A Week in the War on Women: Monday 16th October - Sunday 22nd October GOOD NEWS SUPPLEMENT
A round-up of some good news stories from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!
For The Reading List
WDI have published their first book, Women’s Rights, Gender Wrongs: The global spread of gender-identity ideology.
It consists of 35 reports which cover the situation on women’s rights and gender-identity ideology in countries across the globe.
You can order your copy here.
The Queen Is In The House
JK Rowling made a surprise guest appearance at the FiLiA conference in Glasgow this week, delighting attendees and garnering standing ovations.
She spoke to the audience for almost an hour. Susan Smith of For Women Scotland said, “JK’s contribution was fantastic, funny and moving… Although it was passionate it was also light-hearted.”
“The crowd went absolutely wild,” one audience member told The Times. “She doesn’t do talks. She doesn’t do public appearances. She has had death threats, and yet she chose to do this for a feminist, grassroots organisation which shows just how committed she is. It was joyful and buzzing and everyone was walking on air [after] seeing her.”
Another Ace
Elsewhere, another queen has also been making waves.
Tennis legend, Martina Navratilova, has forced British Ju Jitsu to urgently review its trans inclusion policy after she branded the governing body ‘jerks’ for allowing males to compete in female categories.
A spokesperson commented, “We have now identified that the information that our policy was based on, has been superseded and as a result we are now conducting an urgent review of our trans inclusion policy so that it reflects the current thinking”.
Leaving Them Kids Alone
Saskatchewan, Western Canada, has taken steps to protect its school children from the harms of gender identity ideology and queer theory. The government has passed its Parents’ Bill of Rights by a majority of 40-12.
This new legislation, already given royal assent, means parents will have to give consent if a child under the age of 16 wants to change their name or pronouns at school. Furthermore, parents also will have the right to remove their children from sexual education classes.
Schadenfreude Corner
It seems it’s all going glittery tits up at online misogyny rag, Pink News.
Ahead of its annual awards ceremony, stories were circulating on social media that employees describe it as a ‘toxic’ workplace and many have complained that CEO, Benjamin Cohen, is a bully.
Others were suggesting that the company is in dire financial straits.
Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.
I Should Booking Well Think So
Gender-critical titles are being restored to Calderdale library shelves after a barrage of criticism for ‘hiding’ them.
A few months ago we reported that Calderdale Council’s library service was removing certain ‘gender critical’ books - including Trans by Helen Joyce and Material Girls by Kathleen Stock - from its shelves and placing them in storage.
A public outcry against the ‘tin pot dictators’ at the library service resulted in an internal review and instruction from Ian Day, the director for public service, that the books be put back on Calderdale’s library shelves.
Let’s hope in future they remember Jo Godwin’s wise words; “A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
Glinner Of Hope
Don’t miss Our Graham in conversation with Andrew Doyle at UnHerd.
And being interviewed by Brendan O’Neill on the Brendan O’Neill Show.
And being interviewed by Mark Smith in The Herald Scotland.
Yet another great review of Tough Crowd, too, by Anne Marie Scanlon in The Sunday Independent.
“While his frustration and disappointment rise off the page, he never strays far from his need to entertain and make the reader laugh.”
If you haven’t got your copy of Tough Crowd yet, you can do so direct from the publisher, from Waterstones, from Blackwells, via Amazon and at all discerning outlets. (Or why not go old school and ask for it an actual bookshop?!)
The audiobook is (finally!) available now on Audible.
And look who was top of the charts (again) this week.
Also….
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After months, nay, years of a dysphoria dystopian world, I'm seeing a new brighter horizon, even in my Canadian apocalyptic corner of the world. GL, congratulations on your growing acknowledgement of your role in protecting women and children's rights and the success of your book. Thank you for the wonderful epithet for Pink News. Can't imagine a better send-off.
Great review of Tough Crowd in the Sunday Independent. I finished it yesterday and found it both funny and incredibly sad, reflecting where we've gotten to in society that respectful disagreement itself seems to have been cancelled. Still, book of the year stuff, in my opinion. Big congrats, Graham!