Julie Bindel | The Spectator columnists & writers

Why is Eventbrite censoring feminist women?

I could not have been more delighted when the group Women’s Place UK (WPUK) asked me to chair an online event to mark the publication of the book Defending Women’s Spaces, written by my friend and feminist comrade Karen Ingala Smith. Let me tell you a little about Karen. For the past 30 years she has been providing services to women and girls who have experienced all forms of male violence, including sexual assault, domestic abuse, and prostitution. Karen has clung on for dear life to keep the Nia Project, of which she is CEO, female only. The Nia Project is one of only two such charities in the country that put the safety of women over the hurt feelings of trans activists. They openly apply the exceptions permitted under the Equality Act to provide women-only refuge and other single-sex support.

Rebel Wilson and the problem with surrogacy

When the Australian actor Rebel Wilson announced the birth of her daughter Royce Lillian, she added the small detail that she had been born by a ‘gorgeous‘ surrogate. Wilson expressed her gratitude to the woman who had carried the child for nine months before giving birth to her: 'Thank you for helping me start my own family, it’s an amazing gift. The BEST gift!!' A child is a human being, and obviously not a ‘present’ – although Big Fertility would have us think differently. Wilson, who had tried IVF three times without success, said that her desire to have her own baby was ‘overwhelming‘. So overwhelming that she thought borrowing another woman’s womb was perfectly acceptable. How does a ‘commissioning parent’ think it feels for the birth mother to give up the baby they have gestated? The assumption is of course that the birth mother is completely detached from what is growing in her womb because she knows she’s going to have to give it away afterwards.

I’ve found the only gastropub worth eating at

The gastropub, an invention of the early 1990s, is a terrible idea. They burst on to the scene when breweries were made to sell off many of their pubs for a song to make way for competition, encouraging Marco Pierre White wannabes to snap them up and replace cheese sandwiches and pork scratchings with kidneys on toast and anything that could be put together in a kitchen the size of a shoebox. Many of them have food prepared off-premises but charge restaurant prices. There are no proper tablecloths, the glasses are made to survive if dropped on concrete floors and it all feels a bit like going round to your friend’s house for a substandard dinner party. The times I have reluctantly ended up in one, at the behest of friends with the bad taste to live in the countryside, I have found myself having to queue at the bar to be served drinks to accompany my meal, which put me in mind of Nando’s.

The police service is rotten to the core

A report published today by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services for England and Wales should come as no shock to those of us that campaign to end male violence, such as rape and domestic abuse. The report was commissioned following the case of Sarah Everard who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2021 by serving Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens. The Everard case could have been written off as a rare and extreme example of police violence and misogyny, which is what the former Met Commissioner Cressida Dick tried to do when she said that there was an occasional ‘bad un’ in the job. But it has long been known that violent and predatory male police officers are not a rarity, far from it.

Why are lesbians no longer welcome at Pride?

The lesbian group Get The L Out UK, founded to protest gender ideology and the pressure on same-sex attracted women to date trans women, joined Pride Cymru yesterday to make their voices heard amidst a sea of hostility. Ever since the trans movement decided that lesbians who reject sleeping with trans women are somehow morally deficient, same-sex attracted women have been harassed, defamed and abused in the name of trans equality. Get the L Out represent those old-fashioned lesbians that reject the penis and all that is attached to it. As a lesbian that came out in the Life on Mars days of the 1970s, when I was told, on a regular basis, that all I needed was a ‘good f––’ to ‘straighten’ me out, I have watched with horror at the vilification of lesbians for firmly rejecting men that claim to be women from their dating pool.

Why is the Globe making Joan of Arc non-binary?

Feminists tend to be fascinated with the story of Joan of Arc. She was irreverent, impertinent, way more intelligent than her enemies, and was true to herself and her beliefs right to the end. War hero and religious martyr, Joan has been described as ‘Jesus with a sword’. A 16-year-old peasant girl who decided to take on an entire army is a female to admire and hold up as a role model. But it would seem that we have to make allowances for an ‘intersectional’ and ‘inclusive’ approach and consider whether Joan was female after all. A tweet from Shakespeare’s Globe theatre explained: ‘Our new play I, Joan shows Joan as a legendary leader who uses the pronouns ‘they/them’. We are not the first to present Joan in this way, and we will not be the last.

The BBC is wrong about OnlyFans

As the cost-of-living crisis bites and a recession looms, women are once again being fed a dangerous message: that the sex trade might be a great place to make money. In an article on the BBC website, OnlyFans has been cited as a lucrative way for attractive youngsters to top up their income. Soaring prices have, we are told by the BBC, 'led to a rise in young people posting sexual content for money'. The report cites as an example Alexia, a 20-year-old, who posts pictures and videos of herself on the internet. The BBC says her '9-5 salary is now dwarfed by the earnings she makes from her online presence.' It goes on: 'Since she started, she has managed to gain thousands of followers and says posting on the site earns her more than £3,000 a month.

Women With Balls

The Julie Bindel Edition

30 min listen

Women With Balls

The Julie Bindel Edition

30 min listen

Julie Bindel is a radical feminist, journalist and activist. Growing up in Darlington, she left school aged 15, and at 16 moved to Leeds in search of – in her own words – 'scary-sounding feminists'. In the 90s, she founded Justice For Women, a feminist campaigning organisation that supports, and advocates on behalf of, women who have fought back against or killed violent men. On the podcast, Julie talks about her upbringing in the North East, her fight in the gender ideology debate, and she shares her thoughts on Pretty Woman.To read more on Julie Bindel, visit her Substack page here.

What Stella Creasy gets wrong about trans rights

Stella Creasy thinks that trans-women are women and should be treated as such. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the Labour MP said: 'Do I think some women were born with penises? Yes, but they are now women and I respect that.' Yet what was left unspoken is the fear among those of us who were born female about what this means for women's rights. Creasy supports self-identification because she thinks it’s 'bonkers' that a man who wishes to be legally recognised as a woman has to have the backing of two doctors. But what is 'bonkers' is the risk that single-sex spaces, such as prisons, changing rooms, hospital wards, and domestic violence refuges, could at some stage in the future be opened up to those who were born male.

The spycop debacle is another nail in the Met’s coffin

In 2010, Mark Kennedy, a tattooed social justice warrior, was exposed as an undercover police officer. In this guise he infiltrated climate change activist groups and in the meantime formed a number of sexual relationships with fellow activists. Kennedy manipulated and deceived several women, including ‘Lisa’, with whom he formed a particularly close bond, while his wife and children were left in the dark about his exploits. But Kennedy was no lone bad apple. He was part of a group of Metropolitan Police spies deployed to gather intelligence on left-wing protest groups. Deep Deception is the story of these spies, written by five of the eight women who, in 2011, began a legal case against the Met in order to expose systematic wrongdoing sanctioned by the most senior police chiefs in the land.

It’s no surprise that traffickers are targeting Ukraine

Over the past weeks, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have witnessed individuals expressing shock and disbelief at the blatant sexual violation of women and girls fleeing their homeland. Feminist colleagues in Ukraine and Russia tell me that there are thousands of displaced women and girls without any income, food or shelter. The war has become the perfect opportunity for pimps to trick or coerce women into prostitution. We should know this by now. Wherever there is war and conflict, resulting in misplaced, vulnerable women and girls, there will be pimps waiting to pounce. But even so, there are those that should know better, such as some aid workers, claiming that, ‘No one saw it coming’. There are also those determined to hold on to the view that trafficking exists on a different planet to local prostitution.

Lia Thomas and the slow death of women’s sports

This week, Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to be crowned National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion, winning the 500-yard freestyle in Georgia, US. The crowd was muted, and no wonder. Thomas spent around 20 years as a man and started competing against women in swimming only last year before becoming a national champion. Feminism is about ending the oppression of women (by men) and not about claiming there are no differences between the sexes. One thing is clear: there are some things that we cannot compete with men in and one of those competitive sports. Scientific papers have clearly shown that that those who have undergone male puberty retain significant advantages in power and strength, even after taking medication to suppress their testosterone levels.

The Met is still failing women after the murder of Sarah Everard

Today is the first anniversary of the murder of Sarah Everard. Should we be placated by the forthcoming inquiry into the circumstances of the case? In my view, no, and this is a view shared by many of us that campaign against male violence towards women and girls. Lawyers for the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) a feminist legal charity have launched a legal challenge against the Home Secretary Priti Patel, because, as its director Harriet Wistrich says, ‘The inquiry is not looking at the culture of policing. An inquiry into only one specific incident, albeit an horrific one, cannot come close to uncovering what that culture is and why and how it permeates policing – let alone what we can do to change it.’ When it comes to policing, change is slow.

Tom Ford and the gross misogyny of high fashion

Tom Ford, the stratospherically successful fashion designer has recently released lipstick shades called ‘Age of Consent’ and ‘First Time’. He also produced a perfume called ‘Lost Cherry’. There has been a bit of an uproar by some feminists who think it appalling to make references to sex with underage girls as a marketing ploy. Known for coming up with the idea of logos shaved into pubic hair and regularly using nude models, Ford, a gay man, is branded fashion’s King of Sex. He denies sexism, claiming to be an ‘equal opportunity objectifier’ because he also features nude male models, insisting there is ‘nothing wrong with using people’s bodies as a selling tool.’ Fine, except flashing the odd naked man on the catwalk is often seen as a laugh and a bit of a change from the usual.

Spectator Out Loud

Katy Balls, Julie Bindel, Douglas Murray

22 min listen

Spectator Out Loud

Katy Balls, Julie Bindel, Douglas Murray

22 min listen

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Katy Balls on Labour’s plans for a future with or without Boris. (00:51)Next, Julie Bindel on the rise of Lesbian divorce (06:12)And finally, Douglas Murray on the hellish thought of having to bring your ‘whole self’ to work. (14:00)Produced and presented by Sam HolmesSubscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

What explains the rise in lesbian divorce?

At one stage, I had a special tray in my study into which to throw all my lesbian wedding invitations. This was around December 2005, when lesbian and gay couples could first sign a civil partnership agreement, providing legal protection including a basis for next-of-kin and inheritance rights. Although the law still did not allow actual marriage between same sex couples, many lesbians went full throttle with their weddings. It didn’t seem to matter that the only requirement to enter a civil partnership was a trip to the town hall and a signature in front of a couple of witnesses. When I signed my own, my partner and I turned up in our usual scruffs in between work commitments. But lots of lesbians wanted the big day.

Women-only carriages are a bonkers idea

Here we go again. Another suggestion, this time by the SNP transport minister, Jenny Gilruth, to introduce women-only carriages on public transport in order to address the ‘systemic problem’ of women feeling too scared to travel ‘because of men’s behaviour’. Does that mean it's okay for men to sexually assault women in mixed carriages? Rather than addressing the fact that rape is obscenely under prosecuted in this country (with around 1 per cent of reported rapes ending in a conviction in England and Wales) the minister is following in the footsteps of the likes of Jeremy Corbyn in coming up with a bonkers idea to keep women safe. How about deterring men from sexually harassing and assaulting women instead? Isn't that a novel idea? If men thought that there might be consequences for their actions, guess what? They might think twice before putting their hands on a female commuter.

The EHRC is right about the trans conversion therapy ban

Before I saw the statement, ‘It is with sadness and deep regret that LGBT Foundation is severing all ties with the EHRC [Equality and Human Rights Commission],’ I had never heard of the charity, the LGBT Foundation. How I wish it had remained so. The reason why the Foundation had taken such umbrage with the EHRC is because it had released two statements this week that, according to trans-activists, are ‘extremely damaging [to trans-people] and cannot be supported in any circumstances.’ One statement was about the proposed conversion therapy legislation in England and Wales. The EHRC rightly point out that bullying and coercing lesbians or gay men to become heterosexual, in the name of therapy, is a human rights violation and unacceptable on every level.

In praise of neighbourhood restaurants

Living in Crouch End, a part of North London without a tube line and a distinctly villagy feel, you might imagine I would be spoilt for choice with excellent local restaurants. But Crouch End, like it’s posh neighbour Hampstead, has a bad reputation in that field. Too many coffee shops, the odd chain, and one or two overpriced gaffs that remind me of the phrase ‘All fur coat and no knickers’. I occasionally Google ‘Best restaurants near me‘ in case I’ve missed something, and one day, Table Du Marché popped up – a restaurant I had never heard of, despite it being just up the road in East Finchley. With an almost exclusively local clientele, Table Du Marché has no need to advertise, and does a decent trade for weekday lunch and evenings.

Most-read 2021: The Green party’s woman problem

We're closing 2021 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here's No. 10: Julie Bindel's piece from March on the Green party's muddle over trans rights: At the Green party spring conference this weekend, a motion which sought to introduce a party policy on women’s sex-based rights was defeated. A whopping 289 delegates (out of 521) voted to not include biological females in the party’s list of oppressed groups. All the motion aimed to do was simply add a paragraph to the Green party’s ‘Our Rights and Responsibilities Policy’. The motion reads:This is to include the protected characteristic of sex as currently our Record of Policy statements supports the other eight characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race, maternity, religion/belief, marriage/civil partnership) but not that of sex discrimination – aimed primarily at women… The motion was opposed because, in essence, it is considered ‘transphobic’ to recognise that women are targeted by male oppression precisely because of their female sex.

Women don’t ‘consent’ to their own deaths

A ruling by the Court of Appeal last week has further enshrined the notion that women can consent to their own death if the man responsible puts forward a defence that she died during ‘rough sex gone wrong’. In February this year, Sophie Moss, an extremely vulnerable woman suffering from a range of mental and physical health problems, was choked to death during sex by Sam Pybus. Although some press reports described the pair as ‘lovers’ there was nothing romantic about the relationship between the two. Pybus would occasionally visit Moss for sex, leaving his wife Louise Howitt asleep. There were no illicit candlelit dinners, no walks in the park, just sex with a woman often so drunk when Pybus turned up at her door that she would have been incapable of speech.

It’s time female fraudsters received their due

If you’re after jewel thieves, bank robbers and gold smugglers, look no further than Caitlin Davies’s Queens of the Underworld. It opens in 1960 and tells the tale of Zoe Progl, a professional crook who once stole £250,000-worth of furs in a single heist. Eventually sent to Holloway Prison for 20 years, Progl subsequently pulled off the most successful jailbreak in 75 years when she scaled the 25ft wall to freedom. Davies describes how her interest in this case led her to talk to Progl’s daughter after her mother’s death and, realising there was barely any public knowledge about this notorious, successful and imaginative criminal, thought that Progl was one of many women who deserved her attention. Queens of the Underworld is a rollicking account of all kinds of crime committed by women from the 17th century to the present day.

Why liberals must stand with Kathleen Stock

I know what it feels like to be bullied and vilified for expressing views with which, eventually, many right-minded people end up agreeing. I am talking, of course, about transgender ideology and the case of Professor Kathleen Stock which this week was belatedly picked up by the mainstream press. In short, a group of University of Sussex students started a campaign for Stock to be sacked on the spot, claiming she was ‘espousing a bastardised version of radical feminism that excludes and endangers trans people’. The group – a collection of poundshop Antifas – said Stock was a danger to transgender people, arguing: ‘We're not up for debate. We cannot be reasoned out of existence.’ The leaflet accompanying the stickers and ‘Stock Out’ flag decorated with blue smoke reads: ‘Fire Kathleen Stock.

The Met must face the truth about Sarah Everard’s murder

‘We are sickened, angered and devastated by this man’s crimes which betray everything we stand for,’ said the Metropolitan Police in response to the sentencing of Wayne Couzens. He is the former police officer who, when in service, kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard, later setting fire to her body. The case in March sparked national outrage about the levels of male violence towards women and girls. Not only do significant numbers of police officers spectacularly fail women when it comes to sexual and domestic violence, but they commit these crimes themselves. The two things are connected. If male police officers see women as worthless, and if there is little accountability when it comes to violence against women, they will feel double impunity.

Why is anyone still defending OnlyFans?

Starting in October, OnlyFans, which has 130 million users, two million contributors and billions in revenue will ban its creators from posting pornographic material on its site, which many sex workers use to sell explicit content. Nude photos and videos will still be permitted provided they are consistent with OnlyFans’ policy, the company has announced. As soon as the announcement was made, the narrative quickly focused on how unfair and discriminatory this move was, with many saying that the victims of the ban would be ‘sex workers’. The BBC suggested the porn ban would be a ‘“kick in the teeth” for creators’. And one commentator argued, ‘OnlyFans grew off the back of sex workers, who found a safe haven in the platform to charge their fans for access to explicit photos and videos.

Domestic violence affects us all

Since the first Covid-19 lockdown last year, cases of domestic abuse and subsequent deaths have risen. In England and Wales, a woman dies as a result of domestic violence every three days. But the reality is that few perpetrators are arrested, let alone charged and convicted. The rise in cases is beginning to worry government ministers, which is no surprise given domestic abuse has never been properly tackled. Cabinet office minister Michael Gove has been planning how best to use existing powers to tackle this shadow pandemic. Ideas include a minimum standard for police and other criminal justice agencies to increase prosecutions and better protect the victims. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021, which became law at the end of April, makes it clear that the government needs to deal with the perpetrators and not merely focus on mopping up the mess.

Colin Pitchfork should die in jail

Colin Pitchfork, the child rapist and murderer who was sentenced to life in prison in 1988, will soon be a free man. On 31 November 1983, Lynda Mann was raped and strangled by Pitchfork in Leicestershire; on 31 July 1986, Dawn Ashworth was raped and strangled by him in a neighbouring village. Both girls were just 15. The pathologist who examined Dawn’s body, which had been hidden under branches in a field, said it showed signs of a 'brutal sexual assault'. Pitchfork, who left his baby son in his car asleep when he raped and murdered Lynda Manns, showed no sign of remorse when caught. Pitchfork had a history of violence against women. In 1979, he forced a 16-year-old girl into a field and sexually assaulted her before fleeing when he thought someone was approaching.

Lesbians are being erased by transgender activists

When did ‘lesbian’ become a dirty word again? Perhaps it is since the trans-Taliban decided that we were a group of bigots and fascists, motivated by hatred of transgender people, existing solely to remove the rights of non-binary, sapiosexual, polyamorous blue fringed narcissists. When I came out in 1977, lesbians would be routinely physically and sexually assaulted by men who took offence at being sexually rejected. We were sacked from our jobs, bullied and harassed on the street and in bars, and told we were freaks and perverts. Today, the job of making our lives a misery has been taken over by some trans-activists, aided and abetted by their bearded ‘allies’. They turn up to ‘support their trans siblings’ by pouring scorn on lesbians at Pride events unless they become hand maidens that put natal males before women.

Laurel Hubbard is the beginning of the end of women’s sports

When women’s professional soccer was deemed good enough for our TV screens a couple of years ago, I was watching with a friend and her four-year-old son. He was enthralled by the game, and asked his mother, ‘Are boys allowed to play football as well as girls, mummy?’ This little boy’s comment clearly highlighted the insidious sexism prevalent in all aspects of competitive sport. When it comes to soccer, rugby, weightlifting, darts, you name it, commentating, sports writing, sports photography and so many other operational aspects of competitive sports are dominated by men. Female sports champions can be such important feminist role models for girls. Look at Martina Navratilova, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Nicola Adams and Sian Massey-Ellis.

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