I think the CHEVRON decision from SCOTUS makes the Title IX stuff Biden pushed irrelevant now, and just about a month before boys and men accessed girl’s and women’s locker rooms and sports.
As a lifelong strong liberal I have given up on the Dems and especially the Progressives. Women and girls are being erased by gender ideology. I cannot support this. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
In addition to the insanity of men competing in women's sports and the mutilation of children in the pursuit of the unattainable, the issue of women’s privacy is equally troubling.
In my opinion the worst aspect of demented Joe Biden's new Education Act Title IX regulations that go into effect on August 1 of this year is that boys and men will be able to to shower with high school and college girls (including my 17 year old granddaughter).
They will have no shame in doing that when it's perfectly legal. If somehow he is allowed to continue to run he deserves to lose the election on this issue alone.
Here's an analysis of the new regulations by the Foundation Against Intolerance and
Racism (FAIR):
"The Final Rule is likely to result in sex-integration of all bathrooms and locker rooms because it prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. After August 1st, if a school requires students to use facilities that align with their biological sex (which they are currently allowed to require under Federal law and regulations), a transgender student may file a discrimination complaint alleging that the school has violated Title IX by preventing him or her from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender."
I have no children, so, I don't have grandchildren. But I do feel completely and utterly outraged by the loss of women's sex based rights across the board. The thing that infuriates me most, is that the crimes of men pretending to be women are reported as crimes by women which are skewing the stats.
Ofcourse the sexualising and butchering of OUR children trumps everything, but the insanity is gobsmacking in it's entirety.
If he doesn't win (or decides not to run after all), will it still definitely take effect? or is it something that can be easily reversed by a new president?
Eleanor: I believe that it would take a new round of rule making to remove it. So it could be in effect for some time. Most people will be repulsed when they realize what has happened to our young women so in some ways it’s long term effect may be beneficial.
Hi Kitty, I’m one of those left leaning people you asked to hear from, so I’d like to share some of my thoughts. I hope that you’ll understand that my criticism here is made in good faith-I’ve read a few of your pieces and I feel like you’ve made some compelling arguments, particularly the one about transracial/transgender. I do feel like I have some substantial disagreement with your position, however. Here’s where I think we probably mostly agree:
-I feel like women are largely justified in their concerns about trans women gaining access to many spaces and in particular the ability of any man who expresses trans identity just on the basis of “self id “ is very problematic. There is certainly nuance here but particularly in prisons and women’s shelters this seems to be cause for concern
-I’m of the mind that our society is rushing way to fast into gender medicine/surgeries for kids and while I feel like ultimately the decision to do so should be left to families and trusted health care professionals, there are red flags currently in our approach to child gender issues that are making me question even this belief
-I think trans women should not compete in women’s sports with some caveats and exceptions
But here is where I would say we substantially differ:
-in your post above, unless I’m misunderstanding you, you say even adults seeking to transition are mentally ill and compare the procedure to lobotomies. This strikes me as pretty harsh and out of step with my own commitment to broadly socially libertarian principles. If a person is electing to go through medical transition or whatever we want to call it, if they are adults, I don’t see how it’s any different, legally and ethically, from an adult getting a boob job. Would you consider anyone getting plastic surgery mentally ill? Furthermore, I do know many trans people who transition as adults and to me these people are wonderful human beings who should be treated with dignity.
-Regarding pronouns, I feel it is usually appropriate for me to respect the pronouns of a person, within reason, under most circumstances. Not, mind you, simply because they declare they are the other gender, but if a person has made a commitment to transition whether medically or otherwise I will respect their pronouns and treat them with respect as long as I am afforded the same. Again, this is just keeping with my personal outlook,but I also don’t see it as something worth fighting over. I personally think, as others have said, trans women are trans women. Not the same as biological women, but the addition of “trans” before woman in my eyes does not seem to diminish womanhood. I’m speaking as a man, obviously, and I know there are many women who feel even this caveat is a bridge too far. I wouldn’t ever lecture a woman on how she should feel about that, so I hope you’ll understand I’m just offering my perspective.
This is a really tough issue. People on both sides are clearly really concerned about how it will affect them and I can honestly say I can understand both the perspective of the trans person who feels like they are being subjected to discrimination and the many women who feel threatened by the many ways this issue seems to threaten the hard won rights that women have fought for. I hope you’ll take my criticisms here in that regard, as someone who is just troubled by how contentious this debate has become and looking for a middle ground
This is what it’s turned into now. They went from reasonable to nuts because duh, they’re feminists snd by definition can’t be reasonable.
They now apparently want to stop all transition, all hormone treatment, and all surgery for gender reasons. I gather they want to deny them non discrimination rights too.
As always, you are right on point! I consider the gender ideology to be one of the most dangerous ideologies since Stalin, Hitler , and Mao, because it is not only in one country but has spread like a virus to other nations! It has to be shut down ! I consider myself left wing on many issues , such as the environment, animal rights, gun rights , but I don’t agree that “ trans rights are human rights” anymore than any rights for humans are human rights. There is nothing special about people who think they were “ born in the wrong body “ .in fact they need psychological help! They do not need special rights.
The only good thing about a Trump presidency is his statement on trans issues. I don’t want a Trump administration , which would be authoritarian bin all other issues.
If another candidate steps forward in the Democratic presidential nomination, I would vote for that person , depending non whether that person was not. insane on the trans crap.
I am a second-wave feminist who is in opposition to gender ideology, but also a lifelong Democrat. I’ll still vote for Joe Biden because the alternative is unthinkable and we’re making progress on women’s sex-based rights. I realize there are those here who will vehemently disagree with me and to them, I ask that they take a longer view of what it will mean if we lose our democracy to a man who promises to “be a dictator on day one”. If you want to flame me, please consider that these are sincere beliefs, just as those are from the other side.
"This change allows for men to compete in women’s sports on the sole condition of female identification"
This isn’t true. The part of the rule change related to sport has not yet been published. Likely they are delaying this until AFTER the election, knowing how unpopular it is to allow males to compete in female sport. If Biden is re-elected, and the rule change follows the proposed changes, then sex-segregation in sport will be allowed - but only if institutions write policies justifying it on the basis of safety, fairness and educational goals. As my feminist friend Bess Hungerford points out, due to the expense and threat of lawsuits, the path of least resistance for many institutions will be to not bother writing such policies, thus allowing males by default. I describe in detail here: https://katherinemacosta.substack.com/p/prepare-to-fight-upcoming-title-ix
“My argument is not that trans-identifying people should not be granted access to these “treatments” — but that no doctor should be permitted to perform them”
How do they get access to these treatments if no doctor is allowed to perform them? Would you say the same of adults getting breast implants? Lip injections? Facelifts? Why should be state be allowed to proscribe body modifications for some adults but not others?
“I would even go so far as to advocate for dressing or representing as the opposite sex to be socially shamed out of existence.”
So what are your suggested boundaries on this? Are men permitted kilts? Women to wear pants? Would David Bowie have been disallowed from wearing makeup in his shows?
Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and dignity in spaces such as locker rooms and restrooms, safety & fairness in sport, and to be allowed to organize separately from trans-identifying males. They also should never be described in dehumanizing terms such as “uterus havers.” Beyond that, adults get to believe what they want and have the body modifications they want. So long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others.
I addressed that - saying they shouldn't be allowed in women's spaces, to compete in female sport, etc. But how does an adult making a body modification infringe your rights?
Leaving aside the fact that these horrors are in many cases funded by society (NHS, Medicare, Medicaid, government mandates regarding private insurance, etc) rather than by the individual, of COURSE it's a healthy society's business when its medical profession is subjecting someone with a healthy endocrine system to severe iatrogenic endocrine disruption, or someone with a normally functioning urogenital system to iatrogenic incontinence, fistulas, sexual dysfunction, infection, and/or necrosis.
Then you must also say it is society's business if women get breast implants, injections in their lips, botox, etc. None of this is healthy, but so long as it is allowed for people who don't claim to be trans, then it's discriminatory to disallow it for (adult) trans. I agree with you that none of it is healthy. There used to be a website of plastic surgery disasters - it is a horror show.
So you defend males claiming to be women to make body modifications which help them succeed in their wish to better mimic the appearance of females? While understanding the intention is to better enable their fraud to visually deceive others into their delusion? A woman buying breast augmentation does so to look what she regards as more feminine, it is an absolutely different intent and motivation.
Would your opinion it is a right for men who claim they are women to be enabled access to hormones and surgery remain unchanged if you understood that many trans identifying males get fake breasts because it is part of a fetish they find sexually stimulating? In plain words, they fondle their own fake breasts while masturbating and imagining themselves as women. Other fetishist males desire breasts so they can pretend to breastfeed real babies. Other paraphiliacs want a fake vagina because they believe being penetrated is a feminine experience that will fulfil their fantasy of being a woman.
When you understand that taking hormones and getting cosmetic surgeries to better imitate the physical appearance of females can be part of a male sexual paraphilia, known as autogynephilia (AGP) are you still comfortable to say that such adults have a right to body modification; acknowledging that gives permission for the men choosing this to perform their sexual deviance in public, causing those who do not consent to become involuntary participants (with increasing legal constraints on those who would criticise it) and permitting the fetishists to interact with children? Apparently you feel fine as you argue it is a "right" for every individual to be allowed to perform whatever identity they want to in public and be validated?
"So you defend males claiming to be women to make body modifications which help them succeed in their wish to better mimic the appearance of females?" They don't succeed. What adults do with their own bodies is their business. But no man can ever be a woman and we should have our own spaces, sports, and language (e.g. we are NOT uterus havers).
I do agree male transvestites mostly don't succeed in carrying off physically convincing people they are the opposite sex.
However, because a large number of transvestites/AGP/transgender ideologues are mentally ill or hate women to the degree that they wish violence on us, they are currently using political pressure intending to create laws that validate a legal fiction that they have changed sex. They want laws that coerce people who don't believe sex can be changed into silence and compliance by criminalising outspoken disbelief as "hate speech".
That is a lot of why I do regard it as my business what other adults are permitted to do with their bodies - because I'm member of my community, a woman, a mother, a taxpaying citizen of my country and a human being. The whole purpose of nation states and legal systems is to define the boundaries of acts (within legal systems and other codes) that individual citizens are allowed to do, balancing personal freedoms with the rights of the majority to safety, fairness and dignity.
We already have laws intended to discern what are appropriate types of clothing in lots of circumstances and even more important ones about how the medical industrial complex is allowed to conduct itself, taking into account that many of the resources Medicine relies on are provided by the pooled taxes of citizens (as in hospitals, research and education). I'm entirely comfortable to keep engaged in a debate whether its legitimate to allocate some of those resources to enable mentally ill people to irrevocably change their bodies. Especially as evidence is accruing showing that the hormones and procedures they demand lead to long term negative effects on their bodies. A person could consent to having a lobotomy, due to a sincere personal belief that it will benefit them, but should the rest of society just shrug and say other people have a "right" to harm themselves? Its my view the obligation of the rest of society is to provide these deluded people with other types of help.
"I do regard it as my business what other adults are permitted to do with their bodies" - sounds like you'll be cool with the new authoritarianism coming our way...
It's a slippery slope. Do you believe a person should be able to darken their skin, get lip implants and a perm and represent themselves as black if it makes them feel happy? Of course not. It's a caricature and you don't want to offend black people. But somehow getting fake breasts and presenting as little bo peep, a mockery of women, is ok and we should play along. That's why paraphilias have historically been limited to stage performances (women being mocked only, not racial mockery) and behind closed doors.
I think the CHEVRON decision from SCOTUS makes the Title IX stuff Biden pushed irrelevant now, and just about a month before boys and men accessed girl’s and women’s locker rooms and sports.
As a lifelong strong liberal I have given up on the Dems and especially the Progressives. Women and girls are being erased by gender ideology. I cannot support this. Politics makes strange bedfellows.
In addition to the insanity of men competing in women's sports and the mutilation of children in the pursuit of the unattainable, the issue of women’s privacy is equally troubling.
In my opinion the worst aspect of demented Joe Biden's new Education Act Title IX regulations that go into effect on August 1 of this year is that boys and men will be able to to shower with high school and college girls (including my 17 year old granddaughter).
They will have no shame in doing that when it's perfectly legal. If somehow he is allowed to continue to run he deserves to lose the election on this issue alone.
Here's an analysis of the new regulations by the Foundation Against Intolerance and
Racism (FAIR):
"The Final Rule is likely to result in sex-integration of all bathrooms and locker rooms because it prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity. After August 1st, if a school requires students to use facilities that align with their biological sex (which they are currently allowed to require under Federal law and regulations), a transgender student may file a discrimination complaint alleging that the school has violated Title IX by preventing him or her from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender."
I have no children, so, I don't have grandchildren. But I do feel completely and utterly outraged by the loss of women's sex based rights across the board. The thing that infuriates me most, is that the crimes of men pretending to be women are reported as crimes by women which are skewing the stats.
Ofcourse the sexualising and butchering of OUR children trumps everything, but the insanity is gobsmacking in it's entirety.
If he doesn't win (or decides not to run after all), will it still definitely take effect? or is it something that can be easily reversed by a new president?
Eleanor: I believe that it would take a new round of rule making to remove it. So it could be in effect for some time. Most people will be repulsed when they realize what has happened to our young women so in some ways it’s long term effect may be beneficial.
aside from the rapes it promotes—
It can be reversed by a new round of rule-making, but there is also a lawsuit filed which would resolve the issue more permanently.
Hi Kitty, I’m one of those left leaning people you asked to hear from, so I’d like to share some of my thoughts. I hope that you’ll understand that my criticism here is made in good faith-I’ve read a few of your pieces and I feel like you’ve made some compelling arguments, particularly the one about transracial/transgender. I do feel like I have some substantial disagreement with your position, however. Here’s where I think we probably mostly agree:
-I feel like women are largely justified in their concerns about trans women gaining access to many spaces and in particular the ability of any man who expresses trans identity just on the basis of “self id “ is very problematic. There is certainly nuance here but particularly in prisons and women’s shelters this seems to be cause for concern
-I’m of the mind that our society is rushing way to fast into gender medicine/surgeries for kids and while I feel like ultimately the decision to do so should be left to families and trusted health care professionals, there are red flags currently in our approach to child gender issues that are making me question even this belief
-I think trans women should not compete in women’s sports with some caveats and exceptions
But here is where I would say we substantially differ:
-in your post above, unless I’m misunderstanding you, you say even adults seeking to transition are mentally ill and compare the procedure to lobotomies. This strikes me as pretty harsh and out of step with my own commitment to broadly socially libertarian principles. If a person is electing to go through medical transition or whatever we want to call it, if they are adults, I don’t see how it’s any different, legally and ethically, from an adult getting a boob job. Would you consider anyone getting plastic surgery mentally ill? Furthermore, I do know many trans people who transition as adults and to me these people are wonderful human beings who should be treated with dignity.
-Regarding pronouns, I feel it is usually appropriate for me to respect the pronouns of a person, within reason, under most circumstances. Not, mind you, simply because they declare they are the other gender, but if a person has made a commitment to transition whether medically or otherwise I will respect their pronouns and treat them with respect as long as I am afforded the same. Again, this is just keeping with my personal outlook,but I also don’t see it as something worth fighting over. I personally think, as others have said, trans women are trans women. Not the same as biological women, but the addition of “trans” before woman in my eyes does not seem to diminish womanhood. I’m speaking as a man, obviously, and I know there are many women who feel even this caveat is a bridge too far. I wouldn’t ever lecture a woman on how she should feel about that, so I hope you’ll understand I’m just offering my perspective.
This is a really tough issue. People on both sides are clearly really concerned about how it will affect them and I can honestly say I can understand both the perspective of the trans person who feels like they are being subjected to discrimination and the many women who feel threatened by the many ways this issue seems to threaten the hard won rights that women have fought for. I hope you’ll take my criticisms here in that regard, as someone who is just troubled by how contentious this debate has become and looking for a middle ground
This is what it’s turned into now. They went from reasonable to nuts because duh, they’re feminists snd by definition can’t be reasonable.
They now apparently want to stop all transition, all hormone treatment, and all surgery for gender reasons. I gather they want to deny them non discrimination rights too.
Very refreshing and encouraging and it’s unusual to read something and agree with every word.
LGB /t
welcome; glad to have you!
As always, you are right on point! I consider the gender ideology to be one of the most dangerous ideologies since Stalin, Hitler , and Mao, because it is not only in one country but has spread like a virus to other nations! It has to be shut down ! I consider myself left wing on many issues , such as the environment, animal rights, gun rights , but I don’t agree that “ trans rights are human rights” anymore than any rights for humans are human rights. There is nothing special about people who think they were “ born in the wrong body “ .in fact they need psychological help! They do not need special rights.
The only good thing about a Trump presidency is his statement on trans issues. I don’t want a Trump administration , which would be authoritarian bin all other issues.
If another candidate steps forward in the Democratic presidential nomination, I would vote for that person , depending non whether that person was not. insane on the trans crap.
I am a second-wave feminist who is in opposition to gender ideology, but also a lifelong Democrat. I’ll still vote for Joe Biden because the alternative is unthinkable and we’re making progress on women’s sex-based rights. I realize there are those here who will vehemently disagree with me and to them, I ask that they take a longer view of what it will mean if we lose our democracy to a man who promises to “be a dictator on day one”. If you want to flame me, please consider that these are sincere beliefs, just as those are from the other side.
"This change allows for men to compete in women’s sports on the sole condition of female identification"
This isn’t true. The part of the rule change related to sport has not yet been published. Likely they are delaying this until AFTER the election, knowing how unpopular it is to allow males to compete in female sport. If Biden is re-elected, and the rule change follows the proposed changes, then sex-segregation in sport will be allowed - but only if institutions write policies justifying it on the basis of safety, fairness and educational goals. As my feminist friend Bess Hungerford points out, due to the expense and threat of lawsuits, the path of least resistance for many institutions will be to not bother writing such policies, thus allowing males by default. I describe in detail here: https://katherinemacosta.substack.com/p/prepare-to-fight-upcoming-title-ix
“My argument is not that trans-identifying people should not be granted access to these “treatments” — but that no doctor should be permitted to perform them”
How do they get access to these treatments if no doctor is allowed to perform them? Would you say the same of adults getting breast implants? Lip injections? Facelifts? Why should be state be allowed to proscribe body modifications for some adults but not others?
“I would even go so far as to advocate for dressing or representing as the opposite sex to be socially shamed out of existence.”
So what are your suggested boundaries on this? Are men permitted kilts? Women to wear pants? Would David Bowie have been disallowed from wearing makeup in his shows?
Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and dignity in spaces such as locker rooms and restrooms, safety & fairness in sport, and to be allowed to organize separately from trans-identifying males. They also should never be described in dehumanizing terms such as “uterus havers.” Beyond that, adults get to believe what they want and have the body modifications they want. So long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others.
Your last phrase is the key! The problem with the trans ideology is that they DO infringe on the rights of others! And in more ways than one!
in so many ways it’s actually crazy
I addressed that - saying they shouldn't be allowed in women's spaces, to compete in female sport, etc. But how does an adult making a body modification infringe your rights?
it doesn’t infringe MY rights. it’s detrimental to THEM.
Sure, but that's not our business.
Leaving aside the fact that these horrors are in many cases funded by society (NHS, Medicare, Medicaid, government mandates regarding private insurance, etc) rather than by the individual, of COURSE it's a healthy society's business when its medical profession is subjecting someone with a healthy endocrine system to severe iatrogenic endocrine disruption, or someone with a normally functioning urogenital system to iatrogenic incontinence, fistulas, sexual dysfunction, infection, and/or necrosis.
Then you must also say it is society's business if women get breast implants, injections in their lips, botox, etc. None of this is healthy, but so long as it is allowed for people who don't claim to be trans, then it's discriminatory to disallow it for (adult) trans. I agree with you that none of it is healthy. There used to be a website of plastic surgery disasters - it is a horror show.
So you defend males claiming to be women to make body modifications which help them succeed in their wish to better mimic the appearance of females? While understanding the intention is to better enable their fraud to visually deceive others into their delusion? A woman buying breast augmentation does so to look what she regards as more feminine, it is an absolutely different intent and motivation.
Would your opinion it is a right for men who claim they are women to be enabled access to hormones and surgery remain unchanged if you understood that many trans identifying males get fake breasts because it is part of a fetish they find sexually stimulating? In plain words, they fondle their own fake breasts while masturbating and imagining themselves as women. Other fetishist males desire breasts so they can pretend to breastfeed real babies. Other paraphiliacs want a fake vagina because they believe being penetrated is a feminine experience that will fulfil their fantasy of being a woman.
When you understand that taking hormones and getting cosmetic surgeries to better imitate the physical appearance of females can be part of a male sexual paraphilia, known as autogynephilia (AGP) are you still comfortable to say that such adults have a right to body modification; acknowledging that gives permission for the men choosing this to perform their sexual deviance in public, causing those who do not consent to become involuntary participants (with increasing legal constraints on those who would criticise it) and permitting the fetishists to interact with children? Apparently you feel fine as you argue it is a "right" for every individual to be allowed to perform whatever identity they want to in public and be validated?
"So you defend males claiming to be women to make body modifications which help them succeed in their wish to better mimic the appearance of females?" They don't succeed. What adults do with their own bodies is their business. But no man can ever be a woman and we should have our own spaces, sports, and language (e.g. we are NOT uterus havers).
I do agree male transvestites mostly don't succeed in carrying off physically convincing people they are the opposite sex.
However, because a large number of transvestites/AGP/transgender ideologues are mentally ill or hate women to the degree that they wish violence on us, they are currently using political pressure intending to create laws that validate a legal fiction that they have changed sex. They want laws that coerce people who don't believe sex can be changed into silence and compliance by criminalising outspoken disbelief as "hate speech".
That is a lot of why I do regard it as my business what other adults are permitted to do with their bodies - because I'm member of my community, a woman, a mother, a taxpaying citizen of my country and a human being. The whole purpose of nation states and legal systems is to define the boundaries of acts (within legal systems and other codes) that individual citizens are allowed to do, balancing personal freedoms with the rights of the majority to safety, fairness and dignity.
We already have laws intended to discern what are appropriate types of clothing in lots of circumstances and even more important ones about how the medical industrial complex is allowed to conduct itself, taking into account that many of the resources Medicine relies on are provided by the pooled taxes of citizens (as in hospitals, research and education). I'm entirely comfortable to keep engaged in a debate whether its legitimate to allocate some of those resources to enable mentally ill people to irrevocably change their bodies. Especially as evidence is accruing showing that the hormones and procedures they demand lead to long term negative effects on their bodies. A person could consent to having a lobotomy, due to a sincere personal belief that it will benefit them, but should the rest of society just shrug and say other people have a "right" to harm themselves? Its my view the obligation of the rest of society is to provide these deluded people with other types of help.
"I do regard it as my business what other adults are permitted to do with their bodies" - sounds like you'll be cool with the new authoritarianism coming our way...
It's a slippery slope. Do you believe a person should be able to darken their skin, get lip implants and a perm and represent themselves as black if it makes them feel happy? Of course not. It's a caricature and you don't want to offend black people. But somehow getting fake breasts and presenting as little bo peep, a mockery of women, is ok and we should play along. That's why paraphilias have historically been limited to stage performances (women being mocked only, not racial mockery) and behind closed doors.
Yes to any body mods they want, however foolish; no to claiming they're something they're not.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jace33437/p/he-had-a-cold?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3ugsk9