Category: Uncategorized

Source: No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care – First, do no harm….

The fashion for transgenderism has brought with it a new euphemism: “gender-affirming care,” which means surgical and pharmacological interventions designed to make the body look and feel more like that of the opposite sex. Gender-affirming care for children involves the use of “puberty blockers”: one of five powerful synthetic drugs that block the natural production of sex hormones.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved those medications to treat prostate cancer, endometriosis, certain types of infertility and a rare childhood disease caused by a genetic mutation. But it has never approved them for gender dysphoria, the clinical term for the belief that one’s body is the wrong sex.

Thus the drugs, led by AbbVie’s Lupron, are prescribed to minors “off label.” (They are also used off-label for chemical castration of repeat sex offenders.) Off-label dispensing is legal; some half of all prescriptions in the U.S. are for off-label uses. But off-label use circumvents the FDA’s authority to examine drug safety and efficacy, especially when the patients are children. Some U.S. states have eliminated the need for parental consent for teens as young as 15 to start puberty blockers.

The lack of research demonstrating that benefits outweigh the risks has resulted in some noteworthy pushback in the U.S. and abroad. Republican legislatures in a dozen states have curtailed or banned gender-affirming care for minors. Finland, citing concerns about side effects, in 2020 cut back puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. Sweden followed suit in 2022 and Norway this year. Britain’s National Health Service shuttered the country’s largest youth gender clinic after 35 clinicians resigned over three years, complaining they were pressured to overdiagnose gay, mentally ill, and autistic teens and prescribe medications that made their conditions worse.

Source: The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers’ – WSJ

Inga Thompson is a three times Olympic cyclist, a three-times world medal winner, and she has finished on the Tour De France Podium twice. Clearly, she knows a thing or two about what it means to compete as a woman in sports. Her experience of success is so precious to women’s teams now that she has retired from competitive cycling. This year she was given a board role on the newly-established Cynisca Cycling team, formed in conjunction with USA Cycling ahead of the 2023 season.

She endured a rough ride this week as the team at Cynisca behaved in a shocking way towards her for expressing her political views.

Chris Gutowsky, the founder and general manager, distributed the following statement:

Ms. Thompson was invited to the board because of her impressive palmarés and a wealth of knowledge on international race strategy, tactics and training. If shared in the absence of politics, her knowledge and experience would benefit many and advance cycling for everyone. However, she has decided to dedicate her time to excluding people that are otherwise currently eligible to compete in UCI events. She has also attempted to use our team as a platform for her political activity.

It is quite extraordinary of Gutowsky to state that Inga would be valuable if she could keep her mouth shut about her beliefs.

Nothing could send a surer signal to young female cyclists than the treatment of Inga Thompson. If you object to men in your cycle races, then you will have your reputation dragged through the dirt of the cycling media.

Thompson is one of that rare breed of women who is willing to stand up for other women even at great personal cost. She is withstanding the abuse she receives for her views and keeping her eyes on the future for young female cyclists. She is braver than Chris Gutowsky in representing their needs and rights. I hope that whilst those vulnerable young female athletes see the backlash she has faced, they also see that if they don’t stand with her, they will lose the right to fair competition.

Source: Inga Thompson and the cost of saying no | Jean Hatchet | The Critic Magazine

AM and News Online: On April 4, stories covering the National Press Club speech by Trans activist and actor Georgie Stone stated puberty blockers were “completely reversible”.  When the medication is ceased puberty resumes, some other long-term effects are currently unclear.

Source: Puberty Blockers – ABC News

The south-eastern council’s meeting in Glen Waverley was derailed last week when almost 200 people attended, many protesting against its sold-out drag queen event planned for children and parents at Oakleigh Library on May 19.

A police spokeswoman did not comment on the force’s concerns for the drag event but said the decision to scrap it was ultimately made by the council after a risk assessment was conducted.

Source: Monash City Council cancels drag queen story time as neo-Nazis join protest

We never imagined we would need to fight for the right to call ourselves women, writes Gemma Tognini.

In 2023 we aren’t fighting for the right to stay at work after starting a family, to get a home loan in our own right, or to be seen as individuals rather than chattels or appendages of a husband or father.

We are defending terms such as mother, wife, breastfeeding, womanhood; for those terms to be acknowledged, accepted and not challenged.

[A]s an adult female human, there’s a quiet rage within me when people discount these terms as meaningless or try to write them off as functional rather than deeply rooted in who we are.

I’ve watched the Moira Deeming mess play out at a distance. I don’t know her. I’m not interested in buying into the conflict. I believe every person – gay, straight, trans, whatever – is worthy of love and respect, the right to live a life in peace, and to afford each other mutual respect. That last part, especially – mutual respect.

I am not invested beyond the fact I found myself asking: why is a woman being told not to speak about matters important to a group of Australian women, a group of women that is demonstrably a powerful cross-section of ages, faiths, sexualities and political persuasions?

And why was one woman made the lightning rod for the fact a rally was gatecrashed by a bunch of people whose intent was to turn the thing on its head? What then transpired, whether you believe Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto was right or wrong, was just another bloke telling a woman to sit down and shut up.

Source: Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps

There is an adage that feminists and women aren’t funny. However, the history of activism reveals humour as a successful strategy for change.

Here are four great contemporary feminist pranks that demonstrate the power of humour for advocacy.

1. A chain reaction

On March 31 1965, feminist activists Rosalie Bogner and Merle Thornton walked into Brisbane’s Regatta hotel, chaining themselves to the foot rail of the front bar.

They were protesting the exclusion of women from Queensland public bars.

The police were called, smashed the padlock, and told them to leave. They refused.

After some bemused and sympathetic men gave them glasses of beer, the officer gave up, telling the women to have “a good time” and “don’t drink too much”.

They inspired women nationally to do the same. Laws had changed across Australia by the early 1970s.

According to historian Kay Saunders, it was the “beginning of second-wave feminism” in Australia.

2. Guerrilla Girls

In 1985, the New York activist group Guerrilla Girls began their quest to counter the art world’s sexism, racism and inequality. They used gorilla masks to remain anonymous and emphasise that the message was paramount, not the activist.

Guerrilla Girls famously erected posters and placed stickers protesting the lack of women in art galleries, asking “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?”

3. Switcheroo

In 1993 the Barbie Liberation Organization undertook a Christmas prank, swapping the voice boxes of 50 Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls.

G.I. Joe now said “I love to shop with you” or “Let’s plan our dream wedding”. Barbie hollered “Dead men tell no lies” or “Attack!”.

4. Sausage fest!

At the 2016 Australian Film Institute’s premier event, the AACTA Awards, protesters from Women in Film and Television NSW blocked the red carpet dressed as sausages and chanting “end the sausage party”.

Only 20% of Australian-funded feature films have a female director. AACTA does not fund films and it is therefore the broader industry that urgently needs to lift female participation.

Recognition across society has come from a long line of feminist pranksters. But slow progress means there is still a long way to go to achieve equality and equity.

Source: Protest is dangerous, but feminists have a long history of using humour, pranks and stunts to promote their message

Genspect’s first ever conference in Kerry Ireland. Get your ticket today!

Source: Genspect Goes for “The Bigger Picture” – Genspect

When you lose something irreplaceable, money will not fix it. Time cannot be given back, tears cannot be unshed, suffering cannot be undone, pain cannot be erased.

I took hormones and got a bilateral mastectomy in attempt to meet a skewed perception of what a man was and a woman wasn’t. I bought into so many bullshit ideas uncritically.

I had a skewed perception that the traits and values I had were “masculine” not “feminine” so I must be a man. No, I just lacked a motherly figure and my way of expressing that motherliness is through responsibility, caring, leadership. I want to protect others, help others, defend others from harm because I lacked that as a child, as a teen, as a young adult and still even now, as a grown woman.

I will never be the same from flooding my endocrine system with testosterone. So I want you to remember that analogy, when someone says it’s reversible or that you “can just get new tits”. Not everything in this world is replaceable. Just because men think they can replace women, or you can have surgery to replace or remove body parts you are unhappy with – is not true. As a woman who transitioned and self IDed as a man for a decade, I can’t replace what I’ve lost now I’ve realised my mistake.

Source: The reality of being detrans – Medusa’s Lair