"Puberty shouldn’t be taught before year 4 ages 8-9, whilst sex education shouldn’t be taught before year 5 ages 9-10, issues regarding sexual harassment shouldn’t be taught before year 7 ages 11-12". This is wild, inexcusable, ANTI-FEMINIST, rubbish which puts children at risk. Many children have mobile phones before ages 11-12, or older siblings/friends who do. Children are unfortunately seeing inappropriate stuff online from around 10/11yrs old. Puberty can start young. Abusers do not apply age limits, nor do sexual harassers.

Gender identity is well recognised, mainstream term for process of children becoming aware of their own sex & corresponding expected gender role in society. Apparently children become aware of their own sex around 3/4 & start to police their own & others gender role around 6/7. You'll find this term in psychology, child development, education studies etc. It's decades old. #genderidentity "Gender identity theory" is a new term, coined by sex & gender conservative groups, right wing, anti trans campaigns to belittle, misrepresent & attack LGBTQI+ rights.

It is time that textbooks & revision websites updated their #feminism sections. This is wrong. Radical Feminism is anti essentialist, it doesn't say that 'men are the enemy' but that patriarchy is the enemy of us all & that we can all change for the better simplysociology.com/radical-femini… "Radical feminists believe that men are the enemy and that marriage and family are the key institutions that allow patriarchy to exist." No. Marriage & the isolated, hetersexist, nuclear family are indeed sites of patriarchal operation & socialisation but not the only ones.

"A London-based youth worker said the policy placed the emphasis “on vulnerable young people, rather than tackling the inequalities that lead to knife crime”." theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/j… This is absolutely disgusting victim- blaming. It's punishing people for being in a punishing situation caused by the violence of poverty & exclusion. But rather than address the poverty & exclusion it blames victims of it & seeks to cause more pain.

Gender essentialism is sexist, it teaches us that all men are inherently superior to all women, just because they are male. In all areas of life. Unfortunately I think most believe this & it's deep seated. Gender essentialism is sexist, homophobic, patriarchal. It fuels bullshit Gender essentialism teaches us that all men by nature are hunters & fighters while women desire to be pregnant & raising babies in a cave. It tells us women relate to people & men to things. Men want success outside the home & women are satisfied with domestic bliss. It tells us

Andrea Dworkin described biological essentialism as the most dangerous movement on earth. Many students haven't heard term before, or unsure what it means. Essentialism has the word essence in it, not like a perfume essence, but like a person's core, soul, or fundamental part of them. Gender essentialism says that men & women are different in essence & it's innate.

If schools have time to do a workshop on sexual consent, that's good, & they should, & it's something. But all this has to start earlier, in early years. Plus, schools aren't a replacement for society & can only do so much. But yes, if the one, the only place young ppl can hear a

https://twitter.com/Louise_m_perry/status/1379872851898028032

..different mssg then it's really important they hear it in that institution. Safe space to get real & be honest is welcomed by young ppl. Talking about gender expectations & myths is welcomed. Yes there should be space for this & it needs to be done skilfully.

"Blunkett - "identity politics" must not be allowed to create an environment in which schoolboys were unfairly judged, following accusations of sexual harassment sweeping British private schools." Erm, sexual assault is a legal matter, not ID politics! telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/04/0… "view that there was a "rape culture" in many British schools & colleges was "shocking". He added that if this view was widely accepted it could have "dangerous consequences" for boys unfairly accused of sexual misconduct." Ffs! What about the "dangerous consequences" for girls

Safe streets for women #ReclaimTheseStreets #ReclaimTheNight what can be done? When I was researching my book on feminist activism & particularly Reclaim the Night marches, women often gendered public space as default male. Women would say that RtN marches 'took back' 'took over' 'reclaimed' public space in their town/city centres. So much concrete, steps, bridges etc. Likewise, when on RtN marches, hostile men watching often receive these protests in exactly the same way, as incursion, trespass, invasion, takeover. Many times I've been on RtN & heard...

The protest in #Bristol was against the Tory bill to stop the right to protest. Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill. It was not a BLM protest, yet this is being suggested, in order to attack anti-racist movements & to peddle racist stereotypes libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/libertys… You know how people were angry they weren't allowed to protest fatal, racist police violence & institutional racism including police harassment & violence here in the UK, after police murdered George Floyd in the US. You know how ppl were angry they weren't allowed to protest...

Everyone is asking what men can do. #NotAllMen #TooManyMen #YesAllWomen Men could hold silent vigils, could demand their peers change, could challenge sexism from peers (and in their own attitudes/values). Men could try to unlearn what society has shamefully taught them since childhood, which is that women are special & different, that sex is a conquest, that control of women is a way to move up the patriarchal pecking order, that sex is something men want & women choose to give or withhold until they are persuaded or forced otherwise, that women are

My heart just goes out to Sarah Everard's family & loved ones. This is at once absolutely unimaginable & at the same time everyone's worst nightmare. Tragedies like this backlight a constant background, women aren't suddenly noticing sexual harassment or threats, it's that... ..tragedies sometimes allow a small window in which women are allowed to talk about managing the threat & reality of sexualised male violence. In this moment women are more likely to be heard & slightly more likely to be believed. This window will close again, as it always does.

Sometimes, in response to news coverage of male violence against women, women will think/say: what time was that, was it dark then, I'd not walk that way etc. Victim-blaming is indeed wrong, but this can also be understood as a form of psychic self-defense. A way of distancing... ...a way of saying: it couldn't be me. This is a defence against the truth we all know, which is that it could be any of us. Because these aren't isolated incidents, & all women live with, in spite of & to spite the threat & reality of sexualised male violence.

There is so much wrong with this article, it's hard to know where to begin. Lesbians are not extinct, nor are lesbians close to extinction. The L Word has never really been as popular as "gay" & this has long been the case, it's not a new thing.... telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/2… Then in the context of Queer activism, DIY activism & the burgeoning internet culture in the 90's younger adults did not seem to like to be labelled, or boxed into labels. It is still popular for younger adults to describe themselves as fluid, in terms of sexuality, gender...

Saying that sex is a construct is perfectly valid. It's not saying sexed genital & reproductive features of the body are constructed; it's not saying the body isn't real; it's to say that what those bodily features mean is constructed by society. The meanings are constructed. Why should a penis & testicles on a new born baby mean anything about their role or potential, any more than we would call out their weight at birth & go, there it is, that's who they are forever now, let's label them as that & put it on all their paperwork into adult life.

Domestic abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape...are GENDERED crimes, because they are overwhelmingly patterned by sex of victim & perp. Men are vastly more likely to be perps & women victims. If we don't face this we won't face the structural causes & we won't end it. Men are also victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault & rape. Women can be & are perpetrators. This type of intimate family violence also occurs in same-sex relationships. Children sometimes abuse parents. Carers can & do abuse those they care for.

We have equalities law in this country because we have INEQUALITY. If there wasn't historic & current institutionalised & systemic inequality then we wouldn't need equality law, imperfect though it is. But many ppl think that we have an equal playing field, & have taken from equalities language & presence that everyone is the same. This leads to ppl seeing equalities law as UNFAIR. Because many ppl face real suffering, but may not be on a list of protected characteristics.

I don't put my pronouns on my email signature or on bios, I don't put them on name tags at events. I don't care whether ppl call me he, she or they. Sometimes ppl will ask though, as they don't want to offend & I always reply I don't mind, if I'm being introduced then Dr will do. I realise that most ppl do care, & I respect & understand that. I don't consider myself sex/gender normative because I was born female so society assumes that to = feminine but I've never conformed with that. I don't describe myself as gender non conforming though because I do...

Discussion about #intersectionality at event today. Term coined by Prof Kimberle Crenshaw, legal scholar, Black Feminist in 1989. It's a lens through which to study the workings of power, in groups & between groups. It's a method to improve society for ALL by removing barriers... So if we want to remove barriers in society we need to stop putting barriers up in people's faces. So, ppl in power should go to the ppl who have least, the ppl who are most marginalised- because the reason those ppl are marginalised is because you've put barriers in their faces.

There is no such thing as "Gender-neutral toilets" because toilets aren't masculine or feminine (tho, ppl are policed going into them depending on if they look masculine or feminine). If there isn't room in ur building/won't prioritise £ then don't put a gender neutral sign on... ...on your existing toilets. If you want good quality accessible toilets then they need to be single occupancy cubicles with sinks, mirror & sanitary provision in each. Doors from top to bottom with working locks. Must be accessed off an open, visible area, like lobby, bar space.

Yes, Judith Butler wrote 'Gender Trouble' (1990) but also wrote 'Bodies That Matter' (1993) which clarified a lot of misunderstandings about performativity. Also clarifying that of course physical bodies matter, sexed bodies matter, identity categories matter politically... “In this sense, it remains politically necessary to lay claim to ‘women’, ‘queer’, ‘gay, and ‘lesbian’, precisely because of the way these terms, as it were, lay their claim on us prior to our full knowing. Laying claim to such terms in reverse will be necessary....