This clip is particularly horrible. The heaving churning sea of people trying to get at KJK, as if she were a mass murderer or something. It’s gruesome.

Who these people are:

Who they are not:

Jo Bartosch has new (to me at least) information about the presence of Nazis at last Saturday’s Let Women Speak.

Politicians from across the spectrum have rushed to tar Keen, a women’s rights activist, as a ‘Nazi’. This is because a group of extreme right-wing thugs from the National Socialist Network were spotted near one of Keen’s rallies in Melbourne, Victoria last weekend. The black-clad men, who had no identifying insignia, were led by police to the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House, where they proceeded to give a Nazi salute. These fascists had nothing to do with Keen’s rally. As Victoria Police have since made clear, the neo-Nazis were one of six groups to be holding protests at the same time as Keen’s. ‘Officers were required to form many lines between the different groups to protect the safety of all involved, stop breaches of the peace and prevent any physical violence’, a police statement said.

Ah, it was a sort of farmer’s market of groups. That clarifies things.

One of those attending Keen’s rally was newly elected Liberal MP Moira Deeming. Incredibly, she is now facing a vote on whether she should be expelled from the Liberal Party for the crime of ‘organising, promoting and attending’ the rally in Melbourne. In a statement, Deeming, who is herself Māori, explained that Keen’s rally was attended by women of all political affiliations, backgrounds and faiths. She added that those in attendance were unaware the group of men were fascists until they raised ‘their hands in a Hitler salute’. Deeming explained that she, ‘along with the few others who were facing them from the front, were horrified’. She said that her fellow protesters then called on the police to have the neo-Nazis removed, but their calls went unheeded.

Yeah yeah yeah never mind all that, she still has to be expelled so that the people expelling her can get a little glow of righteousitude.

It seems other politicians also wanted to join in the Keen-bashing. On Thursday, Tasmanian Green Party senator Nick McKim referred to Keen ‘and her ilk’ as ‘trans-exclusionary right-wing dropkicks’. The phrase ‘dropkick and punt’ is Aussie rhyming slang for women’s genitalia. 

Oh, dropkick and punt. The one I saw the other day was just dropkick. No wonder it made no sense.

Perhaps the most bizarre attempt to smear Keen came from New Zealand television station Discovery. On Wednesday, producers honed-in on a still from a video of Keen where she momentarily joined her forefinger and thumb in what Discovery described as a ‘hand signal linked to white supremacists’. To prevent offence, or arguably scrutiny, her ‘gesture’ was blurred out. To a sane eye, she was clearly idly gesticulating.

It wasn’t even momentarily, it was for a split second, as part of general random gesticulating while talking. People have lost their damn minds.

Steven Shaviro, a professor of English at Wayne State University, has a modest proposal.

So here is what I think about free speech on campus. Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.

When right-wing groups invite such speakers to campus, it is precisely because they want to provoke an incident that discredits the left, and gives more publicity and validation to these reprehensible views than they could otherwise attain. The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes; the national and international press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression.

In short, every time protestors shout down a racist or transphobic speaker, they are indulging their own moral sense of validity at the expense of actually strengthening the very bigots against whom they are protesting.

The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down. Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified.

Minor point first – funny kind of professor of English who writes “they are indulging their own moral sense of validity at the expense of actually strengthening the very bigots.” He means at the price of or the cost of; “at the expense of” doesn’t mean at the cost of, it means to the detriment or neglect of. “She went for a walk at the expense of doing her homework.”

Major point of course is cool cool cool, academic says it’s admirable to kill people with unapproved views, and lumps women who know what men are in with racists and genociders.

Meanwhile, at the Arts Council…

The Arts Council England created a “toxic” culture of “fear” for staff who dared to question transgender views, a senior grant officer has said as she accuses the charity of harassment and victimisation.

Denise Fahmy claims Britain’s biggest arts quango risked “closing down free speech” after a grant was withdrawn from a charity that campaigns exclusively for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights.

Ms Fahmy, 54, who has worked for 15 years as an Arts Council England (ACE) grant officer, says she was targeted after she questioned why £9,000 of funding was withdrawn from LGB Alliance.

That’s not just transgender views, it’s actions. Homophobic actions at that.

She’s quit but she’s taking them to court for harassing her for being gender critical.

In April last year, LGB Alliance was awarded the grant to make a film for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to celebrate how the lives of gay men had improved under the monarch’s reign.

However, the money was withdrawn amid claims the alliance was transphobic, an allegation the charity denies.

At an ACE staff meeting held a few days before the cash was pulled, Simon Mellor, ACE’s deputy chief executive, accused LGB Alliance of being “a divisive organisation with a history of anti-trans exclusionary activity”.

What is “divisive” supposed to mean? All organizations are “divisive” in the sense of being for some particular purpose as opposed to all purposes. Trans is not the same as lesbian/gay, so why are all LG organizations required to be inclooosive of trans people or be slapped with “divisive” and “anti-trans activity”? Also where the hell are the adults?

At that meeting, Ms Fahmy spoke saying she was “shocked” by Mr Mellor’s remarks, which she felt demonstrated ”worrying “bias” that threatened to affect funding of the arts.

Good. Well done.

However, a petition was set up accusing LGB Alliance of being a “cultural parasite and a glorified hate group” whose supporters were “neo-Nazis, homophobes and Islamophobes”. One of around 100 signatories to the petition, which appeared on the Art Council’s staff intranet, even said the group was similar to the Ku Klux Klan.

Is the whole world run by the people who comment at Pharyngula?

Speaking publicly for the first time, Ms Fahmy told the Sunday Telegraph she was “sad” to be leaving the “really hard working organisation” in which she had “never seen bias in grant-making before”.

However, she said she felt she had to speak out about the harassment she said she experienced because of so-called “gender wars”.

It’s funny how many women have felt exactly the same thing.

“I have seen too many people’s careers and their mental health ruined by spurious allegations of transphobia, especially in the wider arts community.

…

Ms Fahmy is now using a crowdfunding website called “Fighting bias at the top of the Arts Council” to raise £50,000 for her legal team to fight her case at an employment tribunal hearing in May.

She claims that if she wins she will prevent the public sector from “bullying staff” or deprive funds from organisations which question whether it is possible to change sex or are gender critical.

Let’s hope she does win.

Originally a comment by latsot on Not letting women speak.

I know some women who were there, I was seriously worried. They are safe, though! My friend spotted there was going to be violence and managed to take her group away from the crowd before it happened.

One of her friends was beaten, though. I found myself typing “thankfully it was not serious” and while I’m indeed thankful it’s not serious, it appals me that that’s the sort of thing I have to be thankful for.

She reports:

A 70 year old woman being punched in the face.

A child being pushed over so that a trans rights activist could scream more closely in another woman’s face

Two women or one woman and a girl lying on the ground in the middle of the crush as KJK was helped away from the crowd

No police manning the barriers

No police anywhere in the crowd, only a few on the periphery.

A TIM repeatedly flashing his moobs at a young lesbian and seeming to move to occupy the women’s toilets

All of this and more has been corroborated.

And this is what one woman saw with her own eyes.

The Guardian reportage is predictably disgusting.

The anti-trans activist known as Posie Parker has cancelled further events and reportedly left New Zealand after chaotic and at times violent protests ended her planned appearance in Auckland.

The label “anti-trans” is of course intended to make readers think she’s a big meanie to trans people. She’s not “anti-trans”; she’s opposed to the ideology that says men are women if they say they are, and she’s in favor of women’s rights. She defends women’s rights against the hostility and usurpation of trans ideology.

Keen-Minshull’s appearance in New Zealand had been highly controversial before her arrival. An earlier appearance in Australia had been attended and supported by white supremacist groups, who marched the streets, repeatedly performing the Nazi salute.

Wink wink nudge nudge. That was her fault you know.

A number of LGBTQ+ rights groups had pushed for New Zealand’s immigration authorities to deny her entry to the country, on the grounds that she posed a threat to public order. On Friday, New Zealand’s high court ruled that the decision to allow Keen-Minshull entry to the country was lawful.

The immigration minister, Michael Wood, said in a statement on Friday: “Like many New Zealanders I would prefer it if Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull never set foot in New Zealand. I find many of her views repugnant, and am concerned by the way in which she courts some of the most vile people and groups around, including white supremacists.

In other words “I can’t keep the bitch out but do your best to make her regret it.”

“I condemn her inflammatory, vile and incorrect worldviews,” Wood said, however, he had consulted with Immigration New Zealand and concluded that the “case does not meet the threshold for Ministerial intervention”.

Shorter Michael Wood: “I hate women.”

The protest and counter-protest on Saturday was violent and chaotic. The Green party co-leader Marama Davidson, who was demonstrating in support of trans rights, was hit by a motorcycle at a pedestrian crossing.

A convoy of motorcyclists had appeared at the protest in support of Keen-Minshull. Davidson required medical attention after the incident, but was not hospitalised. The party confirmed on Saturday that Davidson had reported an incident to police, saying: “It appears a motorcyclist failed to stop at a pedestrian crossing and Marama was knocked to the ground.”

The Guardian reports that but says not one word about the assault on Keen-Minshull.

In a statement on Saturday, Let Women Speak NZ – a group affiliated with Keen-Minshull’s events – said the planned event in Wellington “has been cancelled” on the advice of Keen-Minshull’s security team. Local media reported that she had checked into a flight out of the country from Auckland international airport.

That’s it, that’s all the Graun says – nothing about her mauling by that berserker mob.

Journalistic malpractice.

The guy who dumped tomato sauce or soup or whatever it was on KJK brags about it:

This guy:

Extra added dudely hatred of women:

Of course he did.

How the New Zealand Herald reported it:

More than 2000 counter-protesters – including one armed with a bottle of tomato soup – have seen British anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aborting her central Auckland rally.

How it should have reported it:

More than 2000 counter-protesters made so much noise and were so violent that women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was forced to cancel her central Auckland rally.

It does a little better in para 3:

In ugly scenes Keen-Minshull – who was in the country as part of her Let Women Speak tour aimed to support women’s rights – was drowned out by protesters galvanised by the LGBTQIA+ community.

As she was standing on the rotunda stage at Albert Park preparing to speak, one counter-protester rushed towards her and poured a bottle of soup over her head.

The protester then sprayed more on one of Keen-Minshull’s security guards.

Skirmishes broke out with pushing and shoving between the counter-protest group and Keen-Minshull’s much smaller entourage.

A barrier erected to try and keep the two factions apart was pushed down.

The soup-hurling protester was removed by security but Keen-Minshull’s attempts to speak were drowned out by drums, chants of “go home” and, at one point, a Whitney Houston song playing over the loudspeakers.

So in short they will never let women speak, unless we say what they tell us to say. If we try to say what we want to say they will rough us up.

Keen-Minshull arrived at Auckland Airport last night after a last-ditch court case to block her entry to NZ failed. When asked if she felt safe, Keen-Minshull said she felt New Zealand was “insane”.

She said she expected trans rights activists to be at her event and claimed “men [trans women] would come out. They’ve already threatened to be aggressive.”

Even when they’re assaulting her, the Herald has to correct her “men” to “trans women.” Funnily enough, their correction is not persuasive.

Keen-Minshull’s controversial tour has seen her face criticism from politicians and other social commentators for her assertion people cannot change their sex.

Ok Herald, what about it? Can people change their sex? We all realize they can get breasts or penises cut off, but can they change their sex?

She argues she is campaigning for women’s rights – but opponents say her transphobic rhetoric is a threat to trans people’s rights and safety.

I notice you always give “opponents” the last word. Why is that, Herald? Do you really think women saying men are not women are both wrong and evil?

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) announced earlier this week, after a review of whether Keen-Minshull should be allowed in, that she did not meet the high threshold to be considered an excluded person under Section 16 of the Immigration Act 2009.

The INZ assessment took into account the events in Melbourne, where her speaking event drew a crowd, including people who were seen giving Nazi salutes and shouting slurs, Minister for Immigration Michael Wood said earlier this week.

“Like many New Zealanders I would prefer it if Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull never set foot in New Zealand. I find many of her views repugnant, and am concerned by the way in which she courts some of the most vile people and groups around, including white supremacists,” Wood has said.

Yes it’s so repugnant to say that men are not women.

I don’t know. Right now I feel like identifying as a tiger and growling.

Well. It seems that in Auckland, there was such a huge loud screaming mob that KJK wasn’t able to say anything, and was at one point afraid she and the people around her were going to be crushed to death.

Originally a comment by Sastra on On the cusp of instantiating the gender cult (by Der Durchwanderer).

It’s interesting that a “right to personal honor” is explicitly spelled out here, because I’ve been reading arguments that the Honor Culture of the past shares this concern with the emerging Culture of Victimhood. When a focus on public reputation is combined with a sensitivity to slights and a conviction that these must be avenged, the Enlightenment’s belief that humans have inherent dignity and a reasonable person ignores insults as beneath them loses ground. We return to the past — though with one significant difference.

In Honor Cultures, it was up to the person insulted to take revenge, usually through violence. The Culture of Dignity ignored attacks on personal honor and sought redress for actual wrongs through the law. Victimhood Cultures combine an easily-wounded sense of honor with appeals to the law, state, and third parties to make their reputation whole. It’s a dangerous new combination.

Originally a comment by Der Durchwanderer on People who menstruate.

(Are we quite sure “menstruate” shouldn’t be “peoplestruate”? Have we researched it?)

You jest, but I recently saw a campaign poster for the city state of Bremen with the Social Democrats campaigning “für Bremen und Brewomen”. I’m sure it won’t be long before the party is reeducated to add more nonsense to the slogan. Perhaps in the next election they’ll be “für Bremenschen”, which would at least be a fully German pun (unless of course they fear being seen as right-wing extremists for using German wordplay in Germany).

In the meantime, you can rest assured that in Germany, we’re allowed to use the word “woman” — indeed we may soon be required to, as long as the “woman” in question is a biological male who feels he really is a woman on the inside and asserts his hurt feelings in a court of law. A court in Frankfurt recently decided to forbid the host of a blog from allowing a specific trans women to be called a man with no qualifications in the articles he publishes. The linked story is in German and I cannot find any English sources who’ve covered it yet, but I will provide a summary:

Writer Judith Sevinc Basad published a piece discussing the trans journalist Janka Kluge in which the former referred to the latter first as a “trans woman”, then a “biological man”, and lastly without qualification as a man. Kluge took the blog’s parent company, Rome Media GmbH, to court in order to force that parent company to remove the offensive “misgendering” — and though the linked article does not specify potential remedial actions, I have seen rumours that a refusal to comply could come with a punishment of 250 thousand Euros and/or six months imprisonment for the owner of the company. The case is not over, thankfully, and Rome Media are appealing the decision…but if they lose, this could well be the beginning of a lot of nonsense in this country.

The plaintiff’s lawyer is hopeful. He (I am assuming, based on his name and the picture at the bottom of his own summary of his victory) says that “…though the state court made a decision in this specific case, the decision will nevertheless have a signalling effect.”

The linked article has some other typical German-isms worth mentioning, such as hiding the fact that the actual author of the piece is a liberal feminist with a Turkish background while taking pains to point out that the head of Rome Media was the former chief editor of the widely-publicized Bild magazine and also by the way did you know he has a YouTube channel entirely unrelated to this at all but it has been deemed “right-populist”. (Though to be fair, Basad’s ethnic background is eminently inferrable from her name…on the other hand, the whole issue is about a certain totalitarian refusal to make eminent inferences in the first place.)

Germany has always had a different relationship to freedom of speech (and to freedom in general) than the English-speaking world. The inequality doesn’t always go in one direction, either — for example, German trespass law is much more lenient than American or Canadian law, with hikers being able to walk through unfenced fields and orchards and woodlands without having to give a thought to whether the land is public or private, as long as they don’t have to manipulate a barrier and as long as they don’t damage anything. (If a hiker does damage something, like a row of crops, he’ll be expected to reimburse the farmer but won’t face criminal penalties unless he refuses.)

But Germany doesn’t have “free speech” as Americans know it. We have “freedom of thought”, and this freedom (as with most freedoms guaranteed with the Basic Law) has escape-hatch provisions that tend to render it less and less effective over time. To be specific, Article 5 of the German Basic Law guarantees that:

“Everyone has the right to freely express and to distribute his opinions in word, in writing, and in images; and to educate himself from generally accessible sources without hindrance. The freedom of the press and the freedom to report through the airwaves and via film are guaranteed. Censorship will not occur.”

That sounds great! In theory it is even more comprehensive than the First Amendment (noting that Article 4 of the Basic Law also covers religious freedom). But, as with most articles, there is a catch. This catch reads “These rights find their limits in the regulations of the general laws, in the legal provisions for the protection of children, and in the right of personal honour.” That means that any law limiting the above-enumerated freedoms can be justified by just about anything as long as the law is generally applicable, or as long as it can be said to protect children or the “right to personal honour”. (There is a further exception to this exception, wherein art and science and research and teaching are affirmed to be “free”, but in the same clause there is a double-bluff exception that “the freedom of teaching does not absolve [one] from adhering to the constitution”.)

The plaintiff’s lawyer says “Nobody should have to accept being assigned to the wrong gender”, and further that “misgendering is a grievous encroachment into general personal rights, and can have legal consequences”. During the proceedings, the lawyer claimed that several studies proved negative outcomes from being “misgendered”. And while the linked article does not mention what “legal consequences” Rome Media will face should it lose its appeal and refuse to abide by the censorship the Frankfurt court has laid down (despite the German Basic Law promising no censorship will take place), the company could face hundreds of thousands of Euros in fines and its owner may face an actual prison term.

This is all happening before Germany passes its upcoming self-ID law, which the government may or may not actually be competent enough to do; that law would, if passed with the provisions its supporters insist upon, explicitly add “misgendering” to the catalogue of civil offenses for which individual citizens can be fined. It would also allow children as young as fourteen years old to change their registered sex once per year and to pursue publicly-funded “gender medicine” without the approval, or even the knowledge, of their parents.

In short, Germany is on the cusp of instantiating the gender cult as an official state religion, with compulsory adherence and legal penalties for heresy and blasphemy. My leftist friends in Berlin assure me this country is far too conservative for such a thing to come to pass, and it is true that the average German has no idea this is even happening, but the elites have very nearly made it a fait accompli. I am very curious what will happen next.

Trump is inciting violence again.

The Post comments:

The posting after midnight on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, was his latest — and most explicit — allusion to violence that could follow an indictment stemming from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), whom Trump called a “degenerate psychopath.”

Trump wrote: “What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?”

The stupidity of the writing always makes my teeth hurt. All those clumsy interjections in the endless run-on sentence, and “when it is known by all” instead of “when everyone knows,” and the random capitalization of Words, and the person v person, and the exclamation point in the middle of the run-on sentence – ow ow ow my teeth.

In a post on Thursday, Trump criticized those who have called for his supporters to remain peaceful.

Attaboy. Let’s have more violence!

The author of the article, Jo Faragher, is careful to avoid saying “women,” but the people she he they quotes not so much.

Broadcaster Channel 4 has launched a period policy with the support of its gender equality employee network, 4Womxn.

The company said the policy would help employees who experience difficulties with their periods, particularly those who experience health conditions such as endometriosis or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and may be struggling to manage their symptoms at work.

As part of the policy, employees will be able to access flexible working arrangements, a working environment assessment, free period products in the office, and a microwaveable wheat bag to ease painful symptoms. It will also offer a quiet room where employees can take time out, and free hormone and fertility tests through women’s health company Hertility.

Oops a slip-up in that last sentence. They was doing so well with “employees” and “those who” but then at the very end they said “women’s health company.” Ouch.

Channel 4 is working with period-proof underwear brand WUKA, and will offer employees the chance to trial its products as a more sustainable alternative to tampons or pads.

The company cited research suggesting that 89% of people who menstruate have experienced stress or anxiety at work due to their period.

Back on track! Well done! (Are we quite sure “menstruate” shouldn’t be “peoplestruate”? Have we researched it?)

But the chief exec isn’t playing.

Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon said: “Most women will have 12 periods a year for 40 years. That is a huge amount of time, yet we don’t talk about women’s health much or what impact it might have on equity.

Women? What are “women”? We don’t know this word.

The launch of the new policy saw employees attend a panel discussion on people’s experience of periods, hosted by the company’s Equity and Inclusion team.

That’s better. Highly insulting, just as it should be.

Trump having a normal one.

All this angst and hand-wringing and mollification over something that should never have been an issue in the first place.

World Athletics has voted to ban transgender women from elite female competitions if they have undergone male puberty, in a decision the governing body said had been taken to “protect the future of the female category”.

Speaking after the ruling, which comes into effect on 31 March, the World Athletics president, Seb Coe, accepted that the decision would be contentious but said his sport had been guided by the “overarching principle” of fairness, as well as the science around physical performance and male advantage.

As it should have been all along. “Males not allowed in female competitions” – that shouldn’t be news in the first place, it should have been the case all along. It should never have been “contentious.”

“Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations,” he said. “We believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount.”

And anyway it’s not a matter of “conflicting needs and rights.” Men don’t have a need and right to invaded women’s sports. The conflict is a political invention.

However Coe also stressed that he would set up a working group that would consult with transgender athletes and review any fresh research that emerged. “We’re not saying no forever,” he said.

“We’re not being fair to women forever.”

Why such intense focus on the No to men instead of the Yes to women? Why all the agonized empathy for men prevented from ruining women’s sports at the expense of women whose sport is ruined?

Sports have been increasingly wrestling with the thorny issue of transgender participation in recent years, notably when New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in having transitioned in her 30s.

It’s not thorny. There’s nothing thorny about it. It’s also not about “transgender participation.” It’s about men invading women’s sport.

World Athletics’ decision is likely to be opposed by LGBTQ+ groups such as Stonewall. Speaking last month they urged sports to be as inclusive as possible. “The trans population may be small, but they have every right to participate in sports and enjoy the many physical, mental and community benefits of sports,” it said.

Nobody is stopping them participating in sports.

The doctor of marketing has thought of an exciting new angle.

That’s the ticket! Women over 35 are hags and witches! What an original and perceptive new insight.

Jo Bartosch in The Critic on the mobbing of Moira Deeming:

Deeming is facing a vote to have her removed from the Liberal Party for “organising, promoting and attending” a Standing for Women (SfW) rally that was gatecrashed by far-right extremists. In a statement following the event, Deeming said neither she nor SfW had done anything wrong, and that the “event was attended by Muslims, Christians, Atheists and members of the Greens, Labor, LDP and Liberal Parties”.

SfW organise events in countries around the world with the aim of encouraging women to talk freely about the impact of transgender activism on their lives. The gatecrashers at the SfW rally in Melbourne were later identified as members of the National Socialist Network. Dressed in black, very much like their antifa opponents, the all-male group stood with a banner reading “destroy paedo freaks”.

Deeming says she, like most of the SfW supporters, “did not realise who they were until they were being escorted out by Victoria Police, when they did the despicable Nazi salute … None of those organising the event had any involvement with these men”. 

Never mind all that; the women are witches!!!

In a 15-page dodgy dossier, [Liberal leader John] Pesutto referred to SfW founder Kellie-Jay Keen as someone who is “known to be publicly associated with far-right extremist groups”. Keen responded by denouncing the Nazis as “sad, pathetic men” and slamming Pesutto for apparently basing his research defaming her on an inaccurate Wikipedia page. His words were echoed by Tasmanian Green Party Senator McKim, who upped the ante by giving a speech in which he referred to Keen “and her ilk” as “Trans Exclusionary Right wing Dropkicks”. This is an underwhelming play on the acronym “TERF”; the phrase “dropkick” is unpleasant antipodean slang for women’s genitalia.

Jeezus. I hadn’t heard of that one before.

The reason SfW organises events “in the public square” is because too often discussions about women’s rights are censored on mainstream platforms. Rather than consider the rally a wake-up call about the state of free speech online, politicians have instead sought to impose the stifling rules of social media on real life. Doubtless, if the attempt to oust Deeming isn’t successful this time, Pesutto and his cronies will find something else to spaff outrage at. Left cleaning up his mess will be the ordinary women who attended the rally — ordinary people with legitimate concerns who have now been made acceptable targets for hate.

Billy Bragg will be right in there helping.

The smug self-admiration of Billy Bragg is a sight to behold.

He says, merching hatred of women as hard as he can.

Call me crazy but I kind of think schools should try to teach things that are true as opposed to made-up wacky fantasy.

Scottish children as young as 11 are being taught in school that they are “queer” if they do not yet know their sexual orientation, it has emerged.

So….infants are queer, babies are queer, toddlers are queer. That doesn’t sound very true.

Teaching materials at Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh’s top state school, also claim that there are three biological sexes and suggest that highly controversial concepts around sex and gender are facts.

Highly controversial, and new, and derived from fashion and nagging rather than biology.

The Boroughmuir High presentation states that “queer” is a term “many people use when they are not sure what their sexual or romantic orientation is”. Sexual attraction does not begin for many children until their teens.

It tells children they are born as “one of three things, male, female or intersex” and “this is your biological sex”. Intersex is a term used to describe people with rare genetic conditions causing differences in sex development (DSDs) but it is not a distinct biological sex.

It also urges children to refer to each other as “they” if they are “not sure what gender someone identifies as”.

It’s as if all of Scotland has taken stupid-pills. “Here, take this, it will make you stupid.”