A Woman Saying No!
Update 399 Terf Month #BeMorePorcupine
I am pulling this update forward since Sunday has now been taken up with other matters and I have to do paid work on Monday.
I know I have featured this great speech from Melbourne Let Women Speak fairly recently but I wanted to end our Terf Month with a bang!! So here it is again.
Coming up to Update 400!!! I am returning to the Leading Female Season and working on which performance will be best for this personal milestone!!
Thanks to two wonderful readers as ever for suggested pieces.
Having dealt with the General Election in the recent updates I thought we would have a brief breather from it and will return to it in the next update which will possibly be the last one before election day! However, some of the below effectively ( or directly!) refers to the election, of course!! So it is only a slight breather 😊
However, please do support the Party of Women candidates if you can:
https://www.partyofwomen.org/our-candidates
Boy referred to Prevent
Have you heard it all? No, you haven’t!
Alex Ward in The Mail Online ( EXCLUSIVE Boy, 12, is referred to counter-extremist Prevent officers by his own school after declaring there 'are only two genders' and 'I'm gay not queer' 28 June) reports:
A 12-year-old schoolboy has been investigated by counter-extremism officers after he declared there 'are only two genders'.
The child made a video, posted online, in which he also stated: 'There's no such thing as non-binary'.
And in response to school bullies who mistakenly believed he supported transgender ideology, he said: '[I'm] gay not queer.'
Originally a homophobic slur, trans activists claim the word 'queer' now describes people who don't adhere to ideas of sex or gender.
But the school told the boy's mother they would refer him to Prevent, the Home Office programme that attempts to stop people becoming terrorists, amid fears he could be at risk of being radicalised by the far-right.
The Mail is aware of the boy's identity but has agreed not to disclose it, and has also viewed the social media posts.
The boy's mother was visited by Prevent and Northumbria Police officers this week, in a meeting she described as 'an interrogation'.
Officers listed a string of allegations to illustrate the boy was at risk of radicalisation.
The boy's mother said: 'We think that he was targeted as the children believe gay people agree with trans ideology.
'He made a video which I uploaded to YouTube where he said there 'are only two genders' and 'I'm gay not queer'.
'The school phoned up and were incensed by it. They said that they would refer him to Prevent for that video.
'They said that he was at risk of radicalisation - not that he had been, but was a risk when he gets to 13 and is entitled to his own social media accounts.
'There was a risk he would fall in with Far Right groups.'
She said counter terror officers - who visited the family home - raised concerns over the fact that her son, who is Jewish, harboured extremist views on account of his response when asked if there were any groups that shouldn't exist.
She said her son responded that 'Hamas (the Gaza-based terror group) should be wiped out'.
Further fears were raised over comments he made to school bullies, stating he wanted to 'exterminate' them.
He is said to have made the remark in relation to appalling racist slurs from classmates.
In a letter to the school in South Tyneside - seen by the Mail - his mother detailed how he was subjected to vile verbal abuse and Nazi salutes.
Prevent officers also suggested the boy had an unhealthy interest in weapons on account of another online video - again uploaded by his mother - which showed him demonstrating a toy crossbow bought from English Heritage, she said.
English Heritage describes the 'best seller' item as 'completely harmless but lots of fun'.
The mother said the school and Prevent officers were guilty of double standards, claiming anti-Semitic incidents at the school were not dealt with in the same way.
She said: 'We sat down with the Prevent officers and there was an interrogation - they had an attitude of 'we'll ask the questions'.
'We were asked if we monitored his social media and what songs he listens to.
'They said there was a whole series of things he had been accused of.'
The police response was criticised by free speech campaigners who rebuked officers for 'wilfully missing the target'.
Harry Miller, chief exec of Fair Cop, said: 'His views on gender are as far away from terrorism that it's possible to be.
'They are views that are held by the majority of people in Britain and don't even get into the foothills of terrorism.
'You couldn't call it criminality, let alone terrorism. There is a difference between bad behaviour and terrorism.
'This is another instance of the police wilfully missing the target because hunting down school children is easier than confronting actual terrorists.
'Fair Cop will continue to stand between these idiots and the public until they stop behaving like the woke, cowardly Stasi they have become.
'The Home Office needs to get a grip. Sack every complicit Chief Constable.'
Kate Barker, chief exec of LGB Alliance, said: 'If it's a sign of radicalisation to say you don't like being called 'queer' then according to our research, 94 per cent of LGB people can expect a knock on the door from counter-terrorism officers.
'We applaud this young boy for standing up for his beliefs, and we condemn the teachers and police who think it's wrong to abhor this horrible slur.'
The full article is here:
Sue Barker
Better late than never!!
Aidan Radnedge in The Mail Online ( Sue Barker says trans women should not be allowed to compete against biological females in sport - as the Wimbledon and BBC legend backs Martina Navratilova and warns 'young girls' dreams are being taken away' 24 June) reports:
Wimbledon and BBC legend Sue Barker has backed calls for a ban on self-identified trans women competing against biological females in sport.
The TV presenter has revealed she agrees with fellow former tennis ace Martina Navratilova, saying that 'young girls' dreams' are at stake.
Nine-time Wimbledon singles champion Navratilova has been one of the most vocal opponents of allowing transgender female competitors to take part in women's sports - describing them as 'failed male athletes'.
The full article is here:
Louise Distras
I last reported on Louise here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-love-song?utm_source=publication-search
She has been interviewed on Talk TV ( though she hardly gets a word in edgeways 😊)
Hate Crime in Scotland
Owen Evans in The Epoch Times ( Scottish Conservatives Pledge to Scrap Hate Crime Act in Manifesto 24 June) reports:
The Scottish Conservatives have pledged to scrap a controversial new hate crime law in their manifesto.
On Monday, led by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, the party said it would ditch the Hate Crime Act and replace it with a “law that defends free speech.”
The controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, enacted on April 1, has been described as “dangerous” by free speech activists.
“Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act, which was supported by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, is an attack on free speech,” it said.
“The Act is unworkable, has placed new burdens on police time when they are more overstretched than ever before, and has been used for vexatious allegations,” it added.
The full article is here:
WPATH
Shocking new information on the involvement of Rachel Levine with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health:
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/wpath-and-rachel-levine-child-catchers
Luxury Beliefs
OK, this is completely about the general election!!
Very interesting leading article in The Times ( The Times view on trans rights: Luxury Beliefs 24 June):
Saying the wrong thing could get you killed in the Britain of the 15th century, or the 16th or the 17th. And it can still get you threatened with death in the 21st. Rosie Duffield, the Labour politician, and JK Rowling, the author, know this to be true from personal experience. Both were threatened with murder by a man for daring to dispute the transparent absurdities of the extreme trans lobby, and championing the right of women to enjoy female-only spaces free of men who identify as women. Like Galileo before them, the two women prefer science to “luxury beliefs” as a guide to truth. They happen to share the view that some things just are, and whether or not people like them is neither here nor there.
So it is with the immutable biological differences between men and women. Both Ms Duffield and Ms Rowling have dared to point out that a man, a human with a XY chromosome, cannot turn himself into a woman, a human with XX. In 2021 Ms Duffield used the example of the cervix, a part of human anatomy exclusive to females. Twenty years ago, no one would have raised an eyebrow at this statement of the blindingly obvious. Yet her party leader, Sir Keir Starmer, reacted to her comment with condemnation. It was, he remarked, “something that shouldn’t be said”. Now, at last, Sir Keir appears to have rediscovered his notes from O-level biology. After taking a lesson from his mentor Sir Tony Blair, who appears to be clearer on the basics, Sir Keir now says women have vaginas and men penises.
This is an encouraging evidence-based statement from a former practising barrister and director of public prosecutions whose professional currency was indeed evidence. Sir Keir’s Damascene conversion — he once said only 99.9 per cent of women do not have penises — was made during an election debate on Thursday. Asked about why he reprimanded Ms Duffield for her cervix comment, he attempted to use context: it was, he said, “a very toxic, very divided” time.
In that comment Sir Keir encapsulated the doubts people have about his integrity, about his tendency to be a political shapeshifter. Facts don’t rely on the zeitgeist. The public wants its leaders to recognise and defend the truth, come what may. Especially in regard, as Ms Rowling puts it, to observable reality. Because if they do not the door opens into a void of infinite darkness, the one identified by George Orwell as he sat alone in that farmhouse on Jura in 1948.
Sir Keir has not yet given way entirely to truth. He caveated the vagina-penis answer by saying he was talking about biology. Why? Because there is still a powerful caucus within Labour that adheres to the twisted logic of trans ideology. David Lammy, for one, still has problems with how a cervix comes to be. But it is Labour’s senior women who really have problems with answering the question “what is a woman?” Anneliese Dodds thinks it “depends”, Stella Creasy thinks some women are born with penises, as does Emily Thornberry. Lisa Nandy thinks trans women — biological men — should serve sentences in female prisons.
The full article is here:
The Ladies’ Lounge
The wonderful ladies ( who I have reported on before) of the Museum of Old and New Art are still battling away despite a negative court decision. Picassos in the Ladies? Why not? 😊
Kelly Burke in The Guardian ( Mona hangs Picassos in women’s toilet in response to court ruling 24 June) reports:
Mona’s Ladies Lounge creator Kirsha Kaechele and supporters before a Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in March. Photograph: Charlotte Vignau© Photograph: Charlotte Vignau
Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art has relegated part of its Picasso collection to a female toilet cubicle, after a court ruling that it must admit men to a female-only exhibition.
Artist Kirsha Kaechele, the wife of Mona’s billionaire owner, David Walsh, posted a video on social media on Monday showing at least two paintings by the late Spanish artist hanging in a toilet.
Picassos were among the artworks previously hanging in the museum’s Ladies Lounge, a women-only area created by Kaechele which included, as part of the artist’s intent, men’s experiences of exclusion.
But in April, The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Tascat) found that the Ladies Lounge was discriminatory after a complaint lodged by a man who was denied entry in 2023.
The museum was given 28 days to cease refusing entry to the Ladies Lounge based on gender. The exhibition has been closed ever since.
“A new exhibition at Mona. Just for ladies…” Kaechele posted with the video on Monday, pointing out that prior to the tribunal’s ruling, all toilets at Mona were unisex.
“But then the Ladies Lounge had to close thanks to a lawsuit brought on by a man,” the artist posted.
“And I just didn’t know what to do with all those Picassos.”
Kaechele went on to suggest the museum would seek to reclassify the Ladies Lounge as a church/school/boutique glamping accommodation under Section 26 of Tasmania’s Anti Discrimination Act, which permits under what circumstances people can be denied access based on gender.
The Ladies Lounge, which opened in 2020, saw women who entered the space pampered by male butlers and served champagne while being surrounded by some of the museum’s finest pieces of art.
Kaechele said in March she was “absolutely delighted” the case had made it to the tribunal, after a complaint by Sydney man Jason Lau.
“The men are experiencing Ladies Lounge, their experience of rejection is the artwork,” she said at the time.
On 7 May Kaechele announced the museum would be appealing the decision in the supreme court.
Stick Your Neck Out
Interesting discussion between Sasha White and Arty Morty. Please let us have your comments on this.
Twitter Smackdowns
Thanks to my wife and Jennifer Gingrich for these😊 :
https://x.com/fem_mb/status/1804809291083202754
https://x.com/fem_mb/status/1804809293801148472
https://x.com/fem_mb/status/1804809296208683094
https://x.com/fem_mb/status/1804809298687521012
https://x.com/fem_mb/status/1804809303607365678
Endpiece by Liz
#BeMore Porcupine
I've been following the kerfuffle with Kaechele and the art gallery and are genuinely baffled over what she is trying to make a statement about (or theres every possibility Im just misunderstanding). She is obviously on the political left but I don't think she is actually a terf, and nor does she seem to understand the gender critical position - essentially that human beings have binary manifestations of sex and that it cannot be changed, despite the ongoing legal and institutional machinations of the cult inducted activists. My impression is Kaechele seems technically on our side but not fully cognisant of the gender critical position. As a person in the arts community I know there are a lot of dyed in the wool lefties trying to say women exist but simultaneously trying to avoid saying "and men cannot turn into women".
Regardless, I do appreciate her sense of humour and that she refuses to get brow beaten by those trying to make her comply.
#TerfistheNewPunk. Brilliant Louise Distras.
I miss reading twitter put downs now that I can’t access twitter. I particularly enjoyed the Tom Harwood one.😆
What the heck has happened to the police and that school!! The police also ‘visited’ a Reform candidate who had a poster up in his window in case it upset asylum seekers.
What a fantastic discussion between Arty Morty and Sasha White, so many interesting ideas. Re KJK, her comments were probably born from anger and frustration but she does seem to go too far in her generalisations. Arty and Sasha cover it really well with nuance. It’s tricky. In theory people should be able to wear what they want, but in practice, do we want to normalise male fetish to the point that inappropriate clothes are worn in every day situations. I don’t. Fetish is the difference between gender non conformity and an autogynephilic male, but how do we navigate that? The gender ideologues, as ever, are pushing boundaries on the coattails of others.
Arty’s explanation of the human brain reminded me of Martine Rothblatt who believes that we can all live a life completely cut off from our mammalian selves. And at the end, Arty’s anger at his ex teacher friends rings very true with me.😁
Really enjoyed that, thanks Dusty.