Tactics and Flaws of the Transgender Ideology + Self-ID Movement

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Written by A. Lìen

Original article – https://ashleylien.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/say-it-now/

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

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Growing up, I was confused. You see, I was very different from most of my girl-friends. At least, I thought I was. I was flat-chested, had really big feet & hands and a really low voice. I hated everything “girly.” I didn’t want to wear dresses or have my hair curled.

I loathed the fact that I would eventually start menstruating. I didn’t want to shave. I had strange, but nice, feelings for some of the girls I was friends with. I had already disassociated from my body because of a male cousin deciding to molest me at a very young age, but it was more than that. I hated my body. I hated the things that I ‘had’ to wear and do and endure, and this all started early on. It’s basically all I remember about my feelings toward my body and the expectations of me based on my biological sex.

Even as a young girl, I already knew what being a female meant, and I knew ‘it’ wasn’t good. At least, not within this society. Knowing what I was in for as a girl and a woman made me uncomfortable and embarrassed. It made me angry.

I remember my mom joking about how they (my parents) “thought I was going to be a boy,” but got surprised, and that just added to this growing feeling in my head that I was actually meant to be born a boy.

I didn’t realise it then, but I was experiencing body dysmorphia. It wasn’t just about my breasts, uterus and vagina, though. I obsessively loathed my nose, my stomach, my skin colour, my hair, my freckles, the size of my feet and hands, my voice and so much more. I was traumatised and already suffering from PTSD and obvious low self-esteem. I was mentally and emotionally unwell and needed mental health assistance.

If I was growing up now, I’d be transgender….

My mom would be pressured by peers, social media, media and neglectful medical “professionals” to put me on prescription drugs to alter my body chemistry and to prevent natural, imperative, biological cycles from occurring in my body. Her and I would have the red carpet rolled out for us as we frolicked to day surgery for me to permanently alter, and possibly even mutilate, my body. [1]

I wouldn’t be able to legally vote, drink alcohol, smoke, drive, have sex or travel alone (and rightfully so), but I’d have the authority to mutilate my body and permanently alter my life. Makes total sense! (sarcasm /off)

Hit the pause button….

There are reasons why children aren’t allowed to do certain things or make certain decisions for themselves. There are extremely crucial and important reasons why children have adults to look after them, guide them and make decisions for them. It isn’t an “invasion of privacy” or an “invalidation of their identity.”

It’s reasonable and logical to understand that children need to develop into a teenager, and then to an adult. It’s sensible to understand that the brain must have an appropriate amount of time to develop. It’s rational and sane to understand, no matter how confident a child is with a decision they’ve made, that time, environment, and a thousand other potential factors will have an impact on their thoughts, feelings, beliefs and desires. That is life.

As an adult I have finally starting coming to terms with my body and my biological sex. As an adult, I understand and realise that what goes on in my head can feel very real at times, but it’s still only in my head. As an adult, I’m so glad that I did not grow up amidst the madness that is transgender ideology.

What I haven’t come to terms with is the systemic oppression that the female sex class is still enduring. [2]

What I cannot come to terms with is the madness occurring on social and political levels surrounding transgender ideology.

Material reality vs. ideology….

I never imagined that I would be attacked or vilified for knowing that I am a female and that I have a female reproductive system. I never thought the day would come when “woman” would be an offensive word.

The transgender movement denies the truth, but it also denies reality. “Truth” is often subjective and one person’s truth may not be the next person’s truth. However, reality just is.

They proclaim that your ‘gender’ is “assigned” at birth. That is not true. Sex is observed and recorded. I wonder if the parents of the estimated 23 million aborted female foetuses (mainly from Asia) were confused about the sex of the foetus? I wonder if the high number of female infants being murdered (due to being valued less than boys) just needed a way to verbalise that they identified as boys, not girls? [3]

They say that women discussing issues relating to their vaginas is “transphobic” by “excluding trans women,” but men don’t have a cervix, uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes or a vagina. Women do, and we’ve had it up to here (*points to the sky*) with men trying to control what we do, how we do it and how we speak about, and organise around, issues that affect us.

How did we even get to this point?…

I’ll admit, I honestly thought the ‘panic’ over the trans movement was uncalled for. That is, until I saw hard fought for rights being rolled back for women. That is, until I saw women’s bathrooms disappearing while men’s remained. That is, until I was the subject of a witch hunt led by women that I called my friends for years.

Women that know I have spent years leading the charge for inclusive spaces in our local area, and not just online where it’s f’ing easy. I took on overwhelming amounts of stress, anxiety, harassment and bullying, from mostly men, to fight for safe and inclusive activist spaces, safe nightclubs and more.

These women witnessed me being pushed to the brink of my own sanity to fight for everyone’s rights. I faced-up to businesses, organisations and activists to fight for justice. I exposed the rapists lurking around our spaces and I called out the racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes and bigots in our spaces. I have invested thousands of hours running campaigns, protests & rallies and have dedicated my time to helping so many different individuals within my community.

Yet, this pack of ravenous women had the audacity to target me, intimidate me and harass me. They had the audacity to recruit people in their hate campaign; their witch hunt. They had the audacity to say that what I think and believe about myself is not true and that it is bad and wrong. How dare they?!

These women are known as trans-rights activists (TRA’s) and they don’t believe women have the right to sex-segregated spaces or sports. [4] These are women that don’t believe women have the right to see medical professionals that are women. These are women that have the audacity to call themselves feminists.

It’s never enough….

It isn’t enough to keep track of and use preferred pronouns. It isn’t enough to refer to them by their new name. It isn’t enough that they already have the exact same rights that their counterparts have. Oh, goodness no. They want more. They want you to speak their language. They want you to think their thoughts. They want you to believe everything they believe.

Does it matter that their beliefs invalidate your existence?

Not to them, it doesn’t.

Does it matter that they deny your truth?

Not to them, it doesn’t.

Yet, that is why they swarm and attack. That is why they recruit people into their campaigns of hate and harassment. Because you won’t accept their truth. You won’t say the words they want you to say. The words they DEMAND that you say.

You won’t forget your reality and you won’t forget historical fact or the axis of oppression you are bound to by birth, and that makes you a monster.

What’s worse? They don’t stop there. They expect people to omit words and definitions from their language and believe & think exactly how they are told to. If you don’t do it, they will actively try to harm you.

1) Force: coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence.

2) Coercion: the action or practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.

3) Compulsion: the action or state of forcing or being forced to do something

These are the main tactics of the transgender movement.

They’ll start with manipulation, guilt and condescending tones. If that doesn’t make you crumble and start repeating the magic soundbites, they’ll move on to swearing, name calling, intimidation and veiled threats. The recruitment has already begun behind the scene, and you’ll soon be bombarded with comments and messages and physical confrontations, all demanding answers from you. You are now being harassed.

They don’t give thought to a lot….

Not the young girls having their clits cut off. [5] Not the girls starting their periods that desperately want privacy in the bathroom at school. Not the females around the world that don’t have access to abortion care. Not the women in sports that we had to fight to be able to participate in for decades, all to have men invade that space, too. [6] Not the army of ex-sex workers that want nothing more than to see the ‘industry’ shut down on every level and for women everywhere to be liberated. [7] They don’t give thought to the hundreds of thousands of women fleeing abuse that desperately need a safe space. No. This crowd does not give thought to a lot.

When was the last time this crowd picked up a lexicon?

I’m a woman. A woman is (*looks in lexicon*) an adult human female. *random shouting* “OH MY GOD! TERF! TERF! PUNCH THE TERF!”

A-b-s-u-r-d-i-t-y!

The words “girl“ and “woman” are not representative of imaginary things. Contrary to what some say, girls and women aren’t formless blobs. Those words exist for necessary reasons. Those words are how we verbally differentiate or specify between young and older members of the female sex class, just like “boy” and “man” for the male sex class. How and when did definitions become so trivial and offensive?

Facts still remain regardless of how persistent and aggressive this movement is. The audacity of this crowd to think they somehow have the power or authority to command to people what they are allowed to say, think and believe is beyond me, honestly, and it wreaks of authoritarianism.

The forgotten ones….

There are many groups of people that are being forgotten within ‘discussions’ (see: verbal attacks) with trans rights activists, and within the ideology as a whole. First and foremost – females. We are quite literally having our rights stripped from us around the world. We haven’t even achieved equitable rights for all girls and women, yet, our rights are being taken away. Rape shelters and domestic violence refuges are being vandalised and defunded because they refuse to accept “transwomen” into their facilities. [8] Let me rephrase that for you. Rape shelters and domestic violence refuges are being vandalised and defunded because they refuse to accept men into their facilities.

The staff at the shelters and refuges are protecting the hard fought for rights of traumatised women that are victims of rape and physical abuse, and many times, their children, too. We have the right to sex-segregated services and facilities! We need that right. How could anyone try and take that away from us? How can women be a part of this?

Another group of people that are forgotten are lesbians. A lesbian is a same-sex attracted female human being. One of the many problems with “self-identification” is this new and disturbing idea that men can be lesbians. The idea is, if a woman identifies as a man, the woman can be with another woman in a lesbian relationship (which it actually is) but ‘he’ is a ‘man.’ Yes. They believe all of this. The flip side of this is, if a man identifies as a woman, he can now be with a woman (in what is actually a heterosexual relationship) and call himself, sorry – ‘herself’ – a lesbian.

Yep…..take a minute, if you need to. It’s a lot to take in.

Now, how does this have a negative impact on lesbians? I know a lot of radical feminist lesbians that share personal testimony to how often men say things like “maybe you just haven’t had the right dick yet,” and how often they are verbally and sexually harassed, and sadly, many times they are assaulted and/or raped in order to “convert” them from loving only biological women. The idea of a woman that doesn’t need a man for anything, not even for basic sexual pleasure, is extremely threatening to men in general. Lesbians are too often met with hostility, and far worse, simply for who they love and want to have sex with, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. [9]

The people and issues being overlooked within the transgender ideology movement go on and on. Children that need access to genuine and effective mental health resources that, instead, are sexualised and/or put on a path of body mutilation.

The very people at the core of this ideological movement are being overlooked!

So many people grow up with body dysmorphia, low self-esteem, warped sense of self, dissociation and other serious and traumatic mental health issues. So many girls just do not want to deal with being female. I fully believe that we have the knowledge of our foremothers in our genes and in our bones. We know, straight out of the womb, what our life will be like. We carry that generational trauma within us. Is it any wonder that so many young girls would elect to ‘be’ a boy?

Does anyone else ever stop to wonder why so many parents are jumping on board with this? Could it be, just maybe, that it’s easier to pretend they have a daughter, rather than a feminine son that wants to wear dresses and vice versa?

Toxic male standards create pressure for boys, too, and many of them do not want to perform the assumed stereotypes that come with being a male.

Feminists have been working for decades to smash the sex-based stereotypes that create that pressure for girls and women. Gay men have been smashing gender norms for decades. Rock gods gave us “gender fluidity” in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, but society, in general, just hasn’t let go of gender expectations & stereotypes yet. So I sympathise with parents of children that are confused, lost and feeling empty, but surgeries, body altering drugs and jumping on the bandwagon of harmful ideologies are not the answers. The core issues for these children are not being properly addressed.

Furthermore, the long-term consequences and side effects of blocking puberty have not been fully explored and are not fully known or understood. [10]

Who is looking after the longterm health and well-being of individuals seeking gender affirmation?

The ‘T’ in LGBT….

Remember, there is an important difference between a transsexual person and a transgender person. The transgender movement insists you only need to feel like a man/woman/neither in order to be a man/woman/neither. Nothing more than an idea and suddenly…BOOP! You’re not what you were born as.

Transsexuals are men or women that go through physical and chemical changes (hormone replacement therapy, surgeries) in order to look and be more like the sex they are transitioning to. Yes. That’s where “trans,” or, the ‘T’, comes from; transition.

It concerns me that the transgender movement has seemingly, and in their minds, erased the existence of real human beings that have extremely specific medical and social needs. Needs that, I dare say, are not being effectively met within the constraints of our current medical systems and policies. These are men and women with unnatural amounts of hormones in their bodies and, many times, with unique post-surgery genitalia. [1]

In online transsexual spaces, transsexual women (biologically male) are almost entirely free from misconceptions or delusions about the ability to change their biological sex. They know they cannot change sex. What they can do, and are doing, is changing their secondary sex characteristics. I’ll reiterate that this creates extremely unique medical needs which are not the same as either men or women, and they deserve spaces and systems that recognise those needs and address them effectively and civilly. There are also many transsexual people that find they need compassionate mental health support in relation to their decision to permanently change their body. [11]

Transgender people are undermining everything about transsexuals, their needs and their history of oppression that led to being a part of the LGBT community. They are turning people against actual trans people.

Here’s just one example:

While I agree with this, it’s only partially true. Transsexuals are not the ones leading this attack, and that is what the ‘T’ stands for. Not transgender.

Look, feminists are not wishing harm on anyone. We are not smashing windows or punching and harassing trans people. Feminists just want to protect, and advocate for, the rights of girls and women.

That is what feminism is for.

Females – that is who feminism is for.

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This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

References –

[1] Post-surgery trans genitalia:

Phalloplasty (graphic) – https://images.app.goo.gl/EEdqKTvH7ptd9kFm8

Penile inversion vaginoplasty (graphic) – https://images.app.goo.gl/BwmSrgnbdHct52RNA

[2] UN study finds 90% of people are bias against women:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51751915

[3] Sex-selective abortions (female foetuses) and female infanticide:

https://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465124337/how-chinas-one-child-policy-led-to-forced-abortions-30-million-bachelors

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml#top

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2199874-sex-selective-abortions-may-have-stopped-the-birth-of-23-million-girls/

[4] Trans rights activists against women’s rights:

Police Do Nothing as Trans Activist Mob Terrorizes Attendees, Kicks Windows, Screams, at Woman’s Place UK Meeting

What’s Current: Police investigating bomb threat against A Woman’s Place meeting

Trans Activists Protest Bi-Partisan Bill to Protect Girls From Barbaric Practice of Female Genital Mutilation

[5] Female genital mutilation:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

[6] Men (transgender women) in women’s sport:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/120029186/2020-tokyo-olympics-committee-has-bowed-to-pressure-to-include-trans-weight-lifter-in-womens-category

https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/iwd-a-waking-nightmare-for-womens-sport-what-history-teaches-us-in-the-gender-debate/?fbclid=IwAR0yQMZgQf2Qs5FSBo39eUhx3SSLPJ5ch3gZdDp_FNBICuNqz3sF0CuWvMs

[7] Former prostitutes/“sex workers” against porn/prostitution

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/30/new-zealand-sex-work-prostitution-migrants-julie-bindel

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/11/prostitution-legalised-sex-trade-pimps-women

https://quinnbites.wixsite.com/contrarianquinn/post/everybody-knows-what-a-woman-is-including-trans-activists

[8] Vancouver Rape Relief shelter defunded/Men in women’s shelters & refuges and other female-only spaces:

Rape shelter loses funding after trans rights activists complain

https://www.christianpost.com/news/vancouver-city-council-votes-stop-funding-rape-shelter-over-refusal-admit-men-who-identify-as-women.html

Funding ends for Vancouver Rape Relief service

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6894599/When-man-called-Mark-locked-threatening-kill-mother-child.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/staff-guidance-into-trans-patients-on-womens-wards-is-under-review-cfq2c7nrf

[9] Hostility that lesbians face:

https://www.feministcurrent.com/tag/the-cotton-ceiling/

[10] Longterm effects of puberty blockers and gender ideology:

https://www.genderhq.org/trans-youth-side-effects-hormone-blockers-surgery

[11] Transexual perspectives/de-transitioning:

‘Transwomen’ are not Women

https://www.piqueresproject.com/about.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51676020

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tavistock-gender-clinic-faces-court-over-puberty-blockers-for-children-0msg9w0gn

https://www.genderhq.org/trans-youth-side-effects-hormone-blockers-surgery

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct0hyy

Other relevant information –

Medical and moral neglect:

Gender Dysphoria and Autism: A Parent Speaks Out

Big money in gender affirmation:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/sex-reassignment-surgery-market

Women in sports speaking out:

Aussie Olympian takes a stand against transgender athletes at Tokyo 2020

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/call-for-rethink-on-transgender-safety-in-womens-sport/news-story/bfd63ea12ee8325031c8183b390e0401

Women being no-platformed and ‘cancelled’:

https://filia.org.uk/news/2020/2/29/womens-liberation-at-50-the-talk-that-should-have-been-by-selina-todd

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jk-rowling-installs-security-gates-at-perthshire-home-after-disputes-tpr8t9wvz

Four Corners story linked to $6 million grant for Australia’s busiest kids gender clinic:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/four-corners-story-linked-to-6m-grant-for-australias-busiest-kids-gender-clinic/news-story/0848042e57d0d7724f0f2b2e0ef97544

https://nypost.com/2020/06/17/j-k-rowling-stands-up-for-feminism-against-trans-extremism/

The Guardian – Women Must Have the Right To Organise:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2020/mar/02/women-must-have-the-right-to-organise-we-will-not-be-silenced?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Erasure of women:

https://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/event-details/period-power

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1235623170339672065.html

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdRjZaK2hDW_M45TzPvt9HEddtZ3GjULIWVZadCv6z-P6vTRw/viewform

English translation of google doc – https://www.facebook.com/1301660769891895/posts/2895621953829094/?d=n

We cannot change our biological sex:

https://threader.app/thread/1133120326844506112

In someone else’s words:

https://quinnbites.wixsite.com/contrarianquinn/post/everybody-knows-what-a-woman-is-including-trans-activists

https://www.facebook.com/migrantwomeneurope/

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This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

IWD2020 – ‘Formless’, something, something, ‘Womxn’

‘Women have had the power of naming stolen from us’, Mary Daly, 1979

A swathe of corporations, ‘Leftist’ organisations, members of government and high profile individuals outdid themselves for International Women’s Day this year: #IWD2020 – #EachForEqual.

We women were politely, and not so politely, reminded on this ‘our day of days’ – that we are taking up too much damn space, also, stop all the shrill, er, “non-men” speaking, and most importantly, know your place.

But being feminists and all, women stood up with courage, wit, and tenacity, holding firm to an intrinsic tenet of feminism – that it is about, for, and by women – for our liberation.

 

University of Leicester’s new ‘Women’s Officer’, Dan Orr, who identifies as a transwoman, rebrands ‘International Women’s Day’ as ‘International Womxn’s Day’ to be more inclusive of ‘anyone who identifies as a woman in society’… There are already separate posts for ‘LGBT+ officer’ and ‘Trans and Non-Binary’ officer… 

 

 

• Many more screenshots collated by radfemrebecca here – “A collection of misogynistic businesses, universities and organisations that feel women can’t have anything just for ourselves.”

And know our Place:

Meanwhile:

Until all women and girls are free:
Sex-selective abortions, Female genital mutilation, Girls sold as “child brides”, menstruation “huts”, period stigma, period poverty, forced pregnancy and stigma, breast ironing to avoid rape, lack of available effective safe contraception, lack of abortion rights, miscarriage, birth trauma, gynecological abuse, vaginal exams on unconsenting females while under anesthesia for unrelated surgeries, sexual abuse by male physicians, coerced c-sections, forced sterilization, racial discrimination during pregnancy and childbirth, workplace discrimination for mothers, breastfeeding stigma, increased male violence during pregnancy, single mothers stigma, coerced hysterectomies to retain employment, breast milk/feeding coercion by males, male default medical industry/diagnoses/treatment failing female health, auto immune diseases, undiagnosed illnesses, untreated pain, trauma pathologised, period pain, PMS disregard, endometriosis disregard, PCOS/uterine fibroids, fistula, post natal depression, vaginal mesh scandal, menopause disregard, rape, female refugees raped, females raped as a weapon of war, day to day sexual objectification, the male gaze, sexual objectification in media and advertising, sexual assault, pornography, strip clubs, prostitution, human trafficking, spy cams, voyeurism, body image/beauty standards, domestic violence, coercive control, femicide, “honor killings”, bulk of childcare and unpaid work, disproportionately living in poverty, female erasure in the law, “foot binding” resurgence, the “husband stitch”, surrogacy, online abuse, “revenge porn”, eating disorders, world built for male bodies from crash test dummies to medicine, the “urinary leash”, unsafe or no toilet provisions…. and on and on….

– Compiled by Andreia Nobre: “Issues that only affect female bodies” – @ariana_erbon – Twitter https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1212427311083130880.html

– Her tweets continue here: https://twitter.com/ariana_erbon/status/1212427311083130880…

See also: https://twitter.com/joon_of/status/1160618388684759040?s=21

#WomensLiberation #FemaleLiberation #FEMinism

Related:

– Suzanne Moore: Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced – The treatment of Selina Todd this weekend was a warning. We have to protect women’s sex-based rights – Tue 3 Mar 2020 “As Roman Polanski was being rewarded for his latest film at the César awards, [Selina] Todd was being silenced. This latest silencing of women is a warning. You either protect women’s rights as sex-based or you don’t protect them at all…… Women have the right to call out the violent men who rape. We have the right to speak and organise without being told that speech is itself dangerous. You can tell me to “die in a ditch, terf” all you like, as many have for years, but I self-identify as a woman who won’t go down quietly. There are more of us than you think.”

– Maya Forstater: “Both sides”. This tweet is rightly getting ratio’ed because the ‘both sides’ thing is bad faith nonsense. On one side: rape & death threats, doxxing, no-platforming, trying to get people fired. On the other side: some snark. Ask for receipts… nothing. Here are some:”

– ForWomenScot: “The co-convener of @scotgp, @patrickharvie has decided to mark #iwd2020 first by insulting women in @ScotParl by suggesting all the bad things happen because of identity. Now, he says the women who object are “boring” him. So, we thought we’d find some dull stats for him:”

– Laura McNally: “Women are not ‘imagined,’ and on International Women’s Day, we should know this – What does it mean to be a woman? Perhaps for International Women’s Day we could start to trust that women are actually capable of forming an answer.”

– Jo Bartosch: “Next year let’s hope more companies cash-in on international womxn’s day, and let’s hope more amazing be-penised womxn are selected to speak up for womxn everywhere. Up the womxn!”

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International Women’s Day 2020 – We Demand Change

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Read Demands for Change linked below and share it across social media with the hashtag #IWD2020. Then send Demands for Change to the listed Ministers.

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Demands for Change – https://realforwomen.wordpress.com/2020/02/26/demands-for-change/

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Send Demands for Change to these Ministers:

Hon. Mark McGowan MLA
WA State Premier
wa-government@dpc.wa.gov.au

Hon. Simone McGurk MLA
Minister for Child Protection; Women’s Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services
Minister.McGurk@dpc.wa.gov.au

Hon. Senator Anne Ruston
Federal Minister for Families and Social Services
libadm@liberal.org.au
https://ministers.dss.gov.au/anne-ruston/contact

Hon. Senator Marise Payne
Federal Minister for Women
ministerforwomen@pmc.gov.au

Hon. Michelle Roberts MLA – Member for Midland
WA Minister for Police
Minister.Roberts@dpc.wa.gov.au

Hon. Julie Collins MP
Shadow Minister for Women
julie.collins.mp@aph.gov.au

Hon. Bronnie Taylor MLC
Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women
https://www.nsw.gov.au/your-government/ministers/minister-for-mental-health-regional-youth-and-women/

Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP
Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Women and Minister for Youth
gabrielle.williams@parliament.vic.gov.au

Hon. Yvette Berry
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence,
Minister for Women
berry@act.gov.au

Hon Michelle Lensink MLC
Minister for Human Services
dhsministerforhumanservices@sa.gov.au

Hon. Di Farmer MP
Minister for Child Safety, Youth and Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence
childsafety@ministerial.qld.gov.au

Hon. Paul Fletcher MP
Federal Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts
paul.fletcher.mp@aph.gov.au

Also consider sending this from Reclaim the Night Perth – https://www.facebook.com/158606704346880/posts/1319079638299575/?d=n

…and the following calls to action/statements from Fair Agenda and Women’s Council for Domestic & Family Violence Services – WA:

• https://www.facebook.com/169695319887050/posts/1284101488446422/?d=n
• https://www.facebook.com/158606704346880/posts/1319924964881709/?d=n

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UN Women…we need to talk

Written by A. Lìen

I want to discuss UN Women and the hypocrisy that is scattered all over their website and within their principles.

From their website:

“UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.” [1]

Now, this sounds great! Unless, of course, they don’t know how to define what a “woman” is. But, this is the UN! Surely they understand biological fact, right? Well, I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.

In their “Twelve small actions with big impact for Generation Equality” published to their website on February 25, 2020, there is some concerning language being used, as well as disturbing ideologies being endorsed.

The third “action” they list is:

“3. Reject the binary”

“Repeat after me: It’s humankind. Not mankind.

It might not seem like a big deal, but terms such as “male or female” and “women or men” exclude non-binary and intersex people who don’t fall into any of these categories. [2] Diverse gender identities have always existed in every culture, and ensuring the rights of transgender, genderqueer, non-binary individuals and more—who often face horrifying violence and discrimination across the world—is an inherent part of gender equality. (Generation Equality pro tip: Check out the ‘Genderbread Person’ to learn the difference between sex, gender, gender identity and gender expression).

Everyday language plays a huge role in breaking gender stereotypes and rejecting the binary of “male and female”. Instead of using phrases like “ladies and gentlemen” or “boys and girls”, swap in a gender-neutral term like “folks,” “children,” or “y’all.” These little changes can go a long way toward shifting cultural perceptions of gender.

Don’t assume you know someone’s pronoun or gender. One way to open up a conversation is to give your own: include your pronouns when you introduce yourself or add them to your email signature or your social media profiles. Gender pronouns include: she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/zir, ze/hir, xe/zem, and zie/hir, xe/xem, and ey/em.

When referring to a person using the pronouns, gender and name that they use to identify themselves, do not refer to or reveal a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status without their consent.” [3]

Ok. So, some people will be thinking “what’s wrong with that?” [4]

Others will be thinking “what the hell are they on about?”

On the surface, there’s nothing “wrong” with referring to people how they prefer, but let’s dig deeper into this “action” and what they’re really saying.

They’ve made some outrageous claims that “transgender” people and “non-binary” people are at risk of “horrifying violence and discrimination across the world.”

Hmm….give me a minute. I’m thinking…..hmm.

Did I miss the tragic non-binary genocide of 1710?

Perhaps I am not aware of the wars that have plagued the country of transgender folks? (Look at that! Using that “gender neutral” language already!)

Has my educational history not provided me with the full details of the systemic oppression that 10-25 year olds with body dysmorphia, along with a random supply of grown men, have endured and suffered through for centuries?

Where is this horrifying violence and discrimination? Where exactly is it happening? The refusal from the majority of society to accept the ideological nonsense being spewed is NOT discrimination or oppression. It’s a disagreement.

Oddly enough, the members of the LGBT community that are at the highest risk of violence aren’t even mentioned in this “action” from UN Women.[See: lesbians – female, same sex attracted, humans. Also see: transsexuals – males/females that have physically and medically transitioned their body to minimise secondary sex characteristics of their biological sex, and possibly maximise secondary sex characteristics of the opposite sex]. Neither is the class of people at the absolute highest risk of violence – females.

Furthermore, it may not seem like a big deal, but erasing words like “male,” “female,” and phrases like “boys and girls” is restricting the ability of half of the worlds population to discuss and organise around issues that affect us (girls and women) uniquely and differently from issues that affect boys and men. We are different, but we all deserve to be treated equitably.

Self-ID is dangerous

Nothing more than a feeling and boop! You’re a woman, or a man, or neither! Isn’t that great? In fact, you don’t actually need to ‘feel’ anything at all! You can just say the words “I identify as a girl/woman,” or, “I identify as a boy/man,” and you’re done! You have now magically, and against every fact known to humankind, changed your biological sex! Wasn’t that easy? (never mind the fact that this ideological movement insists biological sex isn’t real. *psst* It kind of falls apart if you ask questions, so just hush and believe it. *nervous laugh*)

Ok. That’s enough! Stop the madness! Women have worked for centuries to have issues specific to girls & women acknowledged and addressed, and now we are being told “never mind,” basically. It was especially nauseating to see this on the UN Women’s website, just a scroll or two underneath the above mentioned action plan for gender equality.

Continue reading…

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

F E M A L E

By J.K. Williams

So sweet, loving and kind. A beautiful mind

Pretend to be a princess, handmade dresses

A heart so giving, such a joy for living

Things were great. Oh….shit, just wait. 

That doesn’t feel right. Stop! STOP! I have to fight. 

I can’t. Terrified. Hide it all inside.

Shame. So much shame. So fucked – myself I blame. 

I don’t want any of it! No period, no bras or shaving, none of that shit.

Disassociate from my fate. Disassociate. Disassociate. 

Never ending. The comments, stares, touches, the breaking and the mending. 

You can’t say that

You can’t fucking say that bitch 

Shut your mouth. You’re fat. 

Feeling so small, worthless, sick of it all. 

Everything is wrong. Just keeping plodding along. 

Nothing is right. Just get through the night. 

Broken nose, broken face, blood all over the place. 

I didn’t do anything. Why is this happening? 

Whore. Here’s some more. 

Teeth smashed and the house is trashed. 

Go to sleep. Wake up. Repeat.

Never taken seriously. Even if you ask politely. 

Silenced, dismissed. Be different…I wish. I wish. I wish. 

Punished for existing. Endless suffering. 

Suck it in, doubt yourself, never win.

Constant pain. Feel the damage to your brain. 

Lightheaded. Full of absolute dread. 

Reality is deeply traumatic. Shut up. Stop being so dramatic.

Harassed, raped, beaten, killed. Watch the blood spill. 

Lied to, misdiagnosed, gaslighted. Wish to be dead.

Don’t want to leave….need a reprieve

Heart shattered 

Body battered

Mind splitting 

Spirit weakening

Still here, jaw clenched in fear.

Our existence is not respected. Resistance should be expected. 

Warrior

Survivor

You’ll never fucking stop her

---

F E M A L E
By J.K. Williams

Written on October 23rd, 2019

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2019

More from this author here – https://jkwilliamsoriginalwork.wordpress.com/

Demands for Change

By J.K. Williams

25/02/2020

Full, original source here – https://jkwilliamsoriginalwork.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/just-admit-you-dont-care-if-we-die/

This list of demands is a direct message to our Federal and State governments, all media agencies and reporters in Australia, all medical professionals, all State and Federal Police Officers and Detectives, all Australian Magistrates and all Family Court staff and every single adult male in Australia.

Our Demands

1- 

Language and Reporting:

– This deadly problem shouldn’t be referred to as “domestic violence” anymore. We can’t immediately change the definition and legal categorisation, but we must change how we talk about it and refer to it. Femicide/male violence against women (MVAW)/terrorism of women and children – are all more accurate terms.

– Along with this, the media must be held accountable regarding their duty of care to the public when reporting on matters of MVAW. Publications must be held to the mandatory standards and guidelines of this country.

• Based on the Australian Press Council’s ‘Statements of Principles’, Australian publications are failing to adhere to at least two key principles:*

1. Ensure that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate and not misleading, and is distinguishable from other material such as opinion.
2. Avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.

• According to the APC’s Advisory Guideline on Family and Domestic Violence Reporting, they are failing to meet numerous guidelines that must be adhered to:*

“Safety

The safety and well-being of those affected by family violence must be the primary consideration. Publications should not publish information that could cause or contribute to the risk of harm, offence or distress. Survivors of family violence often comment that their pain and suffering was exacerbated by media coverage. In some circumstances, it may not be safe, appropriate or legal to use real names or other identifying information.”

“Responsibility

Reporting of family violence should try not to blame a person affected by the violence or suggest that the person somehow enabled the violence or could have avoided it. Publications should also avoid placing undue emphasis on the characteristics or surroundings of the victim, or implying that such things contributed to the family violence, unless doing so is essential to the narrative and sufficiently in the public interest. Use of the active voice in relation to the perpetrator will help avoid placing undue emphasis on the person affected by family violence. For example: “Police charged a 38-year-old Melbourne man with the murder of a 36-year-old woman”, as opposed to, e.g. “A 36- year-old woman was murdered and a 38-year-old Melbourne man has been charged”.”

“Context and content

The context and complexities of family violence should also be key considerations, such as when an alleged perpetrator may have a mental illness. Publications should note any such factors when it is warranted in a particular case and in the public interest. Care also should be taken to avoid casual stigmatisation, such as by stating or implying that the violence was “caused” by a person’s mental illness or culture.”

“Words matter. Publications should be mindful of the language they use and try to avoid terms that tend to trivialise, demean or inadvertently excuse family violence, such as “a domestic”, “a domestic dispute” or “a troubled marriage”. Where it is lawful to do so, the relationships of the people involved should be described as accurately and precisely as possible.”

“In addition to reporting particular incidents, journalists can play a critical role in deepening readers’ understanding about family violence by referring to resources such as official statistics, peer- reviewed research, and experts, such as domestic violence counsellors and survivors.”

“Publications should also be aware of the potential impact of story layout, headlines and surrounding material (such as advertisements) that may be insensitive or jarring in the circumstances.”

– We demand better from the Australian media.

– We expect the government and police/judicial system to back us up on that.

2-

– Mandatory incarceration for violent adult males. Whether it’s a king hit in the city or beating their female partner or their kids, they must be locked up for a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 30, with/without charges being laid. This is when there is physical evidence of violence being perpetrated. (Witnesses, bruising/bleeding, cctv footage, ongoing police involvement, previous Report(s) to Police, Restraining Order(s) or other Court Order(s) etc.)

This gives the men time to calm down and gives the women (and kids) time to figure out an exit plan, and for most victims of MVAW, this will give them time to de-condition themselves, for lack of a better term, and discover/realise that they don’t want to stay in that relationship.

With this process, there must be initiatives to introduce effective and proven strategies in to our jails and prisons to immediately begin educating and rehabilitating perpetrators of violence to lower the probability of them reoffending. **

Ideally, we would have new and specific clinical facilities to house and rehabilitate these violent offenders. There is reason to believe that rehab programs set in the environment of a correctional facility are not as effective as they need to be. Regardless of where these violent offenders are housed during their required stint in some form of temporary removal from their community, the focus must be on effective rehabilitation to lower the risk of reoffending.

3-

– More government funding for men’s and women’s crisis counselling (with the aim of making it entirely free of charge to patients).

– More than 10 bulk billed visits per year to see a mental health professional are needed. We demand at least 24 bulk billed appointments per calendar year for youth and adults on Mental Health Care Plans.

4-

– More government funding for women’s refuges, with the aim of there being more facilities and each facility being more efficiently staffed and more well-rounded with the services and support they can give.

5-

– New and specific funding for women’s and children’s programs and facilities that can mimic the Women’s Police Stations, and relevant programs & policies, that are having great success aiding in lowering rates of violence against women and children in Argentina.*

6-

(this is for everyone)

– Normalise interference, intervention and involvement in families and households that have a problem with violence or control. Normalise checking in on them and normalise awareness of their situation amongst the community. Normalise direct interference and immediate interruption and intervention of controlling and violent men. Normalise public conversations about the violence you witness in your community and let’s normalise supportive rehabilitation of violent males, whether they are a child, teen or adult.

7-

– We want our court systems; our magistrates, bailiffs and clerks, to favour women and children in all matters of “family violence.” A core value of any justice system should be to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. More focus needs to be on the facts and statistics of MVAW and “family violence,” and assessments for determining authenticity of the threat of violence for an individual victim need to be based on those facts and statistics. ** This should translate in to efficient and accurate assessments for women and children, in lieu of evidence, so they can receive protection and assistance. **

8-

– New and specific funding for specially tailored recreational AND sports programs, facilities and events for all males and females aged between 12 and 17.

9-

– New and specific funding for specially tailored mental health programs and educational-based programs and courses for “at risk” males aged between 12 and 17. These should be available at no cost to families with “at risk” male teenagers in the home.

At risk = (but is not limited to)

– struggling in school (socially and/or academically)

– engaging in verbal harassment or abuse at school or at home

– engaging in violent behaviour of any kind

– police involvement at any level

– if Restraining Orders or other Court Orders are in effect or have previously been in affect

– if there is any history of controlling behaviour, verbal, physical or sexual abuse for either parent, whether biological (and not living in the home) and/or step-parents/guardians living in the home with the male youth.

10-

– New and specific funding for specially tailored mental health programs and educational-based programs and courses for “at risk” females aged between 12 and 17. These should be available at no cost to families with female teenagers in the home that are “at risk” of becoming a victim to male violence.

At risk = (but is not limited to)

– struggling in school (socially and/or academically)

– withdrawing from friends, school, social activities, sports etc.

– engaging in self-destructive/harmful behaviour of any kind

– police involvement at any level

– if Restraining Orders or other Court Orders are in effect or have previously been in affect

– if there is any history of controlling behaviour, verbal, physical or sexual abuse for either parent, whether biological (and living/not living in the home) and/or step-parents/guardians living in the home with the female youth.

Our demands are reasonable and achievable.

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

References and resources –

* APC Advisory Guidelines: https://www.presscouncil.org.au/advisory-guidelines/

* APC Advisory Guideline on Family and Domestic Violence Reporting: https://www.presscouncil.org.au/uploads/52321/ufiles/Guidelines/Advisory_Guideline_on_Family_and_Domestic_Violence_Reporting.pdf

** Strategies for the education and rehabilitation of male perpetrators of violence. Examples:

– https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/401889/barbershop-movement-urges-abusive-men-to-tackle-traumatic-pasts

– Change the Story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia – https://www.ourwatch.org.au/getmedia/0aa0109b-6b03-43f2-85fe-a9f5ec92ae4e/Change-the-story-framework-prevent-violence-women-children-AA-new.pdf.aspx

– Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Why_Does_He_Do_That.html?id=azvHexd1g1YC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

– Coercive Control, Laura Richards:

So, what exactly is coercive control?

Deep Diving Coercive Control

https://www.ourwatch.org.au/Understanding-Violence/Facts-and-figures

* Women’s Police Stations in Argentina: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127088/

Recent headlines and comments regarding the tragic murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children, and rates of male violence in Australia- 

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/is-it-an-instance-of-a-husband-being-driven-too-far-anger-over-comment-from-police-in-brisbane/news-story/84c497606511b13dee815e2d354960d5

https://7news.com.au/politics/pauline-hanson-says-these-things-happen-in-the-wake-of-hannah-clarke-and-her-childrens-murder-c-713429

The Media Is Once Again Failing A Female Victim Of Domestic Violence

Other relevant information and resources –

If you do care, take action now: https://fair-agenda.good.do/asaferfuture/email/

https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2019/11/New-laws-to-tackle-family-and-domestic-violence-in-WA.aspx

https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/television/media/updating-australias-media-laws

https://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Guidelines%2

Prison-based correctional rehabilitation: An overview of intensive interventions for moderate to high-risk offenders [in Australia]: https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi412

VIOLENT OFFENDER TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHERE TO FROM HERE: https://www.div12.org/violent-offender-treatment-effectiveness-what-we-know-and-where-to-from-here/

Thank you to the radical feminists that helped me with some of the references and resources.

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

If you need help, please contact one of the resources below, and/or reach out to trusted family and/or friends. 

WOMEN’S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELPLINE

The Women’s Domestic Violence Helpline is a state wide 24 hour service. This service provides support and counselling for women experiencing family and domestic violence. This includes phone counselling, information and advice, referral to local advocacy and support services, liaison with police if necessary and support in escaping situations of family and domestic violence. The service can refer women to safe accommodation if required. A telephone based interpreting service is available if required. 

Telephone (08) 9223 1188

Free call 1800 007 339

In an emergency – if someone is in immediate danger – call the police on 000 now.

Here is a link to a thorough list of a range of numbers, services, hotlines and websites. 

https://www.breakingthesilence.com.au/albany/womens-domestic-violence-hotllines/

Just Admit You Don’t Care If We Die

Written by J.K. Williams

---

Seriously, Australia! Could our politicians, reporters, magistrates, police officers and the adult male members of the public all take a stand, and in unison, repeat after me – “I DO NOT CARE ABOUT DEAD WOMEN AND CHILDREN!”

What? Does that offend you? Do you immediately scoff and think “Well, that’s awfully judgemental. I’m sure plenty of them care about women and children (and men!!!!) and don’t want them to die!” 

But, do they really care? Do you really care? 

Don’t we just have to look at the recent headlines about the horrific murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children, the recent comments from Queensland Detective Inspector Mark Thompson or to the increasing annual rates of dead women, children and men killed by violent males to see the obvious lack of concern? *

If politicians, police officers, media agencies, magistrates and all men genuinely cared, women and children wouldn’t be dying from male violence as often as we are. Heck, I dare say we wouldn’t be dying from male violence at all. If those people truly cared, our communities and social structures would be very different. They’d look, feel and work opposite to how almost everything works now.

Male violence against women (MVAW) isn’t always about assault, rape or murder….

The ways in which girls and women are objectified, dismissed, neglected, harassed, silenced and abused seem to be endless. Girls and women have always been objectified in books, magazines, advertisements, tv shows and movies, and we have been overlooked and erased from our very own archived history. Black and Indigenous girls and women have suffered and have been erased even more so than white women. 

Our body parts are commodified. Archaic beliefs are held about our natural bodily functions, and unless you are a female, the full extent of the brutal truth about how girls and women are viewed, spoken about and treated has been hidden from you. This steady erosion of our humanness has created a world where, for the most part, we are treated like objects and not like living human beings. (Go figure!?) 

The problem is, it’s all quite natural to us now.

Right here, right now….

I assure you that there are hundreds of thousands of women and children in Western Australia (and hundreds of thousands more across Australia and in other countries) suffering in silence in their homes due to abuse from the adult male in the home, and many times, from older male youth members of the family.

I promise you that hundreds of thousands of women in Western Australia are being neglected, misdiagnosed, lied to and assaulted by the male medical professionals they are in the care of. They’re being silenced by bosses, husbands and strangers.

I guarantee you that hundreds of thousands of girls in WA are being sexually molested, assaulted and raped by their fathers, brothers, cousins, Uncles and the males in their churches, daycares and schools. They’re being objectified and humiliated by their peers.

There are tens of thousands of WA girls and women being objectified, sexualised, raped and trafficked through different forms of “sex work” and pornography.

This is happening all around you. This is happening on the street where you live. This is happening on the street where you work and the street where you worship. This is happening in the restaurants and bars you hang out in. This is happening every day, whether or not it’s being reported to police. Women are quietly congregating all around you to talk, vent, scream and cry, and to console one another and support each other through shared, but individual, traumas. 

This is your community. This is your culture. This is your state. This is your country.

You can get angry about it and puff your chest and dismiss all of this as hogwash or horse shit, but it won’t change our reality. 

If the people ‘in power’ genuinely cared about all of the women and children being controlled, neglected, assaulted, abused, raped, trafficked and killed, everything we know about how our society works would be different.

Advertisements would be different.

Funding for programs would be different.

Laws would be different.

Judicial processes would be different.

How we interact with one another and how we function on a daily basis as a community would be entirely different.

Our homes and neighbourhoods would be different.

Our educational processes and systems would be different.

“Entertainment” would be different.

Girls and women would be protected, exalted and cherished.

Women would be empowered, not oppressed, and hold power within the homestead and within business and politics. *

True equality and equity could actually exist….

The feminine is supreme….

I do not mean lipstick and dresses, or solely the ability to bare children. The “feminine” I speak of, the “feminine” I know and recognise in other women is nurturing, empathetic, compassionate, fair, powerful, wise, firm, rational and just. The feminine is supreme. Radical feminism recognises this. Radical feminists know what is lacking and what is needed in our communities, schools, workplaces and in our homes. Basically, women know what girls and women need/don’t need.

We know what the problem is….

Set aside what I said about radical feminism. You don’t have to agree with me on that point right now. Regardless of your views on feminism, there are thousands of studies, papers and forums about the ‘issue’ of MVAW, and there are Women’s Health Packages and specific policies and laws meant to prevent and/or address this “issue.” There are also ads, programs and campaigns etc. So it’s a fair call to say that we shouldn’t still be dealing with this problem, right?

Yet, women and girls continue to objectified, silenced, harassed, sexualised, neglected, assaulted, raped and killed. Every time another woman, child or man is hurt or dies due to male violence, people always ask what else can be done to end this horrific problem. We keep having the same conversations and we still use the same old & ineffective policies and tactics. Our politicians continue to serve us word salads instead of radical, transformative and effective laws, policies and protections. Word salads instead of action. 

So, what makes this publication different to some others? 

Well, I have spent some time researching, thinking and writing. I’ve also accumulated over 30 years of first-hand experience with sexism and misogyny along with over 10 years of first-hand experience with male violence in different places, times and scenarios influenced by a range of circumstances and factors.

And….I’ve put a list of demands together. I’ve based this list of demands on valuable, credible information and references as well as my own experiences and conversations, and the collective, historical experiences of other members of the sex class I belong to. I’ve included excellent resources, too.

---

This list of demands is a direct message to our Federal and State governments, all media agencies and reporters in Australia, all medical professionals, all State and Federal Police Officers and Detectives, all Australian Magistrates and all Family Court staff and every single adult male in Australia.

Our Demands….

#1- (LANGUAGE AND REPORTING)

– This deadly problem shouldn’t be referred to as “domestic violence” anymore. We can’t immediately change the definition and legal categorisation, but we must change how we talk about it and refer to it. Femicide/male violence against women (MVAW)/terrorism of women and children – are all more accurate terms.

– Along with this, the media must be held accountable regarding their duty of care to the public when reporting on matters of MVAW. Publications must be held to the mandatory standards and guidelines of this country.

• Based on the Australian Press Council’s ‘Statements of Principles’, Australian publications are failing to adhere to at least two key principles:*

1. Ensure that factual material in news reports and elsewhere is accurate and not misleading, and is distinguishable from other material such as opinion.

6. Avoid causing or contributing materially to substantial offence, distress or prejudice, or a substantial risk to health or safety, unless doing so is sufficiently in the public interest.

• According to the APC’s Advisory Guideline on Family and Domestic Violence Reporting, they are failing to meet numerous guidelines that must be adhered to:*

“Safety

The safety and well-being of those affected by family violence must be the primary consideration. Publications should not publish information that could cause or contribute to the risk of harm, offence or distress. Survivors of family violence often comment that their pain and suffering was exacerbated by media coverage. In some circumstances, it may not be safe, appropriate or legal to use real names or other identifying information.”

“Responsibility

Reporting of family violence should try not to blame a person affected by the violence or suggest that the person somehow enabled the violence or could have avoided it. Publications should also avoid placing undue emphasis on the characteristics or surroundings of the victim, or implying that such things contributed to the family violence, unless doing so is essential to the narrative and sufficiently in the public interest. Use of the active voice in relation to the perpetrator will help avoid placing undue emphasis on the person affected by family violence. For example: “Police charged a 38-year-old Melbourne man with the murder of a 36-year-old woman”, as opposed to, e.g. “A 36- year-old woman was murdered and a 38-year-old Melbourne man has been charged”.”

“Context and content

The context and complexities of family violence should also be key considerations, such as when an alleged perpetrator may have a mental illness. Publications should note any such factors when it is warranted in a particular case and in the public interest. Care also should be taken to avoid casual stigmatisation, such as by stating or implying that the violence was “caused” by a person’s mental illness or culture.”

“Words matter. Publications should be mindful of the language they use and try to avoid terms that tend to trivialise, demean or inadvertently excuse family violence, such as “a domestic”, “a domestic dispute” or “a troubled marriage”. Where it is lawful to do so, the relationships of the people involved should be described as accurately and precisely as possible.”

“In addition to reporting particular incidents, journalists can play a critical role in deepening readers’ understanding about family violence by referring to resources such as official statistics, peer- reviewed research, and experts, such as domestic violence counsellors and survivors.”

“Publications should also be aware of the potential impact of story layout, headlines and surrounding material (such as advertisements) that may be insensitive or jarring in the circumstances.”

– We demand better from the Australian media.

– We expect the government and police/judicial system to back us up on that.

#2- 

– Mandatory incarceration for violent adult males. Whether it’s a king hit in the city or beating their female partner or their kids, they must be locked up for a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 30, with/without charges being laid. This is when there is physical evidence of violence being perpetrated. (Witnesses, bruising/bleeding, cctv footage, ongoing police involvement, previous Report(s) to Police, Restraining Order(s) or other Court Order(s) etc.)

This gives the men time to calm down and gives the women (and kids) time to figure out an exit plan, and for most victims of MVAW, this will give them time to de-condition themselves, for lack of a better term, and discover/realise that they don’t want to stay in that relationship.

With this process, there must be initiatives to introduce effective and proven strategies in to our jails and prisons to immediately begin educating and rehabilitating perpetrators of violence to lower the probability of them reoffending. **

Ideally, we would have new and specific clinical facilities to house and rehabilitate these violent offenders. There is reason to believe that rehab programs set in the environment of a correctional facility are not as effective as they need to be. Regardless of where these violent offenders are housed during their required stint in some form of temporary removal from their community, the focus must be on effective rehabilitation to lower the risk of reoffending.

#3- 

– More government funding for men’s and women’s crisis counselling (with the aim of making it entirely free of charge to patients).

– More than 10 bulk billed visits per year to see a mental health professional are needed. We demand at least 24 bulk billed appointments per calendar year for youth and adults on Mental Health Care Plans.

#4- 

– More government funding for women’s refuges, with the aim of there being more facilities and each facility being more efficiently staffed and more well-rounded with the services and support they can give. 

#5-

– New and specific funding for women’s and children’s programs and facilities that can mimic the Women’s Police Stations, and relevant programs& policies, that are having great success aiding in lowering rates of violence against women and children in Argentina.*

#6- (this is for everyone)

– Normalise interference, intervention and involvement in families and households that have a problem with violence or control. Normalise checking in on them and normalise awareness of their situation amongst the community. Normalise direct interference and immediate interruption and intervention of controlling and violent men. Normalise public conversations about the violence you witness in your community and let’s normalise supportive rehabilitation of violent males, whether they are a child, teen or adult.

#7-

– We want our court systems; our magistrates, bailiffs and clerks, to favour women and children in all matters of “family violence.” A core value of any justice system should be to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. More focus needs to be on the facts and statistics of MVAW and “family violence,” and assessments for determining authenticity of the threat of violence for an individual victim need to be based on those facts and statistics. ** This should translate in to efficient and accurate assessments for women and children, in lieu of evidence, so they can receive protection and assistance. **

#8-

– New and specific funding for specially tailored recreational AND sports programs, facilities and events for all males and females aged between 12 and 17.

#9-

– New and specific funding for specially tailored mental health programs and educational-based programs and courses for “at risk” males aged between 12 and 17. These should be available at no cost to families with “at risk” male teenagers in the home.

At risk = (but is not limited to)

– struggling in school (socially and/or academically)

– engaging in verbal harassment or abuse at school or at home

– engaging in violent behaviour of any kind

– police involvement at any level

– if Restraining Orders or other Court Orders are in effect or have previously been in affect

– if there is any history of controlling behaviour, verbal, physical or sexual abuse for either parent, whether biological (and not living in the home) and/or step-parents/guardians living in the home with the male youth.

#10- 

– New and specific funding for specially tailored mental health programs and educational-based programs and courses for “at risk” females aged between 12 and 17. These should be available at no cost to families with female teenagers in the home that are “at risk” of becoming a victim to male violence. 

At risk = (but is not limited to) 

– struggling in school (socially and/or academically)

– withdrawing from friends, school, social activities, sports etc. 

– engaging in self-destructive/harmful behaviour of any kind 

– police involvement at any level

– if Restraining Orders or other Court Orders are in effect or have previously been in affect

– if there is any history of controlling behaviour, verbal, physical or sexual abuse for either parent, whether biological (and living/not living in the home) and/or step-parents/guardians living in the home with the female youth.

Our demands are reasonable and achievable. 

---

Now, if you’re still reading – great! There is a lot to ‘digest’ so I will wrap this up, but before I do….

I am inclined to acknowledge the role that industrialisation/capitalism plays in all of this. I could write for hours about the reasons why capitalism is a part of a lot of problems, but I want readers to really reflect on what I’ve put together here. I don’t want to overwhelm you. So, for now, I’ll just say that, in my opinion, the most obvious way that capitalism fuels stress ➡️ poor mental health ➡️ aggression ➡️ violence (a cycle of violence) is through the absolute and oppressive necessity to work, in order to live. That correlation may catch some readers off-guard, and that’s ok.

Working for an income is the only way we know to live, to survive. I find that heartbreakingly sad and infuriating. This earth was meant to be enjoyed, cherished and appreciated, but we have very little time for that. We have so little time for ourselves. The overwhelming majority of us have jobs and that removes us from so much and creates so much stress, pressure and uncertainty. Not to mention that we are becoming increasingly aware of how destructive our existence on this earth has been, which, personally, adds to my anger and poor mental health regarding the inability to live as I wish that I, and my family, could live. The way I wish we all could live. 

Do you ever sit back and imagine what life could be like if we didn’t have such a dependence on the cycle of money in our society? Do you ever imagine a world without corporate greed and destruction? One without rampant inequalities and preventable horrors? It might be really difficult to imagine, because that’s how far we have moved away from that kind of existence and from that kind of connection with our world, our surroundings and with each other. This underlying current that runs through each of us as individuals, and through our society as a whole, may often be the fuel for already existing micro-aggressions. 

In closing….

I know. It’s complex. It seems so massive and, to some, impossible to change all of the engrained beliefs, traditions, behaviours and policies in our society and within our homes, schools and courts etc., but we must. Politicians, reporters & journalists, Magistrates & Police Officers and the men in our communities must pay attention. Listen (and read). We are literally spelling it out for you. Starting with changing the way we view, speak about and treat the majority of the world’s population (which are girls and women) is not only a necessity, it’s a good start at healing our entire society as a whole. It can be done. It will be done. 

---

Written by J.K. Williams 

February 24, 2020

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

~More from this author here~

References and resources –

*Recent headlines and comments regarding the tragic murders of Hannah Clarke and her three children, and rates of male violence in Australia: 

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/is-it-an-instance-of-a-husband-being-driven-too-far-anger-over-comment-from-police-in-brisbane/news-story/84c497606511b13dee815e2d354960d5

https://7news.com.au/politics/pauline-hanson-says-these-things-happen-in-the-wake-of-hannah-clarke-and-her-childrens-murder-c-713429

https://junkee.com/medai-domestic-violence-hannah-baxter/242982

https://www.ourwatch.org.au/Understanding-Violence/Facts-and-figures

* Women would hold power within the homestead and within business and politics: Believe it or not, there are examples of tribes, communities and cultures that function just like that. They cherish and exalt female members of society. The women hold the power of decision making amongst their tribe/community. (there are also examples of what happens when women are severely oppressed) 

History of feminist-based civil disobedience and direct action (starting at page 109)

Gulabi Gang: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/02/gulabi-gang-indias-women-warrriors-201422610320612382.html

https://www.vox.com/2018/11/5/18037688/womens-day-gender-equality-poverty-human-rights

Equality for Women = Prosperity for All: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Equality_for_Women_Prosperity_for_All.html?id=zmtuDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

Akashinga: [Empowering Female Fighters] – https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-28/akashinga-the-female-fighters-protecting-wildlife-in-zimbabwe/10418542

* APC Advisory Guidelines: https://www.presscouncil.org.au/advisory-guidelines/

* APC Advisory Guideline on Family and Domestic Violence Reporting: https://www.presscouncil.org.au/uploads/52321/ufiles/Guidelines/Advisory_Guideline_on_Family_and_Domestic_Violence_Reporting.pdf

** Strategies for the education and rehabilitation of male perpetrators of violence. Examples: 

– https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/401889/barbershop-movement-urges-abusive-men-to-tackle-traumatic-pasts

– Change the Story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia – https://www.ourwatch.org.au/getmedia/0aa0109b-6b03-43f2-85fe-a9f5ec92ae4e/Change-the-story-framework-prevent-violence-women-children-AA-new.pdf.aspx

– Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Why_Does_He_Do_That.html?id=azvHexd1g1YC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y

– Coercive Control, Laura Richards:

https://www.laurarichards.co.uk/coercive-control/

https://www.laurarichards.co.uk/deep-diving-coercive-control/

* Women’s Police Stations in Argentina: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/127088/

Other relevant information and resources –

If you do care, take action now: https://fair-agenda.good.do/asaferfuture/email/

https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2019/11/New-laws-to-tackle-family-and-domestic-violence-in-WA.aspx

https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/television/media/updating-australias-media-laws

https://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Guidelines%2

Prison-based correctional rehabilitation: An overview of intensive interventions for moderate to high-risk offenders [in Australia]: https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi412

VIOLENT OFFENDER TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHERE TO FROM HERE: https://www.div12.org/violent-offender-treatment-effectiveness-what-we-know-and-where-to-from-here/

Reclaim the Night/Take Back the Night – https://domesticviolenceservice.org.au/a-history-of-reclaim-the-night/

Thank you to the radical feminists that helped me with some of the references and resources. 

This work is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. Copyright © 2020

If you need help, please contact one of the resources below, and/or reach out to trusted family and/or friends. 

WOMEN’S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HELPLINE

The Women’s Domestic Violence Helpline is a state wide 24 hour service. This service provides support and counselling for women experiencing family and domestic violence. This includes phone counselling, information and advice, referral to local advocacy and support services, liaison with police if necessary and support in escaping situations of family and domestic violence. The service can refer women to safe accommodation if required. A telephone based interpreting service is available if required. 

Telephone (08) 9223 1188

Free call 1800 007 339

In an emergency – if someone is in immediate danger – call the police on 000 now.

Here is a link to a thorough list of a range of numbers, services, hotlines and websites. 

https://www.breakingthesilence.com.au/albany/womens-domestic-violence-hotllines/

Don’t ask me where I’m from

Guest post by C.

(This article was written in response to the author’s experiences at a recent feminist gathering in Australia.)

Don’t ask me where I’m from

(or what my origins are/what my background is/where my parents are from/where my name is from/etc.)

• Don’t use the fact that I speak a particular language/attended the launch of a book by an Indian author/mentioned a Lebanese restaurant in passing/etc., as an excuse to ask me where I am from, and don’t assume I am from these places. Just like white people, brown people can be interested in cultures other than our own; sometimes these cultures have been imposed on us.
• Don’t make a comment about some aspect of my physical appearance or tell me I’m beautiful in conjunction with asking me where I’m from. This makes me feel exoticised and objectified.
• Don’t invent me an accent I don’t have in order to have an excuse to ask where I’m from. This is just crazy and I will lose respect for you.
• If for whatever reason I do tell you where I’m “from”, don’t reduce my country of origin to a tourist destination (or a war zone). While this may be the only context in which you have heard of it, for me and everyone else “from” there it is a complex place which we have a complex relationship with, and we do not like to hear it reduced to a few beaches, a resort and some of our co-nationals forced into subservience by globalised patriarchal white supremacist capitalism.
• If for whatever reason I do tell you where I’m “from”, don’t respond with further questions that pry into my family history. This information is personal and I do not want to be pressured into telling it to you just to be polite. 

I’m a woman of colour who attended your white-dominated feminist event, an event at which I hoped to feel safe and in which I hoped to participate on an equal level to everyone else.

At this event, you may have asked me where I’m from – a lot of women did. In response, I might have answered truthfully, I might have lied, or I might have refused to answer. I might have seemed uncomfortable or I might have seemed relaxed. You probably don’t know which of these was actually the case.

In fact, every single time you ask me this question it causes me significant pain.

You probably asked out of idle curiosity. For you it was probably just a minute or two of vaguely interesting conversation. You got to find out which box to put me in so that, even if nothing about your behaviour towards me changed, in your head I am safely categorised.

For me, it was probably the fifth – or the fiftieth – time I had been asked that question that day. It is a question I am asked and have been asked almost every time I have met a new white person throughout my entire life. The cumulative effect of being constantly faced with this question has been to make me feel unwelcome in the country in which I was born, whose culture I share, with whose accent I speak. It has fundamentally undermined my sense of identity and my sense of belonging, creating deep insecurities that I struggle with every day.

Every time you ask me this question, it reminds me that I am not white. It brings with it a flood of recollections of every racist aggression I have suffered or have seen inflicted on friends, family, acquaintances, and total strangers. It reminds me of the inter-generational trauma I have spent years understanding and trying to heal from. It reminds me of everything I know about the globalised patriarchal capitalist white supremacist system of colonialism and imperialism and invasion and rape and the sheer magnitude of it all and what it has done to me and to everyone else. So, when you ask me this question, I am thrown into turmoil. I feel angry and hurt. Sometimes I also feel nauseous, enraged, or sad. Sometimes I start shaking, sometimes crying. You probably won’t see this, though, as I am practiced at hiding it.

In the few milliseconds I have to decide how to answer you, I have to weigh up how much I value our relationship and what effects my answer will have on it. I am angry and upset that you have asked me this monumentally insensitive question, but I know your intentions were probably not bad. Do I want to tell you the truth because I like and respect you? If so, how do I retain my sense of pride? Is there some way I can communicate to you that this hurt me? Does my hurt and anger mean I want to lie to you? Can I get away with lying? If so, which lie? What will you do if you happen to find out the truth later? If I tell you that I hate this question, how will you respond? Do I have the time and energy to have the discussion that you will probably want to have directly afterwards? Will you still take me seriously if I start crying, or yelling? Do I want to put myself in a situation where I might start crying, or yelling, in front of you? Do I have the strength to simply walk away if I don’t want to have this discussion? If I do choose to have it, will you be able to understand? If not, will this anger and hurt me even more? What if you respond negatively? Will you be angry at me and can I cope with this? Will you talk to other women about me behind my back? How will I be labelled, by you and by others, as a result?

You cannot fix racism. What you can do is make it possible for me to participate in your event on as equal a basis as possible. This means not reminding me that I have been made structurally inferior to you and almost everyone else present by the global system of white supremacy. Reminding me of this affects my self-confidence and makes it harder for me to contribute as I usually would. It may also mean plunging me into a state of trauma in which I cannot function normally. This does not mean denying or ignoring the existence of race and of white supremacy, but it does mean not bringing it up at times when it is not relevant.

My origins are important to me and have had a huge effect on my life. If I feel safe and comfortable enough, or if I feel it is important that you know, I will probably spontaneously tell you where I am “from” at some point during the course of our acquaintance. You will find it out exactly as you would find out any other significant piece of information about me, but without making me feel terrible and preventing me from participating.

If you do ask me this question or have done so in the past and later realise you should not have, don’t apologise to me. In fact, don’t even come talk to me about it. This puts pressure on me to forgive you, which may not be what I want to do. It also puts pressure on me to help make you feel better, when in fact it is you who have hurt me. I do not owe you my forgiveness or my emotional support. If you feel bad, go talk to a white person about it instead.

You want to ask me this question because you are and have always been immersed in white supremacist patriarchy. This makes race a crucial lens through which you understand the world and allows you to unquestioningly reproduce the male behaviour of not respecting boundaries on women of colour. This is not your fault. But, please just think for a minute about where your curiosity comes from and the effects it has on others.

Letter to IWD rally organisers: Organised harassment of women at International Women’s Day rally

Guest post by IWD Rally Attendees

For the second year in a row a group of us were harassed at the International Women’s Day rally in Melbourne.

This year the harassment dramatically intensified as a throng of bystanders who’d been given instructional flyers joined a trans identified male and sex industry activists in relentlessly attacking us.

 

The harassment was so bad we decided to write to the organisers to be sure they know the full extend of what happened and ask them what they will do to ensure our safety next year.

This is the letter we wrote:

ATTN: Melbourne IWD March organising collective

 

Tuesday 12 March 2018

 

To the organisers of the Melbourne International Women’s Day 2018 rally,

 

In the wake of the #metoo movement, women all over the world have been rising up and speaking out against male harassment and violence. We are a group of about 15-20 radical feminists who attended the IWD rally on March 8th, 2018 in Melbourne with the aim of continuing this struggle. We are of varying ages, class backgrounds and ethnicities; some of us are currently or have formerly worked in the sex industry; some of us are lesbians; two of us were accompanied by young daughters. We had prepared a number of signs to display at the rally with slogans including:

• Safe streets for women
• Women’s safety before men’s feelings
• Safety for refugee women and girls
• Name the problem: male violence
• Porn hurts women
• Radical feminism is back (never went away)
• Womb-yn unite!
• $$$ =/= consent
• Porn is racist
• Lesbians exist, lesbians resist
• Biology = biology. ⅓ women experiences physical violence (Our Watch). Trans ”women” are men.

 

We expected that our signs would meet with some disagreement from other attendees of the rally. We know that our views are controversial and that not everyone agrees with us. We expected, nonetheless, that we would be able to express our opinions in a peaceful manner in a public space, to listen to the speeches, to participate in the march, and to enjoy spending time together and meeting other women.

 

This was not what happened. Instead, before the rally had even begun a young man seized and ripped up two signs held by an older lesbian in our group. Soon afterwards, while we were standing peacefully and silently holding our signs, individuals began to encircle us, obscuring our signs with their own, yelling and screaming at us, jostling and invading our personal space, attempting to rip our signs out of our hands, repeatedly calling us “fucking bitches”, telling us that we do not know what lesbians are and that we “deserve to be degraded”. A bottle was thrown at us, and a woman who was filming had her phone knocked to the ground. One or more bystanders attempted to help and also fetched a small number of women – presumably marshals – in union t-shirts who stood between us and the main aggressor but this was not sufficient to prevent the harassment as they remained largely silent. The crowd around us quickly became very dense, making it claustrophobic and overheated. It was impossible for the women under attack and those immediately surrounding to hear the speeches and to fully participate in the rally. The women accompanied by young girls were forced to move away as the girls were scared.

 

Subsequently, a number of men from the CFMEU joined the crowd around us, waving their flags in our faces and jeering. One of the women in our group overheard them discussing the fact that they had been asked by the organisers to attend in order to get between the radical feminists and our opponents. These men were all significantly larger than average in build. When the women moved to a different spot to get away from the CFMEU men, other harassers simply surrounded them.

 

We were peacefully expressing opinions that are important to us as well as to many other women. It is unacceptable that such intimidation and harassment was allowed to take place without intervention from you, the organisers. You had a responsibility to ensure the ability of all present to express their opinions without being faced with intimidation and harassment. Why did the organisers not intervene to prevent the intimidation while it was taking place? Why have you not responded to our questions and concerns since the rally, instead deleting our comments made to your facebook posts and blocking us from posting?

 

It is highly concerning that the organisers’ solution to the possibility of conflicts arising between radical feminists and others during the rally was to ask men to attend to separate the two groups. Quite apart from the fact that the men did not actually do this, instead crowding around us and contributing to the intimidation and harassment, it is extraordinary that supposedly feminist women could think it appropriate to deal with the possibility of conflict at a women’s rally by inviting men, and in particular men who were unusually physically intimidating due to their large build. Such a “solution” suggests a complete ignorance of the nature and history of women’s struggles against male violence and a total disregard for the physical and psychological safety of the radical feminists present.

 

We believe that the organisers we encountered were trying to do as little as possible in order to maximise the intimidation and harassment we received. They were trying to appear neutral but were biased from the start against us in favour of our harassers. Some woman in our group heard a female Marshall holding a pro-trans and sex work sign tell the CFMEU men to get between the two groups. Further, we saw leaflets being circulated at the march, advising how to “stand up to” “SWERF n’ TERFs” (a copy can be found here). The existence of this leaflet suggests that the attacks on us were not simply a spontaneous response to our signs from individuals in the crowd, but were planned. The organisers owed a duty of care to all attendees, including our group of radical feminists. The decision by the event organisers to place men of larger than average build between us and other groups, directly led to women feeling unsafe, intimidated and harassed. The decision to surround us with the CFMEU men cannot, in the circumstances, be classified as a reasonable step taken to discharge your duty of care obligation to us. Thus, it is likely that the requisite standard of care owed to us was breached.

 

The attempts of the harassers to prevent us from participating in the rally succeeded: apart from being unable to hear the speeches, we felt too unsafe, afraid, exhausted and upset to participate in the march that followed the rally. This outcome was a result of the consistent infringement of our right to peaceful protest throughout the rally. You as organisers had the responsibility to protect our right to protest, and you did not. Women’s voices were silenced by male violence, facilitated by women’s complicity.

 

We expect the organisers to affirm the right of all women to feel safe and to express their opinions at future International Women’s Day marches and all other feminist events you organise, and to send a message that intimidation and harassment are not acceptable tactics in the women’s movement. More concretely, we expect organisers to ensure the safety of all participants at such future events, and we expect to be able to march safely next year. Please send, by return letter, a list of actions that the organisers will put in place for 2019 to ensure our safety and the safety of all women and girls in attendance.

 

Signed:

The women who attended (not all have signed due to fear of retaliation):

1. J. Harbinson
2. M. A.
3. C. O.
4. M. R.
5. M. C.
6. L. R.
7. Rebecca Kennedy
8. Sarah Morrigan
9. C. E.
10. M. Parker
11. B. Clarke
12. Nina V
13. Katherine H
14. Beth Smith
15. Chris Wilding

 

The letter was also signed by 100+ other women who did not attend the march.

At the time of writing the organisers have not responded to our letter.

Planned Parenthood USA calls Women “Menstruators” – Women say “hell no!”

WTF @PPact ? Reducing us to a bodily function ie “menstruators” is NOT progress. You need to re-think this one. https://t.co/bEy1bCEQJb

— VeniVidiVicki (@VeniVidiVicki) September 3, 2016

@lavenderlezzer Women reduced to a biological function – doesn’t get much more derisive @PPact @msolis14

— Monica Larkin (@Theladyinthevan) September 3, 2016

@DANeverYouMind @PPact Fucking hell. I donated all that money & fought all those years to be reduced from “woman” to “menstruator”?

— Natalie (@ghostinmarble) September 3, 2016

@PPact @mic

in ham fisted attempt to be ‘inclusive’ they’re LITERALLY ERASING all traces of women & girls who cant ID out of being female

— Elsa Lion (@Bagofpoo) September 3, 2016

Transgenderism killed feminism. There’s no hope 4 women when PLANNED PARENTHOOD can call us “menstruators” https://t.co/mqcNQhVB6j

— Kendra Lee (@KendraLeeNYC) September 3, 2016

@PPact @msolis14 erase women, what does that make you? Misogynists. Women deserve better than that

— GwladGlad (@RebelleYellow) September 3, 2016

@PPact So sad to see you crumble and try to erase the word WOMAN from the world to make men happy. ONLY REAL WOMEN MENSTRUATE!

— Shrikefem XX (@Ovalegal) September 3, 2016

Menstruator. There is no such thing as woman any more. There r those humans who bleed from their vaginas. Everyone else is a woman.

— c (@aPriori_tweets) September 3, 2016

Females menstruate @msolis14 Females are the ones that fund & support @PPact & need their support in return. We’re not “menstruators”

— No Anodyne (@NoAnodyne) September 3, 2016

@Bagofpoo @Ovalegal @PPact @mic While we’re still fighting for women to be recognized as human, and facing a huge backlash. Well done PP.

— diva ex machina (@diva_ex_machina) September 3, 2016

Hey filthy bleeders,
You’re not women anymore, you’re “menstruaters” so shut your tampon holes.

Love,
Planned Parenthood

— Oh God, What Now? XX (@ShagMeFrida) September 3, 2016

Is it clear yet @PPact that women who support you & need your services are not ok w being labelled by body process? https://t.co/Z2VPoNJoJi

— No Anodyne (@NoAnodyne) September 3, 2016

@rachelherriotts @FemalesLikeUs @PPact

This really got under my skin. Just when you think they cant go any lower pic.twitter.com/vnFdIR5tIG

— Elsa Lion (@Bagofpoo) September 3, 2016

@FemalesLikeUs @msolis14 @Puhleesed @PPact And just bc a woman can lose her uterus or periods doesn’t invalidate this biological fact.

— la scapigliata (@lascapigliata8) September 3, 2016

@msolis14 @lubelluledotcom @Puhleesed @PPact

Trans men/trans women both ask females to CENSOR our speech. Why? Cancer survivors dont

— Elsa Lion (@Bagofpoo) September 3, 2016

@lascapigliata8 @msolis14 @Puhleesed @PPact
Agreed. It’s pure misogyny to say women who’ve had hysterectomies aren’t Women anymore!

— GirlsLikeUs ♀ (@FemalesLikeUs) September 3, 2016

@PPact WTF, PP! Are you high? “Menstruators”? Seriously? Are you fighting for women’s rights to reduce them to a single characteristic.

— Feminist at Sea (@FeministatSea) September 3, 2016

@PPact @msolis14 MENSTRUATORS?? Is that what you’ve reduced women to? What are men? “Non-menstruators”? No they’re just men right? #bullshit

— Free Falling (@soundscaper) September 3, 2016

@Bagofpoo @Ovalegal @PPact @mic You’d think that PP would not scrub “women”, after all we’ve been through to get here, from their language.

— diva ex machina (@diva_ex_machina) September 3, 2016

@msolis14 @RebelleYellow @PPact this requires woman to be redefined as a set of stereotypes. And u expect feminists to be cool w/ that?

— NurtureMyBaby (@NurtureMyBaby) September 3, 2016

Only Women menstruate. & apparently patriarchy now says its “phobic” to know Women are BORN FEMALE. @delmoi @rachelherriotts @PPact

— GirlsLikeUs ♀ (@FemalesLikeUs) September 3, 2016

@ghostinmarble @Ovalegal @DANeverYouMind @PPact I am not my functions, or lack thereof. I’m a woman, a ♀ human being, w/ all that entails.

— diva ex machina (@diva_ex_machina) September 3, 2016

I unfollowed @PPact I can’t see that dehumanizing term “menstruator” anymore. How could they sell out like this?

— Feminist at Sea (@FeministatSea) September 3, 2016

This abuse of language and biology – women reduced to ‘menstruators’ – is offensive. https://t.co/m0w4zrGuSI

— Selina Street (@SelinaStreet100) September 3, 2016

@sarahditum omg…and now you mention it…I’ve heard something similar about Uterus Bearers. Fuck! It’s all falling into PLACE.

— Juliet (@Jsoosty) September 3, 2016

@CatEleven @EllieCumbo @sarahditum @Jsoosty shall we have a vote on ‘silliest way yet devised to avoid using the word woman’?

— Debbie Cameron (@wordspinster) September 3, 2016

@CatEleven @EllieCumbo @sarahditum @Jsoosty OK what are the candidates? Menstruators obvs, pregnant people, ppl w. ovaries, any more?

— Debbie Cameron (@wordspinster) September 3, 2016

@wordspinster @EllieCumbo @sarahditum @Jsoosty I still think non-man is up on the top spot.

— ★Cat B★ (@CatEleven) September 3, 2016

*See: Non-men of the world unite to mock #GreenPartyFeminism, Feminist Current

@revpamsmith @sarahditum @CatEleven @EllieCumbo @Jsoosty every time it comes up I just burst out laughing. Pull the other non-arm FFS

— Debbie Cameron (@wordspinster) September 3, 2016

But Planned Parenthood USA didn’t stop at menstruators, according to PP we should also be referred to as pregnant people:

@ppact Go to men’s prisons and ask how many locked up for reproductive “crimes”.

— AngrbodaXX (@angrbodabowl) September 4, 2016

“Purvi Patel was released from an Indiana prison yesterday after her feticide conviction was overturned and a judge resentenced her to less time than she’d already served.

“In 2015, Patel was found guilty of conflicting charges feticide and child neglect and sentenced to 20 years in prison for allegedly self-inducing an abortion with drugs two years earlier.

“Last month a judge overturned the feticide conviction, a ruling the state did not appeal, and on Wednesday the judge sentenced her to 18 months for felony child neglect. She’s already been in prison that long and was released yesterday.

“Compare Patel’s original 20-year prison sentence for an abortion to the 6-month jail term handed to former Stanford University student Brock Allen Turner for raping an unconscious woman. Turner, by the way, was released from jail today after three months.”