Woman

Saturday

Ruaridh Nicoll

Cuba is a lovesick country

When I first moved to Cuba, an ex-girlfriend said: “That sounds lovely, Ruaridh. What next, Thailand?” The Caribbean island has always come with a certain reputation – the writer A.A. Gill noted that the Cubans are the “most libidinously choreographed people in the world.” It wasn’t the revolution that made Cuba known for sex. The sleaze goes way back, probably to 1492 and beyond (naughty Tainos), but by the 1950s, Havana’s infamous Shanghai Theater was putting on live sex shows, performed by a gentleman called “Superman” – and not because he could fly. Such libertine ways – and the mob that controlled then – were part of the reason Fidel Castro gave for tumbling the then dictatorship.

Friday

Chilton Williamson, Jr.

Judge Jackson’s refusal to define a woman was disqualifying

Asked by Senator Marsha Blackburn during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent hearings whether she could define the word “woman,” Judge Katanji Brown Jackson replied, “Can I provide a definition? No, I can’t. I’m not a biologist.” That's an interesting standard. Can Judge Jackson define a human being? Can she affirm that she is one? Apparently not. Only a biologist could do that — or a woke progressive liberal, and zie would be wrong. The Judge may possess certain credentials that would make her a worthy addition to the Court. Yet intellectual honesty, common sense, independence, and moral courage do not seem to be among them. A few members of the press took notice of her idiotic response, as did a sizable number of the Twitterati.

Sunday

Julie Burchill

How the word ‘woman’ became taboo

From our UK edition

When I was a little girl, my mum told me that I shouldn’t use the word ‘woman’ – but rather ‘lady.’ ‘Woman’ was just too visceral to her, whereas a ‘lady’ might well be a doll. But by adolescence my shoplifted copy of The Female Eunuch and Helen Reddy bawling ‘I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman!’ had reinforced by belief that my mother was wrong. I never dreamt that the w-word would be taboo again. How could the word woman become so contentious that the stating of the dictionary definition – ‘Adult Human Female’ – could become a matter for the police?

Wednesday

Debbie Hayton

New Zealand’s transgender debate is turning nasty

From our UK edition

New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. But now, 120 years on from that landmark moment for female equality, Kiwi women are fighting a rear-guard campaign to defend the meaning of the word 'woman'. As well as dealing with the fallout from the pandemic, Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government has been busy prioritising a bill that would effectively allow anyone to become a woman just because they wanted to. While Ardern is being cheered on by the transgender lobby, it has fallen to Speak Up for Women, a grassroots campaign group, to speak truth to power. Rather predictably, politicians seem unwilling to listen; worse, some are determined to stop anyone else hearing what these women have to say.