Australia

By Katy Swain, 18 January, 2026

[Part 72 in a continuing series titled "Katy is self-obsessed and oversharing again."]

I was bullied by a teenage boy yesterday. That hasn't happened for a while.

It was just a little en passant misgendering while I was waiting to cross the road. "Hello Mister," he called, in that unmistakably nasty tone, as he cycled by. And immediately I was cast back to the school playground.

I'm working on a theory that bullying is far more prevalent in socially, ethnically, and culturally homogenous communities. Bullying (as opposed to common or garden violence or provocation) becomes more absurdly futile as communities become more inclusive; you can't humiliate someone for failing to adhere to a comprehensive and universal set of social norms that doesn't exist.

By Katy Swain, 22 May, 2025

As there's currently a Queensland Supreme Court challenge to the Queensland Government's ban on puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for transgender (and only transgender) youth, here is your periodic reminder, that regardless of what the media says:

Puberty blockers are not (by themselves) gender-affirming therapy.

Puberty blockers are the least-worst non-therapy proposed by transphobes as an alternative to actually effective HRT.

Granted, in some cases a young person may be on the verge of puberty, aware that something gender-related is an issue for them, uncertain precisely what this is, but also unwilling to let biological chance settle the matter for them. In those cases puberty blockers are absolutely the thing with which to purchase some time to consider the matter further.