So long, Hildy

A farewell to the woman who saved my life

Six years ago, I was drowning in a steady stream of outrageous and frightening news stories coming out of a world that had fallen under the spell of a mass delusion. The march of gender ideology throughout society, poisoning everything it touched, was a subject I felt had to be covered somehow, but legacy media–which I had trusted for most of my fifty years on the planet– broke their collective neck looking the other way as each fresh outrage emerged. Men in women’s prisons, men cheating in women’s sports, men working to destroy the lives and livelihoods of any woman who stood in their way... and worst of all, the trans activists and LGBT+ groups who were encouraging children–children!-- to undergo surgical and pharmaceutical procedures that would destroy their lives.

But I was drowning in other ways. I was being cancelled myself; not just by the media, but by friends and colleagues who I thought had my back as I always had theirs. Everything was falling apart; my career, my marriage, my sanity. The stress was so intense that I could barely think. I dreaded answering emails, phone calls and finally even the front door when I realised that trans activists knew my new home address. (The conman and convicted sex offender Stephanie Hayden had already doxxed my family’s home address). Then Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick Productions cancelled the Father Ted Musical, on which I had worked for years, and my colleagues, who I had considered friends for over thirty years, stood to one side to let it happen.

Which is all to say, good news was thin on the ground. And the milk of human kindness became more precious the less I saw of it. I was broke, and frightened, closer to homelessness than I’d ever been. So when a woman I barely knew, a woman my readers came to know as JL, offered to do ‘A Week In The War on Women’ on the regular, and refused to accept payment for it, I could barely speak through the tears.

It changed everything for me. JL gave me some space in which I could work on getting my life back together, a process that would take years as I wrote my memoir and tried to generate new projects I knew might never get made. I still made my own contributions to the Substack, but I was able to take a more relaxed and discursive approach to my journalism because of the breathing room JL gave me. My sense of humour started to return. I began to come back to myself.

Meanwhile, JL never missed a single column. Week after week, she was there, catching everything I was too busy or depressed to notice. Even when trans activists threatened and doxxed her, even when she was insulted and mocked by the crazier elements of the GC movement–a tiny minority, but loud, and just as vindictive as the TRAs they resembled–even then, she kept writing. I joked she was my Hildy, Rosalind Russell’s whipcrack-smart journalist from His Girl Friday.

JL kept the editorialising to a minimum. She let the stories speak for themselves, presenting the facts plainly so that the horror or comedy or insanity of each one lay before you as if under surgical lights. And when the tide began to turn, and people started rejecting this dumb, Tumblr-born, anorexic death cult known as gender ideology, she created the "Good News Supplement”, doubling her workload but giving her readers, and myself, something we all desperately needed: a bit of hope.

She didn't limit herself to the WOW. Just yesterday, for example, she did a special report on Rape Crisis Scotland's numerous failures. She also maintains This Never Happens which tracks attacks by trans-identified men on the women they envy and despise, and 'The Myth Of Both Sides, which documents the harassment of women by trans activists at their very worst. She remembered every blow that landed, every shot fired in the War On Women. And because she did, she created what I think will become an essential resource for people trying to understand how an obscene madness gripped the world at the start of the 21st century.

The War On Women is in its final stages, and JL has more than done her bit. Tomorrow will be her final update, and the next Good News Supplement will be the last.

The list of friends who stood at my side during the worst part of my life is very short, but JL will always be at the top of it. When everyone I trusted disappeared from my side, she stepped forward. From those early days when I felt utterly alone and without hope, to now, when finally some sunlight is splitting the clouds, she was there

Thank you, Hildy, I won’t ever forget it.

All my love,

Graham

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I asked some notables in the fight against gender ideology what JL’s work meant to them. Here are some of the responses.

JL’s column has been a lifeline for those of us internationally living in countries captured by gender ideology. She has given us hope that we can change things too. Thank you for everything you have done, JL Jillian Spencer

“It feels like the end of an era. The collaboration between Graham and JL has been one of consistency and persistence, shining a spotlight on the harms caused by gender ideology, even when mainstream outlets chose to ignore them. Since my earliest days of getting involved in this fight, I have turned to their Substack column for knowledge and wisdom. It will be missed.” James Esses

The War On Women is probably responsible for peaking more people than anything else online. An essential go-to resource. Malcolm Clarke

I’m gutted to hear JL is retiring from Graham’s Substack. Her diligent documentation of each surreal episode in the sex and gender battles has been indispensable reading for six years. I hope she is writing a book!” Bev Jackson

“JL has been must read for me throughout my ride. She'll be missed. My very best to her.” Fred Sargeant

JL has to be one of the most unsung heroines of the gender sceptical movement. For five years, she has been beavering away behind the scenes, constantly, to produce a comprehensive succession of weekly bulletins in The War on Women. She has done so much for all of us, for so long. What a woman! I am in awe of her diligence and commitment and talent and am incredibly grateful to her. The War on Women really helped me to spread the word among my friends and contacts about all the crazy stuff that’s been going on. It will be a record of the madness of this period that people can look back on in future times. I hope JL will now have more time to work on something of her own and I look forward to reading it, whatever it is! Jane Harris

Through the War On Women substack, JL let the world know about the injustice I experienced when I was defamed by a prominent Australian politician. She and Graham brought me support from all over the world during one of the worst times in my life. WOW amplified the stories of other Australian women when we were being maligned or stifled at home. Finding familiarity in stories of trans madness injustice from all across the world made us Aussies feel less isolated and alone. Thank you, JL. Angie Jones

JL's work organizing and commenting on gender critical women's news has been a reliable source of necessary information for longer than I've been making content. I have really appreciated her succinct and impactful summaries of these events, which I may not have come across otherwise. It is this sort of commited curation that greases the wheels of this movement. Graham's substack won't be the same without her. Thank you for your work, JL! Exulansic

JL has been on the frontline of the TERF wars since before it was cool. She was highlighting the stories the mainstream media were squeamish about: digging under the headlines keeping us updated and sane. Whether the good, the bad or Jonathon Yaniv, JL will have covered it with diligence. We all owe her a debt, and if the world ever changes enough for her name to be commonly known, I hope she never has to buy a pint again. Jo Bartosch

From the very early days of my peaking, the Glinner newsletter & JL’s summaries of everything happening was like a survival guide. A confirmation that you weren’t going crazy: It’s really happening and here is the evidence. I devoured every single email. None of us would be as informed as we are without the work of people like JL who have not just kept the receipts but curated them. I’m going to miss the newsletter! Sall Grover

JL’s work on The War On Women has been incredible over the last 6 years. It soon became my go-to-source for information - first to keep a pulse on all the madness, but later also the victories with The Good News Supplement. I want to thank her for all the countless hours she’s put into it and wish her a very happy retirement. Mister Menno

The War on Women substack was a lifeline for me, at the point when gender ideology had crowded me off Twitter, away from my friends and professional colleagues and I was increasingly isolated. Its roundup of the week’s gender horrors, done with humour and a sense of solidarity built to a living resource of these times and made me feel connected to the wider resistance movement, and, at times, to reality itself. It was the only reliable, comprehensive source of information of this issue and I am so grateful to JL for doing it, at, I am sure, considerable personal cost. The War on Women is an example of outstanding journalism, which kept us informed, heartened and connected. Thank you, JL. Polly Clark

What will I do without waking up and seeing 'JL from the Glinner Update' in my inbox? Cutting through all the noise and serving up the best of the best in one handy dandy email will sorely be missed. From one JL to another, thank you for the great service you have provided so many!" Jennifer Lahl

The War on Women was instrumental in my becoming fully informed on the excesses of the trans debate. The revelations of the WPATH files and the Cass Report made official that which had been flagged in WoW. It was great work, brilliantly done. Sean Parker

An essential, indefatigable, jaw-dropping guide to what was *really* going on. Lissa Evans

The War On Women” Substack has been one of the most invaluable sources of trusted information on the ‘gender wars’. Without it, I very much doubt we’d have gotten as far as we have in opening people’s eyes to what has actually been going on. Thank you, JL. I cannot express my gratitude enough. James Dreyfus

Here we are at the end of January 2025. The Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting, has banned the use of puberty blocking drugs for under 18s. The Gender Identity Services Clinic at the Tavistock Clinic has been closed. The phenomenal Keira Bell is bringing another Judicial Review – this time to question why cross sex hormones have not been banned for minors. Stonewall has revised its definition of transphobia and homosexuality to appear less confrontational. Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) may – or may not – have removed preferred pronouns from his X biography. And in the US President Trump has issued two ground-breaking Executive Orders banning gender identity ideology across the public sphere and stating clear opposition to the prescription of drugs and surgery to minors under 19. This is a different world from the one we lived in when War on Women began 6 years ago. The whole world was against us and anything we said was silenced by being written off as “transphobic”. Information is power. We had neither – thanks to Stonewall’s mantra of no debate and the cancellation of our speech. JL stepped in to fill the void of news on issues of sex and gender. I will be for ever grateful to her for letting us know every single week what was happening around the world. We will miss you and thank you for playing such a key role in our history. We said we would win by telling the truth – and win we will. Kate Harris

Thank you for recording all the madness, because otherwise, if we didn’t have chapter and verse, we may well have felt we were genuinely going mad. A great public service. Julie Bindel

A Week in the War on Women. Well, it’s been more than a week, for sure! Many, many weeks now. Five or six years’ worth of weekly updates of news stories - bad, dreadful… or even worse! This unpleasant gender stuff takes its toll, so quite how JL has managed to wade her way through all of these anti-women issues is, quite frankly, beyond my comprehension. But she has done just this. JL has kept us informed, fascinated, and immersed by her in-depth and honest news reporting on ‘The Gender Beat’. It has been remarkable. Perhaps now, as the end of the war may be in enticing view, she can step back and relax somewhat. She fully deserves to do so. Thank you, JL. Mole At the Counter

If you wanted to know what was going on and where in the fight against gender ideology, this was the place to go and be inspired, or get angry. Josh Howie

The War on Women has been an invaluable resource for anyone fighting back against this most regressive of ideologies. It has not only alerted a wide readership to the extent of the problem, it will also be an essential record for those future historians tasked with making sense of this period of global lunacy. Andrew Doyle

When the history of this era is written—an era in which vast swathes of society believed that a man could become a woman simply by uttering a magical incantation—the War on Women Substack will stand as a vital record. In this period of collective madness, each week brings fresh assaults on women’s safety, dignity, and privacy, and JL has worked tirelessly to document this shameful period in history. From sexual abuse survivors being forced to undress in front of men with self-declared woman souls to violent male criminals suddenly discovering their inner womanhood only after being convicted of sex offenses, future generations will look back in disbelief at the evidence meticulously gathered by JL. Mia Hughes

The War on Women is an invaluable resource for anyone who noticed that women and children’s rights were being attacked and eroded. Through some dark days it helped give me fortitude and the good news supplement raised the spirits and showed that hope was possible. Thank you for all your hard work, JL, this groundwork was essential and I very much appreciate all you have done. Rosie Kay

To those of us in the trenches against a tide of captured politicians JL’s War On Women was an essential and comprehensive assessment of the battle at hand. As progress was made, her Good News Supplement documented much needed sustenance and relief. Internationally the political landscape is shifting rapidly, but the war is far from over. While a new chapter is opening for Graham in the US, JL’s column will remain a valuable chronicle of our age, marking the pushback against a narcissistic movement whose days are surely few in number. Neale Hanvey

As someone who spends all day every day educating herself about all things related to "gender identity" and "trans," all over the world, I have found the War on Women to be an extremely important resource. I have been immensely grateful to JL for the work she has put into the WOW for the past five years. Many of my American Substack followers would probably still be in the dark about many of the harms of gender woo, were it not for stories I have found in the pages of the WOW. She will be missed! Kara Dansky

War on Women substack is a trailblazer publication on the harms inflicted on women by gender identity ideology.

When the mainstream media was craven & wilfully silent, War on Women & its writer & editor JL, courageously investigated & documented predatory men, policies & laws.

All of us owe a debt of gratitude to JL for without her fearless reporting, many of these stories would not have been broken when they did, & predators, bad actors & bad laws would have carried on with impunity. Katherine Deves

Take a bow, JL, the War on Women stands as a testament to truth-telling in an era defined by sly cowardice and ideological conformity. We’re lucky that JL meticulously chronicled the unfolding crisis of women’s rights, child safeguarding, and free speech, because had it not been recorded in real time, future generations simply would not believe this mass formation took place in plain sight. The War on Women is an essential historical archive, documenting the absurdities and injustices of a movement that demanded unquestioning allegiance, offering readers not only analysis but also a vital record of events that might otherwise have been expunged. Its legacy will remain as an important chronicle of a dark period, illuminated by the courage of Graham and JL, two people who refused to lie. Stella O’Malley