Its June again ....

[Muttley]

This gender business has only surfaced in the past few years. We can all agree there are those that "don't fit the bill" but they must be in the 0.00001 percent of the population, yet we have wandered into dangerous territory of brainwashing little children that they are in the wrong body if a little girl likes wearing dungarees instead of frocks, and little lads like playing with their Action Man doll (as my brother did back in the early 60's) !!

If we look, there has been a tendency to have celebrity led 'fads', which desperate people actually suffer from but no end were jumping on the bandwagon - ie endless interviews by slebs suffering with manic depression, er where are they now ? Then there was a period where slebs were confessing to drinking more than they should, and now we have the boring menopause brigade.

This situation has all been blown up by the media and social media - like you say Catz the majority of people like you, me and those around us, are seeing a world that's going to hell in a handcart.

Your comments about children are interesting. I've seen photos of me aged 3 or 4. My mum kept my hair short like a boy. We had little money so I wore my brother's hand me downs. My nan knitted our jumpers in brown or navy blue. I adored my brother's toy cars, in fact my mum said to my dad that they should buy me a doll so I would know I was a girl!

I grew up reasonably normal (I think!) and the only gender hang-up I have is a wish to dress in pretty clothes now (even though I'm 54) as I hated the clothes I wore as a child.

 

[alter ego]

I had three older brothers so played with Meccano, Scalectrix, those little green soldiers, Corgi toys and anything else I found. I also always wore trousers, climbed trees, played more with the boys than the girls, and envied their ability to write their names in the snow sometimes. I never wanted to be one, though.

I think children these days are being pushed into ridiculous situations by parents that would be embarrassed if their child was gay. I'm sure a kid like me that played with boys and their toys would have been considered potentially gay so would be pressured into being trans instead. I'm neither. Let kids be kids and support children that may be confused about their sexuality. I'm still disgusted by the fame-hungry parents that declared their 2 year-old child to be trans.

More of us need to speak up like SusieSue but please be careful. If there's one of those unpleasant people as in the Piers Morgan interview, it could get quite nasty.

Men are now able to give birth according to the training Scottish midwives are currently being given, Catzrcool. I can understand trans men wanting to be referred to as men in a maternity ward but I can't for the life of me understand why time and money is being wasted on teaching midwives that men can give birth through their penis! Womb transplants into men are on the way, too. There's a doctor in India trying to do it.

Ah, Brissles. The Meno Brigade (of which I am a proud member) is getting hammered left, right and centre. How dare some of us ask for HRT or measures in the workplace to help when we have a flush. At 20 I did a year in a government department as my parents wanted me to work in the 'real world' before starting in the family business. I couldn't understand why the middle-aged ladies would stand in the ladies loos holding their arms under cold water or dabbing cold, wet paper towels on their necks, especially as it was a dank, stuffy room. I understand now, though!

We're also under attack. From what I've read, only 20% of women suffer quite badly with menopause symptoms and for those (me included), it's quite a nightmare. I'm one of those pesky women who asked for HRT before the 'slabs started campaigning. I came across ignorance and discrimination in my quest - all from female doctors that either hadn't gone through it or were obviously the lucky ones that didn't suffer debilitating symptoms.

Once again, we're being considered from a male viewpoint. HRT shortages abound but men who take triple the amount of hormones to 'feminise' themselves are also complaining loudly enough that they're not going short. They should walk a mile in our real bodies not just our high heels before complaining about cosmetic effects rather than real life-threatening effects (I'm not the only woman who would not be here without the help of HRT).

Have a read of this article from the BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069369 The responses are interesting.

We're all crying wolf apparently. Well, if there was ever a shortage of little blue pills (bought by men in their 30s at my partner's place of work and used as a kind of bragging rights recreational drug), can you imagine the fuss? I'm waiting for men to discover that they don't really need a sports car or a new girlfriend to make them feel young again. All they need is a visit to a manopause clinic like this: https://www.mariongluckclinic.com/what-we-treat/men/testosterone-replacement-therapy-trt

I wonder if they'll be told they're hysterical or it's all in their heads when more men discover testosterone therapy and start asking the NHS for it!

 

[merryone]

I had three older brothers so played with Meccano, Scalectrix, those little green soldiers, Corgi toys and anything else I found. I also always wore trousers, climbed trees, played more with the boys than the girls, and envied their ability to write their names in the snow sometimes. I never wanted to be one, though.

I think children these days are being pushed into ridiculous situations by parents that would be embarrassed if their child was gay. I'm sure a kid like me that played with boys and their toys would have been considered potentially gay so would be pressured into being trans instead. I'm neither. Let kids be kids and support children that may be confused about their sexuality. I'm still disgusted by the fame-hungry parents that declared their 2 year-old child to be trans.

More of us need to speak up like SusieSue but please be careful. If there's one of those unpleasant people as in the Piers Morgan interview, it could get quite nasty.

Men are now able to give birth according to the training Scottish midwives are currently being given, Catzrcool. I can understand trans men wanting to be referred to as men in a maternity ward but I can't for the life of me understand why time and money is being wasted on teaching midwives that men can give birth through their penis! Womb transplants into men are on the way, too. There's a doctor in India trying to do it.

Ah, Brissles. The Meno Brigade (of which I am a proud member) is getting hammered left, right and centre. How dare some of us ask for HRT or measures in the workplace to help when we have a flush. At 20 I did a year in a government department as my parents wanted me to work in the 'real world' before starting in the family business. I couldn't understand why the middle-aged ladies would stand in the ladies loos holding their arms under cold water or dabbing cold, wet paper towels on their necks, especially as it was a dank, stuffy room. I understand now, though!

We're also under attack. From what I've read, only 20% of women suffer quite badly with menopause symptoms and for those (me included), it's quite a nightmare. I'm one of those pesky women who asked for HRT before the 'slabs started campaigning. I came across ignorance and discrimination in my quest - all from female doctors that either hadn't gone through it or were obviously the lucky ones that didn't suffer debilitating symptoms.

Once again, we're being considered from a male viewpoint. HRT shortages abound but men who take triple the amount of hormones to 'feminise' themselves are also complaining loudly enough that they're not going short. They should walk a mile in our real bodies not just our high heels before complaining about cosmetic effects rather than real life-threatening effects (I'm not the only woman who would not be here without the help of HRT).

Have a read of this article from the BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069369 The responses are interesting.

We're all crying wolf apparently. Well, if there was ever a shortage of little blue pills (bought by men in their 30s at my partner's place of work and used as a kind of bragging rights recreational drug), can you imagine the fuss? I'm waiting for men to discover that they don't really need a sports car or a new girlfriend to make them feel young again. All they need is a visit to a manopause clinic like this: https://www.mariongluckclinic.com/what-we-treat/men/testosterone-replacement-therapy-trt

I wonder if they'll be told they're hysterical or it's all in their heads when more men discover testosterone therapy and start asking the NHS for it!

Exactly this - ffs, let kids be kids. Why bog them down with adult issues when they should be enjoying life. I'm glad that we've moved on from blue for a boy, pink for a girl and that we're moving away from gender stereotyped playthings. I think it's more difficult for the boys as in my younger years, girls climbing trees playing with toy guns, climbing trees, kicking a ball around was perfectly acceptable. A girl would perhaps have been described as a "Tomboy" A lad on the other hand, if they showed any desire to play with dolls, push a dolls pram, or have a miniature teaset, I very much doubt whether the parents would entertain it, they'd more than likely steer them away as they'd worry about bullying. So, yes I'm glad that this kind of stereotyping is being kicked into touch. Sex and gender itself has nothing to do with it - childhood is over in a flash and kids deserve to be able to enjoy it while it lasts and not be bogged down with this kind of nonsense. If your 3 year old son says I wish I was a girl, by all means ask why, but brush it off, do a bit of watchful waiting, even a slightly older child doesn't need to be dragged down to the doctor's surgery to discuss puberty blockers etc. If your child is obviously distressed and something is clearly wrong, that's a different matter and will need to be addressed - but let your kids be kids please!

 

[SusieSue]

alter ego, I really don't care if someone identifies as a person of the opposite sex, a dog (there's a bloke in the far east who spent £12,000 on a dog costume because he identifies as a Rough Collie) or a kitchen table, whatever floats their boat, but they'd better not open that kind of potty mouth to me.

But when it comes to a man being a trans woman, they only think they know what it's like to be a woman, they have no idea what it is like to cope with the ebb and flow of hormones every month from the very beginning of puberty to the end of menopause, same as I don't know what it is like to be a man and have to deal with testosterone.

Unfortunately it has become a fashionable bandwagon to jump on and woe betide anyone who dares voice an opinion that is not entirely acceptable to the LGBTXYZ+ community and their blinkered followers.

That the National Health Service is spending millions to appease a tiny fraction of the population by amending pages on their website, training for staff etc to, in essence cancel the word woman, and things relating to women (chest feeding, people with a cervix) while people are dying in ambulances waiting outside hospitals is utterly shameful.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I was in Marks changing rooms this morning, its about 20 individual rooms with a corridor down the middle where friends stand waiting to give the person a second opinion. It’s not unusual for women to come out with just a bottom or just a top in their undies.

Now it could have been that the mens changing rooms were closed but a man came into try on clothes, albeit that he had a woman(wife?) following him with an armful of clothes. I don’t think he was identifying as anything in. particular I think Mr L would just have them home to try on!

 

[May]

If you decide to march, there are quite a few going on this year.

But - and it's a big one - be prepared for protesters at all the women's marches. One when ahead in Manchester last month. They were meeting at Emmeline Pankhurst's statue but when they got there, they found it had been surrounded by transwomen dressed in black like Provos!

A fuss was made, police called and the women were told to move. The irony.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...gan-twitter-trans-activist-live-b2080543.html has Piers Morgan interviewing one of them. It's worth watching until the end. It shows exactly what women who believe in basic biology are up against.

Thank you Alter ego and I bet the only toilets that would be available are gender neutral

 

[donna255]

I had a big brother 11 years older than me. I played with all his toys, out in the street if cowboys and Indians I could supply the guns as I had my brother's. He used to say to me, "I had all these toys for years. You destroyed them in months!"

My mum dressed me in pretty dresses, and I was out in the street digging up melted tar in the summer. Also, mud, which of course did wash out the tar didn't. My friends and I, boys and girls, just all played together, none of the only boys play this and girls play that.

I did have Action Man and a Barbie. Johnny Quest and his horse Thunderbolt.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

For us toys were mainly used indoors otherwise we were outside playing ball games, hopscotch, climbing etc none of which were gender specific.

 

[Brissles]

Donna ......He used to say to me, "I had all these toys for years. You destroyed them in months!"

Oh boy do I identify with that !! Only it was me, who is 11 years older than my youngest brother, who said it . I had dance certificates for ballet and tap, and he crossed my name out and scribbled his own name on them. When I was an early teen and just started to use Rimmel lipstick (in the blue plastic case), he would use it to write his name on the mirror ! Quite frankly its lucky he's still alive - he's now 62 and a grandad.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I don’t remember wearing trousers as a child (nor any friends) shorts in summer and skirts and jumpers which were no longer good enough for school or church type of wearing.

My sister is 3 years older and my mother insisted in us dressing the same.

 

[Brissles]

Nor me LATI. In fact I think my first pair were pedal pushers when I was about 15 worn with a big baggy jumper and a long string of poppa beads. I remember someone on the street said I looked like a 'beatnik' - lol ! and I think that was a precursor to being 'hippy'.

 

[donna255]

I wore trousers as a child. I was the hell for falling and cutting my knees, so it was a safety thing, and saving money on sticky plasters. When I was 10 or 11 I was bought a gorgeous emerald green trouser suit. It was for Sunday best, I thought I looked like Emma Peel in it.

 

[amn]

I don’t care what people identify as - let people be whatever they like as long as they’re happy - but why do people/companies etc need to shout about how cool they are about it all and specifically have an LGBGT (and whatever other initials are included these days) month - surely mentioning it in the first place is by definition pointing out differences, when the point is meant to make the world inclusive of everyone and make everyone equal. Why can’t we just have ‘lets be nice to EVERYONE month’.

 

[Brissles]

I don't that will ever happen. I may be looking back with rose tinted specs, but the more progress we make as a society in all aspects of our life, the less pleasant people are becoming.

Social media is the modern 'plague' where bullying and trolling are rife. Wonderful that we can contact friends and rellies in any part of the world in seconds, something that was unheard of even 20 years ago, but mental health figures are staggering amongst the young and its mainly because of reliance on their phones and social media. How did we get to a point where school kids send sex texts to each other ????

Yes, growing up we had bullies at school too, and it will be ever thus, but because most of us were brought up to show respect and have good manners, then that in itself was a form of showing kindness to others.

 

[SisterBliss]

If you decide to march, there are quite a few going on this year.

But - and it's a big one - be prepared for protesters at all the women's marches. One when ahead in Manchester last month. They were meeting at Emmeline Pankhurst's statue but when they got there, they found it had been surrounded by transwomen dressed in black like Provos!

A fuss was made, police called and the women were told to move. The irony.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...gan-twitter-trans-activist-live-b2080543.html has Piers Morgan interviewing one of them. It's worth watching until the end. It shows exactly what women who believe in basic biology are up against.

wahat are provos. AE?

 

[stratobuddy]

Thing is, anyone from Mars

Men are from mars, women are from venus. Anyone else remember this?

I’m 5’ 8” and quite resourceful when it comes to reaching things at the back of top shelves. It’s usually the 2 pint red top milks.

As I'm 6ft I often get asked to get things down from high shelves

I listen to Radio 4 a lot, and even today there was a female musician being interviewed. Within minutes, she had disclosed (in her own words) that she was black and queer. Did we really need to know that, as it was about her music?

 

[Clothescloth]

Why do people (are we allowed to say ‘ people ‘?) feel the need to define themselves by their sexuality?

 

[alter ego]

Men are from mars, women are from venus. Anyone else remember this?

As I'm 6ft I often get asked to get things down from high shelves

I listen to Radio 4 a lot, and even today there was a female musician being interviewed. Within minutes, she had disclosed (in her own words) that she was black and queer. Did we really need to know that, as it was about her music?

I do.

Have you ever come across a prickly shorter person that's scowled at you for offering to help? Or worse?My partner's tall, too, and has been abused for offering to fetch something or give a hand to someone struggling with a pushchair as often as he's been thanked.

I always thank someone for opening a door for me as I'm on crutches. I did once call a bloke a rude word for holding the door open for his partner then immediately let it slam on me. He heard me and was incensed! He started shouting at me telling me I shouldn't be allowed out and calling me what Lizzo's just changed in her song. His partner just wafted on obliviously. I was genuinely scared he was going to hit me. I know I shouldn't have called him what I did but I didn't actually think he'd hear me. It shook me up and put me off being in crowds alone.

 

[alter ego]

Why do people (are we allowed to say ‘ people ‘?) feel the need to define themselves by their sexuality?

I don't get that either. Straight people don't blurt out that they're heterosexual every 5 minutes.

I really do appreciate that gay people have had a really rough time in the past. One of our customers was caught in a police sting looking for sex in a public toilet decades ago. He was such a lovely man, worked from home as an accountant while looking after his disabled mum.

He was named and shamed in the local press and told me he was so relieved that his mum wouldn't find out as he'd thrown the paper and didn't take her out for weeks. He said he was so ashamed he considered suicide but couldn't bear to leave his mum. Awful. Simply because he was attracted to other men.

I volunteered with the health board AIDS helpline for years and heard some heartbreaking stories. People these days are very lucky that apart from the odd ignorant few, they can live life in peace.

Sexuality is something you don't have to be 'loud and proud' about. We have legal gay marriage and freedom to hold hands and kiss in public so just get on with it. I'm straight but have never made a public show of affection. Gay people are lucky in this country that they're not persecuted and punished as they are in many countries still. One of my best friends is a seasoned traveller but won't visit many countries because of their discrimination and fear of being arrested.

 

[alter ego]

wahat are provos. AE?

Dressed all in black and masked like the Irish Provos - paramilitary-style.

They were out in force in Bristol yesterday: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...silenced-balaclava-clad-trans-rights-mob.html