Recently, we published this post featuring a number of readings reflecting on the termination of a Let Women Speak meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday 25 March by a mob of trans rights activists: The masks have slipped right off the faces of the ‘be kind’ brigade 26.3.23.

The meeting was called by Kellie-Jay Keen a.k.a. Posie Parker. It wasn’t the intention of the trans rights activists, but their actions brought Posie Parker to the attention of many thousands of people who may otherwise not have heard of her and the issues she campaigns on. This is what happens when you operate in a political bubble that’s so tight, you lose sight of how ordinary people will perceive your actions.

The reverberations around what happened in Auckland on 25 March continue. Some of the comment focuses on Posie Parker herself who is a controversial figure to say the least. There are a range of opinions about her. In the interests of balance, we feature two readings on what happened at the Let Women Speak event in Auckland with some reference to how controversial Posie Parker is. The readings have differing perspectives. We’ll let you make up your own mind as to which one is valid…

The woke left is to left as ersatz coffee is to coffee – Mark White | Plebity | 26.3.23

When violent demonstrators surround a single woman trying to speak, make her fear for her life and prevent her from speaking, power does not shake in its boots. On the contrary, this comforts power and does its work. It divides people based on identity, and diverts their anger over material issues of inequality and injustice in directions that are completely harmless to the status quo.

Political Violence and a New Way Forward – Jeni Harvey | Mind The Gap | 30.3.23

No woman is to blame for the violence in Auckland: not left leaning feminists and not Kellie-Jay-Keen either. But there is a world of difference between women being responsible for male violence and us being responsible for our own political choices. Optics matter, and as women visible and active in political circles we are responsible for what we say and do, for whom we choose to associate with, and whose support we choose to accept.