I think we can see George Orwell as a bit of a prophet for our gender critical movement ( especially deriving from 1984): newspeak; thought crime; erasure of language; an authoritarian system etc
I will return to the question of prophecy at the end of this update!
Anyway, any excuse for a clip from 1984 😎
We Can’t Trust Labour!!
That’s the UK Labour Party for my readers elsewhere in the world.
James Esses of Thoughtful Therapists writes today on his excellent substack (The Labour Party Is Not To Be Trusted On Sex and Gender):
Today, Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, wrote an article for the Guardian. In it, she pledged that “Labour will lead on reform of transgender rights”.
At first glance, one might be fooled into thinking this is a positive intervention. Dodds has rowed back from self-ID, contrary to what the SNP recently attempted in Scotland. Labour will maintain the need for a diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ in order to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. She also says they will not seek to remove same-sex exemptions permitted under the Equality Act 2010.
However, when one digs beneath the surface and considers the context of this statement, it becomes clear that the Labour Party remains keen to push regressive and divisive ideology, should they get into power. In an attempt to ‘back both horses’ (Dodds said “Labour’s commitment to trans people and women is not up for debate”), they risk alienating everyone.
In terms of the specific proposals, Labour would abolish the safeguard of having a panel of independent and anonymous doctors make decisions around granting of Gender Recognition Certificates. Instead, Dodds has pledged to abolish the panel and replace this with a diagnosis of a single doctor chosen by the applicant. This is advocated for on the grounds of “removing invasive bureaucracy” [Dusty - which sounds like the next door neighbour of ‘self ID’ to me?].
This would allow applicants to go to one of the many and growing private gender clinics in the UK (see, for example, the disgraced GenderGP) and pay a few hundred quid to get a diagnosis, possibly after just a single conversation. This undermines safeguarding.
Equally, Dodds has made it clear that Labour do not believe that the Equality Act 2010 should be amended to clarify that ‘sex’ means biological sex – a crucial change required in order to properly uphold protection for women and LGB people in the UK.
Furthermore, Dodds stated Labour’s support for “transition-related healthcare”. This is a clear nod to Labour’s already affirmative stance, in which children and adults alike should be affirmed into transitioning, rather than treated exploratively for what is a mental health condition [Dusty - and what might they do re ‘conversion therapy’?].
The most ironic statement of all from Dodds was: “This should encourage a degree of care from responsible politicians”.
Bring on the Party of Women I say! And I say that as an ex-Labour voter!
Kellie-Jay reports on this here:
Trans Surgery Nightmares
Thanks to the wonderful Feminist Legal Clinic in Australia for directing me to this article.
James Reinl for DailyMail Online (EXCLUSIVE: Trans surgery nightmares revealed: 81% endure pain in the five years after gender-change procedures, more than half say having sex is painful - and a third are left incontinent, survey shows 23 July) reports:
One of the first studies into the side effects of transgender surgeries has revealed alarmingly high rates of post-op pain, aching during intercourse, and bladder problems, raising troubling questions for this new frontier of medicine.
A huge majority - 81 percent - of those who had surgery on their genitals in the past five years said they endured pain simply from moving around in the weeks and months after going under the knife.
Researchers from the University of Florida and Brooks Rehabilitation, a health non-profit, showed that more than half of trans surgery patients endured pain during sex, and nearly a third could not control their bladders.
Dr Meryl Alappattu, a UF physiotherapy professor, said she would publish her report later this year, but released provisional findings in a private online workshop that DailyMail.com was able to attend.
'There is a high percentage reporting musculoskeletal pain, difficulty moving, and pelvic floor dysfunction,' said Dr Alappattu, adding that more research is needed in a poorly-understood area.
'In terms of getting information related to the efficacy of these types of treatments … we still have a lot of work to do.'
Can’t add to that!!
Baroness Falkner
I reported here on the alarming decision to restart the investigation into allegations against Baroness Falkner, the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC):
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/apocalypse-now
I was very pleased , therefore, to see the report from EDI Jester that Kemi Badenoch, the Equalities Minister, has stepped in to halt the investigation following a letter to the Government from a majority of the EHRC Board Members - great news!
Nanook of the North
In case some of you have not watched EDI’s post on this because it appears to be very long, all you need to do is listen to Barry at the beginning, watch just perhaps ten minutes of the 1922 documentary and then scroll forward to what Barry says at the end. And I can’t say any more than that 😎
Kathleen Stock
Excellent speech by Kathleen to the Institute of Art and Ideas arising from Nadhim Zahawi MP being forced to abandon a speech by protesting students claiming that Mr Zahawi was transphobic including him allegedly using what they described as a transphobic dog whistle…the use of the phrase ‘adult human female’!! I loved the new label of being ‘Undefined’! Kathleen concludes that this is cult like thinking. I should coco! She feels that the students are like this because they are “encouraged by institutions to think like this.”
Kathleen also wears yellow stripe Doctor Martens. That clinches it for me 😎
And finally…
I was thinking last night …don’t I remember some old sketch that is really relevant to us? It was bugging me. So I went scrolling and I found it. It’s from 1969!! It is spot on target. I think these guys are just as much prophets as Orwell was! See what you think!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12335111/How-trust-Labour-Kemi-Badenoch-tears-oppositions-stance-trans-issues-equalities-minister-highlights-Keir-Starmer-previously-called-self-ID-says-medical-diagnosis-important.html
More about Labour hypocrisy and lies.
Orwell and Python 👏
Now you must publish a photo of the yellow stripe Doc Martins!