Yaniv is still playing his disgusting games.

Tumultuous trans troublemaker Jessica Yaniv was caught on camera pummeling a reporter Monday in B.C..

In a widely circulated video, Yaniv, 32, is captured battering Rebel Media reporter Keean Bexte outside a Surrey courthouse.

But that’s not enough! There always has to be more!

Later, Yaniv allegedly confronted Post Millennial’s Amy Eileen Hamm, accusing the reporter of taking photos of [him]* in a women’s washroom.

Cops dutifully searched Hamm’s phone. None of the alleged photos were there.

What actually happened is that Hamm saw Yaniv as she (Hamm) entered the washroom, and she promptly backed out. Yaniv is now claiming (on Twitter) that she sexually assaulted him.

*Media outlets really need to … Read the rest

Dawn Ennis, trans woman and Managing Editor of http://Outsports.com, explains why trans woman CeCé Telfer was such a slam dunk choice for athlete of the year:

You're right: We chose CeCé because she made history, and:
Because she excelled at her sport, and:
Because she did so despite incredible adversity, and:
Because she exemplified what it means to be an outstanding female athlete.

Those who object: let's see you do that.

— Dawn Ennis (She/Her/Hers) (@lifeafterdawn) December 30, 2019

They chose a man who “identifies as” a woman as female athlete of the year because it’s such an excellent poke in the eye to all female athletes, and because they’re all about the male entitlement, and because they like… Read the rest

Human rights are human rights. What are “trans rights” exactly? If they mean trans people should be free from persecution and oppression, then sure, of course trans rights are human rights, just as other branches-of-human rights are. But if they mean special “rights” crafted specifically for trans people, then it depends. The right not to be bullied for wearing “the wrong” clothes? Sure. The right to force everyone to agree you are the other sex? No.

Why do you advocate for single sex provision in India and Africa but not in the West?

Are you institutionally racist or sexist?

— For Women Scotland (@ForWomenScot) December 19, 2019

Well, Amnesty UK? Are you?

H/t KB Player… Read the rest

Janice Turner tweets:

Here at 52 mins aprox @joswinson compares a lesbian entering a women’s refuge as a risk comparable with someone who is biologically male. I’m not sure she grasps why women need the Equality Act.

The “here” is a podcast by Andrew Marr, which is UK-only so I can’t listen; Jo Swinson is the Lib Dem Leader. She says lesbians are a risk to women in shelters just as men are.

What happened to everyone’s brain? Lesbians are not a risk to straight women! Just as straight women are not a risk to lesbians. That’s not how any of this works.

One warm response:

I’m so angry at this that I actually feel sick. A

Julie Bindel has a hot from the pan Spectator piece on this Labour policy confusion:

I was pleasantly surprised when I read Labour’s manifesto. Not only did the party promise to end ‘mixed-sex wards’ in hospitals but they also vowed to “ensure that the single-sex-based exemptions contained in the Equality Act 2010 are understood and fully enforced in service provision.”

Soon after the manifesto was published yesterday, a number of feminists tweeted relief and praise about the pledge. It marked a significant shift from Labour’s 2017 manifesto in which the party promised to: ‘…reform the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act 2010 to ensure they protect Trans people by changing the protected characteristic of ‘gender assignment’ to ‘gender

Another brave man brags on Twitter about sending another Letter to another Institution telling it not to “platform” a woman. In this case the man is one Olly Thorne who has a popular YouTube channel on philosophy.

I’ve just sent this letter to the Academic Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, concerning their decision to platform Kathleen St*ck at their Annual Debate. Those of us working in philosophy must stand up for our trans colleagues and students.

That is, those of us men working in philosophy must silence our female colleagues and students.

I’m writing in sadness rather than in anger to caution you that the Royal Institute of Philosophy’s decision to host Kathleen Stock at the Annual Debate

Oxford student newspaper Cherwell October 25:

A demonstration in support of trans rights will be held today in response to a meeting of self-described feminist group Woman’s Place UK (WPUK). WPUK was established in 2017 to oppose the trans rights enshrined in changes to the Gender Recognition Act, and has been widely condemned as transphobic.

The well is poisoned so carefully from the outset. “in support of trans rights” – because what kind of fiend could oppose someone’s rights? “self-described feminist group” – but we know better, don’t we, wink wink nudge nudge. “to oppose the trans rights” – there they are! They’re the kind of fiend who oppose someone’s rights! “widely condemned as transphobic” – the way we … Read the rest

Jolyon Maugham QC, who will never find himself in the situation of a woman locked up with a predatory man who claims to be a woman, weighs in with his QC opinion on the subject.

There’s a need for great care when arguing for the need to protect ‘safe spaces’. To contend ‘X, member of group, is a criminal and so you should fear all in that group’ is to adopt a trope favoured by bigots down the ages. 1/3

He was commenting on a tweet by Jean Hatchet:

Yes. This has happened and the rapist was called *Karen* White. Now returned to male prison. If we raise this we are called transphobic. But we will raise it.

Rex Murphy is scathing on the campaign to silence Meghan Murphy:

[T]he Toronto Public Library (the well-known free-speech-mongering fascist hive) was the scene of great turbulence when Meghan Murphy (feminist scholar, writer) rented a room in one of its divisions to give a talk on gender identity and its various legal and other implications.

Now people living in less enlightened cities than Toronto might think that a civilized, qualified woman — feminist, too — speaking on the subject of women, in the quiet dignity of a public library, to people (many of them women) who wished to hear her, was the very definition of adult public discourse, an illustration of a healthy civic climate, and a very fine addition

The BBC also can’t figure out how to talk about Meghan Murphy. What is one to do when yesterday’s feminists are suddenly today’s bogey persons?

A Canadian library has been criticised for refusing to cancel an event hosting a feminist with controversial views on transgender rights.

And misogynists have been criticized for trying to shut down and silence a feminist with reasonable views on women’s rights. We can all play this agentless “Xs have been criticized” game but it’s a bit cowardly and vague and uninformative so let’s not. People who think unspecified “trans rights” are always and everywhere more important than women’s rights are trying to shut women up when they object. That’s a more direct way … Read the rest

The scene at Meghan Murphy’s talk yesterday evening was revolting. I’ve seen several video clips of it and it’s repellent.

The Globe and Mail has one account:

People exiting a speaking event at a small Toronto Public Library branch were met with a chorus of boos as they descended the staircase at its front entrance on Tuesday evening. The branch has been at the centre of a firestorm over the line between free speech and hate speech.

Except that Meghan Murphy isn’t offering “hate speech.” It’s not “hate speech” to say that men are not women.

Hundreds flocked to the TPL’s Palmerston branch in protest after weeks of heated debate over the library’s decision to allow writer Meghan Murphy

Kathleen Stock tells us:

So last night at the Philosophy Dept of @unimelb this talk happened https://philevents.org/event/show/74566; and this was the charming, reasonable response from protestors…

“TERF GRAVES ARE GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOMS” – aka we piss on your graves, bitches.… Read the rest

A tweet:

Spotted today in Cardiff. “Get the wall” means ‘execution’.

So interesting that it’s always radical feminists, never violent men.… Read the rest

The ACLU is worked up over the “right” of male people who claim to be trans to compete against female people in sports, again.

Terry and Andraya are two transgender girls who are following their dreams as star runners in Connecticut. But as athletes on the track, they face harmful discrimination instead of accolades.

We’re fighting alongside Terry and Andraya for our right to live as our authentic selves.

Live as your “authentic selves” all you like; knock yourselves out. But that doesn’t translate to mean you get to live as your physically inauthentic self at the expense of people who are oppressed and marginalized on the basis of their physically authentic bodies, aka girls and women.

Take the … Read the rest

Trans philosopher Rachel Anne Williams wrote this piece a year ago but the opening move snagged my attention.

Gender critical feminism aka “radical feminism” is the view that womanhood is best defined by reducing the category of “woman” to essential biological properties shared by cisgender aka non-trans women.

No. One, radical feminism is not a synonym for gender-critical feminism. Two, saying that woman=adult human female is not a “view,” it’s just a definition. That’s how we use the word; that’s what the word means. (Notice Williams isn’t simultaneously trying to redefine “man”? Funny, that.) That’s what the word (and its equivalent in many many other languages) means and has always meant going back as far as we can peer. A … Read the rest

Guest post by Josh Slocum

Some people I know and respect have protested that academia is not in the grips of increasingly Maoist “liberal/progressive” young people. They say that it’s a right wing overreaction to isolated incidents. They then point out all that the right wing is doing to ruin the academy and strip colleges of funding.

Let me deal with the second claim first.

Yes. It’s a fact that corporatist politicians have slashed the budgets of our colleges and universities. Yes. I deplore it. Like you, I recognize it’s a huge institutional problem.

But as for “lefty madness is an isolated incident,” I part company with you. In fact, I think you’re dangerously wrong. Just wrong, not malicious. I’m … Read the rest

You’ve always wondered what it’s like to be transgender and non-binary in paleontology, right? Right? Well now you get to find out.

Riley Black, who came out as transgender and non-binary this year, describes the challenges of cultivating diversity in a discipline with an ‘Indiana Jones’ image.

I’m all agog. Here I thought paleontology had to do with studying fossils, but that must have been completely wrong.

I’ve found a ubiquitous part of the trans experience is continually having to explain yourself to the world at large. Why change? Why now? What’s going to happen? At times it feels like the best solution would be to write a frequently-asked-questions pamphlet, kept readily at hand for the next Society of

Again.

RAS Diversity is a branch of the Royal Astronomical Society.

https://twitter.com/RAS_Diversity/status/1145667572131651585

We very much encourage men who identify as women to apply for women only grants and awards.

Now, if you think this is at all wrong or unfair, RAS Diversity has an answer for you.

https://twitter.com/RAS_Diversity/status/1145680038756605952

Nothing like a smartass gif to make a compelling argument.… Read the rest

There have been some claims that Martina Navratilova has changed her mind about the fairness of male-bodied people competing against girls and women in sport, via a BBC documentary that aired a few days ago. (I haven’t seen it.)

She says no she hasn’t.

Sorry- I did not say that and I did not change my mind. Please watch the docu- thank you

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) June 28, 2019

Consternation. She still thinks girls and women should be able to compete against girls and women??!

Always said that- so I didn’t change my mind. I am for inclusion for as many as possible but it cannot trump fairness for girls and women. Which means different rules for different levels

More from the “Stone the TERF JK Rowling!!” faction:

A heap of sludge from one Phaylen Fairchild (they do love those flattering neo-names, don’t they) at Medium:

It’s been a long time coming, but finally we have a definitive answer. JK Rowling is a TERF.

There have been multiple instances wherein the (in)famous Harry Potter author demonstrated solidarity with radical feminists who have waged a vicious smear campaign against transgender women.

Or not so much waged a vicious smear campaign as disagreed with, but you know, gotta fan the flames.

While the LGBT community and our allies have stood back and watched a rather ominous narrative form around JK Rowling, it has been without any direct confirmation or statement from