Over a period of years I’ve posted a fair bit on the “TERF Wars” (*) not because I have any skin in that game, but because (a) it’s a perfect example of divisive “identity politics” polarising a should-be-caring set of technical and human issues and values under sloganising ideologies and (b) that as well as lesbians, gays and trans, the most massive group of people undermined by it are over half the population – women.
Rebalancing feminine structures in the epistemology and ontology of human systems in the world – dominated by the male heritage and power structures in (say) science and philosophy – is one of my daily drivers, and identity politics of all kinds is clearly a strong ideological corruption of human understanding of such complex real-world systems, corrupting key institutions like the university and the media. I may not have skin in that particular game but I am passionate about how we resist and reverse the damage it causes more generally.
Today judgement was passed on Allison Bailey’s case of being discriminated against by her employer on the advice of Stonewall, that she could not hold and express “gender critical” views (like mine above) against Stonewall’s advice. She had no case directly against Stonewall, of course, but the judgement was clear that:
“gender identity theory as proselytised by Stonewall is severely detrimental” to women, and to lesbians [and gays, and trans, and humanity generally]” (**)
“Proselytised” notice – pure ideology. Well done Allison. Her employer was found liable and on the wrong side of human rights law for following Stonewall’s ideological advice. Enough, onward and upward.
🥳 #ThankyouAllisonBailey for winning your case! Let Organisations who put ‘Stonewall Law’ before Equality Law or seek to silence others from lawfully voicing criticism of Stonewall beware they may be acting unlawfully & liable to damages #AllisonBaileyWins https://t.co/b8RXYbPA2N
— Joanna Cherry QC (@joannaccherry) July 27, 2022
I hope that other businesses take note.
If you listen to Stonewall and it all goes wrong, you will be left paying the damages while Stonewall stands aside and says ‘nothing to do with us’. https://t.co/fOUTB5XriG
— Debbie Hayton 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@DebbieHayton) July 27, 2022
#StonewallOut is lighting-up Twitter today.
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Post Notes:
(*) TERF War =
“Transwomen are women” vs “Women are a biological sex”
That is Trans Rights Activist / Gender Identity Theory (TRA / GIT)
vs Gender Critical (GC) positions. Personally I’m for using both sex and gender as intended, and against ideological positions. Activists necessarily blur facts to their ends. Some “Gender Crits” are too vocal the other way, even if motivated by defence. As Alice Dreger put it in her 2008 to 2015 experience:
[A] system in which scientists
and social justice advocates
are fighting in ways that poison
the soil on which both depend.
(**) These are Allison’s own words quoted in the summary judgement. Obviously, Allison had no claim directly against Stonewall, it was her employer who failed her by – like so many other organisations – following Stonewall’s advice. The value in funding the case – suing Stonewall – was to get all of that out in a court. The full judgement is worth reading. The winner is caring common sense.
And two days later all media still glowing with activity against TRA Ideology.
Seriously. If this isn’t the time for a no-holds barred journalistic dive into the totally amoral, ideologically bonkers racket that is Mermaids, I don’t know what is. They held the Tavistock ransom for years. They are still going. They are crazy. Children’s bodies are at stake. https://t.co/nl3MxprPT3
— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) July 28, 2022
“Arguably the most shocking part of GIDS was that, despite its supposedly pioneering approach in this brave new world of gender identity, it failed to keep accurate records of what happened to all these children it treated once they grew up.” @TimesLucy https://t.co/MiEHzo0nhp
— Professor Alice Sullivan (@ProfAliceS) July 29, 2022
Lots of good stuff in The Times piece.
Here are some thoughts on the announcement of the impending closure of the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock in London, England.
1. Disclosure: I consider myself a colleague of several of the senior members of the GIDS, including its founder, Dr. D. Di Ceglie
— Ken Zucker (@ZUCKERKJ) July 29, 2022
A thoughtful thread that includes
“the story is very complex,
tainted by activist groups,
such as [fill in the blanks]”
#StonewallOut
#MermaidsOut
#DownWithIdeology
#ActivistLobbyingOutOfEmplymentEducationAndHealthcare
And the most succinct summary:
This is the end for ideological “affirmation” approaches to kids in the UK. It is a devastating result for the trans lobby.
— Andy 🇺🇦 (@lecanardnoir) July 28, 2022
the end for ideological “affirmation” approaches
I’ve predicted the demise of this ideological travesty once or twice before, but there is a sense in which it is really happening this time:
Excited to be off on holiday but timing, day after the Cass Review, sucks. Had to refuse three commissions yesterday 😬
— Jo Bartosch (@jo_bartosch) July 29, 2022