Are you or have you ever been a “terf”? | Victoria Smith | The Critic Magazine When Mary Ann Stephenson was announced as the government’s preferred candidate to take over from Baroness Falkner as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, every feminist I know was…

'Women’s rights are the one area where it is permitted to suggest that if you care about them a little too much... then that’s all you care about...'

@glosswitch.bsky.social on Dr Stephenson being the new chair of #EHRC - come see Victoria speak at #FiLiA2025

thecritic.co.uk/are-you-or-h...

It *sounds* bad, yes. If you read the story, it turns out to be based on something in the Express (which should immediately set at least a small alarm bell ringing), which itself is based on something from the Telegraph (*slightly louder nonsense klaxon sounds*), and…

If you think transwomen should be imprisoned with women, do you think transmen should be imprisoned with men?

It’s important people can see their families so being attached to existing prisons means families can use existing infrastructure. There are also more men’s prisons than women’s so a transwoman is more likely to be housed near their family than not.

We imprison people in single sex prisons - or at least are supposed to - transwomen are not women so must not be housed with women, irrespective of their crimes. I accept transwomen may be at risk in men’s prisons so why not create separate accommodation? This could be attached to existing prisons.

Tommy Robinson arrested over alleged assault at London station Video posted online showed the far-right activist near a man lying on the ground at St Pancras station

"Tommy Robinson" arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm in St Pancras incident
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Why don’t you campaign for appropriate separate incarceration facilities for transwomen? This is the obvious solution, isn’t it?

UK has got ‘fat’ on decades of free labour by women, says MP Jess Phillips Minister points to ‘sexist’ practice of country relying on women to provide services so government did not have to

‘...so a load of Women across the country got together & made these services and offered them to other Women for free & they didn’t get paid for their labour’.

We can't argue with @jessphillipsmp.bsky.social noting how much Women's free labour added to the UK!

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Lesbian spaces are messy, but so are we It feels like a lifetime ago.

Lesbian spaces are messy, but so are we
open.substack.com/pub/faikaeln...

How TERF Island took on the trans juggernaut A grassroots movement of scrappy, determined, middle-aged women forced the British state to reckon with reality.

How TERF Island took on the trans juggernaut - spiked

www.spiked-online.com/2025/08/01/h...

3. The 2010 Equality Act and Supreme Court clarification mean that males with trans identities are males for the purposes of the EA,
4. Lesbians are not attracted to certificates saying males are females.

Translation:
Wes Streeting's office has been smashed up by a bunch of males who cannot accept that:
1. Children cannot consent to un-evidenced pharmaceutical intervention to remove sexual function and fertility as adults,
2. Women said no to males in female services, provisions & sport,

World Athletics introduces SRY gene test for athletes wishing to compete in the female category | PRESS-RELEASES | World Athletics The World Athletics Council has approved new regulations concerning eligibility conditions to compete in the female category for world ranking competitions

Excellent news from @worldathletics.org
showing how it is done and that when there is a will to safeguard the equality, dignity and safety of women and girls in sport there is a way!

worldathletics.org/news/press-r...

Police officers ‘also abused’ Rotherham grooming gang victims One says she was raped from the age of 12 by a South Yorkshire Police officer in a marked police car.

'Prof Jay has told the BBC she is "shocked" that SYP is investigating its own former officers and says the criminal investigation should be handed to another force or independent body.'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I hope you’re right (though it does feel a generous interpretation).

PS love what you, Naomi and Kenny do with Quiet Riot. Thank you for the conversations you host. I especially appreciate how you don’t always agree yet find a way to disagree well.

What’s disgusting? The Survivor Network, Sussex’s rape crisis service, is a trans-inclusive service.

This is about setting up a 12-month pilot for one single sex peer support group for women who have been raped and sexually assaulted by men. One.

survivorsnetwork.org.uk/legal-challe...

It’s a further shame TACC suggests it is inappropriate or sinister for EHRC to write to Sex Matters asking if they have any concerns on another FOIA request when it is normal for a public authority to confirm it is meeting its duty of confidence to a third party before disclosing information.

I’m curious what a similar FOIA request but for eg Stonewall, Mermaids and other trans-supporting charities and advocacy groups (or politically motivated lobby groups, to use your and TACC’s language) might show up. Again without this it’s hard to see what ‘a lot’, ‘too much’, etc is.

It’s a shame your article (nor TACC’s own longer piece) doesn’t include the time period the FOIA request relates to nor the number of emails and other correspondence. It’s hard to understand whether this contact is ‘a lot’ or within an entirely normal range for a campaigning charity like Sex Matters

We were proud to produce this report for Smallwood Trust w/ @ce-lawcentre.bsky.social & Foleshill Women's Training, highlighting the scale of gendered poverty in the UK.

As a result of structural inequalities, single mums, Disabled women & women from ethnic minority backgrounds are worst affected.

Domestic abuse and public violence: will the state now accept the two go hand in hand? | Joan Smith Many men arrested in disorder after the Southport murders had themselves been accused of attacking women. It’s high time police acted on these red flags, says author Joan Smith

"Allowing abusive men to avoid convictions is a failure of justice for their victims, but it also has terrifying implications for society as a whole." A vital point by Joan Smith - and it's great to see strong feminists back on @theguardian.com's comment pages.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Women's sport: Why we need to talk about periods, breasts and injuries Understanding the pressure elite sport puts on women’s bodies is pushing athletes to new levels of excellence.

‘Teams of scientists are researching the unique ways that elite sport affects the female body.. It's a far cry from the era when professional female athletes told me they were thought of simply as "mini-men".’

#WEURO2025final #WEURO2025 #SaveWomensSport
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I suspect a few more people will know the name of Chloe Kelly after this cup so I’m here to tell you she is one of the highest earning female players in the world, and she earns a bit north of half a million pounds a year.

That’s what Haaland makes *a week* 😝💀

Spot-on from @nixonsimon.bsky.social

Some nice signs from #transpride

"Being poor is actually a full-time job and being broke is like a full-time job with the amount of paperwork and the time going from office to office proving what you have done. . With Universal Basic Income all that would be eliminated with the time liberated to do something socially productive." – David Graeber

In many ways its the knock-on benefits of UBI that make the policy so important.

Letter sent to the interim government of #Syria by the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and which I had signed concerning alleged violations of human rights against individuals belonging to religious minorities, particularly Alawites is now public:

spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas...