Weekly round-up and open thread

It’s time for another weekly round-up where we share (what we see as) the most interesting and important articles from the previous seven days. We’d love to hear your thoughts on any of the issues covered in the articles we’ve picked.

As always, linking to articles does not mean endorsement from the F-Word and certain links may be triggering. We welcome debate in the comments section and on Facebook/Twitter but remind readers that any comments containing sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or disablist language will be deleted immediately. If you notice that we’ve missed out any important articles from the past week, feel free to let us know.

With Brett Kavanaugh, misogyny is the message (Macleans)
Tabatha Southey: The Republican party has laid out a new contract with America and all it says is: We will put them in their place.

Westminster MPs treated like servants, inquiry finds (The Guardian)

From the article: “Of the 200 complainants who came forward, almost 70% were women, many of whom reported numerous complaints on behalf of others. Women were most often targeted with the criticism that they were ‘not tough enough’ for the job, the report said.”

Putting the “Transgender Activists Versus Feminists” Debate to Rest (Julie Serano at Medium)

From the article: “While gender-critical/TERF remains a fringe ideology within feminism, over the last few years, social conservatives and other groups who are opposed to transgender rights and gender-affirming healthcare have increasingly taken to amplifying TERF voices and appropriating certain TERF talking points — particularly the argument that transgender people somehow constitute a threat to women. Their reason for doing this is quite simple: It is far more socially palatable to frame their anti-trans policies and positions as being “pro-woman” rather than “anti-transgender.”

Young women now make up 50% of new guitar players (NME)

Meet the People Creating the Code of Conduct to End Sexual Harassment in Dance Music (DJ MAG)

ITV’s bid for gender equality in comedy writing (Chortle)

Ryanair passenger unleashes racist “ugly black b****d” tirade at woman sat next to him – but SHE gets moved (Pippa Allen-Kinross, Mirror)

Cuba holds first Mass lead by trans pastors (Shannon Power, Gaystar news)

The UK’s Gender Recognition Act needs reforming: let’s act now (Zehrah Hasan, Gal Dem)

It’s OK To Use “They” To Describe One Person: Here’s Why (Dictionary.com)

Why the British Media Is So Transphobic (Rose Dommu, them)

How it feels to be a trans feminist academic in 2018 (Dr Ruth Pearce)

The image is used under a creative commons license with thanks to Quinn Dombrowski on Flickr. It shows two people outside from the side, possibly at a Pride march or a solidarity march/protest. They are dressed in colourful clothing with flower ‘lei’ around their necks. Both people are holding LGBT+ pride ‘rainbow’ flags aloft and are also holding onto another larger flag with blue, pink and white stripes which is not fully in shot but appears to be the transgender pride flag. The person to the left of the photo is also wearing a rainbow crown, whilst the person on the right has a single flower in their wavy hair.