(By JL)

Saturday 17th August - The Guardian Ignores An Inconvenient Truth

The Guardian reported on a story from Berlin about 'K', a convicted criminal who was apprehended posing as a police officer.

"Berlin’s police force is facing considerable embarrassment over the arrest of a woman who has repeatedly posed as a police officer and claims to have helped them apprehend criminals."

After posing as a policewoman for two years, K was eventually apprehended at a train station, wearing a full police uniform and equipped with a baton, handcuffs and pepper spray, having attracted the attention of two genuine police officers.



The Guardian is delicate in briefly mentioning that K is a convicted sex offender and still on probation after serving a sentence for sexual assault. But what they completely failed to mention is that 'K' is a man.

Also today, The Times published an article about the silencing of academics, mainly feminist women, by students making allegations of transphobia.

Citing a number of examples, the article describes how free speech and academic debate are being stifled, with Academics facing serious consequences for questioning gender ideology or even for just making gender critical comments on social media.

Professor Selina Todd, professor of modern history at Oxford and vice-principal of St Hilda’s College, has been told by students that she will face a campaign to get her sacked in the autumn. She told the paper:

“The view of these activists is that anyone who feels themselves to be a woman should be allowed to call themselves such. Questioning that desire is seen as hate speech that could be harmful. To me that is censorship.”



Sunday 18th August - Follow The Money

Twitter user @STILLTish drew attention to some very interesting statistics compiled by Professor Michael Biggs of Oxford University.

It makes very clear how Stonewall's focus has shifted between 2013 and 2018, with trans issues mentioned less than 5% in its 2013 annual report but rising to around 60% just five years later.

This table documents the Lottery Fund grants given to the LGBT sector between 2014 and 2018. In 2018 59% of the grants received went to trans groups or campaigns (whereas there was a significant drop in grants specifically for lesbian groups).

Sunday 18th August - Teen Vogue At It Again



Teen Vogue, the publication which brought us anal sex instruction for adolescents, was busy gas-lighting its readers into surrendering their boundaries and safety.

It published an article telling its readership "People using the bathroom that corresponds with their identity" pose no risk to "cisgender" people. (Apparently, Teen Vogue has never heard or Jonathan Yaniv or Christopher Hambrook et al.)



It instructed its young readers to "Mind your own business in the bathroom". Pressuring teenage girls to ignore their own instincts and disregard years of safeguarding advice is a new low, even by Teen Vogue standards.



Monday 19th August - BC Court Overrules Parental Consent

The father of a 14 year old girl who is being given male hormones without his consent lost his legal appeal to intervene in her treatment.

Earlier in the year clinicians at BC Children’s Hospital decided a 13 year old female child who identifies as a boy should begin testosterone injections.

The child's mother was willing to give consent but her father was not. He had concerns that her mental health issues were a cause of her gender dysphoria and also feared for her health and fertility. He wanted to wait until the child was older.

The child's doctor overruled him, claiming that under the BC Infants Act he could begin testosterone injections with her consent alone. The father immediately sought an injunction to prevent the treatment being administered.



However, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordered the child could receive testosterone injections without parental consent. The court also ordered that if either parent referred to the child using female pronouns or used her birth name, they would be deemed guilty of "family violence".



The father then made an application to stay the supreme court's ruling but this has been refused. He now intends to appeal but fears that by the time this hearing occurs his daughter will have been taking testosterone for so long that her health and fertility will have already been compromised.



Monday 19th August - Sentence Increase for Axe Attacker



Transwoman Evie Amati, who attacked three people with an axe had their prison sentence increased.



Amati attacked three people with an axe in a late-night supermarket in January 2017 after being rejected by a Tinder date and taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.



Amati was found guilty of wounding with intent to murder, attempting to wound with intent to murder, and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder and sentenced to nine years. The New South Wales criminal court of appeal upheld a crown challenge over the leniency of the original sentence and increased it by five years. Amati will now serve a minimum of eight years before being eligible for parole.



When News.com.au reported on this story, it revealed that Amati has been involved in several fights with the women prisoners at all-female Mary Wade Women’s Correctional Centre. Amati is still being held in the women's estate despite now de-transitioning to return to male status.





Tuesday 20th August - Child Sex Offender Due For Release



The New Zealand Herald reported on repeat child sex offender, Laken McKay, a biological male who now identifies as a woman.

In 201o McKay, then Rory Francis, was found guilty of rape and indecent acts against boys and girls under 12 and received a sentence of nine years and four months.

McKay is scheduled for release next month and was to be subject to strict parole board conditions. However, The Department of Corrections applied for and was granted an Extended Supervision Order so that McKay can be even more strictly monitored and for a longer period.

Corrections lawyer, Jessica Blythe, said this order was intended to protect members of the community. She told the court that there was a high risk of McKay offending again, adding, "There is no evidence that Ms McKay's risk has diminished in light of her becoming a woman".





Wednesday 21st August - Bristol University & The Case of Student B



Dr Emma Williamson, Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at Bristol University, issued a public statement denouncing the way the university has handled a complaint of bullying and aggressive behaviour towards one of her PhD students, Dominican writer and radical feminist, Raquel Rosario Sánchez.

In February 2018 A Woman’s Place UK (WPUK) organised a meeting in Bristol which Raquel Rosario Sánchez chaired. An anonymous open letter calling for the meeting to be cancelled and making defamatory slurs against WPUK was circulated to Bristol University staff and students.



Raquel Rosario Sánchez subsequently made a formal complaint to Bristol University about the intimidation she encountered from another student (referred to in documentation as 'Student B') over her involvement with WPUK.

During the investigation Student B made numerous incendiary social media posts, accused the university of transphobia, leaked information pertaining to the complaint and behaved in such a way that, on a number of occasions, serious concerns around security meant disciplinary hearings had to be postponed.



In June 2019, 18 months after the original complaint was made, Bristol University decided to 'terminate' the case. There has been no explanation for this decision. Since it was made the situation has escalated, as Dr Williams explained in her statement.

"Since the University terminated the case, further social media posts have appeared. Again, these are partial and misleading. The student who made the complaint has been targeted on several occasions over the past 18 months since the original complaint was made.

Organisations she is involved with have been threatened with boycott, and she has been threatened with legal action, faced masked demonstrators at events she is involved in, both on and off the University campus, and had to pass masked protesters to attend disciplinary proceedings."

Following the release of Dr Williams' statement, long-time environmental and social justice campaigner, Helen Steel, revealed that she had also been assaulted by Student B.

Sorry you have been put through this.Student B assaulted me earlier this year while I was speaking to an ex-friend.B accused WPUK of hating trans people. I replied that WPUK don't hate trans people, to which B said "What, like Hitler didn't hate Jews" and threw a drink in my face — Helen Steel (@helensteel12) August 21, 2019

UPDATE:

NEW: PhD student @BristolUni on verge of losing visa after she complained about a transgender student bullying her for 18 months. She’s faced a barrage of abuse by trans activists &even “masked protestors”



My latest for @thesundaytimes w/ @SianGriffiths6https://t.co/XAjedC9qAt — Ewan Somerville (@ewansomerville) August 24, 2019







Thursday 22nd August - Gender Neutral Breastfeeding



Feminist Current posted an article by Nicole Jameson (a qualified breastfeeding peer supporter) about the erasure of women from breastfeeding advocacy.

The article explains that breastfeeding is a women's rights issue which is frequently overlooked in discussions around reproductive health and bodily autonomy. It describes the problems caused and exacerbated by the current trend for using gender-neutral language around breastfeeding. It also condemns the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) for leaping on this particular band wagon, particularly during World Breastfeeding Week.

"WABA’s embrace of gender neutral language during one of the most important weeks in public advocacy for maternal health and rights is an absurd and misogynist betrayal of mothers, simultaneously denying the sex-based oppression of women while removing our ability to name and thereby resist it."



Friday 23rd August



The Daily Record posted an article about a 22 year old woman who has been denied a hysterectomy despite her crippling period pain.

Megan Archibald has suffered with unbearable period pain since her teens and has to deal with excessively long and heavy periods, menstruating for almost six months on one occasion. She takes iron supplements to cope with the heavy blood loss but medication cannot ease her debilitating pain.



Megan has begged NHS doctors to perform a hysterectomy. However, she has been refused the surgery due to her age and the fact that she has no children. Under NHS guidelines she may have to endure her situation until she is at least 35.



She told the newspaper, "I've had a GP say to me 'what would your future husband think?' She added, "I feel I'm old enough to make a choice."



A 22 year old woman with a debilitating and agonising condition is not considered old enough to make a decision about her future fertility. Meanwhile, a 13 year old is allowed to continue using untested puberty-delaying drugs against the wishes of her father. Funny old world.