Tonje Gjevjon: Today, many would consider me a girl “born in the wrong body” — KIRJO

The LGBTQ+ movement around the world is pushing women’s needs aside to make way for men’s demands: the demand for surrogacy, the demand to legitimize the right to buy sex from prostituted women, and the demand that men who identify as women be allowed to enter all women’s spaces.

What once started as a fight for justice for lesbians and gay men has become a movement that erases same-sex attraction as a sexual orientation. The few lesbians who dare state that being lesbian is a sexual orientation based on sex, not gender identity, are accused of being exclusionary, hateful, prejudiced, and of making the lives of men who identify as women difficult.

But lesbian teens are, as other teens, looking for a sense of belonging — a group that they can relate to. We have clubs for people who collect stamps, saunas for gay men, but no clubs for lesbians.

The increase in the number of young girls who want to be boys is alarming. At the same time, there has been an increase in teenage girls suffering from mental health issues.

I’m a lesbian tomboy who grew up in an age where the concept of being “born in the wrong body” didn’t exist. If I were a child today, I wouldn’t have stood a chance against trans activism. I can’t bear to think what might have happened if I had been assessed at The Karolinska University Hospital, which hosts Sweden’s largest gender identity clinic, or the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

Source: Tonje Gjevjon: Today, many would consider me a girl “born in the wrong body” — KIRJO

Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier review: A thought-provoking book about gender dysphoria | Daily Mail Online

Changing sex used to be vanishingly rare, and then suddenly it wasn’t. Over the past decade, there has been a 1,000 per cent increase in gender dysphoria among American adolescents.

The picture that emerges is something much more complex than the familiar narrative of ‘born in the wrong body’. None of these girls appeared to be trans until their teenage years. Some are lesbians – but as one young woman explains to Shrier, being a lesbian is ‘just not very cool… it’s a porn category’, whereas being trans is celebrated. Others have eating disorders or issues with self-harm: for them, taking male hormones and having surgery to remove their breasts seems like another way to attack the body.

Shrier argues that this is being driven by social contagion. Trans identification spreads through schools, through friendship groups, through ‘influencer’ videos that offer a rose-tinted take on transition. But the medical pathway is not something to be taken lightly. Hormone treatments lead to lifelong infertility alongside other health problems. What’s euphemistically called ‘top surgery’ is actually an elective double mastectomy, while ‘bottom surgery’ to masculinise genitals is rarely undertaken and subject to heinous complications.

Source: Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier review: A thought-provoking book about gender dysphoria | Daily Mail Online

Correction: Transgender Surgery Provides No Mental Health Benefit – Public Discourse

The American Journal of Psychiatry has issued a major correction to a recent study. The Bränström study reanalysis demonstrated that neither “gender-affirming hormone treatment” nor “gender-affirming surgery” reduced the need of transgender-identifying people for mental health services. Fad medicine is bad medicine, and gender-anxious people deserve better.

A major correction has been issued by the American Journal of Psychiatry. The authors and editors of an October 2019 study, titled “Reduction in mental health treatment utilization among transgender individuals after gender-affirming surgeries: a total population study,” have retracted its primary conclusion. Letters to the editor by twelve authors, including ourselves, led to a reanalysis of the data and a corrected conclusion stating that in fact the data showed no improvement after surgical treatment.

Source: Correction: Transgender Surgery Provides No Mental Health Benefit – Public Discourse

Law reform could welcome specialist courts, end to jury in sexual harm trials – Lawyers Weekly

Victoria’s Law Reform Commission has posed a number of questions to the profession on whether the courts should be updated to better manage sexual harm offences.

The New Zealand law commission found there was some value in giving the decision-making function to a professional body rather than a jury and recommended including the model as part of the specialist sexual offences court in future.

The Victorian commission’s research revealed two areas of concern around jurors that sit on sexual offence trials. For one thing, often jurors will bring their own attitudes into the courtroom, including common misconceptions around sexual harm. Some studies suggested that jurors are more influenced by their own attitudes over the evidence.

“Another concern is that the presence of a jury may be harmful for complainants,” said the commission, adding: “It can be difficult to give evidence in front of a group of people and especially in small communities where complainants and jurors might cross paths. The need to persuade a jury may also lead to more intense questioning than needed.”

Source: Law reform could welcome specialist courts, end to jury in sexual harm trials – Lawyers Weekly

Escaping Family Violence – how the justice system is failing Aboriginal women Precedent

Interview with Charmaigne Weldon

My own experiences of domestic and family violence have given me a profound insight into how the direct harm of this violence can be compounded by later interventions, such as the removal of children from their communities. . . .

While many within government agencies may believe that sharing information about clients at risk may help to prevent domestic and family violence, this poses its own risks. In order to gain the trust of Aboriginal women and their families, maintaining and communicating respect for privacy are of fundamental importance. Without that trust, many domestic and family violence offences will go unreported. It is essential too that a WDVCAS operates as an autonomous women’s service of high integrity and not just as a handmaid to the police and other government agencies.  . . .

High ethical standards, an understanding of our history, and sensitivity to our cultural protocols are profoundly important when working with Aboriginal women and gaining their trust; as is an awareness of their experience of repeated betrayals by white authorities. Closing the gap will first require breaking down problematic attitudes that currently discourage our women from engaging with services that could otherwise support positive changes in their family lives. . . .

As the recent protests have made clear, it is time the Australian Government explored other criminal justice models, such as the women’s police stations in South America and the less punitive Scandinavian prison systems which focus on restorative justice, for alternatives which do not destroy Aboriginal communities. To win the trust of Aboriginal women, services must acknowledge the wrongs of the past and show a commitment not to repeat them.

Source: PR_159_Weldon_Kerr.pdf

Whitlam’s women’s adviser Elizabeth Reid details unwelcome advance from governor-general Sir John Kerr – ABC News

A pioneering feminist trying to change things from the inside, Elizabeth Reid was subjected to the very behaviour she was fighting against — including an unwanted sexual advance from the governor-general.

Source: Whitlam’s women’s adviser Elizabeth Reid details unwelcome advance from governor-general Sir John Kerr – ABC News

Police Transgender ‘Equalities Officer’ Charged with Explosives and Weapons Offenses

UK — Lincoln, England. On October 4, 2020, police raided the home of Zoe Watts (formerly Kyle Ashley Jake Watts), equalities officer for Lincolnshire Police UNISON, and former police community support officer (PCSO) with the Bracebridge Lowfields Community Police.
The arrest marks the second time in two years that a transgender equalities officer has been taken into custody on weapons charges.
Watts has a YouTube channel called Survival Mistakes, which include videos giving such tips as how to create shotgun shell survival kits and tampon fire rockets. In one video, Watts makes a baseball bat covered in glass, to smash watermelons with masks of famous faces on them, including feminist scholar Germaine Greer (author of The Female Eunuch).

Source: Police Transgender ‘Equalities Officer’ Charged with Explosives and Weapons Offenses | Women Are Human

Trans-identifying children can’t consent to puberty blockers, lawyers argue, in landmark UK case against Tavistock clinic — RT UK News

Children can’t fully understand the lifelong repercussions of taking hormone blockers at an early age and thus can’t consent to the treatment, the lawyer for two women suing the UK’s only NHS-run youth gender clinic has claimed.

Transitioning youth who take hormone blockers have a “very high likelihood” of moving on to cross-sex hormones, which can cause “irreversible changes” such as “loss of fertility and sexual function, and decreased bone density,” Jeremy Hyam QC told the High Court on Wednesday, arguing that young people who begin the treatment are incapable of fully understanding the permanent damage they are doing to their bodies and thus cannot truly give “informed consent.”

With the number of children identifying as transgender having soared over the past decade, this case could have major repercussions for the growth industry of youth gender clinics. Earlier this year, the NHS announced an independent review of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and has since commissioned detailed clinical guidelines for how children are to be evaluated prior to transitioning.

Source: Trans-identifying children can’t consent to puberty blockers, lawyers argue, in landmark UK case against Tavistock clinic — RT UK News

Transgender women in rugby union: Mixed reaction to World Rugby decision – BBC Sport

World Rugby’s decision to prevent transgender women from competing at the highest levels of the women’s game has provoked a mixed reaction.

The move has been criticised by LGBT charity Stonewall, while some women’s rights and gay rights campaigners have welcomed the decision.

Bev Jackson, co-founder of the LGB Alliance, said the organisation “applauds World Rugby for conducting a thorough, evidence-based study and making a decision on that basis to protect safety in women’s rugby. We are very pleased that they resisted political pressure and kept to scientific facts. Many lesbians play this sport and they are enormously relieved.”She added that “judging by the reactions we have received, a great many LGB people and indeed many trans people think this was the right decision”.Dr Nicola Williams, director of Fair Play For Women, said: “World Rugby have taken a transparent and evidence-based approach and we welcome their decision to prioritise safety and fairness for elite female players.

Source: Transgender women in rugby union: Mixed reaction to World Rugby decision – BBC Sport