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(Un)Packing the Punch: What People Mean When They Mock Equality

  "If women want equality, it's fine if I punch you, then?" "Why should I give up my seat for a pregnant woman? They wanted equality, after all!" "Equality means she  should be doing a proper day's work, too, not lounging around scrolling socials all day!" These are all common retorts against the equality that is legally enforced to the benefit of cisgender, able-bodied, mentally well women (and which is often more readily and fully given to white  women in those categories.) The perception of the Left is that this is "proof that men just want to be violent." And some men - and some women, and some non-binary folk - undoubtedly do. The possibility of being an objectionable piece of sh*t who wants to harm others, and make irresponsible choices, is a fundamental aspect of being human, which is why the consequences  of irresponsible and anti-social choices should never be weakened or removed. For many others, though, their discomfort with th...

How Do I Treat Trans Staff Following the Supreme Court's Ruling?

  The Supreme Court's recent ruling that "woman" refers to "someone who was biologically female at birth" only directly connects to roles specifically reserved for women , which have to follow a specific process to authorise gender exclusion against men.  It does not  mean "I want my organisation to be female-dominant, so I don't have to employ trans women anymore!"  Nor does it mean that you "aren't allowed" to continue respecting the gender - and names and pronouns - of trans people who currently work for you, and those you "don't think look like women" - who probably actually aren't  trans. For Boards, who are being legally obliged towards demonstrating equity, the real diversity is diversity of approach.   Here at The Productive Pessimist , we work very much in alignment with Leandro Herrero 's style of management - and very much agree with his statement: "If you have two people who think exactly the sam...

Full-Spectrum Inclusion: Gender Inclusion

  I want  to start this post with the common rebuff from the trans community (of which I am a part); "Everybody has a gender!"  I can't , however, because that isn't true. Gender  isn't just the "polite" substitute for "sex-as-adjective".  Gender  is a psycho-emotional sense  of something that is true about oneself.  Truth is not  subjective, which is where the complexity of "gender" comes in - because "psycho-emotional sense" sounds very  subjective - it's "just peoples' feelings!"   Except it's not. What gives psycho-emotional sense its claim to being objective  truth is that it is made manifest in the way a person interacts with their society, and invites that society to interact with them.   Psycho-emotional sense may go through a period of flux - which, after all, is what puberty is for most people, and what menopause and andropause are for many people - but, in the end, after between 3-7 years, it...