What’s Current: Trans-identified man arrested in Italy for exposing himself to children attacks police in attempt to escape

  • A trans-identified male is arrested in Italy after exposing his genitals to children outside a school and threatening others outside the school, saying he would “infect them with his blood” and that he was HIV positive. Trans activists online claimed the man was a victim of transphobic violence after he attacked police officers in an attempt to escape.
  • Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, publishes a statement on the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner insisting women be able to speak about their rights without fear or threat of violence. She writes:

“I am concerned by the shrinking space in several countries in the Global Northfor women and feminist organisations and their allies to gather and/or express themselves peacefully in demanding respect for their needs based on their sex and/or sexual orientation.

Law enforcement has a crucial role in protecting lawful gatherings of women and ensuring women’s safety and rights to freedom of assembly and speech without intimidation, coercion, or being effectively silenced. It is clear that where law enforcement has failed to provide the necessary safeguards, we have witnessed incidents of verbal and physical abuse, harassment, and intimidation, with the purpose of sabotaging and derailing such events as well as silencing the women who wish to speak at them.”

  • A new paper on rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) by researchers J. Michael Bailey and Suzanna Diaz will be retracted by Springer Nature. James Billot at Unherd explains:

“ROGD is a theory that links the explosion in cases of gender dysphoria among young females to a socially contagious false belief that they are transgender. The paper found 1,655 cases of ROGD in which the parents said that these young people had a high proportion of pre-existing mental health problems, predating their gender dysphoria by four years on average. It also found that the best predictor of transition was consulting a gender specialist, where parents often felt pressured to transition their children.”

The paper was published on March 29th in Archives of Sexual Behaviour and hosted on the SpringerLink website.

Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist from Vancouver, BC. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, Quillette, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and is now exiled in Mexico with her very photogenic dog.