Transgender Day of Remembrance, exists to pay tribute to and remember those transgender and gender non-conformers who lost those their lives though hatred and fear. Many have also used the day to make wider points about gender, discrimination and suicide.
In many countries including the UK many face fear, violence and discrimination daily and it is pleasing to see many organisations reaffirming to working toward a better future.
On the wider points we should celebrate that womanhood is not defined by outmoded notions from certain feminist thinkers or by sections of the media who want you to believe its to be found in a very expensive designer handbag and other lifestyle accessories. That masculinity is found from gassy larger and watching football. Or that you can be both or neither.
Also that the poignancy of today being trans or gender queer doesn't have to be all misery.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Cupcake Hell
Regular readers of this bloggins will know there are several things I don't like, for example, program makers who call their show The (something) Show, which just shows how unoriginal and uncreative you are. Manufacturers who are still producing Keep Calm And... item's which stopped being witty five seconds after I saw the first variant of it.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Back
I'm back from my little hiatus, it would have been sooner but two drafts seem to have disappeared into the digital void, if you're reading this then it's third time lucky.
So what's happened is that I've started another job. My sister gave birth making me an aunty yet again and I've decided to continue my studies.
Finally here's a badger that wont be gassed.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
The McNally Case, No Trans Criminalisation
A lot of comment has passed, not just in England and Wales but globally, in what has been referred to as the McNally case (formally known as McNally v R. [2013] EWCA Crim 1051 (27 June 2013)), having had a chance to read the report published on BAILII over a week ago, I believe a lot of it has been wrong, including the initial report that it was a 'trans man', verging on the scare-mongering and that sexually active "stealth" transsexuals or women with a trans history have not all been suddenly criminalised.
In March of this year, Justine McNally was sentenced to three years detention in a young offender institution having pled guilty to six counts of "assault by penetration". She (sic, see below) was given leave to appeal her conviction and sentence.
The facts briefly are that McNally (using a male avatar) and "M" met online and continued to meet across various sites and then telephone conversations for the following three and a half years. On M's 16th birthday they met on a few occasions where she gave oral sex and inserted her fingers. It was also alleged she penetrated M with a dildo but this was denied.
After being confronted she confessed and setting up a chain of events leading to her prosecution.
In the judgement Levinson LJ gets to the main question of whether the acts were consensual under English law. Most times consent is obvious, the boxer entering the ring of a fully licensed contest, for example. The fighter consents to potential injury and can rely on the defense of consent if he or she injures during the accepted "Queensbury rules" of the bout.
Recent cases have shown that if you agree to the rules before and then change your mind after the bell rings then consent effectively becomes rape. In the Julian Assange case against the Swedish Prosecution Authority where he had "sexual intercourse without a condom when it had been made clear that consent was only forthcoming if a condom was used" and there was no reasonable belief that he would have had his way otherwise.
Also there's another case where the victim believed that he intended and agreed to withdraw before ejaculation and failed to do so. It was found that the CPS was wrong in deciding not to prosecute.
In this case M consented because she believed she was involved with a boy. This alone does not mean an offense has been committed, the fact McNally was found to have professed to the victim that they were male and not female. Some deceptions, like lying about wealth, are not enough to end consent however some are serious enough and this was found to be one. It does not mean there was no defense just that by pleading guilty she chose not to use one. It is also possible to be convicted over a deception of one's HIV status (something misreported) whether or not there is a deception will be decided from the facts of the case..
Where the appeal did succeed was over the long sentence handed out. The justices decided that a breach of trust only applies where the accused was a professional (teacher, doctor, etc) and substituted the three year custodial for a nine month suspended sentence.
Justine McNally undoubtedly has problems ranging from self harm, sexuality and gender issues (although diminishing, if not diminished), prison was not the answer it is hoped help is given outside.
The facts of the case are very unusual and very rare. What it means is that if you are trans and get lucky one night you are not being criminalised.
In March of this year, Justine McNally was sentenced to three years detention in a young offender institution having pled guilty to six counts of "assault by penetration". She (sic, see below) was given leave to appeal her conviction and sentence.
The facts briefly are that McNally (using a male avatar) and "M" met online and continued to meet across various sites and then telephone conversations for the following three and a half years. On M's 16th birthday they met on a few occasions where she gave oral sex and inserted her fingers. It was also alleged she penetrated M with a dildo but this was denied.
After being confronted she confessed and setting up a chain of events leading to her prosecution.
In the judgement Levinson LJ gets to the main question of whether the acts were consensual under English law. Most times consent is obvious, the boxer entering the ring of a fully licensed contest, for example. The fighter consents to potential injury and can rely on the defense of consent if he or she injures during the accepted "Queensbury rules" of the bout.
Recent cases have shown that if you agree to the rules before and then change your mind after the bell rings then consent effectively becomes rape. In the Julian Assange case against the Swedish Prosecution Authority where he had "sexual intercourse without a condom when it had been made clear that consent was only forthcoming if a condom was used" and there was no reasonable belief that he would have had his way otherwise.
Also there's another case where the victim believed that he intended and agreed to withdraw before ejaculation and failed to do so. It was found that the CPS was wrong in deciding not to prosecute.
In this case M consented because she believed she was involved with a boy. This alone does not mean an offense has been committed, the fact McNally was found to have professed to the victim that they were male and not female. Some deceptions, like lying about wealth, are not enough to end consent however some are serious enough and this was found to be one. It does not mean there was no defense just that by pleading guilty she chose not to use one. It is also possible to be convicted over a deception of one's HIV status (something misreported) whether or not there is a deception will be decided from the facts of the case..
Where the appeal did succeed was over the long sentence handed out. The justices decided that a breach of trust only applies where the accused was a professional (teacher, doctor, etc) and substituted the three year custodial for a nine month suspended sentence.
Justine McNally undoubtedly has problems ranging from self harm, sexuality and gender issues (although diminishing, if not diminished), prison was not the answer it is hoped help is given outside.
The facts of the case are very unusual and very rare. What it means is that if you are trans and get lucky one night you are not being criminalised.
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Two Minutes of Your Life
Happy birthday to me. And yes, I survived it. After that I've been busy, a clash of reports, exams, evaluations, and everything else. I don't mind the pressure provided it doesn't go beyond my limit and I can get a lie in on Saturday. I'm also an aunt again so it hasn't all been stress.
I'm sure you are wondering how we all survived without our name on a bottle of sweet brown liquid for so long. I've purposely avoided buying it because I would feel such a corporate tool, yet more than once I've seen someone pull out a bottle with their name on with a palpable self satisfiable sense of ta-da! Yes. Its my name on a bit of plastic round a plastic bottle.
It's that ghastly false personalisation much like being asked for my name when buying a coffee. All I want is a hot drink at a price I consider acceptable for what I'm about to receive, I don't want a meaningless non relationship with an anonymous corporation. It does seem a pointless thing to get riled about and you're perfectly right, a bit like complaining about the word cis or someone putting ed onto the end of transgender. My little winge has probably taken you less than a minute where as hundreds if not, thousands of words were spilt on those two subjects, taking many long minutes I wont get back.
Thursday, 9 May 2013
The One With A Cheese Roll
Hello, I'm back with a working broadband connection and if I were hiring a comedian for the PFA awards I might check their act before rather than faking outage after the event.
It has been pleasant weather, for a lot of people this has meant taking out the bike, or having a barbecue in fact I couldn't walk far without smelling one on the go. I don't get the idea behind ignoring a perfectly good cooker in favour of greatly increasing your chances of contracting food poisoning, smelling of smoke and annoying your neighbours in the process. Then again, being a vegitarian I'm usually the one with the cheese roll.
The imminent demise of Google Reader will annoy loyal users but it's not the end for RSS or their readers.
Google Reader is my second most used product after Gmail, it provides a feed for dozens of sites without having to open dozens of sites and follow good writers who don't follow a regular predictable editorial schedule.
I guess there's the desire to find the perfect algorithm which will serve up the articles you want but as someone whose tried these services it's some way off serving even slightly relevant results.
It has been pleasant weather, for a lot of people this has meant taking out the bike, or having a barbecue in fact I couldn't walk far without smelling one on the go. I don't get the idea behind ignoring a perfectly good cooker in favour of greatly increasing your chances of contracting food poisoning, smelling of smoke and annoying your neighbours in the process. Then again, being a vegitarian I'm usually the one with the cheese roll.
The imminent demise of Google Reader will annoy loyal users but it's not the end for RSS or their readers.
Google Reader is my second most used product after Gmail, it provides a feed for dozens of sites without having to open dozens of sites and follow good writers who don't follow a regular predictable editorial schedule.
I guess there's the desire to find the perfect algorithm which will serve up the articles you want but as someone whose tried these services it's some way off serving even slightly relevant results.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
1-800-just-a-crossdresser
Oi tranny's! Fed up with listening to professional opinion or your own knowledge and experience. Why not have a diagnosis from a complete stranger on the internet!
Our team of self diagnosed, self anointed, largely anonymous individuals will gladly label you. What is more its FREE! And you needn't have to ask for it, our highly knowledgeable team will just tell you whether you want it or not.
But don't take my word for it, here's a satisfied client.
" I believed I was a transsexual for many years and many highly qualified professionals were also of that view, but after being told by your service, I now realise that I was just a HPW all the time. Thank you complete stranger off the internet"
See! Don't delay call -
1-800 just a crossdresser
or just hang round an internet forum for a few minutes.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
White Horse Pacified
The sculpture funded under Thamesdown Council’s per cent for art scheme where public money matched the developers contribution. Today its got the likeable signs of aging and the regrettable tagging, the tree's have grown round, almost enveloping and its not so visible from the (even more busy) road.
It was one of many pieces of art dotted around the western expansion that appeared during the 80's to the early 90's.
Recently Hideo Furuta's "Nexus" at Freshbrook Village Centre had to be repaired after some of the wood supporting the Pembrokeshire stone became dangerously rotten where it will continue to stand for another three decades surrounded by the good and bad of late 70's, early 80's design and town planning.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Everyone Goes To The Toilet
It's been a noisy, crowded time here in Lucie towers. I painted a room pink, then suddenly a lot of women turned up and started dancing. I really should have paid attention to the warnings in the Dulux advert but I was too open mouthed after having seen the Andrex one before.
Whether you scrunch or fold your expensive brand of toilet roll is entirely up to you and not something I want to know. Everyone goes to the loo, except perhaps the queen and the Dali Lamar. Mainly in gender neutral toilets like trains, coaches, garages, portable loos and their own homes without any fuss.
There are benefits for example if you're a parent with a child of the opposite sex, do you take them in to "your" toilet or send them in alone. The latest panic concerns Brighton Councils decision to install gender neutral wc's one news report invoked "women and children" as if males are never involved in parenting or that no mother has had the awkward choice of either sending her son into the men's alone or into the ladies and vice versa. Its fair to say, with some exceptions, that people go to toilets for one reason, they may fail to lift the seat or have shocking aim (and that's just the women's) but it's just one reason and to do it quickly with no fuss.
Even attractive women mesmerized by pink paint.
Whether you scrunch or fold your expensive brand of toilet roll is entirely up to you and not something I want to know. Everyone goes to the loo, except perhaps the queen and the Dali Lamar. Mainly in gender neutral toilets like trains, coaches, garages, portable loos and their own homes without any fuss.
There are benefits for example if you're a parent with a child of the opposite sex, do you take them in to "your" toilet or send them in alone. The latest panic concerns Brighton Councils decision to install gender neutral wc's one news report invoked "women and children" as if males are never involved in parenting or that no mother has had the awkward choice of either sending her son into the men's alone or into the ladies and vice versa. Its fair to say, with some exceptions, that people go to toilets for one reason, they may fail to lift the seat or have shocking aim (and that's just the women's) but it's just one reason and to do it quickly with no fuss.
Even attractive women mesmerized by pink paint.
Monday, 21 January 2013
The Reader Editor Writes
As the readers reader editor of the Park South Bugle it was understandable that they failed to realise that employing a very provocative, abusive writer would lead to the writer penning a provocative, abusive column that the targets of the provocative abuse would object to.
Also in no way are we benefiting from the increased traffic to our website from said column by outraged people putting up links to the piece saying how outraged they were. We also didn't plan to remove it after we had received the bulk of ad revenue from the clicks enabling Toby Jug of the Lawn Shopper to create visits to his own provocative nonsense. A lesson has been learnt and if we do receive a rebuke from the PCC then it will prevent it happening again in the same way misinformed slurs and abuse about other vulnerable communities has been prevented.
Also in no way are we benefiting from the increased traffic to our website from said column by outraged people putting up links to the piece saying how outraged they were. We also didn't plan to remove it after we had received the bulk of ad revenue from the clicks enabling Toby Jug of the Lawn Shopper to create visits to his own provocative nonsense. A lesson has been learnt and if we do receive a rebuke from the PCC then it will prevent it happening again in the same way misinformed slurs and abuse about other vulnerable communities has been prevented.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
MMXIII
A happy new year.
Normally at this time I would make some foolish predictions and hopeless resolutions for 2013, instead I'll just enjoy the fireworks and hope your dreams come true.
When you're young you find inspiration in....
Sunday, 16 December 2012
Boys and Girls Toys
A Swedish toy retailer gained attention for publishing a "gender-neutral" catalogue, including a boy in a Spiderman costume pushing a toy buggy. Thinking to my own childhood I eschewed the many attempts to play with Action Man-type boys toys in favour of my sisters toys which I borrowed in the same way I "borrowed" their dresses. Children don't know about the gender rules or what they should or should not play with until it gets socialised into them later they will take what they enjoy playing with use imagination and be loud, excitable and incredibly wonderful.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Christmas Ads
Ah December, early nights, seasonal songs in the shops and the incessant blast of Christmas ads. There is nothing more likely to suck the seasonal spirit out of me than doing Christmas shopping it doesn't stop the marketing industry from trying to persuade me to visit a store.
Except it's horribly ill conceived and patronizing to both sexes even in a world of sexist advertising. While their previous campaigns were hardly inspiring or right on, they clearly conveyed the message, were probably cheaper and didn't smell of someone trying to ape a campaign that revived a lot of buzz.
If I stumble into the nearby ASDA I can see males manage to push a trolley, I can also guess some will happily wrap presents and so on while their partner rests or watches the football where the fan is portrayed as a mindless "passionate" male lad to be sold gassy larger, takeaway pizza and cars.
Friday, 12 October 2012
Roundabouts, First Days and a Niche Sexual Proclivity
Hello. It has been a while, a result of the colds you inevitably pick up at this time of year, new courses and work and the realisation that my first day nervousness doesn't diminish with time.
On the first day of college you get there far too early and dressed well but by December you're turning up late in second best pyjamas and dressing gown. Unless you are one of the few who turns up to lectures in a suit and are well on their way to their first million.
Another thing walking around a college is that you can feel old among those who opted out of sixth form, and I wonder why you would stay and choose to wear a school uniform for another 2 years. I took great delight in burning my green school tie after my last GCSE exam, which succumbed to the flames worryingly quickly considering the times I was mere centimetres peering over a Bunsen burner.
One of the searches that directed to my blog was "Swindon girls porn". Now there's a very niche sexual proclivity for you. Somewhere there's someone getting turned on when a local pronounce Primark, premark. While someone else is offering to show his DMJ Tower?
Considering I pronounce the aforementioned Reading based value clothing retailer that way and understand how to get through the Magic Roundabout you could say I've become a naturalised citizen. The Magic Roundabout, which has just celebrated its 40th anniversary. Like the offside rule its unnecessarily complicated and simple to understand. Originally given the prosaic name of the County Road Junction the local nickname stuck it was an innovative piece of traffic management and continues to handle large numbers of traffic and baffle the unfamiliar to this day.
Saturday, 8 September 2012
The Dandy
I've held off commenting on the demise of The Dandy's print edition because as Charlie Brooker pointed out in his Guardian column recently it's not like I've been buying copies recently.
It's not that children are no longer buying magazines, the recent ABC'S showed Moshi Monsters to be one of the country's biggest selling paid for magazines and other print publications are still selling by their tens of thousands. Its just that a product has reached the end of its life cycle and no longer appeals to the children of today.
It was already old fashioned at the time I was reading and hasn't changed much in the strips set up and obvious pay off in the final panel. Take away the smoking and overt racism not much had changed from the 50's.
All of this hasn't stopped a wave of misty eyed nostalgia, the same who point to a so called golden age of children's comics/ television/ books. Ignoring the many great artists producing fantastic stuff today.
It's not that children are no longer buying magazines, the recent ABC'S showed Moshi Monsters to be one of the country's biggest selling paid for magazines and other print publications are still selling by their tens of thousands. Its just that a product has reached the end of its life cycle and no longer appeals to the children of today.
It was already old fashioned at the time I was reading and hasn't changed much in the strips set up and obvious pay off in the final panel. Take away the smoking and overt racism not much had changed from the 50's.
All of this hasn't stopped a wave of misty eyed nostalgia, the same who point to a so called golden age of children's comics/ television/ books. Ignoring the many great artists producing fantastic stuff today.
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