Feminist Professors Slam Selfies For "Perpetuating Classic Gender Roles"

Authored by Toni Airaksinen via Campus Reform,

A group of feminist professors recently discovered that Instagram selfies taken by women in college can reinforce “traditional gender roles.”

In a study led by Mardi Schmeichel, a University of Georgia (UGA) professor specializing in “feminist theory,” a team of professors analyzed 233 selfies that were posted in 2013 within 24 hours of the first UGA football home game of the semester.

Schmeichel and her team analyzed these selfies to see if they represented “the idealized symbol of the southern lady,” which they note is an aesthetic trope that “has had significant and enduring consequences on notions of femininity in the South.”

This symbol of the southern lady, they argue, is typified by students’ formal wear, soft and flowy dresses, a significant amount of jewelry, and clothes that emphasize “feminine curves without revealing what might be considered ‘too much’ skin.”

Bright red lipstick and white teeth are also considered emblematic of this southern aesthetic, Schmeichel argues.

After analyzing selfies posted in the time surrounding the first 2013 UGA home game, Schmeichel found that 25 percent of women who posted photos embody this harmful aesthetic.

“The clothing, makeup, posing and editing used in the southern lady images work together to achieve a hyperfeminine gender performance that differs significantly from the images of women in the other selfies,” Schmeichel laments.

 

“In the southern lady images, attention to a traditionally gendered performance has been emphasized,” Schmeichel writes, lamenting that “the southern lady images that circulate in these selfies reinscribe a traditional femininity organized around/on a binary.”

She also notes that students’ embodiment of femininity can be troubling.

“The celebration of traditional femininity has been is [sic] a vexing concern for some feminists, who have interpreted it as a rolling back of hard-won progress to eliminate women’s association with these rigidly gendered and often marginalized subject positions.”

 

“If we are committed to destabilizing gender binaries and working toward a world in which bodies, and images of them, are not traded as capital, then there must be some attention paid to ways in which women’s [Instagram] practices and behaviors can get in the way of these goals,” Schmeichel concludes.

Campus Reform reached out to Schmeichel and her team for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

"Murica? An Entire Arizona Family Now "Identifies" As Transgender

Presented without comment...

DailyCaller"s Grace Carr reports that an entire family in Arizona says every member now identifies as transgender.

“It feels like you’re getting to live for the first time,” said Daniel Harrott, who lived most of her life as a woman and is now transitioning to male, according to KJZZ.

 

“And my children are getting to be who they’ve always wanted to be,” she added, explaining that her family of four is happier now that they are all living according to the identities of their choice.

Harrott’s 11-year-old, Mason, is a girl but decided she wasn’t her biological gender and now goes by a boy’s name and sports boy’s clothes.

Harrott’s first child, 13-year-old Joshua - who is wheelchair bound - was born a male but now also says he is not of the right body and is choosing to become a female. Joshua says he was only 6 or 7 years old when he knew he was a girl.

The children’s mother, Daniel, is engaged to Shirley Austin, a man who identifies as a woman. Daniel said that Josh came out as transgender first, followed by Mason, after which Daniel felt it was okay to accept her male identity. Following their identity changes, Daniel met transgender Shirley, who joined their family to make up a family of four transgenders.

“The whole family is in transition,” Austin said.

Both Daniel and Shirley were previously married to partners opposite of their biological sex, and both had children in those marriages.

“They’re trans, and I know it’s true – because I am, too,” Daniel said, telling KJZZ that her son Joshua had wanted to join the Girl Scouts, which made her start to think the whole family must be transgender.

Daniel posits that transgenders have been in her family for at least 100 years, and recounts that people used to call her great aunt a cross-dresser.

One of the world’s leading experts in childhood gender dysphoria, Dr. Kenneth Zucker, lost his job for challenging the new orthodoxy that children know best and for presenting evidence that most children with gender dysphoria eventually overcome the feelings without transitioning.

 

Eating Meat Perpetuates "Hegemonic Masculinity", Professor Says

Authored by Toni Airaksinen via Campus Reform,

A Pennsylvania State University sociology professor recently argued that eating meat perpetuates “hegemonic masculinity” and “gender hegemony.”

In the most recent issue of the Journal of Feminist Geography, professor Anne DeLessio-Parson argues that “hegemonic masculinity implies an imperative to eat meat” and that this helps reify other power hierarchies as well.

To study the link between masculinity and meat, DeLessio-Parson interviewed 23 vegetarians who live in Argentina to probe how they deal with their country’s “meat-centric” culture, finding that being vegetarian itself is a political act.

Vegetarians also contribute to the destabilization of the gender binary, she argued.

“The decision to become vegetarian does not itself destabilize gender, but the subsequent social interactions between vegetarian and meat-eater demand gender enactment - or resistance,” DeLessio-Parson discovered.

 

“Refusing meat therefore presents opportunities, in each social interaction, for the binary to be called into question,” she said, noting that women, for example, may not consider dating men who eat meat, while male vegetarians might end up spending more time in the kitchen as opposed to outside on the grill, all actions which can destabilize gender norms.

In an interview with Campus Reform, DeLessio-Parson explained that her interest in the issue arose after spending five years as a vegetarian in Argentina, where she worked with community organizations and as an English teacher.

There, she realized that vegetarianism isn’t just a lifestyle choice, but a feminist act.

“Women, one of the ways they push back against patriarchy, they say, "This is my body. You don"t get to tell me what comes in and out,’” she told Campus Reform, explaining that vegetarianism is a way women can assert their agency and autonomy.

She also noticed characteristics unique to male vegetarians, asserting that although many men in Argentina “still have these very hegemonic masculinity traits,” male vegetarians “seem more egalitarian and respectful” and “more open about talking about how sexism exists.”

DeLessio-Parson concludes that vegetarianism can help “destabilize not just gender, but also other hierarchies, and drive social change.

“If we can pay more attention to what we put in our bodies...we can create a better sense of peace in the world. Vegetarianism is a part of that,” she writes.

Jail, Drugs And Video Games: Why Millennial Men Are Disappearing From The Labor Force

Last week, Goldman Sachs pointed out a very disturbing trend in the US labor market: where the participation rate for women in the prime age group of 25-54 have seen a dramatic rebound in the past 2 years, such a move has been completeloy missing when it comes to their peer male workers. As Goldman"s jan Hatzius put in in "A Divided Labor Market", "some of the workers who gave up and dropped out of the labor force during the recession and its aftermath still have not found their way back in." In fact, the labor force participation rate of prime-age (25-54 year-old) women has rebounded quite a bit and is now only moderately below pre-crisis levels, but the rate for prime-age men remains well below pre-crisis levels.

While Goldman did not delve too deeply into the reasons behind this dramatic gender gap, BofA"s chief economist Michelle Meyer did just that in a note released on Friday titled "The tale of the lost male." As we have discussed previously, and as Goldman showed recently, Meyer finds that indeed prime-working age men - particularly young men - have failed to return to the labor force in contrast to women who have reentered. According to Meyer, while this reflects some cyclical dynamics, including skill mismatch and stagnant wages, what is more troubling is that there are several new secular stories at play such as greater drug abuse, incarceration rates and the happiness derived from staying home playing games.

The macro implications, while self-explanatory, are dire: with the labor force participation rate among young men unlikely to rebound, the unemployment rate should fall further and cries of labor shortages will remain loud, even as millions of male Americans enter middle age without a job, with one or more drug addition habits, and with phenomenal Call of Duty reflexes. Here"s why.

First the facts

The overall LFPR is at 62.7%, up from the lows of 62.4% in 2015 but still considerably below the peak in 2000 of 67.3%. BofA estimates that more than half of the decline in the LFPR is due to demographics - as the population ages, the aggregate participation rate naturally falls. However, even after controlling for demographics, the participation rate of prime-working age individuals has failed to recover. As shown by Goldman above, and in BofA"s Chart 1 below, "this reflects the fact that men have not returned to the labor force. This is not a new phenomenon as the participation rate for prime working aged men has been on a secular downshift for the past several decades. However, it stands in contrast with the participation rate of women of the same age cohort which has rebounded nicely."

Looking at age cohorts, the weakness among men is particularly acute among 25-34 years old where the rate has continued to slip lower. This is offset by a modest uptrend in participation among men aged 45-54 years old (Chart 2). In other words, the millennial men have remained on the sidelines of the labor market.

Now the theories

Why haven"t men - particularly millennial men - returned to the labor market? According to Meyer, on the one hand, there are the typical business cycle explanations which center on the mismatch in skills. There is also the theory of stagnant wages which may discourage new entrants into the labor market. On the other hand, there are secular changes for men, including the rise in pain medication usage (opioid drug abuse), incarcerations, and prioritization of leisure (think video games).

BofA reviews each in order, starting with the story of mismatch

The recession resulted in more severe job cuts for men than for women, in part due to the nature of the downturn; indeed, male employment fell by a cumulative 6.9% vs a 3.2% drop for women. The goods-side of the economy shed workers, particularly in construction and manufacturing, which tend to be more male-dominated. Both sectors were slow to recover, leaving workers to become detached from the labor market with depreciating skills. Moreover, the destruction of jobs in these sectors discouraged the younger generation from attaining the skills necessary to enter these fields. A prime example is the construction sector: the average age of a construction worker increased to 42.7 in 2016 from 40.4 pre-crisis, reflecting the fact that there were fewer young workers becoming trained in the discipline. By mid-2013, builders started to complain about the difficulty in finding labor, particularly skilled workers. This illustrates how the Great Recession displaced workers and led to a mismatch of skills.

Logically, there is also the influence of rising wages - or the lack thereof - on the incentive to work. Wage growth has been slow to recover on aggregate with only 2.4% yoy nominal wage growth as of October. However, there are differences by education with relative weakness for less educated men (Chart 3). This shows the demand shift away from this population, leaving them on the fringe of the labor force. Accordingly, the labor force participation rate for men with only a high school diploma has declined by 6.2% since 2007 vs. the 5.3% drop in the college educated cohort.

The pain from opioids

Moving to the more depressing narratives, BofA next explores the possibility that the rise in drug abuse - particularly opioids - is leaving men unemployed and displaced from the labor force. Recent work from Alan Krueger found that the rise in opioid prescriptions from 1999 to 2015 could account for about 20% of the decline in the male labor force participation rate during that same period. Referencing the 2013 American Time Use Survey - Well-being Supplement (ATUS-WB), 43% of NLF prime age men indicated having fair or poor health, a stark contrast with just 12% for employed men. The same cohort also reported significantly higher levels of pain rating, with 44% having taken pain medication, opioids particularly, on the reference day. It is hard to prove causality - is the increase in pain causing more dependence on opioids, leading to a drop in the labor force participation, or did the lack of job opportunities lead this population to drug abuse? Either way, it seems to be a factor keeping prime aged individuals from working - both men and women, according to Kreuger"s analysis.

Incarceration on the rise

The rising number of incarcerations imposes another issue. Although prisoners are not counted toward the total civilian non-institutional population when calculating the LFPR, the problem associated with the labor market goes beyond prisons. The growing number of incarcerations has left more people with criminal records, making it difficult for them to reenter the workplace. Indeed, the share of male adult population of former prisoners has increased from 1.8% in 1980 to 5.8% in 2010 (Chart 4). The Center for Economic and Policy Research has also found that people who have been imprisoned are 30% less likely to find a job than their non-incarcerated counterparts. Not surprisingly, a look into the details by demographic cohort finds that men make up nearly 93% of all prisoners, of which one third are between the ages of 25 and 34.

Why work when you can play video games

Finally there is the question of preference - is it possible that we are seeing more young men choosing leisure over labor? According to the ATUS (time use survey), between 2004-07 and 2012-15, the average amount of time men aged 21-30 worked declined by 3.13 hours while the number of hours playing games increased by 1.67 and the hours using computers rose by 0.6 (Chart 5). Once again there is a question of causality - are young men playing video games because it is hard to find work or because they prefer it over working? Using the 2013 Supplement ATUS, Krueger finds that game playing is associated with greater happiness, less sadness and less fatigue than TV watching and it is considered to be a social activity. This can create a loose argument that the improvement in video games has increased the enjoyment young men get from leisure, putting a priority on leisure over labor. It also begs the question over whether welfare benefits for the unemployed aren"t just a touch too generous, but that is a discussion best left for another day...

Whatever the reasons behind the collapse in male - and especially Millennial - labor force participation, the undeniable result has led a number of industries to report persistent labor shortages. To get a sense of this, BofA compares the ratio of the rate of job openings to hires across major industry using the JOLTS data. All major sectors have witnessed an increase in the ratio (Chart 6). (Note that due to trend differences across industries, it is more important to look at the relative changes in ratios instead of their absolute values). The biggest relative increase was in construction followed by transportation and utilities. This is the goods side of the economy where men tend to be a larger share of the working population, therefore highlighting the challenges in the economy from the shortage of men participating in the labor force. This is consistent with Beige Book commentary which highlighted in the latest edition that "Many Districts noted that employers were having difficulty finding qualified workers, particularly in construction, transportation, skilled manufacturing, and some health care and service positions."

There are two implications: number one, the unemployment rate is set to fall further. In October we already touched 4.1% and are just a few thousand workers away from a 3-handle on the unemployment rate. The second is that wages should be rising. As Meyer writes, while it has yet to translate to a decisive higher trend in wage inflation, "we continue to argue that further tightening in the labor market will gradually succeed in generating faster wage growth." To be sure, modest upward pressure on wages - especially if it is felt across industries and education levels - could encourage some return of labor, but it will likely be slow given the structural challenges addressed above. The consequence: cries of labor shortages will remain loud, even as wages finally rebound from chornically, and troublingly, low levels. In fact, some speculate that the wage rebound - once it emerges - could be sharp and destabilizing, and ultimately, as Albert Edwards predicted, could result in a "nightmare scenario" for the Fed (and capital markets) which will suddenly find itself far behind the tightening curve.

Wall Street Hypocrisy Exposed: Bank Behind "Fearless Girl" Statue Fined For Systemically Underpaying Women

The bar for Wall Street hypocrisy has just been raised.

In a controversy that can only be described as hilariously ironic, Boston-based bank and asset manager State Street Corp – which famously created and installed the “fearless girl” statue, purportedly symbolizing Wall Street’s progress toward gender equality in the workplace - to be a symbol of Wall Street’s progress toward gender equality, earlier this year - has agreed to pay $5 million to settle claims that it systematically underpaid female and minority employees, according to the New York Post.

State Street assented to the fine – but refused to admit wrongdoing - after being audited by the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The DOL alleges that the firm’s systemic pay discrimination dates back to at least 2010 and affected hundreds of employees, primarily in senior-level positions.

“OFCCP’s analysis demonstrates that a statistically significant disparity in compensation remained even when legitimate factors affecting pay were taken into account,” the Labor Department said Thursday in its filing.

The department alleges that black employees were also discriminated against, with at least 15 individuals being paid less in base salary and total compensation than their “similarly-situated” white peers.

By installing the statue, State Street hoped to kill two birds with one stone: Burnishing its reputation as a female-friendly employer while helping to market its new “SHE” ETF, which invests in female-led companies.

However, the statue was quickly denounced as a transparent marketing ploy, and the bank was roundly criticized by a memorable coalition of feminists, bankers and even the Italian sculptor who created Wall Street’s charging bull. Though that didn’t stop the judges at the Cannes Ad Festival from lavishing McCann, the advertising firm that helped create the statue, with three top awards.

Compounding the irony, State Street used the statue’s installation as an opportunity to tout its efforts to promote more women to senior level positions – a program that was reportedly initiated by CEO Joseph Hooley in 2010 – the same year that the bank began underpaying women, according to the DOL’s complaint.  

For what it’s worth, the bank has denied the allegations.

“State Street is committed to equal pay practices and evaluates on an ongoing basis our internal processes to be sure our compensation, hiring and promotions programs are nondiscriminatory,” a spokesperson said. “While we disagreed with the OFCCP’s analysis and findings, we have cooperated fully with them, and made a decision to bring this six-year-old matter to resolution and move forward.”

The findings from the audit were filed in Boston on Wednesday, along with the settlement agreement.

Twitter users quickly blasted the bank for its hypocrisy and blatant cynicism.

Ironic: the Raging Bull is a piece of guerilla art. Fearless Girl is a marketing ploy by State Street, a company that underpays women. https://t.co/yT9jCyJnUM

— Stanley Pignal (@spignal) October 6, 2017

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
 

Male, Female, Or 'Nonbinary': California Set To Be First State To Add "Gender X" Designation To Licenses

Up until now, state issued identification cards around the country have limited gender designations to "male" and "female" because, well, biological science has historically taught us that those were the only two options.  But that hateful and narrowed-minded micro-aggression perpetrated by our genetic code will no longer be tolerated in the state of California, whether it"s a scientifically proven fact or not. 

As the San Francisco Chronicle points out today, California"s legislature is currently considering SB 179 that will add a new "nonbinary" gender designation to the state"s identification cards.

When Californians are designated by gender on a driver’s license, a birth certificate or any state identification, there are only two possible boxes to check: either “M” or “F.” But they may soon have a third option.

A bill advancing in the Legislature would allow Californians to opt for a “nonbinary” gender marker on all forms of state identification. It’s not yet clear which alphabetical abbreviation will be used, though “X” appears to be a leading candidate.

That would make California the first state in the nation to fully depart from the rigid either/or categorization of gender, embracing a more fluid understanding of the term — at least on paper.

"For someone who has an ID that states a gender that doesn’t match their gender presentation, things can get difficult — everything from a delay in completing what should be a mundane task to outright harassment,” Atkins said on the Senate floor in May.

“It’s liberating to be able to say, ‘Yes, this is who I am,’ and, ‘Yes, my state documentation matches that,’” Shull said.

California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Fran)

Not surprisingly, SB 179 has been introduced by the same California State Senator, Scott Wiener (D-San Fran), who last week introduced us to legislation that would seek to imprison healthcare workers that "willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns."

No, we"re not making this up.  In fact, here is brief summary of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights (or SB-219 if you"re into the whole brevity thing):

This bill would enact the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights. Among other things, the bill would make it unlawful, except as specified, for any long-term care facility to take specified actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, including, among others, willfully and repeatedly failing to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns, or denying admission to a long-term care facility, transferring or refusing to transfer a resident within a facility or to another facility, or discharging or evicting a resident from a facility.

Meanwhile, here are couple of other actions that would be considered a crime for healthcare workers in California under SB-219:

(2) Deny a request by residents to share a room.

(3) Where rooms are assigned by gender, assigning, reassigning, or refusing to assign a room to a transgender resident other than in accordance with the transgender resident’s gender identity, unless at the transgender resident’s request.

(4) Prohibit a resident from using, or harass a resident who seeks to use or does use, a restroom available to other persons of the same gender identity, regardless of whether the resident is making a gender transition or appears to be gender-nonconforming. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, requiring a resident to show identity documents in order to gain entrance to a restroom available to other persons of the same gender identity.

(5) Willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.

(6) Deny a resident the right to wear or be dressed in clothing, accessories, or cosmetics that are permitted for any other resident.

(7) Restrict a resident’s right to associate with other residents or with visitors, including the right to consensual sexual relations, unless the restriction is uniformly applied to all residents in a nondiscriminatory manner. This section does not preclude a facility from banning or restricting sexual relations, as long as the ban or restriction is applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner.

Of course, none of this is considered science denial...but, question someone"s climate change opinion and you might as well walk around with a "Science Denier" sign on your back for the rest of you life.

SB 179 can be reviewed in its entirety here:

Only In Cali: New Bill Would Imprison Healthcare Workers For Using Incorrect Pronouns With Patients

California has a well-earned its reputation for introducing wacky legislation. Jerry Brown"s bill specifically written to regulate cow farts is a personal favorite of ours.  For those who missed it the first time around, here is a brief recap of our post entitled "Only In California - Governor Jerry Brown Signs Bill To Regulate Cow Flatulence":

In yet another attack on California businesses, yesterday Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill (SB 1383) that requires the state to cut methane emissions from dairy cows and other animals by 40% by 2030.

According to a statement from Western United Dairymen CEO, Anja Raudabaugh, California"s Air Resources Board wants to regulate animal methane emissions even though it admits there is no known method for achieving the the type of reduction sought by SB 1383.

"The California Air Resources Board wants to regulate cow emissions, even though its Short-Lived Climate Pollutant (SLCP) reduction strategy acknowledges that there’s no known way to achieve this reduction."

Among other things, compliance with the bill will likely require California dairies to install "methane digesters" that convert the organic matter in manure into methane that can then be converted to energy for on-farm or off-farm consumption.  The problem, of course, is that methane digesters are expensive and with California producing 20% of the country"s milk we suspect that means that California has just passed another massive "food tax" on the country.

But a new bill penned by Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, dubbed the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights (or SB-219 if you"re into the whole brevity thing), takes wacky California legislation to a whole new level.  Among other things, the bill makes it illegal for employees of any "long-term care facility" to "willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns."

This bill would enact the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident’s Bill of Rights. Among other things, the bill would make it unlawful, except as specified, for any long-term care facility to take specified actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status, including, among others, willfully and repeatedly failing to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns, or denying admission to a long-term care facility, transferring or refusing to transfer a resident within a facility or to another facility, or discharging or evicting a resident from a facility.

Meanwhile, here are couple of other actions that will now be considered a crime for healthcare workers in California:

(2) Deny a request by residents to share a room.

(3) Where rooms are assigned by gender, assigning, reassigning, or refusing to assign a room to a transgender resident other than in accordance with the transgender resident’s gender identity, unless at the transgender resident’s request.

(4) Prohibit a resident from using, or harass a resident who seeks to use or does use, a restroom available to other persons of the same gender identity, regardless of whether the resident is making a gender transition or appears to be gender-nonconforming. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, requiring a resident to show identity documents in order to gain entrance to a restroom available to other persons of the same gender identity.

(5) Willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.

(6) Deny a resident the right to wear or be dressed in clothing, accessories, or cosmetics that are permitted for any other resident.

(7) Restrict a resident’s right to associate with other residents or with visitors, including the right to consensual sexual relations, unless the restriction is uniformly applied to all residents in a nondiscriminatory manner. This section does not preclude a facility from banning or restricting sexual relations, as long as the ban or restriction is applied uniformly and in a nondiscriminatory manner.

So what is the punishment for failing to observe someone"s preferred pronouns?  Oh, just a year in prison and a $1,000 fine, according to CBN...

Just to clarify, "choosing" your own gender and imprisoning people for failing to observe that "choice" is wholly consistent with "science" but Republicans are "science deniers" for having the audacity to even question inconsistencies in climate change data....got it.

Here is the full text of SB-219:

Kids As Young As FOUR YEARS OLD Sent To Summer Camp For Silicon Valley Trannies

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com

Parents in California are sending their children to the ‘Bay Area Rainbow Day Camp’ for Transgender and ‘nonbinary’ children as young as FOUR YEARS OLD – where curious ‘gender expansive’ kids can play with each other in a ‘community of peers that will provide a safe space for the exploration of gender identity and expression.’

For children 13-17, ‘camp Kickin’ It’ offers a ‘social day camp for gender non binary, questioning, genderqueer, and trans teens to explore Bay Area activities and gender identity in a safe space in a community of their peers.

Via Fox News:

The camp seems like any other. Children arrive with a packed lunch, make friendship bracelets, sing songs and get silly. But each day at check-in, campers make a nametag with their pronoun of choice. Some opt for “she” or “he” while others choose “they” or something else.

And enrollment at the camp is booming. The number of children at the San Francisco Bay area camp has tripled to about 60 youngsters, from age 4 to 12, since it opened three summers ago, with kids coming from as far away as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and even Africa. There is talk of opening branches of the camp across the country.

Founded by Sandra Collins, mother of a transgender 9 year old, the Rainbow Day Camp is the ultimate safe space.

“A lot of these kids have been bullied and had trauma at school. This is a world where none of that exists, and they’re in the majority,” Collins said. “That’s a new experience for kids who are used to hiding and feeling small.”

Specialists consulted

‘Gender specialists’ say the camp’s popularity reflects the increase in children coming out as transgender at young ages – a phenomenon credited to greater awareness of LGBT issues, as well as parents noticing that their kids are showing signs of ‘gender dysphoria,’ or distress about their gender.

Enabled or encouraged?

It’s tough to find widespread agreement outside of California’s ‘gender specialists’ on the topic of gender dysphoria at a young age. In a June article by three medical experts entitled “Growing Pains: Problems with Puberty Suppression in Treating Gender Dysphoria,” the authors write that allowing a child to explore transgenderism and other ‘gender fluid’ identities ‘may drive some children to persist in identifying as transgender when they might otherwise have, as they grow older, found their gender to be aligned with their sex.”

In fact, the authors posit that “the interference with normal pubertal development will influence the gender identity of the child by reducing the prospects for developing a gender identity corresponding to his or her biological sex.”

Let’s just let kids be kids? 

While many would say sending kids as young as age four to a transexual summer camp is child abuse, perhaps the camp for older 13 – 17 year olds – in the throes of puberty and it’s raging hormones – isn’t such a bad idea, especially considering the vast difference in suicide rates in supported vs. unsupported youths who later identify as their non-biologicial gender.

Via Fox:

Studies show transgender adults have higher rates of suicide and depression than the general population. A 2016 study by the University of Washington’s TransYouth Project, published in the journal Pediatrics, found trans children who live as their preferred gender and are supported by their parents have the same mental health outcomes as other kids their age.

Meanwhile, it’s 2017 and we’re talking about transgender children. Discuss.

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The Number Of Young Men Not Working Has Doubled In 15 Years

Authored by Robert Donachie via The Daily Signal,

Young men are working less and playing video games more, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study published Monday.

Men ages 21 to 30 years old worked 12 percent fewer hours in 2015 than they did in 2000, the economists found. Around 15 percent of young men worked zero weeks in 2015, a rate nearly double that of 2000.

Since 2004, young men have increasingly allocated more of their free time to playing video games and other computer-related activities, according to the study.

Thirty-five percent of young men are living at home with their parents or a close relative, up 12 percent since 2000.

The results of the economists’ research are interesting, considering there are 10 million American men ages 24 to 64 that have completely dropped out of the workforce. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in June that there were nearly 6 million jobs waiting to be filled. The U.S. job market has consistently posted gains around or above 200,000 new jobs per month in 2017.

The results of Monday’s study could suggest that, instead of actively seeking work in an economy with millions of open jobs, young men are choosing to stay at home and play video games.

Which might explain the soaring popularity of socialist politicians around the world...

57% Of Americans Think Government "Works Better" When Women Get Involved

How are women viewed in different countries across the world? Views fluctuate massively depending on where you live with Russians particularly negative about women"s responsibilities in the government or companies...

You will find more statistics at Statista

The data used in the infographic was compiled by Ipsos MORI.

Only 34 percent of people in Russia say things would work better if women held positions with responsibilities in government or companies while 69 percent say the role of a woman in society is to be a good mother and wide.

In India, views are far more mixed where a woman"s role is in society is seen as a part of government and business as well as a good mother and wife.

In the United States, 57 percent of people think things would improve with more women in government and companies while 41 percent say the role of women is to be good mothers and wives.

'A Day Without A Woman' Is The Ultimate In Virtue Signaling Bullshit, And Here's Why

Via JrDeputyAccountant.com,

If you are a woman with the luxury of taking yesterday off, congrats. You aren"t the kind of woman who needs to take a day off to make a point about how women are supposedly underpaid (data is still and will always be out on that one), you are likely protected enough in your position to be able to take a day off in the first place and congratulations, it means you live in the first world where a woman can choose to take a day off for whatever reason. Way to stick it to the man, ladies. I hope you had an awesome day at home, you deserve it.

The triumphant announcement of this day without women on the "official" Women"s March page (because someone bought that dot com, ya know) reads:

In the same spirit of love and liberation that inspired the Women"s March, we join together in making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, recognizing the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system--while receiving lower wages and experiencing greater inequities, vulnerability to discrimination, sexual harassment, and job insecurity. We recognize that trans and gender nonconforming people face heightened levels of discrimination, social oppression and political targeting. We believe in gender justice.

Anyone, anywhere, can join by making March 8th A Day Without a Woman, in one or all of the following ways:

• Women take the day off, from paid and unpaid labor


• Avoid shopping for one day (with exceptions for small, women- and minority-owned businesses).


• Wear RED in solidarity with A Day Without A Woman

So even on what is supposed to be our day, we"re being told what to do. Take off work. Don"t shop. Wear RED. BTW, the red thing has already been overdone for AIDS awareness, or are you guys not old enough to remember those AIDS iPods U2 was shilling many many years back?

I own a media company, cobbling together an existence these days but an existence no less, and one that I take great pride in. The fact that I have the opportunity to cobble this existence together is completely first world, I wouldn"t have this option if, say, I were a woman in Sudan. When stories I need to cover come in I can"t be like yeah sorry, it"s wear red day and I"m doing cliche lady stuff at home in the tub sipping wine.

Meanwhile there"s a little girl in Sudan getting her parts hacked up because female genital mutilation is still in a thing around the world and I"m over here in the United States thinking wearing a red shirt makes a difference? Please give me twenty breaks with that shit.

How funny was it they said avoid shopping, like that"s what all we women do right lol. RESIST THE URGE. Don"t shop! That"ll show them! And then turn around the next day and buy a bunch of crap you don"t need on Amazon, that"ll show them. I did go get my hair cut at my women-owned salon but that is beside the God damned point.

If you took yesterday off, good for you. But look the fuck around you. Were you sold into child marriage at 12? Do you still have your natal genitals? Do you have to walk hours a day just for water? No? Then you"re doing pretty good as far as women across the world are concerned. Do we first world women have problems of our own? Of course. But please stop getting the vapors at every opportunity to play up our oppression, it"s getting exhausting.

The fact that y"all can go out there in vagina costumes and not get your asses beat is proof of how just good we have it here in the good ole first world. Remember that when you"re putting on a red shirt the next time.

Tucker Carlson Takes on DNC Advisor Who Doesn't Know How to Identify a Gender

So why does "the party of science", the enlightened ones, the people with thousands of scientists from accredited colleges throughout the country who tell us about dangers of global warming, carbon emissions, and how many vegetables to eat on a daily basis -- cling to the inane subject of "gender identity"? You"d think that these men of letters would eschew rudimentary "feelings" and only accept the biology of one"s gender when determining which bathroom he/she could use. But this isn"t about science, in spite of what they tell you.

Thousands of years ago, when the Romans would conquer territories that were hostile, they"d enter villages and take the men as slaves and order the women to raise her children loyal to the Roman standard. To make an example, often times they"d kill one of her children, so she knew they meant business. After a generation of destroying families, these territories were docile and soft -- loyal to the Roman power structure.

Today we have a corrupt establishment on its last legs, fighting desperately to keep its citizens in line. After decades of permitting drugs to ravage through minority communities, passing harsh drug laws designed to break up and destroy the black family structure, the nuclear black family is on its last legs. In 1965, just before the onset of the drug epidemic, 76.4% of black children were born into married households. Today, 77% of first black births are born into pre-marital households.

So what the fuck happened?

The men were carted off to jail, while the women were left tending to her children, as wards of the state.

Sound familiar?

Now the target is everyone else. While oxycontin and meth have done a number on white neighborhoods throughout the country, it wasn"t working fast enough to truly break the family structure -- especially in well-heeled families.

Enter the gender identity crisis. What better way to disrupt the family structure and create a generation of mentally challenged morons than to have them question the very essence of life and purpose: identity and procreation? Schools are pushing this hard on children, creating safe zones and sexualizing institutions that were never designed to do that. In other words, the state is attempting to take control of your children"s" minds by blurring the lines of gender, confusing them and galvanizing a generation of potential social justice warriors who will fight the good fight for "human rights", aka become WARDS OF THE STATE.

Rant over.

Here is Tucker Carlson, proving, once and for all, the DNC is run by complete morons, unable to answer a simple question: what makes a person a man?

The correct answer should"ve been, "your balls."

Content originally generated at iBankCoin.com

Virginia University Publishes "LGBTQQIAAPP Terminology Guide" To Help Snowflakes Determine Their Gender

The Virginia Commonwealth University"s Office of Multicultural Affairs has decided to publish a very helpful "LBGTQQIAAPP Terminology Guide" to assist their confused snowflakes with the very complicated task of determining their own gender.  While the guide may seem fairly thorough, VCU notes that gender "language is constantly evolving, and these definitions are not by any means comprehensive" before warning that "terms of self-identification should not be used to label others without their consent."

Luckily, the terminology guide even has some very easy to understand illustrations to help students debunk the lifelong, evil myth that gender is somehow binary...

Here are some of the definitions that we found particularly helpful and we sincerely hope that our readers will take this opportunity to read, learn and reflect on their lives of "Cis Privilege."  And for those of you still living in the dark ages, Cisgendered refers to the 99.7% of the population where "a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex" all miraculously align.

Biological Sex/ Natal Sex/ Birth Sex/ Sex: The medical term used for the identification of male, female, or intersex sex i.e. chromosomes, gonads, and/or genitalia

Cisgender/ Cis/ Gender Normative/ Gender Straight: a person who has a normative gender presentation, when a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex align. A person who is not transgender.

Cisgender Privilege/ Cis privilege: The societal assumption and norm that all people are cisgender. There are basic civil rights and social privileges that a cisgendered person automatically receives that are systematically denied to transgender persons, simply because of their gender identity/ gender presentation

Demisexual: a person who is not immediately sexually attracted to other people. A person who’s sexual attraction to another person develops after developing a relationship (not necessarily romantic). Often considered within the asexuality spectrum

Gender Confirmation surgery: any surgery to make a person’s outward appearance more closely align with their gender rather than biological sex, also known as gender reassignment surgery, many have transitioned to Gender Confirmation Surgery as it utilizes more positive language.

Heterosexual Privilege/Heteronormativity: The societal assumption and norm that all people are heterosexual. There are basic civil rights and social privileges that a heterosexual person automatically receives that are systematically denied to queer persons, simply because of their sexual orientation.

Of course, while VCU asserts that there are "basic civil rights and social privileges" afforded to "cisgendered" people that are constantly denied other people based on their "gender identity/ gender presentation", the university fails to define exactly which privileges to which they are referring.

For those of you looking for even more enlightenment on this very important topic plaguing roughly 0.3% of the population, please see the complete LBGTQQIAAPP Terminology Guide below: