Feminists in Struggle

Feminists In Struggle has signed onto  a statement protesting this horrific UK experiment on the bodies of healthy children, most of whom, if left alone, would likely grow up to be gay or lesbian.

Our FIST member, Shannon, who also runs the Hear She! Hear She! list, has issued this powerful statement about why this experiment must be stopped:

The UK Destruction of Children Continues with Wes Streeting’s Puberty Blocker Medical Trial.  They are experimenting on  LIVE HEALTHY CHILDREN. Not guinea pigs, rabbits, or even just the decency of reviewing existing data. Children as young as 9, as old as 15, 220 children will be burdened for life from UK’s new 2 year medical trial set to ask the all important transgender question: Does medicalization make you feel good or bad? There is only ONE correct answer.

The cult is strong. The burden of global peer pressure on said children being set up to “save” all transgender children of the world leaves only one correct answer. No scientific methods needed for trans global capture! Sterilized? Oh well. Disabled? So sorry. Brain damage? Small price. Suffering as patients for life, is part of the trans joy afterall (see trans-tiktok). STOMA bags are sold as the ultimate freedom. Surgeries (100% failure rate) also introduce infections, necrosis, sepsis, opioid use.

Dr. Cass supports this trial stating, “At least children won’t have to get the drugs from the dark web.” Do we do this with heroin? Crack? ANYTHING? If it’s not legal, it is criminal. How could a child stand against such global pressure and check off “NO” at the end of this trial? Could a child have stood up to the Spanish Inquisition? Is BIID next? The removal of arms is illegal, but female organs are now disposable. One “trans care” surgeon calls the hysterectomy surgery “jack-o-lanterning.” No misogyny there. No elective body parts. ONE BODY. NO child is born in the wrong body. Would we tell this to disabled children?

We have the DATA, rendering this trial as unnecessary. The white lab coat effect and powerful, profiting industry and lobbyists have allowed this latest medical atrocity to play out on our youngest girls, who are always vulnerable, especially during prepubescence. But the money! $1 million per female by the age of 21 put through the medical system. The T industry won’t give it up easily. Why do NHS social medical systems AND the US “for-profit” system both agree on trans medicalization? Money.

PUBERTY IS NOT PATHOLOGY. Puberty is a human right. Ratified by 196 countries, the UN convention on the Rights of the Child upheld to “ensure the right to development and freedom from abuses”…including from a doctor. We are not Peter Pan. After the lovebombing of the all-curing snake oil of false “gender-affirming care” (sold by doctors and preschool teachers alike), the data demonstrates use of puberty blockers lead 98% to continue onto cross sex hormones and many have irreversible surgeries. Suffering broken bodies, chronic pain, brain fog, decreased IQ, prolapsed uteruses, osteoporosis, cut clitoris nerves, anorgasmia, even heart attacks in their 20’s! Dr. Malone of SEGM states, “it is me who has to tell the 29 yo woman who suffered a heart attack to stop the hormones. The gender clinic from 15 years ago doesn’t do it, I have to.”

NO evidence exists that support these interventions. This is modern Skoptsy cult, and as brutal as the thalidomide and lobotomy horrors. Our children deserve protection. Shame on us. Selling false promises. For example, many children have “a strong desire” (this is the decisive measurement (?) to justify child mutilation for this trial) to fly, but we don’t surgically attach wings and throw them out the window telling them emphatically, we are adults, we know you can fly! Who are we to say they shouldn’t try? Facts must matter.

As the fact of “woman” was erased, so now is “child.” “Mature minor” and the atrocious “Gillick competence test” makes a child as young as 12, an adult. We know “consent” is its next use. Children can consent to dismemberment, why not sex? What types of men love the idea of a child’s body of legal age?

“If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. – Confucius

Trans suicides are a lie, used to push T medicalization. Parental hatred is another falsity. The Skirmetti Supreme Court case forced T pusher/lawyer Chase Strangio (f) (funded in perpetuity by HRC to ACLU) to admit in court that transgender suicides are nil. Suicides DO happen AFTERWARDS, when the lovebombing of the T cult fades, when broken promises remain with broken bodies, chronic pain, no family, sunken costs, and a cult that will destroy them if they “detransition.” Facts must matter.

Women are always the barrier for the child, their only protection. FGM, misogyny, mastectomies, deadnaming, family alienation, glitter families, no outside information, no debate, men in women’s prison cells/shelters/sports/bathrooms, kidnapping, billionaire T pushers/lobbyists, shunned or worse if detransition ..literal pound of flesh -stunted bodies, minds, IQ’s.. all CULT based.

Politically, trans ideology TAKES rights. T is destroying many countries’ next generation, compelling speech, voiding laws and constitutional rights..The T is a boon for any enemy. We must give NO QUARTER. Puberty creates victors, not victims! Stand against forcing every child to “choose” between a “cis” or a “trans” puberty.

Trans industries need us to accept biology and body parts as “optional” in order to socially engineer society for transhumanism. It is here. The new “conversion therapy bans” actually legally force medicalization! Trans IS medical conversion! The Trans cult spreads by social contagion AND powerful trans pushers. Foster care children are used as trans guinea pigs!

Tavistock data, and many others data already exist showing harmful irreversible outcomes. Thus far, when children are left alone, PUBERTY literally cures the so-called “gender dysphoria/dysmorphia. This WES STREETING medical mutilation of children “TRIAL” cannot know which child would be cured naturally, and which will not. This moment calls to us to have courage, so we can answer the question, “where were you when the global child dismemberments were happening?”

NOT one more child. We must NOT obey. Women always protected the children. Fists up!

Please SIGN: https://protectingpuberty.com/#sign-statement Protecting Puberty – Memorandum of Understanding LET your legislators know too! # PUBERTYISNOTPATHOLOGY

Thank you sisters of FIST, for standing up for children.

In Solidarity, Shannon

Hear SHE! Hear SHE! Join us! 1 anonymous action email/week: hearshehearshe@gmail.com .

Sisters,

We in FIST have had an amazing year.  We have continued our highly successful program of feminist forums on zoom.  We took stands on important issues like opposing so-called “gender affirming care” that does permanent physical harm to gender non-conforming children and youth, mostly future lesbians and gays.  We supported the duly ratified Equal Rights Amendment which we women need desperately to give us the tool we need to achieve equal rights under the law everywhere in this nation.

We signed onto two amicus briefs for recognition of the ERA ; one, the case of Equal Means Equal v. Donald Trump, which will be heard in Federal Court this coming March.  The second, Putnam v. Putnam, is a North Carolina case challenging sex discrimination in application of the child welfare standard for custody.

We did all this while growing our grassroots membership-run multi-issue radical feminist organization.

Our 2026, feminist forum series should start off with a bang.  We will be hosting Karla Mantilla on February 7, 2026 to lead a discussion on “What Happened to Women’s Studies”,  the erosion of feminist-oriented women’s studies programs at universities by misogynist ideologies like “gender identity” and “queer theory.”  Tickets are on-sale now. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-happened-to-womens-studies-tickets-1979025432342?aff=oddtdtcreator

For International Women’s Day, we will be hosting an organization advocating for women refugees and mothers who are escaping domestic violence. In addition, we have plans for a forum to help launch the lesbian-feminist anthology, “I Wish I Were A Lesbian” that will be published later this year by Spinefex Press. Stay tuned!

In a time of darkness, we the women, hand-in-hand, struggling for our liberation are the light!

PLEASE JOIN US BY BECOMING A MEMBER!  SISTERHOOD IS POWERFUL!

By Ann Menasche

This opinion piece is that of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Feminists In Struggle as an organization.

Working as I do representing people who lack regular homes, many of them sheltering in RVs or other vehicles, I have noticed a demographic change in this population.  When in the past unhoused people were mostly men, and mostly people with disabilities and retirees on fixed incomes that were not enough to live on, or people whose drug and alcohol addiction precipitated their homelessness, nowadays the population is more and more female, with many holding down jobs, sometimes more than one.   They are often single and divorced women, women who more often than not are escaping domestic violence from male partners, some without children, others with young children and still others grandmothers.  They are native-born women who have to fear police drowning them in tickets they cannot afford to pay, impounding their vehicles and criminalizing them as they attempt to stay safe and build an independent life away from their abusers; and immigrant women, who are terrified of ICE raids and deportations on top of everything else.   The women are even sometimes working professionals.  A medical doctor that I know moved into her RV after her divorce but unlike most of my clients, can afford to pay for an RV park in the city.  She just can’t afford the $3,000 to $4,000 per month cost of renting an apartment in San Diego.  I know women lawyers who came darn close to being on the streets.

Rather than their homelessness being a “choice” or a “lifestyle”, these women are the victims of factors beyond their control – the skyrocketing cost of housing that has left half the population of San Diego struggling to pay the rent – one illness, one layoff, or one rent raise away from homelessness; and abysmally low female wages. Even women in the professions still make less than their male counterparts.

The average women makes 81.5% of what men make when compared to men with similar demographic characteristics, family situations, work hours and experiences. This discrepancy is worse for women of color. Wage inequality begins early and worsens over time. Lower pay means women in their senior years have lower pensions and Social Security payments.

Decades after the passage of the Lily Ledbetter Act, and we are still being denied equal pay for equal work.  The recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the Constitution and stronger equal pay laws are needed, which, given the segregation of the workforce itself,  should also include equal pay for work of comparable value.  Why should a school teacher or social worker, female dominated professions that require advanced education, get less pay than an engineer?

When we think about the poor this holiday season, let’s keep the female face of poverty uppermost in our minds.  And if we want to put a dent on homelessness, paying women fairly would be a start.

Happy holidays, sisters!

JOIN US FOR A TIMELY PANEL DISCUSSION ON TRUMP POLICIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 25, 2025  TIME: 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time, 2;00 p.m. Eastern

PLACE: On Zoom

ORDER TICKETS HERE: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-trump-administration-and-womens-rights-tickets-1724903626179?aff=oddtdtcreator

Whether it is the elimination of DEI, the attacks on free speech and dissent, the crackdown on immigrants, cuts in Medicaid and other vital social programs, the dismantling of large portions of the federal government, the firing of government workers, and the continued refusal to recognize the ERA as the law of the land, women appear to be losing ground. How are women being affected by this Administration’s policies and how can we fight back?

SPEAKERS:

FRAN LUCK: Long-time Radical feminist and grassroots housing activist, Fran is the host of the reknown feminist radio show, “Joy of Resistance: Multicultural feminist radio” on WBAI, 99.5 fm in New York. Joy of Resistance covers “the ongoing and world-wide struggle for the full liberation of women…”

DIANNE POST: A lawyer and feminist activist, Diane has represented battered women and molested children in family and juvenile court, and for the last several decades has worked on international human rights law focusing on sex-based violence. She is active in the Arizona Commission on African American Affairs, NOW, and ERA Task Force in Arizona.

ANN MENASCHE: A founding member and Co-coordinator of Feminists in Struggle (FIST), Ann has been a lifelong radical feminist and socialist. She has had a long career as a civil rights attorney, for the last several years focusing on the rights of homeless people and low-income tenants.

THIS IS A WOMEN-ONLY EVENT.

THIS IS A REMOTE EVENT. AS IN ALL FIST EVENTS IT IS INTERACTIVE WITH PLENTY OF TIME FOR QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION.

ZOOM LINK WILL BE PROVIDED TO ALL REGISTRANTS BY EMAIL.

By Ann Menasche

This piece is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of FIST as an organization.

The United States knows quite a bit about genocide and ethnic cleansing.  In the 1830’s, 60,000 Native Americans – the Cherokee and other tribes – were forcibly removed from their homeland in the Southern U.S and forced into reservations. About 16,000 died during this forced exile hundreds of miles to Oklahoma, from disease, starvation, and exposure to the elements in what became known as the “Trail of Tears.”  It was fundamentally a land grab by white settlers with the support of the U.S. government.  And it was genocide, though the concept didn’t really exist until the modern era.

Since 1948, genocide has been defined as “acts committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”  The acts include killing, causing serious harm, inflicting conditions of life to destroy a group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children.

How little humanity has learned since the original Trial of Tears of two centuries ago. We are now seeing unfolding in real time on our screens the destruction in whole or in part of the Palestinians of Gaza.   More tonnage of bombs has been dropped on Gaza than at Hiroshima, with at least 60,000 dead, mostly women and children, with many more buried in the rubble.  The large majority of housing, schools, hospitals, mosques, civilian infrastructure, all that is necessary to sustain life, has been destroyed.  Even seeking the pittance of food aid that Israel allows into Gaza, can risk one’s life from sniper fire, as already hundreds have been killed in this gruesome fashion. Palestinians, left hungry and homeless,  have been herded from north to south and back again with no safe place to go.  And now with the attack and threatened occupation of Gaza City, there is virtually nothing left.

Israeli finance minister Bezalei Smotrich has shamelessly stated the purpose of this killing spree. He described Gaza as a potential real estate “bonanza”, claiming he was talking to the U.S. about dividing up the spoils.  “We have done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal – now we need to build.”  https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/middleeast/israel-smotrich-gaza-land-intl?cid=ios_app

So, they come in packed cars, or on foot carrying a few belongings, children carrying smaller children in their arms, tens of thousands leaving Gaza City and traveling many long miles filled with pain and despair. Others, without the funds or health to leave or fearing they are being offered a road to nowhere, constituting most of the residents, are still in the City awaiting their fate.

Meanwhile, the bombs keep falling, there is not enough food or water or medical equipment.  It’s a modern trail of tears.

So, what does genocide have to do with feminism?  Let’s be clear – to destroy a people you need to destroy the women.  Women are half the human race, but also the bearers of new life.    Though women are perfectly capable of fighting and being violent, war is still overwhelming men’s business, run by rich powerful men, the generals, the macho leaders of imperial nations like Trump and Netanyahu, the war profiteers, the real estate developers with their spread sheets, all motivated by greed and narrow self-interest.  Genocide is the epitome of patriarchy, of power over, of male violence on the largest scale imaginable. So that women as non-combatants are targeted is no surprise.

There is no justification for genocide, the demonization and collective punishment of a whole population, not ever.  It does not make anyone safe against the vengeful violence of oppressed or subordinated men.  Quite the opposite. Only peace with justice does that. Native Americans also engaged in what is called “terrorism” against white settlers.  No, it did not justify the Trail of Tears.  Israeli Jews have begun to understand that, with tens of thousands demanding an end to the war and recognizing that their government does not give a damn about the fate of the hostages or the lives of their soldiers to be sacrificed in a land grab and on the altar of forever war.  That so many feminists in the United States and the U.K. don’t comprehend this is more than distressing; it is heartbreaking.

As a Jew, part of my ancestry goes back to ancient Canaan.  Palestinians are my cousins.  As a feminist, the women of Gaza are my sisters.  I share their tears. Enough.

By Ann Menasche

This piece represents the views of the author and does not necessarily represent those of FIST as an organization.

I just learned that Julia Beck was prevented from leading a workshop on compulsory heterosexuality at the Filia Women’s Rights Conference because she spoke at a forum on gender identity at the Heritage Foundation back in 2019.  As someone who was critical of the decision by some feminists to participate in this far Right stridently anti-feminist venue (as were many other FIST members), I believe that “no platforming” someone within the feminist movement is not the way to go.  We need more discussion and debate, not less.

Ironically, Julia has rethought many of her views on this issue and is now a lot closer to my own way of thinking, which has also undergone some evolution.  See Julia’s substack essay, Public Statement on working with the right, part 2: Critique and analysis. At that time, I saw two problems with close collaboration with the Right and felt that participation at the Heritage Foundation event held far more negatives than positives for feminists.  One problem is that it discredited our movement, feeding into the idea that being critical of gender identity ideology is inherently “Right-wing.”  Second, is that these alliances disoriented and disarmed feminists into thinking those in the Right are our friends, and led to minimizing the importance of fundamental feminist issues like abortion rights, the Equal Rights Amendments and lesbian rights (which the Right opposes), and that of the movement being anti-racist, anti-imperialist, etc.   My position on this hasn’t changed. Clearly, feminists have two organized and powerful enemies, not one.  Both support and shore-up patriarchy.

Part of the problem, and here Julia and I somewhat disagree, is considering the Democratic Party as “the Left” when it is nothing of the kind.  I have rejected “lesser evilism” most of my life. With so many feminists and progressives following the lead of the Democratic Party – the Party of war and austerity, like the Republicans – has led to allowing the Democratic Party leadership to set the agenda and define for us what it means to be “on the Left.”   That led to the widespread acceptance by progressives of a regressive ideology that denies sex, pushes women and gays and lesbians back, and does permanent physical harm to gender non-conforming and traumatized children.

Moreover, supporting the “lesser evil” has led those focused on the single issue of gender identity to support Trump, and ignore the dangers of Project 2025 for the status of women.  Feminism cannot be restricted to single issue, because the oppression of women is complex and multi-faceted.  Just recognizing that sex exists, as essential as that is to be able to organize and fight for our rights as a sex-class, hardly solves the problem.  The Taliban knows what a woman is.

But I agree with Julia that rigid dogmatism is not the answer.  I have attended and spoken at an event opposing child “gender transition” which had Right wing participation, though I wouldn’t characterize the protest itself as “Right”.  I spoke openly as a member of FIST and a socialist.  I would likewise participate in actions and support bills to stop U.S. support for the Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza though Marjorie Taylor Green, whose politics I generally despise, has also taken such a stand or may be co-sponsoring such bills.   I decide my position on issues and bills on their own merits.

Most importantly, our movement must remain democratic and open to a range of views on these issues.  All of us learn and grow from discussion and debate.  No-platforming feminists, even where we strongly disagree with them on issues of tactics and strategy, is an authoritarian method that has no place in the feminist movement.