Anti-abortion arguments are increasingly secular, but remain unconvincing and misogynistic

Any ideology that grants embryonic or fetal “right to life” is dangerous for women and girls.

The more I think about this secular pro-life argument, the more it strikes me as not merely misogynistic, but also deeply nihilistic and life-hating. Can the Georgia legislature think of no relevant differences between an embryo and a mother that might give the latter more value? If “the full value” of a human life is imparted by mere presence of a heartbeat, Georgia is saying that a person’s relationships, thoughts, emotions, and perceptions are worth nothing in comparison.

Any ideology that grants embryonic or fetal “right to life” is dangerous for women and girls. Abortion restrictions kill women. They compel women to stay in violent and dangerous relationships.

Pro-lifers have always told us that pro-choice feminists do not respect the “sanctity of human life.” In reality, we are the ones in this debate who know what makes human lives meaningful and valuable. As we continue the fight for women’s reproductive rights, we must be clear: abortions are not merely permissible. They are not an evil act we must grudgingly tolerate. Rather, abortion is a moral and responsible act that we must defend as an essential aspect of women’s rights.

Source: Anti-abortion arguments are increasingly secular, but remain unconvincing and misogynistic

Margaret Beazley, NSW Governor: Don’t let anything defeat you:

“Don’t let anything defeat you.”

These were words of advice Her Excellency Governor of NSW Margaret Beazley AO QC shared earlier this month in an inspiring speech to an audience of students, parents and the broader Rosewood school community including principal Ms Elizabeth Stone & Governor Lucy Brogden.

Leading by example, with a distinguished legal career, including as the first woman to be appointed as the President of the NSW Court of Appeal, Her Excellency Margaret Beazley spoke eloquently and modestly.

Source: Margaret Beazley, NSW Governor: Don’t let anything defeat you:

Female scientists start a database to showcase their work. Over 9,000 women join them

If young girls can be what they see in the world, then prepare for a new generation of female scientists. The visibility of women in science today is increasing thanks to the work of, yes, female scientists who grew tired of watching “manels” (male-only panels) at conferences and seeing only male scientists

Source: Female scientists start a database to showcase their work. Over 9,000 women join them

The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren’t – Features

Today, the standard of care has changed. According to guidelines issued by the World Professional Association for Trans Health, health-care providers should ask for a letter from a therapist before medical intervention, but therapists themselves aren’t required to see clients for any particular length of time. Some doctors don’t require a letter at all. “There has been a lot of anger in the past about gatekeeping,” Kaplan said. “So I think clinicians lean toward wanting to help people transition.”

And this, Jackie thinks, is part of the problem.

“I didn’t really feel like I could talk to my counselors about detransitioning in the way that I wanted,” she said, “because they have specific political views, and I felt like if I said I had these criticisms of the whole concept of transitioning, they would have thought I was being brainwashed by transphobic bigots or whatever.”

Instead of talking to therapists, Jackie found a community online. She’s now a moderator of Detransition Info, an online resource for people to ask questions and share their experiences.

Jackie and other detrans people I spoke to said their online community is in the hundreds, but no one knows precisely what percentage of the population has detransitioned. It’s not even clear how many people are transgender. The United States Census Bureau doesn’t collect data on gender identity (or sexual orientation), but a 2016 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law estimates that there are 1.4 million trans adults in the United States, or about 0.6 percent of the adult population. That’s double previous estimates.

Source: The Detransitioners: They Were Transgender, Until They Weren’t – Features – The Stranger

Child support: ‘When we interview women, they cry and cry and cry’

The Child Support Agency was established in 1988 in the wake of Bob Hawke’s declaration that “no child shall live in poverty”. Initially the Australian Tax Office collected and enforced payments, before the scheme was handed over to the Department of Social Services and the Department of Human Services – which complainants can find themselves bouncing between.

Kay Cook, associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Swinburne University, says: “The tax office never wanted to deal with child support. It viewed its role as collecting income, not dispersing private income. That’s sort of the problem that child support has always had, that it’s private money being transferred, rather than public money.”

Cook’s research includes analysis of child support systems in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. “In Australia we’re really cheeky in that single parents’ family tax benefits are typically calculated on how much child support they expect a parent to receive, not so much on how much they actually receive,” she says. “The government gets the savings of reducing family tax benefits so there is no incentive to the government to collect child support because if anything it costs them money.”

There’s also little or no will, she says, to solve the problem generally.

“It feels as though Australians are encouraged to look at me as somehow defective and deserving of suffering because I don’t have a male patron,” Amanda says. “And it’s at my former patron’s discretion as to whether or not me and his child are worthy of being supported.”

Source: Child support: ‘When we interview women, they cry and cry and cry’ | Australia news | The Guardian

Opinion: Buyers of sex are getting more violent, increasingly influenced by what they see in porn

There is a whole generation of violent porn-watchers and they are seeking more and more extreme things from the women in prostitution, writes a Ruhama caseworker.

Source: Opinion: Buyers of sex are getting more violent, increasingly influenced by what they see in porn

South Korean Women ‘Escape The Corset’ And Reject Their Country’s Beauty Ideals

Amid intense social pressure to conform, a photographer in Seoul aims “to destroy the socially defined idea of a woman.” Women in her photos wear short hair and no makeup.

Source: South Korean Women ‘Escape The Corset’ And Reject Their Country’s Beauty Ideals : NPR

Dozens of paedophiles allowed to work with CHILDREN after winning appeals in Victoria

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ruled in favour of more than 12 paedophiles, rapists and sex offenders in the last five years, allowing them to work with children.

A man who was groomed and abused by one of the paedophiles told the ABC allowing the man to work with children was a huge risk.

‘He shouldn’t be allowed to have a working with children permit, simply because he’s been convicted of paedophilia,’ he said.

‘It’s like putting the kid in the candy store and walking out and all the jars are open.’

Child protection organisation Bravehearts’ founder Hetty Johnson slammed the VCAT decisions, and said paedophiles should never be able to work with children.

Source: Dozens of paedophiles allowed to work with CHILDREN after winning appeals in Victoria | Daily Mail Online

Family law reform needs to move forward

Debates about reform to Australia’s family law system ebb and flow but are never far from public prominence for long, writes Nicole Rich.

There are several pressing areas for change, but most important is surely how the system responds to family violence. While state jurisdictions have pressed ahead with reforms following processes such as the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence and the Queensland Not Now, Not Ever report, our national family law system governed by the Commonwealth has responded more slowly to growing community demand to address this scourge.

For parents who end up in the courts to resolve their parenting issues, 85 per cent report a history of emotional abuse and more than half report physical hurt from their former partner. Working in legal aid, we see this, too, with most of our family law cases involving family violence.

The flagship recommendation in the commission’s report is to consider scrapping our national family law courts altogether and working with the states and territories to merge family law into the state courts that already deal with family violence and child protection.

But, if adopted, this recommendation will take years to progress, and on its own won’t make the system safer or fairer, so quicker solutions are needed.

Source: Family law reform needs to move forward – Lawyers Weekly