Sleeping With The Enemy
Update 462. There Are No Trans Kids Special. #BeMorePorcupine
The next in the Irish Heroes is one of the most famous films made in Ireland, David Lean’s 1970 film Ryan’s Daughter. In August 1917, Rosy Ryan ( Sarah Miles), only daughter of the local publican, widower Tom Ryan (Leo McKern), is bored with life in Kirrary, an isolated village on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The villagers are Irish nationalists, taunting British soldiers from a nearby army camp. Tom Ryan publicly supports the recently suppressed Easter Rising, but secretly serves the British as an informer.
Rosy falls in love with the village schoolmaster, widower Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum). She imagines, though he tries to convince her otherwise, that he will somehow add excitement to her life. They marry and settle in the schoolhouse, but he is a quiet man uninterested in physical love.
Major Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones) arrives in October 1917 to take command of the army camp. He visits the pub where Rosy is serving. John Mills is Michael in the clip below.
Thanks as ever to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
There Are No ‘Trans Kids’
Marvellous and completely comprehensive dissection and demolition of the trans madness by Arty Morty on his substack. There are no ‘trans kids’, just distressed and confused children and autogynephile adult males. I provide a few excerpts below but highly recommend the whole piece.
There are no trans kids, only kids confused about sex
The unscientific beliefs at the heart of the transgender movement must not be ignored by journalists, clinicians, and trans allies
Oct 25, 2024
Extremists within the trans movement — I call them transgender fundamentalists or just gender fundamentalists — are not only seeking to replace the biological underpinnings of sex with their “gender identity” model, they’re also misappropriating and swapping out the conceptual underpinnings of homosexuality for transgender: they wrongly claim that homosexuality is a mere social construct — supposedly not “invented” until the word came about in the 1800s, despite widespread evidence of homosexuals’ presence and consistent characteristics throughout history. And they simultaneously insist that the opposite is true with respect to trans: they claim that when the term “transgender” came into broad cultural usage via social media, it revealed a natural category of people who have always been present, but who have up until now been inexplicably unaccounted-for throughout history.
If true, this would be a radical, civilization-upending discovery — that since the dawn of humankind none of us has ever known one another’s true sex; we’ve only been interacting with each other’s “gender identities” this whole time — or at least, we should have been, if our oppressive culture hadn’t inhibited them. If it’s not true, then the transgender fundamentalist movement is headed for an iceberg: it will soon go down as one of the biggest cultural disasters in history.
All evidence points to the latter case.
And later:
The central doctrine of the “gender identity” belief system, and the idea that is spreading like a virus through the culture, is that we as a society aren’t supposed to be noticing and reacting to each other's actual, physical biological sex, but to each other’s stated ideas about our sex instead. It’s an emperor’s-new-clothes gambit: if we can get all of society to profess belief in invisible “gender identities” it will finally make them real, and our lying eyes will be condemned for their blasphemy, having misled us all this time about the naked reality of everyone’s biology. This is of course impossible, but what’s worse: the very idea has the effect of turning vulnerable people’s minds against their own bodies. It makes them conceptualize the visible evidence of their own sex as taboo, and when they look in the mirror, every pang of recognition in this or that body characteristic, that it exposes their true biological sex to all who see it, becomes a source of shame. It turns their bodies into a psychological target that they direct their anxieties and hostilities at.
Arty concludes:
In the existential tug-of-war between the material world and the conceptual world, between the hardware of our bodies and the software of ideas that animate us, only our software can be truly reprogrammed. While we can improve our bodies in many ways, we are each stuck for life with the one we were born with. That’s a fact we cannot ever fully transcend. And that’s a good thing. Our imperfect bodies are what make us human, and learning to value and love ourselves for who we are is the great project that gives meaning to each of our lives. The great project of civilization is our collective attempt to help each other in that regard. Transgender fundamentalism has been a detour from civilization’s path to progress, a lurch toward the false promise that we can each opt out of the challenges that society collectively faces — that every man is an island, where we can satisfy our desires and overcome our fears by imagining reality away, lured down a false path of personal enlightenment by medical shamans who sold us lies. But in the end — spoiler alert — you’ll find it was all just a dream. Sorry, Neo and Morpheus, we are not trapped in the Matrix after all. The real world is all there is, and all of us men and women must work together to make it better.
What a splendid final paragraph! Great stuff, Arty!
The full piece is here (it is long):
Stop Press
The Labour Government is considering a ban on smacking children. So let’s get this clear, you can mutilate children’s genitals and ruin their sterility and sexual function but you definitely mustn’t smack them!? Personally I’m not in favour of smacking children but (a) I don’t want the Government telling parents what to do and (b) …well, basically, see what I say above!
As ever, all thoughts gratefully received.
Mermaids
Despite no longer being an MP, well done to Miriam Cates for continuing with her campaign against Mermaids. Here she is interviewed on GB News with regard to the extremely disappointing Charity Commission report which I featured recently.
British Legion ( And Others) Go Woo Woo
My Dad was in the RAF during the Second World War. The RAF Benevolent Society installed a stairlift for free for Mum when she was in her 90s. I am glad Mum and Dad are not alive to see what is happening now!
James Mcneill in The Mail Online ( Veterans and campaigners accuse British Legion of going 'woke' by selling £8 Poppy Appeal badge with new Pride flag attached 26 October) reports:
Campaigners have accused the Royal British Legion of going 'woke' after it released an £8 Poppy Appeal badge.
Outrage erupted after the Legion announced the new pin, pairing the iconic red poppy with the multicoloured Progress Pride flag.
The flag, which includes elements representing binary, intersex, trans, and other marginalised communities, was selected over the more traditional rainbow flag.
A spokesperson for the organisation said that the Pride flag was widely accepted as the most 'inclusive symbol for sexual orientation and gender identity', The Sun reports.
Veterans and campaigners have taken to social media to voice their anger over the badge.
The flag, which includes elements representing binary, intersex, trans, and other marginalised communities, was selected over the more traditional rainbow flag
Jeff Williams, a 67-year-old former Royal Marine and Falklands veteran from Birmingham said: 'Wearing the poppy is about remembering all those who fought irrespective, of gender, race, and sexuality—it's not a political gesture.
'This is just another pointless and deeply offensive exercise in wokeism'.
Another person added: 'Your pin linking the poppy with the Pride flag is misconceived and is causing deep upset.
'The poppy commemorates all, not just those from a particular community.'
Another said: 'The poppy represents everyone who has made the ultimate sacrifice and doesn't need tampering with.'
One person posted: 'The Royal British Legion have Pride. Do you really think that this is what they died for?'
Caroline Paige, from Fighting with Pride, defended the Royal British Legion's decision and said that the pin was about 'LGBTQ veterans being seen and acknowledged.'
But Kate Barker from the gay rights organisation LGB Alliance argued that the Progress Pride flag symbolised 'gays and lesbians' being sidelined from their own 'movement by proponents of gender identity ideology'.
L (not JL it seems) on Graham Linehan’s substack, The Glinner Update addresses the organisation Fighting With Pride.
Without a shot fired; How gender ideology captured the UK's military charities
Oct 26, 2024
Until the year 2000, gay people couldn’t serve in the British Armed Forces. This was a ban specifically on homosexuals and ‘homosexual behaviour’. Those serving who were suspected of being gay were often put under surveillance or had their rooms and personal belongings ransacked. Some were subjected to brutal intrusive physical examinations in a quest to find evidence of homosexual activity. If there was evidence they were gay, they were stripped of any military medals, forced out of the service and told they had brought the military into disrepute.
To address and rectify this, the UK Government commissioned a review to understand gay people’s experiences of serving in the military between 1967 and 2000 – the Etherton Review. While the report explains that the gay ban was a ban on homosexuality, they include trans-identified people (LGBT) in their conceptualisation of homosexuality with no explanation as to why. Any military restrictions or prejudices experienced by trans-identified people should be documented and addressed separately from gay people, as those individuals were not explicitly part of the military’s gay ban.
The findings of the Etherton review led to the establishment of the military charity Fighting with Pride. While they also acknowledge the gay ban was a ban on homosexuality they use the term LGBT+, again including trans-identified people in their conceptualisation of homosexuality with no explanation of why and with no apparent definition of what the ‘+’ refers to. Their founding partners include Stonewall, NHS England, the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, and a number of veterans’ charities, including RBL, SSAFA and the RAF Benevolent Fund.
Their work has involved efforts of ‘restorative justice’, including a Government funded public memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum – they report this is for LGBT people (no + this time). They name a number of partners they worked with on the memorial, including Stonewall, RBL, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Government’s Office for Veterans’ Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Help for Heroes.
Fighting with Pride has also established a Pride in Veterans Standard, which they describe as a programme for organisations working with veterans that want to demonstrate their commitment to being inclusive and welcoming to LGBT+ veterans. Organisations meeting their standards have a logo of “Pride in Veterans Standard” (PiVS). Their website claims that “Fighting with Pride is a trusted and respected LGBT+ military charity…”, however this seems to be just an assertion as no evidence is provided to support this claim. They list many organisations that are part of PiVS that include NHS bodies, local councils, local charities and social clubs, and many veterans’ charities including COBSEO.
There are a number of problems here.
1. Including ‘trans people’ in the list of those affected by the military’s gay ban does a disservice to those who were actually affected by the ban, i.e. gay people. The ban had a huge impact on many in all aspects of their lives, and to this day some describe persistent feelings of shame associated with their sexuality. Any restorative justice needs to be addressed explicitly in relation to gay (LGB) people. To date, anyone who has tried to raise this issue has been ignored to the point where they have disassociated themselves with organisations pushing the LGBT or LGBT+ agenda.
2. The current approach does not do justice to the experiences of trans-identified people. They were not included explicitly in the gay ban, so their experiences of any prejudice or discrimination during military service remain unknown and unaddressed.
3. The unquestioning use of the terms LGBT+, LGBTQ+ and LGBTQIA+ by some military organisations: what specifically is meant by the Q and +, and what do organisations adopting these terms understand them to mean? They are controversial terms, with some stating they are highly offensive. Organisations should not adopt the terms without being clear what they are signing up to and associating themselves with.
4. Stonewall started as a charity to advance gay rights, but in recent years has moved away from this to promote gender ideology. Increasing evidence demonstrates the harm these ideologies are doing – particularly to gay people and to women – with some suggesting the movement is homophobic and misogynistic, and has links to paedophilia. A number of people in the military/veteran world have raised these issues, been ignored and as a result, have walked away from organisations, from restorative justice efforts and from their jobs. The list of organisations associated with Fighting with Pride (and by default Stonewall) is very long, their influence is pervasive. The result is that any services supporting military women also include men, and any services or associations aimed at gay people must include trans-identified people whether this is appropriate or not.
Where to go from here? In line with other sectors, the military and veteran world should disassociate themselves from Stonewall, and take a well-rounded approach to ensuring equality for all its people: men, women, and gay people. We are all different, but we are all human and we all deserve respect. The existing arrangement fails to embody that principle.
Dusty - this is a very good piece by L but I would point out that there is:
a) no evidence that there was any action taken against so called ‘trans-identified people’ and that
b) in any event, ‘trans-identified people’ is a meaningless phrase since you cannot transition and cannot change your sex.
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/without-a-shot-fired-how-gender-ideology
In Praise Of Kemi
I am not a member of the Conservative Party but I agree with Malcolm Clarke on his substack, The Secret Gender Files, that Kemi Badenoch would be, from our Terf Resistance point of view, the best leader of the Tories. All thoughts gratefully received.
Can Gay Rights Help Save the Tories?
The debate over sex-based rights may allow Conservatives like Kemi Badenoch to refresh their traditional concern for the family by championing feminism and gay rights. It might be a winning formula.
Oct 26, 2024
Fortune favours the bold.
I reminded myself of this as Kemi Badenoch passed the LGB Alliance stand at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month. She was surrounded by journalists, TV crews, handlers, and fans and so could barely see the stand. Which is why I shouted rather plaintively at first…. ‘Kemi!’ No response.
I raised the volume until I sounded as if I was dangling by my fingerstips from a ledge and needed rescue. She turned and the rest is…an opportunity for my shameless self-promotion. Cue a succession of jealous messages from leftie lesbians and gay men old enough to have stopped being fanboys and fangirls long ago. This intense identification with Badenoch by many who do not think of themselves as natural Conservatives represents more than a passing outburst of niche popularity.
If you’re looking for a way to judge the ideological coherence of the candidates to be the next Conservative leader then forget their stance on Ukraine, boats full of suspiciously mature looking Afghan “boys” or the soaring national debt.
It’s gay rights or its mongrel offspring LGBT+ rights that provide a litmus test of how hard the candidates have thought about the challenges facing the Conservatives and how much their party needs to learn from the way it exercised power in the recent past. Or failed to.
It might seem absurd to suggest LGBT+ “rights” can be a window into the candidates’ wider world view. There are, after all, only 748,000 lesbians and gay men in England and Wales, while there are an estimated 4.8 million golfers and 2.2 million anglers and no one keeps banging on about them the whole time. On the other hand organisations that represent golfers or anglers don’t tend to get people fired for refusing to use neo-pronouns or faint in mock-horror when someone refers to pregnant mothers instead of uterus-havers. Nor are they trying to subvert some of the most fundamental values of our society such as the rights of parents. That’ll be the LGBT+ lot.
Only one candidate has a track record of standing up to this most entitled of lobby groups. And it’s taken guts on her part. Even meeting LGB Alliance caused her grief.
The full piece is here:
UK - The Police - Off With The Woo
Women’s Rights Network report in their latest newsletter (26 October):
Police Force Ignores Women’s Legal Rights
Across the country, police forces are adopting policies that demand women accept men into female spaces – from female officers to members of the public. The issue has become news in Norfolk as the WRN group raised awareness and the local MP criticised the Constabulary’s policy that allows “trans officers” to be allowed to carry dual or multiple warrant cards if they are “transitioning or gender fluid” and that the force asserts that they should be able to use facilities, “where they feel most comfortable”, regardless of the comfort of women.
Cathy Larkman, WRN’s national police lead, is extensively quoted, including pointing out that being a police officer is “often a dirty and difficult role and officers come into contact with bodily fluids, drugs and excrement on a daily basis. Officers need access to private and dignified facilities which should be safe as well.” She explained, “Police women would feel reticent to speak out for fear of being labelled discriminatory and being subjected to disciplinary procedures, so they're in an invidious position.”
This is happening in police stations across the country and the National Police Chiefs Council has not yet issued new guidance after withdrawing their previous controversial policy – which some forces are still using.
UK - SEEN Civil Servants Sued
Sex Matters report in their latest Memo (25 October):
SEEN civil servants sued
Two gender-critical civil servants are being sued by a colleague who claims their view that people cannot change their sex is discriminatory.
On Tuesday a court will determine whether the claimant can remain anonymous.
The dispute concerns the Sex Equality and Equity Network in the Civil Service (SEEN). The claimant, also a civil servant, argues that posts made on SEEN's internal message board are harmful to people who identify as trans and is seeking to shut down the network.
Andreas Mueller, SEEN’s co-chair, and Elspeth Duemmer-Wrigley, a lawyer, are the civil servants facing the lawsuit. Both have been accused of promoting gender-critical views, with Mueller also facing criticism for “liking” related social media posts.
A DEFRA spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing legal proceedings.
Australia - ‘Gender Affirming Treatment’ Guidelines
Bernard Lane reports on his substack, Gender Clinic News, about the ignoring of the Cass Review in Australia and attempts to keep insurance cover - very interesting that concerns are growing about litigation which I increasingly feel is one of the main ways forward.
Teenage hormone push
Australia's gender-affirming treatment guideline was altered to mainstream the supply of cross-sex hormones while protecting doctors from litigation
Oct 24, 2024
A contentious change to Australian treatment guidelines was “carefully crafted” to discourage medical insurers from denying cover to general practitioners in primary care (GPs) who are willing to start minors on cross-sex hormones with no specialist backup, according to an insider’s account.
The November 2023 change encouraging GP-driven hormones calls into question the “multidisciplinary team” rhetoric of the 2018 “Australian standards of care” treatment guidelines for minors issued by the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne.
This multidisciplinary rhetoric has been relied upon by Australian health authorities and the local gender medicine lobby to dismiss the need for reforms Down Under following England’s historic Cass review of gender dysphoria care.
The change to the Australian guidelines was made without any public explanation by the RCH Melbourne gender clinic or any citation of studies favouring irreversible hormones for teenagers via primary care.
The full piece is here:
https://www.genderclinicnews.com/p/teenage-hormone-push
New Zealand - Zo Zo Zombie!
This story from NZ on the Resist Gender Education substack, indicates how parents have to watch like hawks what books are being made available to their children in schools and libraries.
October 2024
Newsletter
Oct 25, 2024
Check it out!
Further evidence that libraries have abrogated their responsibility to protect the innocence of children was provided by this story of a library visit from a supporter:
‘In the children's section my child came across Zo Zo Zombie by Yasunari Nagatoshi and selected several books to take home. As this is a public library with a specific section for children I wrongly assumed these books would be age appropriate or at the very least would have a warning label if there was inappropriate content. Upon arriving home my son made a comment about some of the graphics. I looked at the page he was reading and was incredibly disturbed at what I saw, it is sadistic. The graphics show genitals being stretched, tugged or bitten and screws and corks being inserted into the rectum. How is this possibly appropriate for children? I have since searched age ratings online where these books are sold and found them to be 13+, yet there was no mention of this in the Children's Library.’
Upon a complaint by the parent the library agreed to move the book to the adult section.
The full piece and some of the shocking images are here ( plus some stories from around the world - most of which I have already covered 😇):
https://resistgendereducation.substack.com/p/october-2024
Canada - A Warning To The UK
For 7 days the Telegraph are running articles about so called ‘progressive’ ( more like ‘regressive’, of course) policies in Canada starting with a piece by Jordan Peterson which EDI Jester looks at here:
Let Women Speak
In case you missed it, there were some great speeches. Unfortunately, there was a rather bonkers interruption at the end which, of course, Kellie-Jay dealt with superbly:
Endpiece by Liz
#BeMorePorcupine
#LetWomenSpeak
#Grassroots Army
Thanks Dusty, a great selection of articles.
I agree, Kemi is our best hope. She’s a politician with convictions and she’s not afraid to speak out. A few battles across the despatch box might bring more attention to the problems with the ideology. I think she’d grow into the leadership role too.
The poppy badge is a disgrace and the controversy illustrates just how far the ideology has spread and how deaf people are to the arguments against it. I know exactly what my dad would have said…. and he rarely swore.
Brilliant by Arty.
Liz, how did you manage to get a film of my morning exercise routine?
The Right's Gender Scam: How They're Conning America with Fake Outrage
A grotesque theater of bathroom panic and pronoun hysteria, designed to keep you scared, distracted, and obedient—while they ignore the real problems.
https://open.substack.com/pub/patricemersault/p/moral-panic-for-dummies?r=4d7sow&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true