It's not a hate crime for a woman to feel uncomfortable waxing male genitalia

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

16 complaints filed by a Canadian trans woman make a mockery of the hate crimes committed against trans people every day

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Jessica Yaniv and the waxing wars

Should a woman be forced to wax male genitalia?

The answer to that is clearly “no”, right? If a female beautician has only been trained to wax female genitalia and only wants to offer these services to women then that should be her prerogative. But, hang on a minute, what if the person who wants their intimate areas to be waxed is a woman with male genitalia? What happens then? A court in Canada has been trying to figure that out. British Columbia’s Human Rights Tribunal has been holding hearings on the issue after Jessica Yaniv, a transgender woman, filed 16 complaints against female estheticians, arguing that she was denied service because of her gender identity.

“This is not about waxing,” Yaniv wrote on Twitter last week.

While the Yaniv case has been going on for a while now, you may not have heard much about it, as it has largely been covered by the rightwing press. The sort of outlets that normally joke about consent and women’s rights are now outraged that women are being forced to handle male genitalia against their will. The sort of writers that are normally whipping up hate against immigrants are now outraged and concerned that at least one of the beautificians that Yaniv has filed complaints against is a poor migrant. In short there has been a hell of a lot of bad faith and transphobia involved in the reporting around the case. A number of the world’s worst people have used the story as an example of “political correctness gone mad” and as a way to stoke hatred against trans people.

But does that mean that Yaniv is a brave crusader for human rights who should be supported? Absolutely not. Yaniv seems to be a troll, not an activist. She has also made a number of racist comments about immigrants, saying they aren’t the “cleanest of people” and allegedly said very disturbing things about underage girls in the past. Yaniv also seems to have tried to book the waxing services with fake Facebook profiles – the Spectator reports that in at least one case, she used the profile of a pregnant woman.

The long and short of this story is that Yaniv does not seem to be acting in good faith and a lot of women who were running small businesses out of their homes are now being dragged into court and branded as bigots as a result. If those women had refused to wax Yaniv’s legs because they had a problem with her being trans then she would have been absolutely right to take action. However, surely things are more nuanced when it comes to handling genitalia? Surely a woman shouldn’t be forced to wax testicles if that makes them feel uncomfortable? Yaniv argues that if you are a woman who is uncomfortable working with a penis then you are automatically a “transphobic bigot... committing a hate crime.” Not only is that untrue it makes a mockery of the hate crimes that are committed against trans people every day.

South Korea’s #NoMarriage movement

A growing number of South Korean women are rejecting marriage and motherhood – a trend that is alarming the government, which is worried about the country’s very low birth rate. In response the government is offering incentives to get married, which many women see as tone-deaf and offensive. One South Korean YouTuber told Bloomberg that government policies “to force a woman into marriage and childbearing represent a deeply ingrained perception of a woman in our society as an object, not an individual”.

Women still do most household chores

Clean up your act (and your house), straight men! A new study by University College London analyzed data from more than 8,500 heterosexual couples in Britain and found “gender norms remain strong” when it comes to the division of household chores. This will come as a surprise to nobody as there are already about a gazillion studies saying the exact same thing.

Teenagers charged in homophobic London bus attack

Earlier this year two women called Melania and Chris were brutally attacked on a night bus in London after a group of teenage boys allegedly demanded the couple, who were on a date, kiss. Four teenage boys have now been charged with an aggravated hate crime. If you haven’t already please do have a read of the powerful op-ed Chris wrote for the Guardian last month. “The press coverage, and timely law enforcement response, was not coincidental to our complexions,” she wrote. “Learn the names and stories of Muhlaysia Booker, Dana Martin, Chanel Scurlock. Elevate those who have been advocating for the basic rights and safety of communities marginalised by our existing political, economic and social structures long before I got punched in the face.”

Kenya will include intersex people in census for first time

“Getting information about intersex people in the census will help people understand the challenges we go through,” Ruth Ryan Muiruri, founder of the Intersex Persons Society of Kenya told the BBC.

Bishop shares his bizarre views on homosexuals

A bishop told kids at a primary school in Cyprus that the reason gay people exist is because women have anal sex while pregnant and enjoy it. Not to be anal but, um, I don’t think that’s how any of this works.