In My Father's Den
Update 442. Hate Speech Special. #BeMorePorcupine
Thanks to Rex Landy for suggesting the next film in the Heroes season.
Following the death of his father Jeff (Matthew Chamberlain), renowned war photographer Paul Prior (Matthew Macfadyen) returns to his hometown in the South Island of New Zealand. Paul also reunites with his younger brother Andrew (Colin Moy), a pious local ostrich farmer, who is married to the very religious and agoraphobic Penny (Miranda Otto). Under Andrew's pressure, Paul reluctantly prolongs his stay to help sort out the sale of their father's cottage and the adjoining orchard.
Returning to the dilapidated family property, Paul revisits his father's makeshift den in the equipment shed. Jeff, who secretly harboured a love of wine, literature, and free-thinking philosophy, found solace in the den away from his puritanical wife Iris (Vanessa Riddell). When Paul as a child had accidentally stumbled upon this wondrous booklined universe, his father had shared the den with him on the condition that he did not tell anyone else.
Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Stand With Posie
Following my last emergency update about the attack on Kellie-Jay at Sheffield Let Women Speak, here is a video of the start of the rally by someone called Tim Wells. Tim is clearly not fully updated on gender ideology but you can tell which side he is sympathetic to 😀
EDI Jester has also reported on what happened:
It reminds me of the attacker at the Tacoma LWS rally who came in from the back as well and who Amy Sousa courageously blocked ( at about 17.40):
TRAs Set Off Explosion
On her substack, Women’s Voices Genevieve Gluck brings us shocking news about an attack on a conference in France.
FRANCE: Trans Activists Set Off Explosion in Attempt to Sabotage Conference Critical of Gender Ideology
Sep 22, 2024
A private school in Lyon, France, had its electricity sabotaged on Thursday as trans activists attempted to have a conference critical of gender ideology cancelled. The event was later swarmed by 300 trans activists, who gathered outside of the Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences (ISSEP) in opposition to the appearance of feminist activist Marguerite Stern, co-author of the book “Transmania.”
The conference, titled Comment L’idéologie Transgenre Détruit des Vies? (How Transgender Ideology Destroys Lives), sought to discuss the harms of both medical transitioning and the aggression of trans activism. But even before the event was set to officially begin, the venue – a private school founded by right-wing Member of Parliament Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – was targeted for sabotage.
At approximately 4:00 AM on the day the conference was to take place, an explosion occurred and a fire broke out in a room housing an electrical meter adjacent to the venue. As firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, 200 police officers were dispatched to the scene. The officers were present throughout the evening’s event in order to secure the safety of attendees.
While police are still investigating the cause of the fire, security camera footage caught one unidentified individual setting off an explosive device. The explosion set fire to the electrical meter of the adjacent building, resulting in a power outage for some local residents. This occurred while trans activists had been vandalizing the front of the institute with threatening slogans.
Vandalism on the ISSEP building’s front read: “Dirty TERF,” an acronym which stands for ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminist’ and is often used as a pejorative to harass or threaten violence against women who oppose gender identity ideology.
“No transphobes,” and “TERFs out of our struggle” were also painted on the building’s entrance next to a symbol synonymous with trans activism.
Stern, formerly an active campaigner against femicide, decided to speak at ISSEP Thursday evening despite the damage to the institute and credible threats to her safety which were shared on social media. While the event took place, more trans activists gathered outside of the venue and complained of “transphobia” to local media.
“At the conference, I talked about how children are harmed by puberty blockers, and all the women who ‘transition’, especially the teenagers, and [detransitioners] who find that ‘transition’ destroyed their lives. But I also talked about the ‘TERFs’, the women who resist, because I believe that transgender ideology destroys their lives, too,” Stern told Reduxx.
The full piece is here:
Well done to brave Ms Stern for continuing with her speech!
Universities - Home Of The Woo
EDI reports on why Matt Goodwin has stepped down from teaching at the University of Kent.
Comedy Unleashed in Ireland
Andy from Comedy Unleashed writes:
Last week, Comedy Unleashed organised Graham Linehan's return to Ireland, with a great line-up of stand-up comedians including the legend himself, Andrew Doyle, 'UK's best comedian' Alistair Williams, TV's beefeater Lewis Schaffer, England's answer to Matt Rife, Jonathan Kogan and Irish MC Aidan Killian, who also sourced the venues (top man). We put three shows on, in Lucan, Dalkey and Newlands Cross (we were going to do a night in Drogheda, but the venue pulled out after protest from a gang of humourless bores). We were properly looked after by Gareth Soye, who's idea it was to bring us to Dublin. He sorted everything out, drove the minibus and treated us to his dour warmth. Top man.
The audiences loved Graham's return. After the gigs, Graham was inundated with well-wishers and everyone had their own anecdote about Father Ted.
BUT there was media silence. Gareth said that every famous Irish expat that comes back to visit is invited to do the round of radio interviews and join the couch on the TV chat shows. "any famous person who has a second cousin in Ireland is treated like a returning hero". But, not Graham. No radio interviews. No talk shows. Silence. The only media outlet that covered Graham’s return was Gript, the sole alternative media outlet Ireland. This plucky little media company publicised the gigs and produced this nice little video.
They've asked us back next year and we hope to book a big venue in Dublin and Belfast, we look forward to it.
The Lobby Of Parliament
I reported on this here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/this-is-ripley-signing-off?utm_source=publication-search
Hate Speech In Ireland
Fantastic news from Ireland! Gript report that the Irish Government are scrapping the proposed hate speech laws. Well done to everyone who campaigned against them including Gript themselves ( and me 😃)
https://x.com/griptmedia/status/1837426679049777271
Plaid Cymru Woo Woo
Thanks to Feminist Legal Clinic (FLC) as ever for several pieces in this update.
Plaid Cymru Admit Unlawfully Discriminating Against FiLiA (20 September)
In February of this year, grassroots feminist charity FiLiA signed a contract with Plaid Cymru to have a stand at their March Spring Conference. However, this was cancelled by the Party with less than a week to go.
Plaid Cymru representative Elin Jones, chair of Plaid Cymru’s steering committee for its Spring Conference, emailed the organisation on 19th March 2024 – less than 48 hours before the conference was due to start – to cancel the booking, it was stated that this was due to the following: ”some of FiLiA’s positions are potentially contrary to the party’s values – for instance on trans rights” and indicating that the presence of the stall would prevent the conference from being a ‘safe space’.
This week, after previously accepting the cancellation amounted to a breach of the contract with FiLiA and offering partial compensation for FiLiA’s costs, Plaid Cymru have accepted that the decision to cancel this booking on the basis of FiLiA’s protected beliefs amounted to an act of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
Source: Plaid Cymru Admit Unlawfully Discriminating Against FiLiA — FiLiA
Police Scotland
The latest Women’s Rights Network newsletter (21 September) reports:
Police Scotland to Give Rapists a “sense of belonging”
In Scotland, the police have been recording sex offenders by their claimed gender instead of their immutable sex. As a result, there was a call through the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee for people charged with or convicted of rape and attempted rape to be recorded in line with their sex. (The petition is under consideration but you can still sign in support.)
Police Scotland submitted a response which admitted their practice was to record such offenders’ chosen gender, not sex. Their reasoning included claiming it was legally compliant, best practice and was “promoting a strong sense of belonging”.
WRN Scotland’s Mary Howden formally asked Police Scotland to evidence their claims by providing the supporting data and risk assessments undertaken.
Mary raised the point that under Scottish law (Victims and Witnesses Scotland Act 2014), victims and witnesses must be treated with dignity, sensitivity, consideration of needs and the avoidance of re-trauma.
The letter ends, “In the event that a victim of rape was unable to accept self-identification by the offender as a woman, can you please advise how this would be managed by Police Scotland in order to ensure that obligations under the 2014 Act were met and the victim did not disengage from the criminal justice process?” A vital question and the answer will be of great interest.
Moira Deeming - the trial continues - Part 2
I reported on the start of the trial here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/buffalo-bill
Thanks to FLC.
Moira Deeming vowed to sue John Pesutto for defamation after press release (20 September)
Exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming believed she’d entered a “fight to the death” with Opposition Leader John Pesutto and that “either I would be finished or Mr Pesutto would be” after she was “tarred with the Nazi brush”.
In an extraordinary affidavit submitted to her defamation trial against Mr Pesutto, Mrs Deeming said she believed her former boss and David Southwick MP “set out to damage and utterly destroy me” after a controversial women’s rally she helped organise was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Before the motion to expel meeting, Mrs Deeming claimed the Liberal leadership had made calls telling MPs she’d “organised a Nazi event and had been drinking and hanging out with Nazis, and partying with them, and that they had the evidence to prove it”
“I couldn’t understand why (Mr Pesutto) would hate me so much to be doing this. I thought he was intent on ruining me and my career at all costs – no matter if I was innocent or what it would do to my innocent children.”
Mrs Deeming said following publications linking her to Nazism, “it was like I was radioactive”.
Mrs Deeming said she lost her “sense of connection with everyone in my life, even my husband and children and my closest friends”.
“The experience of extreme stress and anxiety, of isolation and powerlessness that swept over me, has never eased.”
She said she decided to sue Mr Pesutto for defamation “to seek to restore my reputation”, despite the ongoing “harm that my family and I are suffering”.
“What I wanted more than anything else on the planet was a full exoneration of everything that he had implied and led people to believe about me having some kind of link with Nazis.”
[Ed: Mr Pesutto not only tarred Moira as a Nazi, but effectively all women who are actively campaigning for women’s sex-based rights. It has impacted on all of us across the political spectrum.]
Source: Moira Deeming vowed to sue John Pesutto for defamation after press release | Herald Sun
News From Sweden
On his substack, Gender Clinic News Bernard Lane reports on the positive changes regarding ‘gender affirming care’ in Sweden over the last few years.
Off the trans train
Child and adolescent psychiatrist Sven Roman explains Sweden's historic turn towards caution on gender medicine
Sep 19, 2024
Young people with immature brains cannot grasp the consequences of irreversible gender medicalisation, a prominent Swedish child and adolescent psychiatrist has warned.
“It is my opinion that the irreversible measure of sterilisation should not be carried out until the age of 25, and it is therefore appropriate to have the same age limit for gender-reassignment treatment for gender dysphoria,” the psychiatrist, Dr Sven Roman said.
“[In the adolescent brain, the] frontal lobe matures last, at 25-30 years of age. This is where overall thinking and judgment are located. A teenager can therefore not understand the consequences of an irreversible sex-change treatment.”
Dr Roman, who trained in medicine at the prestigious Karolinska Institute, said he believed that social contagion in the age of smartphones and social media “largely explained” Sweden’s “astonishing” surge in atypical cases of gender dysphoria chiefly diagnosed among adolescent females.
He made the remarks in an expert report for the American Supreme Court test case, US v Skrmetti, which involves a constitutional challenge to Tennessee’s law prohibiting gender medicalisation of minors. Hearings may begin later this year.
Dr Roman said he had taken part in about 600-700 neuropsychiatric investigations and evaluations and in the course of his work, had met about 30 children with diagnosed or self-identified gender dysphoria. His opinion on the issue was also shaped by his study of the international scientific literature.
While the evidence for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones was “non-existent or extremely weak”, there did exist evidence-based treatments for co-morbidities common among these young people, such as depression, anxiety, autism and ADHD, he said.
And he said non-invasive treatment of those co-morbid conditions was known to “resolve gender dysphoria in many such cases.”
“It is my experience and the opinion of many psychiatrists in Sweden that psychosocial treatment of gender dysphoria for children and young adults should always be tried first [before any talk of medical intervention],” Dr Roman said.
After concerned experts kick-started public debate in Sweden in 2019, a systematic review of the evidence for paediatric gender medicine was undertaken, leading Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare to issue new, more cautious treatment guidelines in 2022, representing “essentially a ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries in children,” Dr Roman said.
He said the new policy, comparable to the position adopted by England’s National Health Service after the 2020-24 Cass review, left open the possibility of medicalised gender transition in exceptional cases and in research.
The full piece is here:
https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/off-the-trans-train-b1f?publication_id=627677&r=1v403b
The States - The Myth Of The ‘Trans Kid’
Thanks to FLC.
New Evidence Challenges Justification for Child Gender Transitions (20 September)
New data casts doubt on orthodoxy that ‘trans kids become trans adults,’ challenging the whole basis for justifying child gender transitions.
As the question of the constitutionality of banning pediatric gender-transition treatment barrels toward a showdown at the Supreme Court, a parallel philosophical debate over the stability of transgender identity in young people is coursing throughout the global court of medicine and academia — with no end in sight.
The prevailing view among leaders at American pediatric gender clinics holds that if an adolescent experiences persistent gender dysphoria — meaning distress due to a conflict between their biological sex and their gender identity — this will likely remain a lifelong condition. Transgender teens typically become transgender adults, the orthodoxy holds.
Now, a pair of new analyses of medical-records data are challenging the orthodoxy on the permanence of adolescent gender dysphoria. German and American investigators found that the majority of gender dysphoria-related diagnoses, including so-called gender incongruence, recorded in a minor or young adult’s medical chart were gone within five or six years.
The ethics of beginning minors on what is typically meant to be lifelong hormonal treatment are controversial. Such powerful drugs pose the risk of rendering young people infertile and burdening them with permanent sexual dysfunction. And a half-dozen systematic literature reviews — the gold standard of scientific evidence — have found that the use of such medications to treat pediatric gender dysphoria is supported by weak and largely inconclusive research.
Vocal supporters of broad pediatric access to such medical interventions, such as the Lgbtq nonprofits Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD and the ACLU, frequently seek to tip the ethical balance by claiming that gender-transition treatment is “life saving” for adolescents. The only study ever to assess the veracity of this oft-repeated claim — a paper that was published in February to considerable pushback and scrutiny from the pediatric gender medicine field — found that such treatment was not independently associated with a statistically significant difference in the suicide death rate among young people.
Source: New Evidence Challenges Justification for Child Gender Transitions | The New York Sun
And see the report by Professor Louis Appleby regarding the false suicide claims which I reported on here:
Yet More Australian Woo Woo
And thanks yet again to FLC.
Gender change on birth certificate easier than ever in Victoria (22 September)
Thousands of Victorians have changed the gender on official documents without undergoing medical procedures since a new law was introduced to make the process easier.
More than 2700 people including children have had the change made to their birth certificate since the new law came into effect in 2020, according to new data released by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Up to 43 per cent of the people changed their gender from male to female, 33 per cent changed from female to male and t25 per cent changed their identity to other.
However, some medical experts have said the move can cause problems when it came to treating people for certain conditions when a person was not forthcoming about their gender.
Legislation to adopt the change caused a stir in 2019 after the Victorian Women’s Guild raised concerns that the reforms could threaten the safety of vulnerable women and compromise women-only spaces.
Source: Gender change on birth certificate easier than ever in Victoria | Herald Sun
Larping Men In Prison
On her substack, Eva’s Newsletter Eva Kurilova does an excellent and extremely useful analysis of the information available about trans-identifying males in prison.
Statistics Show That HALF of Trans-Identified Men in Prison Are Sex Offenders
Prison data from different years and countries seems to paint the same consistent picture
Sep 21, 2024
Many Western countries are transferring men into women’s prisons and calling this violation of women’s human rights “progress.” Yes, this is really happening, and it’s been happening for a while. Actually, in some places, it’s been happening for decades. There did used to be some semblance of safeguards in place, mainly that the man in question was required to get “bottom surgery” before such a transfer could take place. While a castrated man is not a woman and has no more claim to womanhood than an uncastrated one, this at least created a barrier to entry and kept the transfers few and far between. With the introduction of sex self-identification, this is no longer the case.
Countries like my own, Canada, now allow men to request transfer to a women’s prison on the basis of their supposedly female “gender identity” alone. Not all of these requests are granted, but that’s a small solace when they are granted to men like Adam Laboucan, who sexually assaulted a three-month-old infant. Laboucan’s crime may be particularly shocking, but he is not an outlier in this cohort when it comes to being a sex offender.
When looking at statistics gathered over many years from different countries, a certain picture about trans-identified male prisoners begins to emerge: about half of them are in prison for sexual offenses. This rate is about three times higher than it is for the general male prison population.
I wanted to collect these statistics for my own sake, so that I could reference them quickly and easily in one place. Then I thought, why not make a post about it for others to reference as well? All credit and much gratitude obviously goes to the people and organizations who requested, released, and/or drew attention to the information. My goal was simply to consolidate as much of it as I could. Everything is thoroughly linked, sourced, and credited, and I’ve done my best to ensure the data is accurate and interpreted correctly.
The full piece is here:
https://www.evakurilova.com/p/statistics-show-that-half-of-trans?publication_id=1079486&r=1v403b
Endpieces by Dusty and Liz
I might upstage Liz for a change 😊 This is priceless!
Though it’s touch and go…
#BeMore Porcupine
#LetWomenSpeak
You win, Dusty. Painted chow chows!
Thanks for such a comprehensive roundup, Dusty. Good news from Sweden, Ireland & Wales; not so much in France or in prisons.
You really get the sense that the fight for reality is international when you see it all curated like this. I like to think that countries with smaller populations are able to change course quicker and set an example. So I find the news that Ireland have scrapped their proposed hate speech law to be very enouraging!