I am Janice Turner's No 1 fan - another excellent article

Chrome Yellow - that is a really well written and thought out complaint. I hope it gets the response it deserves. (not holding breath though)

I would have just barged in telling them it was a pile of dull, badly written shite that no one wanted to listen to - which it is- but it probably would get me thrown in the bin.

I think trans is clickbait for so many different reasons and this motivates media (social and otherwise) to keep on engaging with it.

Great letter @cromeyellow0

That series infuriated me last time I heard it (I believe this is the 5th one they've commissioned) and this one was even worse. Putting everyone who has a concern about a boy with a penis sharing communal changing rooms with teenage girls into the bigot box is bloody disgusting.

Great article by Janice as ever

Another JT superfan here. I have huge sympathy for anyone genuinely tormented by a mismatch between their sense of self and their biology. But massively worried about the crude reduction of gender to stereotypes. Really fascinated to know how the radical end of the trans movement has managed to gain so much sway so quickly, and what is motivating the aggressiveness of their tactics. Who is gaining?

cromeyellow0

Yes, well done.

Does due diligence simply never get done anymore? Public broadcasters and parliamentary representatives seem to know bugger all about this dangerous practice.

Absolutely brilliant, CromeYellow.

Sorry this is probably the wrong place to post, but I've just made a formal complaint to the BBC about the dreadful 'Just a Girl' drama on BBC Radio 4, which is propaganda crafted by Mermaids.

I was listening to this programme, which promotes the use of "puberty blockers" for young children, far below the age of medical consent. This is a euphemism for an extremely potent chemotherapy drug (lupron), with massive side effects--including deleterious effects on cognition and memory. NICE approves its use for the treatment of serious diseases like prostrate cancer. But giving it to children who don't confirm to gender stereotypes is an off-label use, which lacks any serious medical evidence (like double-blind random trials) to support it.

I further note that the programme was heavily influenced by Mermaids. This is a small advocacy organization (essentially a one-woman band) which lacks any medical or psychological expertise.

I appreciate that the BBC has a very difficult task in navigating this contested issue of transgender children, where the debate is extremely polarised and ideas are rapidly changing. I note that the BBC recently ran a well-balanced TV documentary on this issue, which aired both sides on the debate.

In this case, however, I believe that the BBC has been extremely irresponsible in effectively advocating for children to be given unproven medical treatments.

whitehandledkitchenknife

It is utterly baffling. Because it's completely illogical. It's a minefield of doublespeak.

ArbitraryName

There seems to be huge issue of universities toeing a politically correct line.

There was a woman on television last year saying her student union had banned all the right wing newspapers.

I can't remember exactly how it works but students choosing University on the basis of student satisfaction leads directly to the income stream for the University. (the grading of gold, silver and bronze? - my memory isn't working).

Students have become consumers. Universities are selling a product.

So the reluctance to do anything outside what the universities consider the students want, is driving the narrative.

And it has little to do with academic achievement.

It's no coincidence that the '57 gender movement' is youth driven and validation of people's identity or feelings is not only politically correct, it's insisted upon.

Any straying from the acceptable path is frowned upon. So students are living in a permanent echo chamber.

At university!

It's exactly the place where your ideas should be challenged, in order to test your conviction.

If that has now become taboo, God help this next generation.

Yes I just went onto Caspian's Facebook page and saw that most of the posts were about free speech at universities. I am slightly wary of this movement as some people use it as a way of arguing for the right to present offensive views.

The most important point about Caspian's situation has to be academic freedom. The right to investigate and research issues. This is not the same as the right to publically present offensive opinions.

The thing is, it isn't really about free speech. It's about the whole purpose of academic research.

It also does enormous damage to people who have or will detransitioned because it further stigmatises them (and insists that their experiences don't matter and must never be spoken about).

Thanks for the info about subscriptions but I don't want to have any kind of subscription to The Times. I'd rather just buy one hard copy a week even if it's more expensive!

CDAlady if you take out a subscription to the Sunday Times in hard copy you get it at a discounted rate (£2 a week instead of £2.50) and you get online access to all the Times stuff behind the paywall. (And usually some special offer for the first year.)

Or I think you can take out a digital subscription.

Another excellent article. She quotes someone who speaks of the school I've alluded to before on here, a girls' school where increasing numbers are "identifying as boys" although the person quoted talks of them identifying as "non-binary" (some probably are but some are also declaring themselves boys).

Bath Spa's rejection of his thesis and reasoning for doing so is extremely worrying. It's no wonder so many people are worried to speak out on this when even an academic institution which should be about research and pursuit of facts is afraid of any backlash just because of looking into this issue more deeply. Aggressive TRAs are silencing people simply wanting to research this, their tactics unfortunately effective as even a university is afraid of the backlash for simply accepting a thesis on this subject. As well as being so damaging generally as this increases the likelihood of anyone legally being able to "identify" as a woman or man it also lets down those who've regretted and suffered psychologically having been pushed towards "transitioning".

A side note is that James Caspian from the article had to raise money to legally challenge Bath university's decision to stop his research. Here's the link from the crowdfunder:

www.crowdjustice.com/case/uphold-freedom-of-speech-in-our-universities/

And to the Facebook page he has set up:

m.facebook.com/Free-Speech-Matters-1328499793930891/

She's brilliant, isn't she. So good to see her writing regularly on this in the mainstream media. I'm signing up for the Janice Turner Appreciation Society forthwith!!

This article is great. Thanks for sharing. And yes of course this is a sociocultural phenomenon and really should be discussed as such.

Also, thanks to this thread I have discovered Janice Turner. A quick scroll through her article headlines and first paragraphs makes me want to read her regularly but I don't want to subscribe. Is there a particular day of the week she writes? I would buy a paper copy on that day.

Wow. Fabulous stuff again from Janice Turner. I'm impressed with The Times over their stance in this matter. No-one else is being so brave and speaking such truth.

You can't just add sharetoken, you have to get a shareable link... I started an AIBU to tell people how as hardly anyone seems to have discovered it.

Didn't work for me - but I have read it elsewhere?

Janice Turner is such a clear writer, isn't she.

There is also this one from a couple of days ago, on the oddity of people determined to deny th events at Speakers corner (trying errol's shareToken approach, you should all be able to access this)

Conspiracy theories silence the brutal truth

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/conspiracy-theories-silence-thebrutal-truth-6bjpdpzmf?shareToken

Great innit- came here to post it.

TBH, having had university ethics review training, it's pretty clear that university management think the purpose to protect the university's reputation above and beyond everything else. That extends to: will this generate negative media (or social media) coverage that might jealorduse our income streams?

I wouldn't be surprised if my ethics committee would veto research for similar reasons. Added to that is that some reviewers (not a minority) appear to think their told is to be an enormous hurdle to anyone wanting to do research and to outright stop people even when they want to do fairly standard and uncontroversial things.

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

This is really scary Countess isn't it. I wonder how many biologists were on that ethics committee.

That is a really good article to read. It is a completely different view point to what you normally read and makes you think.

I get a free copy of The Times at Waitrose with my shopping. I think a lot of people who shop there do this because the times is usually behind a paywall so it seems a good choice - It is usually a good read and has good crosswords . I hope it gets a good audience of people who would not normally get to read this.