Category: Violence

Chimps and Humans Are Genetically Prone to War, Study Says – Science & Health – Haaretz.com

Of all species in the world, humans and chimpanzees are among the few to coordinate attacks on their own kind.

[A] collaboration of South Korean and American scientists shows, in a new paper published in PLOS Genetics Thursday, that war is in our genes – humans and chimps. Not in other apes. Apparently it’s no coincidence that the chimp is our closest relative: we share about 99 percent of our DNA.

Macaques, for example, and some bonobos – a subspecies of chimp deeply devoted to peaceful sex – lack these genetic variants.

Source: Chimps and Humans Are Genetically Prone to War, New Study Says – Science & Health – Haaretz.com

UK: Serial Offender Appears In Court as Both Man AND Woman on Same Day – Reduxx

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In what is said to be the first case of its kind, a man in Scotland appeared in court to have public order complaints he committed under two different gender identities and names heard on the same day.

Alan Morgan, 50, was sentenced to a 3-month restriction of liberty order in relation to four different public order complaints. In two of those complaints, he was designated as a man under his birth name, and for the other two, he was designated a woman under the name “Alannah.”

During a hearing over the March flashing incident which took place earlier this year, Morgan’s solicitor had argued that the exposure was “not a sexual act” but “a demonstration” during an “argument over gender.”

In most news reports on Morgan’s crimes, he was referred to by both masculine and feminine pronouns, alternating depending on whether the offenses being described were committed under his male or female personas.

“In the article this person is referred to as ‘he’ and ‘she’ if this doesn’t highlight the absolute batshit-craziness of this, I dunno what does,” Nellie Munro wrote in response to the Scottish Sun‘s article.

Other users took issue with the court’s sentencing, finding it too lenient for the laundry list of offenses Morgan had committed.

Source: UK: Serial Offender Appears In Court as Both Man AND Woman on Same Day – Reduxx

Female prison guards balk at processing transgender inmate – Portugal Resident

Prisoner ‘identifies as woman’ but still has penis

Female prison guards at Tires women’s prison found themselves in an impossible position: they were expected to body-search a new inmate who, in spite of having male sex organs, identifies as a woman.

The issue saw the prisoner ‘kept waiting for around an hour in the corridors of the jail until two female guards were persuaded to carry out the body-search “under protest”, writes Jornal de Notícias.

This particular prisoner, named as Tânia Ferrinho, is suspected of the attempted murder of her septuagenarian parents who sustained multiple stab wounds in a reportedly frenzied attack that saw them rushed to hospital.

Source: Female prison guards balk at processing transgender inmate – Portugal Resident

Men in women’s prisons is a human rights violation | The Spectator Australia| Stassja Frei

On Sunday September 11, I – and around 30 other Victorian women – gathered on Parliament steps in Melbourne to protest one of the most abhorrent consequences of Victoria’s transgender laws: the housing of violent male sex offenders in women’s prisons.

A trans-identified male attacked a woman in broad daylight in the inner-city suburb of Richmond, demanding that she ‘lie down and have sex’ with him. He put his hands down her pants, attempting to remove the woman’s jeans, but she was able to fight him off as passersby came to her aid. When confronted, the perpetrator said, ‘I didn’t do anything, it was her fault.’

I will not use female pronouns for this man.

This male predator is currently housed in the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre – a women’s correctional facility in Deer Park. Understandably, the female inmates are terrified. They have petitioned the Minister for Corrections, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Corrections Victoria, and the Ombudsman to have the man transferred to a men’s prison, to no avail.

In another example of how dangerous trans and gender-diverse inclusion policies are for women, the inevitable has already happened. A trans-identified male sexually assaulted a woman at Tarrengower women’s prison in Maldon, Victoria. The only mention of this incident in mainstream media was in two paragraphs at the end of an article by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. The article was largely devoted to championing research produced by La Trobe University in conjunction with Transgender Victoria, which focused on transgender people as suffering ‘intense sexual violence’ in the criminal justice system.

If you feel you’ve just stumbled into a dystopian nightmare, you’re not alone.

Source: Men in women’s prisons is a human rights violation | The Spectator Australia

Trans activist will finally stand trial for 2016 murder of lesbians and their son next week | Daily Mail Online

A transgender rights advocate will finally stand trial next week for murdering a lesbian couple and their 19 year-old son in 2016, after campaigning against a lesbian festival the victims attended.

  • Dana Rivers, 67, will finally appear in court on Monday after she allegedly murdered a couple and their son in their California home on November 11, 2016
  • Charlotte Reed, 56, and her wife Patricia Wright, 57, were found stabbed and shot multiple times in their Oakland home along with Benny Diambu-Wright, 19
  • Officials have delayed Rivers’ hearing for years while awaiting a doctor’s report that will assess the mental state of the suspect at the time the crimes occurred 
  • Police arrived at the scene in 2016 right after midnight when they received calls of gunshots in the neighborhood and found Rivers drenched in blood 
  • No motive has been shared, but an advocate for the victims say they attended a women-only lesbian festival which banned trans attendees – to Rivers’ fury  

Rivers is a US Navy Veteran and former award-winning teacher when she (sic) went by the name David Warfield in the 1990s.

Source: Trans activist will finally stand trial for 2016 murder of lesbians and their son next week | Daily Mail Online

Women-led protests in Iran gather momentum – but will they be enough to bring about change?

A powerful protest movement has taken hold in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini. It may affect change, but it is up against a ruthless regime that will not easily relinquish control.

[W]hat can, and should, the outside world do about extraordinarily brave demonstrations against an ageing and ruthless regime that has shown itself to be unwilling, and possibly unable, to allow greater freedoms?

The symbolic issue for Iran’s protest movement is a requirement, imposed by morality police, that women and girls wear the hijab, or headscarf. In reality, these protests are the result of a much wider revolt against discrimination and prejudice.

Put simply, women are fed up with a regime that has sought to impose rigid rules on what is, and is not, permissible for women in a theocratic society whose guidelines are little changed since the overthrow of the Shah in 1979.

Women are serving multi-year jail sentences for simply refusing to wear the hijab.

However, amid the spectacle of women and girls being shot and tear-gassed on Iranian streets, the moral dilemma for the outside world is this: how far the West is prepared to go in its backing for the protesters.

Source: Women-led protests in Iran gather momentum – but will they be enough to bring about change?

Victoria redress scheme for children abused in institutional care announced

Vulnerable children who were abused in institutional care will be compensated for their trauma after the Victorian government announced a long-awaited redress scheme on Wednesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the government would also deliver a formal apology to people who were placed in orphanages, children’s homes and missions and experienced physical, psychological and emotional abuse or neglect.

The government said it would invest $2.9 million to co-design the scheme alongside people with lived experience. It would run for five years, with urgent hardship payments of up to $10,000 for care leavers in exceptional circumstances available from early next year. The final cost of the scheme is unclear.

It will build on the national redress scheme available to abuse survivors, which was created after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Source: Victoria redress scheme for children abused in institutional care announced

Nottingham council apologises to Julie Bindel for unlawfully cancelling talk | Violence against women and girls | The Guardian

A city council has apologised to veteran feminist and lesbian activist Julie Bindel after cancelling a talk because of “the speaker’s views on transgender rights”.

Bindel has been accused of transphobia because she says she does not believe trans women can legitimately say they are a woman. At the time, she said she had no plan to talk about transgender issues.

“I was going up to speak about feminism, about violence against women,” she said. “I was invited by a group of community activists who are trying to keep the library open.”

In a post on her Substack blog discussing the recent development by the council, Bindel said: “I consider it to be deeply offensive and problematic for public bodies to decide that I am too controversial and even dangerous for women to listen to when I am talking about campaigning to end rape and domestic abuse.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Nottingham city council has agreed that, if Nottingham Women for Change seeks to make a booking at any Nottingham city council venue by way of a fully completed booking form, the council will make a fresh decision in response to such request upon a lawful basis.”

Source: Nottingham council apologises to Julie Bindel for unlawfully cancelling talk | Violence against women and girls | The Guardian

‘Women. Life. Freedom’: Schoolgirls of Iran take to the streets protesting 

As demonstrations in Iran enter a third week, schoolgirls have taken to the streets, removing their headscarves and chanting “death to the dictator” as they trampled on the photos of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — the two supreme leaders who have ruled the country since the 1979 revolution.

On Monday, footage posted on social media showed female students in the conservative city of Mashhad writing anti-regime slogans on blackboards, taking their hijabs off and marching onto public streets, shouting “shame on you.”

Similar demonstrations occurred in Karaj, and in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, where girls protested without their hijabs, yelling “Women. Life. Freedom.”

[P]ublic fury has only exacerbated since the discovery of the body of missing 17-year-old girl Nika Shahkarami, who vanished last month during the protests in Tehran. Her body was found lying on a street, with head and facial wounds.

In the southern city of Shiraz, female students blocked traffic on a main road while shouting  “death to the dictator” and waving their headscarves in the air.

In another video from Karaj, girls are seen shouting, “If we don’t unite, they will kill us one by one.”

Source: ‘Women. Life. Freedom’: Schoolgirls of Iran take to the streets protesting 

Police investigate apparent online threat to ‘burn’ venue hosting a feminist conference in Cardiff – Wales Online

Police are investigating an online threat made against a feminist conference set to be held in Cardiff. The FiLiA Women’s Rights Conference will arrive in the capital from October 22 until October 24 and claims to be the largest annual grassroots feminist conference in Europe.

Screenshots were widely circulated on social media of a conversation between two Twitter users, with one asking: “Is it in a building that would be a loss if it burnt down?” Both users’ accounts have since been set to private mode.

The people making the alleged thread used the derogatory term “Terf” to describe the feminist group. Terf means “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”.

In a statement in July, the trustees said: “FiLiA is a women-led volunteer organisation which seeks to build sisterhood and solidarity, amplify the voices of women and defend women’s human rights. We organise the largest annual grassroots feminist conference in Europe, bringing together women from around the world who organise and campaign on a wide range of issues.

“FiLiA supports sex-based rights. There exist some situations in which women need access to female-only spaces: in refuges, in recovery from male violence, in shared accommodation, sports, and of course in the right of our lesbian sisters to determine their own sexual orientation. Our stance on this reflects the current state of the law.

The event is set to feature speakers including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was reunited with her family in March following several years in an Iranian prison.

Source: Police investigate apparent online threat to ‘burn’ venue hosting a feminist conference in Cardiff – Wales Online