Mermaids being investigated by the charity commission

[MajorieEks]

“hoisted by their own petard” never seemed more apt, if true

Also, lots of these girls are on the autistic spectrum and we know that pressure such as weighted blankets and hug vests are useful to some people with ASD/ADHD/Sensory processing difficulties.

How trans binder suppliers and orgs imagine these objects to be helpful might well be completely different to what ASD teens are really getting out of wearing one, and if the parents don’t even know about it, that hampers the parents ability to help (and find a safer, more effective way to supply proprioceptive feedback)

weighted/compression/inflatable squeeze vests come with instructions to use under supervision

here’s a few lazily screen shots about pressure devices for ND people to illustrate:

(Cass has very clearly stated that the of differential diagnosis at GIDS is a problem - Mermaids are feeding this by assuming every female teen who seeks chest/abdominal pressure must be a future transman and sending a breast binding, rather than sending the child to a HCP able to explore functional behaviours in a wider context, rather than a gender funnel)

My question was tongue in cheek, but your answer is spot on: of course it would be “inappropriate”, but it’s what is happening thanks to Mermaids et al. Which is more than “inappropriate” - it’s a fucking scandal.

No-one wants to be a boring boomer (anyone born before Blair took office) who lives their life in black and white because they are so old and hetero-normative.

The rainbow is aspirational, and if you are a straight man who really doesn't want to have gay sex or live your life in black and white then the trans route is the route of pure joy and rainbow colours.

Came to say halle-fucking-lujah.

Yes excellent point.

Our OTs also have very specific time limits for the use of bear hugs and any compression equipment. 20 mins max iirc.

I can't believe that everyone has forgotten what corsets did to women rib cages in the past Ffs.

Or foot binding.

It's always about controlling womens bodies isn't it?

(Came to say halle-fucking-lujah about the thread!)

I think the normalisation of binding in society, helped along by trusted names such as Lush and Mermaids has wide reaching consequences for many young girls.

This is Maisie Williams talking about how being made to wear a breast binder made her feel as her body entered puberty. She is clearly still working through those feelings and there's a lot of adults who should have had pause for thought and didn't.

"They'd also put this strap across my chest to flatten any growth that had started and that just felt horrible for six months of the year, and I felt kind of ashamed for a while."

www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7533373/Maisie-Williams-felt-ashamed-having-bind-chest-Game-Thrones.html

Anyone who has directed young people or children to organisations such as Mermaids or via Lush and increased the likelihood of them being at increased risk of these feelings needs to stop, now, and consider the implications. This includes places such as schools, CAMHS etc.

Over 90% reported experiencing at least one negative side effect of breast binding, over 50% at least two and 5% reported broken ribs.

That was one survey done by a pro-binding website amongst adults.

Research shows there is no safe way to bind breasts, that there are dozens of serious negative consequences some of which become permanent, that both DIY and commercial binders are harmful and just to emphasise: most of this research is done on adult women who can be expected to follow what scant safety guidelines there are (how tight, how many hours on how many days, washing, skincare etc).

We must acknowledge that children are more likely to not follow the most basic guidelines and may therefore find that the negative consequences of breast binding will be amplified in children under 18.

That's not a practice a charity supporting children should promote; it's what they should oppose. With all their might.

‘Trans joy’ is one heck of a strange phrase. It’s evangelical. No surprise to see on that site.

I read an interview a while back with the subject a trans-identified female. They were asked what was their most recent example of experiencing ‘trans joy’ which struck me as the oddest question to ask. All they could come up with was an unenthusiastic ‘I met another trans friend and we talked on a park bench.’

SeagullSausage similar was inflicted upon Judy Garland I think, during filming for The Wizard of Oz. Not much shy of a century ago!

As long as I live I'll never understand how Mermaids survived that awful video of Green and her equally ghoulish mother , laughing about her son's castration.

I agree. No surprise this disturbing phrase was erected by PN.

In any sane world they would have both been arrested within 12 hours of that video appearing, and Susie Green would have literally not seen daylight once since then.

Kids were getting e-mithered by Mermaids four times a day? That by itself seems abusive, isn't it a symptom of coercive control?

The Scottish government still signpost to Mermaids in their advice for school, I've just had a look.

The Independent seems to have realised this story can’t be ignored:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/transgender-chest-binder-mermaids-b2183087.html

archive.ph/aOqDd

That must stick in The Independent's craw. I mean, even The Guardian managed to use the word 'breast' but it's a bridge too far for The Inde.

Wow. If you look at the quote tweets for Ben Cohen's denial of this, there's a LOT of people claiming this is untrue!

Including anger at the BBC for reporting on this as it's so misleading. Apparently.

Cohen’s husband, Anthony James is a doctor and a former Mermaids trustee so I would imagine the impetus for denial comes from quite an emotive place…

Screenshot from the Hello article on their wedding (which I am just about to feed into the archive site):

www.hellomagazine.com/brides/2020031086032/benjamin-cohen-pink-news-wedding-husband-anthony-james/

Archive: archive.ph/9aS3S

Dr James left Mermaids in December 2019

register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search?p_p_id=uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet&p_p_lifecycle=2&p_p_state=maximized&p_p_mode=view&p_p_resource_id=%2Faccounts-resource&p_p_cacheability=cacheLevelPage&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_objectiveId=A10724942&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_mvcRenderCommandName=%2Ffull-print&_uk_gov_ccew_onereg_charitydetails_web_portlet_CharityDetailsPortlet_priv_r_p_organisationNumber=5054976

This Nottingham group specifically name "safe brands":

twitter.com/twisterfilm/status/1575861659591380998?s=46&t=phhJSNeRG7sNf2gbr3El3w

I mean really

I picked up this story on Mumsnet. It's an Australian charity (Transfolk of WA) who sent breast binders to young teenage girls.

Even after the story was published, the charity received 300k in funding. Unbelievable.

4w.pub/australian-charity-sends-harmful-breast-binders-to-girls/

www.outinperth.com/transfolk-of-wa-receive-300000-funding-to-support-young-people/

From a former binder-user:

I wear a sports bra when I do what I laughingly call running. It's the strongest control you can get in M&S. Sometimes it's 2 or 3 hours before I take it off. It's perfectly comfortable, doesn't damage the skin, causes me no breathing difficulties, doesn't make me look flat-chested or even less full in the bust than I am naturally - it just holds everything firmly in place. To compare this with the binders Mermaids is sending out on request is ludicrous.

A colleague’s daughter went to secondary school and fell in with a ‘pronoun crowd’. Within a few months she was asking for a binder. Her mum took her to buy some minimiser sports bras instead which she was happy with. Mermaids seem to think anyone who doesn’t affirm their kid is a right wing oppressor who is desperate to have the little princess/little Prince they always imagined their daughter/son would be. It couldn’t be further from the truth!!

It’s so weird, innit?

like us terfymums totally understand that a female teenager may want something sturdy and minimising to wear - we just don’t think she needs to crack a rib or rebrand as a boy.