Julie Bindel for Feminist Current writes:
Not only do lesbians have the least clout in the “queer” world, on account of being mere women, the word “lesbian” is becoming synonymous with “transphobia.” Lesbians have been the most vocal in challenging current Orwellian transgender ideology, because we have the most to lose by conceding hard-won ground to men who identify as women. Well-funded, powerful organizations that supposedly advocate on behalf of lesbians and gay men are leaving many of us behind in the quest to be as transgender friendly as possible.
But why are so many organizations caving in, and lauding trans activists whilst losing lesbians? Two words: fear and funding.
But despite the bullying and the threats to jobs and livelihood, many lesbians have had enough of the aggressive trans takeover of LGBT rights. The disquiet came to a head during London Pride this year, when a group of lesbians protested, holding placards with the slogan, “Lesbians don’t have penises,” and lying down on the parade route.
So-called progressive men who secretly hate or resent women just love the battle between militant trans activists who bleat that they are “real women,” and the feminists and lesbians that are not having it. These men have created the perfect opportunity to call us “bigots” and “haters” and still be thought of as “woke.”
https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/08/29/many-lgbt-organizations-caving-trans-activists-losing-lesbians/
Author: fem4admin39
Patriarchy paradox: how equality reinforces stereotypes
Tom Whipple for The Times writes:
“It seems that as gender equality increases, as countries become more progressive, men and women gravitate towards traditional gender norms,” Dr Mac Giolla said. “Why is this happening? I really don’t know.”
Steve Stewart-Williams, from the University of Nottingham, said that there was now too much evidence of this effect to consider it a fluke. “It’s not just personality,” he said. “The same counterintuitive pattern has been found in many other areas, including attachment styles, choice of academic speciality, choice of occupation, crying frequency, depression, happiness and interest in casual sex.
“It’s definitely a challenge to one prominent stream of feminist theory, according to which almost all the differences between the sexes come from cultural training and social roles.”
Dr Stewart-Williams, author of The Ape That Understood the Universe, said an explanation could be that those living in wealthier and more gender-equal societies had greater freedom to pursue their own interests and behave more individually, so magnifying natural differences.
“Treating men and women the same makes them different, and treating them differently makes then the same. I don’t think anyone predicted that. It’s bizarre.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/patriarchy-paradox-how-equality-reinforces-stereotypes-96cx2bsrp?
The Shock Collar That Is Misogyny
Regan Penaluna for Guernica writes:
Manne tosses out the common thinking that misogyny is equivalent to despising all women, and instead offers that it’s a way to keep women in their place. Misogyny, she writes, is “the system that operates within a patriarchal social order to police and enforce women’s subordination and to uphold male dominance.” Like a shock collar used to keep dogs behind an invisible fence, misogyny, she argues, aims to keep women—those who are well trained as well as those who are unruly—in line.
Misogyny is the stuff that women face that destroys them in some instances. “Himpathy” is part of the explanation of why we don’t see it, because we’re identifying with “him” and seeing “him” as the good guy, or worrying about “his” future. We don’t see him as taking a life. We see him as asserting his masculinity or defending himself, or as a poor pathetic character, or as vulnerable. Sometimes these things are true, that he is pathetic and vulnerable, but let’s focus on the women.
There’s a general myth about prejudice, that it’s going to be leveled toward any and every member of a certain historically subordinate class, rather than that it’s something that comes out as a method for enforcing and policing social hierarchies.
I think silencing is a big part of it. And silencing can mean replacing anything unpleasant to the patriarchal collective consciousness with pleasantries—like saying, “He’s a good guy.” And it can mean not speaking out, or defending him, as well as not testifying to his misdeeds.
https://www.guernicamag.com/kate-manne-why-misogyny-isnt-really-about-hating-women/
"One thing I can't stop thinking about lately is how heterosexual marriage benefits men and tends to harm women but it's culturally framed as something women want and men resist."
THIS is the Bad Place on Twitter:
This is a meta-study of 18 studies, which show that women become unhappier with marriage faster than men. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22059843
Women initiate the vast majority of divorces in the U.S. – 70% in 1995, according to this 2000 paper. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract
The statistic that sticks with me: per a 2009 study in the journal Cancer, 21% of women got abandoned by their husbands while sick. Just 3% of men. Control group was 12% divorce rate. Cancer made husbands more likely to GTFO, women more likely to stay.
Here’s some Pew Research data on chores put into a chart by Today’s Parent: https://www.todaysparent.com/modern-marriage-till-chores-do-us-part/ …
And doing the memory work of a family, which is also societally tagged as feminine, is a lot of work in itself, but not one socially recognized as work.
https://twitter.com/KHandozo/status/1046184193955418114
Judge to decide whether baby can be first in UK history to be born without a mother in landmark trans rights case
Brian Farmer for The Independent writes:
The most senior Family Court judge in England and Wales is set to rule on a case involving a transgender man whose baby is at the centre of a historic human rights fight.
Lawyers say the baby could become the first person born in England or Wales who will not legally have a mother.
The baby is the child of a single parent who was born a woman but now lives as a man after undergoing surgery.
Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division of the High Court, is due to decide whether only either “father” or “parent” can be listed on the child’s birth certificate following a trial scheduled to take place at the High Court in London in February.
Lawyers say other transgender men have given birth but have been registered on birth certificates as mothers.
They say if the man wins his fight the child will be the first person born in England or Wales not to legally have a mother.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/transgender-man-baby-birth-certificate-mother-trans-rights-landmark-case-family-court-a8562021.html
Women in Apocalyptic Fiction Shaving Their Armpits.
Lisa Wade writes for Sociological images:
If gender ideology had lost this battle with realism, we’d see armpit hair on the women in Gilligan’s Island, Planet of the Apes, The Blue Lagoon, Beauty and the Beast, Waterworld, Lost, and The Hunger Games — but we don’t.
Our interest in realism only goes so far. Armpit hair on women is apparently one of its limits.
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/12/09/gender-ideology-vs-realism-the-armpit-hair-edition/
[category: Aust, feminism]
Women Are Not 'Chattel,' Says India's Supreme Court In Striking Down Adultery Law
npr reports:
India’s Supreme Court has struck down a colonial-era law that made adultery illegal, calling it arbitrary and saying it is unconstitutional because it “treats a husband as the master.”
Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code makes it a crime for a man to have intercourse with another man’s wife “without the consent or connivance of that man.”
The law gives a husband exclusive right to prosecute his wife’s lover — and does not grant a wife power to do the same. It does not penalize the woman, nor any married man who has sex with an unmarried woman.
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/27/652075778/women-are-not-chattel-says-india-s-supreme-court-in-striking-down-adultery-law
'MeToo must become WeToo': Ardern's maiden speech to UN rebuts Trump
Eleanor Ainge Roy in The Guardian reports:
The prime minister of New Zealand has been met with thunderous applause at the UN for her speech espousing global cooperation and kindness from world leaders, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s portentous rejection of globalism earlier in the week.
Jacinda Ardern’s national statement was viewed by many commentators as a direct rebuttal to the US president’s call for increased isolationism and national self-interest.
Ardern called for equality for women, action on climate change and a recommitment to multilateralism, saying : “We must rediscover our shared belief in the value, rather than the harm, of connectedness.”
Ardern concluded her address by committing to work towards the equality of women and girls not only in New Zealand, but around the world, a goal that earned her thunderous applause from world leaders, the first spontaneous applause all day, according to a Radio New Zealand reporter on the ground.
“Me Too must become We Too,” Ardern said. “We are all in this together”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/sep/28/we-are-not-isolated-jacinda-arderns-maiden-speech-to-the-un-rebuts-trump?
Disturbing gap identified in Queensland's revenge porn legislation
Felicity Caldwell for the Brisbane Times writes:
Speaking at a parliamentary committee hearing into proposed revenge porn laws, Brisbane Domestic Violence Service team leader Rebecca Shearman cited one horrific example that she thought would not be covered by the legislation.
In that example, an offender allegedly posted details about his ex-partner, including her phone number and the type of humiliation she would purportedly enjoy online, prompting a flood of messages from strangers, including some with graphic descriptions of violent sex acts.
Committee chairman Peter Russo asked Ms Shearman if she thought there was a gap in the legislation as it did not cover posts without images, to which she agreed.
Ms Shearman said women had been “extorted” and asked for $500 to $1000 by website operators to remove “revenge porn” photos.
Sharing, or even threatening to share, compromising images of another person in Queensland would result in three years’ jail, under a bill introduced to Parliament by Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath last month.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/disturbing-gap-identified-in-queensland-s-revenge-porn-legislation-20180917-p50477.html
Police could issue on-the-spot intervention orders for domestic violence under Victorian Opposition plan
Jessica Longbottom at ABC News reports:
Victoria Police will be given new powers to issue intervention orders on the spot in domestic violence situations, if a Liberal Coalition government is elected in November.
Currently, when police respond to a family violence call, they only have power to issue a family violence safety notice which provides immediate, but temporary, protection while the victim waits for a court to issue a more permanent intervention order.
The proposed changes would allow police at the rank of Senior Constable or above, with more than four years of experience, to issue an indefinite family violence safety notice when they are called to a dispute.
The effect would be the same as a court-ordered intervention order.
The matter would only go to court if one of the parties wanted to challenge the order.
“It’s about making the system less traumatic for victims of crime and giving police the powers they need to serve these notices for longer periods of time,” said the Opposition’s police spokesman, Edward O’Donohue.
However, several domestic violence groups have expressed concerns about the plan.
Joanna Fletcher, the chief executive officer of the Women’s Legal Service Victoria, said police weren’t ready to take on the power.
Commissioner Ashton has previously said family violence was the largest single issue police deal with — taking up a staggering 40 per cent of police work.
Mr Ashton said in the vast majority of cases, intervention orders aren’t contested in court, and victims would be better served not being required to attend court.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-16/victorian-opposition-backs-calls-spot-intervention-order/10253228
