OBJECTIONS, COMPLAINTS AND LETTERS TO OUR MP
Together with 38 other organisations we signed Sex Matters’ letter to GANHRI (Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions), which urged them to stand up for the for the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) and Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the EHRC. You can find out more information about the background of the letter on the Sex Matters website and in this article by the Telegraph.
Following the Femicide Census’ letter to Mr. Justice Calver and a *CALL TO ACTION* from feminist group FiLiA, we emailed the Attorney General to request a review of the of the sentence for Mark Clowes under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme. Clowes put Claire Bell in a bath so hot she had extensive scalding, 30% full-thickness burns, and eventually died from her injuries.
We emailed our MP to support Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment to abortion law, which would mean that women are removed from the criminal law related to abortion. You can find more information and email your MP on the BPAS (British Pregnancy Advisory Service) website as part of BPAS’ #TimeToAct campaign.
Wrote wrote to our MP a second time in February to ask him to support the government Pornography Review using a template letter from CEASE UK. Please visit the CEASE UK website to email your MP to support this important review, which raises the issue of the disparity in regulation between online and offline pornographic content. Since 1984, legislation has been in place that specifically prohibits offline content that the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) would find unsuitable for classification (incl. in the R18 category, on videos, DVD and Blu-Ray). However offline pornographic content has no such regulation.
We also signed Nordic Model Now’s open letter to the Council of Europe to express our opposition to an opinion piece by its Human Rights Commissioner calling on all member states MEMBER STATES to adopt the full decriminalisation of prostitution (incl. pimps, brothel keepers, & sex buyers). You can add your signature here.
Additionally we signed the CAN-SG’s (Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender) declaration which calls for clearer dialogue, better data collection, stronger evidence & balanced research for improved treatment options for gender dysphoria.
On an international level we signed FAIR’s (Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism) open letter to the American Psychiatric Association regarding their publication of Gender-Affirming Psychiatric Care, which not ignores a lot of recent evidence-based research and undermines well-established standards of care.
PETITIONING & OTHER SUPPORT
We signed a petition to urge Warrington council to deny a new Sexual Entertainment Venue licence at Friar’s Gate and wrote to Warrington’s licensing committee expressing our objection to the licence application.
We also signed a petition to the publicly funded Channel 4 to scrap their plans for a new reality TV show called ‘Virgin Island’, which glamourises prostitution and the view that sex is an essential human right.
In the last week of February, we signed a petition calling on UK media to ‘Start correctly sexing murderers and rapists‘ in their reporting.
NEXT DISCUSSION GROUP MEETING
Four our second group in February 2024 we chose Sharron Davies’ award winning book Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sport. The discussion of this book brought up so much material and was so rich that we have decided to return to it in March. Our discussion of Unfair Play part 2, will take place on 21 March from 7pm. To join us, please email allies@menchallengingsexism.org.uk.
