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Jazz's avatar

I don’t wish to tar you with the Terven brush, Julie - as you are undoubtedly also just a kick arse honest, funny journalist. Howevs- hallelujah, praise be, in her eye, May The Forstater be with you...too much? Praise to The Terven Goddess, cheers - Gr8 piece.

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Julie Szego's avatar

So kind of you Jazz. But I think I was tarred long ago and that's totally fine. To me 'TERF' simply describes a person who is resigned to a cold, hard, unyielding thing otherwise known as reality! xx

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David Mayes's avatar

Thank you Julie. I now better understand the domestic victims of transgenderism. I've seen less traumatic but similar destabilisation and disorientation in the workplace where coworkers feel compelled by the new transgenderist corporate policies to normalise a trans colleague and just suck up the cognitive dissonance.

The Trump administration executive orders reversing the Democrat gender policies are now dismantling the institutional transgender edifice in the US. This will soon impact here through our international relationships such as in sport and defence. What is the Albanese foreign policy you refer to?

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Julie Szego's avatar

Thanks David, yes the awful aspect to this issue is the way the state loads these domestic scenarios against the women partners. Re Trump: also rather interesting to watch US-partnered unis and research institutions here scrambling to de-trans themselves in response to his edict. There are always upsides... Thanks for asking about the Albanese Government's policy; I've updated the post to explain the reference. Among other things in Feb 2023 Wong announced a fund to support "LGBTQIA+" (!!! for real!) rights in the Asia-Pacific region.

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David Mayes's avatar

Thanks Julie. There is a similar missionary zeal In the UK. Harriet Harman was the author and champion of their 2010 Equality Act. Two weeks ago, Foreign Secretary David Lammy appointed her as the UK Special Envoy for Women and Girls to spread the good news that "trans women are women" around the globe.

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Justin McDermott's avatar

And of course the other people who must have an exceedingly hard time are the children of fathers who decide they are really women. What does that do to a child, a teenager, a young adult?

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Frederick Roth's avatar

Dammit, I'm reading this a day too late to see the film...

But I'd like to share a resource to read transwidows' personal histories: https://www.transwidowsvoices.org/our-voices

Their plight was one of the original motivations to connect with the gender critical movement. Once you read these stories the reality of what you see re-framed for public political consumption is outrageous.

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Jazz's avatar

Came across this today Julie. WSJ Journalist writing about Celine Baumgarten and free speech ramifications of GII and the odious Ms Inman-grant https://archive.md/2025.02.08-075628/https://www.wsj.com/opinion/big-brother-is-watching-you-mate-australia-esafety-commission-global-censor-679b0e6a

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Kate's avatar

Wonderful conversation, thank you.

A while back I was seeing a therapist. I had a session the same day Roe v Wade was overturned, June 2022. I was feeling pretty grumpy about the whole thing and said something during our session.

Then I asked this therapist, she was lovely, what she would say if a woman came to her and told her of her experience as a trans widow.

She was shook. She said that that dynamic had never even crossed her mind.

Sigh

She actually thanked me for saying so and said she could never have that sort of conversation with her peers.

When she said that I asked if I could use the white board marker and she passed it over.

I wrote on her board (in amongst her other scribblings about boundaries, a constant struggle for me) when you know you can't have a conversation about something, that is a red flag.

It truly sucks that women's experiences and recognition often come as an after thought.

Social conditioning runs deep. You have to almost train yourself to see and care about women, including your own self.

Cheers,

So happy to be able to comment now.

P.S. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Vaishnavi during her Melbourne visit. Was an absolute treat. Thanks for coming up to Ballarat.

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