tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27349749214645115932024-03-08T12:31:54.872+01:00UnCommon SenseNatachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.comBlogger223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-30745315423614897582024-03-01T19:53:00.002+01:002024-03-04T15:03:48.088+01:00"Trust has never mattered more": What's going on at the Guardian...?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Information made available to me by whistleblowers last week, and now <a href="https://whatthetrans.com/anti-trans-ehrc-commissioner-gives-talk-to-anti-trans-guardian-staff-network/" target="_blank">confirmed by other sources</a>, has cast doubt on the integrity of some of the Guardian's reporting, especially of issues that relate to trans people. Here I report and give my opinion of these revelations.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFxfr1NEi_VL3lkMfGdabWWocW_fdD4e-OaI_eHvWSZSz51tCYWGf6-LAOK-yooSl9fon7yxbT-bqRApcDuxmWtpi-pGSI6AeLwZNutsBfPU3ykgjm9cApPHwS72dcIXvVKbSRAgevsuC39pGjLKNtv_uanIDmW1Q90lpTP7vsSyWoxFKnmh7EvNim4YP/s960/guardian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="960" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFxfr1NEi_VL3lkMfGdabWWocW_fdD4e-OaI_eHvWSZSz51tCYWGf6-LAOK-yooSl9fon7yxbT-bqRApcDuxmWtpi-pGSI6AeLwZNutsBfPU3ykgjm9cApPHwS72dcIXvVKbSRAgevsuC39pGjLKNtv_uanIDmW1Q90lpTP7vsSyWoxFKnmh7EvNim4YP/s320/guardian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There have been problems since the mid-2010s with the Guardian's reporting of issues relating to trans and non-binary people. This has included the kind of trans-exclusionist policies like those of the Murdoch Times, the Telegraph, the Spectator, BBC News or the Daily Mail. These problems have even included <a href="https://archive.is/2021.09.07-154605/https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/sep/07/judith-butler-interview-gender" target="_blank">censoring part of an interview with Professor Judith Butler</a> (who is a non-binary person) which criticised "gender-critical" transphobia., rightly linking it with the far right. Indeed it seems to be pretty much an unwritten rule of mainstream media that, even on the few occasions that trans people <b><i>do</i></b> get to publish something, they are not allowed to criticise what journalists disingenuously call "gender-critical <i>feminists</i>".<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9caZiy2jK59l6H4jqm6QLijJgRoR3Dq3UvEPOcTtxBw-amsEAhZWKIT0BBe6c1hBbJWT1x8f19kHaTBvgdejDK7tOapmSSWOof_yV4EiXXCjCn86F1KqEvB5SPpBVSwlhdV3M4FdcsgFqP3YBVUuQ2abRgApYWudZn4EWGuDo35xdPQ9qe6bXq5hpJD7k/s709/image_2024-03-01_174402883.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="709" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9caZiy2jK59l6H4jqm6QLijJgRoR3Dq3UvEPOcTtxBw-amsEAhZWKIT0BBe6c1hBbJWT1x8f19kHaTBvgdejDK7tOapmSSWOof_yV4EiXXCjCn86F1KqEvB5SPpBVSwlhdV3M4FdcsgFqP3YBVUuQ2abRgApYWudZn4EWGuDo35xdPQ9qe6bXq5hpJD7k/w400-h96/image_2024-03-01_174402883.png" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Guardian marketing</span></td></tr></tbody></table>And it seems that the only times trans people are allowed to write anything is when there is some big front-page news about us, like the murder of Brianna Ghey. At a time when most readers would expect to hear from trans people, mainstream media media needs to make it appear that there is no systemic exclusion of us. Of course the reality is that the systematic exclusion of trans people is routinely in operation all year round. In 2023 there were, on average, <a href="https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/media-agencies-clients-put-stop-dirty-attention/1857628" target="_blank">18 stories about trans people in mainstream media every day</a>, almost all of them anti-trans. Yet I didn't see 18 articles authored by trans people in mainstream media during <i>the whole year</i>.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile cis transphobes, with all their confected ignorance and malicious dishonesty, get to churn out transphobia on an industrial scale almost 24/7.<br /><br />Now very concerned whistleblowers at Guardian News Media have contacted me with some more worrying information. I'm told that there is a group at the guardian that has campaigned against trans inclusion, called the SEE group (doubtless referring to another euphemisim to veil their actual purpose). Apparently it gave a presentation last year in an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) week at Guardian News Media, despite, in my opinion, campaigning for <i>Inequality, Conformity and Exclusion</i>. I have now been informed, through more than one source, that this group has held an unpublicised meeting with a trans-hostile member of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, a governmental agency that is attempting to remove trans people's equality and human rights.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVMG5EiV6ZEqvQqzD1s2RngahZ4vrH4w2KHWiXyyCwAoosQDw69dNXw7Rt_lDKCRE8W8sPERgesr6BiKVDtvVtGDWiEPlf1qrHjpDsfT3Pia0pp8M9xqYiV_0z3Z6m33LylPiKOhy0TBPj650gWSebSGiruxUxLF1i0wIiWrIjoWqumQV9xQ84UlDzA_W/s734/image_2024-03-01_181933743.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="734" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVMG5EiV6ZEqvQqzD1s2RngahZ4vrH4w2KHWiXyyCwAoosQDw69dNXw7Rt_lDKCRE8W8sPERgesr6BiKVDtvVtGDWiEPlf1qrHjpDsfT3Pia0pp8M9xqYiV_0z3Z6m33LylPiKOhy0TBPj650gWSebSGiruxUxLF1i0wIiWrIjoWqumQV9xQ84UlDzA_W/s320/image_2024-03-01_181933743.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Now, although the idea of a free press is widely mythologised </span><span>as holding power to account</span><span> through the likes of </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/" target="_blank">All The President's Men</a><span> and </span><a href="https://asianwiki.com/The_Journalist_(Netflix)" target="_blank">The Journalist</a>. This is used to justify the lack of accountability for the media. Yet<span> in reality this rarely happens and the media largely fulfils the function of supporting right-wing or centre-right governments, while failing to expose genuine wrongdoing. However I fail to see how the Guardian, a news platform that sells itself as holding the powerful to account, can justify such a meeting between a member of the EHRC and its staff. This is doubly concerning now that evidence has emerged of how the EHRC is effectively being <a href="https://x.com/CTransTalks/status/1764280792853692788?s=20" target="_blank">told what to do and how to do it by the Women's and "Equalities" Minister</a> Kemi Badenoch, which is in breach of the <a href="https://ganhri.org/paris-principles/" target="_blank">Paris Principles</a>.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSImzRwWAUd2REB4S1X6jBcSCc23lJXOv2GCX9bGMziLnhyKFlsKZbZ3adSFz6m5-58XGy0_UQdklIaUlacDIeCo14uT-mXtsL8UEPv9Z8-XmdR5SNmTsQIrIGlLzGBIjPu8lYmL7BfdNac0o6skUsFjIUrcaZtuMO2xStEpcg0XNkRLmFIOPi_d9oYEiY/s587/image_2024-03-01_174743667.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="587" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSImzRwWAUd2REB4S1X6jBcSCc23lJXOv2GCX9bGMziLnhyKFlsKZbZ3adSFz6m5-58XGy0_UQdklIaUlacDIeCo14uT-mXtsL8UEPv9Z8-XmdR5SNmTsQIrIGlLzGBIjPu8lYmL7BfdNac0o6skUsFjIUrcaZtuMO2xStEpcg0XNkRLmFIOPi_d9oYEiY/w400-h125/image_2024-03-01_174743667.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">However, as the screenshots in this article demonstrate, the Guardian is one of the newspapers that claims to do just that. It claims to be "free from political influence" and "fiercely independent". Yet how can it report fairly and truthfully on issues that affect trans people if it is meeting in such a clandestine way with someone who wields real power in the government machine on behalf of a particularly trans-antagonistic extreme-rightwing government and who apparently has a particularly partisan view of trans people?</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />So the Guardian needs to come clean to its readers and do the following;</span><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Acknowledge publicly that this meeting took place and who attended.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Clarify the purpose of the meeting and which members of senior management and trustees knew it was taking place.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>3. Publish the agenda and present a s</span><span>ummary of what was discussed and the actions that were agreed in the meeting.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">4. Explain how this meeting is compatible with the claims it makes in its demands for funding from readers.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is unacceptable for a news platform that makes claims like these but engages in such activities behind the scenes. In addition Baroness Kishwer Falkener of the EHRC needs to explain what business an EHRC commissioner had engaging in such a meeting with members of staff at a national newspaper, and why she was allowed to do this.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcT33ZAxdin_GPpEIRjps8c1HQ5N69Alww-1fs7qE9nzj4xlN0i6IodHB2Ib5TxfQxC7bD66ca_cQR-Lrj8q3i5bNWIdoXhi2YNDVzPdHfnjNpQBjtyCxgHhWcHa7wpdSSuwqP8HwUWP74SHZe2SeQMZR4RdtzwXWAViasWPdhHSZuQvk5NtcR7iR3_Z2/s842/SupremeScreenshot-4@2x.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="842" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcT33ZAxdin_GPpEIRjps8c1HQ5N69Alww-1fs7qE9nzj4xlN0i6IodHB2Ib5TxfQxC7bD66ca_cQR-Lrj8q3i5bNWIdoXhi2YNDVzPdHfnjNpQBjtyCxgHhWcHa7wpdSSuwqP8HwUWP74SHZe2SeQMZR4RdtzwXWAViasWPdhHSZuQvk5NtcR7iR3_Z2/w400-h88/SupremeScreenshot-4@2x.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Through its PR, The Guardian has set itself apart from other news platforms by claiming to be free of outside influence, especially political outside influence. I really cannot understand how The Guardian can justify this apparently behind-closed-doors and unpublicised meeting. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">That The Guardian, and especially The Observer has, in contradiction to its marketing claims, followed the rest of mainstream media with its dishonest, highly selective, and exclusionary coverage of trans people - or "transgenderism"/"gender ideology" as anti-trans journalists prefer to dehumanise us - in a way that is effectively nothing more than a <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/anti-trans-transphobia-gender-critical-mirror-propaganda/" target="_blank">Mirror Propaganda</a> operation. But when it engages in meetings like this one which are, presumably, off-the-record, then, for me, it thoroughly undermines its claim to be "free from political influence."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />On the 5th May 1921, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Guardian, its famous editor CP Scott wrote the following;<br /></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"A newspaper is of necessity something of a monopoly, and its first duty is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred. “Propaganda”, so called, by this means is hateful. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard. Comment also is justly subject to a self-imposed restraint. It is well to be frank; it is even better to be fair." </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It seems to me that, when it comes to reporting about issues that affect trans people, it has failed to resist the temptations of monopoly and its supply of news is not untainted. The Guardian has, in my opinion, been neither frank not fair nor has it allowed the voices of its opponents to be heard. It has become a newspaper which is, no differently from Rupert Murdoch, in my opinion, abusing its power.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-87820314677925566852023-07-11T11:45:00.027+02:002023-07-11T13:20:43.592+02:00Violence<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JAmtvPfyHL2FxOIOO10DONuRwIZ2xwy60mhcSTKYFVMBb2EP0o-qojkaw8Csbk1qXX7X1pUXSI34zXz32tiaEf1BuQH0uonNnLxsnyxAuZYtKrc6bkNG27sTUZEWZwB_QwunGjpz-DJf3pFJxRbMwFaAdzv2K4H51ZRq-CI1Nv-vMNUOlmC2r5T3Y2Bv/s507/Camps.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="377" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3JAmtvPfyHL2FxOIOO10DONuRwIZ2xwy60mhcSTKYFVMBb2EP0o-qojkaw8Csbk1qXX7X1pUXSI34zXz32tiaEf1BuQH0uonNnLxsnyxAuZYtKrc6bkNG27sTUZEWZwB_QwunGjpz-DJf3pFJxRbMwFaAdzv2K4H51ZRq-CI1Nv-vMNUOlmC2r5T3Y2Bv/s320/Camps.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Social Media post advocating<br />putting trans people in<br />concentration camps.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most important things to be crystal clear about at the moment is that </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;">Organised Transphobia and all its constituent elements – ‘gender-critical’ transphobes, fascists, religious fundamentalists and extremists, Incels, ‘journalists’ – is committed to a violent outcome using violent (and illegitimate) means. Their aim, driven by hatred in most cases, political or financial gain in others, is to cause harm to trans people, including children, and – if possible – eradicate trans people from the world altogether. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of its aims is to make life so difficult and dangerous for trans people that we either become forced to give up living as our authentic selves, and hence die through suicide or mental health problems, or die from proxy violence. Theirs is a genocidal aim and one that can only be enforced through extreme state violence and the encouragement of proxy violence through (mostly) violent men. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3w0qziNqF0H2SVUGW8ByWFNQSUnNiWGKRMGzvL27haD-p3_AuIl74YfSFhrkVPXwjLdBY3eDuL6H1_ZYM7MDFZR_6AQeb-SbISe0mqfrRKBV6alxZyNt_NjBs5GRMU-lzpOh9lFuEMaLvWnt_QgRiQ12fWbS40TEp-DA69nu_jbzswypKtYKyG6V9Fag/s300/Aus%20fash.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3w0qziNqF0H2SVUGW8ByWFNQSUnNiWGKRMGzvL27haD-p3_AuIl74YfSFhrkVPXwjLdBY3eDuL6H1_ZYM7MDFZR_6AQeb-SbISe0mqfrRKBV6alxZyNt_NjBs5GRMU-lzpOh9lFuEMaLvWnt_QgRiQ12fWbS40TEp-DA69nu_jbzswypKtYKyG6V9Fag/w400-h224/Aus%20fash.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;">Sieg-heiling Nazis supporting an <br />anti-trans rally in Australia</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">You cannot "morally mandate" any group out of existence, the only way to end the existence of a demographic is through violence (and even then, unless you believe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism#:~:text=Lamarckism%2C%20also%20known%20as%20Lamarckian,or%20disuse%20during%20its%20lifetime." target="_blank">Lamarck</a>, you will fail to eradicate trans people, a new generation will always arrive). Indeed the sanitised phrase "</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">morally mandate out of existence"</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> tacitly acknowledges the need for violence by attempting to convince enough people to hate trans people so that our lives would become dangerous and unliveable. This is not "moral" it is <i><b>immoral</b></i>, <b><i>unethical, proxy-violen</i></b><i><b>t</b></i> and is now manifested in the way Organised Transphobia works through the extreme right; it is a process of violent erasure deployed through the exercise of top-down power structures, in particular establishment media, there is nothing "moral" about it whatsoever. This sanitisation of violence is for some transphobes who like to regard themselves as 'nice', 'middle-class' and 'respectable'. They should not kid themselves, they are part of a proxy-violent assault on an entire demographic. </span></span><p></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">We can see this in the proposals from Organised Transphobia, through this particularly right-wing government, to target trans kids in schools. The aim is to leverage bullies, who would be freed from any restrictions on their bullying, to victimise, abuse and threaten trans children with impunity, and to force schools to ‘out’ trans kids to abusive parents, who will still be permitted to deploy <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/trans-son-of-anti-trans-influencer-tania-joy-gibson-speaks-out_n_649d7449e4b028e6472f1700?fbclid=IwAR2rjewnRBFq3TVytWnglNR__Y-GVWOa5AqqdPnWTY3aFUa7iInrv5e5bAA" target="_blank">amateur conversion therapy – psychological torture – against their own children.</a> Anyone who supports Organised Transphobia in any way is party to these violent aims. Anyone who is anti-trans in any way, is supporting and advocating violence.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxINaA5PoeGXEAvPlLKKZSYYqkLdRQgT5Rv9txUuV3hGH2ljtWnSgeSencbKHwIfXf0NPENcA0ZAqE8ONo28pvnbI0iAeWHQzilIVcl1HFehCzMb-pK1BlSm3na2AcMp5dcuZXXvolw2WiPpCVUN_v8WTtGXcUzM_C30hddfTow_B72fHmfxpbOQfDWmw8" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxINaA5PoeGXEAvPlLKKZSYYqkLdRQgT5Rv9txUuV3hGH2ljtWnSgeSencbKHwIfXf0NPENcA0ZAqE8ONo28pvnbI0iAeWHQzilIVcl1HFehCzMb-pK1BlSm3na2AcMp5dcuZXXvolw2WiPpCVUN_v8WTtGXcUzM_C30hddfTow_B72fHmfxpbOQfDWmw8=w200-h150" width="200" /></a></div>Politics used to be regarded as "war by other means". The increase in global fascism means that this old paradigm is now dead. Politics is now just "war". The extreme right regards politics and war as the same thing, the one being simply an extension of the other. Organised Transphobia is front and centre of this new extreme rightwing revival, but we need to remember it is asymmetrical warfare with the massed ranks of paid fascists and mainstream media on their side. Theirs is a top-down operation with an astroturf veneer, our resistance is genuinely grassroots; we will only succeed by winning hearts and minds. Ultimately they cannot "win", but they can cause a lot of harm along the way, and I suspect this is what most of Organised Transphobia wants, hate is like a disease with these people.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnfLIxTuBSjGlzOMCKa7LC5CdOl_LV_MGE1GVZjxcdPDTsVL5t6oxjsuIn3QQpxeds6UvvvseNq-o7K-luB8nfAPQ0EznVpUjuKQedvp1mBMIMxpXUnybrHDIjhracc9lBSb33Yutni2kvVllWIjhPO1RAy_juc0sHnDMsmvuEYTqZ3CET4mcjmVOiRNRV" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhnfLIxTuBSjGlzOMCKa7LC5CdOl_LV_MGE1GVZjxcdPDTsVL5t6oxjsuIn3QQpxeds6UvvvseNq-o7K-luB8nfAPQ0EznVpUjuKQedvp1mBMIMxpXUnybrHDIjhracc9lBSb33Yutni2kvVllWIjhPO1RAy_juc0sHnDMsmvuEYTqZ3CET4mcjmVOiRNRV" width="320" /></a></div></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Their methods increasingly also involve the deployment of proxy violence through their connections with the extreme rightwing thugs that have been attacking</span><a href="https://transsafety.network/posts/far-right-attack-on-honour-oak/" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank"> trans people defending Drag Queen Story Time in Lewisham</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> and other places recently.</span></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The interference with trans people’s healthcare, especially that of young trans people, forcing adolescents to go through a damaging and unwanted puberty, is probably the worst form of violence, as people who have a visceral hatred of trans people and a record of bad faith and dishonesty, are 'trusted' by those making health policy to have an input on the treatment of other people’s children. As if people would allow anti-cancer-treatment campaigners to have an input on deciding cancer victims’ treatments. Young trans people will die because the NHS has listened to the interfering voices of those who want them to die.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">So, bearing all this in mind, noting that Organised Transphobia is an inherently violent operation, the claim, by one individual at Trans Pride London that we should ‘punch TERFs’ needs contextualising. In my opinion it was a very stupid thing to say</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Uuu0SBceMsbAWtMAoU1QxJvOuF8-cwvxjBhsaasphA9tOYNSaEZQPYHtuPFYGaLDH4bUMLnO_uUXFj8xxLncesszhYzxdNg6wX20SitWqNPeQljq9XcdqBaQipxRv9kPR-nvD6R-H0y3rTYC8vB-ER_-2ssqKgq_hOwWJkU4GmDINwVXF0ZxIHLgl_3A/s930/Ghislaine-Maxwell-Rupert-Murdoch.webp" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="930" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Uuu0SBceMsbAWtMAoU1QxJvOuF8-cwvxjBhsaasphA9tOYNSaEZQPYHtuPFYGaLDH4bUMLnO_uUXFj8xxLncesszhYzxdNg6wX20SitWqNPeQljq9XcdqBaQipxRv9kPR-nvD6R-H0y3rTYC8vB-ER_-2ssqKgq_hOwWJkU4GmDINwVXF0ZxIHLgl_3A/w200-h125/Ghislaine-Maxwell-Rupert-Murdoch.webp" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>Murdoch with a friend</span></td></tr></tbody></table>(not least because "TERFs" are not our main enemy, it is the entirety of Organised Transphobia, from news editors and their billionaire owners, to the violent Nazis on the streets) but because it is exactly what our enemies <b><i>want</i></b> us to say. People who oppose our existence will make a great deal out of it in the same way they clutched pearls over the Hyde Park incident in 2017; they control the media and deploy <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/anti-trans-transphobia-gender-critical-mirror-propaganda/" target="_blank">mirror propaganda</a> and <a href="https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/world-war-ii-through-the-faubus-era-1941-through-1967-404/" target="_blank">provoke and publicise</a> techniques amongst others with skill and the considerable resources given to them by the far right and billionaire media.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It is entirely understandable that some will feel the need to resort to violence (or at least express that) given years and years of unadulterated transphobic hate-propaganda from our trans-exclusionary media, but violence will always be wrong and self-defeating. Organised Transphobia would dearly <b><i>love</i></b> us to become violent (or even appear violent), it would be all its Christmases and birthdays at once, it would allow them, the brutal aggressor, to portray us, the powerless minority, as the violent ones. Mirror Propaganda on stilts. You don't have to read <a href="https://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sun Tzu</a> to understand how giving your enemies what they want will end in defeat.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">There is often too much policing of other activists going on, and I personally make it a matter of policy not to a) police other’s activism and b) publicly criticise other trans people. But this time I am making an exception. Non-violent direct or indirect action is what Organised Transphobia fears, that is why they hermetically seal us out of the media, denying us access to what Organised Transphobia gets freely. It is why they deploy the (often tacit) threat of legal action to silence us and our allies, and they have plenty of opaquely-donated (ie far-right) funds to do this.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Organised Transphobia would be ecstatic for us to continue down this path, although I suspect threatening to punch transphobes is more of an emotional trauma response to threats to our living spaces than any serious proposal to action (the likelihood of <i>any</i> violence occurring as a direct consequence of this speech is vanishingly small). We need to be peaceful, and seen to be peaceful – but not passive. This is the only way we will win.</span></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGp2CEVE2Uz1Tna_6_veJ0VqXfbCV45IXEjMTI02pweHpTWiD_4PeeEgO1cmyX3aV3vrt2nltUJvoR0OvD-fuZY1PFpPQP5cVoUoZHe6lAr4WsWVMHTtYRUxDldOvJh7gJA1p3UcQH7ju3lecCkRI_UGFiatSjT_klTUS3aU9uf9d50j4w9v91Xnay5Rp/s1200/Brianna2.webp" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDGp2CEVE2Uz1Tna_6_veJ0VqXfbCV45IXEjMTI02pweHpTWiD_4PeeEgO1cmyX3aV3vrt2nltUJvoR0OvD-fuZY1PFpPQP5cVoUoZHe6lAr4WsWVMHTtYRUxDldOvJh7gJA1p3UcQH7ju3lecCkRI_UGFiatSjT_klTUS3aU9uf9d50j4w9v91Xnay5Rp/s320/Brianna2.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>Brianna Ghey</span></td></tr></tbody></table>This year in the UK there has already been one murder of a trans child in Warrington as well as two attempted murders of trans women in East London, as well as bloody attacks at Honor Oak by Organised Transphobia. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">These attacks, and the growing number of hate crimes against trans people have not occurred in a vacuum, they have been brought about by very deliberate actions of Organised Transphobia. Every violent rightwinger on social media deploying the word "groomer" is an attempt to incite violence. As Gayle Salamon demonstrated in her (2018) book <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/65020" target="_blank">"The Life and Death of Letisha King"</a>, when you create an environment in which trans people are regarded as a "problem", violence and murder become the "solution".</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoBXFLmPbIb85b8XiokTJdHSKcfor_AOriTB83Pax7V--iAr17BWKH-3Mw-FcpJMptznkPcyyvpalhThQBrkuN9R1l8xRHAnhS8vupcJFipQmeBdaZXoUuKEoBkTBdyG9nPnniXATwSZSaT2DZEXyD1IhHZur4nRCp6JgYiY1i4ipGF457e_cDqHiklbH/s1468/Rapinoe.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1468" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoBXFLmPbIb85b8XiokTJdHSKcfor_AOriTB83Pax7V--iAr17BWKH-3Mw-FcpJMptznkPcyyvpalhThQBrkuN9R1l8xRHAnhS8vupcJFipQmeBdaZXoUuKEoBkTBdyG9nPnniXATwSZSaT2DZEXyD1IhHZur4nRCp6JgYiY1i4ipGF457e_cDqHiklbH/s320/Rapinoe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span>Megan Rapinoe wearing a T-shirt that says<br />"Protect Trans Kids".</span></td></tr></tbody></table>The actual violence is only and always coming in one direction, allowing Organised Transphobia off the hook like this is not only doing what they want us to do, it is bad politics and likely to split the trans communities at exactly the time when we need to be united and to keep our many allies with us.</span></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-80653467030984496992023-06-12T08:42:00.003+02:002023-06-12T14:43:40.062+02:00Transphobic Violence; the likely outcome of today's Commons 'debate'<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkhuTNclPN4A1IGVJRmnbFwc8oEi_FhcGYEZVEWhcLBPYGVCG-EOOuPpV-RqJOo-fAwEUs5G2OVaLYk5k2qLauYByW0-BFqW44Kr-YIDxU8Syx2_H1okmcu-WxntUHCb3AM1tIJ8w3FSCmufIcS56E4DOtCD3Te3a7VuuTXluqCsZtF58Jld-eB4e8g/s1300/130534262-transphobia-word-cloud-on-a-white-background-.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1300" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkhuTNclPN4A1IGVJRmnbFwc8oEi_FhcGYEZVEWhcLBPYGVCG-EOOuPpV-RqJOo-fAwEUs5G2OVaLYk5k2qLauYByW0-BFqW44Kr-YIDxU8Syx2_H1okmcu-WxntUHCb3AM1tIJ8w3FSCmufIcS56E4DOtCD3Te3a7VuuTXluqCsZtF58Jld-eB4e8g/w400-h233/130534262-transphobia-word-cloud-on-a-white-background-.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Today the Tories will almost certainly decide to implement more anti-trans policies in the UK. Through their puppets they have already started to implement a dangerous and deadly policy of denying healthcare to trans children, something that is, in my view, child abuse. What they will announce later today is anyone's guess but it is likely to be deliberately and needlessly nasty like fascist governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, who they admire greatly.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Doubtless the media will make a great deal of the anti-trans petition to install a bio-determinist definition of gender, while they will ignore the opposing petition that obtained a considerably higher number of signatures. This is something IPSO permits; the misleading and dishonest selection of facts. Inaccuracy by omission is permitted, if not encouraged by the chocolate teapot that is IPSO.<br /><br />However the one consequence of taking away trans people's human rights and making us second-class citizens has been little talked about; the violent response. <br /><br />Violent crime against trans people has soared at the same rate as increased media transphobia. If the government sanctions the fearmongering and magnification of distrust that the media and transphobic hate groups have produced through their exclusionary propaganda campaign, that will be the same as painting a target on our backs. They will be inviting every right-wing thug, every drunken fascist, every vigilante with a milligram of esprit fasciste, to threaten and assault us, including children, and including anyone who looks like us. <br /><br />That is why the establishment top-down campaign of transphobia matters; because it gives permission to every micro-fascist, every Omega-male who thinks he is an Alpa-male, every testerical pathetic failed human being to try and make up for his inadequacies through directing violence at us. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It needs to be remembered that the people who are responsible for this will be those in the government and media establishment that have engaged in this once-sided war on trans people, as well as the 'gender critical' transphobes who deploy the tactic of 'gender ideology' a fascist term deployed in the early years of this century by the European extreme right.<br /><br />The anti-trans hate movement has always been deeply dishonest and fascistic not to mention eugenicist. What has been less obvious is that it has also always been violent in its aims and methods. Its ultimate goal; the elimination of trans people worldwide, can only be achieved through considerable violence, and along the way the GC transphobes have deployed both direct and proxy violence. The increase in transphobic violence will be a direct and intentional result of their actions whether they be transphobic academics, grifting "journalists" or editors, or members of the transphobic hate groups, usually deploying euphemistic names with words like "women..." "sex..." or "biology..." when what they really mean is "transphobic..."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Organised Transphobia can only ever be violent, the fact that so many people have been gulled into accepting these violent charlatans as "acceptable" for so long serves only to illustrate their dangerous nature.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Yet they can only maintain their arguments by excluding trans people from the media and preventing us from countering the drivel they consider to constitute killer arguments. The fact that they can only win the game by keeping the other team off the pitch says a great deal about the legitimacy of their case.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-42308166072610152662023-02-26T17:26:00.012+01:002023-02-26T19:09:34.711+01:00My response to the IPSO "Consultation" about its draft "guidance" about the media.<p><span style="font-size: large;"><i> The IPSO "consultation" is, of course not a consultation since it attempt to phrase its questions in such a way that the core assumptions and issues cannot be challenged. That has not stopped me from doing so however. I have only answered three questions, the others are, in my view pointless.<br /><br />Anyway, these are my responses for what they are worth, rather hurriedly put together so they may not read as fluently as I would like.</i></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">1b. Do you have any other comments about how the draft guidance strikes this balance?</span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The big failing here is that <i>groups</i> do not have any right of redress, or even right of reply in any way whatsoever. A "journalist" can say whatever they like about trans people as a group but anyone responding would not be able to do the same to the individual "journalist". There is a huge power differential here which IPSO ignores, the "journalists" are in a position of great power, which is systematically abused when writing about trans people, while trans people have no genuine redress.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The issue in relation to the problem of media transphobia is that the media is transphobic by;</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">selection/exclusion</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">implication, </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">interpretation and </span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">fearmongering</span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In particular exclusion is a problem on multiple levels. It deploys exclusion of information as a means of being inaccurate. Inaccuracy by selection is permitted by IPSO and this is ruthlessly deployed by the media to exclude information that is essential to a third party's understanding of the material or argumentation. As long as IPSO permits this practice it will, in effect encourage inaccuracy by omission.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBMvXTt9ttl1NyS2fW0rMurMhyFW91lrEZ75YwgEWnYQWfuWSoo6FB8STNvSqgql2l5gYtsW4nSbpdYNiTJhMHJJF9OAgr-boJViW5-0KgJmFr61UIcL4H0JWvYXhBV3FpVXVW0KeFUiC5-TZ96mmvLgChCE-4QGxf2_DnIUDC0YQZ730DIw1B_bpxg/s930/Ghislaine-Maxwell-Rupert-Murdoch.webp" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="930" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBMvXTt9ttl1NyS2fW0rMurMhyFW91lrEZ75YwgEWnYQWfuWSoo6FB8STNvSqgql2l5gYtsW4nSbpdYNiTJhMHJJF9OAgr-boJViW5-0KgJmFr61UIcL4H0JWvYXhBV3FpVXVW0KeFUiC5-TZ96mmvLgChCE-4QGxf2_DnIUDC0YQZ730DIw1B_bpxg/w679-h400/Ghislaine-Maxwell-Rupert-Murdoch.webp" width="679" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Murdoch with a friend</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The exclusion of trans people and trans allies from the media is the other elephant in the room. Anti-trans "journalists" and activists appear to have almost unfettered access to publish whatever they like and to distort it in many ways, including through the exclusion of salient facts. However trans people, and our allies, are almost universally denied access to respond or to write reports ourselves. The consequences of this are that the media operates a systematic transphobic exclusion bias by effectively censoring and de-platforming trans people while regularly platforming transphobes. Until this imbalance is addressed (though an enforceable right of reply for minority, marginalised or misrepresented groups for example) the media is effectively engaged in industrial-scale anti-trans propaganda. Editors are in effect censors, who prevent trans people from engaging in the so-called "debate" about trans people on the same terms as the transphobes, this is especially the case in print/text media. Until that is addressed IPSO is merely fiddling round the edges and failing to address the real problems with the UK mainstream media.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">While trans people remain excluded from the media "debate" about trans people, it cannot be regarded as anything other than transphobic propaganda.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where the consultation says there is no agreed definition of transphobia, it is wrong. The TransActual definition of transphobia is widely accepted and agreed as the most authoritative definition of transphobia within the trans communities in the UK. The refusal of the media and IPSO to accept this definition is, in my view, itself transphobic. So when it says "The Committee recognised transphobia has no single, simple manifestation and can</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANEsxES0HCCvUyiQfrmhOM7gBFMTKgjqBb6ztmSXfrFNJxnK3iLOFNeRyv9yVT9ae1L870_CLrHcTT2wwXkawbcK9sJVg0k5-IyjZiblpw-aJjN8QFb9aOyjfbWFfOB-lyfZ9EWhTPb-_ollTNGn5OSbdZOSjeAXHDfZ6WnJ2wxtir6SKUUEXgfnH_A/s1139/image_2023-02-26_155604615.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="1139" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhANEsxES0HCCvUyiQfrmhOM7gBFMTKgjqBb6ztmSXfrFNJxnK3iLOFNeRyv9yVT9ae1L870_CLrHcTT2wwXkawbcK9sJVg0k5-IyjZiblpw-aJjN8QFb9aOyjfbWFfOB-lyfZ9EWhTPb-_ollTNGn5OSbdZOSjeAXHDfZ6WnJ2wxtir6SKUUEXgfnH_A/w400-h149/image_2023-02-26_155604615.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">include a range of behaviours and arguments." it is ignoring the <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">TransActual Definition of Transphobia</a> which covers this wide range of behaviours and arguments. This argument is spurious at best as it is effectively being deployed as an excuse to avoid acknowledging the most widely-accepted definition of transphobia within the trans communities, which is transphobic.</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">5b. Do you have any other comments about the language used in this guidance?</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The failure to acknowledge trans people's definition of transphobia is problematic.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">6. Please use this space for any other comments about this guidance.</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gwrPtfQ_Au0SP_UjdzXYce574W367UuIGmANRB6SZswHhnh-cn9ExsXjOySOf7tt8gaEYB3eGCZbvMXc5UGe3ANIoYbYYzWYyziWLhTc7pKI9udlmCdu7RQm7d53YK1UHlAjLPKYmlI5Hyx-ZoPm3xRaNGanC0ZKLWmJu3l9AU0A_fF7vCZA3ami0w/s512/Terf%20Island.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0gwrPtfQ_Au0SP_UjdzXYce574W367UuIGmANRB6SZswHhnh-cn9ExsXjOySOf7tt8gaEYB3eGCZbvMXc5UGe3ANIoYbYYzWYyziWLhTc7pKI9udlmCdu7RQm7d53YK1UHlAjLPKYmlI5Hyx-ZoPm3xRaNGanC0ZKLWmJu3l9AU0A_fF7vCZA3ami0w/w200-h200/Terf%20Island.jpeg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">The problem remains that IPSO deals with incidents as individual occurrences when they are not. There is a deliberate systematic bias against trans people in the print media in the UK to the extent that the UK is now widely known as "TERF Island" around the world. When there is such an overwhelming anti-trans bias in terms of numbers of articles published, addressing individual instances of transphobia, dishonesty or misrepresentation in the media is meaningless. IPSO is effectively acting as though each article exists on its own and in a vacuum, which is not the case.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">IPSO says that editors are permitted to have a "campaigning" position on any given subject, this is fine only when considered in isolation. However when almost every single mainstream national media platform has the same transphobic "campaigning" position, IPSO says nothing. When the media as a whole is so trans-exclusionary that anti-trans material is published overwhelmingly in the media to the exclusion of trans people and our allies the problem is not about individual pieces, it is *systemic* and IPSO is not merely ignoring this it is encouraging it by maintaining a focus on the individual when the wider picture is the most important issue. This is a massive failing on IPSO's part and it needs to at least acknowledge it is failing in this respect.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where your consultation says "The Code strikes a balance between the rights of the public to freedom of speech and the rights of the individual not to face personal</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">discriminatory abuse" it is clearly failing miserably in that respect. The bullying and murder of Brianna Ghey is a result of bigoted and transphobic attitudes being instilled in the public, children are not born transphobic. The only major source of transphobia in the UK is mainstream media, in the view of every trans person I have talked to about this issue, those involved in the production of this transphobia in the media, especially senior editorial staff are, in part responsible for her death, as is IPSO for its failure to adequately regulate. The fact that hate crime against trans people has risen in tandem with the increase in transphobic media material, demonstrates that the right of trans people not to face discriminatory abuse is something IPSO only pays lip service to.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where it says "Freedom of expression must embrace the right to hold views that others might find distasteful and sometimes offensive." you are misrepresenting trans people's objections to the exclusionary media onslaught against us, offence is not the issue, harm is. We object to the persistent media fearmongering and misrepresentation of us because it is HARMFUL and DANGEROUS, as the murder of Brianna Ghey has shown.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyhwLpwxrUonIlZnZFv_7hT2fN3hPfzHaOHMhycuqcUNnBMhEvovl2IVw6pNjvRtYQxxQDin73x32dibi6pE7jqasc-B9RHoiN6G3IBx_Mynwq4PI7QVVH5SAtJLZY2xqbMbtQNHXQuoR1dPMwTWHsb8fKB5VPuGs9vbJFlapHsrJFqLR2iqTMm-voQ/s1089/how-to-prevent-industrial-pollution-featured-aotc.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1089" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqyhwLpwxrUonIlZnZFv_7hT2fN3hPfzHaOHMhycuqcUNnBMhEvovl2IVw6pNjvRtYQxxQDin73x32dibi6pE7jqasc-B9RHoiN6G3IBx_Mynwq4PI7QVVH5SAtJLZY2xqbMbtQNHXQuoR1dPMwTWHsb8fKB5VPuGs9vbJFlapHsrJFqLR2iqTMm-voQ/w227-h126/how-to-prevent-industrial-pollution-featured-aotc.jpeg" width="227" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">Where you say "Journalists can contribute to this public interest by producing a plurality of views..." You are ignoring the fact that there is<b> no plurality</b> <b>of views</b>, <i>and there hasn't been for more than half a decade,</i> as trans people's views are systematically excluded from the media in the UK. Although you acknowledge that a plurality of views is in the public interest your focus on individual texts rather than the systemic problems of media exclusion of trans people results in the continued industrial-scale propaganda machine being deployed by all mainstream media to the exclusion of trans writers. As the main organisation representing mainstream media you talk about freedom of expression yet the media does not permit criticism of its own reporting about trans people, which is one of the central issues for trans people. Until it permits that on a regular basis there is no "plurality of views" just one, core, transphobic view, universally expressed </span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6d1_dQkZ-u5wuMUO8PIfpANVHpK6_7Y2N_bYGMF6tyUAyyIkpyYYA0LwXsy9XphfKyO6HXcS0jLJab7OI_gKWGl8Sht4KwSoUXU61kKq71aKdLNPvnZWMxQ-Wib_6DS7OI0Mkl_k6Wyiri6xIgBS3NsfUvFlcSbC-98fsu8JNg4M-lYCarAXWgNUJw/s720/Censored-1_75e96828b1daec1091485ff3dd6fdc66.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="720" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6d1_dQkZ-u5wuMUO8PIfpANVHpK6_7Y2N_bYGMF6tyUAyyIkpyYYA0LwXsy9XphfKyO6HXcS0jLJab7OI_gKWGl8Sht4KwSoUXU61kKq71aKdLNPvnZWMxQ-Wib_6DS7OI0Mkl_k6Wyiri6xIgBS3NsfUvFlcSbC-98fsu8JNg4M-lYCarAXWgNUJw/w200-h113/Censored-1_75e96828b1daec1091485ff3dd6fdc66.webp" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">in all media, with little or no variety.<br /><br />This is bad for democracy, bad for the public and deadly dangerous for trans people. This guidance represents a significant failure by IPSO.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><p></p></div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><p></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-46510016114207585732022-11-04T17:39:00.014+01:002023-08-05T13:42:03.307+02:00 Trans Children and the Persistence of Transphobia in the NHS<p><b><span style="font-size: large;">My opinion of the new NHS Service Spec for trans children</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Early this summer Olson et al (2022) published a very significant longitudinal study of 317 transgender children aged between 3 and 12 who had socially transitioned. Social transition means that they were known by their preferred pronouns and chosen names and treated as their true genders, the genders with which they identify rather than the genders assigned to them at birth. The conclusion the study came to was emphatic; 94% of these children continued to identify as trans after five years. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So why has the NHS decided, in its latest Service Specification for trans children and young people, to state the following…?</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">“The clinical approach in regard to pre-pubertal children will reflect evidence that suggests that, while young people who are gender querying or who express gender incongruence may have started their journey as younger children, in most pre-pubertal children, gender incongruence does not persist into adolescence.” </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">This claim refers to a document called “Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guidelines” published in 2017, and specifically cites, uncontextualized, the following;</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">“combining all outcome studies to date, the gender dysphoria / gender incongruence of a minority of prepubertal children appears to persist in adolescence.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>“To date”</i></b> is a crucial phrase here and its implications need to be understood clearly in this context. The basis of the NHS’s claim needs to be examined and contested since it is clear that the latest data is considerably at variance with the older data. Given that the NHS Service Specification was published three months after the Olson et al (2022) study, the question needs to be asked as to why it is ignoring the latest data on trans children, and specifically stating that it intends to base its service for young trans children on the belief that a majority of them are not transgender (or what they term “desisting”).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In fact the publication by the Endocrine Society (ES) that the NHS relies on for its claim devotes just one paragraph to this subject, making the decision of the NHS to cite this rather than the entire, and more recent, publication by Olsen et al rather odd. Already however what that paragraph states is at variance with the NHS document’s quotation above, the Endochrine Society’s commentary on this is considerably less certain that it is from the way NHS cites it. </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">“It may be that children who only showed some gender nonconforming characteristics have been included in the follow-up studies, because the DSM-IV text revision criteria for a diagnosis were rather broad. […] <i>With the newer, stricter criteria of the DSM-5, persistence rates may well be different in future studies.”</i> (my italics)</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">In other words the Endochrine Society’s guidelines paper qualifies its data in a way that the NHS fails to mention. And in line with other critiques (eg. Temple-Newhook et al 2018, De Castro et al 2022) of what has become known as the “desistance myth” the ES’s publication, in that one short paragraph, critiques the breadth of the old diagnosis criteria as a means of explaining this data, and specifically suggests that future studies using the new DSM-5 criteria would likely be more accurate, The NHS overlooks this also. Given that Olson et al’s (2022) research uses these new criteria this raises the question as to why the NHS has not referred to this study, when the ES’s Guidance specifically suggests that subsequent studies are likely to be different. This is a very important question…</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ES Publication in fact refers to just two papers to come to the conclusion it does; Steensma et al (2013) and Steensma et al (2010). It is notable that the data for both these publications was collected before the new DSM-5 criteria that the ES publication refers to came into effect in mid-2013. So the NHS is referring to studies that are 9 and 12 years old and written when outdated diagnostic criteria were still being used. So why should it prefer these over a study compiled using current diagnostic criteria published just three months ago?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What is more interesting about these two studies referred to by the ES is that the second of these (Steensma et al 2013) expresses exactly the same qualifications as the ES’s publication does, indeed it uses almost identical language. It is also evident from actually reading this paper that it relies for its data on the earlier of these two publications (Steensma et al 2010). So ultimately the NHS’s claim that a minority of young trans children continue to be transgender in adolescence is based on one single study conducted more than 12 years ago while ignoring a much larger study carried out only three months ago and using current, rather than obsolete, diagnostic criteria.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The Steensma (2010) study was of 53 adolescents (ie not children) and consisted, in effect of a memory methods study of these adolescent’s recollections of childhood. Again this fact raises the question as to why a study carried out more than a decade ago with 53 participants, under obsolete diagnostic criteria should be favoured over a study carried out three months ago with 317 participants under current diagnostic criteria. This is a crucial question the NHS needs to answer, in particular since it looks like it wants to impose a block on social transition, something that would be both damaging to children’s mental health, especially given the groundbreaking study by Olson et al (2016) that demonstrates very clearly that social transition is hugely beneficial to the mental health of transgender children.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOHb-TBZlqFQtbvn5FfAG3tlVroFmGNzAu9u8omvoFZmQw-9POX9PtGiIdXN6I79OzOtBdh3Xqlmf-gnf3R96fiog8ZsG0xRohzMPCuhrTajh_uufu1j8XvD_OfjoJHeCse3LyGG8eSUlmWBzd6VMMBE6NyPfcizetaXhGSOMEQjKZTs1kXLpv8AEWA/s840/Phone%2080s.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="840" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOHb-TBZlqFQtbvn5FfAG3tlVroFmGNzAu9u8omvoFZmQw-9POX9PtGiIdXN6I79OzOtBdh3Xqlmf-gnf3R96fiog8ZsG0xRohzMPCuhrTajh_uufu1j8XvD_OfjoJHeCse3LyGG8eSUlmWBzd6VMMBE6NyPfcizetaXhGSOMEQjKZTs1kXLpv8AEWA/s320/Phone%2080s.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">However it all gets worse… because the conclusions drawn by the NHS, via the ES publication are also likely to be affected by the literature review in Steensma (2010) which refers to studies dating back over half a century. The dates of the studies cited are as follows; 1968, 1972, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1987, 1995, 2008, 2008. Indeed all but two of these studies are so old that they were published before most of us had mobile phones or the internet, and three were published before my family had colour TV. More than half of them are more than 35 years old, with one dating back to the 1960s. This is why the “to date” in the ES publication I mentioned earlier is significant and needed unpicking. In the 20th century a lot of studies that were billed as being about trans children actually included a lot of cis children, often effeminate boys, because the diagnostic criteria were so badly drawn. So not only is the NHS relying a small and outdated study based on memory methods using obsolete diagnostic criteria but it is relying on data that is decades out of date, in two instances more than half a century out of date! It is doing this when a new study, just three months old, is available, one that obtained data from six times the number of participants as the Steensma paper and which uses up-to-date diagnostic criteria.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The question as to why they have chosen to refer to an outdated reference when current, and better quality research is available, becomes an urgent question and one that I doubt will be answered but which therefore demands a speculative answer if nothing else. In my opinion this is because the most up-to-date and, valid and credible evidence contradicts what they <i><b>want.</b></i> This service spec is therefore not at all evidence-based, and if something like this is not evidence-based then it must be ideologically-driven. The NHS service spec document is, in effect, an ideologically transphobic text. To be frank, given the NHS’s appalling track record in treating trans children the only conclusions I can come to are incompetence or malice or both. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgND6-oP7OP30B0q8JEzkAuh-wQeN4TdJfnwBje8YZE9TuqZKGkUoCiR-IKe2ennaxV66Y174Z_Ut7RqKHfrT1nrugy9aAIKScg5M4dR-j6dX8iL0o2eG3lVWIVQ3F2uJX0zSUV1ZiFMYBp7DFmdSApZe19bThXWCC6BiZ1AmfyEW7DHGABTKKWcc2sDQ/s720/FCA.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="720" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgND6-oP7OP30B0q8JEzkAuh-wQeN4TdJfnwBje8YZE9TuqZKGkUoCiR-IKe2ennaxV66Y174Z_Ut7RqKHfrT1nrugy9aAIKScg5M4dR-j6dX8iL0o2eG3lVWIVQ3F2uJX0zSUV1ZiFMYBp7DFmdSApZe19bThXWCC6BiZ1AmfyEW7DHGABTKKWcc2sDQ/s320/FCA.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">From reading the rest of the document, it is based largely on unevidenced transphobic narratives than on actual data relating to trans children. Horrifyingly the Endochrine Society’s publication is one of the few external academic references in the entire specification, which is completely ridiculous for something as important as this. And that document, as I said, it devotes just one single paragraph to pre-pubertal trans children. My opinion is that this guidance is completely unacceptable generally and specifically in terms of the way it references, directly and indirectly, outdated studies using obsolete diagnostic criteria. Yet it does this while much more recent studies of what is pejoratively known as ‘desistance’ are available. And it’s not just Olson et al’s (2022) study that the NHS has chosen to ignore but also evidence from Australia, that levels of “desistance” are very low, well into single figures (Family Court of Australia 2017, Tollit et al 2021). So it seems to me that it is citing outdated and obsolete material to justify what is likely to be an unethical and inadequate service to the youngest and most vulnerable trans children, unnecessarily barring them from a badly needed – and fully reversible – social transition needs to be regarded as very serious transphobia on the part of the NHS. Given that the NHS immediately stopped services for transgender children following the initial Bell vs Tavistock judgement, and then failed to restore them when that verdict was firmly crushed by a higher court on appeal, I can only come to the conclusion that this interim service specification was drawn up by transphobes or people affected by transphobic narratives. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Stealth Banning of Social Transition</span></b><b><span style="font-size: large;">.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">But it gets worse still, both this document and the Interim Statement by the Cass Review deploy an unargued and unsupported tacit declaration about trans children and social transition. In essence they appear to have made a decision that social transition should not be permitted without medical supervision and done so in the knowledge that there is no significant credible evidence to support this position. The recent, and apparently separate announcement that children whose families do not accept the full instructions of GIDS will be threatened with investigation for safeguarding concerns is relevant here. It was announced separately in order to make it appear unrelated to this service spec (a tactic of bureaucratic authoritarianism often deployed by Tory governments, with the help of the media) but in reality it is an integral and core part of it. This part of the document is clearly designed to turn the oppression and denial of human rights to trans children into a policy without actually arguing the merits of such a policy, never mind attempting to evidence it. It is in my view nothing more than an ideological oppression targeting young children.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In my view this apparent attempt to ban social transition is almost certainly illegal under the Equality Act 2010, and as bio-ethicist Florence Ashley observed it is contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (to which the UK is a signatory). She argues that it is contrary to;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 8 – The right to an identity, </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 12 – The right for children to have their views given due weight</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> and </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 13 – Freedom of expression. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I would also argue, given that the overwhelming majority of trans children remain trans and that social transition is the best way to reduce stress and anxiety (Olson et al (2016), that it also breaches the following;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 3 – The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 31 – Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a range of cultural and artistic activities</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 24 – Every child has the right to the best possible health.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 37 – Children must not be tortured, sentenced to the death penalty or suffer other cruel or degrading treatment</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Also;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Article 2 – The Convention applies to every child without discrimination whatever their ethnicity, sex, religion, language, abilities or any other status.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It is also in direct conflict with the ICD-11 (The WHO’s classification of diseases) which has de-pathologized transgender people. Like being gay, being trans is no longer classified by the medical profession globally as a problem in itself. Social transition does not entail any physiological or psychological interventions so this is an ideologically-driven overreach by the NHS based on disinformation. Given the demonstrably wrong false information contained in the Service Specification it is clearly designed to prohibit social transition in trans children in primary schools, which is something we should leave up to the kids themselves to decide, not GIDS.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In my view this is an attempt at enforcing a kind of amateur Conversion Therapy, (although ALL Conversion Therapy is in effect amateur because it does not fit with any established psychological theories) in effect children will be forced to conform to their birth-assigned genders when they do not want to. This is very dangerous. Olson et al’s (2016) study of trans children who are supported in their identities is very clear that treating trans children as the gender with which they identify, including names, pronouns and allowing them to alter their appearance, is fundamental and crucial to their mental wellbeing, bringing their stress and anxiety levels down very close to those of cis children. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In 2013 I was fortunate to meet a man called Kevin Jennings at a conference in Switzerland, his clear thinking made a real impression on me, as it had obviously done on President Obama; he had been one of Obama’s advisors, and was the inventor of Gay-Straight Alliances in the US. He was clear about teachers who discriminate against trans children, he said that they were entitled to <i>believe</i> what they like, but that it is what they <i>do</i> that is important, and that any teacher who does anything that might harm LGBT+ children was a danger to <b><i>all </i></b>children and therefore should not be working with <b><i>any</i></b> children. This is something I have always agreed with very strongly. I don’t see why this should not apply to anyone working with children directly or indirectly, not just teachers, and that includes the people who drafted this Service Specification. It is not a Service Specification so much as a statement of anti-trans ideology that will cause immense harm, stress and anxiety. It is my firm view that it needs to be torn up completely and re-written with no-one who was involved with writing this draft being allowed anywhere near it, or indeed to have anything to do with any NHS services for any children again. Ever.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In my view Service Spec for trans and non-binary children needs to be drawn up by a group that includes trans people, including recent users of the service, parents of trans children and specialist academics and service providers who have a track record of supporting trans children’s human rights. Indeed given the hostile environment to trans people created by the far right transphobes and media it should be an obligation of all those working with trans people, especially children, to advocate for them as passionately as any trans activist. They are not working in a political vacuum.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There is plenty more in this service specification that is both wrong and totally unacceptable, and I hope to have time to desconstruct these later also. But for now this critique of just two aspects of this appalling document needs to be out there. We must not accept this, it is wrong, it is not evidence-based and has already been met with a great deal of opposition from people who really know about this subject; trans people and parents of trans children. It is 100% unacceptable and must be contested and fought every inch of the way. Children’s lives and wellbeing depend on it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For a wider analysis of all the other – numerous – failings of this document I cannot recommend too highly <a href="https://growinguptransgender.com/2022/11/02/nhs-service-specification-a-dangerous-attack-on-trans-kids/" target="_blank">the deconstruction written by FierceMum</a> on the Growing Up Transgender blog.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">References</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">De Castro, M; Solerdelcoll, M; Plana, M; Halperin, I; Mora, M; Ribera, L; Castelo-Branco, C; Gomez-Gil, E & Vidal, A (2022) High persistence in Spanish transgender minors: 18 years of experience of the Gender Identity Unit of Catalonia. <i>Revisita de Psiquiatria y Salud Mental</i> https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpsm.2022.02.001</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Family Court of Australia (2017) Re: Kelvin. Fam CAFC 258 <i>Family Court of Australia</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">FierceMum (2022) <i>NHS service specification: A dangerous attack on trans kids</i> https://growinguptransgender.com/2022/11/02/nhs-service-specification-a-dangerous-attack-on-trans-kids/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Hembree et al (2017) Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: An Endocrine Society* Clinical Practice Guideline. <i>The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism</i>. 102.11 </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Olson, K; Durwood, L; DeMeules, M & McLaughlin, K (2016) Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities <i>Pediatrics </i>137.3</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Olson, K; Durwood, L; Horton, R; Gallagher, N & Devor, A (2022) Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition. <i>Pediatrics </i>150.2</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Steensma, TD; Biemond, R; de Boer, F & Cohen-Kettenis, PT (2010) Desisting and Persisting gender dysphoria after childhood: a qualitative follow-up study. <i>Clinical Child psychology and Psychiatry</i> 16.4</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Steensma, TD; Kreukels, BP; DeVries, AL & Cohen-Kettenis, PT (2013) Gender identity development in adolescence. <i>Hormones and Behavior </i>64.2</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Temple-Newhook, J; Pyne, j; Winters, K; Feder, S; Holmes, C; Tosh, J, Sinnott, M; Jamieson, A & Pickett, S (2018) A critical commentary on follow-up studies and “desistance” theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children. <i>International Journal of Transgenderism </i>19.2</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Tollit, M; Bloom, T; Nguyen, T; Lami, F; Pace, C; Poulakis, Z; Telfer, M; Taylor, A & Pang, K (2021) Measurement tools for gender identity, gender expression, and gender dysphoria in transgender and gender-diverse children and adolescents: a systematic review. <i>The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health</i> 5.8 582-588</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-28421345989166045912022-09-25T10:53:00.011+02:002022-09-25T10:58:38.321+02:00Opinion: Why the Labour Party is wrong to tolerate an anti-trans event.<p><span style="font-size: large;">The Labour Party permitting an anti trans event at its Conference in Liverpool is something most Party members and members of the wider trade union movement will find appalling. This article is about why I believe it is problematic. </span></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Extreme Rightwing Ideology</span></h1><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuzEyQQ9NjSsLugDNlmSgWYRdMmrIweprhO5M-aUviyVBW_f2Gmfytvnm1MRtsFhIw_hdIqIqgvE538eDQYBe2VOqtH-sbR4Z8RAmlKKEAMsn1-qtHnEZqN6aStX06Zz23kxB3lwCF-nyNxPZ0YYbjDsNGgB__RZZPqQK4HoJZ2AUgDdwXOLz9u3dFQ/s1066/IMG_9398.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="748" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUuzEyQQ9NjSsLugDNlmSgWYRdMmrIweprhO5M-aUviyVBW_f2Gmfytvnm1MRtsFhIw_hdIqIqgvE538eDQYBe2VOqtH-sbR4Z8RAmlKKEAMsn1-qtHnEZqN6aStX06Zz23kxB3lwCF-nyNxPZ0YYbjDsNGgB__RZZPqQK4HoJZ2AUgDdwXOLz9u3dFQ/w281-h400/IMG_9398.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">“Gender-critical” <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">transphobia</a> has morphed, as every trans human rights campaigner said it would, into an extreme rightwing movement associated with fascists and neo Nazis. An anti-trans rally in Brighton recently was attended by many on the far right, including supporters of Tommy Robinson. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">One of the people there was Helen Joyce, a “journalist” for The Economist who was shown holding part of a progress flag while trampling on the section, that had been cut off, which represented trans people, intersex people and indigenous and people of </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaVDKnozI24IK4HHGkZ9YaPQTPpTN1TBBXq6nq_GpULB6uixqS_bQCr2fLTWegEkvAiDwQSJQzAPNN1k0prbKGDuFZsSnVqdFykVjZjWzo2uI-XykTpzn8hPvxjBXCVM1r_477UImykOymw1bB5ZHQc-OUfor1ORaOhCm3et9p2BJElbs2gXaIeEvaQ/s3072/platypus.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="2304" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHaVDKnozI24IK4HHGkZ9YaPQTPpTN1TBBXq6nq_GpULB6uixqS_bQCr2fLTWegEkvAiDwQSJQzAPNN1k0prbKGDuFZsSnVqdFykVjZjWzo2uI-XykTpzn8hPvxjBXCVM1r_477UImykOymw1bB5ZHQc-OUfor1ORaOhCm3et9p2BJElbs2gXaIeEvaQ/w150-h200/platypus.jpeg" width="150" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">colour who are also LGBTQ+. </span></div><div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span>In my opinion, and in the opinions of everyone I have spoken to about this, Helen Joyce’s act is racist as well as transphobic and interphobic. One of the groups that is part of this Conference event, Woman's Place UK, gave Helen Joyce a platform last year to launch her </span><a href="https://aninjusticemag.com/helen-joyce-when-transphobia-meets-the-platypus-1d5636f7ba6c" target="_blank">badly-researched book</a><span>, "Trans".</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Incidentally the person Joyce was "in conversation with" for this Woman's Place event was none other than senior Guardian journalist Susanna Rustin. I'm sure we can expect accurate and unbiased reporting of this event from the Guardian/Observer. I wonder what Rustin's colleagues now think of her working with Joyce.</span></div><div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrOqF-Bfw_wd-Rp1B1cXI8WsNSBY9cqbTRL5Bw-Q9NFgsOdbhVIpD9Qh8ipulR_dw8ZZVq8b3Wy13xQddHk52OB5_j9XNGBAlWIOLXdMcbNwCZbzWC8m3lAwOE9lzl0ppmAsGESxy91ltGAADNttgzWZHJgd6LFnZNtkPYQCGHq0kDzPnDQdsHEh9Tw/s1242/IMG_9396.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1137" data-original-width="1242" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJrOqF-Bfw_wd-Rp1B1cXI8WsNSBY9cqbTRL5Bw-Q9NFgsOdbhVIpD9Qh8ipulR_dw8ZZVq8b3Wy13xQddHk52OB5_j9XNGBAlWIOLXdMcbNwCZbzWC8m3lAwOE9lzl0ppmAsGESxy91ltGAADNttgzWZHJgd6LFnZNtkPYQCGHq0kDzPnDQdsHEh9Tw/s320/IMG_9396.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Labour Women's Declaration"</span></h1><p><span style="font-size: large;">There are, of course some “gender-criticals” still attempting to pretend they are "feminist" and "left", like "Labour Women’s Declaration", an anti-trans group that attempts to make the unreasonable appear reasonable. It is a signatory to the WDI “Declaration”. The WDI (previously WHRC) Declaration is a trans-eliminationist document. A long-winded faux-legal piece that has been written with the intention of <i><b>appearing</b></i> authoritative and based on law, its torturous prose hiding its ultimate aims; to remove all legal protection that trans people have anywhere, in effect making it very dangerous for trans people, especially trans women, to exist safely. Katy Montgomery has produced an analysis of its actual policy aims;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="881" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Kcl9VC2SvZo0SYmPdjcMXBKB_DQ9a06DMI5tD2eAMAgLAjTTTTk4f4U-dy_U3TNjG68BueE6hPWvxE0Cu6wXnceWtCYgkadLO-xQwjAjg-0_cGZQxMJqibBk62GsHDiQ9pRiTE-G_02hgGVfVKOPBjMkM5r9fvYbEng5O4ECWezk6qoYWrckl67jxQ/w640-h634/WHRC.png" width="640" /></span></p><div><span style="font-size: large;">As you can see this is a pretty horrendous and childishly vindictive document, particularly focussing on facilitating the bullying of trans children, in effect trying to enforce child abuse by proxy; in particular that transphobic parents should be entitled to abuse their own children. We can see it in <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/08/12/suella-bravermantrans-schools-speech-misinterpreted/" target="_blank">Suella Braverman's attempt to legalise</a> transphobic bullying of children in schools. That Labour Women's Declaration is a signatory to this, means it fully endorses these aims. A <a href="https://sandraduffy.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/" target="_blank">full, legal analysis of the Declaration by Sandra Duffy is available here</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Republican Transphobia</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;">Should a party like Labour permit anyone at its conference that advocates these measures? I very much doubt you would find many Party members who would agree. However what is evident from this document is how it is clearly being used to inform anti-trans legislation in right-wing Republican states and elsewhere. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">For example, the state of Texas has brought in a law that threatens to have trans children removed from their parents. In Ohio a new law allowing anyone to insist that the gender of any girl taking part in sport be tested. In effect this is resulted in cis girls removing themselves from sports, especially ones who may be slightly gender non-conforming. Who is going to want to play sports if, should you win, you <a href="https://www.sportresolutions.com/news/view/ohio-transgender-athletes-bill-allows-doctors-to-examine-genitalia" target="_blank">are subjected to the most intimate genital examination?</a> It now turns out that the far right opposes all <a href="https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/now-rightwing-christians-dont-want-girls-play-sports/?utm_source=pocket_mylist">women and girls playing sports.</a><br /><br />It is also significant that the jurisdictions where anti-trans legislation has been enacted or proposed are, by-and-large, jurisdictions which have also banned access to safe and legal abortion for women and others who can become pregnant. Despite groups like LWD claiming to be acting for women, they share an ideology with anti-abortionists and, like Trump, people who oppose women's rights in other ways.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Putin, Trump, Le Pen...</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55SCi3_3BmnNtwq03XZ8T8e7Xk5D5o7eZMRuNcOe7keCI6X1-KbJpZBpd-wQK_sC0wSbpmD5AVzfVXPpWEPJO2rEtq9YHaiPnLxO8fSSKxoKT6Yb0SlniLWddRpvPS-B35wSe5S1sIRLsLaYgT0ehvQkhhTgtCVIZ5MSGu_p4yGp1PpgehP-83JE5LQ/s1044/putin.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1044" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55SCi3_3BmnNtwq03XZ8T8e7Xk5D5o7eZMRuNcOe7keCI6X1-KbJpZBpd-wQK_sC0wSbpmD5AVzfVXPpWEPJO2rEtq9YHaiPnLxO8fSSKxoKT6Yb0SlniLWddRpvPS-B35wSe5S1sIRLsLaYgT0ehvQkhhTgtCVIZ5MSGu_p4yGp1PpgehP-83JE5LQ/s320/putin.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>When your ideology is supported by a litany of rightwing demagogues it is no longer an ideology that supports “women’s concerns”, or can be considered remotely “feminist” or indeed in any way progressive. When your ideology is supported by Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro, Marine Le Pen, Suella Braverman, Georgia Meloni, Boris Johnson, Victor Orban, Ron DeSantis, etc, then your ideology is an extreme right-wing ideology. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">“Gender-Critical” transphobia has worked <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmlxEI26IB-osA6lSWFveRj315jqgl_YqW2sOvihTR3JFTME3C7mqUkie2l34svsNLw7x8fsDhZjraBlM4fIsRMgKE9OLYUkueF7e_Iu7oUsr6QnmkamByk3o2mnwPIrf4ujJbzVOidHCIjF6OBFr8p45ZFhGFLYpCB3fBNyx0eJlbKnyNG3wn_NBqw/s1320/trump.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="1320" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkmlxEI26IB-osA6lSWFveRj315jqgl_YqW2sOvihTR3JFTME3C7mqUkie2l34svsNLw7x8fsDhZjraBlM4fIsRMgKE9OLYUkueF7e_Iu7oUsr6QnmkamByk3o2mnwPIrf4ujJbzVOidHCIjF6OBFr8p45ZFhGFLYpCB3fBNyx0eJlbKnyNG3wn_NBqw/s320/trump.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>very hard to make itself appear as though it is on the left, despite sharing an ideology, a discourse and political tactics with the extreme right. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Their ideology is typical of rightwing beliefs, their use of terms like “gender ideology” (sometimes reworked as “transgender ideology”) is literally recycling terminology which European fascists have used for decades to attack women's and LGBTQ+ people's human rights. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The use of these terms, like the word “transgenderism” when they are talking about <b><i>trans people</i></b>, in a way that suggests we are a "threat" to cis women, is a deployment of well-established rightwing tactics; dehumanise a small minority, turn people into an "ideology", self-victimise, etc... </span></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><h1><span style="font-size: large;">The "Trans Question"</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBbD4ltFJJpP0CnZZN05pjLePs9PSrVdrhezCLsfueNYITqDp5mTjEDi9ZKlJoCs7DfYm3mYzcLB6fgo4qxX_BBiio8SshHsTiO9yHrQwGC8MjjHkM7HDRi147e7nUHBg2AB2s9p2OHzWJEbwp14eISDfBW66CJQ6nlwAZlWYMe9g1tdGHn6TnwAeGg/s1280/Trans%20Question.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1007" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaBbD4ltFJJpP0CnZZN05pjLePs9PSrVdrhezCLsfueNYITqDp5mTjEDi9ZKlJoCs7DfYm3mYzcLB6fgo4qxX_BBiio8SshHsTiO9yHrQwGC8MjjHkM7HDRi147e7nUHBg2AB2s9p2OHzWJEbwp14eISDfBW66CJQ6nlwAZlWYMe9g1tdGHn6TnwAeGg/w166-h203/Trans%20Question.jpeg" width="166" /></a></div>But there's more, and it gets worse. One of the people involved in this event published an article in New Statesman recently, the title of which included the phrase "The Trans Question". Anyone familiar with the history of antisemitism in Europe in the years before the holocaust began in Germany in the 1930s would instantly recognise where this headline comes from; "The Jewish Question". </span></div><div><br /></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dishonesty as Standard</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;">One of the most dishonest things about this event is that it is presented as representing what "women" want from the Party. In fact an overwhelming majority of women, both inside the Party and in the wider Labour movement, as well as in the country as a whole, are fully supportive of trans people's human rights. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">For example, in June Unison, the UK's largest union, with 1.3 million members, most of whom are women - making it the largest women's organisation in the country - <a href="https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2022/06/unison-votes-unanimously-for-trans-equality-in-local-government/" target="_blank">unanimously backed a motion to support trans people's human rights.</a> My own union, the UCU, and my former union the NEU, both support trans people's human rights as do most other unions and other organisations affiliated to Labour.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Starmer & Truss</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0Wd8P6hC2NISvl3wvtr0Jk2xSFdKsgzkbCfBzStYuoozVkz782puYdfmab3piSsy-_NfIsOm-E9qH7EXyQ1YWr9jzOc4L87kINKxi0zHDhXa3PTpujvEOT5gLFV5PYkrdpNYkcl14gaNyIXun0OGgte8Ebrj_GPb76g8FMd6JbJLWlXY5_rOXG_65Q/s760/Screenshot_2022-07-26_at_13.07.29.max-760x504.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="760" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0Wd8P6hC2NISvl3wvtr0Jk2xSFdKsgzkbCfBzStYuoozVkz782puYdfmab3piSsy-_NfIsOm-E9qH7EXyQ1YWr9jzOc4L87kINKxi0zHDhXa3PTpujvEOT5gLFV5PYkrdpNYkcl14gaNyIXun0OGgte8Ebrj_GPb76g8FMd6JbJLWlXY5_rOXG_65Q/s320/Screenshot_2022-07-26_at_13.07.29.max-760x504.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liz Truss speaking at the rightwing, anti-abortion<br />Heritage Foundation</td></tr></tbody></table>It is clear that Keir Starmer wants to avoid allowing the Tories to make politics about Culture Wars in the run-up to the next election, and whatever your opinions of his leadership, I suspect most will agree that this is probably the most appropriate policy at this time. The Tories are self-destructing with their economic plunder of the country for tax giveaways to the rich while the rest of us shiver or starve or both while working long hours or striking because of inflation. Allowing Truss to distract from these disastrous policies would be to play their game the way they want to play it. So the LWD needs to be regarded as, in essence, on the side of the Tories. They are almost certainly only being permitted to hold their sordid and fascistic meeting because the Tories have become so rightwing on this issue. Not unexpected for a group that supports an extreme rightwing ideology.<br /><br /></span></div></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ignoring the warnings: Fascism not Feminism</span></h1><div><span style="font-size: large;">Transphobia was always going to become fascism. The "gender-critical" groups pretended they could somehow be "progressive", "feminist" as well as transphobic but, like everything on the far right their ideology is based on misrepresentation and deception. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">"Progressive/feminist" transphobes have been warned time and again that what they are doing was fascist not feminist and would become a weapon in the hands of the far right. They ignored these. Today those same individuals pretend to be shocked when the people they got into bed with turn out to be the anti-abortion, misogynistic, anti-union, racist, xenophobic, antisemitic and Islamophobic far right. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Consequently their attempts to distance themselves from fascist transphobia are both dishonest and shameful. They knew this would happen, they created this monster, they are responsible for the consequences. Any distancing you see, any attempt at presenting themselves as "reasonable" or "respectable" or "feminist" is disingenuous to put it mildly.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">"Gender-critical" ideology is based on a crude bio-essentialism of the kind that underpins so many extreme rightwing ideologies. It deploys not only the same ideological basis as fascism, but the same methods and same language. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It is not for nothing that one of the world's foremost experts on fascism, Professor Jason Stanley of Yale University regards transphobia as one of the core elements of contemporary fascism. Fascism has appeared throughout history in many wrappers, but what is inside never changes. Like "gender-critical" transphobia theirs is an ideology based on hate. Like fascists, "Gender-criticals" are a group of individuals whose ideology is based on an irrational and emotional personal hdislike of trans people - something any trans person or trans ally in the public eye will know from the abuse and threats they get regularly on their social media feed. Their ideology is based on a desire to harm us and abuse us, and then protect themselves and their fascist bedfellows from the consequences to them of causing this abuse and harm. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">One of the accusations that "gender-critical" transphobes repeatedly make (usually in the far-right media like the Spectator, The Telegraph, the Daily Mail or Unherd) is that trans people are somehow a "danger" to cis women. Reality has shown the reverse to be true. By giving the far right a new wrapper, a new propaganda weapon, they are putting cis women and girls in danger. The places where the far right has implemented transphobic laws are the same places where they also jail women for having abortions or where women die because they cannot obtain safe terminations. Poland, Hungary, Russia, Texas, indeed most of the US midwest. We also have to remember that abortion bans predominantly affect working-class women, those who cannot afford to travel. This is a class issue as well.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The Labour Party needs to make a decision about this, there is no fence to sit on with this issue, and we all know that appeasing fascism never works.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i>NB: The definition of transphobia I use here is the <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">TransActual definition</a>, one crowdsourced from trans and non-binary people, and consequently probably the most authoritative.</i></span></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-2890395731570883622022-08-12T11:11:00.020+02:002022-08-12T23:07:25.077+02:00Not at all Brave: Suella's illegal diktat takes the coward’s route to try and bully trans kids.<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">All bullies are cowards, as the well-known maxim goes, and Suella Braverman, her cronies in the media and the "gender-critical" transphobes </span><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Trans Actual 2018) </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">are no exception to this. Let’s examine the </span><a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/08/12/suella-bravermantrans-schools-speech-misinterpreted/?fbclid=IwAR2rwZxEf3FcXaCIGLMQt_MyLRYs8lqlCYUQdo1YV1tkRKGrpmfxdsundHE" style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank"><span>deliberate misinterpretation</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of the Equality Act by Suella Braverman the “Attorney General”, what is intended, and is it a new Section 28 for trans children...?</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: arial; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="590" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzM6NYBBj8lM3s324nGo8IAvcIK5OW12tbALVvfjNylhGwvbVrNl1v5dzwcDk-LBh_qKMtXsMIQOqDbQkIZzu2v72uPpGtDdau1T0rpdaCBaKQp84-DHVFVZ31pBp0n71y2bHAaL3nNCBtrU4S5SmpVZzAujMgEyzlz80iZwp622AWxrrRxdrDvRr3KA/w640-h474/SupremeScreenshot-230@2x.jpg" width="640" /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span><span id="docs-internal-guid-4197d58b-7fff-cee2-4ae1-303d06a08fd6" style="font-family: arial;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few days after she announced that government lawyers and civil servants should no longer advise ministers when their actions are illegal, Suella Braverman has (co-incidentally?) said she wants to disallow large sections of the Equality act 2010 insofar as it applies to trans children. In particular she wants to prevent teachers or school managements from stopping transphobic bullying and abuse by, for example, insisting that other children respect trans children's names and pronouns. The transphobic media has lapped this up, uncritically repeating her words. What she is trying to set up is the following situation…</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>A trans child is deliberately misgendered by a bully in school and a teacher takes action to prevent that from happening again, as they should do. The bully’s parents then complain that their child should not have to respect the other child’s rights because Braverman has said so. The teacher backs down for fear of losing his, her or their job and the trans child can be freely bullied and abused until he, she or they kills themself. One less trans person, Champagne all round and parties in the River Cafe for the “gender critical’ groups.</i></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The problem is this. The law has not changed, despite Braverman’s deliberate misinterpretation of it, so, if, in the above scenario, the transphobic parent complains that their child was told off for transphobic abuse, the school can simply tell them that the law says their actions are perfectly legal according to the text of the Equality Act. This seems to me to be where this differs from Section 28, the law is still on the side of the trans child, the decent school and the professional-acting teacher, after all we have recently had multiple judgements saying that people are allowed to believe what they like but they do not have the right to express that belief in a way that is abusive to others. No-one argues this, for any other protected characteristic. For example if a Muslim girl who wears a hijab, the idea that schools should, as Braverman suggests, “take into account the impact on other children” is ridiculous. Of course they should not, the other children should be educated to accept her and not bully or abuse her.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgMC-dAR5cyR4vi4BgSs0Hbo3kWkfEC7aaT6oWgef_Px9zNuA86fWx2kCWj2VQprLjLZB_E8YQfUV8JRToA-9pMiDdJv1K4F7MQqDlSBxKBUDIiBXKCIfp9wzsX50aoem4Dv8-drRsAJovwYVCifsN2jQl8zm46K03sdgYklVwSPZSpFs2KlS2g3Njw/s499/Latisha.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="357" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgMC-dAR5cyR4vi4BgSs0Hbo3kWkfEC7aaT6oWgef_Px9zNuA86fWx2kCWj2VQprLjLZB_E8YQfUV8JRToA-9pMiDdJv1K4F7MQqDlSBxKBUDIiBXKCIfp9wzsX50aoem4Dv8-drRsAJovwYVCifsN2jQl8zm46K03sdgYklVwSPZSpFs2KlS2g3Njw/s320/Latisha.jpeg" width="229" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">In essence what Braverman is trying to do is to empower that tiny minority of </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">transphobic bigoted </span><span style="font-family: arial;">parents who want to get their kids to bully and abuse other children. Proxy abuse, proxy violence and proxy exclusion. Stochastic terrorism targeting trans children. Of course schools should prevent children from bullying an abusing others whoever they are. By painting a target on the backs of trans kids Braverman is attempting to single them out for endless torment, which, as Jo Maugham observed, will eventually result in suicides of trans children. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Or worse, Salamon’s (2019) book about the murder - in school - of 15-year-old Letisha King shows what happens when schools fail to support trans children.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was a primary school teacher, I was always acutely aware that a bullied child is always a suicide or self-harm risk and I did not want to have that responsibility on my shoulders, so whatever the bullying I always acted to stop it. In doing so I didn’t just consider myself to be protecting the victim of bullying but the perpetrator also. I always thought about how they would feel if they had been the cause of another child’s death; it would be something they would carry with them for the rest of their life. </span><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this case I have no doubt that Braverman, the complicit journalists and "gender critical" transphobes will not feel the slightest molecule of remorse for any trans children who die as a result of their actions, but the same is unlikely to be the case for the child who bullies. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">The might of the political/media establishment is being brought down onto a tiny number of already bullied, frightened and fearful children. This tells you something about the politicians and mainstream media “journalists” and editors who are responsible for this. This reveals the content of their characters. When people like that show you who they are, believe them.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, in the same way businesses have called the bluff of the EHRC which deliberately misinterpreted the Equality Act as it relates to adults, schools should do the same with Braverman's diktat. Ultimately her pronouncement is just a load of pseudo-legal nonsense that schools do not need to take any notice of at all. Equalities groups like Stonewall, Mermaids and the NSPCC should, along with school unions like the NEU, produce a definitive guide to what actions schools can take to prevent transphobic bullying and abuse so teachers and parents are left in no doubt.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to barrister Robin Moira White's assessment of Braverman's diktat as illegal under the Equality Act it is evident that any teacher or headteacher attempting to implement it would be in breach of the </span><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1040274/Teachers__Standards_Dec_2021.pdf" style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">UK Teacher Standards</a><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">, (originally commissioned by Michael Gove) in particular Part Two; </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Teachers uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school, by:</span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><ul style="font-family: times; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><li><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">treating pupils with dignity, building relationships rooted in mutual respect, [...] </span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">having regard for the need to safeguard pupils’ well-being, in accordance with statutory provisions</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others [...]</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">ensuring that personal beliefs are not expressed in ways which exploit pupils’ vulnerability</span></li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no way any teacher or headteacher can be regarded as fulfilling their professional responsibilities under the Teacher Standards if they follow the Braverman Diktat, so not only is it illegal under the Equality Act, but adhering to it would result in teachers and headteachers being in breach of the Teacher Standards, part two of which is used by the Teacher Regulation Authority in instances where teachers are accused of professional misconduct.
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-WuFQZTP-RFBG3wka1VRKUybf6wV9qKAqOZHq2RxA-IxUQToXNKWc2QH43sYyuczSpvIvYC-3hJrjQrPRhQQdWXIjJOUnpuYwrSh3bR6n26nFKf3MNDLYABCn0b_4Xt_Ch1tMJfRD3zjGU2yg68nX-ybTxP1RscF13poZz3lQjth5zgtKVgMjJmekyw/s633/image_2022-08-12_152235530.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="633" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-WuFQZTP-RFBG3wka1VRKUybf6wV9qKAqOZHq2RxA-IxUQToXNKWc2QH43sYyuczSpvIvYC-3hJrjQrPRhQQdWXIjJOUnpuYwrSh3bR6n26nFKf3MNDLYABCn0b_4Xt_Ch1tMJfRD3zjGU2yg68nX-ybTxP1RscF13poZz3lQjth5zgtKVgMjJmekyw/s320/image_2022-08-12_152235530.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the government's 2022 Safeguarding guidance</td></tr></tbody></table>Given the government's willingness to subvert professional bodies in the way it has done with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, it is also significant that the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-teaching-of-the-protected-characteristics-in-schools/inspecting-teaching-of-the-protected-characteristics-in-schools" target="_blank">Ofsted guidance for inspecting schools in relation to the Protected Characteristics</a> flatly contradicts the Braverman Diktat. The government's own <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1080047/KCSIE_2022_revised.pdf" target="_blank">guidance, updated for September 1st 2022, on safeguarding,</a> contradicts Braverman.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of these suggest that probably the safest course of action for teachers and headteachers is to ignore the Braverman Diktat, and continue to act in the way that any professional working with children would. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> ***************</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Problems with Cass</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be honest this nonsensical rant by Braverman has the feel of a “gender-critical” transphobe’s wet dream, as she attempts to force schools to bully trans children. However some of this lies with either a misapprehension of or from a misrepresentation of the Cass review (and let’s face it, it has been multiply misrepresented by transphobic hate groups and the media already, but as trans people we expect that, such is the state of UK media).</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkg7j6YG9hXUUXnnTmAEFWYXIQcLVo0b45O6dQCUtXfKoTUA2lI1RthY_pOW7Lzzs3sngoSzzCh41rI_dG006-qqK-ESKc2kN-jsa3vC6GrfjsH5pjfhyI001yLjOtwVPvlW7MC4lEFJAuCYZa6WMtJKEnirCy5vYJ886lEaW9GancAs453fJYaGsCwA/s600/Histories.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkg7j6YG9hXUUXnnTmAEFWYXIQcLVo0b45O6dQCUtXfKoTUA2lI1RthY_pOW7Lzzs3sngoSzzCh41rI_dG006-qqK-ESKc2kN-jsa3vC6GrfjsH5pjfhyI001yLjOtwVPvlW7MC4lEFJAuCYZa6WMtJKEnirCy5vYJ886lEaW9GancAs453fJYaGsCwA/s320/Histories.jpeg" width="207" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Braverman cites Cass as saying that social transition – ie allowing a child to express themselves in a way appropriate to their gender without medical intervention – constitutes an “intervention” and claims that it should only be done on the advice of a medical practitioner. This is wrong and needs to be challenged. If social transition is what a child would choose to do in the absence of adult intervention, <b>then social transition is the absence of intervention</b>, and <i><b>preventing</b></i> it constitutes the intervention. Making a pronouncement like this is, in my view, an ethical and moral one and one which needs to be made openly and in consultation with trans people, trans children and their parents based on the evidence. The decision as to whether or not social transition constitutes an “intervention” or whether preventing it is the intervention cannot be decided with an unevidenced claim by Cass. Social transition is instantly reversible and has no side-effects. Given that the findings of Olson et al (2016) that trans children who are supported in their genders, instead of experiencing high levels of stress associated with social exclusion and bullying, experience levels of stress only slightly above the normal range for cis children, there is very compelling evidence that it is <i><b>prevention</b></i> that constitutes an intervention. When the archive evidence produced by Gill-Peterson’s (2019) detailed research is also included, it is evident that children have been successful socially transitioning for at least a century in the US, well before the growth of organised transphobia that is attempting to prevent social transition, and the humane treatment of trans children.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyd0so-T1SlfOtPPs2RFYjHEyxnT4fsyHmtqupj0Q-NKzjiK-gBG_bQI0B1HDsIZ4msWQjXOfsQqjy0cBMQj3yTa34iVE-ZrAHuU4KPws2tFxo81VFJyYKRlnHNKbKm8yVWOM5yr3awi4kc1PsU3M8-GK0ya9ZYadGybZkRocAp3TH5pOFxM2ZHiWlpA/s440/ICD-11.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyd0so-T1SlfOtPPs2RFYjHEyxnT4fsyHmtqupj0Q-NKzjiK-gBG_bQI0B1HDsIZ4msWQjXOfsQqjy0cBMQj3yTa34iVE-ZrAHuU4KPws2tFxo81VFJyYKRlnHNKbKm8yVWOM5yr3awi4kc1PsU3M8-GK0ya9ZYadGybZkRocAp3TH5pOFxM2ZHiWlpA/s320/ICD-11.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />The influence of anti-trans extremist groups is evident in the phrase used by Braverman “schools and teachers who socially transition a child…”. This is the deployment of terminology that both dehumanises trans children and attempts to make it appear that they are “passive victims” in this situation. Whether this is a result of problems with Cass is difficult to determine. No-one ‘transitions’ any trans children, the decision to come out as trans or non-binary is that of the child, and is usually made after a great deal of thought and self-examination by the child (Kennedy 2020) and must always be the decision of the child. My own research into the ways these children learn about themselves (Kennedy 2021) shows how trans and non-binary children are active agents in determining their own lives and identities, and Clarke & Virani (2021) demonstrate that they are very capable of accurately researching and fully understanding their circumstances. Olsen and Eaton (2015) show that these children identify as their genders in the same way that cis children do, and now the World Health Organisation’s (2022) International Classification of Diseases has recognised that gender dysphoria is not a pathology, which means that trans children are entitled to make their own decisions about the way they live their lives and should be able to count on the protection of schools and teachers in the same way as anyone else with any other protected characteristic.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;">Neither Cass nor schools should be allowing those with agendas to influence policy with regard to trans children. This is what is happening at the moment, it is time the claims by those who have an, often undeclared, ideological opposition to the existence of trans people are treated with the suspicion and distrust they deserve. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>References</b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clarke, B & Virani, A (2021) ‘This wasn’t a split-second decision’: An empirical analysis of transgender youth capacity, rights, and authority to consent to hormone therapy. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Journal of Bioethical Inquiry</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 18 151-164</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gill-Peterson, J (2019) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Histories of the Transgender Child</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kennedy, N (2021) Agentic Learning: The Pedagogical Implications of Young Trans People’s online Learning Strategies. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pedagogy, Culture and Society</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 29.5 733-752</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kennedy N (2020) Deferral: The sociology of young trans people’s epiphanies and coming out. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Journal of LGBT Youth</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Sept 2020</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Olson, K, Key, A & Eaton, N (2015) Gender Cognition in Transgender Children </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psychological Science</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 1.8</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Olson, K; Durwood, L; DeMeules, M & McLaughlin, K (2016) Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pediatrics </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">137.3</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salamon, G (2018) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Life and Death of Letisha King: A Critical Phenomenology of Transphobia. </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New York University Press New York</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trans Actual (2018) What is Transphobia? <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia">https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">World Health Organisation (2022)</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> International Classification of Diseases World, Eleventh Revision. </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WHO Geneva</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Acknowledgements</b></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Special thanks to @mimmymum for her comments on this.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; white-space: normal;"><br /></div></span></span></div><p></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-53508014735851213972022-07-16T14:19:00.022+02:002022-07-19T14:03:31.787+02:00The "Trans Question": New Statesman's mindless monetisation of hatred<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yHeWn4DeYYd-mOkL45s-fM02ujKTZ1-yRRiNTJUDGFO94YQx3MK8992wnHnsprLWofRABshlma8FCIsjWkws8zHZgWLZrbtaUw3Z2ONraO3HeCoXoybpaEuuBJdn45Z6MKM4hqxKqLVI2GZ2NgrQoP2KHq3XEQ2cROW3Q7Er_zUfOWD4f-15ntXZlw/s1280/Trans%20Question.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1007" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6yHeWn4DeYYd-mOkL45s-fM02ujKTZ1-yRRiNTJUDGFO94YQx3MK8992wnHnsprLWofRABshlma8FCIsjWkws8zHZgWLZrbtaUw3Z2ONraO3HeCoXoybpaEuuBJdn45Z6MKM4hqxKqLVI2GZ2NgrQoP2KHq3XEQ2cROW3Q7Er_zUfOWD4f-15ntXZlw/w315-h400/Trans%20Question.jpeg" width="315" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Throughout the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-jewish-question" target="_blank">“Jewish Question”</a> was “debated” in much of Europe. In essence the “Jewish Question” was a polite term for antisemitism. It culminated, in the 1930/40s in the holocaust in which 6 million Jews were murdered. The “Jewish Question” was about non-Jewish people debating what to do with Jews, how they should be forced to live, how their lives should be restricted, what human rights, if any, they should have. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the UK and US in the last few years there have been many similar euphemistic terms deployed for <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">transphobia</a>, many not even mentioning trans people. The “trans issue” is one of the polite terms for transphobia as well as “women’s concerns”, “Define women!”, “gender ideology” and various others deployed to make transphobic hate sound acceptable. Similarly any debates about trans people have systematically excluded us, especially in the media, a media that has often deployed techniques derived from <a href="http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/dersturmer.html" target="_blank">Der Sturmer</a>, the viciously anti-Semitic paper produced in the 1920s and 30s that sought to demonise Jews throughout Germany and beyond through careful selection and fabrication of stories.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All have hitherto avoided the phrase, “The Trans Question” – until Friday 15th July 2022. On this day The New Statesman, the original transphobic publication, with a record of exclusionary transphobia going back well over a decade, published an article lauding the Tories for debating <a href="https://archive.ph/xjFFm" target="_blank">“The Trans Question”</a> and criticising Labour for “dodging” it. In fact Labour, and indeed the entire Labour and trade union movement has discussed it in full over the last few years, including Unison, the organisation in the UK with the largest membership of women, which <a href="https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2022/06/unison-votes-unanimously-for-trans-equality-in-local-government/" target="_blank">recently unanimously supported</a> human rights for trans people.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqln3qoJj-5WTCSOQAa-8loyo5yVli-opNz0hO5f0YUYZez3EUi0A2uZwK5voYehXXmjVxVSIoLDCs3bHJ6yQtjQ-33EPEcpmCjv_FEvfyM6-IlP0KfvtaQKvrTdchpoP_6rDcFyCFWtK-JanDaXSRLxPkxHURyS8nVLiA4kx2z529U7kCQaL6RhrysA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqln3qoJj-5WTCSOQAa-8loyo5yVli-opNz0hO5f0YUYZez3EUi0A2uZwK5voYehXXmjVxVSIoLDCs3bHJ6yQtjQ-33EPEcpmCjv_FEvfyM6-IlP0KfvtaQKvrTdchpoP_6rDcFyCFWtK-JanDaXSRLxPkxHURyS8nVLiA4kx2z529U7kCQaL6RhrysA=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">The article itself is the usual drivel with which anyone who has been watching anti-trans propaganda over the last few years will be familiar. It will fill most people’s bingo cards. It substitutes terms like “women”, “feminists” or “lesbians” for “transphobes”; a typical misleading trick given that there is overwhelming support for trans people’s human rights amongst all three groups. The article also deploys the “silencing myth”; meaning that once again I need to tap the quotation by Prof Sara Ahmed, which sums up the "gender-critical" deployment of this propaganda technique known as "Mirror Propaganda" (Chretien 2007). Anti-trans activists regularly claim to be somehow 'silenced' by trans people, and do so in mainstream media ad nauseam;</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPiL8g3do7mVxbfd81jZdPAnZtclo6VmDglTPj6RAR56ynxIkOb312Kl4hj3ngvpuVcTD48TIGFnZaKQkTtqk1cc1qM8K7BOUSF3qZXpBKSousLLCOa6gers880tB1uOGMqmh95Ahmy09ALLPDXPEZ_E0Lkklw2moY7C8HUip5blBKJO0IOSMoxMyi5w/s1154/Ahmed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Whenever people keep being given a platform to say they have no platform, or whenever people speak endlessly about being silenced, you not only have a performative contradiction; you are witnessing a mechanism of power." border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="1154" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPiL8g3do7mVxbfd81jZdPAnZtclo6VmDglTPj6RAR56ynxIkOb312Kl4hj3ngvpuVcTD48TIGFnZaKQkTtqk1cc1qM8K7BOUSF3qZXpBKSousLLCOa6gers880tB1uOGMqmh95Ahmy09ALLPDXPEZ_E0Lkklw2moY7C8HUip5blBKJO0IOSMoxMyi5w/w640-h246/Ahmed.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Sara Ahmed (2016)</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">So the idea that transphobes (Oops sorry, “women/feminists/lesbians”) are somehow being 'silenced' by trans people is far from the reality in which the transphobes’ talking-points are regularly regurgitated by UK mainstream media. This happens while trans people’s views are systematically and hermetically excluded (<a href="https://novaramedia.com/2021/09/14/judith-butlers-censorship-by-the-guardian-shows-whos-really-being-silenced-in-the-fight-for-trans-rights/" target="_blank">and our criticism of “gender-critical” transphobia censored</a>). It also refers to the ridiculous “Labour losing women” myth, spread largely by that well-known socialist publication <i>The Daily Mail </i>just before the Wakefield by-election in 2022…</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Of course the "silencing myth" is easily revealed as a myth by the censoring of the words of Judith Butler (Gleeson, 2021) by the Guardian in 2021. Fortunately trans people were on-the-ball enough to preserve the evidence, these are the words of Judith Butler that were <b><i>actually censored</i></b> by The Guardian;<br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpgoJfvJIoTBvieh7Tyw9wSUNTFoI8cCcDTZh1080wVx7DQuXertFSlz-RaIuSiDeKvxeJgA0SBFDe4Mscchl84kU91O6hg87hauxCP76lzFiAX_W2WUNo9jmNINIqpvahVNDjIVtXY3QYs1Ki19d_1-kUgdXtkFHzXDm05Tse47P0OfKW7iB1ha1S0g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender. The anti-gender ideology movement is not opposing a specific account of gender, but seeking to eradicate “gender” as a concept or discourse, a field of study, an approach to social power. Sometimes they claim that “sex” alone has scientific standing, but other times they appeal to divine mandates for masculine domination and difference. They don’t seem to mind contradicting themselves. The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement. The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which include high rates of attacks on trans and genderqueer people. The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of “gender” as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quick and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgments. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public. As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately, we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized." data-original-height="1581" data-original-width="1314" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgpgoJfvJIoTBvieh7Tyw9wSUNTFoI8cCcDTZh1080wVx7DQuXertFSlz-RaIuSiDeKvxeJgA0SBFDe4Mscchl84kU91O6hg87hauxCP76lzFiAX_W2WUNo9jmNINIqpvahVNDjIVtXY3QYs1Ki19d_1-kUgdXtkFHzXDm05Tse47P0OfKW7iB1ha1S0g=w531-h640" title="The words of Judith Butler censored by the Guardian" width="531" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">The words of Judith Butler that were censored by the Guardian</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></i></div><span style="font-size: large;">This censored passage raises an important issue about the lack of trans representation in the media. With trans people almost hermetically excluded from saying anything in the media at all, and having any kind of editorial control over what we say even less, one of the things we are strictly excluded from talking about is anti-trans activism/organised transphobia/"gender-critical" transphobia, etc. UK mainstream media permits anti-trans activists to attack trans people freely and without let or hindrance, but when Judith Butler criticises them for their collaboration with fascism their words are censored. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">So why is New Statesman allowing this sort of hooey, stuff that has been churned out regularly as repetitively as Tory lies in UK mainstream media for years? Interesting question. Why is it deploying language last used to precipitate the holocaust in the 1930s, is an even more important one. Why it has hitherto followed all the rest of the UK media in excluding trans people from criticising organised transphobia in the UK is the most pressing one however. That this exclusion is applied by supposedly 'progressive' media as well as the likes of the Murdoch Times, the Rothermere Mail, Tory BBC and Barclay Telegraph demonstrates just how deep the anti-trans bias in UK media goes.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYSEQCjM2T8JSxiFH4JYNgjCfNPDKfI-b4uhKn5QVAoWzTTH_b6OQFstFaMVX0kAP3KN1M78tcUkSAr30TOpA-i5N0ayi_hmZL1Ycb4G4DJYmbn_ZCrG3g3mRHazIzI3MUO_FixnQHQZ33VsxKb1MWqyrlidfATNt_UJwVT_ZaKr00mzjw7xYqmqPFSA/s841/Putin%20Rowling.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="841" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYSEQCjM2T8JSxiFH4JYNgjCfNPDKfI-b4uhKn5QVAoWzTTH_b6OQFstFaMVX0kAP3KN1M78tcUkSAr30TOpA-i5N0ayi_hmZL1Ycb4G4DJYmbn_ZCrG3g3mRHazIzI3MUO_FixnQHQZ33VsxKb1MWqyrlidfATNt_UJwVT_ZaKr00mzjw7xYqmqPFSA/s320/Putin%20Rowling.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">A few weeks ago, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=bN_NmXFTjSM" target="_blank">in a speech </a>to an event organised by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/transactivismuk/?hl=en-gb" target="_blank">Transactivism UK</a>, I argued that the links between the extreme right and “Gender-critical” transphobes had now solidified into a full-blown collaboration; they had become one and the same. GC transphobes are now fully one with the people who ended Roe v Wade, who implemented abortion bans in parts of Eastern Europe, who opposed measures against domestic violence, who introduced “LGBT-free zones” in Poland, who now want to end bodily autonomy for trans people as well as women, who advocate the abuse and bullying of trans children and the de facto exclusion of trans people from society, and who systematically misrepresent us in the media. People who share this ideology ideology include <i>Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Marine Le Pen, Matteo Salvini, Tommy Robinson</i>, and of course <i>Vladimir Putin.</i></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The reality is that “gender-critical” transphobia is now a core far-right ideology to the extent that it regularly deploys terminology developed by the extreme right. “Gender Ideology” is a term that has been used for years by European fascists </span><span style="font-size: large;">(Bernini 2020)</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">campaigning against abortion </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>and women’s rights generally</span><span>, equal marriage and LGBT rights. What is clear is that</span><a href="https://thenewinquiry.com/from-gender-critical-to-qanon-anti-trans-politics-and-the-laundering-of-conspiracy/" target="_blank"> “gender-critical” transphobes have helped the extreme right with laundered rhetoric and credibility, </a><span>while the extreme right has funded the lavish campaigning activities of the “gender-critical” hate groups, something they would rather you do not know about. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So when New Statesman, deploys a headline that refers to the "trans question" it needs to be regarded as an important signifier. Whether it was done consciously or subconsciously in my view it needs to be seen as signifying support for the same kind of aims that organised antisemitism had in the 1930s. Indeed one only has to look at the "WHRC Declaration" (a description of the hardcore transphobes' preferred endgame) actually says. Trans human rights campaigner Katie Montgomery has summarised it here;</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRDnQtchFuHhxuy3cdgd-ZGpKxH-QQI0UV14WSoISciIZTWPbpKtfzB1bDUR8KXR4NcQbu-SG3hNdzl3FEhRS_Kd_Oa3kBKHYBTKSQ5Q3OihcfF1Egq7imtnSna6v2vWhPDaiKtkA3KhZmhtedGEzxEj-eEVBavn9HHwAf7UCyrMQYkUda9_XfSwXbzQ/s881/WHRC.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="881" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRDnQtchFuHhxuy3cdgd-ZGpKxH-QQI0UV14WSoISciIZTWPbpKtfzB1bDUR8KXR4NcQbu-SG3hNdzl3FEhRS_Kd_Oa3kBKHYBTKSQ5Q3OihcfF1Egq7imtnSna6v2vWhPDaiKtkA3KhZmhtedGEzxEj-eEVBavn9HHwAf7UCyrMQYkUda9_XfSwXbzQ/w640-h634/WHRC.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: large;">This obviously eliminationist list stops just short of concentration camps and gas chambers but its effect is necropolitical in the same extreme way, while also encouraging amateur conversion therapy (ie psychological torture) and child abuse directed at trans children. It is designed not only to make trans peoples' lives extremely difficult but also very dangerous. Imagining a society in which all these provisions were law would be to imagine a society with extreme and intrusive deployment of state panoptic power, systematic bullying and vigilante action that would ultimately harm considerably more cis women than trans people. The use of the term "trans question" by New Statesman in the light of this, becomes particularly sinister and worrying. <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgurR_YwlREmaG0ugEOitzNeYwQMg_IVXbAHpSJEbvIGAKnNIQDs7HWRIbIbhfTXS8H4Im-pi_KXkv3nBbsFQGCdzxqbEGcAl1Raj8z2Uzruai8Gjzce1DFbcV4gSmBPgXdq3_45ISpTGIdi8Z5nOC1ZdXIcFIxqgkTBnlfi3wmX0d8cbt_XxnY5RFKAQ/s216/SupremeScreenshot-220@2x.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="115" data-original-width="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgurR_YwlREmaG0ugEOitzNeYwQMg_IVXbAHpSJEbvIGAKnNIQDs7HWRIbIbhfTXS8H4Im-pi_KXkv3nBbsFQGCdzxqbEGcAl1Raj8z2Uzruai8Gjzce1DFbcV4gSmBPgXdq3_45ISpTGIdi8Z5nOC1ZdXIcFIxqgkTBnlfi3wmX0d8cbt_XxnY5RFKAQ/s16000/SupremeScreenshot-220@2x.jpg" title="Is this marketing claim by NS fraudulent? "Same old hogwash" would be more appropriate in the case of trans people." /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The NS's marketing claim. It obviously fails the "New Ideas" one, "Same Old Hogwash" would be more appropriate in the case of its reporting about trans people.</i></div><br /><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>On the fence about trans people's human rights still? Now is the time to pick a side.</i></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As I mentioned above one of the most widely-deployed tactics used by "Gender-critical" transphobia is that of "Mirror Propaganda", a technique that Jean-Pierre Chretien identified as being deployed widely during and just prior to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda (Chretien 2007, Mucchielli 1972). It involves accusing those you are trying to oppress of doing to you what you are, in fact, doing to them. The Silencing Myth is one such instance of Mirror Propaganda, however the more insidious and considerably more dangerous deployment of it is the fearmongering directed at trans people. Attempting to make people fear trans people is an item of Mirror Propaganda mindlessly regurgitated by the banal monetisation of hatred that the UK media (including New Statesman) engages in. In reality it is the “gender-critical” transphobes, through their ideological and financial collaboration with well-funded and financially generous far-right groups that constitute a threat to women, and a considerably greater one, moreover. Their collaboration with anti-abortionists, homophobes, racists, xenophobes, misogynists and ultra-nationalists is a threat to everyone but especially to cis women. The muted “gender-critical’ response to the destruction of Roe v Wade is very revealing in this respect. They don't want to alienate their sugar-daddies on the extreme right.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile<a href="https://news.trust.org/item/20220531092641-r2o47/" target="_blank"> evidence from countries like Argentina</a>, Ireland and parts of the US (Hasenbush et al 2018) where legislative equality for trans people in terms of self-determination, has already been in place for many years, has clearly demonstrated that trans people are no threat to cis women or indeed anyone. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>Their collaboration with fascism means that the same thing cannot be said of “gender-critical” </span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>transphobes. Their collaboration with fascists is a threat to everyone, but especially cis women, unlike trans people. </span><span>"Gender-critical" transphobes are a serious a threat to cis women and always will be.</span></span></p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Postscript: no comment required.</span></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzfGBr5YyLRK6dk1Ed9t8RrHODqG_1JFhetlJG4ZLEMRLKdMljsR_yw0tkRv96h5u8pTq9u3gvBDYDYSkVK1Gy6B5ccGWKvzi1KqruzFqGQLZ6HEJpgW95qYikSsy7cOF8aHctaXv_ZR4_jDukrG2wrWReFZGJbjqdY0TYfZ18a1pI6rhBle0qXdDYQ/s590/image_2022-07-17_104951661.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="590" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzfGBr5YyLRK6dk1Ed9t8RrHODqG_1JFhetlJG4ZLEMRLKdMljsR_yw0tkRv96h5u8pTq9u3gvBDYDYSkVK1Gy6B5ccGWKvzi1KqruzFqGQLZ6HEJpgW95qYikSsy7cOF8aHctaXv_ZR4_jDukrG2wrWReFZGJbjqdY0TYfZ18a1pI6rhBle0qXdDYQ/s320/image_2022-07-17_104951661.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>References</b></div><br />Ahmed, S (2016) An Affinity of Hammers. <i>TSQ</i> 3 (1-2): 22–34.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bernini, L (2020) <i>Queer Theories: An Introduction</i> Taylor & Francis Abingdon</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chretien, J (2007) RTLM Propaganda: The Democratic Alibi. In Thompson, A (Ed) (2007) <i>The Media and the Rwanda Genocid</i>e Pluto London<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Gleeson, J (2021) Judith Butler: ‘We need to rethink the category of woman’ <i><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210907130940/https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/sep/07/judith-butler-interview-gender" target="_blank">Wayback Machine</a></i> 7 Sept 2021 (Uncensored version of, Gleeson, J (2021) Judith Butler: ‘We need to rethink the category of woman’ <i>The Guardian</i> 7 September 2021)</div><div><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hasenbush, A; Flores, A & Herman, J (2018) Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: a Review of Evidence Regarding Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms, Locker Rooms and Changing Rooms. </span><i style="font-size: large;">Sexuality Research and Social Policy</i><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;">16, 70-83</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mucchielli, R (1972) <i>Psychologie de la Publicite et de la Propagande: Connaissance du Problem, Applications Pratiques</i> ESF Paris</span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><br /><p></p></div></div></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-17181769934510126382022-05-07T15:17:00.017+02:002022-05-07T18:17:23.344+02:00GCs and abortion: A Contextualisation.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpDCz3E0rx8z6-uxQtUhDPoRt7iZagvWfLbTtEUjwtE0L9yw4s1Kthk0Zem5uVj4VWrNZC9NkcSjo1s8oBAJnc3rQ3U-qT1-o5iGhNdFRBz98PrVQKvcgXE8AWRknLJxZ_Vx-t6PizitHklUxb96oDHa5HId7J3fttDHZ738DWiIO_4_fBgxlajYXeA/s680/Rowling%20lies.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="496" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmpDCz3E0rx8z6-uxQtUhDPoRt7iZagvWfLbTtEUjwtE0L9yw4s1Kthk0Zem5uVj4VWrNZC9NkcSjo1s8oBAJnc3rQ3U-qT1-o5iGhNdFRBz98PrVQKvcgXE8AWRknLJxZ_Vx-t6PizitHklUxb96oDHa5HId7J3fttDHZ738DWiIO_4_fBgxlajYXeA/w291-h400/Rowling%20lies.jpeg" width="291" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This article analyses and contextualises the tweet by JK Rowling in response to Katy Montgomerie's observation (left). It is worth analysing on a number of different levels, because it is more revealing than it appears superficially. And it certainly deserves to be examined closely because it stands out as one of the few times that a GC has expressed anything that can be construed as opposition to the horror being inflicted on people who can get pregnant in the US. <br /><br />The first thing to note is that it is three whole days late. Three whole days after the leak of the US Supreme Court's vile decision to effectively ban abortion in large swathes of the US. Why the delay? The effect of saying this now rather than last week is thus reduced suggesting bodily autonomy for people who can become pregnant is not a big deal for her.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2iNTtuCc_8AziHrZ7KADmqh7fptB7sLE4smVNcl8dcGDnFWOPMFQ6bBVwSB4dBwWuqtCASYFBYQWruYaEp6shsGBk5cUrS4d_K_8dw6iFmeQVNX2RPovzWRxbO7e-1pohpKLL3jyvdFT0srLn7uf8djdoUtCQOg0_81I-7jJV1Z7638Ql99RP3MJIw/s587/RvW%20Rowling.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="587" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE2iNTtuCc_8AziHrZ7KADmqh7fptB7sLE4smVNcl8dcGDnFWOPMFQ6bBVwSB4dBwWuqtCASYFBYQWruYaEp6shsGBk5cUrS4d_K_8dw6iFmeQVNX2RPovzWRxbO7e-1pohpKLL3jyvdFT0srLn7uf8djdoUtCQOg0_81I-7jJV1Z7638Ql99RP3MJIw/s320/RvW%20Rowling.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />Or maybe, rather than supporting the right to choose this is simply a defensive position...? The fact that few GCs, if any, have expressed anything at all about the horror represented by the cancelling of Roe v Wade, something that most trans people did instantaneously, and indeed warned about years before, is more than revealing. Part of the issue is, of course, that being pro human rights and pro bodily autonomy for cis people but then not being pro human rights and bodily autonomy for trans people is both a profoundly hypocritical and deeply cis-supremacist position. Indeed one of the features of the US feminists' responses to the Supreme Court's ruling has been specifically trans inclusive, recognising that some trans and non-binary people can get pregnant and that they deserve the right to choose abortion as well.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72mgQUfddcWfEmlv0lR6MZm4tl5Lb8O7DIHKr_FMiLqVhVz1cUj-HD7l6JFymQs1lSLfRRwy9ktYS9DnKWK0a_c_cMqPjFi5DuhIMF02M6YxP7EXPKcnamUatC3AvVa8Y-AzkSbsvfqAT9iT-SCjsJJaSL29B23DZRlJu8XZHfOYSpfUJcgT2DCCyVQ/s982/IMG_8150.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="965" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg72mgQUfddcWfEmlv0lR6MZm4tl5Lb8O7DIHKr_FMiLqVhVz1cUj-HD7l6JFymQs1lSLfRRwy9ktYS9DnKWK0a_c_cMqPjFi5DuhIMF02M6YxP7EXPKcnamUatC3AvVa8Y-AzkSbsvfqAT9iT-SCjsJJaSL29B23DZRlJu8XZHfOYSpfUJcgT2DCCyVQ/s320/IMG_8150.JPG" width="314" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />This is instructive because it contrasts the inclusive feminism of the US with the hate-filled faux "feminism" that UK GCs claim. It is also important because it comes on a day when numerous trans people have been elected as councillors in the UK local elections for the Green Party, the Lib Dems and the Labour Party, from Plymouth to Glasgow, demonstrating even further, that GC <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">transphobia</a> is very much a minority practice. <br /><br />However her claim that most GC transphobes would answer yes to these two questions is not justifiable. As Katy notes, in parliament there was recently a vote on whether to retain the telemedicine system for abortions that was set up during the pandemic, removing this would force pregnant people who need abortions to physically attend clinics. This served as a a particularly good test for GC transphobes as to whether they really support a woman's right to choose or not. Sadly out of the 9 GC MPs only one voted to keep it (Duffield), the others either opposed it (Badenoch, Bradley, Cates, Davies, Javid) or abstained (Doyle-Price, Truss, Cherry). In addition a GC peer (Baroness Nicholson), proposed a bill in the Lords to limit abortion. So her claim that "most" GCs oppose restrictions on abortion is obvious nonsense. Out of 10 GCs in parliament only one has actually supported not restricting access to abortion. Not a good average.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: #990000; font-family: courier; font-size: x-large;"><i><blockquote>"Out of 10 GCs in parliament, only one has supported not restricting access to abortion."</blockquote></i></span></blockquote></blockquote><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">However it goes beyond this and questions need to be asked about the way GCs have supported and received support from, the anti-abortion far right. The huge quantities of cash that have been pumped into the anti-gender movement in Europe by the US and Russian far right have almost certainly found their way to GC organisations. Let's face it, in the UK there are few other active destinations for such wads of rightwing cash at the moment. Whether by a kind of "performative ignorance" - not wanting to know where anonymous donations have come from - or pretend performative ignorance, the huge sums of money spent by GC groups on furthering their hateful ideology is obscene and indicates that support from the US anti-abortion, anti-equal marriage extreme right is behind much of their campaigning. It is significant that none of these hate groups has fully opened their books to show where financial support has come from.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSXS91NmXWGGPwHUkqA6zq1wcBIYnSYBPYohp2RpZhBV1chEeP2i41tXjZi9zduRYjPycoAg4SIKSDRMAuDp4wpB9jIOa00WOdGd7LgLng4ROzEf_v7jlAOm9xRqGRTVKyd-GSfMS1Sb58joSk3eAD5RTbHxAre1wltpZo5jpjz83CL2OqCImF-UwXDw/s578/SupremeScreenshot-150@2x.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="578" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSXS91NmXWGGPwHUkqA6zq1wcBIYnSYBPYohp2RpZhBV1chEeP2i41tXjZi9zduRYjPycoAg4SIKSDRMAuDp4wpB9jIOa00WOdGd7LgLng4ROzEf_v7jlAOm9xRqGRTVKyd-GSfMS1Sb58joSk3eAD5RTbHxAre1wltpZo5jpjz83CL2OqCImF-UwXDw/s320/SupremeScreenshot-150@2x.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />What is also a matter of record is that Rowling invited Julie Bindel (a regular speaker for Women's Place UK) to her recent expensive River Cafe do, yet it appears that Bindel is collaborating with anti-abortion Heritage Foundation member Jennifer Lahl. The fact that Bindel also writes for the far right publications, The Daily Mail and The Spectator is also not insignificant. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibYoH0_1CTt9uRbg_KOXQuD0Btqs39rYQQtnKOUoya2NHLLWsWAgEMt1YNvarcBOu2RsQRRoa19M1sY38K8eCYqkjk6R4p0pmX7rJ81vREZxUZ37NTNXvg3IERf1Z4h8_0zuQG8C6Ebnog5ppTaDT9KuQtvYyHDhXIRGz6JyibeGwVoTAP471SPqVqEQ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="800" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibYoH0_1CTt9uRbg_KOXQuD0Btqs39rYQQtnKOUoya2NHLLWsWAgEMt1YNvarcBOu2RsQRRoa19M1sY38K8eCYqkjk6R4p0pmX7rJ81vREZxUZ37NTNXvg3IERf1Z4h8_0zuQG8C6Ebnog5ppTaDT9KuQtvYyHDhXIRGz6JyibeGwVoTAP471SPqVqEQ" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So the involvement in GC activism and in particular funding for these groups from rightwing anti-abortion outfits like the Heritage Foundation suggests, at the very best, that these anti-trans groups have decided, either actively or passively, to take the coin of the anti-abortion far right as well as actively participate in writing for far right publications in the UK. <a href="https://thenewinquiry.com/from-gender-critical-to-qanon-anti-trans-politics-and-the-laundering-of-conspiracy/" target="_blank">Jules Gill-Peterson's observation that GCs are allowing the anti-abortion far right to launder their rhetoric</a> is also relevant here. The arguments deployed by Republicans trying to eliminate trans people come directly from well-known British GC transphobes. I would also add that this rhetorical laundering goes the other way also. The GCs are recycling rhetoric from the far right in Europe. Their repeated use of the phrase "gender ideology" (sometimes reworked as "transgender ideology"), for example, has been deployed by the extreme right in Europe for a couple of decades, and was deployed to silence LGBTQ+ academics when they shut down a Queer Studies conference in Verona University in 2013 (Bernini 2020).<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So contextualising Rowling's tweet in this way it becomes harder to see how this is anything other than a pretence. It needs to be further contextualised in relation to the far-right, anti-gender groups in Europe. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84OmLglqNIv1b7BhTiNCwRr-XXSwyeTA3afArealLczzp15L0owc2DqC8ToKGxAgI0O8BMa2ivoz4crQ22yFve8K6WkCotpVkEnNaCAcdAZp8H9LCFIMaOoNxk1CfAM97b54dv80Y-k1yTfc5NtSdBzVNGinG5c6iKwCyppRE5OeI7DnWddqxov9iig/s522/image_2022-05-07_071255687.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="522" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj84OmLglqNIv1b7BhTiNCwRr-XXSwyeTA3afArealLczzp15L0owc2DqC8ToKGxAgI0O8BMa2ivoz4crQ22yFve8K6WkCotpVkEnNaCAcdAZp8H9LCFIMaOoNxk1CfAM97b54dv80Y-k1yTfc5NtSdBzVNGinG5c6iKwCyppRE5OeI7DnWddqxov9iig/w400-h318/image_2022-05-07_071255687.png" width="400" /></a></div>Rowling's support for Caroline Farrow, an anti-abortion campaigner in the UK who works for CitizenGo, a far right Catholic anti-abortion astroturf group, <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/03/14/caroline-farrow-jk-rowling-trans-twitter/" target="_blank">is already well-documented,</a> suggesting her sudden commitment to abortion choice is less than skin deep.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But maybe every "liberal" has a far-right anti-abortion friend...?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What is an issue for GCs is this; either they are actively working for the misogynist, anti-abortion far right to the extent that they are indistinguishable from them, or they are turning a blind eye to the support they are getting in terms of cash and publicity from the extreme, anti-abortion right and pretending they are not, and through their actions, bolstering fascism in a way that is detrimental to women and others who may need abortions. Either way, while claiming that their campaigns against human rights for trans people are based on protecting women, they are supporting, taking money from, and working with far right anti-abortion campaigners.<br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpxALzCtxJ0wATFxrvlqL71LsL0cIwkQ9gQcbzwekgCNdwcAczp7JL0PqkUGr7rSXHPjeCm1Im4Q3vvhccaPCqhIeJSEj0kHlOXWpryFXNDBumcTcXhYtKbqKVeGfuorN3j-OXbe9DiZjhN7_PkXhzUE0UxUCEQ5OKf1HLBu00miKd01s4oM6ESIHh6Q" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjpxALzCtxJ0wATFxrvlqL71LsL0cIwkQ9gQcbzwekgCNdwcAczp7JL0PqkUGr7rSXHPjeCm1Im4Q3vvhccaPCqhIeJSEj0kHlOXWpryFXNDBumcTcXhYtKbqKVeGfuorN3j-OXbe9DiZjhN7_PkXhzUE0UxUCEQ5OKf1HLBu00miKd01s4oM6ESIHh6Q=w189-h320" width="189" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Like the Republicans in places like Texas, the far right has banned abortion in places like Poland and Hungary, (Graff & Korolczuk 2022) which have also introduced legal repression of trans people, in much the same way as GCs favour in the UK. Indeed it is clear that abortion bans and anti-trans oppression come from the same people, the far right. No wonder Vladimir Putin and Tommy Robinson support GCs in the UK. <br /><br />And the intent behind the Bell v Tavistock court case, needs to be included in this contextualisation. Not only was one of the lawyers acting for Bell a well-known anti-abortion campaigner in the US but as a result of this case the Tories are now proposing a policy of removing Gillick Competency. Removing Gillick will effectively result in under-16s having to obtain parental permission for any medical procedure, including abortion and contraception. This will inevitably result in adolescents in the UK being forced to carry babies to term against their will. Ultimately this will affect many, many more cis girls than trans and non-binary adolescents. More collateral damage from the GCs in addition to gender non-conforming cis women being attacked in toilets... Yum! The fact that Rowling did not protest against this proposal when it was mooted is very revealing indeed, and fully contextualises her tweet, an indication of its sincerity.<br /><br />However the second part of Rowling's tweet also needs to be examined because it is much more revealing about the state of media transphobia in the UK than it might appear. By suggesting that journalists ask the question about whether GCs support abortion access and equal marriage she is inadvertently admitting that journalists regularly communicate with GCs to the extent that they will be able to ask these kinds of questions. Journalists rarely talk to trans people, and then always in a hostile way that is almost always misrepresented in the final article. So this part exposes the one-sided nature of UK media transphobia. GCs get away with regularly writing low-grade, dishonest nonsense in mainstream media in the UK while outstanding, high-quality journalism from trans writers is effectively banned.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHPi1Uj_kTbuFzS8C8ZEIstq1JX1Jui-S-9b0pVpCoSwatpJNW_UDgpHZcXYWTegObZxU16Rkcr16EK-rkOddnAmnnZt9-lKtw6JlJGwovFC3hG05Q8IHjAwrFUyTUpApNP6wbdexIdbjgvuPs9ZzCxHwJi9yH2nhIaeVV9VxEYUHHRwFgqa2xoAdwRA" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1522" data-original-width="1074" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHPi1Uj_kTbuFzS8C8ZEIstq1JX1Jui-S-9b0pVpCoSwatpJNW_UDgpHZcXYWTegObZxU16Rkcr16EK-rkOddnAmnnZt9-lKtw6JlJGwovFC3hG05Q8IHjAwrFUyTUpApNP6wbdexIdbjgvuPs9ZzCxHwJi9yH2nhIaeVV9VxEYUHHRwFgqa2xoAdwRA=w225-h320" width="225" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div><b>Murdoch Times Hypocrisy</b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>While we are on the subject of the UK media and its support for GC transphobia, it is <b><i>very significant</i></b> that the deeply transphobic Murdoch Times came out with an editorial that supports the US Supreme Court's decision effectively ending safe abortion access for millions of people who can become pregnant. For a media platform that pretended to care about "women's concerns" etc while it provided a vehicle for their transphobic output, this further contextualises the complicit nature GC anti-trans activism in the UK. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But I'm going to leave the last word about this to the lovely Katy Montgomerie below, her observation about Turner, a GC Times Journalist beautifully encapsulates the way GCs operate...</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3pZS_5d3pEXBwPC6bj_e6sUMwV_ohY2XkGXDtL97YRH2PgZY9KpMOt38kNZim3FS5Ju-AIFaQOO_uVrdIcrXdsH2-FSmar3r3sBB9BGFVhOM8PbwSwWGine7Ss8TKDTOPEcTzvUu60hiRMIzISPH3VDXChzPUy9aaU6zclN0sjNmgyR7uJIQIU3pNxA/s557/image_2022-05-07_145446171.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="171" data-original-width="557" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3pZS_5d3pEXBwPC6bj_e6sUMwV_ohY2XkGXDtL97YRH2PgZY9KpMOt38kNZim3FS5Ju-AIFaQOO_uVrdIcrXdsH2-FSmar3r3sBB9BGFVhOM8PbwSwWGine7Ss8TKDTOPEcTzvUu60hiRMIzISPH3VDXChzPUy9aaU6zclN0sjNmgyR7uJIQIU3pNxA/w400-h122/image_2022-05-07_145446171.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">GC "journalists' and academics have lowered themselves to producing dishonest, unprincipled, fearmongering about trans people, with the aim of making trans people's lives more dangerous. In doing so they have lied and lied and lied, consistently producing untruth upon disinformation. Despite attempts at adorning their opposition to human rights for trans people with rationalisations and justifications linked to "feminism" (all of which have been comprehensively discredited) their collaboration,</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">whether explicit or tacit, </span><span style="font-family: arial;">with the far right to the detriment of all women and people who can become pregnant, demonstrates how the driver behind their transphobia is still fanatical hatred and nothing more. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So to be perfectly honest, personally I simply don't trust Rowling's claim to support safe and legal access to abortion. If she had used her social media platform to campaign against abortion bans in the way she has campaigned against human rights for trans people, it might have made a difference. Now her sudden pivot from anti-trans reactionary to abortion liberal at best rings hollow.</span></div><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Postscript</b></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTa5cbjVYt9bkdV0AX3MYsnrGk8aJRFBbsSfT9CtzXRJQ--kpNTmwmCp_7RUc2mb8pKRpG1C3bxIezK0hv9G70mQOmlEozGCrqj2NuOZXpqbrQhu5h4WEOfSsiWpoX0RGhhLQ8n4sQBeDYXHbCVala4ZZbAbUXUHAYrNgUixT3gXdjpuZKq7jaO2t9hg/s589/image_2022-05-07_162937335.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="589" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTa5cbjVYt9bkdV0AX3MYsnrGk8aJRFBbsSfT9CtzXRJQ--kpNTmwmCp_7RUc2mb8pKRpG1C3bxIezK0hv9G70mQOmlEozGCrqj2NuOZXpqbrQhu5h4WEOfSsiWpoX0RGhhLQ8n4sQBeDYXHbCVala4ZZbAbUXUHAYrNgUixT3gXdjpuZKq7jaO2t9hg/w640-h258/image_2022-05-07_162937335.png" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrG_GfTkSFwElbHlMq7Xu1IGWgrOAeZ5M2SfOMdYbPZs6G-VTc-FRhZMhmU0FELUTtDB3SgvsMxw6TJltI3yjsGL_E2wQ_XTiTzgyOiu-eimk0vOqH-dXf1cBRjcJ-z5eenlkwCe_Y_Fc7twVIaJPa5dGdzRCkX9Qls7dkejkajYrMnHEC5VUQe2Ogw/s621/image_2022-05-07_164749908.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="580" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrG_GfTkSFwElbHlMq7Xu1IGWgrOAeZ5M2SfOMdYbPZs6G-VTc-FRhZMhmU0FELUTtDB3SgvsMxw6TJltI3yjsGL_E2wQ_XTiTzgyOiu-eimk0vOqH-dXf1cBRjcJ-z5eenlkwCe_Y_Fc7twVIaJPa5dGdzRCkX9Qls7dkejkajYrMnHEC5VUQe2Ogw/w598-h640/image_2022-05-07_164749908.png" width="598" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>References</b><br /><br />Bernini, P (2020) <i>Queer Theories: An Introduction</i>. Taylor & Francis Abingdon</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Graff, A & Korolczuk, L (2022) <i>Anti-gender Politics and the Populist Moment.</i> Routledge Abingdon</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /><br /></span></p></div></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-9931529573238108422022-05-06T19:09:00.002+02:002022-05-06T19:30:32.892+02:00Transphobia is unpopular everywhere.<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> Today's elections have shown a somewhat mixed picture, with a hung parliament the most likely outcome. Labour have made big gains in London and the south, the Lib Dems and Greens have also made gains across the country and the Tories and Alba have had extreme setbacks, with the right-wing Alba Party getting no more than a laughable 274 votes in any ward.<br /><br />In other words the two most transphobic parties, the Tories and Alba, have lost while the three least transphobic parties have made gains. The Greens and the Lib Dems have each got an additional trans councillor and <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/05/06/labour-trans-councillors-kira-lewis-dylan-tippetts/" target="_blank">Labour now have two</a>. The most iconic and self-owning moment however came when an anti-trans troll had a go at vociferous trans supporting SNP councillor for losing her seat, only to be told she had lost her seat to a trans woman.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CZ9PmzUKryihjY4eih75zLTRVGhQCNrbriUeRQXjyrCfjKfpJvBS2W_y0BrA2U3D-ZNN_bZJ_1sGl7j-4BLcyHAw9-nkqlatRPLhKXoWv8M7qlwdxjldrQnQdjY3EpxsesXxwdI-_OAlT3RznFxysWB2vKVwvlLNBfceXldxHJ6VouJCGAup0CCNXA/s982/IMG_8150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="965" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_CZ9PmzUKryihjY4eih75zLTRVGhQCNrbriUeRQXjyrCfjKfpJvBS2W_y0BrA2U3D-ZNN_bZJ_1sGl7j-4BLcyHAw9-nkqlatRPLhKXoWv8M7qlwdxjldrQnQdjY3EpxsesXxwdI-_OAlT3RznFxysWB2vKVwvlLNBfceXldxHJ6VouJCGAup0CCNXA/w393-h400/IMG_8150.JPG" width="393" /></span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The attempt by the account @LynneKeys3 to suggest that somehow she had lost her seat because she is not transphobic backfired brilliantly and has already become a worldwide meme ridiculing GCs everywhere.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />The truth is that transphobia, is not as popular as the GC transphobes and the extreme right/transphobic media thinks it is. This also suggests that the Tories attempt to deploy transphobia as a weapon against Labour as part of its "culture wars" is going to be as successful as an Austin Allegro in a Formula 1 race. The figures bear this out, while a narrow majority of (mostly rightwing) men are still transphobic women break about 3:1 in favour of supporting trans people. <br /><br />What is clear is that, despite an astroturf campaign by the transphobic Daily Mail describing people who want nothing more than equal treatment for trans people as "extremists" the extremists are the transphobes. Their increasingly vicious and abusive campaign against human rights for trans people is demonstrating just how detached they and their right-wing media is from the real world. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2kV9_APEzgGKt3-orN2rz_dKBUwyh96DTkJV7bPrdXMUeQI1ImpdZZqsSEp3-dY99KqJddllv9CX6-XaZ9_y4jxHkwV6Gu_bRxPIawZzUadfhwMVlwww6r6OvL_s13n6uK8myX_mJTzttrSCbEoWUxfHNjgdvHUjQ3kCFLl-WzO_RitFSQozq06dOw/s968/IMG_7769.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2kV9_APEzgGKt3-orN2rz_dKBUwyh96DTkJV7bPrdXMUeQI1ImpdZZqsSEp3-dY99KqJddllv9CX6-XaZ9_y4jxHkwV6Gu_bRxPIawZzUadfhwMVlwww6r6OvL_s13n6uK8myX_mJTzttrSCbEoWUxfHNjgdvHUjQ3kCFLl-WzO_RitFSQozq06dOw/w265-h400/IMG_7769.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The transphobic media campaign against human rights of trans people has been almost hermetically exclusionary, with trans people rarely permitted to write articles, while so-called 'feminists' get to contribute dishonest drivel to extreme right-wing media platforms like the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and the Murdoch Times, as well as contributing to ultra-far right media like Unherd and Spiked. Jeffrey Ingold, monitoring the Times found that, in 2020 it published 324 articles about trans people, none of which were written by a trans person. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This skewed coverage in reality amounts to propaganda. The media has been mounting a right-ing propaganda campaign against trans people by excluding trans people from the media. Yet it has done this by also claiming that, somehow, trans people are 'silencing' transphobes, at universities and elsewhere. This is called 'Mirror Propaganda' and frighteningly it was deployed during and in the run-up to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fortunately here we have so far been luckier. Despite a tsunami of hate and disinformation from both the media and the right-wing funded hate-groups calling themselves "feminist" and claiming to act for "women" they have failed to win hearts and minds. <br /><br />So one has to ask oneself why, if their arguments against human rights for trans people are so good, do they need to exclude us, prevent us from speaking, writing articles and from challenging the hatred coming from these groups, and these "journalists"?<br /><br />The answer is particularly uncomfortable for these so-called "feminists". Their hate-fuelled campaigns have been used by the far right/media as an attempt at a wedge issue, to prepare for other nasties to come (exactly as trans human rights campaigners said would happen all those years ago). These rightwing media outlets have started to work towards things attacking the rights of people who can get pregnant to choose abortions. For trans people this is unsurprising.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYepQXT5rxfSswj0DxfoYN1_gRAKpD5s7msJiA06wwivDMFcOaPBx9SJKzS144KMfoqDhy5hIqVrPyjRAiZtfVbyUB0w8H1OndT3ACCJa_EWh0y5_8sLk1Y3_Kb_xZ5RT16yumxrSW5KxrniqGJ3r6BWp969sPNf4hKSmnO0RwXKYxcTdz6yDp3kv16A/s1522/Times%20abortion.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1522" data-original-width="1074" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYepQXT5rxfSswj0DxfoYN1_gRAKpD5s7msJiA06wwivDMFcOaPBx9SJKzS144KMfoqDhy5hIqVrPyjRAiZtfVbyUB0w8H1OndT3ACCJa_EWh0y5_8sLk1Y3_Kb_xZ5RT16yumxrSW5KxrniqGJ3r6BWp969sPNf4hKSmnO0RwXKYxcTdz6yDp3kv16A/w283-h400/Times%20abortion.jpeg" width="283" /></a></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">So it turns out that the rightwing media is not really that bothered about supporting the TERF hate-groups' transphobia but to use it as a wedge to campaign for abortion controls. The Murdoch Times does not care about "women's concerns" at all, it simply wants to draw some women into opposing abortion or distracting from all the other horrible things the Tories are doing, like taking away our rights and destroying our democracy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Fortunately these fanatical right-wing handmaidens are small in number despite such a one-sided campaign. This was underlined by the elections on May 5th. The bullying, abuse, disinformation, fearmongering and lies pouring out of these groups has just demonstrated their isolation and detachment from the real world, a real world which, fortunately, is not at all like them.<br /><br /></span></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-3674545647683325942022-04-23T16:47:00.003+02:002022-04-23T16:50:45.842+02:00News From Norway: Treatment for trans people in Oslo...<p><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 14pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><i>(Translated from The Norwegian from the NRK website </i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b><i>https://www.nrk.no/trondelag/helsestasjon-for-kjonn-og-seksualitet-_hks_-ga-beskjed-om-at-hormonbehandling-stopper-1.15921588</i></b></span><b style="font-size: 14pt;"><i>)</i></b></p><p><b style="font-size: 14pt;"><i><br /></i></b></p><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b style="font-family: Times; font-size: 18.6667px;">Halting scheduled treatment for transgender people</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Thursday evening, the Health Service for Gender and Sexuality (HKS) announced on Facebook that they have been told to stop giving hormone treatments.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"However we do not yet know what this means in practice," they wrote, adding that they would release more information when they had it.<br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">HKS is controlled to Oslo Municipal Authority and has patients under the age of 30 who live in Oslo. Last year, approximately 100 young people and adults with gender incongruence received sex-confirming hormones at HKS. Some were new patients, others they have followed up over the years. NRK has recently been working on the topic. On Friday morning, Oslo Municipal Council confirmed the following: “HKS has stopped giving sex-confirming hormones to new patients. The reason is a letter they received from the State Administrator earlier this year.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>People in the queue are affected</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are rumours on social media that 100 people are now losing the hormone treatment they receive at HKS.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That is not correct.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What happens to the around 100 who already receive hormones in HCC has not yet been clarified. Those who are primarily affected are those who are waiting to start on sex-confirming hormones at HKC.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- It is all these who have been in a long queue, who should finally get an hour now in the near future, who have been told that we will not do it anymore, says Lars Erik Hansen.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He is the district chief physician in Grünerløkka in Oslo. According to the municipality, there are about 50 people on the waiting list right now. 12 of them are under 18 years old.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Several complaints about HKS</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The state administrator in Oslo and Viken has recently received two complaints and one notice against HKS.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some of this comes via the national treatment service for gender incongruence at the National Hospital (Rikshospitalet). They believe HKS is not allowed to start treatment with sex-confirming hormones or puberty blockers.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NRK has been given access to a letter sent by the State Administrator to HKS in January. In the letter, they write, among other things:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"(...) only the specialist health service can prescribe the start of hormone treatment".</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The specialist health service in this field means in practice Rikshospitalet. The letter ends in a way that has led the City of Oslo to act:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The state administrator assumes that HKS will take notice of the feedback and organize its activities in accordance with this in the future."</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>The state administrator says they have not ordered a halt</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NRK has several times in recent weeks been in contact with the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken to find out what they mean by the letter. On Friday morning, we received a clear answer to one of the most important questions:</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- Have you ordered HKS to no longer start hormone therapy for new patients?</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- No, we have not done that, Hanne Fisknes wrote in an e-mail to NRK.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">She is section manager in the health department at the State Administrator for Oslo and Viken. But the senior district physician Dr Hansen says that the letter they received was an instruction that they must stop all hormone treatment.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Complete Confusion</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The district superintendent says there has been a lot of confusion, but that they must refer to what is written in the letter.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- What has happened is that we have been informed by the state administrator that only the specialist health service can initially prescribe hormone treatment, and we have chosen to follow those clear instructions, Hansen says.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">During the day, the municipality talked to the state administrator and make the decision to hold a meeting next week. There they will try to clarify what will happen in the future with the patients who are on the waiting list.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Norwegian Directorate of Health also held meetings internally on Friday. They concluded that they must have a new meeting where the state administrator and Oslo municipality are involved to talk about how the guidelines for gender incongruence are operated.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Response to the timing</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The fact that this became known on the same day that the government apologized for how homosexuals have been discriminated against and criminalized in Norway has led many to react angrily to this. On Thursday, it was 50 years since the gay ban was scrapped in this country.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- I think it is incredibly ugly and awkward, especially during such a celebration, to make negative interventions in the progress that has been made for transgender people's rights and treatment.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">That's what Christine Marie Jentoft, advisor at Fri (the Norwegian LGBT group) says. She emphasizes that she does not know specifically what will happen now.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i><b>- The Information is not clear. That really makes it even worse.</b></i></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- We will talk to politicians and take the matter very seriously. This has consequences for transgender people's lives, says Isak Bradley, leader of PKI (the Norwegian Patient Organisation for Gender Incongruence).</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last week, NRK published an article stating that there is great disagreement among the professionals who work with the treatment of young trans people. We have previously written that Sweden has tightened sharply on the medication of this patient group.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Will Continue to give puberty blockers</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The youngest people with gender incongruence should not receive hormones. Prescribing such medicines to children under 16 in Norway is not permitted. Some of the youngest patients receive puberty blockers - medicine that pauses puberty. The municipality interprets this to mean that HKS can still provide puberty blockers.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">HKS was not interviewed NRK, because they have been told that all communication with the media should go via the district superintendent in Grünerløkka.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Audit underway</b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><br aria-hidden="true" /></b></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At the same time as this has taken place, the State Administrator in Oslo and Viken has opened a supervisory case against HKS. This is based on complaints about medical treatment for children with gender incongruence. The City of Oslo has been instructed to review HKS's practice and provide an answer no later than the 13 May.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, EmojiFont; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">Translated from NHK News by Natacha Kennedy</div><p><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-42788657593272240072021-12-21T10:57:00.005+01:002021-12-21T18:47:42.656+01:00Opinion: Who is a "Stakeholder"?<p><i>Note: As always this blog uses the <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">TransActual Definition of Transphobia.</a></i></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYvOFcrlBG9zdS8ThsAdRoPgYj_-Rq2JHygRcq6m57SqBshNKjak637tAPNJsQXu1yvliY9e6Ryo32pC_BIReNnIjaCtRMmlnJ-2gBm5nNstdAX6hsAgYmrIP5m0YKaTaqqImI3gjtB9rFdqtE1GrNAzQLRQrI7zlFcf-ys1BFxkvwf8vWsUZEnDKniA=s512" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="512" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYvOFcrlBG9zdS8ThsAdRoPgYj_-Rq2JHygRcq6m57SqBshNKjak637tAPNJsQXu1yvliY9e6Ryo32pC_BIReNnIjaCtRMmlnJ-2gBm5nNstdAX6hsAgYmrIP5m0YKaTaqqImI3gjtB9rFdqtE1GrNAzQLRQrI7zlFcf-ys1BFxkvwf8vWsUZEnDKniA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans flag</td></tr></tbody></table>The Women and Equalities Committee’s (WEC) Report on Reform of The Gender Recognition Act, published today is both good in places as well as problematic. Firstly there is much it has left out including;</span><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">recognition for trans people who are parents to be declared the correct gender on the birth certificate of their children (something that will probably affect their kids more than them – who are more than likely to be cis) (Lott-Lavigna 2021)</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">the issue of those with family abroad, and who need to travel there, especially to countries where being trans might carry a heavy prison sentence (Peltier 2021, Barker 2021). How can they transition and avail themselves of any kind of genuine identification? Indeed this omission might be regarded as racist since it primarily affects those born abroad or whose parents were born abroad</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">non-binary recognition; something that has happened unproblematically in other jurisdictions (eg Gonzalez Cabrera 2021), begging the question of why it is so problematic in the UK.</span></li></ul><p></p><div><span style="font-size: large;">Secondly there are things it got wrong, the most obvious of which is its desire to have a definition of ‘sex’ that is different from ‘gender’, and for the EHRC to work on producing a definition of these terms. <br /><br />It describes these two terms as ‘conflated’ yet Judith Butler (1990) the foremost academic in this area asserts that ‘sex’ is always-already ‘gender’, ie in effect there is no difference. While Laqueur (1992) details how “sex” is a social construct that has changed over time, in the same way that transphobes claim gender to be. It is significant that this section of the report was where there was the least input from trans people, with only one, short quotation – disagreeing with the idea that there needs to be two such definitions. Like the terms “normally” and “usually” there is no difference in terms of everyday usage, it is only in specialist academic contexts (like sociology) where the difference is made. Externally imposing such a differentiation where none exists would only be used by ideological transphobes to harm trans people, and would always be contested. Not only that but the EHRC is institutionally transphobic – despite being in the process of working intensively on issues that will almost exclusively affect trans people it has never had a trans commissioner or any representative trans people involved in its internal functioning or decision-making. As such it cannot be regarded as trustworthy and it is failing to fulfil its duty to protect one of the smallest minorities in the country. Any such definition produced by the EHRC would need to be regarded as an imposition of transphobic ideology on trans people and it would thus constantly be contested by those most affected by it.<br /><br />What did it get right? Well it came down firmly on the side of self-declaration on gender at least, and is opposed to the ridiculous two-year Real Life Experience requirement. It also recommended that healthcare for trans people, something that is currently a disgrace to this country, be improved.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">*************</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The main initial problem I had with the report however is the term “stakeholders”. So it is at this point where it is appropriate to ask the question, who is a “stakeholder”? <br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: large;">If the inquiry were about improving recognition and provision for Muslims in the UK would they invite Tommy Robinson to take part as a "stakeholder"? If it were about safety and protection for refugees would it invite the vigilantes “monitoring” refugees attempting to come ashore in Kent or blocking lifeboats as "stakeholders"? If it were about ending homophobic discrimination would it want to obtain input from homophobic groups or individuals as "stakeholders"?</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYdMPEWapMfyaFlIcmd5BsSHGXoNPBweBUbkN9iyPdXTGwo98S_abBZkVCpLGTBaGV4veNb7b2CZhqQNrZtrcflG49JslfPDTO46p9NoBbW7En6he5mRlmrU9Q5WvidS_p8XQZApS29vrg1xH2qPrWABU-Jca8B5eK-Y70xVmf46A7DNuKTtpXiVkagw=s1293" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1079" data-original-width="1293" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgYdMPEWapMfyaFlIcmd5BsSHGXoNPBweBUbkN9iyPdXTGwo98S_abBZkVCpLGTBaGV4veNb7b2CZhqQNrZtrcflG49JslfPDTO46p9NoBbW7En6he5mRlmrU9Q5WvidS_p8XQZApS29vrg1xH2qPrWABU-Jca8B5eK-Y70xVmf46A7DNuKTtpXiVkagw=w400-h334" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans eliminationism: WHRC "Declaration"</td></tr></tbody></table>So how come individuals with a fanatical ideological opposition to trans people’s existence were invited to contribute to this inquiry? How are people who do not want trans people to exist at all somehow “stakeholders”? At least one of the people whose words were quoted in the report has signed the <a href="https://sandraduffy.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/" target="_blank">“WHRC Declaration” </a>and many of the groups that contributed appear to have members or supporters that have signed it. This declaration effectively constitutes a statement of intent to eliminate trans people, as Sandra Duffy (2021) notes in her interpretation of it;</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><blockquote>“…the Declaration is attempting to do is put forward a case for the elimination of ‘gender identity’ from human rights law, and it is then possible to extrapolate from that, that the document would happily see all legal protections removed from trans people.” </blockquote><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: large;">She also describes it as; </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><blockquote>“…clearly a call for the denial of recognition to trans women, based on spurious notions of biology and a strange conflation of sex/gender, sexual orientation, and parenthood…”</blockquote></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">In effect the WEC appears to have taken taken evidence from people who adhere to an extreme ideology that wants to eliminate trans people. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">So on what planet can anti-trans activists be considered “stakeholders”? Of course there are groups and individuals who have attempted to claim that reforming the Gender Recognition Act to include self-declaration of gender somehow constitutes a “threat” to cisgender women. Yet there is considerable evidence that this is not the case, including Hasenbush et al (2018) as well as a huge, and growing number of jurisdictions where self-declaration of gender already exists and where no significant problems have been experienced;<i> Pakistan, California, New York, New Jersey, Mexico City, Uruguay, Denmark, Belgium, Malta, Iceland, Norway, Argentina, Portugal </i>and<i> Ireland</i> to name but a few. If this is the case how come “gender-critical” groups constitute “stakeholders”? They have no case to argue. Should those wishing to be considered stakeholders not be required to provide evidence that they have a stake in the inquiry beyond that of having an ideological desire to eliminate trans people?<br /><br />In the same way that the “gender-criticals” have failed to make the empirical case for them to be genuinely regarded as “stakeholders” they have failed to provide any genuine empirical evidence that there are any dangers at all from self-ID, while trans people can point to the hundreds of millions of people who live problem-free in jurisdictions where self-ID is already established. </span></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">It is therefore not unreasonable to question whether those “stakeholders” contributing to the inquiry are doing so in good faith. From my experience of engaging with or monitoring the output of those who describe themselves as “gender-critical”, something I have been doing as part of my trans human rights advocacy for nearly two decades, I have never encountered any “gender-critical” individual who has ever acted, or argued in good faith. Ever. (Sharpe 2021, McLean 2021, Nolan 2021, Parsons 2020) <br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: large;">In my view one prime example of this disingenuousness is when "gender-criticals" complain about the “toxic debate” while it is the anti-trans side that has made this debate toxic not trans people. It is the anti-trans side that has had access to the media, to the almost total exclusion of trans people and our allies (Lothian-McLean 2021). It is the media that has monstered trans people and misrepresented us on an industrial scale, both as a group and as individuals. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Some "debate". </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">How on Earth do the “gender-criticals” expect trans people to respond in such circumstances? <br /><br />“Yes we’re happy for you to monster us, misrepresent us, abuse us, talk about taking away our rights and to exclude us from that debate…”? <br /><br />Obviously unrealistic.<br /><br />Not only that however, but it is those who “question” self-identification who are the ones who make assertions about trans people without evidence, preferring instead to engage in fearmongering, whataboutery and flinging legal threats around left, right and centre to silence us while dishonestly claiming we have silenced them. Perhaps they could explain how, when the “gender-critical” side has produced, and endorsed a document that seeks to eliminate trans people, has joined forces with actual fascists (Graff and Korolczuk 2022, Archer & Provost 2018, Kuhar & Paternotte 2017, Gill-Peterson 2021), and has been attacking us, sometimes violently, since the 1970s (Williams 2020) it is trans people who are somehow the ones causing the “debate” to be toxic. When you have people like Trump, Bolsonaro, Orban, Putin and assorted European and American fascists on your side of the argument, there can be no argument, your side is the one making the “debate” toxic.</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_3xs7YEdeeEm2CsZ8vmefORyz967Y73FI-Yzy6sprJTHdoKFjCM_fV0qsY0wpAR1sHSFHWielkV83Q2NTViUcKYIvxQ-nvr9C8h8CG7Nr-2-uDGh8h1CXgBChtjkI--y86e1TH7MPhPkO3PbrtdRFRRM53pBox9ZmVB4tyupCSfV4GcLsFlbB5nkyPg=s1581" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1581" data-original-width="1314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_3xs7YEdeeEm2CsZ8vmefORyz967Y73FI-Yzy6sprJTHdoKFjCM_fV0qsY0wpAR1sHSFHWielkV83Q2NTViUcKYIvxQ-nvr9C8h8CG7Nr-2-uDGh8h1CXgBChtjkI--y86e1TH7MPhPkO3PbrtdRFRRM53pBox9ZmVB4tyupCSfV4GcLsFlbB5nkyPg=w333-h400" width="333" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judith Butler's words censored by the Guardian </td></tr></tbody></table>As Judith Butler got <a href="https://discourseblog.com/guardian-judith-butler-transphobes-censorship/" target="_blank">censored by the Guardian</a> for observing, “gender-criticals” are also dishonest about their affiliations, relying on support, financial and otherwise from the hard right. Something underlined by the regular articles by "gender-criticals" in media like the Spectator and the Daily Mail, both regarded as news outlets that propagate quite extreme right-wing views (in the case of the Spectator for example it has supported <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2013/07/23/spectator-mag-neo-nazi-golden-dawn-just-good-patriotic-greeks/" target="_blank">actual neo-Nazis in Greece</a> more than once). Their links to the hard right, their monstering and unempirical claims, their abuse and exclusion of trans people from the media are what has produced the toxic debate. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoOIprp0PmZdRo5yB0dYkg-uQpxTHCjQ4qUb4kUxtRgOH1sCLzp1kHwit7-bQTEbSO1ooBVVBE0g92kU-QCcF7E-VmjTqrJZ4v5YD0xI3eZEq2StN7LBJIUfMnrB0NP9F4sSreINmvOke0JkdkgnI29PD2KrOdwDqrQ60JTqNMgEqNRV0O42uGAV9Bqw=s599" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="599" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgoOIprp0PmZdRo5yB0dYkg-uQpxTHCjQ4qUb4kUxtRgOH1sCLzp1kHwit7-bQTEbSO1ooBVVBE0g92kU-QCcF7E-VmjTqrJZ4v5YD0xI3eZEq2StN7LBJIUfMnrB0NP9F4sSreINmvOke0JkdkgnI29PD2KrOdwDqrQ60JTqNMgEqNRV0O42uGAV9Bqw=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Spectator supporting Nazis</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This is for several reasons;<br /><br />a) because while claiming to voice “reasonable concerns” they have behaved abusively towards us,</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">b) because they have engaged in persistent illegitimate attacks on trans people, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">c) because of their links with the hard right and the way they have supported and enabled fascism, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">d)because their ultimate aim is to eradicate us and </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">e) because they have not come close to justifying their right to be regarded as stakeholders. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">Ultimately campaigning against trans people’s human rights and access to resources is one of the most </span><a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" style="font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">transphobic</a><span style="font-size: x-large;"> things you can do. If they are arguing that trans people are making a debate “toxic” by calling transphobia transphobia then they are simply trying to silence us. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />In my view the most fundamental thing that the committee got wrong is the definition of "stakeholder". By considering them "stakeholders" the committee, at least in this respect, has taken sides. "Gender-criticals" have consistently had no case against updating the GRA to include self-ID and it shows. This is why ultimately they can only focus on tangential issues like complaining about the tone of the "debate". We need to reconsider what the term “stakeholder” means. The desire to eliminate a group of people does not, in my view make someone a “stakeholder”. Quite the opposite in fact. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>References</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Archer, N & Provost, C (2018) Christian right and some UK feminists ‘unlikely allies’ against trans rights. <i>OpenDemocracy</i> 18 Oct 2018</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Barker, A (2021) Malaysian transgender entrepreneur Nur Sajat fled her home, family and business in fear for her life. Now she's safe in Australia. <i>ABC News Australia</i> 22 Oct 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Butler, J (1990) <i>Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.</i> Routledge New York</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Duffy, S (2021) <i>An International Human Rights Law Analysis of the WHRC Declaration</i> https://sandraduffy.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Gill-Peterson, J (2021) From Gender Critical to QAnon: Anti-Trans Politics and the Laundering of Conspiracy. <i>The New Inquiry </i>13 Sept 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Gonzalez Cabrera, C (2021) Argentina Recognizes Non-Binary Identities. <i>Human Rights Watch</i> 22 July 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Graff, A & Korolczuk, E (2022) <i>Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment</i>. Routledge New York</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Hasenbush, A; Flores, A & Herman, J (2018) Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: a Review of Evidence Regarding Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms, Locker Rooms and Changing Rooms. <i>Sexuality Research and Social Policy </i>16, 70-83</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Kuhar, R & Paternotte, D (2017) <i>Anti-gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality.</i> Rowman and Littlefield Lanham MD</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Laqueur, T (1992)<i> Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud.</i> Harvard University Press Cambridge Massachusets </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Lothian-McLean, M (2021) Judith Butler’s Censorship by the Guardian Shows Who’s Really Being Silenced in the Fight for Trans Rights. <i>Novara Media </i>14 Sept 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Lott-Lavigna, L (2021) UK Trans Man Must Go Abroad to Be Legally Recognised As Father of Second Child. <i>Vice </i>20 October 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">McLean, C (2021) The growth of the anti-transgender movement in the United Kingdom: The silent radicalisation of the British electorate. <i>International Journal of Sociology </i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Norris, S (2021) Far-Right Co-option of the Transgender Rights Issue. <i>Byline Times </i>30 September 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Parsons, V (2020) The ‘gender critical’ feminist movement is a cult that grooms, controls and abuses, according to a lesbian who managed to escape. <i>Pink News</i> 17 May 2020</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Peltier, E (2021) Cameroon Sentences Transgender Women to 5 Years in Prison. <i>New York Times</i> 13 May 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Sharpe, A (2021) Review of Helen Joyce’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality (London Oneworld 2021) PP311 RP: £16.99; and Kathleen Stock’s Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (London: Fleet, 2021) pp312 RP: £16.99. <i>Critical Legal Thinking</i> Oct 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Williams, C (2020) The ontological woman: A history of deuthentication, dehuamnization and violence. In Pearce, Erikainen and Vincent (Eds) (2020) <i>TERF Wars: Feminism and the fight for transgender futures</i> Sage London</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-92222149797930446712021-11-08T14:25:00.004+01:002021-11-08T14:36:59.509+01:00"Gender-critical" transphobes: The 'debate' has moved on... to them.<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KSjKXbVjECX3vkJyYRvX_oscxburFa8xzjVuVNUbf9WnWsAcsc-xt-YHOaudhA8nrWVepRzyDiPgLqldjRj6xbDofHATlq0Ogt6EeUf6K6V8CoLlds000MSIxoIG88r3b8db7mW8Je1E/s1600/IMG_5808.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KSjKXbVjECX3vkJyYRvX_oscxburFa8xzjVuVNUbf9WnWsAcsc-xt-YHOaudhA8nrWVepRzyDiPgLqldjRj6xbDofHATlq0Ogt6EeUf6K6V8CoLlds000MSIxoIG88r3b8db7mW8Je1E/s320/IMG_5808.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The rightfully-angry furore over the BBC’s dishonest transphobia has had to highlight the appalling actions of the UK’s ‘public service’ broadcaster in painting a target on trans people’s backs while also targeting its hate-mongering at Brazil. Brazil is the country where the largest number of trans people are murdered. This can only be regarded as a terrorist act by the BBC, and one for which the Director-General, Tim Davie must ultimately be held accountable. Stochastic terrorism is still terrorism, just in a more cowardly form.</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">However these atrocities must not be allowed to obscure or distract from the hypocritical behaviour of the Guardian in this war of the media establishment against trans people. The Guardian has repeatedly published endless yawn-inducing editorials and comment pieces complaining that trans people will not ‘debate’ transphobes. Yet at the same time the <a href="https://eoinhiggins.substack.com/p/the-guardian-tries-to-intimidate"><span class="s1" style="color: #dca10d;">Guardian has attempted to legally threaten Eoin Higgins</span></a> into taking down his criticism of<a href="https://eoinhiggins.substack.com/p/the-guardians-censoring-of-judith"><span class="s1" style="color: #dca10d;"> the Guardian’s transphobia</span></a> and it has also censored part of an article by Judith Butler which suggested that ‘gender-critical’ transphobes are enablers of fascism. These constitute a pretty transparent attempt to position ‘gender-critical’ transphobes as somehow ‘reasonable’, a ridiculous implication given its increasingly well-documented links with fascism and their <a href="https://sandraduffy.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/?utm_source=pocket_mylist" target="_blank">clear genocidal eliminationist agenda</a>.<br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEMnSPMLfVKz5LoFXCsiJ-UimvVHsaivTb8r6MFZMvaZyJ4SnZ54pBlxRr0R1bxz37v871mM3c2wh_N44le9id3A28RTwmjqX8mfPuOlr9bIxkP9f-OrE1O4n2TuXKilifDhuOQGN1YIZ/s2048/IMG_6009.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNEMnSPMLfVKz5LoFXCsiJ-UimvVHsaivTb8r6MFZMvaZyJ4SnZ54pBlxRr0R1bxz37v871mM3c2wh_N44le9id3A28RTwmjqX8mfPuOlr9bIxkP9f-OrE1O4n2TuXKilifDhuOQGN1YIZ/s320/IMG_6009.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Let us be clear, the Guardian is being totally dishonest here, and the cabal that dominates its senior management has revealed its hypocrisy. Of course hypocrisy is not exactly an alien strategy to those campaigning to eliminate trans people, particularly through their abuse of media power, but these are breath-taking double-standards nonetheless. If the Guardian transphobes were in any way sincere about ‘debate’ then they would platform trans people to put our perspective by asking us to write articles in the Guardian. They write articles hypocritically lamenting the absence of debate yet they have it in their power to platform trans writers campaigning against the kind of transphobia that they support. So until the Guardian starts platforming campaigners for trans rights on a regular basis it has no right to lament the lack of debate. Articles in newspapers are where “debate” is, not pointless slanging-matches with dishonest and bad-faith hate groups who want us wiped off the face of the Earth.<br /><br />The Guardian transphobic cabal also needs to recognise that the ‘debate’ they say to want has moved on, and the BBC propaganda article is a manifestation of this. The fact that, after more than a year of research, its author could not find any credible sources to support her assertions is in itself evidence that the claims of the ‘gender-critical’ transphobes are without basis in fact. Just like all the other claims made by organised transphobia have been shown to be false, from ‘ROGD’ to safety in toilets.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsio-CqTSCPcBYoGhtkOTslpyLXUCseH1VMknr41Ri7B3u9TWfvdUhx63MXCADQYQ_hcm5__V1RHnKM-CCxuBU-JAD5aC08Tp0y-kSiATzNDluBuUOfsRFy5mfHujZ_UqJsTHerHbmv51Q/s800/erased.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsio-CqTSCPcBYoGhtkOTslpyLXUCseH1VMknr41Ri7B3u9TWfvdUhx63MXCADQYQ_hcm5__V1RHnKM-CCxuBU-JAD5aC08Tp0y-kSiATzNDluBuUOfsRFy5mfHujZ_UqJsTHerHbmv51Q/s320/erased.jpeg" width="256" /></a></div>The ‘debate’ such as it is, has firmly moved on to the subject of the transphobes themselves, Organised transphobia is now where the debate is focussed; its dishonesty, the motivations of those who propagate its hate-mongering, the strategies those who platform it use and the links between “gender-critical” transphobia and the extreme right. This is where the debate is now, and surprisingly, the transphobic community is suddenly reluctant to engage in that debate, even when it is within their power to platform trans liberation campaigners. The trans and gender diverse communities have some excellent writers, like Gemma Stone, Mallory Moore, Paris Lees, Freddy McConnell, Roz Kaveney, Ugla Stefania, Laurie Penny, Juno Dawson, Shon Faye, Cristan Williams, Jane Fae, CN Lester, Grace Lavery, Julia Serano, and of course Judith Butler, to name but a few. Yet just one ‘silenced’ anti-trans campaigner gets more mainstream media time in just one weekend than all these people together in a year.<br /><br />Of course the transphobes still control the media so it is likely that they will continue to pretend they are being silenced, repeatedly and dishonestly, while actually silencing trans people. They need to be called out on this. Pretending we will not debate them, while simultaneously denying us the opportunity to speak, is par for their course. It is not just the BBC that is prepared to trash its reputation for integrity in order to peddle transphobic hate, the Guardian has obviously long decided to jettison its main selling point in order to join in with a hateful, vengeful, dishonest and murderous media consensus that dominates mainstream media.</span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><br /></span></div><br /><p></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-45661380818612459192021-10-10T13:11:00.001+02:002021-10-11T08:00:57.400+02:00IPSO: Individualising complaints as a distractor from the systemic abuse of media power.<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have to admit to not being a fan of IPSO. In my view IPSO was established to protect the interests of the owners of large mainstream media platforms, who own them in order to manipulate public opinion. It is a fig-leaf of accountability which enables its widespread abuses of power. Since 2017 trans people in the UK have been subjected to a tsunami of transphobic output from mainstream media, from the Times and the Spectator to the Guardian and the BBC. IPSO has stood by and allowed this to happen, but that is its role, it is performing its function perfectly for the media organisations that fund it. So forgive me if I don’t regard anything that IPSO has to say, to be worth taking notice of.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJ379eALrRKJ0_Xzggn0arXcBv42VlZ42Lxy8X5dHu1OxikkUKaERxb127JvhkIeXzk04jekMkzA1TGnzFsflPuTVJTp8EiT7XUiw2PVSd7cirukAyXBwU-kCH0W3mz112GBhjluqAtYw/s2048/June+2.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpJ379eALrRKJ0_Xzggn0arXcBv42VlZ42Lxy8X5dHu1OxikkUKaERxb127JvhkIeXzk04jekMkzA1TGnzFsflPuTVJTp8EiT7XUiw2PVSd7cirukAyXBwU-kCH0W3mz112GBhjluqAtYw/w200-h200/June+2.jpeg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">That is until someone showed me <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/blog/ipso-blog-how-clause-12-discrimination-works/?fbclid=IwAR0dlO__16k0IsrXq89I7P0W_-bf6I1_Gadb6FpR1x8almBf10Sj5Q_UwMo&utm_source=pocket_mylist" target="_blank">this blog by John Buckingham, IPSO’s Complaints Officer,</a> published in 2018. It supposedly explains how something called “Clause 12” of the IPSO code of practice works. And it is, in my view, one of the most dishonest things I have seen by IPSO. It makes clear that people who are members of minority groups cannot be discriminated against by the media as individuals, but it permits discriminatory action by the media against any minority group, as a group. Buckingham then explains why this is appropriate, because the media needs to have the freedom to platform “diverse opinions, even if we disagree with them” and justifying this as part of living in a democratic society. He suggests that people can find these articles “hurtful, distressing, unpleasant or infuriating”. This is of course a misrepresentation of reality. In reality transphobia targeting trans people is all these things but it also has consequences beyond trans people’s hurt feelings. It has real-life consequences in terms of violence against trans people, which has increased exponentially since the media’s hate-campaign started, and it has potential consequences as the media attempts to effect political changes in the UK that would make trans people’s lives much more dangerous still, and which would effectively exclude us from participation in civic society, hold down jobs, travel and even socialise with others. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">These are the consequences of media misrepresentation that trans people are concerned about, the way Buckingham characterises our responses as purely emotional, based on seeing opinions we find distasteful misrepresents trans people’s real, and real-life concerns at the very real consequences of the media’s transphobic output.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHk1jRW5HBDKizo9z6kS7v4uANVCJ6bCLIigit-cL7Y09U4DFw81Kp933EhWmzSj0O3jpOAdwkqBbXUIx2oAfSi3DVVV9mz6hard-5ADl99mclDKdVQGWEkuWxjduxLtjLQQJjsl7wbDi/s1227/Ingold.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="1227" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzHk1jRW5HBDKizo9z6kS7v4uANVCJ6bCLIigit-cL7Y09U4DFw81Kp933EhWmzSj0O3jpOAdwkqBbXUIx2oAfSi3DVVV9mz6hard-5ADl99mclDKdVQGWEkuWxjduxLtjLQQJjsl7wbDi/s320/Ingold.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">However that is not the worst thing about Buckingham’s blog, the real problem I have with it is that it distracts from the real issue, indeed it glosses over something that is glossed over in IPSO’s “Code of Practice” for editors. The issue for trans people is that the media has been engaged in an extremist four-year campaign against trans people and the way that campaign has been actioned. The media has relentlessly pursued a hate-campaign against us which has lasted for almost half a decade and which has been both one-sided, dishonest, inaccurate, and designed to make people hate and fear trans people. The media has also virtually hermetically excluded trans people from being able to respond. As Jeffrey Ingold, who monitored these things for Stonewall, has demonstrated, the Murdoch Times published 324 articles about trans people in 2020, none of which were written by trans people. So the media is not merely engaged in a long-term campaign of disinformation about us, but is refusing to allow trans people to respond or put our point of view. Having complained about us somehow ‘silencing’ transphobic academics, it has been engaged in a campaign of silencing itself, targeting us with almost total exclusion from mainstream media. This is the situation in pretty much all mainstream media platforms, with few exceptions.<br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">The problem is the way IPSO’s Code of Practice for editors has been formulated and is deployed by IPSO. It is designed to focus complaints entirely on individual articles rather than the totality of a media platform’s output. So when <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-pulls-trans-toilets-article-after-accuracy-complaint/" target="_blank">IPSO upheld a complaint </a>about the Murdoch Sunday Times reporting about toilet access nothing beyond the actual article was criticised. This is obviously absurd. The Murdoch Sunday Times, like its sister paper the Murdoch Times, had been (and still continues to be) publishing huge numbers of articles with an anti-trans bias, either by selection or framing. To ignore this is to performatively fail to notice a herd of elephants in the room and a school of whales in the swimming pool.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT002YrRrbbN4avKJOwi5yi_p4xogDT4PFDA6oH7ssId3tvAHni7X0TvJiWk_6OBUO228TO2-pTljyTXogtIkYhXowGILV-UUY5LF_dgQyU9dmXspp60OWC-Oeve5Zi76a-AayuzD0C16-/s2048/June+1.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT002YrRrbbN4avKJOwi5yi_p4xogDT4PFDA6oH7ssId3tvAHni7X0TvJiWk_6OBUO228TO2-pTljyTXogtIkYhXowGILV-UUY5LF_dgQyU9dmXspp60OWC-Oeve5Zi76a-AayuzD0C16-/w200-h200/June+1.jpeg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">This is the issue, complaints are individualised, they can only be made about individual articles, rather than the totality of a media platform’s output over time. This is obviously absurd and wrong. For it not to be possible to raise the issue of the massive, biased and exclusionary coverage of trans people that has lasted nearly five years now, and which by any measure constitutes an abuse of power, is an injustice that, quite obviously IPSO is set up to distract from. The issue of discrimination against a minority as a group is, in many ways, less important than the totality of coverage over time, especially when the media platforms who are engaged in targeting that minority, are systematically excluding members of that group from responding equitably or indeed at all. The issue is that trans people are hermetically excluded from speaking about, and commenting on, the torrent of disinformation, fabrications and outright lies about us. The media “trans debate” excludes trans people. This hermetic exclusion over a lengthy period of time has, in effect, normalised these exclusionary practices such that they are not even noticed in other areas also. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">It is not just this that is the issue at the level of individual media platforms however, when almost every media platform in the UK, from the Guardian to the Spectator has an identical editorial policy as regards trans people, then the issue is not merely about an abuse of power over an extended period, by individual media outlets, but the abuse of power by the media as a whole. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqoRQOZoNWdK5woVYI0o0kJZjId4qjoUy_1GeL5Rwd7vQRbc7Ea_Rw3Y6-tMZ2-2mcbl34mhd-4980nsFdMtlhdAp2DvxuId4w53fR1KeMvChKL309FsgopVuVRMHn5en-jZNpNZo5no4j/s1170/What%2527s+App+Journos.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1170" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqoRQOZoNWdK5woVYI0o0kJZjId4qjoUy_1GeL5Rwd7vQRbc7Ea_Rw3Y6-tMZ2-2mcbl34mhd-4980nsFdMtlhdAp2DvxuId4w53fR1KeMvChKL309FsgopVuVRMHn5en-jZNpNZo5no4j/s320/What%2527s+App+Journos.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />Given the confirmation that anti-trans “journalists” are collaborating covertly to coordinate this transphobic output across media platforms, this is a very real issue. If, as seems to be the case at the moment, every media platform has the same policy of anti-trans “journalism” with a hermetic exclusion of trans people, then there is a systemic problem. When Buckingham justifies the targeting of trans people as a group by arguing that it is about “Hearing diverse opinions, even if we disagree with them in the strongest possible terms, is part of living in a democratic free society.” Where are the opinions of trans people being platformed in the media John? Where is the diversity when every major mainstream media platform, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainability/cp-scott-centenary-essay" target="_blank">even the one that markets itself as an alternative</a>, has an identical output about us?</span><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">By focussing on individual articles, IPSO is distracting from the real issue; the huge, oppressive, exclusionary and discriminatory abuse of power that is the function of the UK media as a totality. Until we have a way of holding the media to account IPSO is nothing more than an enabler of this hegemonic and autocratic power without accountability.</span></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-67108468819290853612021-07-20T15:45:00.006+02:002021-07-21T16:58:37.325+02:00Gender Apartheid: Jess Philips and The Murdoch Times<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet; font-size: large;"><i><b>"...</b><b>those who oppose trans people having access to the facilities consistent with how we identify know that all the things they claim don’t actually happen. It’s really about us not existing — about erasing trans people.”</b></i></span></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Laverne Cox</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Background</span></b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jess Philips is a Labour MP who excludes murdered trans women from the list of women murdered by male violence. She also tweeted recently implying that a cis woman charged with murder was a 'man' (which is transphobic dogwhistle for trans woman). When it was confirmed that the murderer (who has since been convicted) was indeed a cis woman, Phillips deleted her tweet but did not issue any correction.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Media Platform</span></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AstEw2-560RyGiXL_5UgE27Yj3K0jifNkwKBpm8Ye_e-wWIilXENIJxkKJDoWPFjsTgIwr5aGja_xBLriwcYr24dHEvKVv0qF4cP-TU5l5x-le0q2voP82rzc74UNj7tOuVediFwXd_G/s1227/Ingold.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="1227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AstEw2-560RyGiXL_5UgE27Yj3K0jifNkwKBpm8Ye_e-wWIilXENIJxkKJDoWPFjsTgIwr5aGja_xBLriwcYr24dHEvKVv0qF4cP-TU5l5x-le0q2voP82rzc74UNj7tOuVediFwXd_G/s320/Ingold.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">At the weekend Labour MP Jess Philips gave an interview to the most transphobic organisation in the UK; The Murdoch Times. The Murdoch Times is a Trans-Exclusionary Media Platform (TEMP), it has published literally hundreds of articles about trans people while systematically excluding trans people from either contributing articles or responding to the misleading disinformation that constitutes the bulk of the Murdoch Times' output about trans people. The fact that she has chosen to do an interview in the Murdoch Times is significant. It means she is unlikely to have what she says given any serious critique, it also means that trans people are very unlikely to be able to respond. When you choose to talk about trans people in the Murdoch Times you are practising 'freeze peach'; ie. the ability to say what you want without being held to account for it. Although this is the case for most of the TEMPs in the UK it is particularly true of the Murdoch Times. So we should not kid ourselves that she is attempting, despite carefully constructed appearances, any kind of reasonable, dialogue. Speaking to any TEMP is inherently trans-exclusionary. It is shouting <i>at</i> us, not talking <i>to</i> us.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>What did she say?</b></span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I do not buy The Murdoch Times, indeed I am very careful to ensure that no TEMP receives</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> any of my money (I have not had a TV for some time - and not missed it TBH, indeed I feel much better informed than when I used to watch the BBC News), so I am basing this analysis on a photo that has been circulating of the print version and quoting directly from that. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">First what <i>appears</i> (and I mean <i><b>"appears"</b></i>) to be 'good'; "But I think that if somebody identifies as a woman, I should refer to them as a woman." Sounds good superficially, but to suggest anything else would be to fall foul of the Forstater judgement, which is clear that misgendering constitutes abuse and harassment. So here all she is really doing is complying with the law. What she says here is also something that needs to be understood in the light of what she says in the next paragraph. Her exclusion of murdered trans women from the roll-call of murdered women brings to mind how actions speak louder than words. She is critical of the need for trans people to live 'in role' for two years before we can change our birth certificates. An easy target, one can live 'in role' as a butch woman for example, and one not inconsistent with the ideology of 'gender-critical' transphobes who try to make what they call 'transgenderism' all about roles and little else.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the 'good' is not exactly good, but the rest is <b>really bad;</b> 'But now some activists (sic) blur the distinction between sex and gender, claiming a trans woman is female. "Well of course she's not."' this part contextualises her earlier comment about referring to a trans woman as a woman. In essence she is telling everyone that whenever she refers to a trans women as "she" she is not being sincere. Lovely. Indeed the whole interview is full of bio-essentialist ideology, the worst of which is, "My womb is more political than any other part of my body." something that needs to be contextualised and deconstructed.</div></span><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It needs to be deconstructed because is exposes her political alliances of her opposition to trans rights as deeply problematic. The reason wombs are politicised is because people on the extreme/"Christian" right have made them political, or more specifically made being pregnant political, through their campaigning against bodily autonomy for women and people of other genders. Here Phillips' use of the passive is important. It obscures </span><i style="font-family: arial;">the people doing</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> the politicising. Why has she used this choice of words? Because the people who are campaigning to deny women bodily autonomy are the exact same people who are also campaigning to remove and restrict, not just trans people's bodily autonomy but our human and civil rights as well. Let's face it, the bio-essentialist ideology she is expressing is the bedrock dogma that underpins organised transphobia, whether extreme right transphobia or 'gender-critical' transphobia, or, as is increasingly the case as we have seen at the </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jul/18/dozens-arrested-in-los-angeles-as-anti-trans-protest-outside-spa-turns-violent" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">WI Spa in Los Angeles</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, an active - and violent - coalition of the two. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqk3kB1Z2usGulEtmwks5-UKMlyd3KKXKU8EliuJK7dYbvJe_MQ9GfLIDU0SYOqNomVhXaJDrhiWo5E-Vxr7kQZLiVd69FLfr8rv_-5vqct7prTvguXQcb1YRXciCNUJrOZ1o1pprsb2nl/s275/trump.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqk3kB1Z2usGulEtmwks5-UKMlyd3KKXKU8EliuJK7dYbvJe_MQ9GfLIDU0SYOqNomVhXaJDrhiWo5E-Vxr7kQZLiVd69FLfr8rv_-5vqct7prTvguXQcb1YRXciCNUJrOZ1o1pprsb2nl/s0/trump.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the <a href="https://transsafety.network/posts/bell-v-tavistock/" target="_blank">people who are campaigning against human and civil rights for trans people are the same ones who are campaigning against women's bodily autonomy</a>, funding, covertly the 'gender-critical' transphobic hate groups as well as campaigning against human rights for cis lesbians, gay men and bisexual people. You can read more about this rightwing-funded anti-gender campaign in <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/anti-gender-campaigns-in-europe/roman-kuhar/david-paternotte/9781783489992" target="_blank">Kuhar and Paternotte (2017)</a>, but you don't have to look far to see how places like Hungary, Poland and the ultra Trump-ist Midwestern states in the US are opposing or criminalising abortion and, at the same time campaigning against the rights of all LGBTQI+ people. And let's face it, if you are on the same side as Trump in any 'debate', you are on the side of the oppressor.</div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Gender Apartheid for Trans People, Lesbians and Bisexual Women</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">However one of the most problematic points she came out with is this, something that has been given little analysis, possibly because of the way it was (cleverly) phrased; "Having specialist services for LGBT or male victims of domestic abuse is totally brilliant and legitimate." We need to be clear about what she is proposing here; separate rape crisis and domestic violence support for lesbians, bisexual woman and trans people lumped in with those for cis men. This needs a bit more emphasis; <b><i>she is actually proposing that cis lesbians, bisexual cis women and trans women are treated separately from straight cis women.</i></b> She is also saying that trans women should be forced to use services that are predominantly used by cis men. This truly gives lie to her fine words about referring to trans women as women. Here she is effectively referring to us as 'men' by proposing we should be forced to use men's domestic violence services. The fact that she is also proposing to force cis lesbians and bisexual woman to use these services also, makes her proposal not simply transphobic but homophobic, lesbophobic and biphobic also. It is clear that she consults regularly with representatives of organised transphobia but from this it is obvious she has not consulted with any representatives of LGBT people.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The rest of what she talks about is the usual guff about trans women in prison, which has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/09/transgender-woman-jenny-swift-prison-death">been debunked</a> <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2015/10/why-has-trans-woman-tara-hudson-been-sent-all-male-prison" target="_blank">more times</a> than<a href="https://twitter.com/JaneFae/status/1276115728886792192?s=20" target="_blank"> I've had hot dinners</a>. Par for the course anti-trans propaganda in TEMPs, the discrediting of which I do not need to go into here.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>Implications</b></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">No-one should be under any illusions where Phillips stands on trans people's rights, she is deeply embedded with the 'gender-critical' transphobic groups, who are now inextricably intertwined with the extreme right and its Anti-Gender campaigns across Europe and around the world. She has taken the side of Trump, Orban, Bolsonaro and Rowling. Her views are no different from the multitude of dubiously-constituted and opaquely-funded transphobic hate groups splashing their rightwing dollars and hatred like confetti around the UK with the aim of poisoning the air for trans people. She is no friend to trans people, she wants to impose gender apartheid for trans people, dressed up in dishonest, faux positive, sales rep language. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">Her main policy objective is to <b><i>force</i></b> trans women and some non-binary people, lesbians and bisexual women to use men's domestic violence services. The operative - but deliberately unstated - implication is characterised by the terms <b><i>force, compulsion, restriction</i></b>. No wonder she chose the most TEMP-y newspaper of all in which to guild her language. Labour MPs talking about trans people in the Murdoch Times should never be trusted.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>BTW;</b><br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9DR4yDRKH0qLhYiBmNOv66X1W3KB2VtF90GLc1WIcrGSMz4UCboB7UgwEhaqq2l5M7TVuaVhbmfzTodjBc92nN5Mt7h9XAKZQ2E8t6ZRaE9xa8ItIjxxO6jySX3LDlvh4TO_VZewWtwY/s436/thumbnail_IMG_4975.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9DR4yDRKH0qLhYiBmNOv66X1W3KB2VtF90GLc1WIcrGSMz4UCboB7UgwEhaqq2l5M7TVuaVhbmfzTodjBc92nN5Mt7h9XAKZQ2E8t6ZRaE9xa8ItIjxxO6jySX3LDlvh4TO_VZewWtwY/s320/thumbnail_IMG_4975.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; text-align: left;">This is a photo of Jess Philips reportedly taken at a garden party held by The Spectator, another Trans-Exclusionary Media Platform. <br /><br />The Spectator is not just a far-right wing, TEMP news platform ("news" is perhaps the wrong word for it), it is so far to the right that it supports a group known as Golden Dawn, in Greece. <br /><br />Golden Dawn are not just any old far-right <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4q-Nn95sMpFYN8PnDxySeeKYiH9NXI0tieLPSRCi4giLaLUPEo0PV3PNvmVI_192LU5jQnzmLX3dl-trTRjzmoShlpbg41cY15ZYPRKmOgx5ooIaCpPUvx-u6paaOZ5Qa15UgeKpbw-b/s599/Golden+Dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4q-Nn95sMpFYN8PnDxySeeKYiH9NXI0tieLPSRCi4giLaLUPEo0PV3PNvmVI_192LU5jQnzmLX3dl-trTRjzmoShlpbg41cY15ZYPRKmOgx5ooIaCpPUvx-u6paaOZ5Qa15UgeKpbw-b/s320/Golden+Dawn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>group, they are actual Nazis. Some of their members were recently convicted of being Nazis. They deleted the articles but not before screencaps were obtained.<br /><br />Not that these things are related necessarily of course.<br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-44183331928934930292021-06-06T18:03:00.043+02:002021-06-16T19:12:03.319+02:00No Longer Sacred...<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: times; font-size: x-large; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-align: start;">"A newspaper is of necessity something of a monopoly, and its first duty is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its soul it must see that the supply is not tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred. “Propaganda”, so called, by this means is hateful. The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard. Comment also is justly subject to a self-imposed restraint. It is well to be frank; it is even better to be fair." </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><br />CP Scott, The Guardian 5 May 1921</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-size: 17px; font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The famous quotation by CP Scott, The Guardian's well-known and inspirational editor at its centenary in 1921, that 'Comment is free but facts are sacred' has been used by its most recent editorial teams as its selling point. In that sense it is marketing itself differently, indeed in opposition, to the corporate media like the Murdoch Times, The Barclay Telegraph and the Rothermere Mail, it is marketing itself as honest, serious and respectful of the truth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sadly it is now failing CP Scott's famous founding principles badly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This article argues, with reference to CP Scott's founding principles, that the Guardian, in particular its reporting of trans people, is such that it is now little different from those other titles, purchased by their owners for the explicit purpose of spreading their ideological propaganda. The senior management of the Guardian has adopted a strongly anti-trans stance not merely in the three articles that form the basis of my data analysis here, published on the 4th, 5th and 6th of June 2021 but on many other occasions in the preceding five years. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><b><u>First up however: Stonewall is right</u></b><br /><br /><b>Before going any further with this deconstruction of the Guardian's transphobia there is an important item that needs to be highlighted. Stonewall's advice about the Equality act is 100% correct. Indeed it was reinforced very recently as correct in the high Court and supported by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, a group that is no friend of trans people. This hasn't stopped the media referring to the <a href="https://eloisefreya.wordpress.com/2021/06/07/the-reindorf-report-where-its-wrong/" target="_blank">Reindorf report</a> as though it were correct and Stonewall was not. The media has deliberately ignored this fact about Stonewall and it is attacking this group dishonestly. "Journalism" this selective is an abuse of media power.<br /></b></i></span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></i></p><p><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>This is quite a long article, but it is important to foreground this central fact, because the way the media has reported on this constitutes a coordinated attack on Stonewall and is exposed as dishonest by this omission.</b></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It is important that the above is emphasised because if you read the mainstream media, particularly the Guardian, you would find nothing at all about the fact that Stonewall has been completely vindicated on this and that Reindorf found badly wanting. With the honourable exception of the Independent, it is as if a censor has issued a notice preventing any reports about it from being published. But it is the transphobic editors of these mainstream news platforms in the UK that have done the censoring. Not some government edict; it is the news media that is systematically censoring a story to the extent that what it does publish about Stonewall is dishonest and inaccurate, all because the facts don't fit its transphobic editorial policies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">One final point before embarking on my data analysis; it is to note about all three articles. All were written by cis people, none of them even cited any trans people, and none interviewed any. This speaks volumes more than all the words in all these articles combined. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Increasingly the Guardian is;<br /><br />cis people,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">writing about trans people,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">quoting and interviewing transphobes,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">but not talking to, or even citing, trans people.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Trans people are truly Othered, we are the objects of everyone else's hatred and "debate". The Trans "debate", is one that excludes, and silences trans people. When a "liberal" newspaper descends this far it no longer deserves to survive.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><p style="color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><u>Who's Silencing Who? - Mirror Propaganda</u></b></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Long a hobby-horse of the Guardian, it has engaged in repetitive propagandising to the effect that, somehow, trans people are "silencing" transphobes. Transphobes are frequently found to be complaining about this; indeed they they complain in the Times, the Mail, the Telegraph, on the BBC, in the Spectator, everywhere including the Guardian. This reminds us once again of Prof. Sara Ahmed's observation about the nature of UK media transphobia, especially in the Guardian;
</span><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><blockquote style="color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span>"</span><span><span style="background-color: transparent;">Whenever </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">people keep being given a platform to say they have no platform, or whenever </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;">people speak endlessly about being silenced, you not only have a performative </span><span style="background-color: transparent;">contradiction; you are witnessing a mechanism of power." (2016)</span></span></blockquote><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: large;"></span></span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />There is a name, however, for this mechanism of power; "Mirror propaganda". Mirror propaganda is characterised by Prof. Jean-Pierre Chretien (2007) as the act of accusing others of what you yourself are doing to them. The systematic and hermetic exclusion of trans people and allies from the media is thus smokescreened by the constant accusations that we are somehow 'silencing' transphobes (or 'gender-critical </span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0f1419;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AstEw2-560RyGiXL_5UgE27Yj3K0jifNkwKBpm8Ye_e-wWIilXENIJxkKJDoWPFjsTgIwr5aGja_xBLriwcYr24dHEvKVv0qF4cP-TU5l5x-le0q2voP82rzc74UNj7tOuVediFwXd_G/s1227/Ingold.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="1227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2AstEw2-560RyGiXL_5UgE27Yj3K0jifNkwKBpm8Ye_e-wWIilXENIJxkKJDoWPFjsTgIwr5aGja_xBLriwcYr24dHEvKVv0qF4cP-TU5l5x-le0q2voP82rzc74UNj7tOuVediFwXd_G/s320/Ingold.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: #0f1419;"><br />feminists' as the Guardian likes to describe them). The Guardian has made it its mission to do this for many years</span></span><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and endlessly repeats these smears in puff-pieces for those willing to aid this Mirror Propaganda Effort</span><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Yet these articles are, as Ahmed argues, ultimately <i>self-discrediting</i>. The mere fact that they are being made in mainstream media, and repeatedly, means that those making them are not being silenced. </span><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0f1419;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point it is instructive to return to the words of CP Scott from 1921, where he describes propaganda as hateful. And let us be very clear here, the Guardian, by engaging in Mirror Propaganda, is engaging in the "hateful" propagandising that Scott so despised. Yes, you read that right, the "liberal" Guardian is engaged in a hateful propaganda war against one of the country's smallest minorities. Despite celebrating its double centenary with huge dollops of CP Scott, the Guardian has made the decision to abandon his ideals and indeed the ideals of most people who contribute to the Guardian, in favour of hate propaganda. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: medium; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Guardian has become what it markets itself in opposition to; it has become the Murdoch Times, The Rothermere Mail etc. It has become a tool of oppression, it has a clear editorial policy of excluding trans people while uncritically platforming transphobia.</span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><u>Casual Misrepresentation</u></b></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT8x_xULgNiebB6p2Bi9G9yxCW_mBKkln6SpjI7EM-H-RSuBH5W1AK1sAoGVykVhTFXThyphenhyphenADr2axHiwkoP6snlBAK2thnTZYYB2HGDwiJoh0dirIi1KyCn6GU6ZVNUEMXCAvjAON8MiDu/s482/SupremeScreenshot-2%25402x.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="137" data-original-width="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT8x_xULgNiebB6p2Bi9G9yxCW_mBKkln6SpjI7EM-H-RSuBH5W1AK1sAoGVykVhTFXThyphenhyphenADr2axHiwkoP6snlBAK2thnTZYYB2HGDwiJoh0dirIi1KyCn6GU6ZVNUEMXCAvjAON8MiDu/s320/SupremeScreenshot-2%25402x.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />This brings me to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/04/gender-critical-feminist-charged-over-allegedly-transphobic-tweets" target="_blank">dreadful article by Libby Brooks</a> which starts by presenting this assumption; that there is a clash between 'free speech' and 'trans rights'. This is included as an assumption and not even argued. When your paper actively engages in Mirror Propaganda, it is an argument you cannot enter into, especially since it is so palpably false. It is a frequently-used, and less than honest, journalistic technique, including something in an article in a way that makes it appear so obvious that you don't have to argue it - because if you did argue it, it would quickly be exposed as bogus. There is a lot more I could go into to pull this grubby piece of propaganda-masquerading-as-journalism apart but I haven't got the spoons, so I would recommend <a href="https://twitter.com/graceelavery/status/1400830753852768258?s=20" target="_blank">Prof Grace Lavery's Twitter thread</a> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">about it. (Incidentally it is telling that, while transphobia is freely and uncritically platformed in the mainstream media, trans people are largely restricted to Twitter, their own blogs and some alternative media sites). </span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pOheI8ti8g2rTI9S-zMy_ddfSeCgiPiqj77Pn3yh0mvjVnqqopBICEbePQc7WyJAWq-2rds3w-4wmM8QSm3sdqwDOY14VEH6NoM4a-ErxQsmUubr0l3RMVHWMMlAZnVcQiPsqCBaLDsH/s592/Christine.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pOheI8ti8g2rTI9S-zMy_ddfSeCgiPiqj77Pn3yh0mvjVnqqopBICEbePQc7WyJAWq-2rds3w-4wmM8QSm3sdqwDOY14VEH6NoM4a-ErxQsmUubr0l3RMVHWMMlAZnVcQiPsqCBaLDsH/s320/Christine.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />At root this article is an example of the kind of biased reporting about trans people we have become used to in the Times, Telegraph, Mail and Spectator. It was not only a non-article, saying nothing of import, it was, yet again, an attempt to replay the Guardian's favourite - and oft-repeated - dishonest line that trans people are somehow silencing "Gender-critical feminists" - or transphobes as they are more accurately known. By using the term "gender-critical feminists", the Guardian is manifesting its bias, it has obviously taken sides from the outset. Professor Grace Lavery of the University of California gives a more realistic characterisation to this euphemism;<br /><br /></span><p></p><p></p><blockquote><span><blockquote><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“Gender critical feminists” is the self-aggrandizing name adopted by a group of vicious, hateful trolls, whose work primarily consists of baselessly smearing trans women as perverts, pedophiles, and rapists."</span></blockquote></span></blockquote><p> </p><p></p><blockquote style="color: #0f1419; font-family: -apple-system, system-ui, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><p style="color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">By choosing this euphemism it is clear which side the Guardian has chosen, and it is not on the side of fairness or self-restraint.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: arial; font-size: large; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u><b>Siddique's Guardian Editorial</b></u></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To return to the issue highlighted at the top of this article, the wholesale and ongoing misrepresentation of Stonewall's (100% correct) advice on the Equality Act. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/05/stonewall-trans-debate-toxic-gender-identity?fbclid=IwAR0HcgyxTKi9bSKQpaxIQmf0kxeUB25PUsFi4BXiAiklGdDxD7Uo-9XTPoo" target="_blank">Haroon Siddique's piece </a>was an example of how this misrepresentation is constructed.<br /><br />This is how Siddique introduces the issue, after repeating great deal of material from transphobes;<br /><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGdQDnWt1sLvzmMZ6vUyNGD47GGTERQMuN7ksMbBhUO2K6_oOU39OvKYQzjHHs2EWpQWVTLSMqbJtA6_E3q7q4vgYjByBDYi4lCdXv-0tLuQrGCMyEc5wlOXWzFyJmHc0vjitHgd1KtAG9/s615/image_2021-06-06_123951.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="615" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGdQDnWt1sLvzmMZ6vUyNGD47GGTERQMuN7ksMbBhUO2K6_oOU39OvKYQzjHHs2EWpQWVTLSMqbJtA6_E3q7q4vgYjByBDYi4lCdXv-0tLuQrGCMyEc5wlOXWzFyJmHc0vjitHgd1KtAG9/w640-h298/image_2021-06-06_123951.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Note that he omits the bit about the High Court's vindication of Stonewall's position and the fact that the Equalities and Human Rights Commission supports Stonewall in this as well, which I needed to emphasise at the start of this article. This is how Siddique reported that part; </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">she was “confident” about Stonewall’s advice with respect to gender identity, saying it had recently been reaffirmed in the high court." </span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Note that this part was completely separated from the first section about Stonewall's interpretation of the law, it appeared, decontextualised, near the end of the article and was in reported speech with quotation marks around "confident" to make it look as though it was an opinion rather than a verifiable fact. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dire Journalism, effective propaganda.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><u><b>Grubby journalism</b></u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Guardian has shamed itself and grossly undermined its own credibility in the way it has misreported and misrepresented trans people and Stonewall. The techniques it has used are the same as those used in the Rothermere Mail or the Murdoch Times or almost any other UK newspaper. </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It engages in Mirror Propaganda, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It deliberately misrepresents trans people,</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It published false assumptions in place of arguing the issue,</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It engages in selective reporting to the point of dishonesty</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It excludes trans people and our allies from putting our side to the story, </span></li></ul><p></p><p></p><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It is perhaps the last of these that is most significant with reference to CP Scott when he said; </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>"The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard."</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></span></div><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"></ul><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Yet it is obvious that trans people are regarded as the enemy by the editorial staff of the Guardian, but the exclusion of trans people from this "debate" is a betrayal of everything the Guardian stands for. This is the Mirror Propaganda that The Guardian has engaged in in the last few years, and has reduced itself to the level of the gutter press. It complains that trans people are somehow "silencing" transphobes, while all the time it is silencing trans people, systematically and hermetically sealing us out. This is not merely a betrayal of the Guardian's raison-d'etre and its USP, it is a betrayal of the cause of a free press and freedom of speech in general. The Guardian used to be different from the rest, now it has just joined with the rest. And if the Guardian is no better than the Times or the Mail when reporting this issue how can the rest of its output be relied on any more?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><u><b>Silencing Trans People</b></u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/06/stonewall-risks-all-it-has-fought-for-in-accusing-those-who-disagree-with-it-of-hate-speech" target="_blank"></a></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwpYSOns2MogTv2l7bhwnKS8y4XTLT_ucFNCMvxxFUdbtRxyFa1V3WKUsXsmQ1_vesMdmTuWTG9EEcAmuKIFqHYvFI0-pOaRb3aG9KBfzoADzq49F8fIvg1UCinHKwcGt67a03xswklwP/s1157/thumbnail_IMG_4548.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="1157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwpYSOns2MogTv2l7bhwnKS8y4XTLT_ucFNCMvxxFUdbtRxyFa1V3WKUsXsmQ1_vesMdmTuWTG9EEcAmuKIFqHYvFI0-pOaRb3aG9KBfzoADzq49F8fIvg1UCinHKwcGt67a03xswklwP/s320/thumbnail_IMG_4548.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />In the third problematic article in the Guardian this weekend Sonia Sodha effectively reports the current demands of organised transphobia and it is clear that its principal <i>current</i> demand (although it has many others that it keeps hidden) is that trans people and our allies should stop calling transphobes transphobes. Well let me make one thing absolutely clear to Ms Sodha; the Guardian, the Mail, the Telegraph, the BBC, the Times and the Spectator have demonstrated that they will do whatever they can, and engage in whatever illegitimate abuse of their power to silence trans people....</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b>But they will <i>never</i> stop me from calling a transphobe a transphobe. </b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxU5GObfJCNJODrZPSX-7qpti8ZNw9fsjE-GMK8VUvpJKZ4dmoDp7LfbZhyNRWSgOb_IZ65Xaq8bMOMFb0DGV7v2Rca_DE9yl0tRhGKaYsa6yVGc08RYSy6HsH1XldxcM7GpffYoE3WnF/s1242/thumbnail_IMG_4545.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="1242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrxU5GObfJCNJODrZPSX-7qpti8ZNw9fsjE-GMK8VUvpJKZ4dmoDp7LfbZhyNRWSgOb_IZ65Xaq8bMOMFb0DGV7v2Rca_DE9yl0tRhGKaYsa6yVGc08RYSy6HsH1XldxcM7GpffYoE3WnF/s320/thumbnail_IMG_4545.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />You might not think it from reading the UK media but trans people - notionally in the UK at least - have a right to freedom of speech also. Even in the face of systematic, biased and dishonest attacks in the media, you will not silence me. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">You can jail me and I will continue to call out transphobia. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">According to the</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Transactual Definition of Transphobia</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">- the most widely accepted and respected one - if you are campaigning to remove trans people's human rights, whether or not your transphobia is shrouded in a subtle veneer of "feminism" you are a transphobe. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">End of. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Anyone who engages in transphobia deserves to be called out as a transphobe, however middle-class and however politely that transphobia is expressed. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">And if she thinks any oppressed minority should somehow meet its oppressors halfway she really has no understanding of history and no understanding of trans people. I will <i><b>never</b></i> negotiate with people who ultimately want to make my life impossible, who want to eradicate me and who want to reduce me to the status of pathologised non-person. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Perhaps she means we get to choose the wallpaper in our cells, maybe we get to decide the cut of our prison guard's uniforms or the shade of pink triangles we are forced to wear...? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">While repeating the Guardian's usual Mirror Propaganda guff about transphobes being silenced, Sodha's article also engages in the same dishonesty-by-omission that similar articles in the Times, the Guardian and the Telegraph have manifest this last week; she leaves out the vital information that Stonewall's representation of the Equality Act is 100% correct. Does she have no self-respect as a journalist?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What needs to be made crystal clear at this point, even though it is not made explicit in the article, is that the main aim of <i>project transphobia</i> as itemised in Sodha's article is to exclude trans women and some non-binary people from using the appropriate toilets, therefore forcing us to consequently risk assault, rape or worse every time we need to go. Organised transphobia is making this demand despite the fact that there is no evidence whatsoever that cis women are any less safe in women's toilets as a result of trans women using them. None whatsoever. Indeed there is actually a peer-reviewed piece of research (Hasenbush et al 2018) that evidences that women are no less safe when trans women use the ladies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In effect the project Sodha characterises is one which (while making cis women no safer) aims to exclude trans people from society by making life considerably more dangerous for us. Campaigning to exclude trans people from civic life, from work, from political engagement while placing us in greater danger of assault, rape or murder <i>is</i> transphobia. There is no other term for it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><u><b>Quality of the Transphobes' Case.</b></u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In conclusion, it seems to me that one of the most important things about the arguments put forward by organised transphobia is that it is desperate to protect its followers from counter-arguments. The one thing it wants to avoid is for its case to be subject to any kind of critique or scrutiny. This is why it engages in the kinds of illegitimate exclusion of trans people from the media that is observed everywhere in UK mainstream media. Its case cannot withstand even moderately critical examination, it cannot withstand counter argument and it certainly cannot withstand contact with verifiable facts. <br /><br />If the transphobes have to exclude trans people from the media, if they have to engage in dishonest, selective journalism, if they have to engage in bad-faith arguments, misrepresentation and Mirror Propaganda techniques, then that says a great deal about the deficiency of their case. It is a case that must be extremely weak and its arguments terminally fragile in the face of even vaguely competent critique. If today's Guardian journalists have to betray the legacy of a once-respected 200-year-old media platform like the Guardian, trashing its credibility, their arguments must be ruinously feeble. The "unclouded face of the truth" as CP Scott put it, has suffered a considerable wrong in the Guardian's reporting about trans people and Stonewall, and its supply of news about us is as tainted as it can be. <br /><br />Yet trans people should, bizarrely, take some heart from this, ultimately the transphobes at the Guardian are selling their souls because they hate us so much and destroying their once-respected rag in the process. Organised transphobia cannot engage in any kind of debate with trans people or our allies on anything like even terms, so it has to exclude us hermetically. So let us be clear, organised transphobia has worked itself into a frenzy of obsessive, fanatical hatred, the kind of enmity that has a history of exposing its devotees as corrupt, morally bankrupt, fraudulent and deceitful hypocrites. This is the only way to explain how senior staff at the Guardian can betray their heritage to engage in this kind of oppressive and exclusionary behaviour. <br /><br />This leads me to my final observation; their case is indeed so feeble that they want to have trans people banned from calling out transphobia. While accusing us of silencing them, they are calling for us to be prevented from exercising our legitimate freedom of speech. Yet one of the most important manifestations of free speech (possibly <i>the </i>most important) is the right of oppressed minorities to criticise their oppressors. History has demonstrated, time and again, that, in times of repression this is one of the first manifestations of free speech to go. Once again trans people are the canaries in the coalmine; the right of trans people to call out transphobia may well be more precious than you might think.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">POSTSCRIPT:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Just after publishing this I came upon <a href="https://www.brandwatch.com/reports/transphobia/?fbclid=IwAR3vuJFECB8dskkwHzO99hmTjQ8KnFSFqHSzcelROdzX3JCUXzLMx62hTL8">a data analysis by Brandwatch</a> which found that, in the 3 1/2 years up to the end of 2019, 15% of all social media traffic in the UK and US was transphobic. This is the situation trans people have been living under. for a long time. Mainstream media, like the Guardian is, in large part, responsible for this.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><b>References;</b></u><br /><br />Ahmed, S (2016) An Affinity of Hammers <i>Transgender Studies Quarterly</i> s.1-2</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Chretien, J-P (2007) RTLM Propaganda: The Democratic Alibi in Thompson, A (Ed) (2007) <i>The Media and the Rwanda Genocide</i> Fountain Kampala</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Hasenbush, A et al (2018) Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: a Review of Evidence Regarding Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms, Locker Rooms, and Changing Rooms <i>Sexuality Research and Social Policy </i>16 70-83<br /></span><br /></span></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-54755127369193978282021-05-03T17:28:00.007+02:002021-05-04T10:33:25.003+02:00 What is the ideological opposite of transphobia?<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVV91Gy4Avhtx7hq-qV0C9zVaqF-rmRYnf_1zXkE82g-31TSt9GiNWQ_DKP9oHFG95z7N2HlchQKr_yDA1ATKLqOTyoV6srXjVAiDv-MINUdBfO10pocGNshQIRrvsiJZSSHWkeKLcnuSv/s1200/fbb933df-5877-46d8-b807-edeb04a0b3cc.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVV91Gy4Avhtx7hq-qV0C9zVaqF-rmRYnf_1zXkE82g-31TSt9GiNWQ_DKP9oHFG95z7N2HlchQKr_yDA1ATKLqOTyoV6srXjVAiDv-MINUdBfO10pocGNshQIRrvsiJZSSHWkeKLcnuSv/s320/fbb933df-5877-46d8-b807-edeb04a0b3cc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i>This blog post deals with transphobia as an ideology, an organised ideology of hatred and exclusion directed at trans people. </i><br /><br />The right-wing supported and funded campaign by to have transphobia recognised as an ideology is quite an obvious trap for trans people. While claiming that trans and gender diverse people are an “ideology”, transphobes have effectively admitted that it is instead their hateful practices that constitute one. After years of claiming that they just supported ‘science’, ‘biology’, ‘commonsense’ or whatever other essentialising dogma they could concoct to try and to delegitimize us, they have admitted that their beliefs are little more than a cult, to be regarded in effect in a similar way to flat Earthers.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">The response to this by non-bigoted people is important however. It has been suggested by some that trans people can legitimately claim that being trans is a counter-belief. But this would be both wrong in fact and in principle. It is a move the transphobes would like us to make but it would be wrong and trans people and gender diverse and our allies should avoid doing so.</span><br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGgafikcui0xvY9ciUDr1YyjlFgN-aFa4Cs2VGi25bv-z4kHMof3AbKOnYfUbvZxksemYkPxTZQi0KByWFNzgGh50c6R5MbUuYPm7bBFAqZqMun1H3ecVTUKgxHP_bk4HDy4KkGyNA9oa/s516/Sylv.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGgafikcui0xvY9ciUDr1YyjlFgN-aFa4Cs2VGi25bv-z4kHMof3AbKOnYfUbvZxksemYkPxTZQi0KByWFNzgGh50c6R5MbUuYPm7bBFAqZqMun1H3ecVTUKgxHP_bk4HDy4KkGyNA9oa/w155-h200/Sylv.jpg" width="155" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: small;">The reason for this is straightforward; trans people are not a ‘belief’ or an ‘ideology’. We are people, we exist and we have existed as long as human societies have existed on this planet - unlike organised transphobia which is only a few decades old. Being trans is not a belief, it is an empirically verifiable fact. Our existence is not a matter of belief any more than the existence of gay men, lesbians and bi people are, or the existence of left-handed people, or mountains or money or nation-states... There are millions of trans people in existence all over the world and have been, often in suppressed or covert form, for millennia. So reacting to the claim or the judgement that transphobia is an ideology should not be to claim a counter ideology that we exist.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">No, the opposing standpoint to ideological transphobia is one that positions transphobia as the unacceptable and fascistic belief it is. The establishment of transphobia as an ideology means that the counter ideology to that is<b><i> anti-transphobia</i></b>. The transphobes’ demand that their hatred is recognised as an ideology – whether or not a court acknowledges it as one – means that the issue at stake is no longer trans people, the issue is transphobia. The opposite to transphobia is anti-transphobia. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Anti-transphobia </span><i>is </i><span style="font-size: small;">an ideology, albeit one that exists based on the fact that trans people exist. It is an ideology that exists in response to ideological transphobia. The fact that trans people exist is not an ideology.</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>So, some suggestions, to start the ball rolling, of what of the features of anti-transphobia should include;</span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia is an ideology and needs to be fought at all levels. It is not a set of ideas to be debated but a set of actions to be opposed.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia is a repressive and fascistic ideology like other repressive and fascistic ideologies. Anyone claiming to be ‘left’, ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ as well as being transphobic, is not.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia is largely produced through a manipulation by the media and far-right in order to misdirect people’s attention away from problems caused by structural exclusion and repression of other groups by those with political and economic power.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia is still transphobia even when it is dressed up as something else, such as “women’s concerns” or “religious freedom”.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia constitutes an exclusionary </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">process </i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">as well as an intended eradicationist </span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;">outcome</i><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">, for example in the media, where transphobic editors seek to exclude trans people and allies, because the claims made by transphobes cannot withstand counter-claims and counter-arguments (This does not mean that counter-arguments must be put in gladiatorial contests for viewers’ entertainment BTW). Calling for more “debate” without providing trans people with unrestricted or unconditional access to the media is transphobic.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">Transphobes are a danger to others in addition to trans people, especially people who may be gender non-conforming, and especially when in a position where they can abuse power. Many regard transphobes working in schools, for example, as a danger to all children.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">That trans people, not transphobes, get to <a href="https://www.transactual.org.uk/transphobia" target="_blank">define what is and is not transphobic</a>. In particular campaigning to remove legal protections or rights for trans people is transphobic.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">Transphobia is normally abusive, as transphobes usually engage in deliberate misgendering and deadnaming, however transphobia that is not abusive is still transphobia.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">Facilitating the spread of transphobia in any way, which newspaper editors do regularly, for example, is also transphobic.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">The right to describe an action as transphobic or an individual as a transphobe, is a right for every trans or gender diverse person and should constitute protected speech. The right of the oppressed to call out their oppressors is the most important type of free speech there is.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">That transphobes do not “have a point”. Ever.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">That what trans people do, how we live or access public services is none of the transphobes’ business.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">It is not enough not to be transphobic, in the current climate of establishment transphobia, being anti-transphobic is important. There is no fence to sit on or ‘reasonable’ middle way to take. There can be no accommodation with transphobia just as there can be no accommodation with any other oppressive ideology.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; text-indent: -18pt;">That transphobia is the thin end of the wedge to the achievement of other goals of the far-right, such as ending rights and protections for gay men, lesbians and bi people and removing women’s rights (NB, This is increasingly moving from the realm of ideology to the realm of fact, as has been demonstrated in places like Poland and Hungary)</span></li></ul><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a non-exhaustive list designed to start a conversation rather than to be prescriptive, and I suspect other elements can be added and some changed. What is important to recognise is that some things that might be considered anti-transphobic are not beliefs but are empirically verifiable facts and we need to carefully differentiate between them and anti-transphobia. For example, the fact that transphobia is the problem, not trans people, and should be addressed as such, or that transphobia is magnified significantly when it is applied to people suffering from other forms of discrimination and prejudice.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTQRUjSoqOqAx7hHiWvZhe7R9CyFf-3yP2azq_TnY-R_gN0oqS8BmNCM5V2WiLKeHn7ZPelTR1VowW48tM7lB5HqgJoPziUIBcwSfJPYjVwl3CwvJqmbhRN7CErqhKEKiQndYlqIm-3h_/s1300/130534262-transphobia-word-cloud-on-a-white-background-.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTQRUjSoqOqAx7hHiWvZhe7R9CyFf-3yP2azq_TnY-R_gN0oqS8BmNCM5V2WiLKeHn7ZPelTR1VowW48tM7lB5HqgJoPziUIBcwSfJPYjVwl3CwvJqmbhRN7CErqhKEKiQndYlqIm-3h_/s320/130534262-transphobia-word-cloud-on-a-white-background-.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Of course transphobes will try to argue that trans people’s self-definitions as men, women or non-binary people constitutes an ideology. To argue this is, of course ideological. There are reasons for this. As I stated before, trans and gender diverse people have existed throughout history, and exist as an empirically verifiable fact and we know that when trans people are not treated as the genders they identify as, that results in harm being caused to them. Cis transphobes cannot understand what it is like to be trans or gender diverse, they cannot see inside our hearts, souls and psyches. Thus their transphobia <b><i>must inevitably be ideological</i></b> (as well as none of their business), whereas trans and gender diverse people are acting, not on the basis of any ideological belief but on the basis of profound and long-lasting personal experience, in the same way that left-handed people do, only these days we are acting on the basis of personal experience in the face of opposition from powerful forces, most notably the media establishment.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><br /></span><br /><o:p></o:p></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-54214267826521878762021-04-20T12:57:00.019+02:002021-04-20T15:28:59.877+02:00My opinion of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working group on "The Care and treatment of children and adolescents in relation to their gender identity in the UK".<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYH_vHi3KshwoomhgimbCzW9C6Dv1wwQmhQq61gf_s_eYPcVrykyo7Cc0MvHUuAxSnrZriPJEqg-g1pPauZ0mLyuJ4M-o2yINIEE7Xxuuf7bsh7Jfc9-qjoie03uv3v2Knp8XOQOtSg9D3/s1176/thumbnail_IMG_3779.jpeg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Opinion: The exclusion of trans people from inquiries about us is not only morally wrong, dangerous and systemic, I argue that it is the result of anti-trans ideologies, and needs to stop.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Culture of Trans-Exclusion</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-cb6e8921-7fff-8a41-bd2f-0c0a2786ff1f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLWzax3_AM0laiWgzK0zv65mgTmNguJGreWQMBcq7LLv16MXXE6r6tLpflZWUa3paTiGpfpTxLzTMOb7IJtiXV835L7dY_9BAip9GAVjgoxdqrFolDu_77ve7_6g6gObgZJ7zB0xcQYpZ/s620/TR.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" height="107" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLWzax3_AM0laiWgzK0zv65mgTmNguJGreWQMBcq7LLv16MXXE6r6tLpflZWUa3paTiGpfpTxLzTMOb7IJtiXV835L7dY_9BAip9GAVjgoxdqrFolDu_77ve7_6g6gObgZJ7zB0xcQYpZ/w200-h107/TR.jpg" width="200" /></a></div></span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span>As Jem Tosh (2016) observed of anti-trans ideology dating back to Raymond (1979), anti-trans beliefs are not merely about eradicating trans people from the world, they are about excluding trans people from influencing the “debate” about whether or not we should have the right to exist. The problematizing and pathologizing nature of these discourses which suggests that we do not “know ourselves” is the tacit ideology that seems to me to be more widespread than it looks. </span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Problems with Nuffield</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trans people have long been excluded from the places where decisions about us have been made; </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Parliament,</span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cass Inquiry </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">The virtually hermetic trans-exclusionary UK media, and </span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">More specifically from representation in the Bell vs Tavistock court case. </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Indeed it is the norm for us to be excluded from any locus of power where decisions about us are made. So much so that our exclusion does not even need to be announced or remarked on, it is already assumed. This is now the case for the </span><a href="https://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/publications/the-care-and-treatment-of-children-and-adolescents-in-relation-to-their-gender-identity-in-the-uk" style="font-family: arial; text-decoration: none;"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip: none; color: #954f72; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nuffield Bioethics Inquiry into the care and treatment of children and adolescents in relation to their gender identity in the UK.</span></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This inquiry clearly states that it is intending its deliberations to; </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">“inform and support practitioners and policy-makers, to contribute to broader public debate, and, ultimately, to improve the well-being of gender-diverse and gender incongruent children and adolescents ensuring the receive ethical, appropriate and high-quality care.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">In other words the outcome of this inquiry is intended to be far from academic, it is intended to have real weight. Yet trans people are being excluded from the Working Group, a group which will make decisions about the data and how it is interpreted as well as write the final report, a final report which will probably be lobbed over the wall to us as a <i>fait accompli</i>. Once again a locus of power where decisions about us are made is excluding us.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmVLD6S8VqwXMinuoDZYCvIQzgt1rFtLXakSle8BU_hTtwdZan-xNqONT2-ya__G_YnMD8CrFPx3IuIraXosA4Qu1x0BpZHr_G_VEW64lqO_1xEd8NxGzp6FeluMttNvgWq_ewMVUpr1b/s1176/thumbnail_IMG_3779.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmVLD6S8VqwXMinuoDZYCvIQzgt1rFtLXakSle8BU_hTtwdZan-xNqONT2-ya__G_YnMD8CrFPx3IuIraXosA4Qu1x0BpZHr_G_VEW64lqO_1xEd8NxGzp6FeluMttNvgWq_ewMVUpr1b/s320/thumbnail_IMG_3779.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Our exclusion is so routine, widespread, normalised and unremarkable that when we raise objections to our exclusion others do not see it as in any way problematic. One of the most important things to notice in any situation are the silences. Where are they? What is not being said? In this case, as with the others, the silence is lack of any announcement that trans people are to be excluded from the Working Group. The exclusion that Jem Tosh identified as part of the mechanism of transphobic ideology has become so widely practiced that when it occurs it is not noticed. Compare the lack of outrage at trans people's exclusion from this Working Group with former Green Euro MP Molly Scott Cato pointing out the lack of women on the social care and communities scrutiny committee in her local area in the tweet on the left. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGgafikcui0xvY9ciUDr1YyjlFgN-aFa4Cs2VGi25bv-z4kHMof3AbKOnYfUbvZxksemYkPxTZQi0KByWFNzgGh50c6R5MbUuYPm7bBFAqZqMun1H3ecVTUKgxHP_bk4HDy4KkGyNA9oa/s516/Sylv.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPGgafikcui0xvY9ciUDr1YyjlFgN-aFa4Cs2VGi25bv-z4kHMof3AbKOnYfUbvZxksemYkPxTZQi0KByWFNzgGh50c6R5MbUuYPm7bBFAqZqMun1H3ecVTUKgxHP_bk4HDy4KkGyNA9oa/w155-h200/Sylv.jpg" width="155" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">However, take a closer look and the absence of trans people from the inquiry is already noticeable just from looking at the documentation associated with it. While I have not had time to carry out a full textual analysis it clearly not only favourably presents the arguments of those who have an ideological opposition to the existence of trans people as equivalent to those who want the best for trans kids but it includes notions that have been discredited on multiple levels. For example, even mentioning “social contagion” in this context, is ridiculous and not only demonstrates an ignorance of the issues but a bias towards ideas so discredited that they can only really be regarded as abusive propaganda. Furthermore, when talking about “desistance” it fails to mention that the “desistance” rate for trans children is actually extremely low; somewhere between 1 and 4% depending on how you measure it (more detail on this <a href="https://juliaserano.medium.com/reframing-transgender-desistance-debates-68648a4fd01a" target="_blank">here</a>). Giving prominence to arguments about desistance without mentioning the figures is not only false equivalence it is, in my opinion, irresponsible. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaqhIsfgkXmvyAXtprsnf1fpKUG1LsRkqOiB-CmxNGGU8W-bgTVxnUmzig_6QfWnwsERr2vG66gyhowulld_fI3aj1cVIgVQNhaK4ytHSnGX7uEyIO69Na5Ruc3ERSjL-mWbjBWR5jeX1/s640/SFGN_Books_Historyoftrans_2_1_19.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKaqhIsfgkXmvyAXtprsnf1fpKUG1LsRkqOiB-CmxNGGU8W-bgTVxnUmzig_6QfWnwsERr2vG66gyhowulld_fI3aj1cVIgVQNhaK4ytHSnGX7uEyIO69Na5Ruc3ERSjL-mWbjBWR5jeX1/s320/SFGN_Books_Historyoftrans_2_1_19.png" width="320" /></a></div>Similarly the screenshot below of the question about the history of trans children demonstrates how they view <b><i>balance</i></b>; the misconceptions and disinformation from the anti-trans activists are given very significant space compared with the opposing argument. The un-highlighted section at the top argues the trans case, the rest of it, highlighted in yellow, argues the anti-trans activists’ case. This amounts, in my view, to both bias and asking leading questions. Why did this question not mention <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/histories-of-the-transgender-child">the work of Gill-Peterson</a> (2018), or indeed others or the life story of Marsha P Johnson who was a trans child back in the 1960s? (There is even a CHILDREN’S <a href="https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/childrens/sylvia-and-marsha-start-a,joy-ellison-teshika-silver-9781787755307">book about</a> her!) The lack of balance here is as bad as one might expect from the likes of the Times, the Mail, the Atlantic or the BBC...<br /><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0Hy8wky5Tn97gzMhIthm-_FRmWw8fydBDBOHx1fE1ebpmA7p8AL60Iq78iuG6CuP7gtfAQFk8EUKMYMLKSZjQBcjfO9wC3zGJe_QkziF-7vcLCk5Xq9q7VCjyT0zbzAAXag_zCcb=w524-h431" /><br /><br />The existence of trans children in history, and the recent moral panic that trans children are something "new" is not a matter of opinion or ethics, it is an empirical question and an empirical question that has been amply answered in Jules Gill-Peterson's detailed and thoroughly-researched book and by others. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><b>Optics – The Guardian Letter</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKjZQRowfOlbhZ_jc6DCK7LVmCsF4smvGPTeIR5pLaWvgwJ5nsVvbwPbpQe9GCmwXU9lp-4I7x7o1ptNDDGKbrWcyaNRrd1bne_y9-5gzsyX5jEYIAl3qqwWsp8Oa6X4QaMVGnSPX8Dnu/s720/Warned.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKjZQRowfOlbhZ_jc6DCK7LVmCsF4smvGPTeIR5pLaWvgwJ5nsVvbwPbpQe9GCmwXU9lp-4I7x7o1ptNDDGKbrWcyaNRrd1bne_y9-5gzsyX5jEYIAl3qqwWsp8Oa6X4QaMVGnSPX8Dnu/w200-h200/Warned.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Then there is another issue with the make-up of the working group. One of the members of this powerful group which will decide the outcome of this inquiry signed a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/16/academics-are-being-harassed-over-their-research-into-transgender-issues">letter in the Guardian</a> in 2018 protesting against what is described as “harassment” of cis academics and describing trans inclusion initiatives by Stonewall as somehow “silencing” them. These signatories also admitted to signing a letter expressing “concerns” about proposals to extend full human rights to trans people, to a member of the House of Lords well-known for her anti-trans stances. This peer was reported for <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/23/tory-peer-baroness-nicholson-bullying-racism-transphobia-house-lords-munroe-bergdorf/">bullying after being reported for racist and transphobic material</a> directed towards <a href="https://gcn.ie/munroe-bergdorf-calls-out-casual-racism-transphobia-open-letter-baroness-nicholson/">Munroe Bergdorf</a>, has <a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/10/baroness-emma-nicholson-same-sex-marriage-equality-tweets-twitter-homophobia/">opposed equal marriage</a> and <a href="https://heatherpeto.substack.com/p/rebutting-transphobic-trolls-6a1">tweeted the home address of a trans woman candidate in the 2019 general election</a>. In addition many of the signatories to that letter have expressed extreme trans-exclusionary (one might even say trans-eliminationist) ideologies. The letter also refers to trans people as “transgenderism” a term regarded by trans people as profoundly dehumanising.<br /><br />In my view this letter constitutes “Mirror Propaganda” (Chretien 2007) and acts as an alibi for the almost total hermetic exclusion of trans people from the media. This is Sara Ahmed’s analysis of this kind of propaganda, repeated often in mainstream media;<br /><br /><blockquote><blockquote><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Whenever people keep being given a platform to say they have no platform, or whenever people speak endlessly about being silenced, you not only have a performative contradiction; you are witnessing a mechanism of power. (2016)</b></span></i></blockquote></blockquote><br /> The frequency of the publication of such material contrasts with the fact that the Times published 324 articles about trans people last year, none of which were written by trans people. It is also interesting that not only have a number of the signatories had books published about trans people but one of them is so excluded from talking about trans people that she is now part of the Working Group that will decide the contents of a particularly influential report into our rights. She is included while trans academics are excluded. In other worlds the inclusion of this individual on the Working Group - in and of itself - constitutes pretty conclusive evidence that the claims of suppression made in the letter are untrue. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifoEOKkACJ93KywrHnecx37OwMh_eAaAUzlDRS44_nQQ8lVoAnDx_ecbjFyHPyJ6UScM7WXtp5Ro4xipYk0eYYZUdSo1YS6-ZUdXuyNFKbuiy3nivNwrysgzWHIQHxNcbGHMehsFmbsLJL/s1440/black-trans-activists-rtr-img.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifoEOKkACJ93KywrHnecx37OwMh_eAaAUzlDRS44_nQQ8lVoAnDx_ecbjFyHPyJ6UScM7WXtp5Ro4xipYk0eYYZUdSo1YS6-ZUdXuyNFKbuiy3nivNwrysgzWHIQHxNcbGHMehsFmbsLJL/s320/black-trans-activists-rtr-img.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I don't know if this individual supports anti-trans ideologies or not, I sincerely hope not, but having someone who has put their name to such a letter in a Working Group which will have such power over the lives of young trans people is not a good look. It is particularly bad optics when combined with the exclusion of trans people from the Working Group when, as <a href="https://ruthpearce.net/2021/04/10/open-letter-to-nuffield-council-on-bioethics/?fbclid=IwAR2JmKFMBQT4gVcaPylQ5Ury7b05gHlsalr_Q6liEr7oYXtezeb9VrcvlPA">Dr Ruth Pearce argues</a>, there should be many of us there from different backgrounds, this makes this inquiry appear a deeply suspect and, as I have argued above, particularly flawed. <br /><br />Excluding trans people from this process is not merely dangerous because it excludes the profound insights trans people have about their own lives which most cis people simply do not get or often misunderstand or misinterpret, but it also, quite evidently, runs the risk of the interpretation of the data and the judgements of the Working Group being flawed. It also gives out a message that echoes the trans-exclusionary ideology forming the basis for much transphobia both as a belief-system and a modus operandi. In that sense this inquiry is part of the problem faced by trans people. Although this inquiry will do its best to proclaim itself as the last word on the subject of the ethics of healthcare for trans kids, in my view an inquiry that excludes the very people, the needs of whom it seeks to judge has serious ethical issues of its own. It will undoubtedly use the Nuffield name to enhance its status and influence, but this report will be devalued and discredited even before it has been published. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQALFBVKE6vtKgMV3E6e0Ol6KG25W_xFDE5CtLGnsOJHBaN75UuZeeEf3fZa0u84Sr2SI-1stNTFQUd0J1Phn_5lsaQd_1pjhyjxqbNCKR_igdYQNr6pKA0EpB1YReeBgnLw1FfjrGyTp/s792/arkansas+flag+capitol_i.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="792" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQALFBVKE6vtKgMV3E6e0Ol6KG25W_xFDE5CtLGnsOJHBaN75UuZeeEf3fZa0u84Sr2SI-1stNTFQUd0J1Phn_5lsaQd_1pjhyjxqbNCKR_igdYQNr6pKA0EpB1YReeBgnLw1FfjrGyTp/w200-h113/arkansas+flag+capitol_i.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The danger is that, as we have seen in <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Arkansas, where there are already reports of 4 trans kids attempting suicide</a> and other states across the US, anything published with any veneer of authority that is remotely trans-exclusionary will be used to harm trans kids. This is my greatest fear. This inquiry is not being carried out in some academic ivory tower, cultural and political vacuum, as it appears to construct itself. Any element that can be used by the extreme transphobes in conservative organisations worldwide like the Republican Party will seized upon to deny trans kids rights to treatment, to take part in sport, to the basic protection of the law and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">may even mandate them to be taken away from their parents or result in their parents being jailed.</a> Children will die if this inquiry gets it wrong, in that situation, to deny trans participation in its centre of power is unacceptable.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The systematic and normalised exclusion of trans people from spaces where important decisions are made about our lives needs to end. It is transphobic and unacceptable under any circumstances. </span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote> <span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span><br /><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References</span></p><p style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ahmed, S (2016) </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Affinity of Hammers</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TSQ 3 (1-2) 22-34</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chretien, J-P (2007) RTLM Propaganda: The Democratic Alibi in Thompson, A (Ed) (2007) </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Media and the Rwanda Genocide </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pluto London</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gill-Peterson, J (2018) </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Histories of the Transgender Child </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Raymond, J (1979) <i>The Transsexual Empire</i> Beacon Press Boston</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tosh, J (2016) </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psychology and Gender Dysphoria: Feminist and Transgender Perspectives </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Routledge New York</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p></span></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-41353399059740459572021-04-16T17:41:00.008+02:002021-04-17T00:31:03.613+02:00How Florida exposes "Gender Critical" Transphobia as Profoundly anti-Feminist.<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_17XoaJIrTFgzbOJHwcihI_8KItOy_oY3h-h3Fo1HXoLwqOX8GCtMhcm9eDVt3d7-CBsDFhm7C0J9F_-rp0shrC8EGiS-4kPlSwlPBnlTM_z__GQAX5FOfYqKYO_NjDTPXcrqJrTKH7c/s1500/Femint.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1459" data-original-width="1500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_17XoaJIrTFgzbOJHwcihI_8KItOy_oY3h-h3Fo1HXoLwqOX8GCtMhcm9eDVt3d7-CBsDFhm7C0J9F_-rp0shrC8EGiS-4kPlSwlPBnlTM_z__GQAX5FOfYqKYO_NjDTPXcrqJrTKH7c/s320/Femint.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><b><i>"Gender Critical Transphobes" can no longer call themselves "Gender Critical". They are "Gender Reinforcing Transphobes" firming up the Patriarchy like never before.</i></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> Today the Republican-controlled Legislature in Florida ruled that any girl who wishes to take part in sports in the state and who is challenged about her gender, either because of her looks or performance, will be forced to undergo a genital examination by an adult. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is not merely legalised child sexual abuse, it is profoundly anti-feminist and goes against everything that the "Gender Critical" Transphobes say they believe in. Girls in Florida wishing to take part in any kind of sport will now be put off taking part, especially those who do not appear stereotypically feminine. Appearing stereotypically feminine can include all kinds of things including not being taller or more well-built than average, wearing trousers instead of skirts, having short hair or performing better than other girls. If she runs faster, jumps higher, kicks the ball further, throws more accurately, she runs the risk of being subject to these abusive tests. In short, success will come at a price, and that price will be child abuse and conforming to feminine stereotypes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoah4dl03qxg21CNafCcmQ8QjMqbLYiv8oh2FcUviZ8xIOvb40tbsEeR6ODGKhqR9CA3Kagj-mU6n7Wgi_XyPV97k5Pm6Uj0Ta_VYi43x7osVOi_NMfOCSyKK_Y-Qg5UXBKmFpsqybtOLx/s1080/Atlantic+2018.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="810" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoah4dl03qxg21CNafCcmQ8QjMqbLYiv8oh2FcUviZ8xIOvb40tbsEeR6ODGKhqR9CA3Kagj-mU6n7Wgi_XyPV97k5Pm6Uj0Ta_VYi43x7osVOi_NMfOCSyKK_Y-Qg5UXBKmFpsqybtOLx/w150-h200/Atlantic+2018.jpeg" width="150" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />This has come out just after the publication of Katie Barker's outstanding <a href="https://lux-magazine.com/article/the-road-to-terfdom/?fbclid=IwAR1YJXHySoPi3Qvan2AcTquLo-VcE2ZZgcmO1XDqx82-aEwLNaVi_ufTXuo" target="_blank">investigation into TERF organising on Mumsnet</a>, "Road to Terfdom". From this it was clear just how fanatical the "Gender Critical" transphobes are about their hatred, yet the new law in Florida exposes their transphobic ideology like never before. One of Katie Barker's clearest observations - amongst many other insightful revelations - and a observation about Gender Critical Transphobes that many others have noted, is that they are fiercely opposed to gender stereotyping. Yet their action, and yes by that I mean their action even if they are in the UK, has resulted in the political environment where this kind of abusive and discriminatory law can come about. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2ipCfYA28VznBGhCAiaJST2m8H2UEcpCiy7yhBipjC85UQGS90yJGahAjeOsR7dId7Ec4EFgLojwBmJMv9kikE3SSFQtcmKNZ1gx2rRfJNYOW8Wk750ksjN7geSQynfBSM86F_HkN3p8/s1440/Monster.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="805" data-original-width="1440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2ipCfYA28VznBGhCAiaJST2m8H2UEcpCiy7yhBipjC85UQGS90yJGahAjeOsR7dId7Ec4EFgLojwBmJMv9kikE3SSFQtcmKNZ1gx2rRfJNYOW8Wk750ksjN7geSQynfBSM86F_HkN3p8/s320/Monster.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Their desperation for an easy scapegoat for what patriarchy has done to them has resulted in patriarchy being reinforced by them, especially in Florida, in a way that will harm all girls, both cis and trans. They have harmed, subjugated and subjected hundreds of cis girls in that state to the kind of intrusive intimate examinations that are likely to completely put them off taking part in any kind of sport. Restricting girls' the options for physical exercise to cheerleading, majorettes or ballet is about as unfeminist as it gets and will result in their being subjected to some of the most restrictive gender stereotyping anywhere.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-SNHpAFDTuq7ar1zITBWsNLxCsYwRHi9lWn3UAeXdbIqHLcVIi1gGPdQKvGWwQS1JaiPeburjLj-3T7SPkTh-KCYCsmFDKhVzo0BH4DIl61J3A57Zce75XHsxjBdp5io-vxFX9AgtLY_/s1125/Murray.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="1125" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-SNHpAFDTuq7ar1zITBWsNLxCsYwRHi9lWn3UAeXdbIqHLcVIi1gGPdQKvGWwQS1JaiPeburjLj-3T7SPkTh-KCYCsmFDKhVzo0BH4DIl61J3A57Zce75XHsxjBdp5io-vxFX9AgtLY_/w200-h114/Murray.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />In fact the overwhelming majority of girls subject to this sexist and abusive measure will be cis girls, cis girls who reject gender stereotyping. Yet most will want to avoid this kind of humiliation at all costs. Humiliating girls, subjecting girls to abusive intimate investigations and rigid </span><span style="font-family: arial;">stereotypes. Well done "Gender Critical" transphobes, whether you organise through Mumsnet or the trans-exclusionary UK media. You really can no longer call yourselves "Gender-Critical" Transphobes, you are <b><i>Gender Reinforcing Transphobes</i></b>. Whatever you are, you are not feminists. This new law is yours, it would not be there without your hatred, own it, it's yours.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMKK3k1jbhuWDISmKvoRND2X0-dS7qlNf7bNX_S-AwAoMUoewF7qOjyZbK-aKLERPJn8lBI52xsFqBQUamzh1Krn1Vu7PE-JwsoZkkA5TAWkJQn5KjZ28f9iRZEIrYHI8tqky8zYBTJWj/s431/Yorkie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglMKK3k1jbhuWDISmKvoRND2X0-dS7qlNf7bNX_S-AwAoMUoewF7qOjyZbK-aKLERPJn8lBI52xsFqBQUamzh1Krn1Vu7PE-JwsoZkkA5TAWkJQn5KjZ28f9iRZEIrYHI8tqky8zYBTJWj/s320/Yorkie.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjowoDAq1RMj69_gETSaev-MY8p8p56JPw9N6UYaGf3IkE0rHJTKC141UuBpH4j5moh2Eq0_7_Pfc1V5OccbmZkgMaThN99O7rXW0iAG2Fw9yaiWAQC_eioKR7sbjUhkvHWSWUlo1GkNtag/s431/Yorkie.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span><p></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-75336315106550285982021-04-05T21:15:00.001+02:002021-04-05T21:15:45.858+02:00Churchgate: The Cover-up is turning out to be worse than the crime<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vDdvbz8UaAigrpt1K7-FnVNeyKuiEFPhWKIK_UAGADlEnLe6DCNwZPq2XxlRYZjQB5fTUreziuiKml4oL15ptLlwRGokZINd3aXD-38IYAk6lOprbhzhw0CmXArIZzb6emEvIrM_aMRV/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1398" data-original-width="910" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vDdvbz8UaAigrpt1K7-FnVNeyKuiEFPhWKIK_UAGADlEnLe6DCNwZPq2XxlRYZjQB5fTUreziuiKml4oL15ptLlwRGokZINd3aXD-38IYAk6lOprbhzhw0CmXArIZzb6emEvIrM_aMRV/w208-h320/IMG_3626.jpg" width="208" /></span></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A few days ago Starmer visited a church that is anti-LGBTQ+ and campaigns in favour of <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/campaign-groups/conversion-therapy" target="_blank">Conversion Therapy</a> for gay men, lesbians, bi people and trans people. This is what he tweeted about it. In it he said he visited this church "To hear about their crucial work in the community." It is important to remember that Conversion Therapy is, in essence a form of psychological torture which has most recently been used on trans children. <a href="https://www.glaad.org/blog/leelahslaw-petitions-changeorg-call-states-ban-so-called-conversion-therapy?response_type=embed" target="_blank">Conversion Therapy was considered responsible for the death by suicide of Leelah Alcorn</a>.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">A clear reason for visiting it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Today however Rachel Reeves, a senior member of Labour's frontbencher team told us different. She said, on Sky TV, that he had visited it "as a vaccination centre." in an obvious attempt to cover-up or whitewash Churchgate, which is immediately quite obviously at variance with Starmer's original version of events. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuSoZxZ512H0YjopG9NOQyQKsAQtn3Hdv6DU01S2uxscZGR5W24gDlfsG-Ds3bt0Q3tZpqZ62r6kZH1cH0d70wzUQLn7ACJI6LZsQ_-TeDDDTD2t1fNcCT8A_oiyJaTXH_sVBd4WLh-Xu/s2048/reeves.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghuSoZxZ512H0YjopG9NOQyQKsAQtn3Hdv6DU01S2uxscZGR5W24gDlfsG-Ds3bt0Q3tZpqZ62r6kZH1cH0d70wzUQLn7ACJI6LZsQ_-TeDDDTD2t1fNcCT8A_oiyJaTXH_sVBd4WLh-Xu/s320/reeves.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />This is of great concern, that a senior member of Starmer's shadow cabinet team is prepared to lie so obviously about an issue such as this. The Labour Party is not the Tory Party and its senior politicians need to be held accountable to a much higher standard that Boris Johnson's corrupt and dishonest cronies. If the Labour Party is going to go down the road of playing dishonest politics, something Starmer has <a href="https://uncommon-scents.blogspot.com/2021/04/while-all-eyes-have-been-on-tories.html" target="_blank">already dabbled in this week</a>, then the membership needs to ensure that those who do so are help properly accountable. As things stand the behaviour of Reeves is unacceptable. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">It is also important to note that the behaviour of Reeves is not merely an issue for LGBTQ+ members of the Party but for all members. If the leadership is going to get away with dishonesty and cover-ups (and pretty pathetic ones at that) over this, where will it stop?</span></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-1102334425048403542021-04-04T18:40:00.006+02:002021-04-04T18:41:48.609+02:00Starmer: "We've Hit the Iceberg and we're Sinking. But Let's Make this Shipwreck Work."<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20Ztb4pBUElHPeZLGmilychUqnn19B-oDCTCwwwwrnuZq89fX-Z1RiQNJfYolFm7pbonNAlg3HoWiPrkYjl_OnASDHu46RmcOyy2YadOT8J70GeIBcynToqGS_tgvcbox9MZmUpdKOz_d/s460/EU-flag-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh20Ztb4pBUElHPeZLGmilychUqnn19B-oDCTCwwwwrnuZq89fX-Z1RiQNJfYolFm7pbonNAlg3HoWiPrkYjl_OnASDHu46RmcOyy2YadOT8J70GeIBcynToqGS_tgvcbox9MZmUpdKOz_d/s320/EU-flag-007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">While all eyes have been on the Tories trying to gaslight the country into believing the lie that there is no racism in the UK, it less remarked on how Kier Starmer also tried to gaslight, probably less successfully, Labour members and voters into believing that there are not good reasons for rejoining the EU. </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is of course utter hogwash and Starmer knows it. And just to prove the point here is a baker’s dozen of reasons, that I can think of, off the top of my head, to rejoin the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The economy is tanking; trade with the EU overall is down somewhere around 60%. This is currently masked by the pandemic but will become more and more obvious to all but the most doctrinaire Leaver<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>The fishing industry, which Brexit was touted as being designed to help, is suffering greatly, especially the shellfish industry<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Erasmus; the worst piece of educational and cultural vandalism the Tories have engaged in (and they have engaged in a lot). The Turing scheme is a pale imitation and will not help students from lower-income backgrounds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Freedom of movement; all those poor people who have emigrated to Spain and other parts of the EU to live/retire have now found out that Brexit has resulted in them having to leave. They were told they would be able to stay after Brexit and are no finding out that they cannot. The Leave campaign did not tell them this<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Vaccines; the EU would not be able to limit vaccine exports to the UK if we were still in the EU<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Financial services; Amsterdam has now taken over from London as Europe’s premier trading centre, this will cost the UK billions in lost tax revenue and jobs in the City and other financial centres<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Scotland; rejoining the EU might actually prevent the break-up of the UK, which Starmer opposes<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Northern Ireland; rejoining the EU is probably the only thing that will prevent the troubles from restarting, as they are gradually<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">9.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Red tape; the enormous cost, in both time and money, of trading with the EU because of the increase in bureaucracy which comes as part-and-parcel of Brexit is making it impossible for many UK companies to continue trading. Bankruptcies and job losses will follow<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">10. Musicians; the inability of musicians from the UK to tour Europe and play gigs in the 27 countries of the EU, is killing the music industry and destroying the careers of musicians young and old<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">11. Young people; the opportunities that many of us had, to work in the EU are not denied to young people, and this will blight their careers unnecessarily<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">12. Trade deals; the announcement of miniscule trade deals with countries a long way away masks the massive loss of trade deals that the UK benefitted from indirectly as a member of the EU, with countries like Japan, large sections of South America and probably soon, with the United States. Trade deals with Albania and Montenegro will not make up for the loss of some of the world’s largest markets<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: medium;">13.Demographic change and the brutal realisation that Brexit has not turned out to be what people voted for means that there would almost certainly be a majority to rejoin were a referendum to that effect held tomorrow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">As far as arguments for not rejoining, I can think of none and I suspect Starmer can’t either, although I’m sure his centrist friends would be able to scrabble around and concoct some spurious ones if he asked them to (incidentally revealing the problem with Centrists; they have no core ideological beliefs, most of these people were Remainers before the referendum). Ultimately Starmer knows there are plenty of good reasons to rejoin, he just wishes there were not.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">This is the problem with Brexit, it has turned our politics, not merely rightwards but made it also more dishonest. Starmer is not stupid, he knows leaving the EU was a bad mistake but his plan to win the next election depends on him lying about that fact. His concern is with the “red wall” seats that Labour needs to win back to win the next election, yet it is also apparent that the current Labour leadership opposes the one measure that would stop all this dishonesty; electoral reform. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eAul6LoB2G7WQzADoELz98LeOKE0WO3JzMt4szyoZyrhBsbzPa_BxaFGyNSdp0JsnMz73iuqLuGQpD0QYeQFdPU542iSgnr8fBoQ6FPAl-tmUCe8RRJpHyD09KCwHCprlrzc8TtzogmR/s1200/Biden+McBride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_eAul6LoB2G7WQzADoELz98LeOKE0WO3JzMt4szyoZyrhBsbzPa_BxaFGyNSdp0JsnMz73iuqLuGQpD0QYeQFdPU542iSgnr8fBoQ6FPAl-tmUCe8RRJpHyD09KCwHCprlrzc8TtzogmR/s320/Biden+McBride.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;">If Labour went into the next election on a clear promise of proportional representation an undeclared electoral alliance of the wider left would project it into power in the same way Biden was able to put together a wide-ranging alliance against Trump. I think the Labour leadership does not realise it yet but the people of this country are facing a much more destructive and formidable enemy than Trump. A combination of Brexit, a deepening media-Tory establishment collaboration, and an increasingly gerrymandered electoral system means that, despite demographic changes that would inevitably work in Labour’s favour under PR, Labour will lose the next election and probably the one after that too because of the failure of the Party to come up with a clear strategy, other than trying to out-dishonest Johnson, to win the next election and undo the damage that Brexit is wreaking on our country.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-10070002393677991002021-01-02T18:44:00.006+01:002021-01-27T01:23:08.546+01:00Moving on after Brexit.<span style="text-align: center;"></span><blockquote><span style="text-align: center;"></span><blockquote><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: center;"><i>“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy.”</i></span></blockquote><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="text-align: center;"></span></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;">George Orwell 1984</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hXmrg4fj5hNDuGPjcsC6JfhqSkzDFOgZxvd3sNMH0dVeJqdbyX0FFlVJVQaibtkZVt43FYMmLEsq-jzPDhSiFCmmlDSylXsOA_lA00jn3VVHdu8agWjIPn_byJQAWg0d7MFNDXw2ohnR/s570/flag.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="570" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hXmrg4fj5hNDuGPjcsC6JfhqSkzDFOgZxvd3sNMH0dVeJqdbyX0FFlVJVQaibtkZVt43FYMmLEsq-jzPDhSiFCmmlDSylXsOA_lA00jn3VVHdu8agWjIPn_byJQAWg0d7MFNDXw2ohnR/w400-h225/flag.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The predictable call from Leavers and some Labour politicians who should know better, for Rejoiners to “accept” that Britain has left the EU and “come together” with Leavers is as unlikely to happen as it is ridiculous. But let us examine a bit more closely what they actually mean by “accepting” Brexit.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I accept Brexit in that I acknowledge it has happened and that it is a material reality of my existence that I have lost a great deal as a consequence, in particular my EU citizenship, which, as far as I am concerned, was more important than my UK citizenship. Unlike Leavers however, Rejoiners are realists, we do not apply fantasy ideology to the real world, Leavers may believe we have “Taken Back Control” but the reality is different, Britain has become a vassal state and will remain so until we rejoin the EU.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What Leavers and the Labour leadership want from Rejoiners however is different. They know we acknowledge that Brexit has happened, they want much more than acknowledgment, they want us, in effect, to accept that Brexit was the right thing to do and to move on with building a country that will do as well as the fantasy of brexiters’ imaginations. <br /><br />Let me give you an analogy as to what I mean; in 2019 there were two horrendous air crashes that killed hundreds of people involving the new Boeing 737 Max. This was caused by a combination of a design fault and lack of specific training for pilots about the new plane’s software. Now, of course I <i>acknowledge </i>these crashes, they happened and hundreds of people died as a result. But that does not mean I <i>accept </i>or <i>agree with </i>the design faults of Boeing which made them happen.<br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3wVYP9PMf7VT9f_9z5viLHRqLv0xVYifzK1mP00Tq22bDRmeNZPHL5UV5AF7jbtBbGJqtKEQv53NALAz6SkqGScaxOEQb0SxTmA58zGUoh2GLBBBMgRCcBUTSVgS1DeIdKyx5m9wnKD0/s1199/nobody.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="1199" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg3wVYP9PMf7VT9f_9z5viLHRqLv0xVYifzK1mP00Tq22bDRmeNZPHL5UV5AF7jbtBbGJqtKEQv53NALAz6SkqGScaxOEQb0SxTmA58zGUoh2GLBBBMgRCcBUTSVgS1DeIdKyx5m9wnKD0/w400-h253/nobody.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /><b>Likewise with Brexit... </b><br /><br />I acknowledge that it has occurred but I cannot <i>accept </i>or <i>agree with </i>Brexit, because that would mean accepting the lies, fantasies, xenophobia and dangerous English exceptionalism upon which it is based:<br /><br /><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we have “taken back control” because we obviously haven’t.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we now have £350,000,000 a week extra for the NHS because we haven’t.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we have the “exact same benefits” of being in the EU because we won’t.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we Britain’s future is brighter after brexit because it is not.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we will be richer and have more job security after brexit because we will be poorer and have less job security.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that the problems that led to people voting Leave will be solved by brexit because they will be exacerbated.</span></li><li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">I cannot accept that we now have a “global Britain” because that is just an empty slogan that conceals the fact that Britain has become more insular, inward-looking, racist and xenophobic as a result of brexit.</span></li></ul></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDUvYL4qir1o5CPdkNBwoUISQ8m5619WReyt9KFzgaRz5YnyvAT8QOTuE42MzNxxLNjadaolSIfKAv4RBegCBcCN6cIKshcl5DJifDBL8wQJXzTMfeGKrNPWOO5oyRK2MZA0BEp7n71zd/s724/bus.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="724" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDUvYL4qir1o5CPdkNBwoUISQ8m5619WReyt9KFzgaRz5YnyvAT8QOTuE42MzNxxLNjadaolSIfKAv4RBegCBcCN6cIKshcl5DJifDBL8wQJXzTMfeGKrNPWOO5oyRK2MZA0BEp7n71zd/w400-h174/bus.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br />So what Leavers, and Labour want from me is not “acceptance” it is complicity, they want me to accept the lies as true, and that is something Rejoiners will never accept. To accept brexit on Leavers’ terms would be to accept all the lies as true. Here lies the problem for Leavers; they need the acceptance, in whatever form, that they were right. Yet they were wrong, wrong but in the majority, that is all. They also know, in their heart of hearts, that they were wrong but they cannot admit it. So they demand that Rejoiners accept brexit, because, in doing so that would entail accepting their multiple lies and fantasies as true. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mxCx3WuKFCOuRSchbUy2xeRIQBRRPPkr6rQLfqi1EwMsIqc0VHIdTepSqHJMBTyUqT3tqDrisF9RDgEgEDQWi0WzqEy-IKtXo8A3VWbma0Qqejs-ueLzKFCYTXH1hfVYrIQSzBoiV6wI/s1920/Madman.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mxCx3WuKFCOuRSchbUy2xeRIQBRRPPkr6rQLfqi1EwMsIqc0VHIdTepSqHJMBTyUqT3tqDrisF9RDgEgEDQWi0WzqEy-IKtXo8A3VWbma0Qqejs-ueLzKFCYTXH1hfVYrIQSzBoiV6wI/w400-h225/Madman.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Yet the mere fact that brexiters are demanding acceptance from Rejoiners reveals their insecurity over brexit. If they were confident brexit would be a success they would just say; “wait and see…” and the “magic” of brexit would unfold before our eyes making all Rejoiners come to see how wonderful it is. Unfortunately for Leavers that is never going to happen and they know it. That is why they want our acceptance. It is also the reason they will not get it. Having 40% of the country living a lie, a fantasy, a delusion, is dangerous but not as dangerous as the whole country succumbing to such a dangerous and dishonest delusion. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And before a Leaver suggests we should all "pull together" anyway to make brexit work. No. Brexit <i><b>isn't going to work</b></i>, it is based on a matrix of lies, you can't make something that is broken work, you have to fix it first. Rejoining the EU is the way to fix it.<br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On the contrary the <b><i>only</i></b> possible way for Britain to "move on" now is for Leavers to admit and accept that brexit was the result of lies, disinformation and gullibility. No analysis of anything even vaguely political can be made these days without including the media in that analysis, it is the elephant in the room. Brexiters need to come to terms with the fact that they were conned and they need to be honest about that, something I suspect most of them are incapable of doing. Britain will not progress until that happens, indeed it will go backwards. There will be no moving on from an increasingly dystopian UK until Leavers admit they were wrong and the country stops living a lie. <br /><br /></span><br /></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-27673552114263931682020-12-01T19:59:00.007+01:002020-12-01T21:22:56.928+01:00No longer human: Thoughts on the Tavistock case...<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReInhDEKqFesaszXUg8a9sxIuZgOTeBGOdD29YEyhAhJYkFNrnQ42ClHxwNSUHPXWjeByjjdDiv9jtetJzcbduTzCMKeY6x5hCN5UkI3wWHx8OVreol4MtkDq_GZx3uvNCL19AkR4i8xM/s1360/PTK.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiReInhDEKqFesaszXUg8a9sxIuZgOTeBGOdD29YEyhAhJYkFNrnQ42ClHxwNSUHPXWjeByjjdDiv9jtetJzcbduTzCMKeY6x5hCN5UkI3wWHx8OVreol4MtkDq_GZx3uvNCL19AkR4i8xM/s320/PTK.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The Tavistock/Bell case that has handed down a very one-sided judgement about young trans people today is not merely problematic in the ways that <a href="https://medium.com/empowered-trans-woman/critical-thoughts-on-bell-v-tavistock-797ca81ed21d" target="_blank">Florence Ashley details here</a> but in other ways also. Although the court allowed an anti-trans campaign group to give evidence it did not permit Mermaids or any representatives of young trans and non-binary people to do so, nor did it permit ANY trans children to do so, or indeed trans adults who had been denied hormone blockers. In other worlds the court decided on a law affecting a group of people who were neither present nor represented. And let's face it, who you listen to determines the judgement you make.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the continuation of of a strategy by anti-trans campaigners to obtain judgements in courts in which there is no representation of trans children or young trans and non-binary people. It echoes the paper produced by Littman (2018) which attempted to produce a diagnosis of "ROGD" without actually researching or including the voices of members of the population about which it attempted to theorise. Although the circumstances are different, the ethics are the same, in numerous instances anti-trans campaigners have sought to obtain court decisions in the UK from which trans and non-binary people are excluded. This is of course reflected by the way mainstream media has excluded trans people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The judgement has also allowed <a href="https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/gillick-competence-fraser-guidelines" target="_blank">Gillick Competence</a> to effectively be set aside for trans and non-binary children, although how long that lasts it is difficult to know; given the agenda of the groups funding this case one suspects it will not last long. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that, in the UK, trans people are not to be considered full citizens with full human rights accorded to any other group. This has effectively resulted in the court deciding that decisions can be made about us in court without our presence or input, in the same way the media has decided the trans "debate" can be prosecuted without any input from trans people. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpxU5UruS4caynLUAei67bctY5VBjnNAUH1nFmCSoslLoTHdyTB75xOdyYzGu0Oxe95zmpK9bdZhRMfpT4GyVxwtP_3A_6Q2ZybHnmu6ShqYIRokog5vI-L1kih3OyOHfWvmV5jHMBdJF/s936/EoKuyiSXEAIH-TQ.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpxU5UruS4caynLUAei67bctY5VBjnNAUH1nFmCSoslLoTHdyTB75xOdyYzGu0Oxe95zmpK9bdZhRMfpT4GyVxwtP_3A_6Q2ZybHnmu6ShqYIRokog5vI-L1kih3OyOHfWvmV5jHMBdJF/w225-h400/EoKuyiSXEAIH-TQ.jpg" width="225" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Part of the problem also seems to be the defence mounted by the Tavistock; ultimately they do not have skin in the game in the way trans and non-binary young people and their representatives like Mermaids do. There are many aspects of the judgement that are simply wrong, for example the way it characterised hormone blocker treatment as "experimental" - when it is<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26895269.2020.1747768" target="_blank"> clear that it is not</a>. The issue of "conveyor belt myth" that hormone blocker treatment would inevitably lead to gender reassignment surgery is problematic in that it is a separate treatment, permission for which is asked for at a later date. There is no evidence that the former results in the latter. Hormone blockers are intended to give children the option to pause puberty in order to make up their minds, if they are denied this puberty will happen in a way that will cause them considerable psychological harm, so denying blockers is not a neutral act. This part of the judgement also rests on the assumption that any outcome that involves transition is negative. This is once again to ignore the humanity and human rights of trans and non-binary people, by situating us as inherently problematic when the issue is not with us, it is with everyone else's attitude to us.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So let us be clear, this is a profoundly dehumanising judgement, by removing trans kids right to self determination, the court has sent a clear signal that this is the case and it is in clear breach of the depathologisation of trans people by the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/transgender-world-health-organisation-mental-disorder-who-gender-icd11-update-a8932786.html" target="_blank">WHO in the ICD-11</a>. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">While I am in no doubt that many elements of it will be appealed successfully, it is vital that trans people, in particular Mermaids, are allowed to take part and put together a more effective case, including testimony from the people it affects, people who have been denied this treatment and from international experts like Michelle Telfer. What remains however will be a cultural environment laid bare that reveals the UK as a deeply transphobic country. The media campaign against trans people, and in particular trans kids has created an underlying cultural process that situates trans people as less than human. We have been here before with gay and lesbian rights. The next step, as Bell has shown, will be </span><a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-gay-conversion-therapy" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Conversion Therapy</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> for trans kids. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Before long families that love their trans kids will need to obtain asylum in other countries. Imagine that, the first large group of people seeking refugee status from the UK could well be children. I hate it when people say, "just let that sink in for a moment." But just let that sink in for a moment.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We all owe it to trans kids to fight for them, whatever it takes.</span></p><p><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-28684909102832561952020-09-05T13:22:00.009+02:002020-09-05T18:05:23.199+02:00The Hierarchy of Expression<div class="separator"></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH1NZFYZejLXtYe2CRDLBY_3LhVg1wIJVi1nwJ6UZ2g9II2MtCE2YB_VvOYbvW-hxQbMd-uHJfd6p4xo7VRctOKjBNylIrVZh94sukobYX4xIMZyy-WHPOE5vFME8bqtgy9qOTGAgzgEB/s1080/WontBeErased-1080x675.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH1NZFYZejLXtYe2CRDLBY_3LhVg1wIJVi1nwJ6UZ2g9II2MtCE2YB_VvOYbvW-hxQbMd-uHJfd6p4xo7VRctOKjBNylIrVZh94sukobYX4xIMZyy-WHPOE5vFME8bqtgy9qOTGAgzgEB/s320/WontBeErased-1080x675.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The media have been, and continue to be, hot under the collar about freedom of speech. But only it seems, when it comes to transphobes. This seems to be the norm; when someone says something homophobic for example, it is treated by the media as a <i>homophobia issue</i>. Transphobia however, is treated by the media as a <i>free speech issue</i>. Transphobes of all kinds;</li></ul><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="" style="color: black; text-indent: -18pt;">“Journalists” in the media, </span></li><li><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="" style="color: black; text-indent: -18pt;">Campaigners in dubiously-funded faux “women’s-concerns” hate groups, </span></li><li><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="" style="color: black; text-indent: -18pt;">Extreme right-wingers looking for yet another way to promote hatred, </span></li><li><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="" style="color: black; text-indent: -18pt;">Attention-seeking fading celebrities and dishonest academics </span></li></ul><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">all regularly and falsely claim they are being ‘silenced’ when anyone calls them out on their transphobia, or even disagrees with the aging, pre-discredited, deliberately misleading and selective arguments rehashed from the last century. They are immediately presented as “silencing” free speech. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPYT8_G72RCRKkbBMuDR6lAJaKY6p34Sl4U4oMGGsYAlp8UnIQakQkRh3KtyEom4jhFvkjn-PLAhyrUcen7RBU-eqFC73x6RIfQK8xYcIJjhOxSkTX1I3EgtSmiGkPDo3A5Y-izPoQmTq/s1001/SupremeScreenshot-4%25402x.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="1001" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPYT8_G72RCRKkbBMuDR6lAJaKY6p34Sl4U4oMGGsYAlp8UnIQakQkRh3KtyEom4jhFvkjn-PLAhyrUcen7RBU-eqFC73x6RIfQK8xYcIJjhOxSkTX1I3EgtSmiGkPDo3A5Y-izPoQmTq/s320/SupremeScreenshot-4%25402x.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />To respond to transphobia at all, to challenge the age-old repetitive regurgitation of transphobic tropes, even to call a transphobe a transphobe, is to be accused of “silencing”, loudly and often in the UK media. The media urgently leaps to the defence of any transphobic individual or hate group when they are accused of transphobia, yet this is the same media that ignores times when trans people are silenced, and silenced increasingly viciously. The Spectator for example, was quick to attack the Co-op for wanting not to advertise in this one-sided publication, a publication that publishes transphobia on an industrial scale but systematically prevents anyone from putting the opposite perspective. Yet where was the Spectator when two trans women were arrested and jailed in Poland and Russia for protesting against the kind of transphobic legislation the Spectator supports for the UK? Where is the Spectator, and indeed all the UK media now a protest against similar legislation in the UK has effectively been banned, with protesters threatened with arrest? After a fascist-inspired anti-mask demo in London last weekend was allowed, why is a demo by trans people being banned suddenly?<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmmJtjGWaSGRFeQvEA9mfwA67CJQevMGqOFijXFy8OtNQI7ffW9BGDkzIkBNyz56pU5yKfVIOaF1Yk-3qRB3aBuf8ZwV3ZXhLFmpKZMLysq2bNHKdGJmBtMIhVrCCqennUbJbIhUz-SN1/s1080/Zarah.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmmJtjGWaSGRFeQvEA9mfwA67CJQevMGqOFijXFy8OtNQI7ffW9BGDkzIkBNyz56pU5yKfVIOaF1Yk-3qRB3aBuf8ZwV3ZXhLFmpKZMLysq2bNHKdGJmBtMIhVrCCqennUbJbIhUz-SN1/w256-h256/Zarah.png" width="256" /></a></i></span></div><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i><br />This is something <b>everyone </b>ought to be worried about. They are doing this to us now, they will do it to everyone else tomorrow.</i></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">Trans people have often recognised that there is a hierarchy of oppression, a hierarchy we are at the bottom of. It seems that there is now a hierarchy of expression also, with trans people at the bottom of that. This is not news to trans people. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i>Want to spout transphobic hate, publish selective material about trans people? </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">The media will defend to the hilt your right to do so. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><i>Want to challenge transphobia in the media or even to protest about it on the streets?</i> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">You will be ignored, or have your free speech misrepresented as a threat to transphobes' free speech.<br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH01om3XoeVVrwLvhyphenhyphenp_qFopKFrU40xRiY1QAZVOWEmxboKE83ILy-5M8eEzk1xxEeOhJt-S5RMq7pMRtbgDw4beVsPaBqlDXDxpxHEofg0nk8nbelppMTkatziiRETt1i-C-KP-KmNvsB/s2048/margot.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1517" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH01om3XoeVVrwLvhyphenhyphenp_qFopKFrU40xRiY1QAZVOWEmxboKE83ILy-5M8eEzk1xxEeOhJt-S5RMq7pMRtbgDw4beVsPaBqlDXDxpxHEofg0nk8nbelppMTkatziiRETt1i-C-KP-KmNvsB/s320/margot.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />To repeat; the reality is that the banning of the trans rights demo today is something everyone should be worried about. The authorities are prepared to allow certain groups to demonstrate, if they don’t threaten the dominant narrative or power structures. However they will quickly ban trans people from protesting against attacks on their human rights. <br /><br />If it had been a group of transphobes that was prevented from demonstrating (and in contrast to the 1,000+ that had been expected at the trans rights demo I have never seen them get more than about 12 at a demo) I am in no doubt that the media would have been bursting with righteous indignation. But when trans people are banned from protesting, jailed for protesting and systematically excluded from putting our case in the media… tumbleweed.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqPkLcWV3L_Tl1G9_-2fuqhVcycytWXVez3tHXzl1hpQACneF9KsQlR09lxVHDrT6_4H_C4yfqVCm3GpB-5fO8ZfNjcN-Fy46WUoPQBiA4S3xjDKh_E7PWPa4KaMUrMv4Ffmepw5AJFgg/s800/09_25_2014_tumbleweed.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqPkLcWV3L_Tl1G9_-2fuqhVcycytWXVez3tHXzl1hpQACneF9KsQlR09lxVHDrT6_4H_C4yfqVCm3GpB-5fO8ZfNjcN-Fy46WUoPQBiA4S3xjDKh_E7PWPa4KaMUrMv4Ffmepw5AJFgg/w256-h192/09_25_2014_tumbleweed.jpg" width="256" /></span></a></div><span face="" style="color: black; font-family: arial;">The hierarchy of oppression is real, but more real than that is the hierarchy of expression. This is a hierarchy with transphobes at the top with full media support and trans people at the bottom, with increasing hegemonic media and political oppression from multiple sources. Anyone who says a transphobe is “courageous” for spouting whatever regurgitated piece of transphobia happens to be du jour, is lying. Trans people speaking out are increasingly the brave ones. Ask Polina Simonenko and Margot Szutowicz. Never heard of them? There’s a reason for that. </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The truth behind this is probably that the Tories and the fascists are scared of the new wave of young trans activism, they have seen thousands of young trans people taking to the streets all over the country and want to stamp down on them. How much influence the transphobes have had on the government to make them ban it is unknown but working behind the scenes and hand in glove with the far right is their modus operandi. Not just trans people, but everyone needs to resist this.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YONrLk0qzvR5_mDRKHr57e6ezSVC59lIijxp5dVY1E2oaX-cNROJl0zMpq1JpAP4Ky2NBl82E85KrlUnb_qYnPyMArUpvtIPmAZDBqFxd7AW1JiJOsNJWDgmbFmqvT5LLeBvtCQ9xx2g/s1080/TRP2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YONrLk0qzvR5_mDRKHr57e6ezSVC59lIijxp5dVY1E2oaX-cNROJl0zMpq1JpAP4Ky2NBl82E85KrlUnb_qYnPyMArUpvtIPmAZDBqFxd7AW1JiJOsNJWDgmbFmqvT5LLeBvtCQ9xx2g/w256-h256/TRP2.png" width="256" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7MvNIvUOh24-qhl_V9Ecyr-K9c3vPp-zDpYGmP2u6CuQILjtgocwLVXbHj0oy5L2iitJWucb7OFOdrN8L7djx476UJeI3Dlu0TNqf3FET_m9JVhgkflTviDIpe17XszvW9SWZxTnd0XI/s1080/TRP+cancelled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7MvNIvUOh24-qhl_V9Ecyr-K9c3vPp-zDpYGmP2u6CuQILjtgocwLVXbHj0oy5L2iitJWucb7OFOdrN8L7djx476UJeI3Dlu0TNqf3FET_m9JVhgkflTviDIpe17XszvW9SWZxTnd0XI/w256-h256/TRP+cancelled.png" width="256" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><br /></div></div>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2734974921464511593.post-33047160148540844382020-08-09T18:49:00.005+02:002020-08-09T21:53:37.457+02:00Talking to transphobes<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfm2hnTmWjQKntEnoXXbY4HRto2bKIvjxe9YrzjioAifBAV54vimwWQ-NrdR5duzLNQuVRMl-iKcqKkwsQ8526nkYuvGF4qQy5a4ilv00TBnSIldu1r3fYGsdj-0WBK6Q9rwUnhWuZzHKa/s512/Flag.png" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="512" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfm2hnTmWjQKntEnoXXbY4HRto2bKIvjxe9YrzjioAifBAV54vimwWQ-NrdR5duzLNQuVRMl-iKcqKkwsQ8526nkYuvGF4qQy5a4ilv00TBnSIldu1r3fYGsdj-0WBK6Q9rwUnhWuZzHKa/w410-h246/Flag.png" width="410" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">You can tell cis people who do not understand the conflict between transphobic hate groups and trans people in the UK, they are the ones telling trans people to talk to the transphobes.<br /><br />Of course they don’t actually phrase it that way, they say “Go and talk to women’s groups!” but here is the problem. They seem to think that the transphobic hate groups that have grown up in recent years are “women’s” groups when of course they are not. Trans people have been talking to, and indeed taking part in, genuine women’s groups, from the Women’s Institute to the Fabian Society Women’s Network for a long time, and these include groups that run domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centres. <br /><br />So when the head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, David Isaac, or Jess Phillips MP, say trans people should be talking to women’s groups, we have already done that, been accepted in these groups as the genders we say we are and everything is hunky-dory. <br /><br />So what are these people talking about then? <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What they seem to mean is that we should start talking to the transphobic hate groups posing as “women’s groups”. They seem to think that the problem of the transphobic hatred spouted by these groups will be solved if we talk to them.<br /><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEBMldkJZz9lJthW5GFokNQTvb-oHYvxqFmZlnggUoZoiSQUu_B6GcM4P7SK24KI29bnsd547xVKY-CuqCYaUZz3y3PA-4QmWlolfw31YWeKf9iy2gmNzdCBcDMwtQa6jg9x57TnKRwyW/s1600/WBC.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 1em 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEBMldkJZz9lJthW5GFokNQTvb-oHYvxqFmZlnggUoZoiSQUu_B6GcM4P7SK24KI29bnsd547xVKY-CuqCYaUZz3y3PA-4QmWlolfw31YWeKf9iy2gmNzdCBcDMwtQa6jg9x57TnKRwyW/w410-h230/WBC.jpg" width="410" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Would they ask gay men and lesbians to go and talk to a homophobic hate group? Would they really expect, say Wes Streeting or Chris Bryant, to go and engage with the Westboro Baptist Church because they were somehow kicking up a fuss in the UK? Of course not.<br /><br />Would they ask Zahra Sultana to go and negotiate with the likes of Tommy Robinson? I very much doubt it.<br /><br />Well asking trans people to negotiate with the plethora of transphobic hate groups that have sprung up recently, amounts to the same thing. So Jess Phillips and David Isaac and Uncle Tom Cobley and all can tell trans people to go an talk to these hate groups all the time but it is <i><b>never</b></i> going to happen. There is no common ground between trans people and these hate groups, there is not even a fence to sit on between trans people and the transphobic hate groups, there is a deep chasm, a ravine with no bridge across to the other side, rather line there is no fence between Tommy Robinson’s brand of Islamophobia and British Muslims, or between cis gay men, lesbians and bi people and the Westboro Baptist Church. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">BTW all of these transphobic hate groups, which claim to represent women but don’t, have opaque, but generous, funding arrangements (which usually means funding is coming from Moscow or the “Christian” extreme right fundamentalists in the US).<br /><br />So when people who should know better, tell trans people to go and talk to “women’s groups” unless they mean the majority of genuine women’s groups that are not transphobic, rather than the hate groups that use the veneer of “women’s concerns” to hide their transphobia, all they are doing is demonstrating their ignorance. <br /><br />As someone who has attempted to communicate with transphobes for years, I have come to the conclusion that trans people talking to transphobes is completely pointless. These groups only ever communicate in bad faith. They have no interest in genuine dialogue all they want to do is remove trans people’s human rights. What people like Jess Phillips and David Isaac need to know is a point echoed by Prof Alison Phipps of Sussex University. The people organising these transphobic hate groups are very often white and middle-class, and often women. These are people who are good at playing the game of appearances. Appearing reasonable while underneath they are as transphobic as you can get. For people like Phillips, Isaac and many others it is difficult to understand how such polite, well-spoken and otherwise apparently honest and upright members of the community, can somehow be bigots. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is the main learning curve that people like Phillips and Isaac need to get onto. Just because someone is polite and well-spoken does not mean they are not awful, does not mean they are not haters, does not mean they are not dishonest, does not mean they are not bigots. They have just learned to play the game, the same game many others play all the time, only this time instead of using their politeness to obscure the tiny clause in the small print, they are using it do disguise the fact that they want to eliminate a particular group of people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When trans people say someone is transphobic then, politicians wold do well to remember that trans people are speaking from a position of knowledge and experience. We know who is transphobic or not, we have been dealing with transphobia for years, in some cases decades. For a cis person to decide someone who has been described as a transphobe by trans people is “not transphobic” is not only to speak from a position of ignorance. It is to demonstrate that ignorance as well as to manifest an element of transphobia in itself. In doing so they are discounting the opinions of people who have skin in the game, which they do not. This is not to suggest that Phillips or Isaac are being intentionally transphobic but that the effects of what they are saying are. <br /><br />There are no trans MPs in the Commons, no trans peers, no top level mainstream comment journalists in the news media who are trans, trans people are systematically excluded from having a voice in pretty much every mainstream media outlet including the BBC. When a cis politician, journalist or functionary discounts what trans people are saying through whatever media we can find that does not exclude us, that is, in and of itself, transphobic and constitutes silencing. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><br /></p>Natachahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09532525333184486294noreply@blogger.com0