A win against the eSafety commissioner. Queer theory in schools. The schools to clinic pipeline. State sanctioned sexual abuse in Victorian prisons. The Lesbian Action Group in Court.
Thank goodness I don't live down under. Politicians the world over seem to have lost their minds to Gender ID theory, but Australians are truly lost. Who on earth votes for them?
Unfortunately this stuff is sneaked in under the radar without public consultation, then declared to be the law of the land. It is undemocratic, totalitarian, and downright evil. It's why I hate wokeness and will tear it down whenever I see it.
This is what happened in Ireland too and the Irish are waking up to what it means,. It's all laid out in the Denton's document for anyone to see if they look.
The ABC has over years and years become a propaganda machine for “trans”. Australians are keen to not be seen as backward compared to the rest of the world- so they seem to embrace new trends enthusiastically, and ‘trans’ is no exception. As the ABC’s bias is so extreme (constant drip feed of trans positive stories; describing all pushback as “anti trans”; reporting men’s crimes as “women” crimes etc) the public has generally been super conforming to gender nonsense, particularly the “orthodox left” who refuse to touch any media outside of the Guardian or ABC.
Great update on Australia’s multiple failures to understand that women have rights. The Land of Rampant Misogyny is certainly right up there with the top betrayers of women, girls and children.
The rest of the world (except Canada, it seems) is beginning to recognise that gender ideology is anti women, and just another name for a men’s wants movement, but not Australia, with its intellectually lazy, cowardly politicians.
Fingers crossed for LAG, Sal Grover and Nicki Gaylard, and well done Celine!
But what a pitiful, pathetic Premier Jacinta Allen is. Her betrayal of women - especially women in prison - is a shocking display of her support for an ideology the ALP introduced by stealth. No courage and zero commitment to democratic principles.
That's an interesting angle, that Australia has always had a lot of misogyny and is built on blokiness and the image of the strong outdoorsy bloke. Personally I haven't noticed any difference between Oz and the UK in that respect but perhaps you are on to something because gender ideology only benefits men and Australia is transfixed by it. How women like the eSafety commissioner and Jacinta Allen don't see this is completely baffling!!
As much as I loathe and despise the criminal Trump, his EO on the insanity of "trans" was the one right thing he did -- not because he gives a shit about women's rights, but because he saw an opportunity handed to him on a silver platter by the clueless Democrats on this issue. Trump is a sexual predator, so no friend to women.
But an Executive Order is no bulwark against the insanity of "trans" coming back in full force once the Democrats regain power.
This lifelong liberal, feminist, and voter for 50 years, is going to sit out the next election entirely. Because I can't vote for the MAGAfascist party and I refuse to vote for the Democrats who don't even know what a woman is.
I understand that - I felt the same way... until my growing fury with the Democratic Party about their policies on this issue became so large that now I'm looking forward to voting Republican for the first time in my life in November.
Also, having noticed this big lie the Democratic Party is telling, and seeing how terrible their judgement is on this issue, I have to wonder what else they're lying about... I no longer believe all of the anti-Trump propaganda.
(To be clear, I do believe he is or was a sexual predator - there are definitely unsavory aspects to the man. But it's clear that the Democrats want to demonize him - and he's not a demon. To think of the other side as "fascist" is to fall for a smear campaign perpetrated by the same political party that smears people like you and me as "transphobes" and bigots, in my opinion.)
It's a shame you're sitting out. No politician will ever tick all the boxes but you should vote for the one you think will do the best for the causes you believe in. I'm no major fan of Trump but I was utterly delighted when he won because Biden was in the process of redefining the word woman in law and Harris was a raging trans loving nutcase. Had the new definition of woman gone ahead it would have been the end for us women. I'm grateful for Trump for not standing for any of the nonsense for even a second and for banning women from women's categories in 2028 Olympics. It's ok to detest someone yet praise them when they do good.
As I've already said, Trump's EO was the right thing to do. As I've also already said, I have voted in every election in my eligible voting life. I know all the arguments. I'm sitting out the next one.
Australia’s gender woo take-over has been incredibly low-key (that is, virtually unopposed) but is by far the most advanced (that is, regressed) in the world. Our media and academia is incredibly complicit.
I get reports from an Afghani women's group about what The Taliban is doing in the name of religion. Australian politicians, it would seem, get the same reports then decide The Taliban are doing the right thing. Men's neeeds are sacrosanct and women come behind the rights of sheep, goats and camels. The women involved are captured. Someone should investigate the payoff.
When the state decides what is right and proper for children without their parents knowledge, it is a short step for the state to decide that they will rear all children just like the Nazis did at their training camps.Re-education and group think before kids are old enough to know better. Shape the citizens to what you want them to think and be. It is all there in the history books. But people in power never learn and history repeats itself over and over.
As predicted, the dis-arming of the population was the first step towards restricting the citizenry (subjects?) for any government blessed reason at all. (Even confiscated antique Sumarai swords!) Australia locked down it's population more severely than any Western nation during COVID .. try that in Texas.
The cunning evil of the bastards who for decades were busy grooming all these transmaidens, in Aus and everywhere else, to do their dirtiest, most misogynist work for them, removing women's hard won rights and child safeguarding, is Ted Bundy level, only there are many more of them and we are unlikely to ever know their names. Donated to LAG.
Oh my it's like going back in time to when this evil vicious cult raged in the UK. I just cannot believe that a bunch of sexual deviant fetishistic men have managed to turn the world on its head all to satisfy their own sexual gratification. Please Australia come back into the light. Utterly tragic.
I can't believe that the world still has not clarified what the word sex refers to versus what the word gender refers to. They are not conflatable.
The challenge is the culture momentum. The US and UK are almost totally there on stating sex is biology and gender is a social construct.
Transgender activists are still trying to conflate the two and activists judges are allowing them. Which is exactly the opposite of what a judge should be doing. Even the European Union parliament's ruling that a trans-woman is a woman is trying to change basic language. If a trans-woman is a woman the prefix trans would never have existed.
Conflating sex and gender along with trans-woman and woman are in the end hopeless causes. Its a Kelly-Ann Conway alternative facts concept.
Until we can agree on the words, we can't agree on laws about the words. This is especially important in teaching in schools. How are schools teaching the use of those words?
Gender dysphoria is a real issue to be discussed. But it cannot be discussed if gender dysphoria is the same as sex dysphoria because gender and sex mean the same.
Gender is a social construct defining roles, behaviors, and identities—such as man, woman, transgender, or non-binary—distinct from biological sex assigned at birth. It is a person’s internal sense of self (identity) and external expression (clothing, behavior). Gender identity includes a wide spectrum, while pronouns (she/her, he/him, they/them) reflect this self-identification.
Yes of course I understand all that. I've been following this madness for more than a decade. The point I'm making is that it has never been defined properly. The word gender appears in UK law though nowhere has the word been defined in law. Even activists can't define it properly. Precisely because it can mean 100s of different things to different people makes it a total nonsense. I'd argue most normal people don't have a gender. I don't identify as a woman myself. I AM a woman. I don't go around thinking what it's like to be a woman. I can only know what it's like to be me. Outdated sex stereotypes are used in relation to gender which a nonsense and irrelevant and makes the whole thing even more ridiculous. The whole concept of your so-called gender not lining up with your sex is also utter nonsense. You're born with your body and you're born with your personality and that's it. To say your personality doesn't match your physical body is utterly meaningless because no one knows what it feels like to be a woman or a man because you have nothing to compare yourself to unless you go around so a big survey on people's inner feelings. So gender is a nonsense and no one is trans. People who want to be the opposite sex have either been brainwashed, think it's trendy, have mental health issues or do it for sexual gratification.
Proff Kathleen Stock does a very good job of exploring the different meanings/ usage of the term 'gender' in her book 'Material Girls'. She cites 3 different meanings of 'gender'. I'm greatly simplifying, but 1) as a synonym for sex; 2) as social roles linked to sex by society (which differ in different cultures) 3) clothes, names, appearance etc. Prof Stock has said that she doesn't think that a sense of gender identity is something every human has, but she believes some do.
Law in Australia, particularly in relation to the Sex Discrimination Act is broken as Sex and gender are conflated, or blurred together. The same people who lament 'male violence' against women will in their next breath insist men become women by declaring an inner feeling of 'woman', while many real women feel no such thing and just get on with living while female.
As I understand it, its only been recently that the word gender has diverged from being a "polite" synonym for "sex". That began in the 20th century.
Regardless of past definitions, within the context the "trans" issues, both side would be better served by first agreeing to use the words in the obvious distinction versus historical uses of the word.
I don't think that gender includes a person's internal sense of identity; this is simply an attempt to repackage a profoundly impersonal, callous ideology as something more palatable to modern sensibilities, presenting it as personal, sensitive, a vehicle for self-expression. It is none of those things. If it were, why wouldn't the women and girls oppressed by it simply have declared that gender rules like being child brides, or barred from voting based on their sex, don't comport with their internal sense of identity? Then they'd be free to opt out of them, right? Of course not. Gender is based on one's sex, the end. If you don't like it, you should be ashamed of yourself; if it forces you to do things that are in violation of your nature, then live a lie. It's completely regressive, cruel, and stupid. Claiming that oh, you can CHOOSE your gender now, so it's all good, is nonsense: how does being allowed to wear either the blue or the pink straitjacket change anything? You're still going through life in a straitjacket. Plus, given the way that preachers of gender-woo continue to award dudes-with-ladyfeelz male privilege (such as demanding emotional labor from women and, when told no, responding with rape and death threats) and consign women-with-dudefeelz to the background renders even their weak claim to "gender choice" doubtful.
Question to you. Are you a straight woman? Do you have any area of who you are that is at odds with what would be considered "normal?"
The concept of normal for humans can be characterized by standard distributions. Humans are largely a function of their genetics and nurturing . Take being gay as an example. Science has pretty much converge on that being gay is a function of having the "gay" genetics that is enabled by some form of nurturing. Mostly in the womb. I could not choose who I was sexually attracted to. That happened long before I even understood sexuality. I can chose whether I act on my innate sexuality. That's a different discussion.
Gender as a word is meaningful in understanding gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is agreed on as a condition by the psychological community. Its real. How gender dysphoria happens is still trying to be understood. Whether their is a genetic component, nurturing component, whether its result of trauma, or just a choice. Likely all are involved.
One additional concept that needs to be clarified is that there is a difference between a person who has gender dysphoria and a person who is just using gender in a malicious way. There are and always have been men who will maliciously pose as a woman to gain access to women's spaces. That existed before gender dysphoria was a thing and it has not changed because of the trans-debate. In fact, somehow tying it to the trans-debate likely just makes the problem of malicious men worse.
Are you genuinely interest in gender dysphoria or are you focused on malicious men who are posing as women? Don't conflate the two.
No, I'm not a straight woman; indeed, I think that this is one reason why I've given more thought to the subject of gender-- what it is and how it works-- than most women have. Because it effects me (detrimentally) twice over. (Possibly even three times over, given that gender seems even more opposed to bisexuality than to homosexuality, which is really saying something!)
To your points:
First, I don't agree that being gay "is enabled by some form of nurturing": like all sexual orientations, it's innate (though resulting not from a single gene but rather the interplay between multiple genes). Yes, experience can shape the form it takes to some degree, but only in the sense of making you a miserable, self-hating homosexual instead of a healthy one, or causing you to have an aversion to men who look like your abusive dad; it can't prevent you from being homosexual in the first place.
Second, if anyone is GENUINELY having a hard time understanding what gender dysphoria is, then they must have some neurological, intellectual, and/or ideological impairment, honestly. Because this ain't exactly rocket science. You think I'm being unduly dismissive? Explain to me what's hard to understand about a universal, deeply-rooted, profoundly-cruel ideology causing people psychological distress. Why the hell WOULDN'T it? And why wouldn't this sometimes take the form of people feeling that, since they don't fit what gender has told them a man (say) is, they must therefore not be a man at all? That's a perfectly logical deduction, based on the idiotic ideology they've been force-fed since birth. It's also A.] false and B.] impossible to resolve (as long as they continue to believe in gender), so again: why the ever-lovin' fuck wouldn't it cause them distress?
Third, I think that your understanding of both gender dysphoria/dysphorics and "men using gender is a malicious way" is, with respect, overly-simplistic. It's not a matter of the "good" men who are gender dysphoric, and the "bad" men who are not. These two groups can perfectly well be one and the same, and, indeed, often are. Consider men with AGP. They are often troubled by their own inability to "measure up" to the male gender-role, and simultaneously believers in gender's interpretation of women as inferior. Indeed, so convinced are they of woman = inferior that their principal erotic attraction as straight men is not to women themselves, but to (perceived) inferiority, subordination, and humiliation, whether of their own female fantasy-self or real flesh-and-blood women. Nothing is more sexually-arousing to them, therefore, than violating women's boundaries. Do you think that having gender-dysphoric men like this in women's spaces such as restrooms and changing-rooms poses any danger to women? Or does their being gender-dysphoric themselves magically make this OK somehow?
Sure, there are also non-gender-dysphoric men who will fake gender dysphoria to prey upon women. But does a woman who's preyed upon by a dude with AGP experience less trauma? Somehow I doubt it.
As for the "gay gene", we are radically agreeing. Identical twin studies have shown that you both have to have the genetics and some "nurture" to enable the genetics. Identical twins have a higher probably of having the same sexual attraction but its not 100%. The interesting back story behind the identical twin studies is that those who are opposed to a gay lifestyle tried to site the studies as saying there was no genetic link. The people who did the study stated that exactly the wrong conclusion. The fact that its not 100% just stated there was a nurture component to enabling the genetics.
It's your rest room and as a genetic woman, you have much more say in who should use it than me as a genetic man. If you want to exclude all trans-woman, I support you.
The only issue is that trans-women are not going away and still need to use the restroom. Where should they go? They certainly don't look like a man so it would be odd for them to use the men's restroom.
Thank goodness I don't live down under. Politicians the world over seem to have lost their minds to Gender ID theory, but Australians are truly lost. Who on earth votes for them?
Unfortunately this stuff is sneaked in under the radar without public consultation, then declared to be the law of the land. It is undemocratic, totalitarian, and downright evil. It's why I hate wokeness and will tear it down whenever I see it.
This is what happened in Ireland too and the Irish are waking up to what it means,. It's all laid out in the Denton's document for anyone to see if they look.
So I heard. It's disgusting! Nazi behaviour dressed up as human rights.
The irony is that people who see gender id for what it is are the 'Nazis' (eye roll).
Under the radar is how they’ve got away with it
Same thing in the US. It is madness.
The ABC has over years and years become a propaganda machine for “trans”. Australians are keen to not be seen as backward compared to the rest of the world- so they seem to embrace new trends enthusiastically, and ‘trans’ is no exception. As the ABC’s bias is so extreme (constant drip feed of trans positive stories; describing all pushback as “anti trans”; reporting men’s crimes as “women” crimes etc) the public has generally been super conforming to gender nonsense, particularly the “orthodox left” who refuse to touch any media outside of the Guardian or ABC.
Great update on Australia’s multiple failures to understand that women have rights. The Land of Rampant Misogyny is certainly right up there with the top betrayers of women, girls and children.
The rest of the world (except Canada, it seems) is beginning to recognise that gender ideology is anti women, and just another name for a men’s wants movement, but not Australia, with its intellectually lazy, cowardly politicians.
Fingers crossed for LAG, Sal Grover and Nicki Gaylard, and well done Celine!
But what a pitiful, pathetic Premier Jacinta Allen is. Her betrayal of women - especially women in prison - is a shocking display of her support for an ideology the ALP introduced by stealth. No courage and zero commitment to democratic principles.
That's an interesting angle, that Australia has always had a lot of misogyny and is built on blokiness and the image of the strong outdoorsy bloke. Personally I haven't noticed any difference between Oz and the UK in that respect but perhaps you are on to something because gender ideology only benefits men and Australia is transfixed by it. How women like the eSafety commissioner and Jacinta Allen don't see this is completely baffling!!
They totally see it, Allison, but woke goggles don't stop them from seeing. They stop them from caring.
It's just unbelievable what has happened in my country. I live in the UK and am watching with complete horror!
I'm in America and hoping we can make permanent the current Presidential administration's policies on twans.
As much as I loathe and despise the criminal Trump, his EO on the insanity of "trans" was the one right thing he did -- not because he gives a shit about women's rights, but because he saw an opportunity handed to him on a silver platter by the clueless Democrats on this issue. Trump is a sexual predator, so no friend to women.
But an Executive Order is no bulwark against the insanity of "trans" coming back in full force once the Democrats regain power.
This lifelong liberal, feminist, and voter for 50 years, is going to sit out the next election entirely. Because I can't vote for the MAGAfascist party and I refuse to vote for the Democrats who don't even know what a woman is.
I understand that - I felt the same way... until my growing fury with the Democratic Party about their policies on this issue became so large that now I'm looking forward to voting Republican for the first time in my life in November.
Also, having noticed this big lie the Democratic Party is telling, and seeing how terrible their judgement is on this issue, I have to wonder what else they're lying about... I no longer believe all of the anti-Trump propaganda.
(To be clear, I do believe he is or was a sexual predator - there are definitely unsavory aspects to the man. But it's clear that the Democrats want to demonize him - and he's not a demon. To think of the other side as "fascist" is to fall for a smear campaign perpetrated by the same political party that smears people like you and me as "transphobes" and bigots, in my opinion.)
It's a shame you're sitting out. No politician will ever tick all the boxes but you should vote for the one you think will do the best for the causes you believe in. I'm no major fan of Trump but I was utterly delighted when he won because Biden was in the process of redefining the word woman in law and Harris was a raging trans loving nutcase. Had the new definition of woman gone ahead it would have been the end for us women. I'm grateful for Trump for not standing for any of the nonsense for even a second and for banning women from women's categories in 2028 Olympics. It's ok to detest someone yet praise them when they do good.
As I've already said, Trump's EO was the right thing to do. As I've also already said, I have voted in every election in my eligible voting life. I know all the arguments. I'm sitting out the next one.
Awesome article! Thank you for sharing your voice of reason and common sense. Something lacking in both Australian politics and mainstream media.
Thank you from down under 🥰
Tough read. Thanks for your unflinching reporting of this terrible state of affairs.
Australia’s gender woo take-over has been incredibly low-key (that is, virtually unopposed) but is by far the most advanced (that is, regressed) in the world. Our media and academia is incredibly complicit.
Alas Australia trails behind everyone else in everything. They’ll get there eventually, it’ll just be ten years later.
A bit like Ireland unfortunately.
I get reports from an Afghani women's group about what The Taliban is doing in the name of religion. Australian politicians, it would seem, get the same reports then decide The Taliban are doing the right thing. Men's neeeds are sacrosanct and women come behind the rights of sheep, goats and camels. The women involved are captured. Someone should investigate the payoff.
When the state decides what is right and proper for children without their parents knowledge, it is a short step for the state to decide that they will rear all children just like the Nazis did at their training camps.Re-education and group think before kids are old enough to know better. Shape the citizens to what you want them to think and be. It is all there in the history books. But people in power never learn and history repeats itself over and over.
As predicted, the dis-arming of the population was the first step towards restricting the citizenry (subjects?) for any government blessed reason at all. (Even confiscated antique Sumarai swords!) Australia locked down it's population more severely than any Western nation during COVID .. try that in Texas.
The cunning evil of the bastards who for decades were busy grooming all these transmaidens, in Aus and everywhere else, to do their dirtiest, most misogynist work for them, removing women's hard won rights and child safeguarding, is Ted Bundy level, only there are many more of them and we are unlikely to ever know their names. Donated to LAG.
Oh my it's like going back in time to when this evil vicious cult raged in the UK. I just cannot believe that a bunch of sexual deviant fetishistic men have managed to turn the world on its head all to satisfy their own sexual gratification. Please Australia come back into the light. Utterly tragic.
A poem
Giggle Cat vs Tickle Dog
Australia has lost its mind
And this is where we're at:
A Rottweiler with all his teeth
Is legally a cat.
A cat starts a new cattery
Won't let Rottweiler in.
"Discrimination" barks the dog,
Takes cat to court
They win.
"Species" according to the judge
Is "changeable"
And now...
The cat is fined
The dog just lifts his leg
and says
"Meow"
............
I can't believe that the world still has not clarified what the word sex refers to versus what the word gender refers to. They are not conflatable.
The challenge is the culture momentum. The US and UK are almost totally there on stating sex is biology and gender is a social construct.
Transgender activists are still trying to conflate the two and activists judges are allowing them. Which is exactly the opposite of what a judge should be doing. Even the European Union parliament's ruling that a trans-woman is a woman is trying to change basic language. If a trans-woman is a woman the prefix trans would never have existed.
Conflating sex and gender along with trans-woman and woman are in the end hopeless causes. Its a Kelly-Ann Conway alternative facts concept.
Until we can agree on the words, we can't agree on laws about the words. This is especially important in teaching in schools. How are schools teaching the use of those words?
Gender dysphoria is a real issue to be discussed. But it cannot be discussed if gender dysphoria is the same as sex dysphoria because gender and sex mean the same.
I don't even know what gender is! I certainly don't have one. No one's ever managed to define it. Not even the gender nutters themselves!
Your purposely ignoring the obvious:
Gender is a social construct defining roles, behaviors, and identities—such as man, woman, transgender, or non-binary—distinct from biological sex assigned at birth. It is a person’s internal sense of self (identity) and external expression (clothing, behavior). Gender identity includes a wide spectrum, while pronouns (she/her, he/him, they/them) reflect this self-identification.
Yes of course I understand all that. I've been following this madness for more than a decade. The point I'm making is that it has never been defined properly. The word gender appears in UK law though nowhere has the word been defined in law. Even activists can't define it properly. Precisely because it can mean 100s of different things to different people makes it a total nonsense. I'd argue most normal people don't have a gender. I don't identify as a woman myself. I AM a woman. I don't go around thinking what it's like to be a woman. I can only know what it's like to be me. Outdated sex stereotypes are used in relation to gender which a nonsense and irrelevant and makes the whole thing even more ridiculous. The whole concept of your so-called gender not lining up with your sex is also utter nonsense. You're born with your body and you're born with your personality and that's it. To say your personality doesn't match your physical body is utterly meaningless because no one knows what it feels like to be a woman or a man because you have nothing to compare yourself to unless you go around so a big survey on people's inner feelings. So gender is a nonsense and no one is trans. People who want to be the opposite sex have either been brainwashed, think it's trendy, have mental health issues or do it for sexual gratification.
You are allowed your opinion.
I don’t support you enforcing your opinion on others just as I don’t support trans activists trying to force their opinion on others.
Gender dysphoria is real and still trying to be sorted out scientifically.
Gender as a word has been defined. You can disagree that it has been defined differently than sex but that does not change that it is defined.
It represents something different than biological sex. Specifically how you feel and present. That simple!
Proff Kathleen Stock does a very good job of exploring the different meanings/ usage of the term 'gender' in her book 'Material Girls'. She cites 3 different meanings of 'gender'. I'm greatly simplifying, but 1) as a synonym for sex; 2) as social roles linked to sex by society (which differ in different cultures) 3) clothes, names, appearance etc. Prof Stock has said that she doesn't think that a sense of gender identity is something every human has, but she believes some do.
Law in Australia, particularly in relation to the Sex Discrimination Act is broken as Sex and gender are conflated, or blurred together. The same people who lament 'male violence' against women will in their next breath insist men become women by declaring an inner feeling of 'woman', while many real women feel no such thing and just get on with living while female.
As I understand it, its only been recently that the word gender has diverged from being a "polite" synonym for "sex". That began in the 20th century.
Regardless of past definitions, within the context the "trans" issues, both side would be better served by first agreeing to use the words in the obvious distinction versus historical uses of the word.
I don't think that gender includes a person's internal sense of identity; this is simply an attempt to repackage a profoundly impersonal, callous ideology as something more palatable to modern sensibilities, presenting it as personal, sensitive, a vehicle for self-expression. It is none of those things. If it were, why wouldn't the women and girls oppressed by it simply have declared that gender rules like being child brides, or barred from voting based on their sex, don't comport with their internal sense of identity? Then they'd be free to opt out of them, right? Of course not. Gender is based on one's sex, the end. If you don't like it, you should be ashamed of yourself; if it forces you to do things that are in violation of your nature, then live a lie. It's completely regressive, cruel, and stupid. Claiming that oh, you can CHOOSE your gender now, so it's all good, is nonsense: how does being allowed to wear either the blue or the pink straitjacket change anything? You're still going through life in a straitjacket. Plus, given the way that preachers of gender-woo continue to award dudes-with-ladyfeelz male privilege (such as demanding emotional labor from women and, when told no, responding with rape and death threats) and consign women-with-dudefeelz to the background renders even their weak claim to "gender choice" doubtful.
Thanks for the comment.
Question to you. Are you a straight woman? Do you have any area of who you are that is at odds with what would be considered "normal?"
The concept of normal for humans can be characterized by standard distributions. Humans are largely a function of their genetics and nurturing . Take being gay as an example. Science has pretty much converge on that being gay is a function of having the "gay" genetics that is enabled by some form of nurturing. Mostly in the womb. I could not choose who I was sexually attracted to. That happened long before I even understood sexuality. I can chose whether I act on my innate sexuality. That's a different discussion.
Gender as a word is meaningful in understanding gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is agreed on as a condition by the psychological community. Its real. How gender dysphoria happens is still trying to be understood. Whether their is a genetic component, nurturing component, whether its result of trauma, or just a choice. Likely all are involved.
One additional concept that needs to be clarified is that there is a difference between a person who has gender dysphoria and a person who is just using gender in a malicious way. There are and always have been men who will maliciously pose as a woman to gain access to women's spaces. That existed before gender dysphoria was a thing and it has not changed because of the trans-debate. In fact, somehow tying it to the trans-debate likely just makes the problem of malicious men worse.
Are you genuinely interest in gender dysphoria or are you focused on malicious men who are posing as women? Don't conflate the two.
No, I'm not a straight woman; indeed, I think that this is one reason why I've given more thought to the subject of gender-- what it is and how it works-- than most women have. Because it effects me (detrimentally) twice over. (Possibly even three times over, given that gender seems even more opposed to bisexuality than to homosexuality, which is really saying something!)
To your points:
First, I don't agree that being gay "is enabled by some form of nurturing": like all sexual orientations, it's innate (though resulting not from a single gene but rather the interplay between multiple genes). Yes, experience can shape the form it takes to some degree, but only in the sense of making you a miserable, self-hating homosexual instead of a healthy one, or causing you to have an aversion to men who look like your abusive dad; it can't prevent you from being homosexual in the first place.
Second, if anyone is GENUINELY having a hard time understanding what gender dysphoria is, then they must have some neurological, intellectual, and/or ideological impairment, honestly. Because this ain't exactly rocket science. You think I'm being unduly dismissive? Explain to me what's hard to understand about a universal, deeply-rooted, profoundly-cruel ideology causing people psychological distress. Why the hell WOULDN'T it? And why wouldn't this sometimes take the form of people feeling that, since they don't fit what gender has told them a man (say) is, they must therefore not be a man at all? That's a perfectly logical deduction, based on the idiotic ideology they've been force-fed since birth. It's also A.] false and B.] impossible to resolve (as long as they continue to believe in gender), so again: why the ever-lovin' fuck wouldn't it cause them distress?
Third, I think that your understanding of both gender dysphoria/dysphorics and "men using gender is a malicious way" is, with respect, overly-simplistic. It's not a matter of the "good" men who are gender dysphoric, and the "bad" men who are not. These two groups can perfectly well be one and the same, and, indeed, often are. Consider men with AGP. They are often troubled by their own inability to "measure up" to the male gender-role, and simultaneously believers in gender's interpretation of women as inferior. Indeed, so convinced are they of woman = inferior that their principal erotic attraction as straight men is not to women themselves, but to (perceived) inferiority, subordination, and humiliation, whether of their own female fantasy-self or real flesh-and-blood women. Nothing is more sexually-arousing to them, therefore, than violating women's boundaries. Do you think that having gender-dysphoric men like this in women's spaces such as restrooms and changing-rooms poses any danger to women? Or does their being gender-dysphoric themselves magically make this OK somehow?
Sure, there are also non-gender-dysphoric men who will fake gender dysphoria to prey upon women. But does a woman who's preyed upon by a dude with AGP experience less trauma? Somehow I doubt it.
All a very valid perspective.
As for the "gay gene", we are radically agreeing. Identical twin studies have shown that you both have to have the genetics and some "nurture" to enable the genetics. Identical twins have a higher probably of having the same sexual attraction but its not 100%. The interesting back story behind the identical twin studies is that those who are opposed to a gay lifestyle tried to site the studies as saying there was no genetic link. The people who did the study stated that exactly the wrong conclusion. The fact that its not 100% just stated there was a nurture component to enabling the genetics.
It's your rest room and as a genetic woman, you have much more say in who should use it than me as a genetic man. If you want to exclude all trans-woman, I support you.
The only issue is that trans-women are not going away and still need to use the restroom. Where should they go? They certainly don't look like a man so it would be odd for them to use the men's restroom.
This is another trantipodean doozy. Children in state care in NSW placed with transvestite serial killer- probably because the twits who think this was in the children’s best interests were beguiled by his wig and pronouns into concluding he’s “safe” now that he’s “a woman”. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/12/nsw-minister-not-going-anywhere-as-calls-mount-for-independent-inquiry-into-children-living-with-convicted-killer-ntwnfb
Great update, Jenny albeit it is so bad down under - but great that the e-Safety Commissioner got a kicking.
Is this going to be a regular feature? Hope so
Have cross posted
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-13th-warrior
Dusty
Have now specifically flagged up LAG's case. Fingers crossed!!
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/the-lesbian-action-group
Dusty
This is interesting- a digest of the brilliant Megan Blake’s work yesterday at the LAG hearing: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2025819741244567891.html
Thanks v much