Jo Bartosch's 'Wheesht Spa' is a fantastic piece of writing

[Glinner]

Jo Bartosch is on fire with every piece she writes for The Critic and others, but even by her standards, this is a lacerating piece of writing.

The Guardian has behaved like a bad student rag on the trans issue for a number of years, second only to Pink News in its bias and now an equal first in fake news after their extraordinary attempt to cover up or minimse the Wi Spa incident.

As Jo says "News coverage in the US is seemingly terminally polarised, but what happened next dug a grave for the integrity of the Guardian, and then pissed in it for good measure. The US edition of the paper decided to run two stories which heavily implied the entire incident was probably a hoax, and that those who objected to males exposing themselves were narrow-minded bigots allied with white supremacists.

and then, this...

"For a while this seemed to be a matter of “Schrödinger’s schlong”; a report both of a penis attached to a flasher and a sexless appendage dangling from the nether-regions of a harmless transwoman. As with the famed cat, what happened depended on who was looking."

Brilliant stuff. Share like crazy, and ask Guardian writers and staffers what they think of the incident. thecritic.co.uk/wheesht-spa/

Brilliant article and love the Schrodinger's schlong. I've stayed loyal (and paying) to the Guardian despite its stance on these issues mainly because I remember what it used to be, way back when they had an interesting women's page. I'm now going to cancel my subscription and tell them why

You'd think the people who accused women of colour of being liars about being sexually assaulted (not to mention the people who blamed the little girls because they shouldn't have been looking!) would feel some sort of shame about what's transpired, but apparently not.

For a while this seemed to be a matter of “Schrödinger’s schlong”; a report both of a penis attached to a flasher and a sexless appendage dangling from the nether-regions of a harmless transwoman. As with the famed cat, what happened depended on who was looking.

This is bang on, but what's also funny is that what happened didn't just depend on who was looking, but when. Laurie Penny initially went down the route of sexless appendage, harmless transwoman, it was rude to look etc. When it turned out the guy was a sex offender, she took the opposite view. But what changed?

Schrödinger’s schlong. Comedy gold!

Schrödinger’s schlong

😂😂😂

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing it. This is both appalling and the absolutely predictable outcome of taking away women-only spaces and making them open to men.
I am so sorry for this man’s victims, who would have been thinking that they were in a safe female space.
Also very worried for the female prisoners that this sex-offending-against-women male POS will be housed in with.
How dare lawmakers completely destroy safeguarding for women and children like this, just to further male sexual entitlement? It’s horrific.

A reporter from the Guardian interviewed me last Thursday at the demo, not one word that I said was used however I’m not surprised as I told her that they were losing women readers hand because of the nonsense and obvious biased stance they have taken, and said to her they need to get rid of the likes of wee Owen and his crew or the newspaper will close.

Brilliant article. As usual, Jo nails it on the head.

That's brilliant.

LOVE this - very well done Jo!!!

I missed Penny recanting as I’ve been taking a Twitter break - anything notable, or just a grudging reverse-ferret?

Bartosch nails it.

Ooh, did the charming Laurie recant? I've missed that if so.

And yes, excellent article from Jo Bartosch.

That article is bang on.
Thanks for the link.

I missed Penny recanting as I’ve been taking a Twitter break - anything notable, or just a grudging reverse-ferret?

She wrote: "I’ve been told that the person who was the subject of the original complaint at WiSpa is, in fact, an actual sexual predator. If that’s true, that person is a disgrace. It doesn’t change my position on trans rights."

You can see it here:

twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1433745236665282562

Shame the possibility didn't occur to her sooner.

It's not as though there was no warning that a safeguarding nightmare was on the way.

I don't understand what is going on in her mind. If it's OK for a brave and stunning trans woman to wander around the ladies' changing area with her tackle out, why isn't it OK for a sex offender to do the same? How is an ordinary woman in Wi Spa, accompanied by her children, to know whether the individual displaying their crown jewels in front of you is a trans woman innocently going about her business or a sexual predator getting his kicks out of flashing you?

Why can't she make the very small logical step of understanding that all naked male bodies should be unwelcome in a changing area used by women and girls?

Excellent article. Exposing the grim nonsense for what it is.

Giving a voice to the powerless by backing an ideology enabling a convicted sex offender to flash his penis to women and children, and then endorsing his incarceration in a female prison with access to numerous more trapped women.

Go Guardian.

@RoyalCorgi

I don't understand what is going on in her mind. If it's OK for a brave and stunning trans woman to wander around the ladies' changing area with her tackle out, why isn't it OK for a sex offender to do the same? How is an ordinary woman in Wi Spa, accompanied by her children, to know whether the individual displaying their crown jewels in front of you is a trans woman innocently going about her business or a sexual predator getting his kicks out of flashing you?

Why can't she make the very small logical step of understanding that all naked male bodies should be unwelcome in a changing area used by women and girls?

Exactly. Because the mindset of the person doing the flashing is the important thing, not the women and children on the receiving end. It's nothing to do with what they want or need. Ever.

Never.

@Franca123

Schrödinger’s schlong. Comedy gold!

Love it 😆

[quote RoyalCorgi]I missed Penny recanting as I’ve been taking a Twitter break - anything notable, or just a grudging reverse-ferret?

She wrote: "I’ve been told that the person who was the subject of the original complaint at WiSpa is, in fact, an actual sexual predator. If that’s true, that person is a disgrace. It doesn’t change my position on trans rights."

You can see it here:

twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1433745236665282562[/quote]
So she’s still saying that DESPITE this incident, she still stands by the “rights” of a person to enter a changing room full of women and children with his dick out??

I mean, what is wrong with those trashy little girls staring at someone's semi-erect ladyhood as she prepares to submerge herself into a hot tub anyway? Laurie Penney is 10000 percent right. Kids today have no manners.

"...restricting the rights of an entire category of people because one of them might commit a crime is the essence of prejudice," says Penny.

It's also the essence of safeguarding, no?

And it's not as if men are having their right to urinate or visit a spa or use a hot tub or shower at the pool or seek support if they've been raped curtailed or denied; they just need to exercise those rights in the single sex space designated for them and not the one designated for the other sex.

It's not prejudice to say no men in the women's showers.