About forty people attended this free lecture, held to celebrate LGBT+ History Month, with a number of men who were over sixty held by Birkbeck College, part of the University of London. Of course, we were warned right at the start that the event that it was not an opportunity to discuss any of current issues about trans-identities, nor were people to ask any improper questions. The lecture would last just 20 minutes with Q&A twice that.
Death Becomes Him: Munroe Bergdorf in conversation
The announcement of Bergdorf’s book came with much fanfare in July 2020. At that point it was described as part political tract, part memoir and part history. Bergdorf had apparently written eighty-thousand words (that’s about 260 pages) though I think I also recall seeing claims of the more modest effort of just forty-thousand. Anyway, despite apparently writing the whole thing upfront (final version is 224 pages) the publication date was beset by a number of delays. Ordering an advance copy from Amazon I was kept abreast of the ever vanishing release date as it went from 2021, to at least two dates in 2022, a promise of January 2023, until finally March 2023, which was suddenly bought forward to February. (I personally wonder if this was to get in first before any attention was given to Hannah Barnes’s expose of the Tavistock Time to Think, whose publication was announced on the same day of this event.)
Review of play: Sound of the Underground by Travis Alabanza
Travis has yet to best Burgers. The blurby bit “Ladies, Gentlemen, and then all the legends that have realised gender is a trap – introducing
Abolition event held at Law School. Yes, *really*.
Let’s bear in mind throughout please that this was a discussion about ‘abolition’ held in a university law school. In essence abolitionists seek the destruction of the police, prison and all forms of organised justice in favour of anarchy. The conference started proper by closing our eyes and looking into darkness of our minds to supposedly create a moment of visualisation we could return to later. This was suggested by the moderator of the event, Natasha Mutch-Vidal, a complete numbskull, who behaved throughout with unparalleled precocity. Her role at City University is as ‘Senior Equality Diversity Inclusion Officer (Race Equality)’, which is really just a way of saying she does nothing all day long and gets paid for it.
An Evening with Greta Thunberg
The Southbank took the unprecedented step of closing the building for a hour on the day of Greta Thunberg’s appearance for ‘security’ and thus when we duly arrived the entrances were mob-handed by security guards, who looked like they’d been in bought specially for the event. I’ve never experienced that before when attending the Royal Festival Hall. There was a ticket check outside, then a bag check outside the main door and then another ticket check inside before we were allowed to wander around the building. Outside Piers Corbyn and friends protested.
The Archives of Bishopsgate Institute
Lies attended Franko B’s Archive launch … Content warning: Discussion of fetish and upsetting imagery The blurby bit Join us to celebrate the donation of
Book launch of ‘Non-binary Gender Identities – The Language of Becoming’
Learn all about the exciting academic work being done in the area of non-binary gender identities. Also learn what cars are and why assemblage is
Part 2: Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
An ‘in conversation’ event with Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, authors of trans-themed novel Mad Honey, interviewed by Juno Dawson. Contains spoilers about the
Part 1: Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
I read this book following my attendance of an event held with the authors of the book – Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan – when they were (sort of) interviewed by Juno Dawson, which I will write about separately and link here when done.
In the past I have been a big fan of Jodi Picoult, having read pretty much everything she has ever written. However, I stopped a few years ago. I can’t remember the name of the book now but do remember finishing it feeling uneasy and disappointed about the glib manner in which a very serious sexual abuse storyline had been used and the conclusion the author had appeared arrived at.
Review of: The Enby Show
The show was part of a series at the Rich Mix called ‘Rehearsing Utopia’. According to the Rich Mix, utopia involves networking parties for BAME people, discussing systemic racism with a panel of black women no one has ever heard of, a DJ set/club night for LGBTQIA+ people (quiet room included) and this show I’m talking about here, the Enby Show, a sub-par cabaret act. That’s utopia. Not solving world hunger, promoting world peace or even engaging deprived local families in community activities. Times have changed.
More bollocks from Travis
I sought my love out once again and they didn’t fail to deliver. In fact, I think this is the most Emperor’s New Clothes Travis
Review of documentary: Casa Susanna
The blurby bit Sébastien Lifshitz pieces together the story of a pioneering transgender network in this inspiring and essential slice of queer history. In the
Review of ‘A Trans Masculine Moving Image Exhibit’
Content warning: Reading this may make your head explode and features descriptions of hardcore pornography. Audience was mainly young women, many on the path of
‘Trans Lives in the Seventies’
The event was part of a theme to celebrate the BBC’s birthday and to take retrospective look at how ‘trans people’ were treated in programming in the 1970s. For once, the person doing the presentation, Marcus Collins, a real historian, had done actual proper research into the film archive.
Unfortunately this didn’t extend into researching the background of his guest speaker, Morgan M. Page, of the notorious cotton ceiling workshop fame.
Review of documentary and short feature at Queer Film and Arts Festival
It started ten minutes later than advertised with people still coming in after the second film had started. No one said anything to the person blatantly recording the screen on their mobile phone. I kept falling asleep during but luckily had a bearded woman in the seat next to me, who generously jumped about in her seat about once a minute, so just enough to stop me nodding off completely. The host of the event, apparently an experienced hand at hosting panels, behaved like a shy little girl and urged everybody to leave the screening for a comfort break once Uyra’s nine minute credit sequence started to roll. We also had a BSL interpreter to sign for the panel plus both films had subtitles with sound description too. Annoying.
More twitter threads
This is just a page with some of my past Twitter threads thrown together. Prison abolition thread Mridul Wadhwa Discussion of queer book with author
Book review: Jeffrey Marsh ‘How to be You’
Where did Jeffrey Marsh come from? Wikipedia tells us little, except that they wanted to be a musical star. However, we can establish that Marsh has been annoying since at least 2016 with this article describing him as genderqueer and has been dressing badly since at least 2008 (see video above).
John Waters: False Negative
John Waters, the legendary filmmaker and writer with a brilliantly twisted mind, presents a fast-moving, all-new, comic monologue covering his career, movies, fashion, art and
Including trans people in sport
Simon opened the training by saying that trans people don’t feel comfortable in sport and ‘self-select’ out of it. However, inclusion was possible, it just required us to reappraise ‘stereotypes’ and change the way we do things.
Simon read a quote from GI’s ‘research’ from a trans person who was relying on sport to keep them going whilst they waited for ‘hormones and surgery’. A quote from the IOC told us that ‘sport was a human right’. So why did ‘trans folk’ find it hard to take part?
Trans awareness training with Amanda Jette Knox
About this event In her signature talk, based on her bestselling book by the same name, Amanda shares the personal story of her family’s journey
Focus on the T – LGBT training
About the event In the fourth and final event for our 2022 Legal Pride celebration, we will be joined in conversation by a senior LGBTQ+ leader
Review of comedy and poetry show by ALOK
Thank you to the tweep who alerted me to in late May. Luckily I jumped straight on it and was able to secure a ticket before the Saturday night sold out, there were only 3 tickets left. They were expensive too, at £28 a pop, indicating yet again that trans-themed culture is a niche of the wealthy. Alok had a sold out run. I have previously blogged about him here, if you missed it, one of my first pieces after I started this website.
Humanists in bed with gender ideology
About this event Pride Month Panel: LGBTQ Equality – Banning conversion therapy for all What is the so-called conversion therapy and why should it be
Shon Faye in conversation. *Again*.
Shon began with a reading from his rabidly left wing book – trans people have faced over a century of injustice, and justice for trans people meant justice for all, that sort of thing. A revolution basically. Those who push back against of this are just fearful old bags. Let’s just remind ourselves of Shon’s former self, back when he was just plain old Sean.
Review of play: 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals
The play was staged at the ADC Theatre, ‘the smallest department of Cambridge University’ and run by students with almost no faculty involvement, according to its website. It’s across the way from the prestigious King’s College. The theatre encourages patrons to wear masks to protect themselves from coronavirus. Encouragement rather undermined by Charli collecting spit from audience members into a cup on entry into the theatre space, later to be thrown over him by Jack.
A Human Ape Jabbers Away
About this event Different: What apes can teach us about gender World-renowned primatologist Frans de Waal explores what we know of biological sex differences and
(Un)Safe to be Me?
More bed wetting from the gender-addled gerbils, featuring cast of thousands and Nancy Kelley About this event An inter-disciplinary half-day conference exploring the legal, social
The Tragedy of Heterosexuality: Invitations Forward with Author Jane Ward
The audience of the webinar were mainly therapists, likely with a specialism in couples therapy and began with a land acknowledgement from Jennifer Hollinshead of the counselling service Peak Resilience hosting the session. She encouraged us to visit the land acknowledgement website she was reading from, so that we too can learn tribe names we can’t pronounce. Gender and sex was intricately linked to colonialism, she told us, and these tribes had a much more diverse gender system than ours (I don’t see how though, when we have at least a gazillion). The gender binary had been used to suppress peasant uprisings in Europe. The money raised from the seminar would go to an indigenous women’s group in Vancouver (I note from the blurb the term ‘self-identifying’ is used) and what sounded like a BLM-type justice project in LA. Neither project are registered charities, nor appear to have any governance in place.
What do you get when a Q, two Ts and A meet up?
Imagine my excitement when I saw this oppression olympics event. You can’t?! Well let me tell you the £7 ticket was cheap at half-the-price for Travis alone, but to have three further gender-addled-gerbils thrown into the bargain was a bonanza. Travis was resplendent in a high-neck orange gingham mini-dress. Preferring to sit to the side he was soon asked to sit centre, which makes sense really, being the main man. Fox was almost unrecognisable, I couldn’t quite make it out at first, but finally settled on her eyes being noticeably smaller. Tiredness, perhaps.
Review of trans memoir by Sarah McBride
The book is called Tomorrow Will Be Different – Love, Loss and The Fight for Trans Equality, the covered adorned with blue and pink eggs and a yellow love heart on top. I wondered whether it was ghostwritten as the text is so devoid of any eccentricity or personal foibles, but perhaps McBride wanted it to be what it is; a political manifesto filled with propaganda.
Review of Travis’s new play – I’m Tired of Waiting, Pass Me the Duct Tape
So we have one professional actor and two who aren’t. I’m Tired of Waiting is a reference to the NHS waiting list for treatment for gender dysphoria and Pass me the Duct Tape a reference to tucking (or binding for the teen girls in the audience, and believe me there were plenty). I guess this must be Travis’s current work in progress. Predicted crapometer rating 11/10. And thus it came to pass.
Banning Conversion Therapy and Single-Sex Space Guidance explained by Mermaids
From my original thread posted on Twitter. Mermaids Gender have held a webinar on conversion therapy on their Instagram account. Hosted by Alex Woolhouse, Mermaids
We need to talk about Owen J. Hurcum’s genitals …
They mentioned a certain wizarding franchise,
Should be ignored.
And that no one was going to see the film,
That couldn’t be mentioned.
(At the time of writing, in the second week of its release, Fantastic Beasts, had made more than $203,816,750 worldwide according to Box Office Mojo. Boy, have people ignored that film.)
‘Volatile Contexts: Identity, Technology and Politics in a Moment of Danger’
Stryker said Manning was the example of a queer trans person who had experienced the most brutal of all marginalisations. With such sophistry it is easy to forget that Manning is responsible for illegally sharing over 700,000 military documents which will have aided the West’s enemies.
The Ace Project with Stonewall and Yasmin Benoit
It was jointly hosted by Stonewall and Benoit but the platform appeared to have been Stonewall’s choosing, since Benoit told us she had never done a broadcast on TikTok before. Clearly Benoit wanted it known she was an equal in this partnership – and who could disagree?
Transpose JOY: Pit Party held at the Barbican
This ridiculously portentous short film (trailer above) opened the show. It was a mix of Islamic Koranic singing, Black Lives Matter, the necessary dose of victimisation and phoenix rising out of the ashes. Which nicely prepared us for what turned out to be a decidedly religious and po-faced 90 minute performance, despite protestations of form-breaking and counter-culture.
Talking Penis with Grace Lavery
About the event A memoir of gender transition and recovery from addiction, a dance across genres, a ripping-up of the rulebook, Please Miss is unlike anything you’ve
Transgender Health Care: Caring for Trans Patients
This four week course is currently available for free on FutureLearn and was developed by St George’s Hospital, University of London. Week 1 – Introduction
‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ – UCL Institute for Global Health dumbs down for IWD
Note the faux folksy language and the cutesy drop of blood. About this event For IWD 2022, UCL’s Institute for Global Health will be hosting
An evening with Patrisse Cullors from Black Lives Matter
As suspected very few people coughed up the cash for expensive seats but the audience size was pretty reasonable, given the utter gubbins we were about to hear. It was mainly women, about half were black women, with a few men here and there, accompanying girlfriends for the most part. It was late starting as people were late arriving – an indication of apathy I wondered, but no, when Cullors was finally introduced it was to rapturous applause and, that most un-British of all things, whooping. Two BSL interpreters were in attendance.
Equity in Healthcare for Trans and Gender Diverse People
Dr Nambiar began by telling us that he did not have any competing interests and welcomed any emails from junior doctors after the talk. The difference between equality and equity, was that with equality everyone gets a shoe, and with equity a shoe that actually fits (like Cinderella). Hence Dr Nambiar believes that trans people require their own special sexual health service. On the one hand, one can quite agree with this, especially if the patients are on exogenous hormones, you need a clinical team which understand the implications of this. On the other, if it is creating an environment where vulnerable adults end up being around trans activist medical staff, being presented only an affirmative approach to treatment, it might not be such a good idea.
CliniQ Annual Conference 2022
Because ‘transphobia’ was on the rise it was becoming increasingly difficult for people to talk to their GPs about their healthcare needs (and when they say ‘healthcare’ they really mean access to cross sex hormones). Thus began the conference which repeatedly focussed on GPs having the responsibility to manage ‘trans healthcare’, which really requires the monitoring of an endocrinologist if anyone has to be saddled with such a responsibility.
Review of short film – HIV Made Me Fabulous
What is particularly jarring about the film is that the three people who appear on screen don’t speak at all, they are just there as dressing to Roche’s uninspiring monologue, pulling faces and inexplicably knocking on doors and dancing in public places.
Review of Grace Lavery’s book
Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis Lavery has been very lucky collecting in glowing reviews from his mates, and I am ashamed to
Cambridge Uni presents a ‘TERF Grammar Book’
About this event ‘Sex is Real,’ and other Gender Critical Non Sequiturs: A TERF Grammar Book Dr Jacob Breslow, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality,
‘The science of LGBTQ+ identities: tensions and common misconceptions’
About the event Scientists have been trying to understand and classify variance in human sexual orientation and gender identity since the 19th century. More than
Conversation with the Author of ‘I am Jazz’
Jessica Herthel is a straight ally activist, who has made media appearances with Jazz Jennings, and wrote the book I am Jazz. About this event
Where Are The Fat Queers? Past, Present and Future of Fat Queer Activism
Learn about the history of a few fat lesbians getting together on one day in the past, who never described themselves as ‘queer‘ … The
The Lies They Tell 
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