A Week in the War on Women: Monday 7th June - Sunday 13th June
Monday 7th June - Women Aren’t Allowed Anything Of Our Own
In Aoteoroa New Zealand, an open letter has been sent to government ministers to challenge draft guidelines that would allow males to compete in female sports.
The Guiding Principles for the Participation of Transgender Players in Sport were produced in consultation with trans groups and place more emphasis on inclusion than fairness. “Inclusion of transgender players in community sport is paramount.”
A group of former athletes, coaches and managers have written to Grant Robertson, Minister for Sport and Recreation, to challenge these Guiding Principles and call for wider consultation.
“We believe that Guiding Principles for such an important document deserve wider distribution and consultation. The existing process has not engaged meaningfully with key sporting organisations, clubs, and their stakeholders…
The inclusion of trans women athletes, specifically those who have transitioned after puberty, raises issues of fairness and safety in all sport. And in this context, we believe an important principle of women’s rights has been disregarded in the draft principles. This argument, supported by an increasing body of peer-reviewed research highlights the performance advantage trans women have over female competitors, even after testosterone suppression. Despite this unequivocal evidence, the rights of the female athlete have been ignored in the draft Sport New Zealand document.”
Robertson responded to the letter by saying that he favours a policy under which everyone can ‘have a go’ at sport. “An approach based on inclusion is the one I want.” As always, ‘inclusion’ includes everyone except women.
Tuesday 8th June - These Are Not Women’s Crimes
NORTHERN ECHO: A trans-identified male paedophile was in court again, only weeks after being released from prison.
A few weeks ago we reported on convicted sex offender, Mark Walker. In 2003 he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for raping two small girls, one just 4 years old, gross indecency with a female child and distributing indecent images of children.
He now ‘identifies as a woman’ and calls himself Marcia.
Despite being found in possession of indecent images and assaulting a custody manager, he was released from prison last month. Only a week later he was found to be in possession of indecent images of children. Again.
In court on Tuesday, Walker admitted to breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Sentencing Walker, Judge Ray Singh, said, “She appeared before me only on May 4th when I took into account all the personal difficulties she faced”.
‘She’ is a man. A dangerous and predatory man.
Wednesday 9th June - Under His Aye On Campus
THE TIMES: The former rector of Edinburgh University feared for her safety following allegations of transphobia.
Ann Henderson was rector of Edinburgh University between February 2018 and February 2021, only the second female rector in 159 years. During her time in the role she suffered repeated public allegations of transphobia from the Edinburgh University Students Association and its affiliate newspaper, The Student. These went largely unchallenged by university authorities and the principal, Professor Peter Mathieson, continually refused to intervene.
“There has been a significant personal cost, with time off work, sleepless nights, and fearing for my own physical safety around campus student venues. At times I considered resigning.”
Henderson said that she had been contacted by staff and students in similar positions who were being intimidated and silenced in their own classes or who feared speaking up in their union or workplace.
Earlier this year the Legal Feminist collective detailed the many and various hoops through which Edinburgh University was prepared to jump, desperate for inclusion on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index.
Last month we reported on the guidelines Edinburgh University has issued to staff to counteract ‘microaggressions against trans and/or nonbinary people’. A university employee subsequently got in touch and provided us with a copy of the document. Hard to believe it’s not satire.
Thursday 10th June - Women’s BMXY Freestyle In Tokyo
Another trans-identified male looks set to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in a women’s event.
Chelsea Wolfe is an American BMX freestyler. He seems likely to be on the USA’s Olympic team after finishing in fifth-place at the UCI Urban World Championships last week (competing in the women’s division, of course). He’s now in third place in the Team USA ranking and, if he retains that position, he will take a place as an alternate on the women’s BMX freestyle squad.
Women’s BMX freestyling as a sport is still in its infancy. It was only in recent years that Vans BMX Pro Cup and the UCI began offering equal pay for female competitors and the X Games, an annual competition for extreme sports, still doesn’t feature women’s BMX events at all.
This is the first time that BMX freestyle will be included at the Olympics. Only nine women will represent their county in the sport on this historic occasion. And there’s a good chance that one of those few coveted places will be taken by a male.
Friday 11th June - Girls’ Rights Going Down The Pan
THE DAILY MAIL: Mixed Sex Toilets may be introduced in Brighton and Hove schools as part of a wider ‘trans toolkit’.
East Sussex schools will be told that they should provide ‘gender neutral’ bathrooms in guidelines issued as part of a new ‘Trans Inclusion Toolkit’.
These guidelines are supported by Brighton and Hove City Council, hardly surprising given the council is run by the Green Party, a long-time disciple of gender identity ideology.
Oxfordshire County Council introduced a similar toolkit several years ago only to withdraw it rather hastily when a teenage girl took legal action.
Only last week, a shocking Ofsted report revealed that the vast majority of girls in school experience sexual harassment and abuse. Inspectors heard that girls regularly suffer sexist name-calling, unwanted touching, rape jokes, online abuse and up-skirting and that boys are sharing explicit pictures on social media.
With such appalling sexual harassment so normalised in schools, does Brighton and Hove Council really think this situation can best be tackled by allowing boys to share toilet facilities with girls? And perhaps they’re forgetting that schools are legally obliged to provide single-sex toilet facilities.
If you’re concerned about the provision of facilities or the promotion of gender identity ideology in your child’s school, the Safe School’s Alliance site offers excellent information and advice.
Also Today - Teenager Slams School Locker Room Policy
NEW YORK POST: A Virginia schoolgirl has spoken out about the policy proposed by her school board which will allow male students to use female locker rooms.
14-year-old Jolene Grover addressed the Loudon County School Board, describing the new policy as ‘dangerous’ and ‘rooted in sexism’. She expressed her fear that it will lead to girls being harassed and assaulted.
“Boys are reading erotica in the classroom next to girls and you want to give them access to girls’ locker rooms and you want to force girls to call those boys ‘she’? …You do this in the name of inclusivity while ignoring the girls who will pay the price. Your policies choose boys’ wants over girls’ needs.”
Saturday 12th June - Labour Losing Women
THE SCOTSMAN: Susan Dalgety discusses Keir Starmer’s betrayal of women.
Earlier this week Keir Starmer proved how little women mean to him and the Labour Party in an announcement for Pride Month.
Not only did he buddy up with online misogyny rag, Pink News…
He affirmed that Labour Party policy is to update the Gender Recognition Act and “Introduce self-declaration for trans people”. Clearly, women’s sex-based rights and spaces are of no consequence to him and his party. And neither are women’s voices.
As Susan Dalgety writes, “It almost defies belief that a Labour leader would abandon women so casually, via a video in a field.”
Sunday 13th June - Free Respiratory Problems For All!
THE TIMES: Trans-identified students at Edinburgh University are being supplied with fake breasts and prosthetic penises courtesy of the students’ group.
Edinburgh University’s Students’ Association (yes, them again) are funding ‘gender-empowering’ items for students, including breast-binders, prosthetic breasts, compression underwear that conceals male genitalia and ‘packers’ that fake having it.
Feminist campaign group, For Women Scotland, said it was horrified at this news. “Breast-binding is a dangerous and regressive practice that destroys healthy tissue and causes breathing problems and damage to the ribcage. It restricts young women’s capacity to participate in normal activities and if done for long periods will cause permanent damage.”
Also Today - The Doctor Will Inform On You Now
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The Scottish NHS ‘Pride Pledge’ is being enforced with Stasi-like tactics.
A campaign ‘encouraging’ Scottish NHS staff to sign a pledge and wear a rainbow badge in support of LGBT people has met with criticism after it was revealed that participation in the scheme will be monitored.
The NHS Pride pledge was devised by Scotland’s health service and SNP government with input from Stonewall (of course). It has met with criticism after it was revealed that participation is going to be monitored. For Women Scotland have been contacted by numerous concerned staff members who feel pressurised into taking part.
One GP commented, “The idea of a group of smug Pride badge-wearers informing on their friends and colleagues sounds more like East Germany in the Stasi days or China during the Cultural Revolution than a liberal Scottish democracy in the 21st century.”
See you next week.
I’ve been trying to publicise the issues in bed with the belief that TWAW through Facebook. People just don’t want to know or engage. I can count on one hand the number of likes or comments I get for anything to do with this. Not that I’ve got a huge number of Facebook friends, but I’d probably get 50 likes for a picture of a glass of Prosecco.
I was on a FB page (Clash against the right) and someone shared a bloody Pink News article equating gender critical people with anti BLM right wing movements. By simply writing that those two issues were separate, I got called a TERF by some prick. I get ever so annoyed that good left-wingers and anti-racists are still either serious misogynists or uninformed enough to think that any woman wanting a debate deserves to be called transphobic. One of the contributors even claimed that the LGB Alliance was a racist, homophobic, transphobic movement. I should have simply written' Alison Bailey' in response but I know those twats wouldn't bother looking her up. They don't try and read anything longer than a twitter feed. I thought we'd moved on from the days when Rock against Sexism happened in response to the misogyny of Rock against Racism but more than 40 years on, I still find the same women-hating crap among people who should know better.