Sept 19 - 25: Māori woman facing jail time for "offensive" social media; No sign of police response to gender wangers' actual calls for murder
And a look at the new announcements from Trump and RFK Jr. on mifepristone and acetaminophen...
Calls to Action
Provide your comment to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on “gender-affirming care” for minors; Friday, Sept 26 is the last day. The FTC seeks to evaluate whether consumers (in particular, minors) have been harmed and whether medical professionals or others may have violated Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act by failing to disclose material risks associated with “gender-affirming care” or making false or unsubstantiated claims about the benefits or effectiveness of “gender-affirming care.” Comments can be submitted publicly or confidentially.
Support our Māori sister Rex Landy who is currently on bail and is next expected to appear in court on December 16th. She faces three months in jail or a $50,000 fine. Please send some support Rex’s way using the tipping link “Buy me a coffee”. This is Lex’s link here. Read more about her case below.
Efforts to Silence Girls, Women, and Their Supporters
Sept. 25 – Scottish Police Authority meeting on police handling of protests
Thanks to For Women Scotland for this opportunity to watch the Scottish Police Authority’s discussion on how Police Scotland handle protests and counter protests, including the For Women Scotland demonstration at Parliament on 4th September. Two-tier policing is only becoming a more pressing issue as we see more harassment of and charges laid against advocates for sex-based rights and at the same time are witnessing more actually violent threats and actions from the gender wanged. This juxtaposition is highlighted throughout this week’s newsletter…
The online harms acts we see across the world go by various names, but they have in common that they are being wielded against citizens who speak up against gender ideology. And now we see it happening under New Zealand’s Harmful Digital Communications Act, 2015, where Māori women’s rights advocate, Rex Landy is facing prison time after being reported to police by a trans-identified male for her social media posts.
Landy was arrested in December of 2024 after being targeted by an infamous male trans activist who took issue with her online commentary. Reduxx provides the full story of thought and speech policing, including police advising Landy on a phone call that she must refer to Johnston as a woman, and the prosecution denying diversion or discharge of her case because they said she is in the “grip of an ideology”.
Landy is currently on bail and is next expected to appear in court on December 16th. She faces three months in jail or a $50,000 fine. While she expresses exhaustion at the process, she maintains that her spirits are high and her focus is on protecting the right of women to criticize gender ideology.
Kent police, on the other hand, decided there was no need to lay charges against left-wing “influencer”, Charlotte Hayes, who posted a shocking video on TikTok after pro-Trump influencer, Charlie Kirk, was fatally shot. Hayes accused Kirk’s followers of espousing political views that were ‘inherently violent’. She said she was sick of the idea that you ‘can’t meet violence with violence’, adding ‘why is anyone condemning that?’, before finishing her message by shouting ‘kill them all!’.
This blatant example of two-tier policing led to outrage online, including from author JK Rowling and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick.
Protecting Women and Women’s Safe Spaces
Sept. 25 - Richard Dawkins: ‘Trans Women Are Women’ Slogan is Scientifically False – The Daily Sceptic
Stepping up to the plate for team TERF, Richard Dawkins has taken a clear stand against gender ideology in his new book, “The War on Science”.
“I draw the line at the belligerent slogan ‘trans women are women’ because it is scientifically false,” he said. “When taken literally, it can infringe the rights of other people, especially women… It logically entails the right to enter women’s sporting events, women’s changing rooms, women’s prisons and so on… So powerful has this postmodern counter-factualism become, that newspapers refer to ‘her penis’ as a matter of unremarked routine.”
Speaking to the Telegraph, Dawkins also took a strong stand in against the dogged attempts to silence women who speak up.
Sept 21 - Advocacy group says ‘trans women’ in women’s prisons is endangering female inmates
A male sex offender in Ontario, Canada (in prison for breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a toddler) has been *denied* transfer to a women’s facility!
Following his arrest, Daniel Senecal requested to await trial in a women’s institution, citing a transgender identity. Authorities denied the request, pointing to Senecal’s status as a repeat offender and the public scrutiny surrounding the case. The decision comes after protests outside the courthouse and growing media coverage.
Heather Mason, a founding member of caWsbar (Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights) and a former federal prisoner, said she was “not surprised” by the denial but emphasized that public attention played a decisive role. Let us hope this is a sign that reality-inclined people are taking back Tranada Canada.
Sept. 20 - Kavanaugh’s Attempted Assassin Identifies as Transgender—Court Filing - Newsweek
On the flip side, however, if male offenders are denied requested access to women’s prisons, apparently the next play in their book is to ask for lighter sentences on the premise that not getting to serve time among vulnerable, confined women should be considered a “mitigating circumstance” with respect to sentencing for their heinous crimes.
In the U.S., the defendant who pleaded guilty in the 2022 plot to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh identifies as transgender, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek, which note that counsel will refer to Nicholas Roske as Sophie or “Ms. Roske,” and use “female pronouns.”
In a September 19 memorandum filed ahead of Roske’s October 3 sentencing, her his legal team noted in a footnote that while the case is captioned United States v. Nicholas John Roske, “that name remains Ms. Roske’s legal name, and she has not asked to recaption the case. Out of respect for Ms. Roske, the balance of this pleading and counsel’s in-court argument will refer to her as Sophie and use female pronouns.”
The filing, which notes that Roske filed a guilty plea and has remarked on the “seriousness” of the offense, states that the sentencing should be mitigated by several factors including “the harshness of the conditions of confinement Ms. Roske will face due to current Bureau of Prisons polices regarding transgender inmates and the lack of adequate mental health resources in the Bureau of Prisons.”
Women’s Health
Sept. 25 - RFK Jr. launches FDA review of pill used in two-thirds of abortions | The Independent
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the launch of a Food and Drug Administration review of the mifepristone pill, which is currently used in two-thirds of abortions across the country. Kennedy and FDA Commissioner, Marty Makary, said the move is in response to requests from Republican attorneys general.
“This Administration will ensure that women’s health is properly protected by thoroughly investigating the circumstances under which mifepristone can be safely dispensed,” the letter from Kennedy and Makary reads.
A key study cited by Republicans in their effort, and Kennedy and Makary in their response letter, was conducted by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think-tank whose president formerly worked at the Heritage Foundation, which published Project 2025. The study was not peer-reviewed and was published by the center on its website, not in a scientific journal. It found that almost 11% of women experienced a “serious adverse event,” which is much higher than the 0.5% rate found in clinical studies and listed by the FDA on the medication label.
Kiki Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Hey Jane, the largest telemedicine abortion provider in the country, told ABC News on Wednesday that the new HHS review could “undermine access to one of the most thoroughly studied and widely used medications in the country.”
“HHS Secretary RFK Jr and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s threat to conduct their own ‘review’ of mifepristone underscores the disturbing rise of junk science and politically motivated attacks in shaping public health policy,” Freedman said.
[It is tough to sort through the hyperbole that comes with an announcement from Trump. His repetitive, divisive and often incorrect statements, along with all the distracting hand-waving, undercut what many see as a kernel of truth and then invoke a wrath of equally hyperbolized, divisive and dumbed-down reactions. So, what follows is my attempt to highlight what actual research and evidence are telling us. If you would like to add to this understanding, please do provide your insights in the comments section — we are here for all the mutually-informed discourse.]
Donald Trump and HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced a link between autism and the use of the pain reliever acetaminophen during pregnancy on Monday.
They emphatically and repeatedly told pregnant women not to take the drug, which is commonly known by the brand name Tylenol, or give it to their babies. “Don’t take Tylenol,” the president said at a press conference at the White House, claiming that “there is no downside.”
The announcement follows the August release of a review of evidence that was led by researchers from Mount Sinai’s School of Medicine and Harvard’s School of Public Health. The rigorous review analyzed 46 previously published epidemiological studies and found:
Numerous well-designed studies have indicated that pregnant mothers exposed to acetaminophen have children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), at higher rates than children of pregnant mothers who were not exposed to acetaminophen… Our analyses using the Navigation Guide thus support evidence consistent with an association between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and increased incidence of NDDs. Appropriate and immediate steps should be taken to advise pregnant women to limit acetaminophen consumption to protect their offspring’s neurodevelopment.
Lead researcher, Diddier Prada, stressed that the findings do not prove a causal link. “We show that acetaminophen is associated with a higher risk, but not causing it. Those are very different things.” He noted that further research is needed to determine whether the risk is due to the medication itself or to underlying maternal conditions — such as inflammation from fever or infection — that might prompt its use. “This is still an area under investigation,” Prada said [emphasis added].
As for Trump’s claim that there is no downside to abstaining from acetaminophen, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists responded that there actually is a downside — acetaminophen reduces pain and fever, which can be harmful when left untreated during pregnancy. PolitiFact.com rated Trump’s claim as Pants on Fire!, as “acetaminophen reduces fever, and fever during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects and other health problems”.
Tylenol provided an official response to Trump’s announcement that seems to go too far in the other direction. Where medical researchers are saying that more research is needed to investigate the possibility of a causal link, Tylenol asserted:
“Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy… We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” the statement said. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.”
Tylenol might have been better off going with the social media favoured meme:
Males in Female Sports
The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) has now filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court that will determine whether states may enforce laws ensuring that women’s and girls’ sports remain female-only, or whether male athletes who identify as transgender must be permitted to compete on female teams.
WoLF previously filed briefs in each of these cases at earlier stages: Hecox v. Little in 2020 when it was on appeal in the 9th Circuit, and B.P.J. v. West Virginia in 2023.
Read WoLF’s brief to the Supreme Court here.
See WoLF’s other key court filings and petitions here.
Pornography, Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault
Sept. 22 - EXCLUSIVE: Trans Activist in Court On Child Sexual Abuse Charges - Reduxx
A trans-identified male residing in England has appeared in court accused of (wait for it…) sexually abusing a child. “Kizzy Lavender Lee”, birth name Samuel Wimbridge, has been charged with attempting to coerce a young girl into sexual abuse and making indecent photographs of a child.
Wimbridge was also active in the trans rights community in the Newbury area. He was former Operations Lead and Volunteers Coordinator for Newbury Pride, and featured as a speaker for the Trans Day of Remembrance by Reading Pride in 2022, where he was photographed posing with a police officer.
News Impacting Society and Children
The prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, apologized in person to Greenlandic women who were subjected to forced birth control. Forced contraception of Indigenous women and girls was part of centuries of Danish policies that dehumanized Greenlanders and their families. The policies included the removal of young Inuit children from their parents to be given to Danish foster families for re-education and controversial parental competency tests that resulted in the forced separation of Greenlandic families.
An independent investigation, published earlier this month, found Inuit victims, some 12 years old and younger, were either fitted with IUDs or given hormonal birth control injections. They were not told details about the procedure, nor did they give their consent. Some described traumatic experiences that left them with feelings of shame as well as physical side effects, from pain and bleeding to serious infections.
Sept. 23 - NASA Picks 10 New Astronauts as Focus Shifts to the Moon and Mars - The New York Times
Six of the ten new astronaut candidates are women. They will have 2 years of training before being eligible for missions. (Disclaimer: WAHF recognizes that some of the people referred to as women in this article could be men, as NYT is not reality-based when it comes to reporting on sex. Read with cautious optimism.)
Australian retailer KMD is suffering major financial woes, due in part to the major consumer boycott its company, Rip Curl, faced in 2024 for featuring transgender trans-identifying male surfer, Sasha Lowerson, in a promotion for women’s surfing.
The Lowerson promotion followed Rip Curl severing ties with professional and actual woman surfer (and shark attack survivor, btw) Bethany Hamilton, reportedly over her opposition to transgender male competitors in women’s sport.
Sept. 20 - Gender-critical gay rights groups unite against pro-trans alliance
The LGB Alliance has expanded to become LGB International, aiming to form a global alliance to challenge the gender ideology that is compromising the hard-won rights of gay people.
Beyond the West
In January, US aid cuts abruptly ended a rural healthcare outreach programme that was starting to reduce the number of local women dying in childbirth. Now pregnant women in those countries are struggling to get the medical care they need.
Sept. 19 – Taliban ban books written by women removed from Afghan universities
The Taliban government has removed books written by women from the university teaching system in Afghanistan as part of a new ban, which has also outlawed teaching human rights and sexual harassment. Some 140 books by women (including titles like “Safety in the Chemical Laboratory”) were among 680 books found to be of “concern” due to “anti-Sharia and Taliban policies”.
Also, six of 18 University course subjects now banned are specifically about women, including Gender and Development, The Role of Women in Communication, and Women’s Sociology.
And yet further this week, fibre-optic internet was banned in at least 10 provinces on the orders of the Taliban’s supreme leader in a move officials said was to prevent immorality.
Entertainment News
Sept. 25 - Emma Watson says she still loves JK Rowling despite rift over trans views
Emma Watson has opened up about her difficult rift with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling over their differing viewpoints on transgender issues. The 35-year-old British star / Hermione Granger to all Potter fans has been an outspoken advocate for trans rights, as have many of her co-stars, including Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.
Previously, Watson distinctly distanced herself from Rowling, writing: “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are,” and also appeared to make a dig at Rowling at the Baftas in 2022.
Following the release of the Cass Review in 2024, Rowling commented that Watson and Radcliffe and other “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies.” So it appears doubtful Watson will receive any pardon from the Queen.
Sept. 24 – Carol Kaye Is Being Honored by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She Doesn’t Care. - The New York Times
A linchpin of the Los Angeles recording scene from the late 1950s through the ’70s, Kaye began her career as a jazz guitarist, before moving into the pop world and eventually onto the electric bass, appearing on thousands of songs, including hits for Simon and Garfunkel, Sonny and Cher, Barbra Streisand and Joe Cocker. Later, Kaye became a favorite in Hollywood, playing on classic film and TV themes — “Mission Impossible,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Brady Bunch” and “Kojak” — before going on to write the first serious instructional books on electric bass.
Kaye was finally recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year and will be included in its 2025 class via its “musical excellence” category. She promptly announced she was rejecting the honor and would boycott the induction ceremony in November. Her decision flummoxed friends and fans who see her as a vital pioneer.
Op-Eds of Interest
Helen Joyce: How I was secretly logged as a criminal | The Critic Magazine
Kathleen Stock: Toddler logic is poisoning politics - UnHerd
Rich Lowry: Charlie Kirk is our first pro-trans assassination victim — here’s why he won’t be the last
Ann Coulter: VIDEO: I interview a transgender [Corrina Cohn] about trans-adjacent Kirk assassin. – Featuring Cohn’s honest and insightful perspectives about the violence coming out of the trans community.
Editor's note: Missed a spot in "Sept. 20 - Kavanaugh’s Attempted Assassin Identifies as Transgender—Court Filing - Newsweek" where it referred to the TiM as "her"... it's been corrected now to accurately say "his".
"The overlap of law and lived reality for women is stark in this story, echoing what I wrote about rules enforced by tradition and authority. Would be honored if you could read and share any thoughts: https://vostrength.substack.com/p/the-goddess-we-love-the-woman-we"