Mermaids being investigated by the charity commission

[MajorieEks]

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

I also think how ironic it is that there’s such uniformity and predictability amongst what or who is considered “diverse”. DDs and I were laughing last night at the boxes which have so obviously been ticked by the “diversity and inclusion” member of the Bake Off production staff.

Seriously though, I totally agree that this word is a red flag. I shudder inside when I hear it. Surely it’s not long before the more astute comedians pick up on it as it’s so ripe for parody - or is it already being done?

LSE - another one off the list.

Julie Bindel:

unherd.com/2022/10/mermaids-is-endangering-children/

It’s a shame they didn’t use their critical thinking skills to step back from it though.

I have mixed feelings about this. I expect many people who knew exactly what they were doing and hounded those who spoke about safeguarding, will take cover in the group of parents who were worried to death about their kids.

Thank you for posting this. I read the first paragraph quoting that LSE dude, and immediately felt very very very sick. Seeing those words and the image they conjure up - this is a very disturbing and unwell person. How did this individual acquire a post teaching at LSE? How did people sit through listening to him speak these words out loud and not run away screaming?

Victoria Smith in the Critic today, she articulates many of the things I think about Mermaids and the wider narrative pushed by them, and others, at gender confused children:

thecritic.co.uk/gender-sirens/

And yes, they should be called 'breast crushers' because that's what they've been designed to do.

How did this individual acquire a post teaching at LSE? How did people sit through listening to him speak these words out loud and not run away screaming?

Because it was all dressed up in a lot of pomo burbling, with code words like 'heteronormative' freely littered through which are the pokes to remind yourself 'you don't want to be thought an old fashioned nasty bigot do you?' and lots of links to groups associated with being important for nice people to care about and support action regarding. And it was framed as exciting, progressive, modern, free thinking, and presented by a lot of nice convincing people who looked and sounded as if they possessed some integrity. In a room where dissent would have been frowned on.

Essentially the marketing department played a blinder.

Red Riding Hood's wolf these days has a nice suit, a warm smile, wears all the lanyards and badges, knows all the buzzwords and could take two paragraphs to say three words, ensuring that the message is so buried in convoluted, disguising babble that few will actually grasp the meaning.

From Sarah Stuart on twitter. The other trustees may be a little nervous right now.

Oh, I see. I wondered why Mermaids had hidden their page listing trustees.

Yes. On Twitter we are now starting to see people disown Mermaids, claiming they were never happy with the charity but they never spoke up before because they were scared of a 't*rf' pile on.

As ever, whistleblowers get the blame.

JKR is innocent yet she's been treated as Guilty.

I'm sorry, what?? They were afraid of a terf pile on? How the fuck does that make sense?

Don't ask me, SirSam! None of it makes any sense, frankly.

I agree. My question was rhetorical but you’ve spelled out the reason beautifully. Thank you.

That was for @ImherewithBoudica !

More likely they were afraid of being called a TERF.

Yup.

The could have said nothing. They could have not raised funds and cheered them on. They could have said more by keeping a stoney silence. But no, they were wither pretty ignorant or pathetically desperate to be ‘cool’. Either way…

From a tweet this morning: they were uncomfortable but didn't want to be 'used by t**fs'.

Wtaf do they think a 't**f' is?

It's a label that's been marketed as 'evil' and 'you don't want to be associated with them and what happens to them, do you?'

The tide's turning fast.

twitter.com/AnnMSinnott/status/1577395906617700352

I never understood why a small parent run charity linked to a single NHS health care trust became the poster organisation for the whole LGBTQ+++ movement. And quite early on.

Original activists like Susie and Helen are frankly quite mumsy with solid but not high flying careers. Not the type of people who are normally accepted as cheerleaders for the queer brigade, nor for elite city organisations.

It is unclear what their USP was. I could say what I think it might be but that might cause me to be banned from MN. (Or perhaps face a knock on the door - and no, I am not, Caroline Farrow though on some issues I might identify as her.)

A trawl through Mermaids annual returns provides an interesting list of rainbow washers. More interesting perhaps are Mermaids links with WPATH.

A google of WPATH who claim to set international standards for transgender medicine and Susie Green throws up all sorts of interesting stuff.

A classic from Mimmymum
twitter.com/mimmymum/status/1060076183616917504
from 2018

Copied in case it disappears
"That Susie Green was chosen by WPATH as the only non-medical/research contributor to the Children’s chapter, shows how highly they consider her
That @girlguiding
and many other reputable UK orgs listen to Mermaids on areas of trans inclusion is a ringing endorsement
You are...? twitter.com/fancyhatslady/status/1059939514209259521"

Despite some interesting statements in the recent LGBA court case about Mermaids limited medical expertise, Susie has sat on WPATH's Standards of Care Revision Committee since January 2018. (As per the WPATH website.)

There are some huge internet rabbit holes to dig into around which link up all sorts of people, including quite a lot of UK academics (law and ethics as well as gender studies). This thread gives some starting points:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3414279-Can-we-talk-about-WPATH?flipped=1&page=1

My view remains that Mermaids was a useful vehicle. It will be disposable. Hopefully the sunlight will shine deeper.

Wow, @ScreamingMeMe that is a belter of a vid from Ms Muggeridge. Thanks for posting it.

And @WendyWagon glad to hear your DC is out the other side - I recall Stella O'Malley saying that socially transitioning to help with transient adolescent gender dysphoria would e one way of dealing with things, if NOT for the way that social transition is pushed deliberately into medical transition.

It makes a whole lot of sense if you are an ally and have been programmed to discount a whole group of society as being hateful AND to damp down your own discomfort or instinctive feelings of alarm.

This will be a case study for that entire texts will be written about in decades to come. The programming of huge swathes of people who believe they are supporting the right side of history and really it is pure indoctrination on a wide scale.

@MargaritaPie
Is JKR really responsible for all the ills in the world? It's a wonder she finds time to write any books at all!

I’m hoping that every school, institution, state funded entity - everyone really - starry backing away and examining their procedures and consciences. And apologising.