Some terrific points in here, Edie. I dream of Australian women politically organising to resist this erasure of sex. We do have many hurdles to overcome, however. The tyranny of distance, and intransigent state governments. The power of the Independents is strong too.
Children have been indoctrinated in our schools and universities for decades. It's not only in the system, it's in the actors in control of the system.
Political activism costs us a lot more in Australia in terms of time, money, and travel.
I would love for us all to come together, but it's unlikely, at best. Where I am in SA it's all but impossible to organise because the population is so sparse and spread out.
I go to meetings and public gatherings when I can, but like many of us, money is sparse and so is time.
I honestly think we will be walking this back in Australia for many many years yet, and only when more Australians are directly affected by the fallout of men being women and children being taught they can change sex. Australia will see many years of trans horror.
Those international bodies are also responsible for many other ideological harms in Australia, and I think they will fail in Australia in pace with the fall of gender. But it will take years.
Here in the US we have the same problem. I think that only when an avalanche of medical malpractice lawsuits comes crashing down -- and when insurance companies stop paying for this "trans" bullshit -- will anything change. Money talks, especially in the US, and I'm afraid that only money will change the game. In the meantime, unfortunately, a lot of people will be hurt.
The Democratic Party has been entirely captured by this insanity. And instead of learning a lesson or two from their ignominious defeat in 2024, they're just doubling down.
By the way, I'm a lifelong liberal, often to the left of the Democrats, but because we have this regressive two-party system, 99% of the time I vote for Democrats. I will, however, withhold my vote entirely in the coming elections if they don't wake up on this issue. I won't vote for the MAGA crowd, but I also can no longer hold my nose and vote for the Dems while they refuse to acknowledge the harm that "trans" ideology is doing to people.
I've been following this case and the Grover one in Aus. Very satisfied with the Brit outcome but I lost my expectation that this issue will be won within the legal system as a result of the trajectory of Grover. The law was changed and it will have to be changed back, that means having to drive the matter into an election-deciding issue. Although I've never been a Lib supporter I am surprised why the conservatives still haven't fully capitalised on this issue. It seems like such a no-brainer for them.
Wait for the High Court appeal before you give up hope, Frederick. They have done some stunning reversals on the federal court on other matters (it's kind of their job)
Every single one of us that can possibly do so MUST go and support Sall Grover on her big day. It would be un-Australian to not chuck a sickie to do so. My teenage dort is preparing a busking list already, to raise money for Sall. It’s going to be a case discussed in decades to come. See you there!
I'm still reading through the two decisions...that of the UK's Supremes, and the one they overturned.
It still boggles the mind that we need a court to say What Really Is ~ Really Is. Especially when you take into consideration we are in full blown Ecological Overshoot right now, everything is going to get worse, and the last thing we need to be focused on are all the "identity culture" divisions.
For our focus really should be all about how we Humans are Earthlings, and our population growth of the last 70 years, together with our consumption of the planet's resources to sustain it, has not just all of us, but most of our fellow species, facing multiple catastrophes, that will get worse if we don't address them directly very very very soon.
And before I start ranting on and on about all the things that distract us from dealing with the Huge Disaster of Ecol. Overshoot, let me shut myself down and do what I came here for...to offer this link to be shared with your readers:
Click into this zone, and there you will find the language the court used to describe how a Woman is a Real Woman. It's always a worthy task when we read the decision itself so to understand what it says.
The awful thing is that those who don't believe the science on sex, do believe the science on climate change, thus revealing how muddle headed they are.
Ah...but there's the rub ~ the hows and whys behind our destruction of the planet's ecological capacities, of which climate change is the nastiest "symptom", are akin to the hows and whys behind the games we're playing with our institutionalized definitions of how we demarcate individual members of our species into multiple categories, some of which are accompanied by legal rights, privileges and/or obligations.
What all recorded literature/history confirms ... (from the mythologies behind all the religions to all the tall tales we've ever told) ... ever since we screwed up big time and started living in cities, is that we've been aware of our capacities to delude ourselves for a very long time, but to take full credit and blame for the messes our delusional capacities have created thus far, is too much madness to acknowledge for a half-bright big-brained bipedal primate.
Let's face it, if we accept how delusional most of our power systems have been for the last 5,000 years, it's hard to distinguish us so-called "sane" folks, from the criminals as well as the certifiably insane. As of now, we are still surrounded by evangelical fundamentalist folks who believe in a world where some of our nastiest behaviors can be blamed on imaginary demons who float by on butterfly farts, always at the ready to jump into our brain/souls, just to turn us into satanbug's servants!
So why not believe in bogus medical conditions involving your sex organs and who gets to wear mascara or jockstraps....or both. As long as there's a pill we can take, and a procedure we can undergo after being anesthetized, we can be whatever we want. Which is why I want so badly to undergo the procedures that will allow me to transition to Tree. Then I can live for a very long time, and know where my roots are all day and all night. Oh, and the rest of you will have to praise and thank me for providing the oxygen that you breath.
Now that is silly humor ~ only some of our fellow humans may think it somehow intentionally offensive to whatever state of mind they find themself in...but it isn't meant to offend. It's meant to open up a way of thinking about ourselves as who we really are. And if we do it in slightly comical ways as often as we can, and view our species as a comical creature here on Earth, and with generous humor towards all our imaginings of ourselves and towards each other, we might find ourselves and each other, as self-confessed goofballs, more forgivable as well as teachable when we're in these affable states of mind. And maybe, just maybe, we might not want to kill one another, rape one another, and pursue all those vicious trades known so well to those who are dedicated to hierarchical and militaristic ways of being. Maybe.
I wonder if the tyranny of distance has anything to do with the difficulty of organizing a solid resistance to gender nonsense in Australia. All the major cities are 1000km away from each other basically with 80% or more of Australia's population locked up inside them. Perth is several thousand kms away.
Or should we be targeting our resistance at Beijing and its satellite cities in Box Hill, South Yarra, Melbourne CBD and Footscray?
What a fantastic article. You articulate so well some really insightful ideas - that by erasing the category of women, and replacing it with the category of gender (which, if defined at all is grotesquely misogynist) the issue of women's rights suddenly vanishes. No women, no women's rights -erase women, erase the project of women's rights. The other goal achieved with replacing women with the notion of gender is that it enables men to colonise what was otherwise unreachable for them. They can now claim to have "woman gender" and hence the right to "gender based rights". So, not only have women, and their rights, been vanished, men have now been able to step into the space women's rights once occupied. Via various routes (including postmodernism) misogyny has travelled to this point where women can be vigorously, and spitefully, attacked. Again. If the Suffragettes could achieve the vote for us, that's proof women can achieve great things. That we are having to start again has shown how insidious and deep rooted the patriarchy is.
Love your 'trickle down' metaphor Edie, and you're absolutely right, FWS won't trickle down to Australia because it was about the meaning of the words 'sex' and 'woman' in UK legislation - not what they 'should' mean for all legal purposes. Australian women need to organise to get the words back in the sex discrimination act, in a context where it's clear they are to be interpreted the same way as they were in FWS (ie hopefully without any need for a trip to court)
Good to hear from you. Rest well. The email gives data on MP attitudes to gender nonsense, which all looks encouraging. Meeting time for non members is restricted.
Do you live in Australia? Why not join AAWAA? They have branches in different states and territories. You can contact them by email at women@womensactionall.org. Website: https://womensactionall.org. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the meeting due to health problems so I can’t update you. Thanks for your interest.
We are already organising it will be what it will be.
Some terrific points in here, Edie. I dream of Australian women politically organising to resist this erasure of sex. We do have many hurdles to overcome, however. The tyranny of distance, and intransigent state governments. The power of the Independents is strong too.
Children have been indoctrinated in our schools and universities for decades. It's not only in the system, it's in the actors in control of the system.
Political activism costs us a lot more in Australia in terms of time, money, and travel.
I would love for us all to come together, but it's unlikely, at best. Where I am in SA it's all but impossible to organise because the population is so sparse and spread out.
I go to meetings and public gatherings when I can, but like many of us, money is sparse and so is time.
I honestly think we will be walking this back in Australia for many many years yet, and only when more Australians are directly affected by the fallout of men being women and children being taught they can change sex. Australia will see many years of trans horror.
Those international bodies are also responsible for many other ideological harms in Australia, and I think they will fail in Australia in pace with the fall of gender. But it will take years.
But I'm a pessimistic old hag. I hope I'm wrong.
Here in the US we have the same problem. I think that only when an avalanche of medical malpractice lawsuits comes crashing down -- and when insurance companies stop paying for this "trans" bullshit -- will anything change. Money talks, especially in the US, and I'm afraid that only money will change the game. In the meantime, unfortunately, a lot of people will be hurt.
The Democratic Party has been entirely captured by this insanity. And instead of learning a lesson or two from their ignominious defeat in 2024, they're just doubling down.
By the way, I'm a lifelong liberal, often to the left of the Democrats, but because we have this regressive two-party system, 99% of the time I vote for Democrats. I will, however, withhold my vote entirely in the coming elections if they don't wake up on this issue. I won't vote for the MAGA crowd, but I also can no longer hold my nose and vote for the Dems while they refuse to acknowledge the harm that "trans" ideology is doing to people.
I do t agree with any of that but thanks for the feedback
I've been following this case and the Grover one in Aus. Very satisfied with the Brit outcome but I lost my expectation that this issue will be won within the legal system as a result of the trajectory of Grover. The law was changed and it will have to be changed back, that means having to drive the matter into an election-deciding issue. Although I've never been a Lib supporter I am surprised why the conservatives still haven't fully capitalised on this issue. It seems like such a no-brainer for them.
Wait for the High Court appeal before you give up hope, Frederick. They have done some stunning reversals on the federal court on other matters (it's kind of their job)
Every single one of us that can possibly do so MUST go and support Sall Grover on her big day. It would be un-Australian to not chuck a sickie to do so. My teenage dort is preparing a busking list already, to raise money for Sall. It’s going to be a case discussed in decades to come. See you there!
I'm still reading through the two decisions...that of the UK's Supremes, and the one they overturned.
It still boggles the mind that we need a court to say What Really Is ~ Really Is. Especially when you take into consideration we are in full blown Ecological Overshoot right now, everything is going to get worse, and the last thing we need to be focused on are all the "identity culture" divisions.
For our focus really should be all about how we Humans are Earthlings, and our population growth of the last 70 years, together with our consumption of the planet's resources to sustain it, has not just all of us, but most of our fellow species, facing multiple catastrophes, that will get worse if we don't address them directly very very very soon.
And before I start ranting on and on about all the things that distract us from dealing with the Huge Disaster of Ecol. Overshoot, let me shut myself down and do what I came here for...to offer this link to be shared with your readers:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2024-0042
Click into this zone, and there you will find the language the court used to describe how a Woman is a Real Woman. It's always a worthy task when we read the decision itself so to understand what it says.
The awful thing is that those who don't believe the science on sex, do believe the science on climate change, thus revealing how muddle headed they are.
Ah...but there's the rub ~ the hows and whys behind our destruction of the planet's ecological capacities, of which climate change is the nastiest "symptom", are akin to the hows and whys behind the games we're playing with our institutionalized definitions of how we demarcate individual members of our species into multiple categories, some of which are accompanied by legal rights, privileges and/or obligations.
What all recorded literature/history confirms ... (from the mythologies behind all the religions to all the tall tales we've ever told) ... ever since we screwed up big time and started living in cities, is that we've been aware of our capacities to delude ourselves for a very long time, but to take full credit and blame for the messes our delusional capacities have created thus far, is too much madness to acknowledge for a half-bright big-brained bipedal primate.
Let's face it, if we accept how delusional most of our power systems have been for the last 5,000 years, it's hard to distinguish us so-called "sane" folks, from the criminals as well as the certifiably insane. As of now, we are still surrounded by evangelical fundamentalist folks who believe in a world where some of our nastiest behaviors can be blamed on imaginary demons who float by on butterfly farts, always at the ready to jump into our brain/souls, just to turn us into satanbug's servants!
So why not believe in bogus medical conditions involving your sex organs and who gets to wear mascara or jockstraps....or both. As long as there's a pill we can take, and a procedure we can undergo after being anesthetized, we can be whatever we want. Which is why I want so badly to undergo the procedures that will allow me to transition to Tree. Then I can live for a very long time, and know where my roots are all day and all night. Oh, and the rest of you will have to praise and thank me for providing the oxygen that you breath.
Now that is silly humor ~ only some of our fellow humans may think it somehow intentionally offensive to whatever state of mind they find themself in...but it isn't meant to offend. It's meant to open up a way of thinking about ourselves as who we really are. And if we do it in slightly comical ways as often as we can, and view our species as a comical creature here on Earth, and with generous humor towards all our imaginings of ourselves and towards each other, we might find ourselves and each other, as self-confessed goofballs, more forgivable as well as teachable when we're in these affable states of mind. And maybe, just maybe, we might not want to kill one another, rape one another, and pursue all those vicious trades known so well to those who are dedicated to hierarchical and militaristic ways of being. Maybe.
Great piece, Edie and hope it begins to have some effect in Australia.
Re Devin was a great step forward.
Best wishes from a happy Terf Islander
Have cross posted
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/arise-go-forth-and-conquer-in-praise
Dusty
BTW a banner in the photo you used gave me my title and also led my addled brain indirectly to wonderful Duleep Singh!!
So thanks for that as well!!
Incredible essay!
I didn’t understand this part, is it a typo?
“the push to change the definition of women is a governmental human rights efficiency”
No not a typo
Ah thank you. So “an efficiency” means what? A way of streamlining something? or effecting something?
Governments are administrative structures so ignoring the complexity and needs of a female body is easier
Thank you for the explanation and sorry for being obtuse!
So another word would be “an expediency”?
I wonder if the tyranny of distance has anything to do with the difficulty of organizing a solid resistance to gender nonsense in Australia. All the major cities are 1000km away from each other basically with 80% or more of Australia's population locked up inside them. Perth is several thousand kms away.
Or should we be targeting our resistance at Beijing and its satellite cities in Box Hill, South Yarra, Melbourne CBD and Footscray?
What a fantastic article. You articulate so well some really insightful ideas - that by erasing the category of women, and replacing it with the category of gender (which, if defined at all is grotesquely misogynist) the issue of women's rights suddenly vanishes. No women, no women's rights -erase women, erase the project of women's rights. The other goal achieved with replacing women with the notion of gender is that it enables men to colonise what was otherwise unreachable for them. They can now claim to have "woman gender" and hence the right to "gender based rights". So, not only have women, and their rights, been vanished, men have now been able to step into the space women's rights once occupied. Via various routes (including postmodernism) misogyny has travelled to this point where women can be vigorously, and spitefully, attacked. Again. If the Suffragettes could achieve the vote for us, that's proof women can achieve great things. That we are having to start again has shown how insidious and deep rooted the patriarchy is.
Love your 'trickle down' metaphor Edie, and you're absolutely right, FWS won't trickle down to Australia because it was about the meaning of the words 'sex' and 'woman' in UK legislation - not what they 'should' mean for all legal purposes. Australian women need to organise to get the words back in the sex discrimination act, in a context where it's clear they are to be interpreted the same way as they were in FWS (ie hopefully without any need for a trip to court)
Are you attending the AAWAA meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) Edie?
I have been battling a massive migraine, I hope it will be gone tomorrow, if so I’ll read the email then.
Good to hear from you. Rest well. The email gives data on MP attitudes to gender nonsense, which all looks encouraging. Meeting time for non members is restricted.
I’m interested to know any updates on this when available- will they be updated here? https://womensactionall.org/2025/04/14/institutional-integrity-free-association-and-womens-rights-our-groups-join-the-national-push-for-sex-based-protections/
Do you live in Australia? Why not join AAWAA? They have branches in different states and territories. You can contact them by email at women@womensactionall.org. Website: https://womensactionall.org. Unfortunately I couldn’t attend the meeting due to health problems so I can’t update you. Thanks for your interest.