Tag Archives: Harms to Women

Sign Petition to Make Sinister Wisdom an all Female, Lesbian-Feminist Journal Once Again

By Jeanne F. Neath

XX Lesbian Activists (XXLA), a new activist group, has started a campaign to return the journal, Sinister Wisdom, to its all female, Lesbian-Feminist, revolutionary roots. The group, of which I am a member, has a petition we encourage you to sign at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Sinister Wisdom now male If you are incensed at the takeover of women’s and Lesbian spaces by males claiming to be women, take action by signing this petition. Sinister Wisdom’s recent issue #128 on “Trans/Feminisms” features male (“transgender”) contributors, and includes “written and visual images of dismemberment, penises, graphic male sex acts, objectification of women’s bodies, and derision of radical feminists.” (from the quote by JW in the petition) The XXLA petition pressures Sinister Wisdom to return the journal to an all female, Lesbian-Feminist publication.

In addition to signing the petition, XX Lesbian Activists encourages everyone to send a copy of XXLA’s open letter, or their own protest emails, to Sinister Wisdom (julie@sinisterwisdom.org). Let’s see a deluge of emails begin to hit Sinister Wisdom’s inbox on August 26th (in commemoration of the US Women’s Suffrage movement’s victory day). The email campaign will continue until Sinister Wisdom is once again an all female, Lesbian journal. For more information on XX Lesbian Activists’ campaigns or to get a copy of the open letter, you can contact xxlesbianactivists@xxamazons.org.

The petition is printed below. Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Return Sinister Wisdom to its All Female, Lesbian-Feminist, Revolutionary Roots

To the Board of Directors of Sinister Wisdom:

We are Lesbians and Feminists who need Sinister Wisdom to become a Lesbian-Feminist journal again. Sinister Wisdom used to provide us with Lesbian-Feminist writings and artwork that helped us to survive in a world that is hard on Lesbians. Sinister Wisdom did far more than that.

Sinister Wisdom began publication in July of 1976, started by two Lesbian separatists who were part of the revolution in Lesbian and female consciousness of the times. For us, Sinister Wisdom became our cauldron where Lesbian-Feminist thought was rising up and spilling over, creating a world beyond the confines of patriarchy.

Now we are being erased as Lesbians, even by the board of directors of Sinister Wisdom. Our worldview is being denied and decimated. We are isolated and hurting since Sinister Wisdom has abandoned us.

What happened? Earlier this year the Lesbian journal, Sinister Wisdom, published its issue #128 dedicated to “exploring and celebrating transness.”

With Sinister Wisdom’s “Trans/Feminisms” issue #128, we have a complete reversal in which males and male visions dominate in a new twist on the old story of patriarchy.

The result. Lesbians, young and old, seeking that revolutionary Lesbian and female consciousness have had stolen from us a critical link in our web of resistance. We want our Lesbian journal back.

Here are comments from a few Lesbians:

“Sinister Wisdom grew from the grassroots of Lesbian-Feminist outrage! Our words fueled our Lesbian-Feminist energies. Stealing our cultural institutions like Sinister Wisdom from women in the name of including ‘male lesbians’ is a cruel joke aimed to destroy our communities. Only women can be Lesbians.” PEM
“Issue #128, ‘Trans/Feminisms,’ was appalling to me with its written and visual images of dismemberment, penises, graphic male sex acts, objectification of women’s bodies, and derision of radical feminists. I found nothing Lesbian in this issue of Sinister Wisdom, which still claims on its cover to be a Lesbian Journal.” JW
“Sinister Wisdom, one of our last Radical Lesbian-Feminist journals, published my name in a slanderous attack on me. This happened in an article by Mr. Susan Stryker in the ‘Trans/Feminisms’ issue. The Sinister Wisdom editor, Julie Enszer, refused to print my response.” Bev Jo
“And that’s why this issue is such an insult to radical Lesbian Feminists. Our space has been diminished if not completely obliterated. Let the trans folks, Feminist or not, have a journal of their own. They can laud the penis as much as they want to. But keep it out of our space!” RG
“Julie’s intro, with its Orwellian tones of revising history—’we have always been trans-friendly’—told me what I would find in the contents. Sadly, I would recommend removing ‘Wisdom’ from the title. ‘Sinister’ says it all.” CW
“I feel such profound sadness that Sinister Wisdom has fallen to the bullying and finances of the men who now say they are women. This once-beloved publication, along with so many others, both publications and organizations, has lost courage in a way that harms all actual woman.” SW
“This issue overflows with deception, falsification, and grotesquery. But the true horror is that its Lesbian supporters don’t (or pretend not to) feel and see a boot to the face of Lesbians.” RMG

Sinister Wisdom a queer journal? Males, male thought, and male violence have no place in a Lesbian journal. Lesbians have always defined Lesbians as females in same sex relationships. Why would Sinister Wisdom embrace queer/trans ideology and define Lesbian to include males?

The explanation. Sinister Wisdom has lost its Lesbian-Feminist focus, and it now centers on a queer and transgender, therefore largely male, worldview.

Labrys energized and reclaimed Before resorting to this petition, we wrote to the editor and the board of directors of Sinister Wisdom requesting that they allow us to edit an issue that would focus on gender-critical and Radical-Feminist creative work. Despite the considerable writing, editing, and artistic skills we offered, Sinister Wisdom refused our request for one, gender-critical issue.

We Call upon the Sinister Wisdom Board of Directors – Julie R. Enszer, Editor (2010 to present); Roberta Arnold; Cheryl Clarke; Sara Gregory; Yeva Johnson; Briona Jones; Shromona Mandal; Joan Nestle; Rose Norman; Mecca Jamilah Sullivan; Yasmin Tambiah; and Red Washburn – to return Sinister Wisdom to its all female, Lesbian-Feminist revolutionary roots.

Respectfully, XX Lesbian Activists

Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Violence: the Primary Tool of Male Domination!

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Since the 1980s we’ve lived on forty acres of lesbian land. I’ve always wanted to post signs declaring it LESBIAN LAND to make clear our boundaries. The threat of male violence prevents me from taking this bold action. My desire is trivial in the larger picture. I mention it as one tiny example of the invisible barrier to action: our fear of male violence.

The threat of male violence surrounds women and girls as a daily reality. Today in the US, books are banned. Assault weapons are not! Mass shootings are regular occurrences we can anticipate as part of daily life. Male shooters are the norm. Male violence is the central tool of dominance.

In 1979 Andrea Dworkin wrote, “Women of supreme strength who have lived in creative opposition to the male cultural values of their day have been written out of history – silenced.”

Today, we are the “women of supreme strength who are living in creative opposition”! Many of the male dominated institutions of patriarchy have joined the march toward the “elimination of female Self-centering reality”, as Mary Daly warned in Gyn/Ecology, 1978. Currently, academia and medicine are leading the march in silencing anyone questioning the idea that men can be women if they so choose. Much of the media and many politicians agree with the new dogma that centers the demands of males. As Susan Unterberg said in 2018, “Men in power support men in power, and they want to see men in power.”

Why is this new, and strictly enforced, dogma useful to patriarchy and to men? Daly again helps us unravel the convoluted reality we are facing.

“Male propagation of the idea that men, too are feminine – particularly through feminine behavior by males – distracts attention from the fact that femininity is a man-made construct, having essentially nothing to do with femaleness.”

Male-defined femaleness is false and is only useful in the scheme of male domination of women and girls.

Who gets to define “woman”? Who gets to decide? We live in an era where “woman” is disputed territory! Respected British Professor Kathleen Stock, who is a lesbian, wrote, “Controversial and difficult ideas need to be tested in the public square, we need to think about them properly and we also need to enable discussion of ideas that seem attractive to people because if you try and shut it down there will be massive public resentment.”

Stock was forced to resign her faculty position in October of 2021 after a barrage of intimidation and threats, and having to live surrounded by body guards. The threats have continued.

However, in March of 2023, Kathleen Stock, Martina Navratilova and Julie Bindel started The Lesbian Project https://www.thelesbianproject.co.uk/ to “highlight and champion the experiences, insights and sensibilities of lesbians in their diversity”. Stock further explained “Lesbians will always exist but we’re in a crisis in which young lesbians don’t want to be associated with the word. Some of them want to describe themselves as queer and some of them prefer not to see themselves as women but as non-binary.”

“Allow women and girls to speak on sex, gender and gender identity without intimidation or fear” UN expert in a recent press release

Did you see headlines or hear news stories three weeks ago when the United Nations documented this reality? The press release (below) clearly describes the hostility, intimidation and violence directed at women and our allies for expressing our own political opinions and views. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/05/allow-women-and-girls-speak-sex-gender-and-gender-identity-without

This valuable report, written in clear language, documents the realities of threats and violence we as gender critical feminists face! Early in the report law enforcement is named, as it at times fails to protect and safeguard our right to assembly and to speak. Read this valuable overview. Share it with friends and family. Our powerful voices must be heard. We understand that to replace biological sex with gender designations will only serve patriarchy.

GENEVA (22 May 2023) – Threats and intimidation against women expressing their opinions on sex and sexual orientation is deeply concerning, said Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls in a statement today.

“In the context of disagreements between some women’s rights activists and transgender activists in a number of countries in the Global North. Alsalem warned that violence against women and intimidation against people for expressing differing views.
Discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation is prohibited in international and regional human rights law.

I am concerned by the shrinking space in several countries in the Global North for women and feminist organisations and their allies to gather and/or express themselves peacefully in demanding respect for their needs based on their sex and/or sexual orientation.

Law enforcement has a crucial role in protecting lawful gatherings of women and ensuring women’s safety and rights to freedom of assembly and speech without intimidation, coercion, or being effectively silenced. It is clear that where law enforcement has failed to provide the necessary safeguards, we have witnessed incidents of verbal and physical abuse, harassment, and intimidation, with the purpose of sabotaging and derailing such events as well as silencing the women who wish to speak at them.

I am disturbed by the frequent tactic of smear campaigns against women, girls and their allies on the basis of their beliefs on non-discrimination based on sex and same-sex relations. Branding them as “Nazis,” “genocidaires” or “extremists” is a means of attack and intimidation with the purpose of deterring women from speaking and expressing their views. Such actions are deeply troubling, as they are intended to instill fear in themshame them into silence, and incite violence and hatred against them. Such acts severely affect the dignified participation of women and girls in society.

I am also concerned by the way in which provisions that criminalise hate speech based on a number of grounds, including gender expression or gender identity, have been interpreted in some countries. Women and girls have a right to discuss any subject free of intimidation and threats of violence. This includes issues that are important to them, particularly if they relate to parts of their innate identity, and on which discrimination is prohibited. Holding and expressing views about the scope of rights in society based on sex and gender identity should not be delegitimised, trivialised, or dismissed.

According to international human rights law, any restriction on freedom of expression should be carried out strictly in accordance with the human rights standards of legality, necessity, proportionality and to serve a legitimate aim. Those disagreeing with the views of women and girls expressing concerns related to gender identity and sex also have a right to express their opinion. However, in doing so they must not threaten the safety and integrity of those they are protesting against and disagreeing with.Sweeping restrictions on the ability of women and men to raise concerns regarding the scope of rights based on gender identity and sex are in violation of the fundamentals of freedom of thought and freedom of belief and expression and amounts to unjustified or blanket censorship.

Of particular concern are the various forms of reprisals against women, including censorship, legal harassment, employment loss, loss of income, removal from social media platforms, speaking engagements, and the refusal to publish research conclusions and articles. In some cases, women politicians are sanctioned by their political parties, including through the threat of dismissal or actual dismissal.”

Reem Alsalem is the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences.

I’m closing with the strong language offered by Andrea Dworkin,

“The public censure of women as if we are rabid because we speak without apology about the world in which we live is a strategy of threat that usually works. Men often react to women’s words – speaking and writing – as if they were acts of violence; sometimes men react to women’s words with violence. So we lower our voices. Women whisper. Women apologize. Women shut up. Women trivialize what we know. Women shrink. Women pull back. Most women have experienced enough dominance from men – control, violence, insult, contempt – that no threat seems empty.” Intercourse (1987)

Let’s brainstorm about how we can share this vital report from the UN–perhaps have a Speakout where we read sections and then have women “testifying”. Just one thought! We can’t let this report get buried. Send it to your local newspaper. We have some power here! And powerful voices!

Sources and further readings:
About the UN report:
The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

More from “Kathleen Stock: Gender-critical academic ‘determined’ to do talk”

Prof Stock rejects the claim her views could be classed as hate speech.
She said: “It’s not hate speech to say that males cannot be women.

“You can believe what you like, and I’m not stopping anybody believing any different, but it’s certainly not hate speech to say that and that’s basically the most controversial thing, I think.”
Prof Stock believes controversial views should be tested in public.
“It’s important younger generations are exposed to ideas they haven’t come across before. Sometimes that will be very challenging to them,” she said.
“Controversial and difficult ideas need to be tested in the public square, we need to think about them properly and we also need to enable discussion of ideas that seem attractive to people because if you try and shut it down there will be massive public resentment.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-65714821

The march of mechanical masculinist progress is toward the elimination of female Self-centering reality.“ – Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology:

Women of supreme strength who have lived in creative opposition to the male cultural values of their day have been written out of history – silenced.“ Andrea Dworkin,
“For Men, Freedom of Speech; For Women, Silence Please” (1979)

The public censure of women as if we are rabid because we speak without apology about the world in which we live is a strategy of threat that usually works. Men often react to women’s words – speaking and writing – as if they were acts of violence; sometimes men react to women’s words with violence. So we lower our voices. Women whisper. Women apologize. Women shut up. Women trivialize what we know. Women shrink. Women pull back. Most women have experienced enough dominance from men – control, violence, insult, contempt – that no threat seems empty.” Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse (1987)

“All human life on the planet is born of woman. The one unifying, incontovertible experience shared by all women and men is that months-long period we spent unfolding inside a woman’s body.
….most of us know both love and disappointment, power and tenderness, in the person of a woman.
We carry the imprint of this experience for life, even into our dying.” (all from pg 11)
Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution by Adrienne Rich, 1976

Stop Passage of the Flawed U.S. Equality Act: Amend!

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The struggle of gender critical feminists to stop the passage of the Equality Act – and amend the Equality Act – now moves to the U.S. Senate. Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed the U.S. Equality Act with a 224-226 vote. Three Republicans voted in favor of the bill. If ever there was a time for everyone concerned with the rights and well being of women to get engaged with the U.S. political system, this is it!

I’ll explain what is at the root of the problems with the Equality Act below and provide an introduction to the Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act developed by Feminists In Struggle (FIST) . But, first, here are two actions you can take right now!

Reach Out to Let Women in Your Community Know About What’s at Stake

XX Amazons has developed a flyer that can be used for outreach to women all over the country to alert them to what is happening in Congress right now. Please print out copies of the flyer (shown below) and put these flyers up anywhere you can think of. Even during the pandemic, women everywhere are still going to grocery stores!

Spread the Word on Social Media

Here’s a graphic that you can copy and use in creating a Facebook or other social media post to spread the word even further.

Write your Senators

The Coalition for the Feminist Amendments (CoFA) has prepared a sample letter that you can personalize and email to your Senators. View and copy the sample letter here. Calling your Senators can be especially effective. You can find your Senators’ phone numbers and other contact information using a simple look-up form.

XX Amazons is part of the Coalition for the Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act. See the information below or on FIST’s website to find out more about the Feminist Amendments.

The Crux of the Problem with the Equality Act

The crux of the problem is that the Equality Act enshrines the concept of “gender identity” into U.S. law. Males base their claim that they are women on this concept which was invented by medical professionals in the 1950s and 1960s (Jeffreys) and latched onto by the transgender movement. Using “gender identity” males are able to say they “feel like” women and, with the Equality Act, the recent executive orders issued by Joe Biden and local legislation, PRESTO, their feelings are turned into what we are supposed to believe is reality.

As Tina Minkowitz, one of the authors of the Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act, has explained, with the Equality Act our legal existence as women is at stake! Here’s how this works. The Senate bill explicitly defines sex to include gender identity, saying that each of three factors – sex, sexual orientation, gender identity – is a form of sex discrimination. Here is where women are erased! Gender identity is made synonymous with sex. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity is considered to be sex discrimination.

Thus, the Equality Act makes it illegal to deny males who say they are women access to what have always been female only facilities. The Senate’s Equality Act explicitly states that there can be no female only private personal spaces: “[A]n individual shall not be denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.”

Giving any male who wants to the right to claim to be a woman has far reaching circumstances that goes far beyond his entry into female spaces, as is documented throughout the XX Amazons website.

Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act

FIST’s Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act protects women, LGB, and transgender people by cleverly creating two new protected classes – sexual orientation and sex stereotypes – while leaving existing protections for sex in place. Each of the three classes are given clear and uncomplicated protection. The Feminist Amendments eliminate all mention of gender identity, providing protection to transgender people on the basis of sex stereotypes. By focusing on sex stereotypes, gender non-conforming people who are not transgender, including Lesbians and gay men, are also protected when they do not comply with sex role norms (demands).

The Feminist Amendments explicitly protects female only spaces from intrusion by males claiming to be women including “multi-stall toilets, locker rooms, changing rooms, communal showers, battered women’s shelters, refuges, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, jail cells, bedrooms in residential facilities, hospital rooms, facilities providing intimate services such as massage or intimate grooming, or other places where women are sharing private facilities or are in states of undress and/or where their privacy may be compromised and or their safety may be at risk from male-pattern violence against females.” (p. 17, Feminist Amendments Equality Act) Sports programs, scholarship programs, clubs, political programs are likewise protected.

For more information on the Feminist Amendments to the Equality Act, please see:
https://xxamazons.org/feminist-amendments-equality-act/

https://feministstruggle.org/2019/10/19/feminists-in-struggle-fist-launches-campaign-for-feminist-amendments-to-the-equality-act/

Time is Short – Act Now!

Green Party National Women’s Caucus Bans Feminists from Discussion

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Two women were banned from the NWC Listserv for attempting to discuss women’s sex-based rights

By Kerri Bruss

Feminists in the United States are increasingly finding themselves politically homeless. Of the two major political parties, one has made clear its intent to enshrine “gender identity” into federal civil rights law via the so-called Equality Act which as written, would completely negate the existing sex-based rights of women, while the other stands in opposition to the Act, though for what many consider to be the wrong reasons.

This dichotomy has led some left-leaning women to seek refuge in alternative parties such as the Green Party (GPUS) which, in addition to its commitments to grassroots democracy, social justice, ecology, and peace, also includes “feminism” among its 10 Key Values.

Jerri and Thistle protest at DNC

Yet for those of us who assert that a woman is an adult human female, and hold that women are oppressed based on their sex and reproductive capacity (as opposed to whatever sex-based stereotypes they do or do not adhere to) the GPUS has not been particularly welcoming. I would go so far as to say that we Greens with gender critical views, and even those who take no position in this debate but call for dialogue not expulsion as a preferred means of resolving political disputes, have been met with outright hostility in most GPUS spaces.

In mid-September of this year, I and Thistle Pettersen, feminists and Wisconsin Green Party members in good standing, joined the GPUS National Women’s Caucus (NWC) intending to generate support for the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, a document which reaffirms commitment to international standards on the rights of women and girls. On September 24, we each responded to a post contributed to the Work List of the NWC which advocated that the NWC host a workshop or panel discussion on what was termed “gender 101.” The workshop would in essence be further indoctrination into “gender identity” ideology, which is in direct contradiction to GPUS’ key value of feminism.

One caucus member diplomatically responded that perhaps a more open discussion that included all points of view on this topic might be more beneficial to the NWC and the Party as a whole. Thistle concurred and asked if caucus members were “familiar with the efforts of WoLF, FIST, and the WHRC USA to protect gender nonconformity while also protecting women’s sex-based rights.” I joined my sisters in their commentary and stated that, “I would very much like to see an open discussion ensue re: the sex-based rights of women and girls and how they are being negatively impacted in the current political climate.”

“I would very much like to see an open discussion ensue re: the sex-based rights of women and girls and how they are being negatively impacted in the current political climate.”

Considering we were contributing to the listserv of the NWC, we assumed that the perspectives of all female caucus members would be valued. We assumed that the NWC’s alleged “respect for diversity” also included respect and tolerance for diverse opinions, particularly in a political party that claims feminism as one of its 10 Key Values, and most importantly in an identity caucus that exists to engage women on issues of personal and political import to them as an oppressed sex class.

We apparently assumed wrong. Co-chair of the Women’s Caucus, Ann Link, immediately asserted that the mere mention of any organization that advocates for the sex-based rights of women “goes against” the Green Party platform plank which states:

“The Green Party affirms the right of all persons to self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex.”

It appears that Link’s stance is that because this particular platform plank exists, and because the NWC has issued a statement “affirming” this principle, (despite the fact that conflicting platform planks also exist that clearly support the rights of women, as well as the fact that the platform is a living document that changes over time), no party or caucus member is allowed to express an alternative point of view without being met with harassment, disparagement, doxxing, threats of violence—or other foul, well- documented, maneuvers intended to silence dissent—and eventual banishment from Green Party spaces, including the National Women’s Caucus.

Our suspicions were confirmed on October 11, when we received notice that Thistle and I had been, “removed from the National Women’s Caucus email list for violating caucus bylaw III.2 – respect for diversity and respect for NWC members.” The email further stated:

“This is because of a series of posts you sent initiating discussion on the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights and similar content, which denies that people should have the right of self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex. This right is supported by our platform and a statement approved by our caucus. These posts have created a threatening environment in our caucus, which should be a safe and supportive place for all our members.”

To be clear, what did not make for a “safe and supportive place” was simply “initiating discussion” on women’s sex-based rights. This is despite the fact that recent poll results show that an overwhelming majority of registered third-party voters support measures that the Declaration calls for, such as protecting women’s single-sex sports, prisons, and shelters.

Women burned at stake for saying men can't play women's sports We were also told that unless we recant our alleged heresy and promise to sin no more, we will not be reinstated to the listserv and would be officially removed from caucus membership—metaphorically burned at the stake. How this provides a “safe and supportive place” for women, lesbians, and those who don’t conform to sex-based stereotypes within the Green Party is unclear.

On October 27, Thistle and I published this open letter in response to our expulsion from the Women’s Caucus Work List. We find the co-chair’s stated position with regard to this matter to be invalid and we request that our full participation in the Work List for the National Women’s Caucus and hence our full participation in the business of this caucus be reinstated without delay and without conditions.

We maintain that defending the sex-based rights of women is not hate and that biology is not bigotry. We further maintain that “respect for diversity” also includes respect and tolerance for diverse opinions, particularly in a party that claims feminism as one of its 10 Key Values, and most importantly in an identity caucus that exists to engage women on issues of personal and political import to them as an oppressed sex class.

We join hundreds of other public signatories calling for “Dialogue Not Expulsion” in response to the silencing of feminist voices within the Green Party of the United States. Their statement reads:

“We ask that all member state parties, caucuses, candidates, and locals of the party take a step back from any suggestion that state organizations or their members be decertified, sanctioned, or silenced for positions they have adopted, or for concerns which they may have expressed on these important issues. We value decentralization, grassroots democracy, and a united Green Party—which will be especially important in this difficult election year. The political principles that unite us remain far more important than the questions where we clash, significant as those questions might be.”

If you are a member, volunteer, contributor or supporter of the GPUS, you can sign the Dialogue Not Expulsion statement (or sign the statement and also join the caucus) to show your support for allowing dialogue on issues affecting women here.

Green Party National Women’s Caucus Bans Feminists from Discussion first appeared on 4W.
It is republished here with permission.

Thistle, Kerri and Freind at DNC

Can I Get a Witness: Impressions and Notes

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By Woody Blue

Note to readers from XX Amazons: XX Amazons welcomes your comments about all our blogs. We also welcome comments about the “Can I Get a Witness” event, including discussion about any of the speaker’s presentations and your thoughts about the inclusion in the conference of right wing speakers. XX Amazons values discussion of difficult or controversial topics that are of importance to radical feminists.

Aug 8, 2020.
I attended the Zoom conference, “Can I Get a Witness”, a conference devoted to opening up the discussion about the trans movement with those who have studied various aspects about it and have tried to speak out against it. Mostly they were met with backlash, deplatforming and other forms of silencing.

The conference tapped into many aspects of the trans movement and the interviews I listened to were primarily from people in UK or US; others were from Brazil, Canada, Sweden and Australia.

Can I Get A Witness Flyer I tried to take notes on every speaker. The conference was 13 hours long and had 28 speakers, with an occasional video or song between speakers. At times my computer acted up or I had to take a small bathroom or food break and so some things were missed.

In typing up my notes, I looked up the webpages of the various speakers to get a better handle on who they were and how or why they were involved with these issues. I invite you to visit the websites of any of the people here if you want to investigate further.

Joey Brite, a butch lesbian and organizer of the conference, has been watching the trans community decimate her own lesbian world. There is an interview with her on the Women Are Human website. In that interview she states,

“I would like people reading this to understand that this is a secular, self-financed enterprise. This is important. Women who have gone before this event and continue to have fantastic sessions online are constantly getting accused of taking money from right-wing organizations. I’m working class, and I’ve scraped everything I can together to make this happen. It’s taken me more than a year and a half.”

Continue reading “Can I Get A Witness”: Interview with Organizer of Virtual Event on Gender Non-Conformity That Has Social Media Abuzz here.

For a list of speakers and the schedule, go here. The organizers state that in a few months they will have the recorded sessions available for purchase for a small fee.

Can I Get a Witness: Speakers and Notes

By Woody Blue, with help from Sally Tatnall, 8/11/2020

In order of appearance:

1. Abigail Shrier, author of the book “Irreversible Damage: the Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.” She gave a short introduction of herself and why she wrote the book. She found that no one was willing to publish information, whether an article or book, that criticized the trans movement. This is why there is such little info in mainstream written media.

Sasha Ayad & Lisa Littman 2. Sasha Ayad, a therapist for teens and their families specializing in ROGD (Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria). She was very informative and gave statistics concerning the rapid rise of ROGD in the last few years. She referenced Lisa Littman’s experiences and studies a few times. Lisa Littman is a researcher from Brown University who ran into a lot of trouble when she tried to publish her findings on ROGD. She stated that 30% of transitioning children are autistic.

Authenticity seems to come from body sculpture. Using the term “assigned at birth” removes it from biological reality.

3. Jennifer Bilek, author of “The 11th Hour” blog. She has been following the money that supports the trans movement. All the money flows through the Arcus Foundation. There are a few philanthropic billionaires that throw money into the trans movement. The money going into the movement increased in 2014. They work at deconstructing sex by normalizing trans and body dissociation. They claim that sex, (not gender) is on a spectrum using the intersex community as proof. It is social manipulation by the elite.

Jennifer stated that the trans movement is driven by the IT industry. Transhumanism is the result which is basically the concept that technology has the ability to modify bodies. If we aren’t connected to our bodies, we can reduce them to body parts. Thereby a womb can be transplanted, a penis can be built, mothers can have beards, never covering the harms.

The trans movement provides the people and the advertising to promote these concepts. Hollywood is heavily involved as the movie industry glamorizes actors who change gender, and fashion magazines put them on covers. Now it’s fun and cool to be disconnected from your body.

Jennifer Bilek spoke of the colonizing and commodifying of women. Sex trafficking, prostitution and porn are major players to promote fetishes.

She says the movement is mainly led by autogynes. A women’s body is the object and without women’s biology, trans doesn’t exist. The trans movement unmoors us from our sex, which is where the transhumanism ideology is taking us.

Many of the later speakers referenced Jennifer Bilek and stated that she had compiled and researched this topic extensively. She is highly regarded.

4. Jane Wheeler, President of ReIME, an acronym for ReThink Identity Medicine, a non-profit research and education organization dedicated to improving and optimizing ethical long term care and treatment for gender variant children, adolescents and youth.

She talked about the rising numbers of teens being referred to clinics dealing with gender. The average age is 14 years old. At this point, 2% of High school students identify as trans.

She explained that the medical world has changed drastically in the past several years due to its monetary value, which is now $3.6 trillion dollars in the US, 20% of the GNP. Some of the ways it has changed is with the advent of patient’s rights, disease advocacy, direct marketing, treatment chat rooms, and over 10,000 advocacy groups. Gate-keeping has been minimized and it has become patient-centered, meaning patients can shop for drugs, treatments, doctors.

These changes are available to adults and minors. The age of consent is between 14 – 16 years old. Marketing to minors has increased. Used to be $100 million annually, now it’s billions.

They are selling gender in very restrictive terms. Democrats are out of sync with this because they want the LGBT’s on their side.

She had more to say but my notes aren’t clear.

5. Kara Dansky, lawyer for WoLF. I don’t have much written down, but I recall that she talked about some of the court cases that have happened in the past and a few that are ongoing now. She was asked about the Religious Right in the Q&A, and she didn’t promote their agenda but stated that they have their own reasons for making this their issue. She said there is no support on the Left at all.

6. Don Smith, concerned citizen. This is a Black man who spent most of his worklife in Great Britain, then moved to Sweden. He is married and has been closely watching the trans movement. He views transgenderism as another arm of Colonization. He described the War Model of Transgenderism as a progression. In this case, the boundaries of this war is gender. First comes Invasion, then Annexation, then Assimilation, Domination and Subjugation. These are the progressive steps when one nation is colonizing another.

He expressed a lot of concern about the colonization of women, explaining that as a Black man, these were the steps to colonize the Blacks when they were stolen from Africa. Trans treat women as commodities, similar to Black slaves being treated as commodities. They aren’t considered fully human, perhaps subhuman. Sex trafficking and prostitution are ways that women are treated as property, rather than humans. When slavery was abolished, a free Black was worth only 3/5 of a White man.

He explained that all colonization works this way throughout history and now the trans are colonizing women. This destroys a woman’s humanity and reduces them to objects which can be fetishized.

When confronted, the trans community resorts to DARVO, an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. His observations are that the queer community has become a Men’s Rights Activity.

He feels that the way to disrupt the trans movement is to dismantle pornography, as this is the way men are taught. He brought up sissy porn, which shows feminized men. He says that feminized men don’t look at themselves as women and don’t want to be women. He brought up the example of Hula men in prison and told us to look it up as he was running out of time.

Don Smith is happily married and said that understanding more about women’s issues and the ways they are treated has helped him become a better husband. He feels it’s extremely important to take down the trans movement before it takes down women.

7. Dr. Quentin Van Meter, pediatric endocrinologist. President of the American College of Pediatricians. Dr. Van Meter has spoken out about the danger of puberty blockers. He has been working with children of puberty age for many years and says that puberty is a time when the body starts changing into its reproductive role. This can be frightening but after a year or so, things settle down and the child adapts to the changes. Puberty is not something that should be blocked, as it prevents the person from maturing. 98% of children who are put on puberty blockers go on to enter the trans world and become infertile because their bodies can no longer mature.

He said that gender is a state of mind. There is absolutely no test of any kind that will determine gender.

He told us that doctors who know better don’t speak out because of fear of losing their jobs, reputations and being bullied. He practices in Atlanta, Ga.

Gendercator DVD 8. Catherine Crouch, lesbian filmmaker. In 2007, Ms. Crouch made a movie called “The Gendercator.” It was a story about a lesbian who had an accident and woke from a coma many years later. When she woke up, she was informed that the society had changed and sexual relations could only be between a man and a woman. Butch lesbians were operated on and given hormones to make them men. They could choose to be a man or a woman but they had to sexually be with a member of the opposite sex. The purpose behind the film was to point out what an evangelical world would be in regards to lesbians.

Her film was shown in 3 or 4 film festivals. It was accepted in the LA G&L film festival, but the day before it was supposed to be shown, the producers called her and said they had to cancel the show because much objection about it had been raised. It became a huge issue, with some lesbians picketing about the right to show it and others wanting to ban it.

It ended up being shown and Ms. Crouch had to defend her position. Her position was really about having a good discussion about evangelicals, sex stereotypes and body/mind control. She sat on forums and panels with other directors and was harshly criticized by audience members. As the film traveled, the controversy became stronger.

It was the end of her career. She wasn’t able to get funding or grants to make films again. We saw parts of her movie and she now lives in SF. She is soft-spoken and open minded and feels the role of the moviemaker is to explore issues. Her movie, “The Gendercator” is available on DVD.

9. Vaishnavi Sundar, filmmaker. This filmmaker is from India and is a feminist. She is well-known but received a lot of backlash. Her sin was that she tweeted that “men shouldn’t be in women’s sports.” She talked about the trans movement in Indian society and the way women are dominated. She is basically making a documentary underground called “Not My Cup of ‘T’.” She showed us the first part which is a talking heads film with doctors, activists, lawyers, etc, talking about the trans movement. She hopes to circulate this movie in various countries to raise awareness.

10. Stephanie Davies-Arai (Transgender Trend) and Julia Long (lesbian feminist activist). This was a conversation to explore the use of language in the trans movement. My computer was acting up and I couldn’t follow the conversation too well, but the gist of it was that we should not be calling people trans. Instead a “transwoman” should be called a man or male when describing them. Because males cannot be female, it would be better to not say “transwoman” if the truth is he’s a male.

11. Jamila Bey, African American journalist and hosts a weekly radio show called “Sex, Politics and Religion: SPAR with Jamila. She explained that the US doesn’t have a centralized medical system and so it’s hard to get national statistics. The UK has socialized medicine and they document statistics nationally so it’s possible to gather and analyze the medical trends.

As a Black woman she asks, “Isn’t sterilizing a child wrong?” She is told not to ask such questions. That was her experience whenever she was looking for info. Either answers were not there or she was told, “Don’t Ask.” We are being asked to deny reality. This is a dangerous thing to be learning. It’s also going along with the idea that anti-intellectual and anti-science is good.

12. Sydney Wright, detransitioner. Sydney is a young woman and transitioned while a teen. She started to detransition in her early twenties and feels she was pushed into claiming trans. She realized after surgeries and hormones that it didn’t make her feel better about herself but she had made everyone accept her as the opposite sex for years. She had to swallow her pride to admit that she had been wrong and that was difficult. She would like to work with teens to help those with body dysphoria and tell them not to rush into transitioning. She tried to sue but couldn’t find a lawyer who would take her case pro bono and not be afraid to take the case.

13. Eugenia Rodriguez, founder of No Corpo Certo (Brazilian Campaign Against Transing Kids). I don’t have any notes on her. My reception was poor and it was hard to understand what she was saying so I took a short break.

14. JD Ghassan Robertson, Award-winning Author and Senior Editor at The Velvet Chronicle. Julia had many observations about the way butch and femme lesbians are used in the media. Mostly lesbians don’t play lesbians even in shows like The L Word. She points to Lea Delaria in “Orange is the New Black” as the only butch lesbian on mainstream TV that she knows of.

As an author, her experience is “if you don’t believe in gender ideology, you can’t participate in the culture.” Lesbians are excluded in the name of inclusion and PIV (penis in vagina) sex is called lesbian sex. Old, dead butches are being identified as trans. She loudly says, “NO, THEY ARE NOT.”

Writing about trans issues in mainstream media has to be underground.

15. Diana Shaw, Women Are Human. This website focuses on criminalization and politics of the trans movement. 50% of “transwomen” are heterosexual. A large majority are sex offenders. There is a history of them using women’s public toilets.

The Trans movement has tied itself to the Black movement. In reality, Black women are the most heavily raped, sex trafficked, have the highest teen pregnancy and have the highest poverty rate. Black “transwomen” claim all this also, even though they are male. Lowered testosterone levels in men are still higher than those in women.

She relayed a story about a Black “transwoman” making up (fetishizing) stories of violence against himself because he wanted it to happen to him (in his fantasy). The root of the issue is that “transwomen” view women as a collection of parts rather than a whole human being.

Women Are Human

16. Mary Kate Fain, creator of Spinster.xyz, a women-centric social media platform to promote safe space for women to discuss issues. Mary Kate explained that there are very few platforms on the Internet that are focused on women and are safe. She mentioned Fair Play for Women, which is centered on the rights of women in the UK, posting news in politics and other venues. She also mentioned Ovarit, which promotes discussions among women.

I don’t understand much of how social media works, but Mary Kate Fain explained that the IT industry is mainly designed and staffed by men. The Internet tech culture is hostile to women and includes a LOT of porn. Mary Kate has had to fend off attacks on her platform to keep control of content. She explained the term “incel,” short for INvoluntary CELibate, which is a dark, twisted form of internalized misogyny. The majority of incels are those in the IT tech industry whose entire life is sitting behind a computer screen, saturated with porn images. It instills rage in young males, who insist that women are at the bottom of all the insults and lack of sex they get. They spout a lot of violence against women and make the Internet hostile to women.

17. The DeProgrammer, Exposing and connecting the dots…transgender, pedophilia, transhumanism. The producer of these YouTube videos hid her face behind a black stripe in order to protect her identity. The videos are stark graphic images with an overlying narrative to explain the mechanisms, strategies, history and people behind the pedophile/transgender/transhumanism movement. The videos are shocking exposès of the dark elements that influence us through media. They describe the evolution of the porn industry, the sex trafficking world, the child molester ways of thinking and acting.

These videos have been banned from Twitter and Instagram, but the person behind these videos is a young feminist who is adept in graphic arts. Not for the light of heart. Very compelling.

18. Thistle Petterson, radio podcast host. WLRN. Women’s Liberation Radio News. Thistle got her start several years ago by signing up to be a guest host for an hour for WORT, a progressive radio station in Madison, Wisconsin. In that hour, she interviewed Sheila Jeffries. She received a lot of backlash but also caught the ear of feminists. Long story short, she and a group of women created weekly podcasts which have aired once a week for the past few years. The collective is committed to reporting news and conducting interviews for women and by women. They operate with a very small budget and have matured as a group. They are going strong.

Save Women's Sports 19. Beth Stelzer and Linda Blade, Save Women’s Sports. These two women teamed up to fight trans inclusion into women’s sports. Beth Stelzer lives in Idaho and is an amateur weightlifter and mother. Idaho passed a Fairness in Women’s Sports Act to protect women’s sports. Immediately a call was put out to boycott Idaho. She created the website Save Women Sports to reach out to NCAA (National College Athletic Association) athletes to voice their opinion by signing a letter to not give in to bullying tactics. Over 300 athletes signed including Olympic superstars and Champions. This was then forwarded to the Idaho Legislature to hold their ground.

Linda Blade lives in Canada and is part of the coalition that works with Save Our Sports. They have drafted a petition to send to the Olympic Committee to address their policy allowing males to participate in female sports because of their identity. Their goal is 25,000 signatures and they are halfway there. They would like you to visit their webpage and sign the petition as well as forward the petition to others.

20. Meghan Murphy, author of Feminist Current. Meghan is a Canadian journalist who has been permanently banned from Twitter and other social platforms. She is outspoken and critical about 3rd Wave Feminism, sex politics, transgenderism, female exploitation and censorship. She spoke about Free Speech. She warned us to recognize how quickly we have lost ground because we don’t pay attention. We must remember the work done previously and galvanize energy again.

21. Lynn Meagher, “Compassion Coalition”. Lynn is mother of 2 transgendered children. She created a support network of mothers who have lost their children to transgender movement. Her talk was very emotional and heartfelt. She says she will never let go of her children because that’s what mothers do.

22. Hacsi Horvath, male detransitioner and epidemiologist. Horvath transitioned when he was older and lived his life as a woman for 13 years. He spoke about the validity of the studies that support transgenderism. He is a Cochrane medical reviewer, specializing in epidemiological studies. This means that he has the highest ranking in reviewing scientific medical papers.

Horvath retold the story of “The Emperor New Clothes” to make his points. The clothes were stitched by the finest craftsmen of many nations. The various craftsmen used the finest materials of high quality and spent many months to create the garment. They presented it to the Emperor and everyone praised it despite the fact that it was invisible.

This is what the studies and testimonies of the trans world amounts to. They don’t hold up to scientific examination but most people don’t look closely at the methodology which is sloppy and inconclusive. There is absolutely no science behind the transgender movement. Nothing.

Lesbian's sign attacked 23. Sherri Golden, SF Dyke March, 2019. Sherri joined up with a small group of lesbians to march in the dyke march. Their signs said things like “Puberty Blockers Harm Children” and “Lesbians are Female”. During the march they were surrounded by young female transactivists who shouted “Terf” through bullhorns and pushed them down more than once, tearing up their signs. The police did very little to stop the harassment and the group eventually dropped out. They had to have a police escort to the Bart Station to stay safe. All the women were 60 – 75 years old.

24. Donovan Cleckley, gay male academic. I missed much of his talk but the gist of it is that he agrees that women are being erased. He would like to see more men speaking out about it.

25. Courtney Catearth, midwife from Womb Room, a FB page. Courtney described the stealthy way the trans movement infiltrated the midwifery conferences and associations. The language of birth has been changed so that mothers are ‘parents’ or ‘pregnant people,’ breasts are ‘chests’ and “men can give birth”. Women are oral people and our language is very important to us. Changing language is an anti-female stance. She identifies as a witch and explained that midwifery and female medicine is really the purview of female witches and herbalists.

26. Alicia Strada, young Black feminist. Alicia was beaten up about a month ago by female transactivists. A male friend of Alicia’s had transitioned and had asked Alicia to use the ‘correct’ pronouns. Alicia is relatively new to feminism and she refused and told him he was still a male. The hostilities escalated and the “transwoman” wanted to physically fight with her, but Alicia said she didn’t fight men.

The “transwoman” sent 3 transactivists to beat her up. She was in the middle of moving from her apartment when they attacked. Fortunately her family was there and was able to intervene, but Alicia walked away with a busted lip, a black eye and several bruises. The story is unusual because all of the participants were Black.

It was hard to listen to this story because Alicia says she no longer trusts anybody, doesn’t look at Twitter or social media anymore and is afraid to go outside her apartment. She is traumatized and still recovering physically from the attack.

27. Sam Reiger, The Terf Exhibit. FB page. The FB page was started as a way to respond to a San Francisco Public Library exhibit called “Degenderette Antifa Art”. The exhibit promoted violence against women who spoke out. The library refused to take it down, so the FB page was created to dispel myths and report misogyny from the Trans movement.

Sam had a slide show that showed several steps to creating a dialogue with someone on the other side. It started With “Listen” and “Find Common Ground” and followed through to the end step which was “It is OK to disengage.” The presentation was aimed at trying to be productive in discussion rather than destructive.

28. Tara, female detransitioner. This was a short video. Tara is 23 years old and would like to sue Tavistock (Gender Clinic in UK) that she feels pushed her into transitioning. She has no money to do this. (A former speaker explained that it’s very hard to sue because of the difficulty of finding a lawyer to take it on at the risk of ruining their career. It would also have to have the “right person” to sue, meaning that the plaintiff would have to be willing to put up with lots of harassment, public shaming for years.) Tara was told her life would get better if she transitioned. No other options were offered.

She stopped taking hormones about a year ago and she is dealing with negative health effects. She regrets her decisions and would like to warn other teens.

Push Progressives to Protect Women’s Sex-Based Rights: Sign the Petition

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By Jeanne F. Neath

In February 2020, the Georgia Green Party endorsed the very feminist “Declaration of Women’s Sex-Based Rights.” Immediately, the LGBTQIA+ caucus of the Green Party (Lavender Caucus) called for the expulsion of the Georgia Greens from the Green Party of the United States. A group of Greens are now calling for democratic discussion about the issues involved in this conflict. If you are interested in getting progressives in the Green Party talking about gender critical and radical feminist perspectives, you can sign the petition sponsored by Greens for Dialogue Not Expulsion. You do not need to be a member of the Green Party to sign.

What Did the Georgia Greens Do?

Georgia Green Party logo What is going on between the Georgia Greens and the Lavender Caucus? At their February meeting, the Georgia Greens modified their platform stating that policy makers should find nuanced approaches that can both protect trans-identified individuals and protect the sex-based rights of women. Among other changes, their Human Rights plank now concludes:

“The Georgia Green Party here endorses the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, as developed and publicized by the Women’s Human Rights Campaign, and encourage our members, our national party, policy makers and the general public to do the same. We will regulate access to gender-affirming therapies to protect Georgia children from medical experimentation, prosecuting ethical violations involved with subjecting children incapable of fully informed consent to such life-changing and irreversible procedures. We will protect women and girls from unfair competition in sports by male bodied athletes. We will protect girls and women in the enjoyment of female-only facilities, programs, or services, particularly in places where women have a need to be in a state of undress, or where their privacy may be compromised or their safety may be at risk from male-pattern violence.”

Lavender Greens Go Over the Edge

Lavender Green Caucus As you might expect, the Lavender Greens were a bit ticked off! On February 28th in an “Open Letter to the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States” this LGBTQIA+ caucus argued that the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights would “force children to undergo permanent physical changes that exacerbate their dysphoria, inflicting trauma that could last the rest of their lives.” (Note that the “permanent physical changes the Lavender Greens are concerned about are those of going through a natural puberty!) The Lavender Greens go on to say they can’t “stand by while one of our state parties aligns itself with a hate group.” (And now note that the “hate group” they are speaking of is the Women’s Human Rights Campaign.) The Lavender Greens demand that the Georgia Greens:

Rescind its endorsement of the Declaration of Women’s Sex-Based Rights.
Apologize to transgender and gender nonconforming members of the Green Party and commit to “centering trans people who have the relevant experience and are directly affected by gender affirmation policy before issuing a statement.”
Commit to educating themselves and their membership about the necessity of gender affirmation to protect the lives of trans youth and trans adults. Any member of the Green Party of Georgia Coordinating Committee who does not undergo this training must resign.

The Lavender Caucus called on national Green Party to disaccredit and disavow the Georgia Green Party unless that party grovelled as requested and met all three demands.

Georgia Greens: No Way!

Dario Hunter criticizes Georgia Greens A letter on April 7th from the Georgia Greens to Dario Hunter provides a look at the unfolding conflict. Hunter is the delegate of the Lavender Caucus to the Green National Committee. He is also seeking the 2020 Green Party presidential nomination. Although Hunter published a video condemning the Georgia Greens, he still felt he could propose a “reconciliation retreat.” The Georgia Greens found Hunter’s terms unacceptable, replying:

“The private nature of the conversation you have framed, and its stated design to limit participation to a handful of participants seem better designed to browbeat and reeducate the single spokesperson of the Georgia Green Party your proposal invited to this reconciliation retreat; or at best to engage him in an ad hoc group therapy session to assuage the hurt feelings of Lavender Caucus leadership over our refusal to comply with an ideology we understand as destructive to the rights of women and children.”

The Georgia Greens described the hostility directed toward them by the Lavender Caucus, including “incessant namecalling,” sexist slurs, actual threats of violence, and efforts to silence and censor their voices on social media channels of the Green Party. They note that:

“Many folks, including those far beyond Georgia, have noted that the often heated exchanges in party channels on this subject seem to be driven by the hostility of people who demonstrate no familiarity with the document we endorsed, and which they dismiss as hateful, bigoted and transphobic.”

In their letter to Hunter, the Georgia Greens invite discussion of the Declaration of Women’s Sex-Based Rights, and especially a written critique from the Lavender Caucus.

“We welcome an opportunity to participate in dialogue on the issues raised by the Platform amendment which has been the subject of this recent controversy. But we would prefer to do so with people who have actually read the language we have adopted, and the document we have endorsed, not just the hyperbole and derogatory misinformation being spread about it.”

Georgia Greens call for engagement of the entire Green Party on the issues raised by this conflict:

“Georgia Greens feel many in our party might benefit from a Feminism 101 refresher course, a reminder that feminism, as bell hooks taught us, is ‘a movement to end the sexist oppression of women’. We believe it is important to remind ourselves that as feminists, we understand gender as a social construct and a tool for the patriarchal oppression of women; that we see gender not so much as a spectrum but more of a hierarchy which limits the lives of both women and men; that as feminists it is our job to abolish not celebrate gender…”

Greens for Dialogue Not Expulsion

Greens for Dialogue Not Expulsion: Sign Their Petition

A new caucus of the Green Party, Greens for Dialogue Not Expulsion, has formed to support the Georgia Greens and promote democratic discussion on issues such as sex, gender, gender identity and women’s sex-based rights among the Greens and their supporters. The Greens for Dialogue Not Expulsion Caucus has already issued an invitation to Dario Hunter and the Lavender Caucus to discuss these issues through a public forum and a well-moderated online discussion bulletin.

To support and promote these discussions you can sign their petition. You don’t have to be a member of the Green Party to sign. There is also an option to join the Greens for Dialog Not Expulsion caucus if you want to be more involved. Expect to work with a wide variety of people having a wide variety of opinions if you do join the caucus.

Having a large number of signatories on this petition is important to getting the Green Party to take these issues seriously. I see influencing progressives to understand gender critical and radical feminist thought regarding sex, gender, gender identity and women’s sex-based rights as a top priority and this is a chance to impact the conversation taking place in a national and progressive political party.

Who Becomes Transgender and Why?

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By Llora Coatrischie

male-female symbol with arrow Do you believe that men who fetishize the female body need and deserve the same types of social support as women and men who have been hurt by homophobia, harassment, and violence? As girls and women who have been harshly criticized and degraded for breeching the expectations of traditional femininity? As victims of childhood sexual abuse who have come to dissociate how they feel in their bodies? If you feel that these very distinctive experiences conjure unique social solutions, then it is vital to think critically about how very different types of people with different needs and experiences come to embrace transgenderism. It is crucial to ask how transgenderism fails to address diverse social problems. It is important to consider how the growth of transgenderism creates new harms and constraints for people who want freedom from traditional gender roles.

In an expanded article, “Understanding the Many Pathways to Transgender”, I explore some of the most documented reasons different people choose transgenderism as a solution to very different social experiences. These include a resurgence of traditional gender roles, internalized and coercive heterosexism and homophobia, a male-festishized ideation of the female body (by men who fantasize about participating in lesbian spaces), and the expanding social contexts of gender trending and lucrative big pharmaceutical interests.

Transgender individuals have become an increasingly visible and vocal class among the LGBT spectrum. But people come into transgenderism for very different and sometimes contradictory reasons. And the experiences of women who transition to male and men who transition to female are dynamically different as are the effects of these changes. Transgenderism is not a sexual minority sui generis. It has become, over time and through much effort, a widely embracing ideology, that presents a common solution to a diverse range of very different social problems. Poorly understood problems are rarely helped by radically transformative solutions that sweep differences and complexities under the rug. I invite you to consider more carefully why many different types of social experiences have led different individuals to adopt transgenderism as a solution and how this most often fails to really address the root of those social problems.

Oppressive Gender Roles

Gender dysphoria may be one form of dissociation from oppressive gender roles rigidly imposed on individuals for whom these roles rarely fit perfectly, but it is also commonly confused with other forms of dissociation and more importantly, its causes as likely deeply social, are being overlooked. Beyond the idiosyncrasies of gender role socialization, severe childhood abuse, for example, creates dissociation that can look like and manifest as gender dysphoria. One study of female to male transitioners found that 60% of the interviewees reported one or more of several types of severe child abuse. For clinicians to offer sexual body modification and not treat underlying forms of trauma could be a risky, ethical, and damaging misstep. Clinicians with long-standing experience treating gender dysphoria have also begun to rethink how many other serious psychological disorders are being lost to this quick catch-all, consumer driven diagnosis. The trans movement is encouraging these diagnoses, and individuals are walking into clinics requesting them.

Heterosexism and Homophobia

With so many young men and women who have de-transitioned recounting experiences of homophobia and repressive sex roles factoring into their decisions, the question has been raised if increasing pressures to transition should not also be considered a human rights issue: the cultural and biomedical erasure of young butch women and effeminate men. In one gender clinic in London, there has been a 4000% increase in the number of girls seeking treatment for transgenderism, with parents supporting their requests for double mastectomies.

Embodied Objectification

By far, the most visible and well-known transgender celebrities are men who have biomedically transitioned to embody what has long been stereotypically considered ‘sexy’ female bodies. They are thin and curvy with perky breasts, wear revealing form-fitting clothes and are slathered in make-up, fingernail polish and hair extensions. To celebrate these presentations as displays of idealized femininity contradicts women’s autonomy over defining what makes a woman beautiful. Feminists are deeply concerned that supporters of trans-rights have failed to call out the misogyny and toxic masculinity of some of the movement’s most visible public advocates. Furthermore, in a world with rampant rates of violence against women, sexual assault and sexual harassment, feminists find it gravely troubling that men who desire the experience of becoming a sexually appealing female do so according to misogynistic standards. We must ask the question of whether these men are contributing to and not working against rape culture.

The Market-driven Approach of Big Pharma and the Medical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry has consistently been the largest industry to lobby Congress, clearly demonstrating it‘s political agenda. Just as pundits charge that the industry and its close collusion with lawmakers is “feeding the Opioid crisis”, it is now feasible to say it is also “feeding the transgender scramble”, as a growing number of supporters argue for expanded ways of getting these drugs and surgeries to transgender patients and pharmaceutical companies donate millions of dollars to LGBT causes. Who benefits from all these high cost lobbying ventures? Investigative reporting traces the money to “exceedingly rich white men and women”.

A ‘Social Contagion’ Effect and the ‘Gender Revolution’

Finally, individuals who may have been distantly supportive of transgender surgeries, or moderately curious about the process of socially transitioning one’s body into a new gender identity, are going to be much more likely to do so the more those around them are doing so, and the more transitioning becomes visible and accepted as a way of confronting the limits of traditional gender roles. Lisa Littman’s 2018 publication in the journal Plos One, “Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: a study of parental reports”, documents a process of social contagion among young persons who transitioned following one or several close friends’ transition. Statistics collected in the study indicated that 82.8% of the children reported on were female at birth with a median age of 16. In 36.8% of friendship groups, all members of the group transitioned.

For Those Considering Transition or How to be an Ally to Someone Considering Transition

Transitioning does not alleviate the sexism that constrains how certain forms of behaviors, preferences, interests, and tastes are associated with very stringent gender roles. To the contrary, stringent gender roles are now upheld by medically transitioning bodies to make personalities match traditional notions of man and woman and sexuality that complies with heterosexual norms. When young girls are now among those most frequently taken to gender dysphoria clinics for their inability to conform to traditional displays of femininity, it suggests transgenderism is, in part, responsible for conversion therapy and the widespread elimination of butch lesbians, what some consider a “genocide of lesbians”.

If you are considering transitioning, if everyone around you would support your personal choices in who you love, in how you choose to dress, in your preferences and tastes, would you still feel the need to transition? If you live in and around others who criticize you and pressure you to be different, how can you find safe and supportive relationships where you are loved and respected for who you are in your body and in your life? Do you really want to give full power over defining and maintaining your gender to a lifetime of medical management?

If you are wanting to be an ally to an oppressed minority, then support solutions that undo sexist gender roles, homophobia, the objectification of bodies, and the domination of the pharmaceutical industry in defining and controlling gender. Support women and girls to realize their full potential beyond traditional notions of femininity. Support all human beings to become better human beings, beyond how their accessories match their genitals.

With heartfelt thanks to Jeanne Neath for many helpful comments, insights, and suggestions.

Confronting the Trans/Queer Culture of Attacks on Women

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By Jeanne Neath

I am continually puzzled at how so many feminists and feminist groups and organizations whole-heartedly endorse the politics of “gender identity” and “inclusion” when trans and queer (TQ) activists have created a culture that promotes verbal and physical attacks on women.

Attacks on Women by TQ Activists

I was shocked earlier this year when I saw the saw the video and read the accounts of a male transactivist in Argentina physically attacking Ana Marcocavallo, a radical feminist who was trying to speak at a Ni Una Menos event on February 15th, 2019. Equally disturbing about this violent episode was the response of many in the audience. Before the attack, even before Ana began to speak, the audience chanted “kick her out.” After the male transactivist was pulled off Ana, the audience then chanted “trans resistance lives here.”
Transactivist attacks radical feminist

I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked because this is just one of a string of episodes where TQ activists have physically assaulted a feminist at a political event. Here in the U.S. last June (2018) two lesbians marching with a small group of old lesbian feminists were physically attacked at the San Franciso Dyke March. Here too, the crowd verbally assaulted the old lesbians, continually yelling slogans such as “TERFS go home.” Eventually, greatly frightened, the lesbians did manage to escape from the jeering crowd. One lesbian said afterward that she was more scared by this incident than when she had been “chased by police with machine guns in her home country.”

The TQ Culture Promoting Attacks on Women

There are many incidences of violence of a male to transgender (M2T) individual toward female targets, but the ones I’ve described are all very public incidences taking place where feminist activists are at a contested political event. These outcroppings of physical violence against women and lesbians by TQ activists may seem like isolated incidences. Degenderettes posing with bats But, the physical violence of a few was supported by surrounding crowds of trans and queer, mostly young, people. This crowd support for physical violence is one terrible example of the culture promoting attacks on women that permeates TQ activism. I won’t describe that attack culture right now – most or maybe all of you are familiar with it anyway – but I will point out that the accusations of TERF, the t shirts saying “I punch TERFs,” transactivists training with weapons and posing and marching with bats, the silencing of feminists, the de-platformings, the “otherizing” of those who disagree with trans ideology, the death threats, are all part of this culture promoting attacks on women.

Breast binders The TQ culture likewise damages the girls and women who join that culture. Lesbians are pressured into sexual encounters with M2T persons wanting validation for their claim to be Lesbian. Transitioning females are encouraged to harm their own bodies by breast binding, taking risky hormones, undergoing mastectomies of healthy breasts and surgery to remove reproductive organs (creating irreversible sterility).

And They Accuse Women of Hate Speech?

TQ activists and their supporters justify their attacks on women by claiming that those who question their claims to be the “other” sex are invalidating them and perpetuating hate toward trans people. The problem here is actually with trans ideology – no one can change their sex. Anyone who pretends that they have changed their sex cannot help but have an insecure sense of self that can never be validated. With its dependence on the concept of “gender identity,” a completely subjective “sense of being a man or a woman,” and its purposeful confusion of sex and gender, trans ideology cannot withstand critical thinking. Accusations of hate speech and hatred of trans people – “transphobia,” “transmisogyny” and so on – is the defense TQ activists have resorted to.

The accusations of hate and hate speech have actually been an offense and a very useful political ploy for transactivists. Everyone on the Left can understand that hatred of a minority group is wrong. The problem is that sound byte thinking does not work well in a complex situation where one minority group – trangender people – is claiming the identity of another minority – women – and is screaming “hate speech” over any criticism. Recently, one woman in a women’s/lesbian organization I belong to (that has a few trans members) claimed that just using the term “woman born woman” is hate speech. She said, “It is hurtful to some of our members … and is like using the ‘n’ word or ‘spic’.” Another woman said she couldn’t “support the WBW [women-born-women] having meetings … because of the anti-trans hate speech and public exclusion of some folks. What if WBW Nazis wanted to meet [here]?” These accusations of hate speech are not only used to justify attacks on women, but they are attacks on women and part of the TQ culture promoting attacks on women. Not long before the attack on Ana in Argentina, a left wing newspaper published this comment: “we will put you [radical feminists] on trial, just like we did with nazi genocides, and wherever you are, we will seek you out.” (see the final sentence in the original Pagina 12 article in spanish, quoted in english in Feminist Current.)

Some males who identify as transgender probably resisted socialization into the conspiracy of violence, but others did not. Those who joined the conspiracy of violence are trained dominators and and there is every reason to think they are dominating the direction of transactivism, hence creation of a culture promoting attacks on women. These males may not be lashing out when their “manhood” is shamed, but they certainly are when their “womanhood” is questioned.

Why the woman hating, threats and attacks against women? There are other ways that trans people could handle invalidation of a shaky self. Carol Gilligan and Naomi Snider in their book, Why Does Patriarchy Persist, describe a “conspiracy of violence” that many boys and men become part of during their socialization. These boys and men “turn away from relationship, turn women into objects, and lash out when their manhood is shamed or their vulnerability exposed.” Some males who identify as transgender probably resisted socialization into the conspiracy of violence, but others did not. Those who joined the conspiracy of violence are trained dominators and and there is every reason to think they are dominating the direction of transactivism, hence creation of a culture promoting attacks on women. These males may not be lashing out when their “manhood” is shamed, but they certainly are when their “womanhood” is questioned.

Feminist Inconsistencies

Why the unquestioning support for transgender ideology among so many feminists? Why are some feminists going beyond providing support to transgender people and whole-heartedly supporting the transgender movement and its TQ culture of attacks on women?

One of the chilling characteristics of trans ideology is its demand for complete agreement – otherwise you are transphobic or a transmisogynist, or maybe even a “TERF” and you deserve to die. In contrast, feminism has always been based in wildly diverse, highly contested points of view. It is therefore not surprising that some feminists think trans ideology is A-OK while others view the invasion of M2T persons into women’s spaces as a very real threat to women’s liberation. What is surprising is the close-mindedness and unwillingness to civilly discuss and debate differences of opinion about trans ideology by many feminists who subscribe to trans ideology.

It is possible to support trans people and advocate for specific trans rights, like freedom from job discrimination, without endorsing trans ideology and acquiescing to the ever-expanding demands of transactivists. Many radical feminists do this. However, many feminist trans supporters have abandoned critical thinking and are unwilling to see how harmful trans ideology is for women, including females who transition. (Others may be toeing the line established by transactivists in fear of TQ attacks.)

Still, women who have been true believers in the trans narrative do sometimes reach “peak trans,” the moment when they realize that there are problems with trans ideology. Alicia Hendley recently provided a very thoughtful description of how “I Supported Trans Ideology Until I Couldn’t Anymore.” Hendley had been one of those women vehemently defending trans ideology against any feminist (or other) criticism.

For Hendley, the first “tiny crack in my previously impenetrable armour” came when she learned about the behavior of the M2T person, JY, who filed human rights complaints against 16 Canadian women who refused to wax his male genitals and went on to brag about his predatory behavior toward young girls. Hendley was appalled when she learned that women discussing their concerns about JY’s behavior were banned from Twitter due to accusations that they were “misgendering” him. Hendley wrote, “How was it acceptable that those sounding the alarm about egregious actions were the ones being reprimanded?”

Then Hendley contacted Morgane Oger, the Vice President of the ruling party in British Columbia about her concerns about JY. Oger seemed concerned, but then commented that a recent event at the Vancouver Public Library on gender identity ideology and women’s rights was “like 1933 Berlin.” Hendley, whose husband and children are Jewish, found this simile to be extreme, especially coming from a well known representative of a political party. Hendley had reached her breaking point as a believer in trans ideology: “It was at that point — when I was told challenges to and questions about gender identity ideology in defense of women’s rights were equal to the lead up towards one of the worst genocides in human history — that I had my “WTF?” moment, and I began to tip.”

An Experiment

Degenderettes on the shooting range What inconsistency could be more dramatic for a feminist than the realization that the TQ movement she strongly supports has created a culture promoting attacks on women? I tested the waters by talking to a small group of women who are hard core believers in the trans narrative about the San Francisco Dyke March and the TQ culture of violence against women.

I have been part of an ongoing task force with these women at the women’s and lesbian center I mentioned earlier. At a meeting I pointed out that unreservedly supporting the trans movement meant support for a culture of violence against women and led to incidences like the physical attack and threatening crowd at the San Francisco Dyke March. The immediate response of many of the women was to say that the trans people they knew weren’t like that and to demand local examples of a TQ culture of violence against women. They tried to discount the local example some of us gave them (see the description of the de-platforming that took place in Fayetteville Arkansas at the Goddess Festival.) The conversation stayed relatively calm with some participants making an effort to hear each other.

One woman was apparently troubled enough by the discussion of the TQ culture of violence against women to do some research, but her research included only the trans propaganda about the SF Dyke March. She felt that the TQ activists who surrounded the old lesbian feminists were completely in the right because they were chanting slogans she agreed with like “transphobia’s got to go!” I don’t know if her one-sided research failed to uncover the words in other chants like “TERFs go home” or if she just doesn’t care that TQ activists are verbally and physically assaulting lesbians. She actually commented that there wasn’t a problem with the surrounding crowd chanting so long as the words of the chant expressed something she (and others) agreed with.

I don’t know if her one-sided research failed to uncover the words in other chants like “TERFs go home” or if she just doesn’t care that TQ activists are verbally and physically assaulting lesbians. She actually commented that there wasn’t a problem with the surrounding crowd chanting so long as the words of the chant expressed something she (and others) agreed with.

I count this encounter as a half success. The women who heard me talk about the TQ culture of violence against women were made aware, even if briefly, that there is a problem with unreservedly supporting the TQ movement. And the one woman was troubled enough by the inconsistency of being a feminist and a supporter of the TQ culture of violence to seek out trans propaganda in an attempt to justify her existing belief system. I haven’t (yet!) had the opportunity for follow up. I would like to present this woman with the actual words of some of the women attacked at the SF Dyke March and see if she is able to dismiss them.

Final Thoughts

Like much else in the trans movement, thinking about the TQ culture of attacks on women leaves me wondering: however do they get away with this? This is a social movement that seriously proposes that a person can be born in the wrong body! And then millions of other people take the idea seriously? This is a minority group whose male members are claiming the identity of another minority group, women! And liberals and progressives let them get away with this theft? Anyone other than a M2T person would be challenged for cultural appropriation. Look at what happened when the white woman, Rachel Dolezal, claimed to be Black! So maybe it isn’t that surprising that transactivists get away with threatening and attacking women.

There may be a relatively small number of trans extremists leading campaigns against “TERFs,” making rape or death threats, or physically attacking feminist activists, but many, many transgender and queer people join in and fully support the culture of attacks on women, as do so-called progressives and the feminist women I’ve focused on here. All of these groups of people are responsible for their own misogyny and the continuation of the TQ culture of attacks on women.

There is only one ethical choice available for trans supporters. They must take a stand to demand that the threats, the de-platformings, the name-calling, the campaigns against women-only spaces, the hostile crowds, and the verbal and physical attacks on women end immediately. Yes, support trans people and trans rights (where those rights are not harmful to women), but end the TQ threats and attacks on women.

How Trans-Ideology Harms Women and Girls

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By Jeanne Neath

1. The word woman is in danger of losing its meaning, an adult human female who has had the experience of living as a girl and a woman. Transactivists want their term, “gender identity,” to replace sex in defining “woman.” Male transgender people (“transwomen”) want to be considered women. They can’t change their sex – they can never become female – so want to use “gender identity” instead. Anyone can claim the “gender identity” of “woman” because “gender identity” is a person’s “internal sense” of being a woman or man. With self-identification laws, a male can be considered a woman just because he says he is.

2. The movement for the liberation of women is at serious risk. Women are oppressed on the basis of our sex, not gender identity. Many social structures, including gender, are created by patriarchal societies to justify and carry out that oppression. If women can’t organize as women, meet in women only groups and speak freely there can be no liberation of women. See #10 and #11 below.

3. Harmful sex role stereotypes are strengthened by acceptance of the practice of transitioning. Even young girls who violate norms of femininity (by liking toy trucks or boys clothes) are targeted for transition. Changing bodies to match “gender” is a conservative approach that says sex, a biological reality, is easier to change than “gender identity,” a feeling that can change over time and that the two have to match. Girls and women should be free to act in masculine or feminine ways.

4. Women and girls lose their rights to privacy and safety in public places where they undress and sleep. This includes battered women’s shelters, girls’ locker rooms in public schools, nursing homes, hospitals, homeless shelters, prisons, and public restrooms.

Bathrooms according to trans

5. Women and girls are being shamed for our female bodies. We are being told we shouldn’t talk about the functioning of our female bodies because to do so makes male transgender people feel left out. Like other males they do not menstruate, can’t get pregnant and have a penis instead of a vulva.

6. Male transgender people have an unfair advantage when they are allowed to compete in women’s sports due to the structure of their male bodies and testosterone levels higher than women.

7. Crime data becomes inaccurate and women appear to be more violent than we are when demographic data lumps transgender people with male bodies together with women.

8. Medical data is compromised. Feminists had to fight to force medical researchers to study women’s medical conditions and symptoms. Now research may categorize male-born transgender people as women or female.

Quote about trans superiority to genetic women from 1977

9. Females who transition (i.e. “transmen”) engage in painful and harmful practices. These can include hysterectomy, double mastectomy and binding of breasts. Breast binding commonly results in back and chest pain, bad posture, shortness of breath, and itchiness. Many report numbness, dizziness, and fatigue. At Fenway Health Clinic, females taking testosterone therapy sign a consent form acknowledging possible permanent baldness, facial and body hair growth, and sterility. Risk is increased for diabetes, endometrial and breast cancer, liver damage, heart attack, and stroke.

10. Women who speak of these consequences or criticize transgender beliefs or practices are at risk of threats, including death threats, physical violence, de-platforming, being fired, and silencing. This repression is a direct attack on feminist thought, an attempt by transactivists to control what is permissible for feminists to think and say.

11. Feminist and other female only groups are forced underground through hostile campaigns by transactivists. Venues refuse to allow women only groups to meet for fear of transactivist attack.

Gerda Lerner on women only space