Going to come back to this to reflect in more detail to your original post and to this comment, but wanted to quickly float the idea that perhaps these people view you as particularly sound, so when they lay things on you or are just more emotional or intense in front of you, and you seem unphased - neither rushing to condemn them nor scrambling to reassure - they interpret that as disapproval from someone whom they find sound. And that because they value your judgement & integrity, they get sheepish and awkward in the absence of a strong outward reaction, which in turn you interpret as them thinking ill of you.

Only suggesting this because have seen quite a bit of this between people, and experienced mild versions of both ends of that dynamic.

Not that it helps, if it even resonates, or provides guidance.

Seems someone is scared that all their young people would hightail off to Europe...

The extension of their arguments is firstly that women who wish to avoid the risk of being charged with manslaughter or murder in the wake of a miscarriage must abide by behavioural guidelines which are contrary to science. i.e., to rest indoors anytime she may be pregnant.

The intended effect being to remove women of childbearing age from the workplace & from public life.

Secondly: to severely undermine reproductive healthcare, such that clinics shut, specialists flee, research is stopped & general knowledge regarding reproductive health & access to care plummets.

The overarching ideology being the production of new labourers & to increase desperation, so that Capitalists can avail of ever-cheaper labour in order to lure factories to set up in the US. This is the endgame of "bringing back our jobs" + anti-abortion rhetoric.

"Students often say that before they took this course, they had no idea biological sex characteristics could be so diverse, despite having taken several biology courses."

Shocked to read this, though I suppose it explains a lot. It can be convenient in some situations to use crude categories as a shorthand, but only if those engaging with them do not lose sight of the actual variability & complexity.

What the hell is going on in the earlier stages of education though? This is far from obscure or novel information.

And security for same.

Seems to me there is near unanimity from relevant scientists & physicians that female trans athletes have no advantage over their female cis counterparts.

If the state of that knowledge changes, then by all means revisit the rules, but unless & until that happens, banning trans women & girls from competing is deeply unfair & arbitrary.

I could see that a trans girl or woman who has yet to commence HRT might have some physical advantages, but until we're considering national level competition, I think it is reasonable to let this (utterly tiny) minority compete.

For high level stuff, it would be easy to have a requirement of being on HRT for a minimum period. That said, attaining one's peak achievable performance whilst going through what amounts to a second round of puberty sounds... impossibly hard.

Feels like everything is much more a faff to set up, then one bit updates & something or other is longer compatible.

Don't even want to think about the waste it must generate, both of devices & of the hours trying to get things to work whether at the development end or in the home.

There have been no elections in Gaza since 2006

At that point, Hamas won on a plurality of 41%.

Hardly overwhelming.

Today, 50% of the population are under 18 & 64% of adults say they do not feel it is safe to criticise Hamas.

So enough of your nonsense, though frankly, even if a large majority had voted Hamas in a recent election, that would still leave a lot of people who are against Hamas.

For a feminist to demonise sex workers, or just fail to support them, is as counter-intuitive & bizarre to me as the idea of a labour activist who rejects & demonises workers generally.

Control, mostly, at least at the meta level.

Many of the parents who freak out hold a lot of shame themselves surrounding bodies & sex, having been denied good sex ed. It is their job to ensure they don't pass that to their children, but I imagine this is easier said than done, especially if shame & ignorance are normalised within a culture.

For them, the best argument may be that children who do not know about sex are vastly more vulnerable, not only to bizarre information and unpleasant mistakes, but to sexual predators.

Full of admiration for everyone who has fought to achieve this. Am certain it will inspire many to join in the push to protect workers.

To the conservative mind, whether or not someone has committed a crime is based not on their actions, but on which group they belong to.

Thus, Trump has done no wrong, because he's in their group, and Willis has, because she's not in their group.