A Week in the War on Women: Monday 24th July - Sunday 30th July GOOD NEWS SUPPLEMENT

IMAGE CREDIT: @TheBoiledbeetle

Plenty of good news stories from the gender beat this week. Enjoy!

Girls On Film

In the latest episode of the Giggle Podcast, Sall Grover speaks to the brilliant feminist documentary maker, Vaishnavi Sundar, about her new film, an exploration of the lives and experiences of ‘trans widows’.

“When you’re in the pits, to know that you’re not alone could be reason enough for her to decide to get the fuck out of the pits. You’re not alone, there’s some help out there.”

Sunlight Is Flooding In

Political scientist, Leo Sapir, has written for The City Journal about the burgeoning realisation in American - even among Democrats - that the medicalisation of gender non-conforming children and young people is a brewing medical scandal.

Sapir likens the clinicians still advocating the ‘gender affirmation’ model to Hiroo Onoda, the Imperial Japanese Army Lieutenant who remained bunkered in the hills of the Lubang Islands in the Philippines for 30 years after the end of World War II and dismissed any news of Japan’s surrender as Allied propaganda.

“Reform of gender medicine in the U.S. has a long way to go, and any declaration of victory is dangerously premature. But the very possibility of likening gender-affirming advocates to modern-day Onodas suggests a shifting of ground.”

Fishing For Compliments

Kudos to Duncan Baker MP, who represents North Norfolk, for defending the integrity of women’s sport. This week Baker criticised the decision to include a trans-identified male on the England women’s sea fishing team.

Baker raised the issue in parliament in support of his constituent, Wendy Metcalfe, a leading figure in the sport. He said, “Beach fishing requires significant upper body strength, strength in which a male-born competitor would have a distinct advantage over a woman”. He called on the government to intervene and urge the Angling Trust to reconsider its guidelines.

News Just In

IPSO, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, has issued its new guidance on ‘sex and gender identity’. It’s not ideal but it is an improvement on the previous version. (Huge thanks to FPFW for all their hard work on making this happen.)

Furthermore, there has been a notable change of the resources which IPSO recommends. The 2015 version included a host of trans lobby groups such Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence, Stonewall, Gires, Trans Media Watch, All About Trans etc.

IMAGE CREDIT: @TimBarnsley1

These groups have now disappeared from the IPSO guidance and the new version lists some rather different resources:

Green Around The Gills

And speaking of IPSO, Susie Green’s complaint against The Sunday Times for supposedly ‘misgendering’ her son has been rejected.

Seismic Shifts

Following the Labour Party’s about-turn on its trans policy, shadow health secretary and prominent Labour frontbencher, Wes Streeting, has apologised to Rosie Duffield.

In an interview with Times Radio he said, “I’m really sorry about the way Rosie’s been treated.”

Rosie Duffield told The Guardian, “It’s good to have the allyship of a colleague I respect who clearly wants to engage, listen to and understand Labour’s feminist members and groups who have previously been ignored or no-platformed by the party.”

The New New Statesman

In what seems like another extremely significant shift, The New Statesman commissioned renowned evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, to write about gender and published his article, Why Biological Sex Matters.

“Those who sincerely feel themselves born in the wrong body deserve sympathy and respect… Their militantly vocal supporters do not have a right to commandeer our words and impose idiosyncratic redefinitions on the rest of us. You have a right to your private lexicon, but you are not entitled to insist that we change our language to suit your whim. And you absolutely have no right to bully and intimidate those who follow common usage and biological reality in their usage of “woman” as honoured descriptor for half the population. A woman is an adult human female, free of Y chromosomes.”

Re-Joyce With Richard Dawkins

And speaking of Richard Dawkins, don’t miss him in conversation with Helen Joyce on his Poetry of Reality podcast.

Welcome Aboard

Media heavyweight and elder statesman of political commentary, Andrew Neil, has entered the fray. Horrified by the testimony of de-transitioner, Chloe Cole, Neil asked “What have we become?”

In another tweet he added, “I had no idea such things could be done to young, vulnerable people… It must be stopped”.

Let us welcome Andrew Neil to the fight. His voice will be a valuable asset.

And Finally…