The similarities between breast binding and breast ironing and gender "nullification" surgeries and FGM are extremely worrying. We need to be able to discuss these points and we also need to be able as ask questions like "How do we make sure kids who might turn out to be gay/lesbian/bi are not being exploited by the medical industry for profit?" and "How do we make sure American/Western imperialism is not blinding us to our own homophobia and misogyny?" and "Why are we so reticent to examine the potential harm of an ideology that equates dress-wearing with femaleness?" These are questions that deserve thoughtful answers.
thank you for mentioning breast binding again- because it is just so ridiculous (like wearing a corset to play netball). a sportsbra (with lots of elastlane/lycra for comfort) could be worn if a girl is uncomfortable about her breasts showing (to support them)- and a loose top worn over the top - like a sweatshirt to hide them - esp if she wants to play sport! without any pain or constriction.
Yes. And the UK Government have again agreed to 'consult' on stopping surgery for 'revirginisation' (hymenoplasty), but not actually stop it. I believe 22 private clinics currently offer this. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) statement begins:
"There is no reason why either virginity testing or hymenoplasty, or any other procedure under a different name that seeks to reconstruct or repair the hymen, would need to be carried out for medical purposes, according to a policy statement published by the RCOG today. Both are harmful practices that create and exacerbate social, cultural and political beliefs that a women’s value is based on whether or not she is a virgin before marriage, say the College.
The scale of the problem is not known in the UK because the procedures are carried out in private clinics and the data is not available. The RCOG is concerned that the way private clinics are advertising these procedures to women is further perpetuating myths around virginity, and in some cases being dishonest about what these procedures can achieve.
The UK Government has committed to legislating to ban virginity testing, but has not yet made this commitment on hymenoplasty. The RCOG is calling for a ban on both."
Re: hymenoplasty, I'm hearing things on Twitter from UK feminists that while under most circumstances this is indeed unnecessary, some of these young women go back to the homeland to visit family, and could be at serious risk if they can't be "proven" virgins.
Mind you, there's no such thing as a fully intact hymen in the first place -- how would periods come out? So I'm not sure what these quacks in these backwater countries think they're looking for with these "virginity tests." How the results come out may depend on political factors, not biological ones. If you're in good with the local mullah, say.
Yes, politics and class. Girls have been disappearing back for 'holidays' for a very long time and a lot goes on without the safety of school and the UK laws to back them up. Some women and girls are at risk here, some at risk there. It's a tricky thing to be able to manage. I knew of girls murdered by their families, or who never came back for the start of the new term of sixth form. Teachers who had more than one student disappear or murdered. My close friend at 15 never wanted to go for the long holidays 'back home'. It wasn't her home, our home town in England was.
The proof of virginity tests are all part of the same ideology or culture. All this going on under our noses. I discussed all this and FGM with an Omani doctor I lived with here in the UK. She would wear her abaya when out and in the presence of men, then when in private she was much freer and honest about it all with me (as I am a woman). That's what the RCOG statement highlights - these are often the pervasive myths - and they cross time and space. Few Catholic girls wear a lace mantilla in church in England now; times change. I was taught at school that horseriding could break your hymen so felt a bit paranoid when I learned to ride a horse in the 80s.
I was on the edge of tears throughout that whole interview. Jude is such an intelligent, compassionate, articulate and rational voice. What an incredible mother and person. I am so sorry this tragedy has befallen so many families. It really is a fever, and it will break.
Watched that interview on YouTube earlier and I totally agree with every word Jude said. She is obviously very well read and articulate and also very courageous in her attempts to protect her daughter from the very real harm this movement ( aka cult ) is causing all over the world, especially to children and young people and their families ! The way she and her husband were treated by the " medical professionals " was absolutely appalling and my heart goes out to them and all the other parents who are similarly affected. The damage being done here to young bodies and minds is staggering and utterly heart breaking and should be of grave concern to every right thinking person . When this nightmare is eventually over ( doubt if the human race can survive otherwise ) ,I sincerely hope that all these people who promoted ,supported and applauded it will be held to account. That includes governments ,public bodies ,private companies ,charities ( notably Stonewall ,mermaids etc ) and certain sectors of the medical profession ( where on earth is the GMC ?? !!! ) ,not forgetting the pharmaceutical companies ,which are gaining massive financial rewards from the unnecessary medicalisation of young children for LIFE !! Shame on all of them . Don't know how they can live with themselves. Sending Love and support to all those families affected by this .
The medical-industrial complex is horrific. If you are a white male who has not yet presented with any medical problems I can understand that the treatment of these young women can come as a shock. But people who are truthful about their experience within the industry (my RN husband was shunned because he complained when he saw a patient undergoing a supposedly sterile procedure with NO sterilization), millions of women whose physiological problems are ignored (often with a suggestion they need to see a shrink), and the many people and their families who have been injured or killed by doctors, are not surprised. We need a civilian review board for doctors in the U.S. because doctors clearly cannot police themselves. We have a very short time frame in which to pursue lawsuits, and if conservatives had their way even those monetary rewards would be severely limited. I want to live long enough to see some major lawsuits against the people pushing these drugs and surgeries on young people!!!!! And I believe that if they are class-action suits, the time frame is increased.
You can't even get an ER doc to look at you if you present with ovarian torsion because "you're overreacting" and "it's all in your head" and you're left suffering for hours when there is a time limit to save the damn ovary, never mind stop the freaking pain, but tell some doc you "feel like a boy" or "feel like a man" and it's near-instantaneous "yeet the teets."
I truly hoped the NHS was better, but realized it wasn't when I read that they treat hypothyroidism the same way as the U.S.: prescribe levothyroxine, which works for very few people. And a U.K. doctor was struck off the register for prescribing natural desiccated thyroid, AND people who want supplemental iodine (such as Lugol's solution) have to order it from continental Europe! The NHS could save millions of pounds if it treated patients appropriately instead of following the U.S. medical model.
the dsmv 5 (the big book of mad diagnoses / namecalling) is the origin of the idea that trans children exist - ie playing with wrong gender toys - which is why GI theory is so conservative/traditional. for any young girl/tomboy/lesbian and her parents targeted by researchers/doctors for wrong gender 'play'/appearance, please research the feminist writings on psychiatry/psychology and its control of girls women. in modern times from dr charcot of the salpaterie hospital and his 'performing'/photographed young female 'hysterics' (medical muses book by asti hustvedt) follows the lives of these young girls incarcerated) later to freud (who interpreted his patients responses rather than listen to young women (inc anna o/bertha p ). for a feminist understanding of the professions -the bestselling 'women and madness' by dr phyllis chesler (1970) is a useful starting place.
What's with the sudden increase in 'sex unknown' GIDS referrals in the past couple of years? Surely treatment and follow up relies on accurate recording of sex?
Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria aka REDDIT Onset Gender Dysphoria.
Or Tumblr, or Twitter, TikTok...
https://williamaferguson.substack.com/p/reddit-onset-gender-dysphoria
With a shout-out to Graham.
I'm so gonna steal this for my next newsletter post.
All yours, my friend 👊
Thank you.
The similarities between breast binding and breast ironing and gender "nullification" surgeries and FGM are extremely worrying. We need to be able to discuss these points and we also need to be able as ask questions like "How do we make sure kids who might turn out to be gay/lesbian/bi are not being exploited by the medical industry for profit?" and "How do we make sure American/Western imperialism is not blinding us to our own homophobia and misogyny?" and "Why are we so reticent to examine the potential harm of an ideology that equates dress-wearing with femaleness?" These are questions that deserve thoughtful answers.
thank you for mentioning breast binding again- because it is just so ridiculous (like wearing a corset to play netball). a sportsbra (with lots of elastlane/lycra for comfort) could be worn if a girl is uncomfortable about her breasts showing (to support them)- and a loose top worn over the top - like a sweatshirt to hide them - esp if she wants to play sport! without any pain or constriction.
Yes. And the UK Government have again agreed to 'consult' on stopping surgery for 'revirginisation' (hymenoplasty), but not actually stop it. I believe 22 private clinics currently offer this. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) statement begins:
"There is no reason why either virginity testing or hymenoplasty, or any other procedure under a different name that seeks to reconstruct or repair the hymen, would need to be carried out for medical purposes, according to a policy statement published by the RCOG today. Both are harmful practices that create and exacerbate social, cultural and political beliefs that a women’s value is based on whether or not she is a virgin before marriage, say the College.
The scale of the problem is not known in the UK because the procedures are carried out in private clinics and the data is not available. The RCOG is concerned that the way private clinics are advertising these procedures to women is further perpetuating myths around virginity, and in some cases being dishonest about what these procedures can achieve.
The UK Government has committed to legislating to ban virginity testing, but has not yet made this commitment on hymenoplasty. The RCOG is calling for a ban on both."
Read the full statement here https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/medical-college-calls-on-government-to-ban-virginity-testing-and-hymenoplasty/
I have no words. Horrific.
Re: hymenoplasty, I'm hearing things on Twitter from UK feminists that while under most circumstances this is indeed unnecessary, some of these young women go back to the homeland to visit family, and could be at serious risk if they can't be "proven" virgins.
Mind you, there's no such thing as a fully intact hymen in the first place -- how would periods come out? So I'm not sure what these quacks in these backwater countries think they're looking for with these "virginity tests." How the results come out may depend on political factors, not biological ones. If you're in good with the local mullah, say.
Yes, politics and class. Girls have been disappearing back for 'holidays' for a very long time and a lot goes on without the safety of school and the UK laws to back them up. Some women and girls are at risk here, some at risk there. It's a tricky thing to be able to manage. I knew of girls murdered by their families, or who never came back for the start of the new term of sixth form. Teachers who had more than one student disappear or murdered. My close friend at 15 never wanted to go for the long holidays 'back home'. It wasn't her home, our home town in England was.
The proof of virginity tests are all part of the same ideology or culture. All this going on under our noses. I discussed all this and FGM with an Omani doctor I lived with here in the UK. She would wear her abaya when out and in the presence of men, then when in private she was much freer and honest about it all with me (as I am a woman). That's what the RCOG statement highlights - these are often the pervasive myths - and they cross time and space. Few Catholic girls wear a lace mantilla in church in England now; times change. I was taught at school that horseriding could break your hymen so felt a bit paranoid when I learned to ride a horse in the 80s.
I was on the edge of tears throughout that whole interview. Jude is such an intelligent, compassionate, articulate and rational voice. What an incredible mother and person. I am so sorry this tragedy has befallen so many families. It really is a fever, and it will break.
Watched that interview on YouTube earlier and I totally agree with every word Jude said. She is obviously very well read and articulate and also very courageous in her attempts to protect her daughter from the very real harm this movement ( aka cult ) is causing all over the world, especially to children and young people and their families ! The way she and her husband were treated by the " medical professionals " was absolutely appalling and my heart goes out to them and all the other parents who are similarly affected. The damage being done here to young bodies and minds is staggering and utterly heart breaking and should be of grave concern to every right thinking person . When this nightmare is eventually over ( doubt if the human race can survive otherwise ) ,I sincerely hope that all these people who promoted ,supported and applauded it will be held to account. That includes governments ,public bodies ,private companies ,charities ( notably Stonewall ,mermaids etc ) and certain sectors of the medical profession ( where on earth is the GMC ?? !!! ) ,not forgetting the pharmaceutical companies ,which are gaining massive financial rewards from the unnecessary medicalisation of young children for LIFE !! Shame on all of them . Don't know how they can live with themselves. Sending Love and support to all those families affected by this .
She was excellent...straight speaking. It's scary though.
The medical-industrial complex is horrific. If you are a white male who has not yet presented with any medical problems I can understand that the treatment of these young women can come as a shock. But people who are truthful about their experience within the industry (my RN husband was shunned because he complained when he saw a patient undergoing a supposedly sterile procedure with NO sterilization), millions of women whose physiological problems are ignored (often with a suggestion they need to see a shrink), and the many people and their families who have been injured or killed by doctors, are not surprised. We need a civilian review board for doctors in the U.S. because doctors clearly cannot police themselves. We have a very short time frame in which to pursue lawsuits, and if conservatives had their way even those monetary rewards would be severely limited. I want to live long enough to see some major lawsuits against the people pushing these drugs and surgeries on young people!!!!! And I believe that if they are class-action suits, the time frame is increased.
You can't even get an ER doc to look at you if you present with ovarian torsion because "you're overreacting" and "it's all in your head" and you're left suffering for hours when there is a time limit to save the damn ovary, never mind stop the freaking pain, but tell some doc you "feel like a boy" or "feel like a man" and it's near-instantaneous "yeet the teets."
U.S. medicine is insane.
Though UK medicine, I hear, is not much better.
I truly hoped the NHS was better, but realized it wasn't when I read that they treat hypothyroidism the same way as the U.S.: prescribe levothyroxine, which works for very few people. And a U.K. doctor was struck off the register for prescribing natural desiccated thyroid, AND people who want supplemental iodine (such as Lugol's solution) have to order it from continental Europe! The NHS could save millions of pounds if it treated patients appropriately instead of following the U.S. medical model.
the dsmv 5 (the big book of mad diagnoses / namecalling) is the origin of the idea that trans children exist - ie playing with wrong gender toys - which is why GI theory is so conservative/traditional. for any young girl/tomboy/lesbian and her parents targeted by researchers/doctors for wrong gender 'play'/appearance, please research the feminist writings on psychiatry/psychology and its control of girls women. in modern times from dr charcot of the salpaterie hospital and his 'performing'/photographed young female 'hysterics' (medical muses book by asti hustvedt) follows the lives of these young girls incarcerated) later to freud (who interpreted his patients responses rather than listen to young women (inc anna o/bertha p ). for a feminist understanding of the professions -the bestselling 'women and madness' by dr phyllis chesler (1970) is a useful starting place.
My very best wishes and love to you!
What's with the sudden increase in 'sex unknown' GIDS referrals in the past couple of years? Surely treatment and follow up relies on accurate recording of sex?