Blackpool, CSA and 'gender identity'

[ArabellaScott]

unherd.com/2023/01/blackpools-forsaken-children/

Julie Bindel on why so many young females in Blackpool are choosing to 'transition'.

'Claire*, who grew up in Blackpool, is working for a charity that supports female victims of male violence. She tells me that the links between the rise in young females being referred to gender identity clinics and the realities of growing up in places like Blackpool are obvious. She cites high levels of poverty and the normalisation of the exploitation of women and girls in the sex trade.'
...
'One study, published back in 1994, looked at the issue of transsexualism and the connections with dissociation and child abuse. It found that of the 45 female to male transsexuals interviewed, more than 60% reported one or more types of severe child abuse. The sample group also disclosed symptoms and responses that are known to be typical effects of child abuse, such as fear, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance abuse, aggression and suicidal thoughts. The author suggests that transsexualism “may be an adaptive extreme associative survival response to severe child abuse”.'

Blackpool is in many ways a thriving and vibrant city. Sadly there is also a great deal of poverty, frequently the result of seasonal work. There is also the 'dumping' of homeless people in the city - the result of policies twenty years ago to help B and B owners in the wake of recession. The result is children brought up in poverty. There is also tourist-related prostitution and sexualized entertainment, much of it sexist, misogynistic as well as racist - one venue in the town centre has such entertainment every day. Schools are up against this culture which especially effects girls.

'affect girls' -

This is an excellent, chilling piece of investigative journalism which deserves a wider audience. Girls and young women are being badly failed.

In 2007 ....."During my investigation, I accompanied police officers to an amusement arcade where Charlene had been last seen. The detectives were looking out for any of the men under suspicion for her disappearance. During that two hour visit, over 30 convicted male sex offenders were later identified from CCTV footage. That’s one premises, in one night, in one town."

I agree Erishkigalangcleg - this should be widely shared.
We should all be appalled at societal blind eye turned to "less than worthy" girls who are disadvantaged by a confluence of poverty and sex biology.

Yep. On that note, I'm linking this from a GB News reporter yesterday, investigating Rotherham:

mobile.twitter.com/CDP1882/status/1609980055450517505

That is a chilling read. Thanks Arabella.

There's also an article in the Critic about EDI, the guy in the twitter thread gets a mention and it's all wrapped up with a biscuit

thecritic.co.uk/the-edi-agenda-is-worse-than-silly/

'why should we expect meritocratic hiring? Again — no one is seeking meritorious results'

Good point. Disappointing biscuit.

Probably malted milk.

This shit is never ending isn't it.

One day, they will stop making malted milks and passing them off as 'biscuits'. I promise.

I hope I live to see that day.

Annoyingly that was the comment i was responding to!!! Just seen I had a quote fail!

But malted milk are blghhhhhhhhhhhh

My quote function has reigned

Resigned

Even critics of the HRification of everything — the influx of equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives — are liable to see it as just irritating flummery. They roll their eyes at new boxes to tick and training sessions to attend but don’t see it as much more than a silly fad.

I think that article is a bit behind the times or something. Despite that opening paragraph and even despite all the examples it cites, I think he's seriously underestimating the problem. He's failed to notice the extent to which it metastasises, so that the more resources that are devoted to DEI stuff, the more resources have to be devoted to it, at the direct expense of whatever productive work the organisation undertakes. He's found all these examples of utter psychopaths working in Diversity departments but he hasn't twigged that the culture makes those departments a haven for office psychopaths to thrive. He doesn't seem to get how the right to have a barrier between your work life and your private beliefs or political expression is being entirely eroded. He doesn't seem to have observed the way that a global political monoculture is being enforced by this nonsense.

(I'm not actually against diversity and inclusion! I have a friend who's a Disability Officer in a university and I don't want people like her to be caught up in my sweeping rants. I do have a bee in my bonnet about bullshit jobs though.)

I'm really glad Julie Bindel wrote that article, I'm glad someone is out there drawing attention to the issues in Blackpool.

But did anyone else think it seemed hastily written or something? The link between child abuse and FTM transition is plausible but it's not quite established by the article. I hope she writes more about Blackpool. It feels like she's got a lot more to say.

That bit was fucking horrifying to read. I mean, wtf....

Yes I thought that too. It was quite abrupt towards the end. And the link wasn't very well defined or evidenced. I don't know if the UnHerd platform has a word limit so she needed to cut out bits, or if she's hoping to write about it more in the near future so she's setting up the basic premise for now etc.

I grew up in Blackpool.

None of this is news to me and its been going on at least 25 years. I look back at some of the interactions I had as a young teen (I frequently hung out in the arcades) and with adult eyes now realise how lucky I was not to get dragged into it.

Blackpool has a very dark underbelly.

I hope Julie writes more about this.

There's another thread and I said the same. It lacks depth and it doesn't really make the case.

I've looked at it more closely. It's about her investigation in 2007. When she moves from that to Lisa, the police officer, she does so in the present tense. So are we to glean from that, that she went there again? Then it jumps to a podcast, to talking to someone in the VAWG sector, to theories but no confirmed and suitably anonymised cases.

I wonder if the Entwhistle reference is from speaking to her, or from already made public statements.

The local LGBT+ services section does not find confirmed cases.

The whole thing ends:

"Blackpool seems to offer a clear example of how vulnerable, damaged children are being drawn to gender ideology because it offers a “one stop shop” solution to the pain of living as a female in a hellish world of abuse. “These girls have been horrifically betrayed,” says Norma. “Why are we sending them for irreversible, damaging treatment, when what they need is protection from sexual violation and abuse?”"

Blackpool SEEMS TO OFFER. That looks lawyered.

And the quote from Norma does not match the earlier quote. Are there any cases?

I just don't see the hard evidence here. Have I missed it??

And by cases I mean - cases of CSA where girls are turning to gender clinics as a coping mechanism. I don't think she has found such cases

Thanks, Resister. I agree the article is a bit disjointed and surprisingly short.

Would be good to see more work/research done on this. I think the link/inference is this:

'Blackpool, one of the most deprived parts of England, is rife with child abuse and home to a higher number of convicted child sex offenders than anywhere else in the country.'
...
'But there is one thing I didn’t know about Blackpool, which I learned from listening to Inside the Gender Clinic, a podcast about the much maligned Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock. The majority of referrals to the clinic are not, as one might assume, from the South, or from Brighton, but from Blackpool..'

That a deprived town with unhealthy atmosphere for young girls has a higher than average referral to GIDS.

Be good to see Newsnight do something on this, too, given their previous work on GIDS.

Yes it is bizarre that so many of them are from Blackpool, a smallish town with a population of around 140k. It suggests social contagion, at least.

I agree about the apparent cluster of cases. And the mention of Newsnight reminds me that Hannah Barnes has a book out soon? I meant to check and pre-order it. I'm sure it was early 2023.