime. The series of posts will continue with Lesbian Visibility Day (26 April), Celebrate Bisexuality Day (23 September), and National Coming Out Day (11 October).

Interesting that “trans people” were first in line, and that the foundational belief that people can change sex is…cough…pseudo-science.

Another university puts out another “statement” full of wild generalizations that can’t possibly be obeyed without creating total havoc.

Trans and Gender Diverse Community

The University is committed to being a Trans-inclusive institution that champions diversity and celebrates the gender identities of students and staff. The University will at no time discriminate against people on the grounds of their gender identity or gender expression. We seek to provide a positive learning and working environment free from discrimination, harassment, or victimisation.

How, I wonder, does the university go about “celebrating the gender identities of students and staff”? And why gender identities in particular? What about all the other precious identities?

Promoting and supporting the diverse identities at the University not only creates an environment where students and staff feel supported but also have the confidence to achieve their full potential. 

Is that true? What about the diverse identities of, say, lesbians who don’t want to partner with men who say they are women?

Statement of Support

University of Hertfordshire statement, 2023:

“Considering the ongoing coverage in the media and an intensification of transphobia and transmisogyny in our culture, we would like to reiterate our support for and solidarity with all our trans and gender diverse staff, students and alumni at the University of Hertfordshire. 

​​​​​​​We are fully committed to equality of opportunity for all our community and will not tolerate transphobia or transmisogyny or any kind of discrimination towards our trans staff or students.

Define “transphobia.” Define “transmisogyny.” Define “any kind of discrimination towards our trans staff or students.”

We believe everyone has the right to live and be respected for their gender identity,  and should always feel comfortable presenting themselves to the world in a way that matches how they self-identify. 

So a huge tall man has “the right” to be respected for his “gender identity” as a dainty pretty laydee and should always feel comfortable presenting himself to the world that way? No matter what? Why? Please explain. Not reiterate or assert or announce; explain.

We are committed to promoting an inclusive culture at the University where everyone can thrive in a safe, supportive and welcoming environment that’s free from bullying, harassment or discrimination.

Well that’s just nonsensical. How can female people “thrive in a safe, supportive and welcoming environment that’s free from bullying, harassment or discrimination” when the environment contains men who must be “respected for their gender identity” as women?

News flash: if you order female people to pretend that men are women then you are making it impossible for those female people to thrive in a safe, supportive and welcoming environment that’s free from bullying, harassment or discrimination. Absolutely impossible. There is no route out of this maze. If women are forbidden to know which people are men then women are in danger.

As a member of Stonewalls Diversity Champions programme, we have committed to submit for the Workplace Equality Index which will help the University to advance equality of opportunity and develop an inclusive culture for our LGBTQ+ community. 

Well that’s a frank admission. They have committed to submit, they say. Yes you certainly have, at the expense of your female students and staff.

When the rivers dry up…

Rivers in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil fell to their lowest levels in over a century on Monday as a record drought upends the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and damages the jungle ecosystem.

The port of Manaus, the region’s most populous city, at the meeting of the Rio Negro and the Amazon River, recorded 13.59 meters (44.6 feet) of water on Monday, compared to 17.60 a year ago, according to its website. That is the lowest level since records began in 121 years ago in 1902, passing a previous all-time low set in 2010.

Rapidly drying tributaries to the mighty Amazon have left boats stranded, cutting off food and water supplies to remote villages, while high water temperatures are suspected of killing more than 100 endangered river dolphins.

Never mind, we can grow artificial rivers in the lab.

Brazil’s Science Ministry blames the drought on the onset of the El Niño climate phenomenon this year, which is driving extreme weather patterns globally. In a statement earlier this month, the ministry said it expects the drought will last until at least December, when El Niño’s effects are forecast to peak.

Underlying El Niño is the long-term trend of global warming, which is leading to more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, like drought and heat.

In other words when El Niño is made worse by global warming things get very very bad.

Eva Kurilova draws up a partial list of the contradictions of trans ideology. There are so many and they are so contradictory.

“Trans women” are in danger in men’s spaces and that’s why they deserve access to women’s spaces.

Women who worry about their spaces becoming mixed sex are bigots.

…

Trans people are a very tiny minority and so they must be listened to.

Detransitioners are a very tiny minority and so they must not be listened to.

---

Gender is a social construct.

But “trans women” need to be treated as literally female in all aspects of life.

That’s a biggy, isn’t it. The biggy. Women are women via social convention, but trans women really are women and don’t you forget it.

If the perpetrator of a crime is a trans-identified man, he is reported as a woman.

If the victim of a crime is a trans-identified man, he is reported as a trans woman.

Oof. I hadn’t noticed that one.

Trans women make the covers of magazines for achievements in science, technology, and sports.

Trans men make the covers of magazines for being pregnant. Progress!

That one’s not so much a contradiction as a different rules problem.

Physical differences between men and women don’t matter in sports.

But “trans women” need to compete in the women’s category because HRT makes them weaker and disadvantaged against other men.

So much different rules problem.

So Owen Jones thinks Hamas gets its views on gay rights from the British empire?

And if it weren’t for that there would be a gay bar on every corner, yes? Because Islamists are so notoriously broad-minded about such things?

Did the British Mandate Criminal Code also prohibit women’s rights?

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on What would you spend that 9k on?

I have no idea about the health risks, but I think people are underestimating the privacy risks.

Anyone who donates eggs or sperm is incurring the risk that some years down the line, they or their family members will be contacted by the child. I don’t care what privacy protections you were promised when you made the donation, or even what laws exist in your jurisdiction to provide privacy — you don’t know what the law is going to be 20 years from now, and the general direction has been towards “I have a right to know my genetic heritage!”

More importantly, the law may be irrelevant, because the official clinic records won’t be needed in many instances. With so many people eagerly signing up to put their DNA in the databases of Ancestry.com and the like, it’s not going to be hard for people to find their genetic relatives. Even if you, the donor, are careful not to participate in anything like that, you can’t guarantee that your siblings or other relatives won’t.

Of course some people will view this as a positive thing. What could be better than one day discovering and getting to meet some new relatives, right? In which case, I guess, have at it, though note that any future spouse and children might not share your enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, advertising aimed at convincing women that selling their eggs is a fab fun way to pay for a trip.

Ah how sweet.

Anita Singh at The Telegraph on Orwell’s misogyny:

George Orwell was a “sadistic, misogynistic, homophobic, sometimes violent” man who wrote women out of his story, according to a biographer of his wife.

Anna Funder said that Orwell was a brilliant writer but a complicated man whose personal life was at odds with the “decency” of his writing.

…

“Decency is such a core Orwellian value. He writes about it. It’s the quality of the ‘proles’ in 1984 that is going to save us. He wanted to be decent, to be seen as decent, by which he meant a man of integrity, the same inside and out,” said Funder.

If that’s what he meant by decency then I think it’s inadequate at best. I always assumed it meant not being a shit – not being sadistic or selfish or ruthless. Not harming other people, in short. I think that matters more than integrity and being the same inside and out.

Wifedom is not the only book this year to reassess Orwell through a feminist lens. Sandra Newman has written Julia, which retells 1984 through the eyes of its main female character.

Newman was invited by the Orwell estate to take on the project. She had “absolutely idolised” the author when younger, having read his political works.  “Then you read his fiction, particularly 1984, and that hatred of women is really extreme,” said Newman.

Decency isn’t enough.

I’m so tired of seeing men cry crocodile tears over men who pretend to be women in order to invade women’s spaces in order to watch them take showers. SO TIRED of it.

Wtf else would he be?

Even if you think he is in genuine psychic anguish about having a male body, it still doesn’t follow that he gets to move in with women and ogle them when they’re naked. His anguish does not trump their right to get naked away from men.

Why is The Washington Post peddling this misogynistic bullshit?

The Herald [Scotland] helps Willoughby push his narrative:

Britain’s first transgender newsreader has spoken of her surprise at being nominated as Woman of the Year amid an increasingly hostile debate about trans people. 

India Willoughby, known for presenting Loose Women, said she hoped it would be a “small green shoot” for the trans community and a sign that “most mums, grandmas, sisters are on our side”. 

Writing exclusively for The Herald, the outspoken broadcaster spoke candidly about her experiences of abuse on social media, where she says she is frequently called a “groomer”, “paedophile”, and a “man”. 

The reporter who wrote this tripe is a woman. News flash: Willoughby himself is highly abusive on Twitter. The Herald should quote some of his gems.

Ms Willoughby said: “Maybe it’s just that some of my sisters are starting to see the injustice of it all, and are tired of the anti-trans movement using them and the phrase ‘women’s rights’ to justify an irrational hatred and bigotry of 0.2% of the population.

“Whatever the reason, I hope the trans community see this as a small green shoot. We are not alone. Most mums, grandmas, sisters are on our side.”

The side of men who claim to be women and who help themselves to everything that belongs to women, including even Woman of the Year contests.

Anna Slatz at Reduxx tells us:

The Washington Post is under fire after sympathetically profiling a trans-identified male who enrolled in a sorority at the University of Wyoming and reportedly exposed his erection to the female members. Artemis Langford, who began identifying as a “lesbian” in 2017, was accepted into Kappa Kappa Gamma despite not even meeting basic eligibility requirements.

Plain old boring everyday women can’t do that, but special special special men who say they are women are welcomed with fireworks and a parade. Why’s that? What’s so special about a man saying he “identifies as” a lesbian? Why isn’t it just a childish taunt or insult?

On October 14, the Washington Post released an extensive profile on Langford sympathetically portraying him as the victim of a hate campaign. In one section, the writer, William Wang, attempts to compare Langford’s transgender experiences and the history of women being excluded from higher education institutions.

But you see it’s not the same thing. Women being excluded from universities is not the same as a man pretending to be a woman. The two are really quite different.

While the female complainants have expressed a desire to appeal the decision, there have b been reports that KKG administrators are attempting to bar the young women from doing so.

Women must not be allowed to win anything.

Originally a comment by Sastra on Sobwhinesobwhinesobwhine.

@YNNB:

“Prepare the child for the road — not the road for the child.”

In The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure Lukianoff and Haidt talk about a sea change in child rearing and education which threw out this idea of instilling resilience and toughness for a more sensitive, concerned, child-centered approach — and as a consequence kids and adolescents became anxious and depressed. The book came out in 2018 and doesn’t really mention transgender issues, but the fragility and sense of entitlement they describe possibly hits its apotheosis there.

Great god almighty.

The Beeb has more on Trump’s interventions:

During remarks to a crowd of supporters, Mr Trump said Israel had to “straighten it out because they’re fighting, potentially a very big force”.

He called Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant a “jerk” and repeatedly called Hezbollah, the militant Islamist group in Lebanon, “very smart”.

Mr Trump also said that Israel had initially agreed to work with the US on a 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, but that they backed out at the last minute.

“I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down,” he said. “That was a very terrible thing.”

That “Bibi” crap is so grating. He wants to remind us that he knows Netanyahu personally. Just leave it at home, Don.

Mr Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, noted a pattern in his old boss’s foreign policy statements.

“Hezbollah aren’t smart, they’re evil,” he said in a radio interview on Thursday.

“But the former president also said when Russia invaded Ukraine in a similar, unprovoked, unconscionable invasion a year-and-a-half ago, he said Vladimir Putin was a genius.”

Well they can of course be both. Trump himself is “smart” in the sense of “good at committing crimes with impunity.” But in the case of Hezbollah and Trump, how “smart” they are is irrelevant to how profoundly evil they are.

The Washington Post editorial board on Trump’s contribution to the response:

In a reckless category of their own, however, were the comments of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. To be sure, he labeled the Hamas attack a “disgrace” shortly after it occurred — then pivoted to blaming it on Mr. Biden’s policies. That was about par for the partisan course, alas. Yet the former president went in a bizarre new direction Wednesday by heaping scorn on Israel itself for failing to anticipate the attack and lecturing the Jewish state to “step up their game.”

He labeled the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group “very smart,” comparing it to an authoritarian he rates highly for ruling “1.4 billion people … with an iron fist”: Chinese President Xi Jinping. And he referred to Israel’s defense minister as a “jerk” for purportedly revealing weaknesses in the country’s northern defenses. To top it off, the former president said Mr. Netanyahu had “let us down” by refusing to aid the deadly strike Mr. Trump ordered against the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force on Jan. 3, 2020.

An Israeli spokesman denied the account and dismissed Mr. Trump’s comments as “shameful.” There’s a lesson here for Mr. Netanyahu, who forged a close relationship with Mr. Trump during his presidency, based on the latter’s generally uncritical support for Mr. Netanyahu. There’s a lesson, too, for the Israeli public, among whom Mr. Trump was popular while in office.

The lesson is: Don’t be fooled by a momentary alignment of Trump’s views with your own, because he doesn’t have any real views, he has only HimSelf, and he will turn on you in an instant if he thinks it will give him some kind of jollies.

Mostly, though, it is Americans who need to take notice of these comments — especially Republicans, both voters and politicians. To their credit, some of Mr. Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination denounced his remarks. Even by his standards, they showed an extraordinary penchant for rubbing salt in the wounds of an ostensible friend and for converting an international crisis into a drama about himself. Mr. Trump’s latest outburst showed how fortunate this country is that he is not in the White House now and how unfortunate it would be if he ever returned to it.

“Unfortunate” is putting a little too mildly. It would be a catastrophe.

An “activist” (and stripper) called Tom Harlow is making quite a name for himself.

He’s so oppressed by those women.

He might want to be a little cautious though.

It’s SCIENCE.

So a surprise guest turned up at the Filia conference.

All the cool kids.

And speaking of hatred and incitement to violence – heavily filtered man in a dress brandishes his fists in our general direction.

Watcha gonna do, Indy, punch the nearest woman? What’s your point?

He takes us through his morning, which starts with checking Twitter for what people are saying about him.

I dry my hair, do my make-up. Head off to the cafe where I’m writing my book.

And, after ordering my usual pot of Darjeeling, sit down, and open my email.

“Congratulations on being nominated as a 2023 Woman of the Year”.

Congratulations on being even more of an insult to women.

Wow. Considering I live on what is now internationally known as Terf Island – where trans visibility and recognition is close to outlawed – I can’t believe it.

And I know it’s going to infuriate Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, GB News, and all the other forms of life that have grown like bacteria since 2018.

No mention of women though, the people he so insultingly tries to replace with his own glorious self.

I re-read the email. The nomination came from a panel of women. Interesting, considering I and the rest of the UK trans population are constantly told that the female population view woman like me as a threat and an offence to their dignity.

We also know perfectly well that there are many captured women.

Instead of moving forwards, Britain has hurtled backwards. It’s now normal to watch or listen to studio debates of non-trans people explaining what trans is, and how awful we are, with nobody trans there. Wouldn’t happen to any other minority.

You’re a white guy, Willz. You’re not an oppressed minority.