Junkee - They Deliver Exactly What Their Name Implies

Junkee published an article yesterday, March 19 2021, claiming that “trans students don’t feel safe at the University of Melbourne,” and as you might assume from the title of this article, it’s junk. So, not only are the writers, editors and other staff at Junkee becoming more and more slack regarding the content that they produce, and the quality of said content, now they are accomplices in the targeted harassment of a woman.

I recently published a news article and blog which go into detail about the targeted hate campaign of a Professor at the University of Melbourne, Dr. Holly Lawford-Smith, at the hands of entitled and ignorant youth and their allies. You can find my article here and the blog here.

Now, let’s analyse this article from Junkee.

Now, look, I am all for journalistic freedom (obviously) and I know that, to make a story interesting, we sometimes take the liberty of embellishing a story or particular details, but the writer (Zhang) has taken far too much liberty within this article.

This is what it actually says on the homepage of the noconflicttheysaid.org website.

“In Australia and around the world, legislation is being introduced that replaces sex with gender identity. Advocates insist that there is no conflict of interests. But governments are not collecting data on the impacts of this legislative change. We're worried about the impacts on women of men using women-only spaces, including but not limited to: changing rooms, fitting rooms, bathrooms, shelters, rape and domestic violence refuges, gyms, spas, sports, schools, accommodations, hospital wards, shortlists, prizes, quotas, political groups, prisons, clubs, events, festivals, dating apps, and language. If we can't collect data, we can at least collect stories. Please tell us how your use of women-only spaces has been impacted. All stories will be published anonymously. If you know of other women who have been impacted, please encourage them to tell their stories too.”

Nowhere on that website does the website owner refer to women as “cis,” which is a useless and derogatory term in reference to biological sex (i.e.: we do not have subclasses of human females). Nowhere does Dr. Lawford-Smith say that she “created the website as a response to efforts governments are making to affirm and support trans and gender diverse peoples.” (There’s that emotional manipulation we are so familiar with from the trans lobby)

What it says very clearly on the website is not about opposing support for anyone, but rather, being concerned about the replacement of biological sex with “gender identity” within legislation. Which, if the writer (Zhang) would consider spending some time thinking critically, perhaps Zhang would be able to understand the reality that replacing biological sex with “gender identity” is extremely detrimental to children’s rights and female sex-based rights, as well as being detrimental to trans-identified peoples’ rights, regardless of how many times the trans lobby tries to shout that there is no conflict whatsoever. (Hence, Holly’s website…)

Ok, I agree. The advancement of the “gender identity” ideology industry can definitely be described as an encroachment on the rights of children, girls and women and on the safeguards and provisions to protect their rights, respectively, but the website’s introduction does not imply that at all. It implies, nay - it clearly states - that “we can’t collect data” therefore “we can at least collect stories.” This style of “journalism” archives the reactionary and emotionally manipulative tactics of the trans lobby & industry.

(I personally suspect that the Junkee author meant “systematic,” not “systemic,” but honestly, it is really hard to tell. What is the author basing this wild assumption on?)

Moving on! This next bit of the Junkee article really hits a nerve. The author gives their bias interpretation of what seems like three or four of the submissions to the No Conflict website….

“Stories posted there include, most recently: a sexual assault survivor feeling disturbed that a women-only hospital ward employed several male nurses; a “man” who “identified as female” joining a “females only” yoga class “touching his genitalia” and getting an erection; a teacher feeling angry that their female students were being taught to accept a trans girl who excelled in sports….”

“None of these stories point to anything further than people unfamiliar with trans people feeling discomfort in their presence, or simply people dissatisfied with The State of Things.”

…and then insinuates that the submissions showcased on the noconflicttheysaid.org website point to nothing more than people (women) being “unfamiliar” and “feeling discomfort?” Is Zhang implying that these women, most survivors of extreme physical/sexual violence, are simply dissatisfied customers that want to complain to management?

Below is a very small sampling of the 49 pages (and counting) of submissions made to the website.

These are survivors of violence, both physical and sexual. These are traumatised women. These women matter and so do the countless women that can’t speak up or don’t feel safe enough to speak up. I take offence to the dismissive language used by Zhang to try and minimize the abuse of women and the impact that a male has on women in general, but particularly on traumatised women.

Next, the Junkee article reader is hit with this…(“she” being Dr. Holly Lawford-Smith)

Well, there is a reason for that, Zhang - because males that “identify” as the opposite sex are not women. Males that take hormones and/or that alter their secondary sex characteristics via morally questionable surgeries are not women. They are males - men. Furthermore, biological reality is not an ideology. These gaslighting and reversal tactics are obvious and infantile. No matter how much you believe in “gender identity” ideology, it is not real. It is the result of a rebranding of gender dysphoria and a very successful marketing strategy. It is an industry.

The next stream of junk in the Junkee article is this:

I will just glaze over the use of a hateful slur against women. JUST GLAZE OVER THAT!

Moving on…

The Junkee author now claims that gender-critical feminists are “nearly singularly fixated on the issue of single-sex spaces” and that is simply false. Gender-critical feminists are involved with many causes, including, but not limited to:

Male violence against women and children

Prostitution

Porn

Sex-trafficking

Child marriage

Female genital mutilation

Oppressive religions

Unequal pay

Lesbian rights

Female representation in STEM, academia, politics and other areas and industries

Data bias in favour of males

Rapidly growing number of older women facing homelessness

Poverty

Advocacy for women in prison

Indigenous rights

Sexual harassment

Rape

Femicide

Consent

and I could just keep going and going.

How dare Zhang claim feminists are fixated on anything except for the liberation of girls and women from patriarchal oppression in all of its forms.

Then Zhang makes another bogus claim that Dr. Lawford-Smith has “been the subject of many on-campus protests.” I guess determining whether or not this is a lie depends on what you consider to qualify as “many.” Based on my research and knowledge of this ongoing issue, I can recall two protests that were on-campus and in any way related to Holly or her current work.

Two…

And moving along again…

At this point in the article, the author quotes from an open letter about Dr. Lawford-Smith, and the handling of this ordeal by University staff, made by reactive and entitled bigots at the University of Melbourne.

*Definition of bigot here.

More lies and assumptions being pushed. Dr. Lawford-Smith has not used any platform to spread fear. She is not abusing any power. No one is legitimizing violence against “trans” students. I feel that I must repeat myself again here and make a request to the trans lobby to stop being so emotionally manipulative. Perhaps this is a good point to ‘talk numbers’ since this author and so many members of the trans lobby insist on declaring they are in grave danger or at a constant risk of committing suicide.

1) How many trans students attend the University of Melbourne?

There are a total of 48,088 people that attend UoM (as of 2016) and there were a total of 1,260 sex and/or gender diverse people in Australia counted in the 2016 Census. That is out of a population of approximately 24 million people in Australia (as of 2016). So, that equals ….. an extremely small number of “trans-identified” students at the University of Melbourne.

We DO have an epidemic of child suicides in this country (Australia) with bullying being the main documented cause, yet “trans” kids are not at the focus of any scholarly articles that I have reviewed, but Indigenous children are. The trans lobby needs to stop detracting from this very real and serious issue.

And while we are thinking about the claims of high rates of violence, let’s just take a little look at this graphic which shows the disproportionate rates of murder of women, compared to the, at times barely measurable, rates of murders of “trans” people.

*Rates of “trans” murders from other countries can be found here.

I grow tired of this nonsense, and I have a headache now, after having to read this junk from Zhang and Junkee, so I must bring this to an end.

The following is a quote from Hannah, one of the entitled people that started this hate campaign against Dr. Lawford-Smith, a lesbian woman.

“I refuse to be blocked from attending my workplace though. It’s our human right to be able to work and study in peace.”

Number one - Dr. Lawford-Smith has not blocked you from attending your workplace. Number two - I actually do not think it is a human right to work and study in peace, but I agree with the idea, so I have no issue there. What I do have an issue with is the claim that this “right” is somehow being taken away by Dr. Lawford-Smith and I am really perturbed by the fact that Hannah and the rest of the bigots that have rallied against Holly seem to not have one iota of concern for her right to work in safety and free from harassment. The gaslighting that comes from this crowd is intense. When do women get to feel safe and have their safety prioritized and respected?

Junkee, Zhang, what a terrible excuse for an article. In closing, I will quote a woman (with permission) from a comment made in a private group on Facebook: “The level of writing I think is appalling more than anything else. If you get to a university level, you should be able to write coherently, rationally and intelligently. That's what annoys me the most.”

Nothin’ but junk…

- Critical Thinker

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