Laurie Penny
@PennyRed
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Author, journalist, narrative designer, screenwriter. Geek, gender goblin, feminist killjoy, force of culture. Writer for hire, weirdo for free. They/them.
Joined January 2009
So. I wrote a book about modern fascism as a backlash to LGBTQ rights and women’s liberation. It breaks down why this happened, how we fight the new misogyny, and how we win. You might find it useful.
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Women don’t owe the world children. They don’t owe men babies. And they don’t owe you an explanation.
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Hero of the day: the absolute genius blasting the Benny Hill theme outside #ToryConference.
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Repeating for those at the back:.stop waiting to take a stand when the ‘real Nazis’ show up. They’re here. This is what modern fascism looks like. It’s not the party system of the 1930s. It’s networked, dispersed, entrepreneurial, crowd-funded, conniving gig-economy fascism.
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Gender testing at the Olympics was introduced in 1936 under the Nazis. In the 60s, female athletes had to strip naked for inspection. Women in sport have endured a century of humiliating body policing. Why? .Because their accomplishments violate sexist standards of womanhood.
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Stop waiting for the ‘real Nazis’ to show up. They’re here. White supremacy today doesn’t look like the organised party system of the 20th century, because it doesn’t need to. This is gig-economy fascism. Entrepreneurial white supremacy. Serving the interests of tyrants by proxy.
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Quarantine day 6, and we’re all: -quietly reading improving books.-doing crafts with the three people we’re allowed to see till summer.-wondering if a single cough means imminent death.-thinking almost constantly about sex. I suddenly understand Jane Austen novels much better.
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Most of the interesting women you know are far, far angrier than you'd imagine.
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Men on the internet: women owe men sex and affection. Women who reject men deserve to be punished. Also men on the internet: sluts deserve to die. Also men on the internet: women who have sex don't deserve reproductive agency. Also men on the internet: why don't women like me?.
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Turns out that the fascists were the real fascists all along.
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A swing voter in Michigan told the BBC he chose Biden this time because ‘He seems like the kind of guy where you don’t have to listen to him talk every day.’ .I’ve been thinking about that for hours. ‘Biden 2020: look, at least you can take your eye off him for five minutes’.
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Stop asking if the #WomensMarch 'will achieve anything in the long run.' It already has. Millions of women feel less beaten today.
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I don't know who this man is, but I think I just felt my vagina seal shut forever.
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I was honoured to be invited by @theeconomist to speak as part of their prestigious #openfuture convention - but I cannot in good conscience appear at an event which chooses to dignify a neo-nationalist like Steve Bannon. Unless this decision is reversed, I will not be attending.
Has anyone at @TheEconomist explained why they are promoting white nationalism at their #OpenFuture event?
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For years, angry young idiots have fantasised about a shit-hits-the-fan collapse of civilisation scenario, where men would be real men again, and women would be grateful. But in this crisis, our heroes are not soldiers -they are healers and carers.
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Ok, question:. TERFs insist that banning trans women from women’s loos will stop predatory cis men coming in pretending to be trans women. But-trans men now HAVE to use the women’s loos. So how do we now stop those same predatory cis men coming in pretending to be trans men?.
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Yes, the terms ‘TERF’ and ‘transphobe’ are insulting. So are the words ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’. They also descriptions of real behaviour that hurts real people. If you feel bad because someone has identified your behaviour as harmful, that does not make you the victim.
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America is not special. There is absolutely no reason America cannot fall apart like any other failed state. It is very, very dangerous to be ruled by heavily armed men who never heard a story they weren’t the hero of.
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What ‘happened’ to free speech is that people who don’t look or think like you started actually exercising it and you *lost your goddamn mind*.
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‘Virtue signalling’ is a cowardly term used by people who secretly worry that their beliefs and actions are unethical and don’t want you to make them feel bad by behaving differently. Don’t fall for it. Nobody should feel ashamed of trying to do good in the world.
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The idea of more and more women saying ‘fuck it’ and refusing to reshape themselves around what men want or are told to want *even if it means they end up single* is legitimately terrifying to patriarchy.
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Me aged 33, watching #HisDarkMaterials -.‘I want to live in a penthouse, with a monkey, and be feared by those who have wronged me, and tinker with dangerous and forbidden magics on my giant balcony while wearing exquisite silk pyjamas.’.
Me aged ten, reading #HisDarkMaterials - ‘I want to be a bold adventurer, journeying to the far north with a merry band of witches and pirates to liberate the downtrodden and discover the true nature of the universe.’.
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Men on the internet: if women don’t want to be pregnant they should be responsible and not have sex. Also men on the internet: women who won’t have sex with me are evil.
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Sex is not something that women cruelly hoard like greedy bosses or dragons sitting on sexy piles of gold. Sex is something that women want, too. But usually not with people who threaten, demean and resent us. If that’s a problem for you, I’m sorry.
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Society will not, in fact, collapse if we actually start holding angry white men responsible for their actions.
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Asking men to do better is not misandry. Saying that men should be able to treat women like human beings is the opposite of hating men. What’s hateful and insulting is the assumption that men are born violent and cannot change- .-and that comes from conservatism, not feminism.
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This country has been wrecked by the playground rivalry between two lying, self-serving, mediocre old Etonians and held hostage to a handful of swivel-eyed Tory jingoists throwing a tantrum because they lost the empire. Boris Johnson is a dangerous embarrassment. Sack the lot.
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Since we’re all talking about the ‘Blitz Spirit’, and how we should act like Londoners in WW2, here’s something that never makes it into the official story. Remember those iconic photos of working-class Londoners sheltering in tube stations? Well, that wasn’t meant to happen >.
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Last night I reported from a vigil for a murdered sixteen year old trans girl. This morning, my mentions are an unhinged transphobic trashfire. If you want proof of how normalised transphobic aggression has become in the U.K, there it is.
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Transphobia is boring, cowardly and regressive. Anti-trans activism is not and never will be feminist. Attacking trans people has nothing to do with protecting women's rights. Those who pretend it does are either deluded or trying to justify their own ugly, hateful sadism.
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Mass die-in outside the Department for Education at the vigil for murdered trans teenager #BriannaGhey. 'They have created a mythology around us that makes us a target. How many of our corpses will it take for you to care?'
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'Pro-rape' groups cancel their meetups because people threatened to attack and shout at them. Guys, you wouldn't last five minutes as women.
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Everyone who tries to adapt the works of Jane Austen makes the mistake of thinking they are romances. They are not. They are horror stories about women in cages trying to negotiate for the least awful fate against a ticking clock.
‘Pick your favourite #horror book/movie.’. Pride and Prejudice. I’m 100% serious.
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If you find yourself thinking that maybe the fascists wouldn’t be winning if it weren’t for those weird trans kids and those angry woke activists and those feminists who are always going too far-. That thought, right there, is the reason the fascists are winning.
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In the 1980s, gay men and lesbians were relentlessly compared to sex offenders and demonised as predators. Conservatives insisted that they weren’t homophobic- they just wanted to protect children. I’m sure some of them believed it. Now trans people are facing the same prejudice.
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I know many anxious, lonely, heterosexual Caucasian gentlemen worried about their place in this weird world who have managed not to drink the anti-feminist, neo-nationalist kool-aid. If you’re one of them, what stopped you going that way? Was there a moment of choice?.
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If you’ve survived trauma, you don’t owe the world the comfort of your silence. You don’t have to make people feel better by pretending to ‘move on’. You’re not being ‘difficult’ by speaking out. Holding people accountable for abuse is not an act of violence. It’s public service.
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Nobody plays the victim card harder than a white man who has just been accurately described.
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In the New Yorker, Junot Díaz told us how he moved through phases of ‘hurting women’ as a result of his own considerable, awful trauma. But trauma is no excuse for misogyny. Women should not have to suffer so that you can heal. When do we get to heal?.
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In the U.K., standing up for trans rights now comes with serious professional consequences. I was shocked by the ferocity of the establishment backlash. I don't know that my career will ever fully recover from the basic choice not to betray my trans friends and colleagues. >.
Transphobia is boring, cowardly and regressive. Anti-trans activism is not and never will be feminist. Attacking trans people has nothing to do with protecting women's rights. Those who pretend it does are either deluded or trying to justify their own ugly, hateful sadism.
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It’s so sad to see some feminists make trans women scapegoats for all the actually existing structural sexual and gendered violence in the world. Almost like holding real men to account is still dangerous- and blaming trans women, who are already stigmatised, is the safer outlet.
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Women's march organizers at this event just said the official estimate is 1.3 million IN DC ALONE. #WomensMarch #WomensMarchOnWashington.
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As a British feminist, I’m ashamed to see my country normalise the sort of bigoted attitudes towards trans people that, elsewhere, are almost exclusively the territory of the far right.
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Graham Linehan, free speech champion, has threatened me with legal action unless I delete a tweet and apologise. Here’s the apology: . I apologise for calling Graham Linehan a vile bigot. Never having met him, I have no idea if he is vile, and it was wrong of me to say so. >.
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‘Incels’ seem convinced that their hatred springs naturally from a lifetime of being lonely, shy nerds. This is a slur on lonely, shy nerds everywhere, myself included. Most of us do not consider our loneliness or frustration the logical prelude to murder.
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TERF Wars: Why Transphobia Has no Place in Feminism. my piece on #jkrowling and the history of British liberal transphobia is up now.
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This is untrue. The protest was peaceful until the LAPD showed up with weapons. I saw your uniformed officers firing at people with their hands in the air. Shameful.
Large and violent protest occurring in the area of Beverly Blvd and Fairfax Ave. Do not endanger yourself and your loved ones. Stay away from the area. Large amount of protestors and police presence.
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Men: do you not feel insulted when you hear sexual abuse being excused as ‘just the way men are’? Is it not galling to be told it’s in your nature to be an entitled jerk? Plenty of men and boys are able to treat women like human beings. Excusing those who don’t demeans everyone.
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What’s happening in Portland right now- armed federal troops rounding up protestors - is the actual, real, pressing Free Speech crisis, and I really hope ‘classical liberals’ have something to say about it.
The whole country's eyes should be on what's happening in Portland. Trump has sent federal troops into the city to intimidate, harass, and arrest protestors. Don't *ever* let a Republican tell you they're the party of states rights.
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The people crying on this train are now telling one another how well everyone played, and what an ‘amazing achievement’ it is for ‘a small country like Croatia to get to the final, and ‘good luck to them’. Wow. If only our leaders could show half this sort of good grace. #ENGCRO.
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In this shocking clip, two prominent British anti-trans campaigners openly discuss their goal of ‘reducing or keeping down the number of people who transition’ because ‘every one of those people is a huge problem to a sane world…the fewer of those people there are, the better.’.
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Me: mmm. *deep breath, checking how long I'm going to have to be in this car.*.Him: what do you think?.Me: Um.Him: Because I think it's just an excuse for not being funny. Me: Oh!.Him: Yeah, I bet people were butthurt in the 50s too when they had to stop doing minstrel shows.
Lyft driver (white, bearded, 20s): What do you write?.Me: fiction. Journalism. Feminism. What about you?.Him: I'm trying to be a comedian. It's hard. Me: I'm sorry. It sounds it. Him: you know, all these people talk about PC culture, and how you just can't say anything anymore >.
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‘Why is Greta so triggering for certain men? Because of what she represents. She is part of a generation who won’t be cowed. She has the facts on her side. That’s not a look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes. It’s a look that says ‘you’re not relevant’’
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Me: I am thinking of moving to Berlin. People on the internet: yeah but watch out for all those immigrants.Me: I uh I was suggesting becoming an im. Internet: immigrants are really awful best avoid them when u move to a country where you’re not a citizen.Me: never mind.
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Honestly @TheBoysTV is a goddamn masterpiece and my favourite show and that’s all. It’s perfect.
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Americans: please vote. Right now, refusing to vote Democrat because the candidates aren’t pure enough for you is unconscionable. It is a direct statement that your own disillusion is more important than other people’s lives.
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'Nazis and antifa are the same: they're all just angry protesters.'.'Harry Potter and Mein Kampf are the same: they're both just books.'.
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No, I am not interested in ‘hearing the arguments’ for fascism, misogyny and white nationalism. There are no new arguments for fascism, or for misogyny, or for white nationalism. Only new recruits.
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Ah yes, Scotland, known worldwide for its placid tolerance of authoritarianism and general lack of rowdiness.
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I am so ready to watch a woman protagonist save the world again and again by being clever and moral without getting rescued #jodiewhittaker.
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Trans women have always been part of the LGBTQ movement. They have always been part of feminism. Today some transphobes tried to shut down London Pride in the name of feminism and gay rights. They were the allowed to lead the march. This is utterly wrong.
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Dear sexist trolls: I am now 30 years old. Please stop calling me a 'silly little girl'. The proper term now is 'bitter, used-up old hag.'.
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Freedom of speech is hugely important- and that’s exactly why men who harass and sexually bully women online have no place in politics. Rape culture is all about shutting women and girls out of public space. It’s about denying free speech to women and girls.
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If 'ordinary, decent people' now means 'people who blame immigrants for every social problem', I'm proud to be neither ordinary nor decent.
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These Black women were just kicked out of the Olympics for ‘not being female enough’. The rules were designed to exclude trans people. Now they’re being weaponised against Black cis women. This is what happens when you empower white supremacist patriarchy to police sex + gender.
Namibia's Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi have been withdrawn from the 400m race at the Olympics by World Athletics. They are said to not be eligible for female classification. The same rules are affecting Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba and Margaret Wambui.
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Trans rights are human rights. The fact that half the British left seems to have been co-opted by a toxic transphobic narrative doesn’t change that fact. As a feminist, I stand with trans women. I wish more of the British press would do the same.
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I further apologise for suggesting that no publishing company should help Linehan publish his hate speech. It was wrong of me to single him out that way. No publishing company should help anyone publish hate speech.
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‘What are you so afraid of’- thousands of trans people, feminists, union members and allies in Parliament Square today. Emmeline Pankhurst representing:
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I’m a British writer, and after I came out as non-binary I was harassed, threatened, libelled and review-bombed - and then ghosted by my publishers *in the middle of launch* after prominent media TERFs dropped a series of hit pieces about the book. That’s what actually happens.
British publishers are receiving intimidating letters from an anonymous TERF network called #SEEN telling them that their employees should not be allowed to publicly oppose transphobia. Again, transphobes declare themselves the victims while attempting to censor and silence. >.
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Trump wants antifa to be declared a terrorist organisation. To be clear, he wants it to be ILLEGAL to be an anti-fascist in America. After a night of anti-racist protests, after the nation rose against white supremacy, the President moved to make it illegal to oppose fascism.
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No, you're cowards. You tell yourselves trans women are 'men', conveniently diverting all that feminist energy against the one group of 'men' it's safe to attack, because they are a stigmatised minority and patriarchy does not protect them. Transphobia is a mockery of feminism.
@PennyRed We ARE "taking on the patriarchy." You and your ilk are protecting it.
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Theresa May voted to cut abortion rights. Leadsom = anti-queer religious fanatic. Both would deport immigrant women. This is not feminism.
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I hate to break this to you, but state-level transphobia is not going to take us back to a made-up magical universe where it’s okay for kids to be gender non-conforming and gay and bisexual teenagers are loved and supported.
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I went to the crucible of swaggering alt-right trolls so you didn't have to. Please send your best puppy pics.
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Is the Thirteenth Doctor ‘unlikeable’ and ‘preachy’?.Or is the exact same character with the exact same eccentricities and neurodiverse-coded quirks we have all adored in various male incarnations for 60+ years suddenly ‘unlikeable’ as soon as she’s a woman? #DoctorWho.
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Nothing good can come of a week like this in world history, but one thing at least is clear. Nobody needs to ask themselves any longer what they would do if fascism came back. What are you doing right now? .Well, that’s what you’d do. Because it’s back. It never really left.
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Here’s the #SexStrike that matters:.Do not sleep with anyone who believes in forcing women to give birth. Do not fuck misogynists or white supremacists. Don’t have sex with people who don’t see you as a person. Apart from anything else, they’re generally rubbish in bed.
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If you believe that abortion should only be permissible in cases of rape or incest, don’t pretend it’s about ‘life’. If it’s ok so long as she was raped, what you’re saying is that women should be punished for consenting to sex by forcing them to give birth. #RepealThe8th.
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This is just a mild sample of what now happens in the British media when you politely remind people about your pronouns, like I did today.
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Daily reminder:.‘Respecting the opinions’ of those who would see your friends and neighbors deported and shot does not make you a good liberal. It makes you a dangerously deluded fool. Tolerating intolerance does not make you a better person. It makes you complicit.
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The police are rioting across America tonight- shooting and mowing down protestors, assaulting journalists, terrorising neighborhoods, gleefully brutalising and arresting civilians en masse. I’m shocked by what I saw today. US law enforcement is feral + out of control #riots2020.
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Sorry to break this to you, but it’s still piss-easy for men to hurt women and girls if they want to. Men don’t have to ‘disguise themselves as women’ to do it. They already get away with attacking + abusing women- including trans women- every day. That’s why we need feminism.
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If you think it’s wrong to restrict people’s movement on the basis of vaccine passports, just wait till you hear about…passports.
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Note to the alt-right: you're not edgy anymore. You're not the resistance. We are. And we're stronger than you. #womensmarch.
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Three years ago: take back control! The people have spoken! If you oppose Brexit, you hate democracy!. Now: unelected Prime Minister gets hereditary monarch to suspend parliament in order to force through a disastrous no-deal Brexit that nobody voted for. #StopTheCoup #brexit.
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My takeaway from today: Trump fans are fewer, more confused, less passionate than expected. And resistance is already furious. #Inauguration.
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Feminism and trans rights activism are part of the same struggle against patriarchy and structural violence. The moral panic around trans visibility is dangerous to all women, everywhere. I want trans people to be able to live their truth in safety because I am a feminist.
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The ‘debate’ is not ‘women versus trans people.’.It’s not even ‘feminists versus trans people’. It’s ‘a small group of ‘gender critical’ feminists and their right-wing allies versus trans people and the majority of feminists’.
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Hey. You did really, really well this year. You made it through twelve ridiculously dreadful months mostly intact, and that’s brilliant, and you deserve treats and rest. Seriously, nice work.
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Fascism cannot be defeated in the marketplace of ideas except with a fist to the face, because fascism doesn’t come to the marketplace of ideas to shop. It comes to kill. Don’t EVER let this happen again.
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I get a ton of trolls on here shouting at me that I look like a boy. Firstly, it’s sad that they think that that’s an insult, because most of them are men, and they definitely look like boys, and nobody should have to feel uncomfortable in their own skin.
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How’s it going? This morning I:. -made tea.-lost the cup of tea.-while looking for the tea, accidentally kicked it over.-while wiping the puddle of tea off the floor, *found the fucking bank card* I lost and had to cancel last week. In other news, it’s #ADHDAwarenessMonth.
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You’re next, you toxic haystack.
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I know you’re upset about being seen as prejudiced, but have you ever thought about not being prejudiced?.
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Scotland's new First Minister is a Muslim of Pakistani descent. Britain's Prime Minister is a Hindu of Indian descent. They will now be presiding over the possible partition of the United Kingdom. Absolute banger of a post-colonial callback, no notes.
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Trans people, and trans women in particular, have for years been under attack by dedicated cohort of the British press, egged on by a small group of transphobic extremists. Transphobic views have been normalised in Britain. That’s the context for JK’s comments today.
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