A Week in the War on Women: Monday 22nd March - Sunday 28th March
Monday 22nd March - “Your name vill alzo go on the list!”
A powerful LGBT organisation placed author and journalist, Jesse Singal, on an ‘accountability list’, highlighting the sinister McCarthyite tactics of trans activism.
Glaad is a hugely influential US-based LGBT organisation with particular interest in the media and entertainment industries. It describes itself as “Leading the conversation. Shaping the media narrative. Changing the culture.”
But Glaad isn’t just ‘shaping the narrative’, it’s taking names. It has an Accountability Project. “The continually updated collection of over 200 profiles is a resource for journalists and the general public which documents anti-LGBTQ words and actions from politicians, commentators, organization heads, journalists and other public figures.”
Who decides what constitutes ‘anti-LGBTQ words and actions’? Glaad does, of course. And their definition seems to involve anything other than slavish adherence to gender identity ideology. Hence it appears that JK Rowling and Abigail Shrier found themselves on the same ‘bigot list’ as Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
Jesse Singal wrote a lengthy blog post in order to refute the allegations of transphobia made against him. As Jo Bart writes in her article on the subject, Singal is a bit wet. His supposed transgressions amount to little more than a few innocuous comments. It was still enough to put him on the list.
Since Singal drew attention to it, Glaad’s ‘Accountability’ webpage has been removed. This message now appears instead: “The GLAAD Accountability Project was going through our internal review process and was published earlier this week before that was complete… No entries are being removed from the project, but additional profiles will be added and an official launch will happen soon.”
In other words, “Be warned, careful what you say. We’re watching.”
Tuesday 23rd March - The Ministry of Propaganda
The British Board of Film Classification has put together a recommended list of “Five films for people who want to explore transgender experiences with their families or educate themselves about trans rights and trans people’s journeys”.
Little Girl: A French documentary in which an 8 year old boy who loves ballet and dolls wants to be a girl and is affirmed in his ‘female identity’ by his parents.
Little Kid Jake: A comedy-drama starring Jim Parsons and Claire Danes in which “Loving parents of a four-year-old must come to terms with their child being transgender.”
Ma Vie En Rose: A French film in which the parents of a 7 year old boy who says that he’s a girl eventually ‘learn’ to affirm his ‘gender identity’.
Seahorse - The Dad Who Gave Birth: Documentary about trans identified female, Freddy McConnell, being pregnant and having a baby. (McConnell has twice tried to have herself recorded as the father of her baby on the birth certificate.)
Disclosure: A documentary in which “Leading trans creatives and thinkers”, including Laverne Cox and Lilly Wachowski, discuss depictions of trans people in the media.
The BBFC has partnered with All About Trans, the UK’s version of Glaad, to produce this list. Furthermore its website is recommending Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence and The Proud Trust as sources of further information.
Wednesday 24th March - Woman: Redefined
THE TIMES SCOTLAND: The Scottish Government has won the right to redefine the word woman in its Gender Representation on Public Boards Act.
In 2018 the Scottish Government introduced legislation to increase the representation of women on public boards. However, its Statutory Guidance rendered the act pointless as it redefines the word 'woman' to include males who ‘identify’ as women.
The act’s definition of 'woman' not only means "anyone born female" as per the UK's Equality Act 2010, it also includes those who 1) have the characteristic of gender reassignment, 2) are proposing to undergo a process or partial process for the purpose of sex reassignment or 3) are “living as a woman” (whatever that means).
Feminist campaign group, For Women Scotland, brought a legal action against the Scottish government, stating that it had acted beyond its competence by encroaching on reserved powers over equality legislation. The case was heard in January.
Judge Lady Wise has just given her written judgement. She ruled the government had acted lawfully under a “specific power” that enabled it to take equal opportunities measures and had not breached the UK Equality Act.
So now in Scotland anyone can be a woman by changing their name on the gas bill.
One of the main reasons women are massively underrepresented on public boards (and in roles of authority and leadership generally) is their need to take career breaks due to pregnancy, maternity and childcare responsibilities etc.
A fact that is totally lost on the MP for Aberdeen North who thinks a board made up entirely of males is somehow ‘gender balanced’.
But then Ms Blackman doesn’t seem to think there’s such a thing as sexism at all.
Thursday 25th March - These Are Not Women’s Crimes
THE IRISH TIMES: A trans-identified male ‘sex worker’ has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for possession of child pornography.
Bruno Binda De Souza , also known as Bruna Meirelles, was found to be in possession of thousands of ‘depraved images’ of child sexual abuse. He claimed that a client had encouraged his interest in such material after the pair used crystal meth together.
De Souza pleaded guilty to four counts of possession child pornography, five counts of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. Not only were thousands of ‘depraved images’ found on his mobile phones and laptop, he was involved in online conversations with other parties discussing the abuse of children and he shared illegal images of children via WhatsApp.
In court, Judge Nolan said he was confident that De Souza is ‘well capable’ of reform and commented, “I don’t think she’s a bad person”.
Not only is ‘she’ a bad person, ‘she’ is a man.
Friday 26th March - A Charter For Homophobic Parents
THE TELEGRAPH: The High Court has ruled that parents can consent to the prescription of puberty blockers on their child’s behalf.
The outcome of the Kiera Bell case last year meant that children could not be prescribed puberty blockers without a judge’s approval. However, the ruling in the Hight Court on Friday has effectively overturned this decision. Mrs Justice Lieven concluded that parents can consent to puberty blockers on their child’s behalf without requiring a court’s permission.
This ‘parental consent’ case was brought by The Good Law Project. The project was founded by Jolyon Maugham QC, a very vocal advocate of puberty blockers, and crowd-funds specifically for its ‘Legal Defence Fund for Transgender Lives’.
This fund has an advisory board. Have a look at some of its members:
CN “They/Them” Lester, a trans activist, writer and performer, co-founder of the “UK's first national queer youth organisation” and author of Trans Like Me.
Sabah “They/Them” Choudrey who works for Gendered Intelligence.
Alex Sharpe, a trans-identified male and vociferous trans activist. When rapist “Karen White”, assaulted a number of women prisoners, Sharpe wrote an article defending the housing of trans identified males in the female estate.
Mridrul Madhwa, a trans-identified male who concealed his true sex to obtain employment at a rape crisis centre and took up a place on an all-women shortlist.
No wonder Jolyon Maugham was so shy about revealing who’s in the driving seat.
In giving her judgement, Mrs Justice Lieven did comment that “The essentially experimental nature of puberty blockers should give any parent pause for thought”.
It should, but that will very much depend on the motivation of the parents, surely?
Last year Newsnight revealed leaked documents showing that Tavistock staff were concerned gay and lesbian children were being ‘transed’ by homophobic parents.
These are all direct quotations from Tavistock clinicians:
“We did have a lot of families and parents who would actively tell us, ‘Oh I’m so glad, at least my child is not gay or lesbian’, implying that having a trans outcome would be better”.
“The young person had very clearly told me and my colleague that ‘My mum wants the hormone more than I do’”.
“The young person had come out initially as a lesbian and had faced a lot of homophobic bullying, both very subtlety within the family and quite openly at school. Suddenly the young person changed their mind and started identifying as trans”.
Two years ago The Times reported on former Tavistock clinicians who believed that transition was being used as a form of conversion therapy for gay and lesbian children.
So many potentially homosexual children were being sent down a pathway to full transition, clinicians at the Tavistock joked darkly, “There would be no gay people left”.
You’d think this would worry the CEO of Stonewall. Apparently not.
Saturday 27th March - Labour (Still) Losing Women
Anna Lee is a trans-identified male, MSc student and Labour Party political hopeful.
In 2015, then a student at Lancaster University, he campaigned successfully for the toilets at the SU-run campus nightclub to be mixed sex. He claimed, “As a trans person going to the toilet in public is scary”, while simultaneously denying women need the safety and privacy of a male-free environment.
A year later he was in the news when standing for election as NUS Women’s Officer.
He’s just been announced as Labour’s candidate for the Bulk ward in the forthcoming Lancaster City Council by-election.
A role he seems to have achieved thanks, at least in part, due to his inclusion on the Jo Cox Women in Leadership programme.
And with the full support of the Labour Women’s Network.
Not the first time the Labour Party has allowed a trans identified male to ‘represent’ women by stealing their roles and opportunities.
Sunday 28th March - Not All Vaginas
Eve Ensler’s play, The Vagina Monologues, was first performed in 1996. Based on interviews with over 200 women, it explores topics such as female sexuality, menstruation, rape and giving birth. It examines women’s relationships with their own bodies and puts the spotlight on a particular area of female anatomy that is usually deemed taboo. It has been translated into 48 languages and performed in 140 countries. The New York Times called it "Probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade”.
Of course, a women-centric play focusing on experiences and body parts that are specifically female was never going to survive the rabid misogyny of gender identity politics.
In recent years numerous performances of The Vagina Monologues have been banned or cancelled, especially in the US, amid claims that the play isn’t ‘trans inclusive’. At Cornell University, at Washington University, at Eastern Michigan University, at Mount Holyoke College, in Pennsylvania etc etc this iconic work has been dropped for fear it will “Erase the experience of women who don’t have vaginas” (ie men).
This weekend the City of West Hollywood Women’s Advisory Board co-produced an online performance of a play called The Transvagina Diaries which was written by a trans-identified male, Lindsey Deaton.
It was ‘in honour of Women’s International History Month’, apparently.
See you next week.
Okay so can I turn it on its head and say I want the ‘Transvagina Diaries’ banned because I find it will ’Erase the experience of women who DO have vaginas’, no? Thought not!
Sheesh, the term witch-hunt used to be an analogy for singling out dissenters, it is now a literal thing.
Glinner, I think of all the work you do for this cause, and the quote about the triumph of evil and men who do nothing comes to mind. I am thankful every day for all that you and the rest of us here are doing in holding the line against this madness. That's why we can't give up or lose hope. What we are doing matters. A lot.