The Long Distance Runner
Update 483. Kiwi Special. #BeMorePorcupine
Onwards with the British Heroes season. Many Terfs have had to have the courage to face the threat of dismissal, cancellation, intimidation, vilification, the loss of friends and so on. The 1962 film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner directed by Tony Richardson from a story by Alan Sillitoe and starring Tom Courtenay as the runner, Colin Smith, involves a final, startling act of courage - so, if you haven’t watched it before, you’ll either have to watch it or Google what happens 😎
Thanks to three wonderful readers for suggested pieces.
Some of the linked pieces below may be behind paywalls.
For Women Scotland
Just a couple of photos from this week’s Supreme Court hearing, namely the Sex Matters team and the Millicent Fawcett statue outside the Supreme Court.
The Destruction of Nancy
I don’t normally stray, on this substack, from gender ideology and free speech. Sometimes I might mention Critical Race Theory which I see as the bedfellow of Critical Social Justice. However I have to admit I was very disappointed ( to put it mildly) when the Terminally Ill Adults Bill passed through the Second Reading yesterday. While I appreciate that there are some very tragic stories, I am very concerned about ‘the slippery slope’ and cannot help but see analogies with the push over the last ten or more years for so called ‘gender affirmative care’ for children. I provide links here to two pieces from Unherd, including one by Kathleen Stock, which really encapsulate my feelings.
https://unherd.com/2024/11/theres-no-dignity-in-assisted-dying/?=refinnar
A reader who agrees with me about the Bill drew my attention to a piece from 2 years ago by Still Tish on her substack ( not that Still Tish is directly addressing the issue of assisted dying here). Since it is an old piece I trust that Still Tish will excuse me quoting the whole piece.
The destruction of Nancy: The girl nobody wanted.
womangendercritical 24th April 2022
I have covered this in passing but I feel it warrants a post all of its own. Nancy [ Verhelst] was born a girl and her parents wanted another boy; their other two children were boys. There does not appear to have been any attempt to hide this from Nancy who says her brothers were celebrated whilst she was relegated to a space above the garage.
I cannot find any account that explores what the process was for assessing Nancy before she was put on testosterone. Clearly she needed therapy not drugs and surgeries. Drugs and surgeries were what were delivered.
I have no idea what assessment process was used at the Gender Clinic, maybe Nancy didn’t open up about the motivation for becoming ”Nathan”. What I do know is that the current ”affirmative“ model would not screen out a ”Nancy” in much the way it has not explored the homophobic bullying that has led my son (gay & male) down the same path. Nancy was also a Lesbian.
The testosterone and surgeries left Nathan feeling like (in her own words) a ”monster”. She had a double mastectomy and a phalloplasty. The latter surgery has high rates of complications and it appears Nancy was out of luck there too.
Finally Nathan applied to be voluntarily euthanised. For this we were told Nathan had six months of psychological investigation. This was taken the night before which was spent dancing with friends.
It turns out somebody made a documentary about her. You can watch the trailer here :
These were the words of Nathan’s mother after learning of her daughter’s death.
In the trailer there is footage of Nancy laughing with friends and lighting a big fat cigar. Shown dancing with friends as part of a last goodbye. I will leave you with Nathan’s own, heartbreaking, words.
https://gendercriticalwoman.blog/2022/04/24/the-destruction-of-nancy-the-girl-nobody-wanted/
All thoughts ( for or against) gratefully received.
New Zealand updates
In their last newsletter of the year on their substack, Resist Gender Education look at the puberty blockers consultation that is taking place.
November 2024
Newsletter
Nov 29, 2024
Puberty blockers consultation
The big news of the month was, of course, the release after a long delay of the Ministry of Health’s investigation into puberty blockers. Regrettably, the evidence that gave the MOH the confidence to say, “there is insufficient basis to say that puberty blockers are safe or reversible (or not) for use as an intervention for gender dysphoria in adolescents” was not enough to prompt it to immediately retrict their use. Instead, it’s business as usual while a public consultation takes place.
A full report on the MOH’s lack of action is in Yvonne van Dongen’s article on the Platform, The Plot Sickens.[ Dusty - also featured by me in the last update]
It is unclear why the MOH has opted for a public consultation, given that it already knows there is “… a level of concern both here and overseas about the increasing use of these medicines for the treatment of gender identity issues without sufficient evidence to support their safety and effectiveness both now and in the longer-term.”
You can participate in the public consultation either by completing an online survey, or by sending your submission to pbconsultation@health.govt.nz
The survey is little more than a poll asking whether or not puberty blockers should be regulated, who should be permitted to prescribe them, and what effect any changes might have on people with diagnosed gender dysphoria.
We recommend sending an email if you want to contribute more than ticks in a poll.
Apparently in thrall to “lived experience”, the Ministry has asked for “input from organisations that represent people who may be affected by safety measures or that may be involved in how safety measures are used in practice.”
RGE recommends that your submission contains personal experiences to illustrate the statistical and medical evidence already held by the Ministry and/or to address the gaps in the MOH review as described below by Emeritus professor, Dr Charlotte Paul.
Dr Paul, quoted in Gender Clinic News, while welcoming the consultation, says, “There are limitations to the review, especially a lack of necessary context. There is nothing about the changing aims of treatment, the rapid increase in numbers and change in characteristics of those presenting with gender-related distress, the serious disagreement about reasons for the increase, the possibility that use of blockers locks children into a medical pathway, and legitimate concerns about regret. Still, it is a first step.”
Here are some suggestions for personal experience you might be able to recount in your submission. (The links provided are for relevant studies on the Stats for Gender website.)
Were you a child who wanted to be the opposite sex but were humoured rather than medicated and grew out of gender dysphoria after going through a natural puberty? (https://statsforgender.org/desistance/)
Are you close to someone who has taken puberty blockers and can describe the effects on that person’s physical and mental health? (https://statsforgender.org/category/puberty-blockers/)
Are you a teacher or parent who has observed a social contagion “selling” transition and puberty blockers to young teens? (https://statsforgender.org/category/rogd/) (https://statsforgender.org/category/social-influence/)
Are you a parent who is alarmed by the ease and speed with which puberty blockers were prescribed to your child? (https://statsforgender.org/pre-teens/)
Are you a parent whose child was started on puberty blockers with little attention paid to their other health needs (autism, depression, trauma etc)? (https://statsforgender.org/category/comorbidity/) (https://statsforgender.org/category/mental-health/)
If your child has progressed from puberty blockers to cross-sex hormones, how has that affected his/her fertility, sexual function, and general health? (https://statsforgender.org/category/hormones/)
Do you know someone who has detransitioned (stopped taking puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones) and has been left with irreversible changes to their physical or emotional wellbeing? (https://statsforgender.org/category/detransition/)
The consultation closes on 20 January 2025
The rest of the newsletter is here and covers developments in Alberta, Scotland and the States.
On this subject, The Platform interviewed the Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health, Dr Joe Bourne who admits that there is ‘poor evidence’ but says they will continue with puberty blockers in any event and seems to think there is a difference between children in the UK and children in New Zealand!! And this is the man in charge!!
On her substack, A B’Old Woman Katrina Biggs deals with the Association of Psychotherapists Aotearoa New Zealand (APANZ) who are telling therapists that even talking to clients about their ‘gender dysphoria’ may be unlawful , a view which is contradicted by two lawyers who Katrina quotes.
Lies are no way to live - except when the Psychotherapists Assn of NZ tell their members to do it, or else.
Language is central to our lives, and how it's used determines much of how we live them.
Nov 30, 2024
I was talking to my terf friend, Sarah Henderson, from Mana Wāhine Kōrero (Sovereign Women Speak) the other day about language. Sarah’s deeply interested in linguistics, and we’ve had a long and fascinating chat on YouTube about this before. Amongst other things in that chat, she talked about how language ‘codes’ our brains into thinking in certain ways. So, when I raised the subject of what it might do to women and girls mental and emotional health to have our language erased in favour of being called things like ‘cervix havers’, ‘the birthing parent’, ‘those who menstruate’, or ‘people who go through menopause’, as just a few examples, Sarah knew exactly where I was coming from.
It's a question that has been playing around my mind for a wee while now. So, I mentioned to Sarah that it would be good for someone more knowledgeable than me to write something about the impact on women and girls from taking our language away. Or, maybe she herself could consider working on something with me, I said, and perhaps a psychotherapist helping out, as well. To be honest, I’m not really up with the play on what all the psych-somethings do, but psychotherapist sounded good. Sarah had some reservations about that, to put it mildly, and reminded me about a psychotherapist fella on X, whom we both know of, who has sold his brain and soul to gender ideology. For a moment there, I’d forgotten about that particular ‘madman’.
Hot on the heels of that, the Association of Psychotherapists Aotearoa New Zealand (APANZ) put out a ‘do it our way, or else’ position statement called ‘APANZ Council’s finalised response to the 2023 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts (SOGICE) report’.
The report appears to be saying that talking through a client’s sexual orientation or gender identity is tantamount to trying to change it, and any psychotherapists who do that will be in deep trouble. APANZ even jam colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) into the report, accompanied by claims about gender identities in pre-colonial Māori culture, which have no basis in reality in any provable way. They blithely ignore that, though, because why let the truth get in the way of a good story.
The full piece is here:
Larping Male Footballer of the Year
Sex Matters in their latest newsletter (29 November) report:
BBC’s best female footballer may be a man
The BBC has named Barbra Banda its 2024 Women’s Footballer of the Year, prompting a backlash over the Zambian striker’s eligibility to compete in female competitions.
The player, who won the award from a five-player shortlist, scored a hat trick at the Paris Olympics and has become the second-highest scorer in the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) this season.
But in 2022 Banda did not play in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after failing to meet sex-verification criteria set by the Confederation of African Football (FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and NWSL do not mandate sex testing). Banda was one of three Zambian players who missed the women’s tournament.
Banda is likely to have the same disorder of sexual development as Caster Semenya and Imane Khelif. Responding to the news on X, JK Rowling posted: “Presumably the BBC decided this was more time efficient than going door to door to spit directly in women’s faces.”
The US Media
On his substack, Arty Morty has posted another excellent piece about the media (and see link to his previous piece which really should be read with this):
Small signs of change in the US media
A gentle fisking of Jonathan Chait
Nov 28, 2024
Following the election, America's centre and centre-left media is taking baby steps towards a course correction on the transgender issue. It's great to see that American legacy media people are beginning to see the light, but they've got a long way to go.
Jonathan Chait has a new piece at The Atlantic that argues, refreshingly, that Democrats need to moderate their stance on trans. But Chait, a former columnist at The New Republic and New York, offers up an example of how the centre and centre-left media continue to struggle to understand this subject.
My big essay from last month was about how legacy journalists obstinately refuse to ask the most fundamental question about transgender — what exactly is it? — because doing so would force them to reckon with the trans movement's fundamental untenability. Legacy media journalists instead hide behind the safety of the familiar, treating “trans rights” as analagous to gay rights: framing it as, supposedly, a movement to liberate a subgroup of people who’ve been persecuted over an innate attribute that society has failed to accommodate. Trans is seen by the left as a convenient new social justice project to replace the smash hit of gay rights activism, which has won so many of its battles so decisively that it’s lost its lustre. Now that gays are mainstream, we’re no longer useful as a brave and noble cause to rally and unite the activist left behind.
But transgender makes much more sense when it’s understood not as an identity-politics or social-justice issue, but as a loose term to describe what began as a small group of adults with a rare psychiatric condition, which subsequently exploded into a fad and a subculture via social media.
Chait makes all the mistakes I pointed out in my essay, I wrote last month that, with respect to the trans issue, journalists “wave the question [what is trans?] away with various excuses, and they focus instead on a much simpler framing of the issue: does it make a few unhappy people seem a little happier if we pretend? It’s easier to rationalize away the enormous damage that’s done to people’s bodily health (and the damage they’re doing to the social fabric) by focusing on the supposed benefits to their mental health, at least as it seems in the short and medium term.”
This is almost exactly what Chait says: “The major questions about trans rights are: Do some people have the chance to live a happier and more fulfilling life in a different gender identity than the one to which they were born?…”
But Chait, what is a “gender identity”? If people are already more-or-less free to dress and act as femininely or masculinely as they please regardless of their sex, why do we need to build a whole new cultural concept to suppress all mention of some people’s sex? It seems rather obvious that “gender identity” is a fundamentally regressive way of conceptualizing the relationship between someone’s biological sex and his or her femininity or masculinity.
The full piece is here:
https://substack.com/@artymorty/p-152291521
Australia - More Gender Madness
Thanks as ever to Feminist Legal Clinic.
Transgender woman reaches settlement with NSW corrective services over her(sic) treatment in prison (30 November)
A transgender woman has settled a discrimination case against NSW [ New South Wales] corrective services and police after she was held in a men’s prison for weeks and says she(sic) was denied sufficient access to hormone therapy.
Melissa Yarnold reached a confidential settlement with state government agencies after a lengthy battle in the Australian Human Rights Commission over her(sic) time in custody in 2020, which she(sic) described as “hell on Earth”.
She (sic) was arrested and charged by NSW Police in 2020 following a family dispute, when she (sic) said she repeatedly asked the officers to use her correct pronouns and legal name.
According to documents seen by ABC News, Ms Yarnold was entered into the court system under her(sic) former name.
She (sic) said she was initially held in isolation at a women’s prison before being transferred to a men’s prison, where she (sic) spent more than five weeks awaiting trial.
She (sic) was ultimately released with no conviction, subject to a mental health plan.
Canada - Alberta Fightback
Eva Kurilova on her substack features a marvellous speech in the Alberta Parliament by Jennifer Johnson MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) in support of the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act.
https://www.evakurilova.com/p/this-is-how-you-advocate-for-womens?publication_id=1079486&r=1v403b
Authoritarianism
Great interview with Andrew Doyle by Andrew Gold covering the dire nature of the Guardian newspaper, the real meaning of fascism, Orwell, the authoritarian nature of the Labour Government, non-crime hate incidents, the capture of the Police and the Gulag Archipelago.
Let Women Speak
My wife and I can’t make this one ( which is adjourned from last weekend due to the storm). Hope it goes well.
01 Dec 2024, 13:00 – 15:00
Reformers' Tree, London W2 2UH, UK
Endpieces by Dusty and Liz
In his interview above, Andrew Doyle talks of the ‘three Johns’ - John Stuart Mill, John Milton and John Locke. This led me straight to an old Alexei Sayle sketch! 😊
Obviously I have to compete with a baby and a dog ( and a brief appearance by a cat). Most unfair!
#BeMorePorcupine
#LetWomenSpeak
#Grassroots Army
#GenderIdeologyIsEvil
#MenCantBeWomen
Dear readers
Just a heads up that Mr Menno has a premiere today at 20.30 GMT called 'Terfing at the Gay Hotel' .
See some of you there
Dusty
Tough read about Nancy :-(