Rapid Onset Terfing

Update 150

After the two girls being berated by their teacher ( which I am now thinking of as ‘Catgate’ 😎) and those girls saying that loads of the other pupils agreed with them, thanks to a wonderful reader drawing my attention to two other girls making like Posie Parker and writing to the Secretary of State for Education. Is this the beginning of Rapid Onset Terfing I ask myself? 😎

Anyway it is a fantastic letter ( perhaps showing signs of some parental help?) and I am taking the liberty (I am sure Transgender Trend won’t mind) of reproducing it in full:

Dear Gillian Keegan – open letter to the education minister by two teenage girls ( Transgender Trend 23 June).

Dear Gillian Keegan

With the release of the Department for Education’s transgender guidance quickly approaching, we – two fourteen-year-old girls in separate secondary schools – want to contribute our thoughts to the discussion. There is a lack of student voices on this issue, and it’s vital to have some perspective of what it’s like in a school environment where dissenting voices are stifled, extreme ideologies are presented as fact, and girls are injured by boys in mixed-sex sport.

Schools are meant to be politically neutral; differences in thoughts and opinions should be encouraged and fostered, not shouted down and censored. There is a growing atmosphere of fear around this topic, and many students, including us, are frightened to speak out openly due to the threat of ostracisation and bullying from students who adopt the authoritarian dogma of gender ideology. In our schools, opposition to this extreme theory is met with vitriol and restrictions on speech – in one of our schools, a student was discouraged from covering the topic of sport from a critical lens by a teacher, and the discussion was branded too “triggering”, whilst a different student who was talking about the topic from a positive view was allowed.

It is vital that teachers present political topics in a neutral manner that allows differing viewpoints to be accepted. When controversial political ideologies are presented as absolute fact by teachers, who students are meant to trust, this eliminates all chance of discussion, all chance of a nuanced debate. The concept of a “gender identity” is a contested theory, and it is not appropriate to present this ideology as absolute fact in classrooms. We urge the education minister to construct an atmosphere of tolerance and respect by ensuring political neutrality is upheld in classrooms – by this, we ask for “gender identity” not to be presented as unopposed fact. Teachers are required to be politically neutral in schools, so why is there a double standard when it comes to the transgender issue?

We’ve both – along with 72% of students from other schools across the UK, according to Policy Exchange – had lessons on gender ideology in schools, and every time it was presented as the complete truth. In schools across the country, kids like us are being told that girls can have penises, that humans can change sex, that there are seventy-two “genders”, that “gender identity” is innate and unchangeable, despite NHS guidance stating that children who identity as “transgender” may be going through a phase. This must stop, and if students are to be taught about “gender identity”, it must be presented in a neutral manner that specifies that this is a belief system, not fact.

As well as this, teachers must remain neutral when discussing this topic in lessons – we’ve also both experienced times when biased teachers attempt to implicate gender ideology in innocuous topics, for instance claiming that Zeus, the Greek God, was “non-binary”, or that Lady Macbeth was “gender-fluid”. Teachers also shouldn’t be asking students their pronouns, especially on the basis of non-conformity, or their sexuality / sexual preference, both of which raises major safeguarding concerns.

Some schools, including previously one of ours, feature “pride flags” in the corridors, with labels such as “genderqueer”, “non-binary”, “demiboy”, “polysexual”, among others, and include books in the library on inappropriate topics, such as Beyond Magenta, which includes a six-year-old child who has sex, and fails to condemn the fact that this was unlawful due to the child being significantly underage. If schools are going to provide books promoting gender ideology, they should also be required to feature books offering a different point of view, such as Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier, or Trans by Helen Joyce.

We also urge the DfE guidance to specify that students must not be punished for holding gender-critical views, and that bullying and harassment on the basis of gender-critical beliefs shouldn’t be allowed. There is immense pressure among students our age to conform to the popularly-held views that “trans women” are women, and any opposition to this belief is considered “transphobic” and unacceptable. There have been many cases of students being bullied and ostracised for disagreeing with gender ideology, where gender-critical pupils are punished by teachers, excluded by students, and abandoned by friends.

A lot of us are too afraid to speak out due to fear of the consequences, and this must change so that different opinions are allowed to be heard, even on divisive topics such as this one. We’ve been asked our pronouns countless times, and it’s so exhausting to have to constantly play along and pretend to agree with this belief system out of fear, despite the fact we view it as regressive and harmful. In some schools, students are punished for referring to friends or classmates with biologically correct pronouns – this is insanely harmful, and it’s convincing students to ignore the evidence of our own eyes and ears; to place a single person’s feelings over objective reality, to indulge in an ideology we fundamentally disagree with.

We should not be coerced into using biologically incorrect pronouns for classmates, and we must not be punished for refusing to do so. However, at this current time, according to Policy Exchange almost 70% of schools force other students to participate in a gender-distressed child’s “transition” – this has to change, and we are not going to stand for this destruction of our freedom of speech and belief.

We’ve also heard that the guidance will allow a “relaxed” approach to non-contact sport, however we believe this is naïve and dangerously negligent. One of us has experienced mixed-sex sport at our school, and after being deliberately targeted by the boys, she was hit in the face and breasts, breaking her glasses – afterwards, all the girls in the changing room were complaining how unfair it was they’d been forced to participate against boys despite an obvious physical advantage – and this was meant to be a non-contact sport.

Accidents happen, and when they do it’s always a lot worse when it’s a boy hurting a girl due to the differences in strength, muscle mass, etc. As well as this, we see no reason for a boy to be allowed to compete in girls’ sports, especially due to the physical differences, since members of the opposite sex are likely to be stronger, faster, and have an obvious athletic advantage, even at a young age, and also due to the fact this can and will make many girls feel uncomfortable and afraid having to participate with males, particularly when at a vulnerable age when we’re going through puberty.

Thanks to the insight gained from the Asleep at the Wheel report, we now know that this is a much more widespread problem than we originally expected – for instance, 1 in 5 schools had absolutely no single-sex changing facilities, which places young schoolgirls at significant risk from being forced to undress in front of males for PE – an obvious and blatant safeguarding risk. We deserve privacy whilst in vulnerable positions, for instance while getting changed, and our rights are destroyed when you bring boys into the equation. For that reason, we are hopeful that all schools are required to have single-sex changing areas, and that boys are not allowed to enter female-only changing spaces even if they “identify as girls”.

The same goes for toilets – despite schools being legally required to have single-sex toilets, at least 28% are not maintaining this standard. It can be extremely uncomfortable for girls to have to use the same toilets as boys, especially when dealing with menstruation, and single-sex spaces are proven to be safer than their mixed-sex counterparts. Thankfully, it appears that boys will not be allowed to use female-only toilets, which will hopefully put an end to occurrences like hearing a male voice in what is supposed to be a female-only space, as one of us has experienced.

Mixed-sex toilets tend to be less clean, less private, and less safe than single-sex facilities, therefore we think it’s unreasonable for schools to have both mixed-sex and single-sex toilets, when only single-sex facilities are more convenient, safer, and more dignified. If a boy does not feel comfortable using the male-only toilets, despite being male, he could potentially use the disabled toilets instead, but mixed-sex toilets help absolutely no-one and put all girls at a disadvantage.

Lastly, safeguarding should be valued above all – frequently, teachers deceitfully hide a child’s “gender transition” from their parents, which has happened and is still happening at our schools, as we’ve seen from experience. Honesty is fundamental in the relationships between parents and teachers, and to conceal something as significant as “social transitioning” from parents is an astonishing betrayal of trust. Schools must be required to be open and honest about whether or not a child “identifies as trans”, especially when the child is in a vulnerable position.

In some schools, student’s recorded sex is changed in the register due to the student’s or parent’s requests – this is misleading to both other students and teachers, and important information such as sex should not be falsified. Honesty and integrity are key components in schools, and to cloud the waters under the guise of “inclusivity” is deceit at its worst.

So we call upon the education minister to value the dignity and safety of girls in secondary schools like us, and to value the freedom of speech of all students. We request schools become politically neutral in encouraging a diverse range of opinions and thoughts, and not to stifle students’ rights by presenting a highly contentious ideology as fact.

Yours sincerely

Two secondary school girls, aged fourteen

No further comment required I think!

Meanwhile the Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch MP is on the warpath after ‘Catgate.’

Louisa Clarence-Smith in The Telegraph ( Kemi Badenoch calls for snap inspection of school in ‘cat gender’ row 23 June) reports:

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has called for a “snap inspection” of the school at the heart of the ‘cat gender’ row.

The Minister for Women and Equalities has asked Ofsted to inspect Rye College in East Sussex after a teacher was recorded telling a pupil she was “despicable” because of her beliefs about sex and gender which were expressed after another pupil claimed to identify as a cat.

The teacher told the Year 8 pupils they were being reported to a senior leader and were no longer welcome at the school if they continued to express the view that only boys and girls exist.

In a letter to Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of Ofsted, Mrs Badenoch said she believed that a teacher at the school had breached political impartiality rules by apparently teaching contested political beliefs as fact, including that there are “lots of genders” or that “gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with”.

Mrs Badenoch said the statements were “beliefs which are both politically controversial and have no scientific basis”.

She said that the UK courts have ruled that the belief that sex is distinct from gender identity is a philosophical belief that is protected under section 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

Rye College - not a cat in sight!

She said she believes that the teacher’s behaviour, including calling a pupil’s belief  “despicable”, was a breach of the Equality Act, and of Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework’s requirements that schools promote respect for different protected characteristics defined in law.

She added: “I am confident that you will carefully consider my request for an inspection, and trust that you will see the importance, both for this school and the integrity of the school system more broadly, in carrying one out.”

The intervention comes after Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, ordered officials to visit the school and assess if pupils’ safety had been put at risk.

Well done, Ms Badenoch! As to whether Ofsted do anything is another question!!

EDI deals with Kemi’s letter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJA9f-GABw0

This ‘Catgate’ news has, of course, reached Rita Panahi on Sky News Australia ( first 4 minutes of this broadcast):

https://www.skynews.com.au/opinion/rita-panahi/teacher-slammed-for-bullying-student-after-arguing-gender-is-related-to-biology/video/ae32894d5c1c43fa8d76d742a1ed64f8

The Betrayal of Trust

Thanks to the same reader for pointing out that we really ought to feature a speech by the wonderful…or, if I was Helen Staniland, ‘astonishing’ 😎…Stephanie Davies-Arai of the aforementioned Transgender Trend for our Gender Critical Month. So here is Stephanie at the recent Genspect Conference in Killarney, Ireland. I liked the beginning with the photo ( which we can’t see on the video unfortunately) of the two tomboy girls who turn out to be Stephanie and her twin sister:

The Pride Flag

In a post about flags, EDI Jester mentioned the fact that some flags may need planning consent from the local authority if you are going to display them but the original Pride flag does not! This sent me scurrying to the relevant legislation and guidance and here is the relevant extract from the Guidance:

(a) Flags which do not need consent

The full list of flags that do not require consent are:

1. Any country’s national flag, civil ensign or civil air ensign

2. The flag of the Commonwealth, the United Nations or any other international organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member

3. A flag of any island, county, district, borough, burgh, parish, city, town or village within the United Kingdom

4. The flag of the Black Country, East Anglia, Wessex, any Part of Lincolnshire, any Riding of Yorkshire or any historic county within the United Kingdom

5. The flag of Saint David

6. The flag of Saint Patrick

7. The flag of any administrative area within any country outside the United Kingdom

8. Any flag of His Majesty’s forces

9. The Armed Forces Day flag

…..

(b) Flags which do not require consent provided they comply with certain restrictions

A number of categories of flag may be flown without consent, subject to certain restrictions regarding the size of the flag, the size of characters on the flag, and the number and location of the flags.

Categories of flag that can now be flown:

• house flag – flag is allowed to display the name, emblem, device or trademark of the company (or person) occupying the building, or can refer to a specific event of limited duration that is taking place in the building from which the flag is flown

• any sports club (but cannot include sponsorship logos)

• the Rainbow flag (6 horizontal equal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet).

• specified award schemes – Eco-Schools, Queen’s Awards for Enterprise and Investors in People

• the NHS flag

• certain environmental awards (see below)

The restrictions on flying this second category of flag relate to where the flagpole is located on a building or within the grounds of a building.

I have highlighted above the original Pride flag i.e. the rainbow colours ( albeit indigo was always left out for some reason!). Subject to certain restrictions, that does not need planning consent to be flown from a building. What this means is that the so called Progress Pride flag does need planning permission. So if you saw a local firm or shop or organisation flying the latter flag you could, if you were very pro-active, ask the Planning Department of your local authority if that firm or shop or organisation had planning permission for flying this flag 😎

I think we are back to cats - this time cat amongst the pigeons.

Here is Barry’s post on flags in a town in America:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEtjL49gKD0

Women’s Sport

Sean Keeley in Next Impulse Sports ( Iconic tennis legend reacts to transgender athlete exchange 23 June) reports:

Martina Navratilova and Rosie Casals ( gosh, memories of watching Wimbledon on the TV with Mum!!).

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova offered up a four-word reaction on Wednesday after a witness at a Congressional hearing about defending the civil rights of LGBTQ+ Americans was asked if she thought men had a biological advantage over women in sports.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, was asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. said that she couldn’t “definitively” say men have an advantage over women in athletic competition. Robinson then brought up the notion that some men believe they could beat tennis legend Serena Williams in a head-to-head matchup.

That led anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines to point out that Serena and her sister Venus, both “lost to the 203rd-ranked male tennis player” a while back.

Karsten Braasch challenged and beat both Serena and Venus at the 1998 Australian Open after the sisters claimed they could beat any man ranked outside of the top 200.

Navratilova saw the exchange on Twitter and responded with just four words.

“This is just sad,” she wrote.

While the nine-time Wimbledon champion has been a longtime activist for the LGBTQ+ community [ Dusty - I think this should just be the LGB community?] , she has been vocally against transgender women competing against other women in athletics.

In March of this year, she praised World Athletics for taking on a policy of preventing transgender female athletes from women’s competitions, calling it a “step in the right direction.”

Well done, Martina and Riley!

Ice Hockey

Stephen Whyno in The (Woo Woo) Associated Press (NHL teams won't wear theme-night jerseys after players' Pride refusals caused distractions 22 June) reports:

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenceman Radko Gudas warm up while wearing a Pride Night hockey jersey before playing the Toronto Maple Leafs

NHL teams won’t wear special jerseys for pregame warmups during themed nights next season, the result of a handful of players refusing to use rainbow-colored Pride jerseys this past season and causing unwelcome distractions.

The league’s Board of Governors agreed Thursday with Commissioner Gary Bettman’s view that the refusals overshadowed teams’ efforts in hosting Pride nights that in some cases included auctioning off the warmup jerseys. All 32 teams held Pride or Hockey is for Everyone night.

Well done those players who refused to wear the jerseys 😎

Julie Szego

I am not very happy with some of the things Julie Bindel says about Kellie-Jay but, leaving that to one side, this is a good interview on Julie’s podcast with Julie Szego who was sacked by the Melbourne paper, The Age, for her gender critical views:

https://juliebindel.substack.com/p/julie-szego?utm_medium=email#details

I reported previously about Julie S here:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/a-supposedly-sane-society

Plus Julie B is very fair in her assessment of what happened at the Melbourne Let Women Speak event, which Julie S was at.

I, of course, acknowledge the wonderful work done over the years by Julie B in terms of violence against women and girls. Plus didn’t I notice her recently being interviewed by Douglas Murray!!??

Stop press

I have now located this and it is actually a discussion involving Douglas and Julie on Spectator TV and it is really interesting and very entertaining ( and they get on very well!!) …and I recommend it:

Catgate

My assistant has been very excited about our work this week due to the emphasis on cats 😎By the way he is currently identifying as a TIGER 😎

OK, onwards to typing Fingers’ letter 😇

Please keep the suggestions for speeches, songs and poems coming.

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