Front-Line Update on Women’s Rights | Peter Boghossian & Kellie-Jay Keen
On November 2nd, in my Conversations with Peter series, I had the pleasure of speaking with British women’s activist Kellie-Jay Keen (aka Posie Parker). Kellie-Jay is the founder of Standing for Women and leader of international #LetWomenSpeak events. Beginning in 2018 with billboards in the UK, Kellie-Jay popularized “adult human female” as the best definition for “woman”. She designated 2023 as the Year of the TERF and hosts weekly TERF Talk Tuesdays.
Kellie-Jay is a leading voice in the discussion of women’s rights and the protection of women’s spaces. As such, her online content has been censored and she is frequently targeted by trans extremists. I had my first conversation with Kellie-Jay following the extremist violence in Auckland, New Zealand. That confrontation caused her to flee the country.
“Human nature will always allow nonsense in, we have to be ready to speak up.”
Great to see support growing for KJK, and for women's rights. Good chat, thanks PB!
I remember well the original BBC story some 5 years ago:
"A billboard poster bearing the Google definition of the word 'woman' has been removed after it was accused of being part of a transphobic campaign."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45650462
Still think that Kelly deserves Time's "Person of the Year" Award -- if not of the decade -- for that line in the sand, for that "writing on the wall" -- in more ways than one.
However, your "adult human female" as the "best definition for 'woman' " is rather moot and seriously problematic. While it might have been the best one "on tap" at the time, and while it certainly got everyone's attention, the fact of the matter is that it conflicts profoundly with the standard biological definitions for the sexes:
"Female: Biologically, the female sex is defined as the adult phenotype that produces [present tense indefinite] the larger gametes in anisogamous systems.
Male: Biologically, the male sex is defined as the adult phenotype that produces [present tense indefinite] the smaller gametes in anisogamous systems."
"Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and the evolution of the two sexes" https://academic.oup.com/molehr/article/20/12/1161/1062990 (see the Glossary)
IF one wants to stand on that definition of yours and IF one wants to accept those biological definitions THEN that means "women" no longer qualify as such once they hit menopause. And IF one rejects those biological definitions THEN one is in the same (leaky) boat as various transactivists and so-called biologists who are peddling folk-biology or the sexes as social categories. See:
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/scientific-americans-lysenkoism
https://humanuseofhumanbeings.substack.com/p/scientific-americans-lysenkoism/comment/43115418
Y'all might be further ahead to promote a legal definition for "woman" that isn't joined at the hip with "female". Say:
"adult human typically with XX chromosomes, a vagina, and ovaries of past, present, or future functionality"
Though the "typically" is something a potential pitfall as it opens the door to a question suggesting that transwomen might be "atypical" women.