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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Libraries promoting body mutilation as “joy” in Norfolk

314 replies

CarobBean72 · 12/04/2024 09:28

Anyone here from Norfolk?

Norwich Millennium Library has a display of “Trans Joy”, apparently aimed at children & young people, which IMHO promotes body mutilation & self harm of women & girls & glorifies drug use. In the wake of the Cass Report it’s incredibly irresponsible.

It includes images of hypodermic needles for injecting testosterone, a packer & mastectomy scars, with the slogan “Self-made men play God right”.

Most disturbing is a small figurine of a woman’s lower half, cut off at waist & knees, bearing what appears to be a hysterectomy scar & what is either a pseudo-phallus ( an appendage made from a flap of tissue removed from the woman’s arm or thigh, rolled up and sewn to the groin to mimic a penis ) or a hypertrophied clitoris, one of the often painful effects of testosterone on the female body.

The display is accessible to children as the cabinets stand only a couple of feet high, designed for a child’s eye line and it’s placed next to the 8-14 book section. The cases are by the entrance - not noticeable when you go in but inescapable when you leave.

I can’t believe someone okayed this. If it was promoting anorexia or cutting or glorifying steroid abuse to children and teenagers, we’d all see it for what it is. Instead, it’s promoting self-mutilation under the banner of “Trans Joy”.

It’s especially irresponsible in the week the Cass Review revealed how poor the evidence base for so-called “gender affirming care” is and how little followup there has been to assess regret and de-transition rates.

Ive been trying to find a contact for the head of Norfolk Library Services - it’s a woman called Kerry Murray, who is also the Safeguarding Lead! But I can’t find any email listing for her.

Any suggestions?

Sharing images with trepidation: it’s a horror show!

Post edited by MNHQ

Libraries promoting body mutilation as “joy” in Norfolk
Libraries promoting body mutilation as “joy” in Norfolk
Libraries promoting body mutilation as “joy” in Norfolk
OP posts:
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13
MidsomerMurmurs · 14/04/2024 13:42

Chrysanthemum5 · 14/04/2024 13:07

At least @KayMasonBillig has done something about this display - a few years ago everyone involved would have doubled down if there were any criticism.

Yes. This is a post-Cass response to a pre-Cass piece of propaganda. We’ve all known how ludicrous and dangerous this ideology has been for years, but the Overton Window of wider public consciousness has shifted this week.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 14/04/2024 13:41

KayMasonBillig · 14/04/2024 12:05

I am the Leader of Norfolk County Council, who are responsible for the Norwich Library at the Forum. I was very unhappy when I heard about this display. Staff have guidelines, and this exhibition seems to have been approved without realising the actual content. As soon as it came to my attention, I alerted senior staff and it was removed immediately. I apologise if anyone was offended but thank you very much for alerting us. We are open to different points of view on all subjects but there are times and places for these and we have to handle them with sensitivity and consider the impact on others, especially children. There will be a investigation into how and why this happened and staff will be issued with strengthened guidance for the future.

That's a positive response. Thank you.
This is what all local authorities, the government, civil service etc should be doing. Abiding by the Nolan principles of public life, being impartial and not allowing any group to weaponise the workplace in favour of their preferred ideology.

Riapia · 14/04/2024 13:30

Trans joy.
FFS.

Thingybob · 14/04/2024 13:24

KayMasonBillig · 14/04/2024 12:05

I am the Leader of Norfolk County Council, who are responsible for the Norwich Library at the Forum. I was very unhappy when I heard about this display. Staff have guidelines, and this exhibition seems to have been approved without realising the actual content. As soon as it came to my attention, I alerted senior staff and it was removed immediately. I apologise if anyone was offended but thank you very much for alerting us. We are open to different points of view on all subjects but there are times and places for these and we have to handle them with sensitivity and consider the impact on others, especially children. There will be a investigation into how and why this happened and staff will be issued with strengthened guidance for the future.

Thanks you Kay

PTSDBarbiegirl · 14/04/2024 13:22

Fuck. Ing. Hell.

So, so inappropriate.

OctopusRule · 14/04/2024 13:17

CarobBean72 · 13/04/2024 18:42

Ours in Norfolk is extremely timid about anything to do with the T contingent. They ran a story where Norwich Women’s Rights Group was mentioned - when Norwich City Council voted TWAW & hunted up what they said was a local “feminist group” that none of us had heard of to say we were doing it wrong.

Turns out the “feminist group” was a crafts market…

Those crafty women with their knitting needles, card making, jewellery making etc they can’t be trusted!!!

😂

FrancescaContini · 14/04/2024 13:10

Not good enough, I am afraid. How many children and people who didn’t consent to viewing images of mutilation etc, were exposed to this?

Chrysanthemum5 · 14/04/2024 13:07

At least @KayMasonBillig has done something about this display - a few years ago everyone involved would have doubled down if there were any criticism.

FrancescaContini · 14/04/2024 13:05

KayMasonBillig · 14/04/2024 12:05

I am the Leader of Norfolk County Council, who are responsible for the Norwich Library at the Forum. I was very unhappy when I heard about this display. Staff have guidelines, and this exhibition seems to have been approved without realising the actual content. As soon as it came to my attention, I alerted senior staff and it was removed immediately. I apologise if anyone was offended but thank you very much for alerting us. We are open to different points of view on all subjects but there are times and places for these and we have to handle them with sensitivity and consider the impact on others, especially children. There will be a investigation into how and why this happened and staff will be issued with strengthened guidance for the future.

You apologise IF anyone was offended?? People WERE offended. Have you read the comments here and on Twitter?

Please read through then come back and tell us if your non-apology was the appropriate response. Look forward to hearing from you.

IcakethereforeIam · 14/04/2024 12:58

Wasn't Norfolk (possibly not the CC though) one of the Council's thar passed a motion (oo-er, although appropriate imo) unanimously stating twaw, tmam, something, something non-bin? They should concentrate on the actual bins.

SinnerBoy · 14/04/2024 12:36

KayMasonBillig · Today 12:05

I am the Leader of Norfolk County Council, who are responsible for the Norwich Library at the Forum.

If you are who you say, good job and thanks.

https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/Councillors/tabid/63/ctl/ViewCMIS_Person/mid/383/id/748/ScreenMode/Alphabetical/Default.aspx

CMIS > Councillors

https://norfolkcc.cmis.uk.com/norfolkcc/Councillors/tabid/63/ctl/ViewCMIS_Person/mid/383/id/748/ScreenMode/Alphabetical/Default.aspx

CarobBean72 · 14/04/2024 12:25

GlomOfNit · 13/04/2024 09:08

Jesus, what an appalling slip of judgement. Who on earth signed off on that?! It reminds me of the trans pop-up/community exhibition that was on for months and months at the Pitt-Rivers in Oxford, but that was in a separate room and I think there may have been age warnings.

Having this sort of display right next to the young teens book section seems blatantly groom-y to me. I'm assuming a TRA at some high level at that library.

What weight would be given to complaints received from outside the geographic area, I wonder? It would be very easy for the library to dismiss it as a pile-on if women across the country make complaints. I hope the local feminist game is strong in Norwich!

I forgot to mention the display has a QR code (not shown) which takes you to a website.

I should have checked WTF that was. Again, a safeguarding risk.

So many questions!

OP posts:
KayMasonBillig · 14/04/2024 12:05

I am the Leader of Norfolk County Council, who are responsible for the Norwich Library at the Forum. I was very unhappy when I heard about this display. Staff have guidelines, and this exhibition seems to have been approved without realising the actual content. As soon as it came to my attention, I alerted senior staff and it was removed immediately. I apologise if anyone was offended but thank you very much for alerting us. We are open to different points of view on all subjects but there are times and places for these and we have to handle them with sensitivity and consider the impact on others, especially children. There will be a investigation into how and why this happened and staff will be issued with strengthened guidance for the future.

Oncetwicethreetimesalady · 13/04/2024 18:59

Take away the trans message and it still looks unsuitable for children; the disembodied torso with weird penis, the hypodermic needle, all very disturbing. The Trans Joy image is thorns and tears or droplets of blood (!!??) not my idea of joyful, it suggests a lot of mental and emotional turmoil. This not suitable for public view without warnings and age restrictions.
What were they actually thinking? Are there no checks and balances when it comes to presenting challenging content to unsuspecting audiences? Who said this was Ok? Can we find a name of the person responsible and ask them?

CarobBean72 · 13/04/2024 18:42

Chewyspree · 13/04/2024 09:56

I know - it’s just we (local women’s rights group) are pretty proactive and our local paper is mostly written by AI with about 3 reporters. It’s the sort of paper with constant basic grammar errors in articles. Hopeless.

Ours in Norfolk is extremely timid about anything to do with the T contingent. They ran a story where Norwich Women’s Rights Group was mentioned - when Norwich City Council voted TWAW & hunted up what they said was a local “feminist group” that none of us had heard of to say we were doing it wrong.

Turns out the “feminist group” was a crafts market…

OP posts:
PaperWalkAndTalk · 13/04/2024 17:19

I am amazed at how much Norwich has changed from the 20 years ago that I lived there.

When I was there I think there was one gay club that was quite small. Apparently there is now a large "LGBT+" community, and I say that in quotes because when I've read about it it seemed to be made up of heterosexual men who cross-dressed.

Chewyspree · 13/04/2024 13:27

tobee · 13/04/2024 11:16

Did you get a reply?

Not yet

SerafinasGoose · 13/04/2024 13:00

This material is akin to what is, or was, on Body Modification Ezine. This site covered material from a simple tragus piercing to the more extreme ends of body modification and erotic play (ergo, fetishism).

The community is currently offline following the death of its founder coupled with technical issues with the site. But it was full of content warnings and always made clear that this sort of material is not in any way suitable for children. Back in the day, it was hidden away in a niche corner of the internet and the more extreme areas of the site were only accessible via various disclaimers and an age declaration.

That material of this nature is being publicly displayed in full technicolour glory - aimed at children, not least - is evidence of how far down the rabbit hole gender ideology has dragged this country.

It's a momentous, institutional, systemic safeguarding failing of gargantuan proportions. When any ideology, no matter what its nature, flags 'safeguarding' as a dogwhistle 'phobia', then they are telling us loudly and clearly exactly who they are.

WednesdayAllTheWay · 13/04/2024 12:16

The more complaints on this the better. Take the complaint all the way through the process and to Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman if possible. That will make the council sit up and take notice. Absolutely disgusting, beyond inappropriate. I would be so upset if my DC saw that. Under what other circumstances would a library show explicit content?!

MarieDeGournay · 13/04/2024 12:09

Thank you for recording this, OP, for the record when in the near future TRAs deny that they would ever do such a thing (cf lying responses to Cass report) but also for proof that something so grotesquely offensive was 'mainstreamed' in a public library.

tobee · 13/04/2024 11:16

Chewyspree · 12/04/2024 20:39

I saw it too. I’ve emailed them about it. It was vile.

Did you get a reply?

CriticalCondition · 13/04/2024 11:03

They knew exactly what they were doing.

In their photo promoting the exhibition on Twitter the female torso sculpture is turned from the camera so the viewer can't see the attached bloody 'penis'.

They knew if a full frontal picture of it appeared on Twitter there would be an outcry. So to achieve their aim of exhibiting it publicly in the foyer of a library used by children they had to hide what it really was.

Utterly shameful.

soupfiend · 13/04/2024 10:47

This reply has been deleted

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FrancescaContini · 13/04/2024 10:44

Sorry, hadn’t RTFT. Someone still needs sacking.

FrancescaContini · 13/04/2024 10:43

Dear God, the normalisation and glorification of self mutilation knows no bounds when it’s positioned in the middle of a public library for all children to see as well as people who would never choose to see or know about this.

I sincerely hope whoever is responsible is fired immediately.