Authoritarians know that language is a critical weapon in the battle for souls. Newspeak in 1984 was less about the invention of new words than the destruction of the old, “In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words with which to express it.”

Read more at The Economist.

The pathetic howl of the mangina-exposed-as-hypocrite in action. Read more at The Daily Caller.

“We are no longer a pageant. We are a competition.” according to Gretchen Carlson, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Miss America Organisation and former winner of Miss America, on Good Morning America.

Participants will no longer take part in swimsuit or evening gown parades – but rather an interactive session with the judges where they will have the opportunity to display their intellectual and personal prowess and one in which they’ll don an outfit that expresses their personal sense of style.

The move is intended to empower the participants. Personally, I don’t make a value judgement on the worth of women extracting their sense of empowerment from a) their appearances or b) their intellect – it’s horses for courses, in my opinion. And it seems a shame that increasingly women who do find empowerment in looking great are having their spaces taken away from them – Miss America, darts walk-on girls, grid girls…

Impact on ratings is yet to be seen.

Read more at The Independent or CNN.

An important piece of research is currently being conducted at The University of Manchester, led by Sharon McDonnell, into the impact of bereavement by suicide.

5292 people have participated so far – making it the largest suicide bereavement study internationally already and the study has been referred to in the House of Commons.

Around 810,000 are bereaved by suicide in the U.K. It is a major public and mental health issue, with those bereaved by suicide being at a significant risk of dying by suicide themselves. There is currently no specialist service in NHS to support those bereaved by suicide and health professionals are often anxious and uncertain how to respond to them. Providing better information and support is a key priority in England’s suicide prevention strategy and this research will provide an integral resource for policy makers.

The link to be a part of this study is here.

A 2016 study by Charlotta Stern investigating the impact of the monopoly of left-feminist ideology in sociology generally and gender differences in labour markets in particular.

Another interesting paper by Guy Madison (researcher behind the study showing that feminist activists are more masculinized than average women), with Therese Söderland, which evaluated peer-reviewed Gender Studies articles in journals and found a correlation between higher levels of commitment to gendered perspectives and lower scientific quality.

A (vintage but interesting) 2014 study, looking to explain the feminist paradox (wherein the majority of women in the modern Western world support gender equality but only a small minority identify with the feminist movement, which purports to pursue gender equality) showed that feminist activists “exhibit both physiological and psychological characteristics associated with heightened masculinization, which may predispose women for heightened competitiveness, sex-atypical behaviors, and belief in the interchangeability of sex roles.”

A study to asses the success of the introduction of misogyny as a hate crime in Nottinghamshire has been launched. The study has been commissioned by Nottingham Women’s Centre, is funded by the Office of the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner and will be undertaken by Dr Loretta Trickett from Nottingham Trent University’s Law School, together with Professor Louise Mullany from the University of Nottingham.

The research includes an anonymous online survey, which the team are encouraging women and men to complete anonymously, as well as a number of focus groups with members of the public, focus groups with police officers and staff and individual interviews with women who have reported misogyny hate crimes to the police.

To apply to participate, submit your email address to: loretta.trickett@ntu.ac.uk

Spotify have released an interesting blog post explaining why they have decided not to cave into #MeToo hysteria and ban artists from their playlists based on ‘artist conduct’ (or allegations of misconduct). They say: “We don’t aim to play judge and jury. We aim to connect artists and fans.”

Shaunna Tomas of UltraVoilet feminist advocacy group responded by publishing the following press release:

“Two weeks ago, Spotify declared that, ‘we want our editorial decisions—what we choose to program—to reflect our values.’ Now, we know exactly what those values are: profits over people, and music industry bigwigs over survivors of abuse.

“When music platforms promote abusers, they allow those abusers to reap in profits, lining their pockets in royalties and expanding their fan bases. This normalizes violence against women. Spotify’s values are now clear for all to see: Abusers take priority over survivors of their crimes. We will not forget their decision.”

Good news in The Independent regarding an immunotherapy drug, Pembrolizumab, which has been trialed on 258 British men with prostate cancer and no remaining treatment options. 38% were still alive after a year and 11% had seen no growth in their tumours during the entire course of the treatment.