JOIN US FOR FORUM SAT. SEPT. 14th ON CASS REVIEW: EXPOSING LIES BEHIND CHILD TRANSITION

Feminists in Struggle presents a forum on the independent Cass Review that is blowing holes in the rationalization for the medical transitioning of gender non- conforming children and youth.

This event will take place  on Zoom on SATURDAY, SEPT. 14th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Tickets on sale now on Eventbrite:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cass-review-exposing-the-lies-behind-child-transition-tickets-1001755045307?aff=oddtdtcreator

Dr. Cass conducted an independent systematic review of existing evidence on behalf of the NHS in the U.K. She documented the poor quality of the published studies, and the weak evidence supporting use of puberty suppression and cross sex hormones along with their unknown long-term effects.

Join us for the discussion of Dr. Cass’s findings and recommendations and how to get the word out to stop this harmful sterilizing experiment on children who are different, including future generations of gays and lesbians.

SPEAKERS:

Aaron Kimberly is a Canadian woman born with a rare ovotesticular intersex condition who took testosterone as an adult and lived almost 20 years as a transman. She is a mental health nurse who first blew the whistle on pediatric gender medicine in 2019. In 2001 she cofounded the Gender Dysphoria Alliance to educate about different types of gender dysphoria. In 2023 she cofounded the LGBT Courage coalition with the Missouri whistleblower Jamie Reed, to support other whistleblowers and to protect gender nonconforming children, most of whom are gay/lesbian, from medical harm.

Ann Menasche is a lesbian, radical feminist and socialist, and a life-long activist who is a co-founder and co-coordinator of Feminists in Struggle (FIST). FIST is committed to spreading the word about the Cass Review and challenging the myths used to promote so-called “gender affirming care.” This issue is also personal for Ann. As a girl who aspired to the freedom and privileges of men, she would have likely succumbed to an ideology that said her body was “wrong” and in need of medicalization, were she growing up today.

This forum is a women-only event. It will be video-taped. Men who wish to view it can watch it later for free on FIST’s YouTube channel. Our Forums are interactive events with plenty of time for questions or comments from the audience. Women should check in 10 minutes before the event. Participants are free to close their camera or change their name after they have checked in.

The Zoom link will be sent by email to registrants prior to the event.

SAN DIEGO FIST MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT IN SAN DIEGO

Dozens of women and their male supporters including FIST members helped organize a candlelight vigil and rally on March 8th 2023 for International Women’s Day in downtown San Diego. The demonstration highlighted women’s demands for restoration of women’s right to abortion nationally, the registration of the ERA into the Constitution that has already been ratified by 38 states and is being held up by the Biden administration, and an end to male violence against women and girls.

Ann Menasche. a co-coordinator of FIST, spoke at the rally urging that women should utilize their own voices and mobilize in the streets, rather than rely on politicians or judges.  Menasche said, “We have the power to change the world, sisters, and there is no better time than now”, and led the crowd in a chant made popular by Iranian feminists, “Woman, life, freedom.”

Andrea Gabay a grassroots feminist activist and organizer for Femme Fight Club, also spoke and was interviewed by a local TV station.

The coalition of local feminist groups plan to organize other protests in defense of women’s rights in San Diego.

FIST to host Zoom Forum March 25th on Strategies for Winning Back Abortion Rights

Feminists In Struggle continues its series with a forum on abortion rights: “After Dobbs and the continuing threat to women’s reproductive rights, how do we develop a strategy to regain and secure the right to abortion nationally?”  Tickets on sale now!

FEMINIST FORUM: STRATEGIES FOR WINNING BACK WOMEN’S ABORTION RIGHTS Tickets, Sat, Mar 25, 2023 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite

Here is our exciting panel of speakers:

Andrea Gabay is a grassroots activist who first volunteered in 2020 while living in New York City. She was an active volunteer doing food drives and composting at GrowNYC environmental program to empower New Yorkers to secure a healthy environment. She also supported many marches throughout NYC, including many BLM movements and was involved with Women’s March in Manhattan. Andrea brought her activist work back with her to San Diego, where she organized a march/rally in January 2023 as part of the national Women’s March.

Wendy Murphy , J.D. is an impact litigator specializing in women’s and children’s civil and constitutional rights. She won landmark Title IX cases against Harvard, Harvard Law, and Princeton between 1992 and 2010 that led to the revolutionary 2011 Dear Colleague letter; and sued the Trump and Biden Administrations in federal court to advance women’s rights. She also won landmark cases to improve privacy rights for women crime victims and testimonial rights for disabled crime victims. She is adjunct professor of sexual violence law and law reform at New England Law Boston where she directs the Women’s and Children’s Advocacy Project under the Center for Law and Social Responsibility. She is well known for her legal advocacy in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.  See our ERA-FIST brochure, “Why We Need the ERA” on which Wendy collaborated, and her book, From Suffrage to Inequality.

Ann Menasche is a San Diego civil rights attorney, grassroots activist, lesbian, and long-time feminist who is a founding member and co-coordinator of the national radical feminist organization, Feminists in Struggle. She is also co-chair of the Green Alliance for Sex-Based RIghts. She has fought for access to safe legal abortion in the years before Roe and in the decades that followed. In the 1980’s she led a landmark case against an anti-abortion center or “fake clinic” for consumer fraud and won. She also helped organize Marches for Women’s Lives in San Francisco that drew tens of thousands of people. Ann was recently fired from her civil rights job for asserting that abortion bans harm women as a sex and has filed a wrongful termination law suit against her previous employer as a result.

JOIN US FOR THIS IMPORTANT DISCUSSION!

Forum on the New McCarthyism Targeting Feminists’ Jobs and Livelihoods, Saturday Dec. 10th

THE NEW McCARTHYISM: THE ATTACK ON FEMINISTS' JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS

THE NEW McCARTHYISM: THE ATTACK ON FEMINISTS’ JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS is the title of our next Feminist Forum, which will be held on Saturday, December 10th at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, 4:00 Eastern on Zoom.

In the 1950’s it was “the Red Scare.” In the second decade of the 21st century, the methods are the same but the target is different: feminists and others who do not agree with gender identity orthodoxy that conflates sex and gender and denies the existence of biological sex.

JOIN US FOR THIS IMPORTANT DISCUSSION ON HOW WE CAN PUT AN END TO THIS WITCH HUNT SO THAT WOMEN CAN STATE OUR OPINIONS AND FIGHT FOR OUR SEX-BASED RIGHTS WITHOUT FEAR!

SPEAKERS:

Christy Hammer is a sociologist with a 35-year university teaching career, and currently an associate professor of education at the University of Southern Maine. After telling her graduate students that there were only two biological sexes (with variations), students walked out of her classroom, demanded she recant, and sought to get her fired all in the name of “restorative justice”. One trans-identified student who felt personally attacked, filed a Title IX sexual harassment/discrimination complaint against her, which was summarily dismissed by the University counsel. Christy has a long history working in LGBTQ youth advocacy, and in promoting anti-racism in schools. What happened to Christy was described by others as an example of the “woke attacking the woke.”

Ann Menasche is a radical feminist, Leftist, lesbian, and founding member of Feminists in Struggle (FIST).  She was fired without warning last May from her job of 20 years as a Civil Rights attorney at Disability Rights California for asserting that abortion bans harm women as a sex, and for her FIST activity outside of work. The executive director had issued a statement opposing the threatened overturning of Roe and asked for staff feedback. DRC’s statement had mentioned every group that could be harmed by illegal abortion except women. After stating an obvious truth, Ann faced an onslaught of name-calling and slurs, and was condemned in absentia as having opinions “inconsistent with the values of the agency”.  For more on this story, see Defend Feminists

Everyone, women and men, are welcome to attend this forum!

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First Do No Harm Unity Rally

Feminists in Struggle was one of the many groups represented at the First Do No Harm Unity Rally at the American Academy of Pediatrics Convention in Anaheim on Saturday, October 8th to protest the medicalization of children by “gender-affirming care”. There was a great turnout and a lot of spirit!  Women and men, gay and straight, young and old, groups from across the political spectrum, from Green Alliance for Sex-Based Rights, California Legislative Council, Dykes on the Right, Partners for Ethical Care,  to parents groups like Our Duty, which organized the rally, joined together in solidarity in the effort to protect children and youth from the harms of “gender-affirming care”, which medicalizes, sterilizes, and mutilates.  Speakers included Julia Mason, M.D., Pediatrician; Scott Newgent; detransitioners Cat Cattinson, Chloe Cole, and Abel Garcia; and parents decrying this medical scandal.

For more information, see:

Wesley Yang

The Post Millenial

The Daily Wire

NTD TV

The Epoch Times

Drop the Charges Against the Abortion Rights Demonstrators in Riverside!

This letter was sent to the District Attorney in Riverside on October 3, 2022:

Mike Hestrin
Office of the District Attorney
County of Riverside
3960 Orange Street
Riverside, CA 92501

Dear Mr. Hestrin:

We are writing to you on behalf of the national feminist organization, Feminists in Struggle (FIST), to demand that all charges be dropped against those arrested at a RiseUp4AbortionRights demonstration on July 30, 2022, in Riverside, CA and who will be arraigned on October 6.

These arrestees were protesting nonviolently for the basic human right of women to control their own bodies and access abortion, and against the recent outrageous decision by the Supreme Court to overturn this Constitutional right guaranteed by Roe v. Wade.

Women throughout the country are watching the disposition of these cases and are alerting local politicians in your area as to the importance of these charges being dropped. Our right to peacefully protest is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and we expect that right to be respected by your office.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this urgent issue.

Sincerely,

Ann Menasche
For Feminists in Struggle

WE ASK EVERYONE TO CALL THE RIVERSIDE DA’S OFFICE AT  951.955.5400 AND TWEET THEM @DA_MikeHestrin and @rivcoda TO DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST THE #RIVERSIDE8!!  You may also email the DA’s office at: inquiries@rivcoda.org

FIST FORUM: SAVING THE TOMBOYS FROM THE MEDICAL ATROCITIES OF CHILD “TRANSITION”

The medical “transition” of gender non-conforming, mostly lesbian, girls has increased exponentially.  How do we fight it?

JOIN US on AUGUST 13TH at 11:00 a.m.Pacific time, 1:00 p.m. Central, and 2:00 p.m. Eastern for this timely discussion of the harmful practice of medicalization of a growing number of gender non-conforming girls, a majority of whom are lesbian, through use of puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones, double mastectomies, and genital mutilating surgeries. Reserve your tickets now.

Girls are being taught that their non-conformity and same sex attraction mean they have been born in the “wrong” body, with the result that they pursue dangerous treatments before they even reach adulthood, causing permanent harm to their healthy developing bodies and turning them into life-long medical patients. Many of these girls will in a few years join the growing ranks of detransitioners and regretters. Is this the face of the new homophobia? How can we fight back and save new generations of tomboys, lesbians, and future feminists?

TICKETS ONLY $5 – SAVING THE TOMBOYS FROM THE MEDICAL ATROCITIES OF CHILD “TRANSITION” Tickets, Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 11:00 AM | Eventbrite

SPEAKERS:

CAROL is an advisor for de-transitioned people, having gone through transition and de-transition herself. She is a co-founder of Detrans Voices: Detransition Stories, Resources, and Community and a member of LGB Alliance USA | Leading the Fight for Same-Sex Rights She currently co-facilitates a gender dysphoria support group for lesbian and bisexual women through LGB Alliance USA and continues to work on outreach and awareness around de-transition.

ERIN FRIDAY is a licensed attorney in California and the mom of a desister. She is co-leader of Our Duty, U.S. branch, a parent support group for parents of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoric kids.

T is the founder and national organizer of Lesbians United, a grassroots lesbian-only organization in the U.S. Lesbians United is creating public information campaigns both online and on the street to fight back against the anti-lesbian transgenderist movement.

ANN MENASCHE is a radical feminist, lesbian, socialist, political activist, and co-founder of Feminists in Struggle and Green Alliance for Sex-Based Rights. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, she seriously thought about “transitioning” when she read about Christine Jorgensen, because she yearned for the career opportunities and authority only available to men. The advent of feminism helped her to accept herself for the first time as she dedicated herself to women’s liberation and radical social change.

FIST’s Feminist Forums series are interactive and organizing events. At our forums, women have an opportunity not only to hear interesting speakers on a variety of feminist topics but to meet each other, make comments, ask questions of the presenters and discuss feminist politics together. We also usually tape the events so they may be viewed later. Women in attendance are free to shut off their cameras and mute themselves, should they prefer to do so. If you prefer to remain anonymous within the group, or plan to sign in under a different name from the name you have used for registration and purchase of your ticket, please contact the organizer prior to the event. Thanks.

While some of our events are open to both men and women, THIS IS A FEMALE ONLY EVENT. We ask that our male allies respect our right to meet together as women.

Feminist Education Series: Our Radical Feminist Roots

Feminists in Struggle (FIST) presents our women-only Feminist Education Series (part one): OUR RADICAL FEMINIST ROOTS from January through August of 2022.

We will be reading and discussing articles and books and viewing movies from our feminist herstory covering both the First and Second Waves of Feminism. There will be brief presentations and small group discussions at each session to raise consciousness and build sisterhood. We are also presenting two panels of “veterans” from the Feminist Movement sharing their experiences and where we should go from here. See this flyer or the Eventbrite page for more details!

The sessions will occur on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month on Zoom: 5:30 to 7:30 Pacific, 7:30 to 9:30 Central, and 8:30 to 10:30 Eastern. Copies of many of the written materials will be provided. We will also make suggestions about where other books and materials may be obtained free or at a reasonable price.

The series is free for dues-paying FIST members // $25 for non-members // $15 for low-income non-members – PRICES ARE FOR THE WHOLE SERIES.

Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite here.

Knowledge is power! Please join us!

In solidarity,
Feminists in Struggle

FIST MEMBERS JOIN MARCHES FOR ABORTION RIGHTS

On October 2nd, FIST members participated in the abortion rights marches in San Diego, Chicago, New York, and other places. Here are some brief reports:

New York:
A group of gender critical feminists (FIST members and others) met beforehand and held signs with the word Woman on them. There were seven of us. We noticed other people with signs with the word Woman or with wire hangers. This was despite the fact that the Women’s march organizers In NY had instructed participants not to use the word “women” or the wire hanger symbol. I brought a wire hanger which I wore as a prop. We gave out a few flyers. The rally was well attended but a lot smaller than the prior Women’s Marches in January over the past few years..

Chicago:

The marchers’ signs carried the original words of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices.” They were clear, saying we’re not going back. Not in Texas, not anywhere else. Over 2000 turned out for the rally and march Saturday, for abortion justice. The action, sponsored by Women’s March Chicago, Planned Parenthood, and Chicago Abortion Fund, mobilized women young and old, whose signs and chants reflected their anger and resistance: “Pro-choice+ pro-women”; “I am a woman, not a womb”; “Abortion is Health Care”; “Safe abortion for All”; “Down with the patriarchy”; “My Body, My Rights”; “Her Body, “Her Rights”; “Reproductive Freedom is the beginning of Women’s Liberation” were among the slogans on handmade banners.

Whatever limits were imposed in other cities (like NY) This crowd wasn’t having it. Most speakers talked about defending women’s right to abortion.  FIST supporters in Chicago marched with friends and circulated our statement on abortion rights.


San Diego:


We carried our beautiful FIST banner (“Our bodies, our spaces, our sex-based rights”) in the spirited march of several thousand along the waterfront, and distributed over 100 fliers containing FIST’s abortion statement and some FIST brochures. One woman came up to us and offered to take photos of our banner. The word “woman” was not buried at this event.

Women, their rights and nothing less. Men, their rights and nothing more!

FEMINIST FORUM: The Other Side of Transgender: the Story of De-Transitioners

FIST is excited to be sponsoring a forum featuring the stories of three de-transitioning women on Sat. July 10th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time.

Tickets available at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-other-side-of-transgender-the-story-of-de-transitioners-tickets-160330686399

Speaking on the panel:

Sydney – a 20 year old woman who transitioned medically as a child.

Rachel F., a 30 year old lesbian, de-transitioned 3 years ago after living as a transman for 5 years.

Carol F – a de-transitioned lesbian, detrans advocate and cofounder of detransvoices.org

FIST’s Feminist Forums series are interactive and organizing events. At our forums, women have an opportunity not only to hear interesting speakers on a variety of feminist topics but to meet each other, make comments, ask questions of the presenters and discuss feminist politics together. We also tape the public events. Women in attendance are free to shut off their cameras and mute themselves, should they prefer to do so. If you prefer to remain anonymous within the group, or plan to sign in under a different name from the name you have used for registration and purchase of your ticket, please contact the organizer prior to the event. Thanks.

While some of our events are open to both men and women, THIS IS A FEMALE ONLY EVENT. We ask that our male allies respect our right to meet together as women.