Mrs Lopsided
Update 188
My main piece tonight is shocking news about Age UK care of James Esses of Thoughtful Therapists. So I need a rather older leading lady this time. Enter Mrs Wilberforce ( aka Mrs Lopsided - played brilliantly by Celia Johnson) in The Ladykillers.
“ That pizzicato passage, Mr Lawson, quite delightful.” 😎
James Esses reports on his substack ( which I recommend by the way):
First Children. Now The Elderly.
The worrying content of Age UK's 'Trans Issues and Later Life' Factsheet ( 30 July)
So much of our time these days is spent worrying about vulnerable children being spoon-fed ideology, potentially leading them down a dangerous and irreversible life path.
However, there is another potentially vulnerable cohort of the population at risk of such indoctrination who barely get mentioned - the elderly.
This month, Age UK, considered to be the UK’s leading charity for supporting people as they get older, released a Factsheet, entitled ‘Trans Issues and Later Life’.
Given the issues unfortunately faced by many older people in our society, including financial troubles, loneliness, chronic health conditions, scams, and discrimination, one might question the net benefit of spending time and resources on such a document.
However, after reading this Factsheet, it is not resourcing that concerns me, but rather the content.
Due to the issues faced in later life, as mentioned above, it is imperative that official advice and guidance for older people does not take advantage, play off fears, twist language or feed untruths.
Yet, that is exactly what Age UK has done.
The Factsheet begins by speaking to the elderly readers who may never have previously considered their ‘gender identity’, nor thought they could be ‘trans’. In a section entitled ‘Transitioning in later life’, readers are told “retirement or the death of a partner may provide the first real opportunity to think about and act on this”.
For a start, if someone has never questioned their ‘identity’ throughout their long life, why exactly should they start now?
Furthermore, one can imagine an older person, still bereft after losing a loved one, reading this sentence and feeling encouraged to not only ‘think’ about but also to ‘act’ on their ‘gender identity’. In search of a new beginning; a fresh start.
I would argue, therefore, that this language is irresponsible and plays on vulnerabilities.
The Factsheet is filled with ideologically based language, designed to take people in. Sex is described as being “assigned by a medical professional at birth”, whereas what a person ‘identifies’ as is described as their “true gender”. Again, for an elderly person who is struggling in some way, one can see the appeal in seeking to discover their ‘true’ self.
Further fear is stirred up in relation to ethnicity. In a section entitled ‘Ethnic minorities and Being Trans’, readers are told: “at its worst, prejudice and discrimination may be multiplied, risk of depression may be greater, and the likelihood of being a victim of hate crime heightened because of your ethnicity”.
This isn’t balanced and nuanced safety and wellbeing information, grounded in clear evidence. It is scaremongering; potentially putting the fear of God into older people. Making them feel more isolated and lonely. Perhaps, in need of a new community?
The Factsheet then takes its elderly readers through the A to Z of transitioning, starting at social transition and culminating in hormones and surgery. Any discussion around the fact that ‘gender dysphoria’ is a mental health condition that usually resolves with time is notably absent.
Pronouns, such as “zie” and “hir”, are recommended. Given some of the communication problems that can be faced in older age, does this seem appropriate?
A shopping list of medical procedures are suggested, ranging from “vaginoplasty and clitoroplasty” to “phalloplasty and scrotoplasty”, depending on your sex. Given the heightened risk to older people when undergoing major surgery, does this seem appropriate?
As expected, misleading and euphemistic language is used to put the reader at ease with the thought of putting themselves under the knife. For example, double mastectomy is referred to as “top surgery”.
Particularly concerning is the fact that Age UK specifically acknowledges that some who read this guidance may be suffering from serious, cognitively impairing conditions. They say: “If you have dementia-related concerns or a diagnosis, Alzheimer’s Society information can help you think about care and support options”.
If someone is suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, do they have the capacity to be considering irreversible, medical transition.
Towards the end of the Factsheet, readers are presented with some truly egregious ideological statements.
Readers are told that they should not use the term ‘Male to Female’ because a “transwoman may never have identified as male in the first place”. According to Age UK, if someone decides to ‘transition’, it erases their biological sex altogether.
Readers are also told that ‘trans’ people “may simply wish to be referred to as men or women”. Ironically, for those of us who are not ‘trans’, the guidance refers to us as “cisgender”. This suggests that it is okay to call people ‘male’ or ‘female’, only if they are not biologically male or female.
The guidance also states that it is “possible to experience a change of sexual orientation once transition is complete”. This language creates a real risk of conflating sexual orientation and ‘gender identity’. Given that we know people have been previously encouraged to ‘transition’ because of their sexuality, this is a dangerous message.
Finally, for partners of those who decide to ‘transition’, a question is posed: “Having been a loving wife to a man, do you become the lesbian partner of a woman?”.
Age UK attempts to make a scenario which could turn a person’s emotional world upside down sound so simple, so normal. Almost as if to question it would be madness.
The above only scratches the surface.
I am not at all attempting to suggest that everyone of old age is unable to decipher reality from fantasy. Nor am I suggesting that everyone of old age is inherently vulnerable.
Yet, we know that a great many people, including those without the additional vulnerabilities that old age so often comes with, have been taken in by gender ideology and set on a dangerous path.
We need to pay closer attention to the materials being provided by organisations, such as Age UK. While children have rightly been at the forefront of our fight for safeguarding, my fear is that, as is so often the case in modern society, our older people have been missed.
Appalling stuff!! Boycott Age UK?
SHOCKED!!
As regular readers will know I ( and Kathleen Stock) wear Dr Martens. I was appalled, therefore, to see their campaign supporting medicalisation and including a design on a boot which includes a woman who has undergone a double mastectomy! I confirm I am wearing my last pair of DMs and will be writing to them to inform them of why I am no longer going to purchase any of their shoes! I should imagine Kathleen may follow suit! Dr Martens - you can **** off!
Thanks to Leeds ReSisters for the information:
https://twitter.com/LeedsReSisters/status/1685416527493771265
A Week In The War On Women
I am sure a lot of you will already have caught up with JL’s post of today but I wanted to flag up some issues.
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/a-week-in-the-war-on-women-monday-fa3
As a rugby fan I am appalled at the attitude of Rugby Ontario!! Aside from the clear guidance from World Rugby it is f****** obvious that it is unfair and highly dangerous to let a man play rugby with women. It is also very dispiriting that his teammates are protecting him.
Well done Paula Scanlan joining Riley Gaines fighting against Lia the Liar Thomas despite the intimidation of the women swimmers by their own coaches!!
I hope Louise Chivers, the blacklisted social worker who had a casual chat about Dylan Mulvaney (FFS), gets a lawyer- clear discrimination following Maya Forstater’s case and other subsequent cases.
Good Law Project Loses Yet Again!
Jolyon Maughan. A fox.
The Good Law Project ( headed up by barrister and well known fox killer Jolyon ‘Let’s Try And Destroy LGB Alliance’ Maughan) have lost a Court of Appeal case trying to argue that health care for ‘transgender people’ should be speeded up (!?). So hundreds of ( perhaps?) well meaning people on the crowd funder have sent even more money down the Swanny River. Thanks to Girls To The Front on Twitter (sorry, Elon, what the f*** is ‘X’!):
https://twitter.com/obsolete__units/status/1686032371710050304
More Good News From Australia
Great to have more good news from Down Under care of the wonderful Feminist Legal Clinic:
Gender dysphoria in children: Mum calls off legal case to allow puberty blockers for teenager ( 31 July)
The mother of a 13-year-old with gender dysphoria has abruptly withdrawn an application seeking a Family Court order to allow the child to take puberty blockers, after trying to have the independent children’s lawyer assigned to the matter thrown off the case.
The girl, who is being treated at a Melbourne hospital, “socially transitioned” at the age of four [ Dusty - whaaat!! I suspect the mother’s involvement again here!!] and is seeking medical treatment to put off the onset of puberty.
Hospital policy prevents medical treatment from continuing unless a Family Court order is obtained, or the girl’s father – who is not involved with the child – consents.
The mother, who is in full support of the treatment, unsuccessfully attempted to have Susan Hamilton-Green, who is the court-appointed independent children’s lawyer, thrown off the case earlier this month.
Ms Hamilton-Green believed the court must further analyse “the risks and the advantages” of the treatment before making a court order in favour.
Her barrister, Belle Lane, told the court the “the science isn’t settled” on the treatment of gender dysphoric children.
And finally…
Maaate!! Baaabe!!
Over to Leo Kearse to explain Sadiq Khan’s new policy ( I don’t agree with Leo on everything but Mr Khan so needs the p*** taken out of him 😎). Mr Khan might possibly singlehandedly save the Tories at the next general election!!
DJ Lippy developed on this theme at Let Women Speak yesterday ( at about 46 mins) and introduced what you might say to, for example, a TRA handmaiden…Baaabe!! I and several others join in in the chat at this stage 😎
Ffs!!!