Feminist Legal Clinic – Advancing the Human Rights of Women & Girls

RaffleTix | IWD 2026 Raffle

We are raising money to bring together our members and supporters in a national conference for International Women’s Day 2026, where they can exchange news and views, network and plan, and learn from each other. An exciting feature of this year’s conference is the participation of award-winning Scottish feminist performance poet Jenny Lindsay, author of the book Hounded (Polity Press). Our fundraising will help pay for her visit and other costs associated with organising the conference.

Source: RaffleTix | IWD 2026 Raffle

Victorian government must review transgender laws | The Australian

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not originally generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.

The Victorian government is letting down gender-distressed young people and their families by missing its own legislated deadline to have its contentious conversion therapy law reviewed. As Rachel Baxendale reported on Monday, the law is having a chilling effect on the willingness of medical professionals to treat vulnerable children questioning their gender. The Act, which took effect in February 2022, imposes penalties of up to $10,000 in fines or 10 years’ jail for anyone found to have attempted to suppress or change someone’s sexuality or gender. Victorian-based group Parents of Adolescents with Gender Distress say most therapists are now either unwilling to work with gender-distressed youth or under the misapprehension that if they do not automatically affirm a child’s declared gender identity they would find themselves accused of “conversion therapy”.

Premier Jacinta Allan should adhere to the Act by commissioning an independent review, which under the legislation should have started in February 2024 and been completed in six months. The timing is sensitive. Just two months after the Act took effect, the most comprehensive study of gender dysphoria services, conducted by Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in Britain, found there was no good evidence to support the global clinical practice of prescribing hormones to under-18s to halt puberty or transition to the opposite sex. Dr Cass’s final report has led to a fundamental shift in approach across much of the world, away from medical intervention and towards addressing other mental health problems the young patients may have.

Source: Review Victorian transgender laws

American woman who had breasts cut off as teenager wins $2million payout | GB News

A young woman who had her breasts cut off as a teenager has been granted a $2million payout in what is being cited as a landmark court decision.

Fox Varian decided to have the life-altering “top-surgery”, removing her breasts to become a boy when she was just 16 years old.

The now-22-year-old, who is considered a “detransitioner”, has warned against the “massive medical and social experiment” on youngsters who believe they have been born in the wrong body.

She says the double mastectomy was pushed on her when she was a minor, after approval from psychologist Kenneth Einhorn and surgeon Simon Chin – a jury agreed.

The pair were found to be responsible for ignoring standards of care and procedural guardrails by pressuring the child into handling her gender dysphoria with permanent surgery, the jury in Westchester County Supreme Court decided.

Ms Varian’s mother, Claire Deacon, told the court that she was against the surgery, but didn’t contest it out of fear her daughter would commit suicide, according to The Epoch Times.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk experienced a similar scenario when his son, Xavier, now Vivienne Jenna, transitioned in 2022.

The world’s richest man said he was “tricked” by doctors and told his child would take his own life if he refused to consent to cross-sex hormone treatment.

“There will be thousands more court cases of children who were mutilated by evil doctors. The schools, psychologists, psychiatrists, and state officials who facilitated this will pay dearly, too,” Mr Musk said after Ms Varian’s ruling.

The professionals were told by Ms Varian’s lawyers, however, they should have ensured she did not have other psychological conditions, such as depression, ADHD, autism, or body dysmorphia before urging the surgery.

There are said to be at least 28 compensation cases, similar to Ms Varian’s, that are currently being worked on in the US.

Source: American woman who had breasts cut off as teenager wins $2million payout

Proceedings launched to stop puberty blocker trial | UK

The Bayswater Support Group, Bell & Esses v The HRA and The MHRA (Pathways 2)

This is a judicial review of the authorities behind the Pathways clinical trial of puberty blockers on children: the Health Research Authority and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Our claimants, Bayswater Support Group (who support parents of trans children and young people), Keira Bell (who brought the case against the Tavistock in 2020) and James Esses, (a psychotherapist who campaigns for the ethical treatment of gender dysphoria), are challenging the lawfulness and ethics of this trial of banned drugs on children. ONGOING.

Source: https://www.conrathegardner.com/healthcare

https://x.com/KBtheYoungOG/status/2019682477510406316/photo/1

Epstein files reveal Sydney connections with ‘not a girl not yet a woman’ photos from friend | SMH

Emails released by the US Department of Justice as part of the Epstein files reveal the convicted sex offender was contacted by a female friend – whose name was redacted – in March 2012, seemingly while she was studying in Sydney.

“jeffrey have you seen photos I sent you ? I think that those are the most sensual and ‘im not a girl not yet a woman’ style photos I have ever had,” she wrote to Epstein.

“I am still loving sydney so much.. can’t believe your friend Katherine left Syd for NY. hope you are great, having a holiday every day ;)”

That was an apparent reference to Katherine Keating, daughter of former prime minister Paul Keating, who had moved to New York and became part of Epstein’s circle there in 2011.

Epstein responded that he had seen the photos, calling them “really terrific”, and asking: “have you made any mew [sic] girlfriends?”

Months later, in October 2012, Epstein corresponded with another person who appeared to be, or have been, in Sydney, but the tone had soured. It was not evident whether it was the same person as the March email chain.

“Do you want to see me or you are interested in me only because I found pretty girls for you?” the emailer asked Epstein.

He replied: “your job in Sydney, has as i warned, made you hard . you are behaving in a very cheap, vulgar, manner. If it is irreparable, we can no longer have contact.”

The person told Epstein that she wished their relationship could return to how it was the previous year, and worried that he had grown bored with their “Nabokov-Lolita relations”, referring to the famous novel about lust for an under-age girl by Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov.

Source: Epstein files reveal Sydney connections with ‘not a girl not yet a woman’ photos from friend

Please sign our petition: Ban the DWP pimping women on OnlyFans? | UK

In previous newsletters we reported that UK jobcentres are pressuring claimants who are OnlyFans ‘creators’ to increase their OnlyFans income and about legislation that bans the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from making “arrangements in respect of employment for sexual purposes”.

While some women make a lot of money on OnlyFans, the vast majority make very little, with average monthly earnings being about £130. The main way that a woman can increase her OnlyFans income is by creating more explicit and degrading content and attempting to attract new paying customers by posting clips on mainstream social media sites, including TikTok, Instagram and similar, where children are likely to be present.

Increasing her OnlyFans visibility in this way is likely to increase attention from predators who want to pay her for in-person sex, and pimps and other third parties who want to cash in on her earnings. It may push her into “full service” prostitution and will inevitably expose her to more risks.

This means that the DWP is complicit in the commercial sexual exploitation of (mainly) young women and in increasing the amount of pornographic material that children are likely to be exposed to.

We have published a new article that explains all this and provides links to the FOI responses, DWP self-employment rules, and Dame Diana Johnson’s responses.

We have also started a petition to campaign against this heinous situation. Please sign and share it and help us raise awareness of this heinous situation.

Source: Please sign our petition: Ban the DWP pimping women on OnlyFans?

Doctors’ Group Endorses Restrictions on Gender-Related Surgery for Minors – The New York Times

For the first time, two major medical groups have backed limitations on gender-related surgical treatments for minors in the United States.

The American Medical Association, the nation’s largest organization representing doctors, on Wednesday said these procedures generally should be deferred until patients reach adulthood.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons took a similar position on Tuesday, saying that gender-related surgeries should be delayed until age 19.

The issue has become increasingly fraught as the federal government and some states move to ban medical interventions for adolescents with gender dysphoria.

Until now, most of the nation’s medical groups have opposed efforts to restrict gender-related care, with many calling for evidence-based decisions that consider the specific needs of a patient, no matter their age.

These treatments may include puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and, in rarer cases, surgeries. A review of hospital data from 2016 through 2020 identified about 3,600 patients aged 12 to 18 who had received gender-related surgery. The vast majority were mastectomies.

Source: Doctors’ Group Endorses Restrictions on Gender-Related Surgery for Minors – The New York Times

UN expert concerned by UK failure to enforce Supreme Court ruling on sex-based protections | OHCHR

GENEVA – A UN expert today expressed serious concern over the United Kingdom’s failure to ensure the effective implementation of a landmark Supreme Court judgment clarifying that the term “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex.

“The continued absence of clear, updated guidance and effective enforcement measures has resulted in widespread non-compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling,” said Reem Alsalem, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. “This situation undermines legal certainty with particularly serious consequences for women and girls.”

The Special Rapporteur welcomed the ruling in her report following her recent visit to the United Kingdom. She recommended that the UK Government ensure that all public and private institutions uphold the Supreme Court ruling , and that it provide the necessary guidance to all segments of society to understand the implications of the ruling.

Nearly one year after the Supreme Court’s ruling of 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers, the expert noted that the judgment is yet to be translated into binding guidance or enforced across public authorities and service providers. The expert expressed particular concern that non-compliance appears to extend to government departments and public sector bodies, including the National Health Service, the prison service, universities and schools.

Source: UN expert concerned by UK failure to enforce Supreme Court ruling on sex-based protections | OHCHR

Trans killer’s sex attack on female inmate costs taxpayers in secret deal | Herald Sun

The Allan government has made a secret payout to a female prisoner sexually assaulted by a transgender murderer who had been allowed to move to a women’s jail.

The killer – who was known as Clinton Rintoull at the time of the murder but has since changed names – was moved to the minimum-security Tarrengower female prison after transitioning while serving a 20-year sentence.

Rintoull then sexually assaulted a female inmate in 2022.

It is unclear if Rintoull had male genitalia at that time.

And last week, the government settled a secret lawsuit with the victim for an undisclosed amount, with taxpayers footing the bill over Rintoull’s prison attack.

Rintoull was jailed for 20 years in 2009 for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Sudanese refugee Liep Gony, after saying he was “going to take the town back” by killing blacks.

Rintoull was sentenced to a minimum 16-year term and began the sentence in a male prison, before being moved to Tarrengower near Maldon.

And despite the sexual assault, Rintoull was still freed into the community on parole in 2024.

Rintoull’s new name is not known.

The transgender murderer is one of at least seven biological males to have been transferred from men’s prisons to either female facilities the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre or Tarrengower Prison after transitioning while behind bars between 2003 and 2023.

They include some with a known history of sexual violence.

Source: Trans killer’s sex attack on female inmate costs taxpayers in secret deal

Not all men? I’m losing confidence in this idea | Milli Hill

The Epstein files have revealed, as the journalist Helen Rumbelow puts it in this excellent piece in The Times, a ‘hidden world oiled by porn saturated misogyny’. Men, all kinds of men, from Andrew, to Mandleson, to Gates, to Branson, to Bannon, to Chomsky, to Attia, and a whole host of others, are implicated, if not by their proven actions towards women, then by their words and attitudes. In email after email, women are ‘pussy’ when they are young and desirable and ‘c***ts’ when they are neither. Longevity guru Attia tells Epstein that ‘pussy is, indeed, low carb’; Bannon jokes about ‘liking pussy’; someone emails Epstein promising, ‘abundent young pussy flesh’; the (now deceased) satirist Paul Krassner tells a grim tale of a woman stoned in Biblical times who is, ‘inadvertently showing her sweet shocking vulnerable pink pussy’; artist Andres Serrano says he may give Trump a ‘sympathy vote’ because he’s so ‘disgusted by the outrage over ‘grab’em by the pussy’. In total, there are 525 mentions of ‘pussy’ in the current ‘Epstein Library’.

About an unnamed woman, Epstein writes, ‘wrinkly old hag, just because she is rich she thinks she can talk down to everyone…Everyone knows her husband is f***ing young russians… nasty c***… bags of cottage cheese in her pants’; an unnamed friend of Epstein writes to him about his wife, ‘f***ing crazy… 26 years with the same miserable c***’; and even Sarah Ferguson isn’t immune, Epstein sends a pic of her to a friend and sniggers, ‘not the prettiest sight’. Public intellectual Noam Chomsky appears to take aim at the post #metoo world, and – his words – the, ‘hysteria that has developed about abuse of women’. It’s all too familiar, isn’t it? We are ugly, we are witches, we are crazy, we are hysterical – particularly when we tell on them for abusing us. Tell me you haven’t had these ideas used against you, even though you don’t live in the world of superyachts and billionaires.

And whilst the ongoing political fallout is undoubtedly important, what really stands out for me, ever since I saw that grim image of Andrew that I just can’t get out of my head, is how the files expose once and for all just how men loathe us and see us as nothing more than commodities to be f***ed when we’re young, and waste products to be derided and despised when we’re old. And sacking Mandleson or Starmer will do nothing to change that fact.

All my life I have been told not all men, not all men, not all men. Stop being unfair. Most men are really nice and kind. Don’t be such a man hater. It’s only these power-crazed types. It’s only these weirdo edge-cases. It’s only the odd bad apple. It’s not all men. Well I’m sorry, but I’m starting to lose confidence in this messaging. I’m starting to feel like the time for fairness and making allowances is over. I’m starting to feel like being a man-hater is not such a bad default position. The evidence is there in their beloved pornography. And it’s there in the Epstein files.

Yes, I’m starting to feel like maybe it is all men.

Source: Not all men? I’m losing confidence in this idea