Mapantsula

Update 918. The Trial That Can Prove Nothing. #BeMorePorcupine.

Dusty: How are we doing, Puss?

Puss: Totally out of control, Dusty!

Dusty: What’s the plan?

Puss: Let’s do an update today and tomorrow and then ditch all the outstanding stuff and start again.

Dusty: Good plan, Puss. Let’s roll…

When I moved to Birmingham for work from London in 1990, a friend invited me to an informal screening of a film. It was certainly informal. You grabbed a fold up chair and settled yourself in front of a whitewashed wall. There weren’t many people in the audience. The film was projected on to the whitewashed wall. The film was Mapantsula.

Mapantsula is a 1988 South African film directed by Oliver Schmitz. It tells the story of Johannes 'Panic' Themba Mzolo (Thomas Mogotlane), a small-time thief, set against the backdrop of Apartheid. The film uses flashbacks between Panic's time at the hands of his apartheid jailor 'Stander' (Marcel Van Heerden) and happenings in the Johannesburg township of Soweto.

Thanks to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Some of the linked pieces below may be behind a paywall.

UK - Stop The Clinical Trial

We are, of course, closely following the fight against this trial. There is an ongoing judicial review challenge brought by James Esses, Keira Bell and the Bayswater Support Group.

The strange thing about the arguments around this proposed trial is that if you don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘gender dysphoria’ or ‘gender incongruence’ as the Gender Borg now want to call it ( see EDI Jester and Kat Highsmith) or if you believe it is just a symptom and you need to find the cause ( see Dr Miriam Grossman Lost in Trans Nation ), then, in a sense, you don’t need to enter into the question of whether puberty blockers might alleviate ‘gender dysphoria.’ However, for the moment, we’ll stick with the latter position.

A post on the substack Sex not Gender Identity seeks to explain why the trial is set up to fail.

PATHWAYS: The £10 Million Trial That Cannot Prove What It Claims to Test

A detailed critique of its flawed design and case for immediate suspension and why data linkage from the GIDS cohort must come first

Jul 10, 2026

The PATHWAYS trial is a £10 million King’s College London study, funded by NHS England and NIHR, currently enrolling adolescents with gender incongruence to test puberty blockers (GnRHa). It is presented as the scientific response to the Cass Review’s call for better evidence.

It is not a puberty blocker trial. It is a transition trial.

In our full analysis

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fxlSIGS850r22nkxlwFb0bagPtS3U6yf/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=116096619132243688059&rtpof=true&sd=true

we have cross-referenced the protocol against the Cass Review final report, the York systematic review, and NICE’s evidence assessment. Our conclusion is unambiguous: PATHWAYS is structurally incapable of answering the question it claims to ask. And the design choices that make it incapable are not accidents. They are consistent, systematic, and in every case pointing in the same direction.

This post sets out why.

The full piece is here:

https://mneill.substack.com/p/pathways-the-10-million-trial-that

UK - Waitrose Off With The Woo

Tim Sigsworth in The Telegraph reports:

Waitrose drops ‘feminine’ label from tampons after trans complaint

Supermarket makes change after criticism that ‘not all people who have periods are women’

10 July 2026

Waitrose has dropped the word “feminine” from its sanitary products after receiving a complaint that it was not inclusive of transgender people.

Period products will no longer be marketed to females following an internal complaint that said “not all people who have periods are women”.

A spokesman for Waitrose said the term “feminine products” was changing because the range now included incontinence products for men.

Critics accused the high-end supermarket of having “erased womanhood”, with James Esses, the gender-critical campaigner and Conservative councillor who shared the complaint, saying it was “disgraceful”.

The section rebrand came after the internal complaint said it was “disappointing” that sanitary products were referred to as “feminine care”.

In the document, the complainant wrote: “Not all people who have periods are women. Trans men and some non-binary people have periods. The category also includes products used for incontinence. Yet the language we use still suggests that these products are exclusively for women and femininity.

“To some people, that might seem like a small detail. To me, it isn’t. Words matter because people matter. This matters to me because inclusion should never be conditional or performative. If we say everyone is welcome, then our language should reflect everyone.”

In response, a manager at Waitrose said she agreed that “the term ‘feminine care’ does not accurately describe the products within the category and that this should be changed”.

The manager said: “I believe that the internal naming comes from the title given to the layout group so I will ask that our range and space manager and buyer work to get this name updated as soon as possible.”

Mr Esses said: “Waitrose erases womanhood. A whistleblower from Waitrose has just leaked an internal document to me, in which senior leaders have pledged to remove the name ‘feminine care’ from sanitary products, on the basis that ‘not all people who have periods are women’. Disgraceful.”

A spokesman for Waitrose said: “We’re changing the name simply because ‘feminine products’ no longer reflects the product range, which now includes incontinence pads for men.”

Fiona McAnena, the director of advocacy at Sex Matters, accused Waitrose of appeasing “a noisy minority of gender activists”.

“It might make sense for Waitrose to change the product category from ‘feminine care’ to ‘sanitary products’ in order to modernise a quaint term from an era when menstruation was a more sensitive topic,” she told The Telegraph.

“Instead, the retailer is changing a commonly understood term for period products to appease a noisy minority of gender activists who are deeply out of step with the general public, as shown by poll after poll.

“‘Feminine care’ might be a bit old-fashioned as a term, but it reflects the fact that only women and girls menstruate. That will never change, no matter how much irrational noise the trans lobby makes.”

The full piece is here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/8be17db0e807a843

England - Ambulance Service Defies The Supreme Court!

Janet Murray in The Telegraph reports:

Ambulance service allows trans workers to defy Supreme Court ruling

NHS trust’s policy says transgender staff can use single-sex lavatories

11 July 2026

An ambulance service is allowing transgender staff to use single-sex lavatories in defiance of last year’s Supreme Court ruling.

Staff at South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust can use facilities that match their gender identity rather than their biological sex.

A 22-page policy, issued by the trust in September – five months after the April ruling – states that transgender employees “can use the facilities congruent to their gender identity”.

It says it is “not appropriate” to expect transgender employees to use accessible toilets. Instead, colleagues who do not wish to share with a transgender member of staff should use alternative facilities.

The Supreme Court ruling last year clarified that the terms “woman” and “man” refer to sex, rather than a person’s chosen gender, under the UK’s Equality Act 2010.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recently published Code of Practice says organisations should provide single-sex toilets, changing rooms and similar facilities according to biological sex.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service policy warns that deliberately and persistently referring to a transgender colleague by their previous name, or using pronouns that are inconsistent with their gender identity, could amount to bullying or harassment and might result in disciplinary action.

A female paramedic employed by the trust, who asked not to be identified, said she was not surprised the policies had not yet been updated following the legal clarification.

“My organisation claims to be inclusive, yet it is so quick to dismiss the rights of women,” she said. “I am proud of the work I do and provide dignified care to patients every single day, yet I am denied that same basic dignity in my own workplace.

“When I have attempted to raise concerns, I have been totally unsupported and it makes me feel unsafe.”

‘Anxiety is always there’

She said the trust had a growing number of employees who identified as transgender or non-binary, and staff were expected to affirm their gender identities regardless of their own beliefs.

“I think many colleagues share my concerns, but they’re too afraid to express them because of the risk of disciplinary action,” she said.

“The anxiety is always there. You don’t want to be forced into using compelled speech – into saying that the man or woman you’re working alongside is not the sex you can plainly see they are.

“It makes you constantly think about every word you use, worried you might slip up and use the wrong pronouns. That’s not a healthy working environment. Focusing on language detracts from patient care in an already pressured environment.”

Another female paramedic, who asked not to be identified, told The Telegraph that while working at a different NHS ambulance trust, a male colleague who identified as a woman had used female-only facilities, including showers.

“It was raised with management, but staff were told there wasn’t anything they could do. Female staff started avoiding the facilities, going home to shower and change into uniform instead. Without clear sex-based policies, women feel unsafe.”

The guidance forms part of the trust’s “procedure for supporting transgender employees and service users”, which covers a wide range of issues relating to transgender employees and patients.

It includes guidance for 999 call handlers, paramedics treating transgender patients, hospital handovers, single-sex hospital accommodation, recruitment, workplace transitions, confidentiality, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and bullying and harassment.

Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at Sex Matters, said: “It’s shameful that female paramedics at South East Coast Ambulance Service can’t have privacy from men when they use changing rooms or toilets.

“Their employer is letting down its female staff and breaking the law, which is clear on the obligation to provide single-sex facilities.”

She added: “The demand that paramedics refer to people by their so-called gender identity and use their preferred pronouns isn’t just entitled, it’s potentially dangerous.

“In a job where people’s lives depend on speed and clear communication, imagine having to worry about remembering to call a man ‘she’.”

The full piece is here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/dae86bb7f8068637

Scotland - JK Rowling and a 13 year old girl

Artur Nadolny reports on X:

Artur Nadolny

@ArturNadol7566

JK ROWLING IS PAYING FOR THE LAWSUIT SCOTLAND SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF

JK Rowling @jk_rowling just offered to pay the legal bills for a 13 year old girl. Read that again. A children’s book author is stepping in to do the job Scotland’s government failed to do.

Here is the story:

A 13 year old girl has no parents. She was sent from England to Scotland because there was nowhere safe for her back home. Scotland put her in a locked unit called St Mary’s Kenmure in Glasgow.

She was the only girl in the building. The other kids in her block were boys aged 15 to 17, most of them there for committing crimes.

She had done nothing wrong. She told staff she felt unsafe because of things that happened to her before. She asked to be moved to an empty room down the hall.

They said no.

This is not gossip. Inspectors from the Council of Europe visited in June 2025 and wrote it all down in an official report.

And here is the part that makes it worse.

Scotland’s own care watchdog, the Care Inspectorate @CareInspect, had already banned this same building from taking new children back in 2024 because it was too dangerous.

So the regulator already said this place was unsafe. A vulnerable child got sent there anyway. She asked for help. Nobody listened.

Then JK Rowling read about it and offered to pay for the girl to take legal action, through her JK Rowling Women’s Fund.

Rachael Hamilton @Rachael2Win, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, says this proves Scotland’s fancy Children’s Rights Bill from 2021 is just words on paper.

She wants First Minister John Swinney @JohnSwinney to explain how a known danger zone ended up housing a scared 13 year old orphan.

I would like to hear that explanation too.

https://x.com/ArturNadol7566/status/2074731822290767986

The States - Stop Saying The Tide Is Turning

Arianne of LGB Voices warns against saying that the tide is turning. For example, she says we should celebrate the recent success in the US Supreme Court sports cases while realising this does not force the Blue (Democrat) States to exclude larping men from female sports. However, Arianne is not being pessimistic as she explains in the article. All thoughts gratefully received.

Stop Saying “The Tide is Turning” Against the (Trans)gender Movement

By all means celebrate our victories, but let’s not have a false sense of security.

LGB Alliance USA

Jul 11, 2026

Photo taken by Arianne G. Hawaii, 2024.

Last month, it happened again. The Tide Turned against the transgender movement.

That is what was reported in the Wall Street Journal following the Supreme Court’s decisions in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox, which affirmed the rights of states to pass laws to prohibit males (including trans-identifying males) from women and girls’ sports. The news was welcomed by many sex-reality advocates, including this organization (see our press release). It’s further good news that the court’s conservative bloc moved to use more sex-based language (e.g., from page one of the decision: “Respondent B. P. J., who identifies as female, is a biological male”).

Now go back and reread my first sentence. I said that it happened again. That is, it is not the first time “The Tide has turned against the transgender movement.” And therein lies the problem. This is the umpteenth time I have heard about the turning of the gender tides. The Washington Times declared the turning of the tide against “transgender insanity” in 2025. The Christian Post declared 2024 the year the tide turned on “radical gender ideology.” In 2023, OutKick said the tide is turning against feminists who empathize with delusional men who identify as women. The Carolina Journal asked if the lunacy of gender identity in schools peaked in 2022.

The Tide Turned after the Skremetti ruling. The Tide turned after the Cass Review. The Tide Turned after the UK closed down the Tavistock gender clinic. The Tide turned after JK Rowling’s coming out as a TERF.

All promising developments? Yes. Did they “turn the tide”? No. And this time, I doubt matters will be different.

To understand why this recent ruling is unlikely to be the definitive turning of the tide, one need not look further than the scope of the Supreme Court ruling itself. The recent Supreme Court ruling only decided that states had a right to mandate sex-segregated sports. It did not say that states have to ban males from women and girls’ sports. And I see no signs of blue states relenting on this issue or on any other issue relating to the excesses of the transgender movement. I do not agree with the Wall Street Journal’s tweet that the transgender movement is “on the defensive” in the blue states, as much as I wish it were so.

At least it does not seem to be the case here in California, the nation’s most populous state and my lifelong home. Progress flags are everywhere. Pro-genderist legislation keeps sailing through the state legislature without a single Democrat in opposition. Chances are that State Senator Scott Wiener, perhaps this country’s most prolific author of pro-gender ideology legislation, will win his bid for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in the House of Representatives in November. And even if he doesn’t, his opponent is unlikely to be any better, judging by her record on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

The full piece is here:

https://lgbausa.substack.com/p/stop-saying-the-tide-is-turning-against

Finland - Leading The Way?

Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG Democrats) look at how Finland has been pulling back from so called gender affirming care.

https://diagdemocrats.substack.com/p/why-the-worlds-happiest-country-is

Amnesty International - Off With The Woo!

Kara Dansky on The Terf Report look at Amnesty International. I would add into the mix two organisations that I was once a member of, Greenpeace and Liberty.

“Nazi” didn’t work. “Bigot” didn’t work. “Far-right” didn’t work. So now we’re just “anti-rights.”

Says Amnesty International

Jul 11, 2026

I really put my ranty pants on for this one. Hat tip to my friend Peeja Blackbird (@blackbirdpeeja on X) for “ranty pants.”

Thanks in advance to Jennifer Sey, who recently shared my 2022 interview with Charlie Kirk with her audience. Thanks to her, the number of “likes” on the post has jumped quite a bit in the past week. I would really like for it to get more views, likes, and shares. It was a good conversation between two people who disagree with each other about many things and who agree with each other about the material reality of sex.

I know there are people out there who are angry at me for talking with Charlie Kirk, and I honestly do not care. He was murdered in cold blood on live video. I have watched close-up video of the bullet entering his neck, blood spurting, and him keeling over. The bullets were engraved with terms and symbols related to trans furry porn and the alleged murderer was involved with a man who called himself a woman named Luna. And, I have been watching the preliminary hearing of the accused murderer over the past few days. I’m done.

And, when Amnesty International is calling feminists and gay rights activists “anti-rights,” we have a serious problem. And they are.

A few days ago, Amnesty published a report calling a bunch of UK-based feminist and gay rights groups “anti-rights.” Facing backlash, Amnesty pulled its report. Helpfully, some resourceful person archived it, so you can read it anyway.

And, even though they pulled it, the Gay Men’s Network would like a word.

The firm Murray Blackburn Mackenzie has also sent them a letter.

I don’t think this is going to go very well for Amnesty.

The full piece is here:

https://karadansky.substack.com/p/nazi-didnt-work-bigot-didnt-work

EDI Jester has created a song about it 😀

https://edijester.substack.com/p/the-amnesty-international-song

As regular readers know I am an Irish rugby fan, so well done to the team for beating Japan earlier today. Best of luck to England tonight in the World Cup!

Endpiece

From Petal

#BeMorePorcupine

#KeepTerfing

#BeMoreSaneLikeOurParents

#KeepFighting

#RepealTheGRA

#AdultHumanFemale

#LetWomenSpeak

#LGB✂️TQ

#BeMoreDissident

#HoldTheLine

#StopTheBlockersTrial

#NeverSurrender

#NeverForget

#TruthWillTriumph

#WeWillWin

The next update will probably be on Sunday, Terven.

If you like this update, please send to a friend. Until next time, Terven. This isn’t over yet! Please subscribe for free or paid or buy me a coffee, like and comment.