#wpuk

In brilliant news, I’ve recovered access to my messages and inbox, which means I can now resume using this blog as it was originally intended - to organise for the UK radblr community!

Less brilliant, I have lost any messages or asks that were sent to me in the period I didn’t have access. If you have contacted me at any point since the start of June, please reach out again and I’ll be happy to help.

Much-beloved vegetarian and largely vegan cosmetics company Lush is coming under fire for donating £3,000 to the anti-trans organization Woman’s Place UK.

WPUK presents itself as a feminist organization but in true TERF (trans-exclusionary “radical feminism”) form, their version of feminism appears to be centered around fearmongering and denying trans people their rights. Their manifesto is a list of “Five Demands,” four of which are focused on upholding cis rights (not a thing) of “women-only spaces” and speculating on the dangers of “self-declaration” of gender. Their Facebook page also seems to be nearly entirely dedicated to perpetuating false narratives around “detransitioning.”

Lush’s £3,000 grant reportedly came from sales of their Charity Pot lotion, which the company touts as being “ethically sound hydration.”

“With every purchase of Charity Pot, we donate 100% of the price (minus the taxes) to small, grassroots organisations that could use the helping hand to continue the incredible work that they do. Charity Pot supports organisations that align with our ethics in the areas of environmental conservation, animal welfare and human rights,” reads the company’s website. I wonder which of those categories TERFdom falls into.

The revelation of the donation came from a financial statement on WPUK’s website and Lush confirmed in a statement to PinkNews that it’s accurate, although Woman’s Place is not included on their list of groups that have been supported by Charity Pot sales.

Event description:

A Woman's Place is fighting for women's services

We are honoured to host a courageous panel at the forefront of the sector challenging male violence against women. They are creating, providing, developing and defending services for and with women victims and survivors of men's violence. Register to join us online on Thursday 15 April to hear, and ask your questions, about the fight for women's specialist services.

Biographies

Mariam Ahmed is the CEO for Amina a leading organisation in Scotland that supports and empowers Muslim and Ethnic Minority women. Her expertise is on gender-based violence and she has been committed to working with all sectors to end violence against women. She has been committed to highlighting stories of women in destitution and is a vocal advocate of the human rights issues affecting women with immigration control. She is a training specialist on harmful traditional practises, a training associate for SafeLives, a Director for Scottish Women’s Aid and Committee member of EHRC Scotland.

Nicola Benge is a campaigner in defence of women's domestic abuse services. She started Brighton Rise Up! in response to the council decommissioning of RISE (specialist DV services in Brighton and Hove) to generic providers. She is a service user and sees the impact this fragmentation will have on her and other survivors, locally and nationally.

Maureen Connolly is a proud feminist, committed to women for women services as the safest, most appropriate and effective provision for women and children affected by abuse. She has been involved in the specialist, Violence against Women sector for more than 25 years and is Chief Executive of Birmingham and Solihull Woman's Aid. She has been instrumental in leading the development of integrated specialist services, that address VAWG issues including domestic violence, sexual violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, child sexual exploitation and the first specialist domestic violence Think Family programme in the UK.

Shonagh Dillon has over 26 years' experience working in the MVAW sector, she is the founder and CEO at Aurora New Dawn working with victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking. She is also a doctoral student at the University of Portsmouth and has just submitted her thesis which researches the clash between transgender ideology and women's sex based rights anlaysing the direct impact on the MVAW sector.

Karen Ingala Smith is CEO of nia, a women's sector NGO. She has 30 years experience of providing specialist services to women. She is also the co-founder and director of the Femicide Census and Counting Dead Women (recording and commemorating all UK women killed by men or where a man is the principal suspect/perpetrator).

Donations

Tickets for this event are free. If you are would like to make a donation we encourage you to give to these groups:

Amina

Aurora New Dawn

Birmingham and Solihull Women's Aid

nia

RISE

You can also donate to Woman's Place UK

Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-womans-place-is-fighting-for-womens-services-tickets-148108180555?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

Here’s a link to the article

They claim they “didn’t realise” and don’t support discrimination, or that it pre-dates those “rules put in place” but it’s like? Wouldn’t you RESEARCH a charity (it’s a pressure group rather than a charity) that you’re giving THOUSANDS OF POUNDS to? Literally even googling them works. I call bullshit.

Oh and let’s not forget them posting about giving gifts to police 1 DAY after George Floyds death, because they’re “needing a bit of love and care” at the moment.”

Oh and they don’t actually apologise either.

People saying it’s a shame to not use them, there are plenty of decent brands out their otherwise to use!

And to those who continue to, just be aware that your money might support the abuse/attack/discrimination of a human being, because that seems to be where some of their funds are going.

Big donations like this to a anti trans radical group could enable them to hand out negative pamphlets at Prides about us. It can muck around with the GRA reform. It can assist with the banning of puberty blockers. It may seem like nothing to some but these people will use it to their advantage to conduct this behaviour and rally further against us. You can bet they announced that Lush are With Them to gain more attention.

Lawyer Allison Bailey of Garden Court Chambers, who describes herself as “gender critical”, wrote a tweet on Tuesday (October 22) announcing the launch of the group. She wrote: “This is an historic moment for the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual movement.

“LGB Alliance launched in London tonight, and we mean business. Spread the word, gender extremism is about to meet its match.”

However, lesbian, gay and bisexual people were quick to call out the new group – blasting it for being “transphobic”, “disgusting” and “vile”, and many telling members: “You do not speak for me.” Many in the LGBT+ community also pointed out that many members of the new group are straight, as are a lot of the people backing it online.

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