This is a Record of Women’s Dissent
Dana Rivers is a Man. No Men in Women’s Prisons.
December 8, 2022
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I posted about The People v. Dana Rivers here and here. Those posts are free and shareable.
This is a case in which a man named Dana Rivers (born David Warfield) has been convicted of brutally murdering a biracial lesbian couple and their teenage son and setting their home on fire. His primary target was a woman named Charlotte Reed. After shooting her, and while she still had breath, he stabbed her 44 times (28 stabs to the face). He most likely murdered her wife Patricia and their son Benny in order to eliminate eye-witnesses.
Unless he is determined to have been insane at the time of the offenses, he will most likely be sent to prison, where he will legally be permitted to be housed in the California women’s prison. If you think it is wrong for a state to house a murderer of lesbians in a women’s prison, you can check out the important work of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF; full disclosure: I served on its board between 2016 and 2020) and Woman II Woman here and here.
This post is about an action that several feminists (including myself) took on December 5, 2022, the date on which the insanity phase of the trial started, when a group of violent men showed up to attack women who were demonstrating peacefully, in the name of a vicious murderer of lesbians. Please also read this important piece by Mandy Stadtmiller that meticulously details Rivers’s background and his obsessions with pornography, rape, and sexual torture. This is the man who our attackers showed up for.
On December 5, we appeared at the René C. Davidson courthouse in Alameda County, California, for a nonviolent action whose purpose was to stand in support of lesbians and incarcerated women. We held signs that read “DANA RIVERS IS A MAN” and “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S PRISONS.” We wore sashes that read “Woman = Adult Human Female.”
A few of us gave brief talks, which I am printing here, with permission, in the order in which we gave them.
Me:
My name is Kara Dansky and I am the president of the U.S. chapter of Women’s Declaration International. I am also the author of the book The Abolition of Sex: How the ‘Transgender’ Agenda Harms Women and Girls.
We are here today to stand in solidarity with lesbians and with incarcerated women. That is literally our only aim. We are here for justice for lesbians and incarcerated women.
Dana Rivers, born David Warfield, has been convicted of three counts of murder in the first degree and one count of felony arson for the crimes of brutally murdering a lesbian couple and their teenage son and setting their home on fire in order to hide the evidence of his vicious crimes. Rivers also attributes his use of pornography to helping him realize his so-called “female gender identity.” The people who are here to oppose us today are here in support of a vicious murderer of lesbians.
Woman is not a feeling, and woman is not an identity. A woman is an adult human female.
The white male founders of the Republic did not think that women ought to have the same rights to speak or assemble as men. Our opponents today think the same. So-called “gender identity” is an authoritarian, politically regressive, misogynist, and homophobic movement. What could possibly be more misogynist or homophobic than coming out to defend a vicious murderer of lesbians, which is exactly what Dana Rivers is.
California, like many other states, allows any man to be housed in the women’s prison on the basis of his so-called “gender identity.” There are already hundreds of men being housed in the California women’s prisons thanks in large part to California state senator Scott Wiener and Governor Gavin Newsom. These men have no regard for the dignity, safety, or privacy of the women who are or will be incarcerated in this state. Most Americans are unaware of this because most media outlets steadfastly refuse to report this story.
We demand justice for Charlotte Reed. We demand justice for Patricia Wright. We demand justice for Benny Wright. And we say no to men in women’s prisons.
Lierre Keith, founder and chair of WoLF:
Today is December sixth. For 33 years, December sixth has been a day of profound mourning for feminists. It marks the horrible day in 1989 when a man named Marc Lepine went into an engineering classroom, separated out the men, and shot the women. He murdered fourteen. In case anyone missed the point, he screamed “You’re all feminists!” as he shot them, he left a note blaming feminists for “ruining his life,” and he had a list of prominent women whom he also intended to murder. In case anyone missed the point.
Men keep making the same point. Over and over and over. In 2016, Dana Rivers murdered two women, Charlotte Reed and Patricia Wright, and their son. He didn’t just shoot them. He stabbed Charlotte Reed forty times, 28 times in the face. She was unrecognizable by the time he was done. In case anyone missed the point.
Andrea Dworkin urged us to be the women that Marc Lapine murdered, to take our treason against male supremacy seriously. Men take our treason seriously. They take it so seriously that they murder us for disobeying. Andrea urged us “to be the women who stand between men and the women they want to hurt.” We are here today to do that. We couldn’t protect Charlotte and Patricia but we can try to protect the women incarcerated in California. Because right now, in California, any man can simply declare he is a woman and get transferred to a women’s prison. Even if he’s murdered two women. Even if he stabbed a woman twenty-eight times in the face.
Dana Rivers is a man. What we know about men who pretend to be women: they retain the same patterns of criminality as other men. The same violent crimes, the same sexual crimes. So they can change their clothes but nothing else changes. In fact, of the men pretending to be women in prison, fully half of them are sexual offenders. Half.
Do I need to say that incarcerated women are living in terror? That the men have wasted no time in threatening and assaulting them? That the women are sleeping in shifts because they are so terrified? Women are locked in cages with rapists. Women are locked in cages with murderers. Women are locked in cages with men who stab women 28 times in the face.
I am a treasonous woman and Dana Rivers is a murderous man. And I will fight until the last beat of my heart to stand between men and the women they want to hurt. On this day of mourning, for Charlotte and Patricia, for the fourteen women in Montreal, for the women about to be terrorized by Dana Rivers, we stand here in all our treason to tell you no. No, we are not afraid of you. You’ve threatened us, hurt us, broken our bones, and murdered us, but we will never submit to you. No men in women’s prisons. No. No men can become women. No. We will never give you our rights and we will never give you the one word we have for ourselves. This is the sound of a woman saying no. Woman. Adult. Human. Female.
Jesika Gonzalez, founder of the TERF Collective:
My name is Jesika Gonzalez, I am the founder of a small international group of women called TERF Collective. TERF Collective is dedicated to fighting the global campaign of female erasure that is transgender ideology. What is happening at the Dana Rivers trial is female erasure. Within the walls of the courtroom, male violence against women is being invisibilized by the acceptance of the notion that a man is a woman because he says he is. Even a man that kills two women and their child in their home continues to be regarded as a woman because he says he is. Even after that man is found guilty of killing two women and their child in their home, then setting the house on fire he has the potential to be imprisoned with women, again simply because he claims to be one of us. Of course, nobody believes he's a woman. Even the judge revealed his firm grip on reality by correctly sexing the defendant several times during the trial.
Dana Rivers–it seems obvious to me–hates lesbians because he will never be one. He crusaded to force Michfest, a long running and well beloved staple of the lesbian community, to integrate males. This campaign ultimately brought the demise of the festival. Dana Rivers is the kind of man that endeavors to destroy things he wants and can't have. Women are not safe around men like this. Any special feelings this man might have about his so-called gender are of little comfort to Charlotte Reed, Patricia Wright, and Benny Diambu-Wright. Here in California, men can be moved to women's prisons upon request. Even the most dangerous men are moved to the women's prisons upon request. Dana Rivers is the kind of man that proves the need for single sex prisons.
I have hope things are changing. For a long time it's been difficult to discuss this issue. For some years now the presumption has been that men that consider themselves transwomen are the most vulnerable and harmless of all men. We now know that is not the case. Even the most well meaning and socially progressive among us see quite clearly how many of these men are wolves in women's clothing. These men are not women and there's nothing special about any of them that would necessitate or justify their hiding behind actual women for their safety.
I will use this opportunity, as I always do, to call on our sisters following along to come out and join us on the front line in the future. As you can see, this work is important, it is meaningful, and it isn't already being handled by anyone else. If we want this work to be done, and we do, we will have to be the ones to do it. Consciousness comes with a duty. Your awareness is a calling. Treat it that way. You are called to stand for the as yet dormant majority. You are called to join in the struggle for the liberation of women and girls.
It's deeply important that these men that hate us so much understand that we are many and that we won't stop. Their distaste of women fighting for their rights is inconsequential to us. Their attacks are no deterrent to us. Fighting for the safety, privacy, and dignity of lesbians and women generally is far too important. This battle is one we simply can't afford to lose but to win it, we must fight it. Thank you.
Melinda Hughes:
There is no official day of remembrance for people murdered by men who claim to be women. These victims are an inconvenient truth to the media, the cultural left, and even to the nominal community to which many of them belong – LGBT. The following is a partial list of people murdered in the United States by men who identify as women or nonbinary individuals. We ask for a moment of silence to remember these victims.
Cristian Alvarez
Daniel Aston
Shahid Ali Baig
Brandi Bledso
Jacqueline Bonds
Kathleen Brisbois
Stephen Delicino
Ray Allen Etheridge
James J. Felbaum
Karima Gordon
Robert Haney
Jackie Hawks
Tom Hawks
Emile Inman
Jon Peter Jarvi
Rayquann Deonte Jernigan, 17, AKA Ava Le’Ray Barrin
Eugene Jones, II
Bridget Kenner
Cheryl Kosilek
Devale Lamont
Susan Leyden
Kelly Loving
Nicki Lowe
Ray Muscat
Ashley Paugh
Mary Perkins
Patricia Ann Rader (20 months old)
Jennifer Robinson
Don Rogers
Derrick Rump
Yolanda Sapp
Kenneth Savinski
Karen Sharpe
Ana Laura Sierra
Bishop Taverner
Raymond Vance
Ebony Williams (13 y.o.)
Charlotte Reed, Patricia Wright, Benny Diambu-Wright
Can we have a moment of silence to mourn the loss of these victims.
Melinda would like readers to know this:
The names are only those killed by men who ID as women or nonbinary. All are US crimes. I didn't include murders by men who are cross-dressers, panty fetishists or who use women's clothes as a disguise. That would have made the list quite a bit longer.
Here is video footage of our talks.
After our talks on the steps of the courthouse, we went to a grassy area outside the courthouse to show our signs to passing traffic. Numerous drivers and passengers gave us a supportive honk and/or a thumbs up.
Then we headed to a public area near Lake Merritt. That’s when the violent misogynists showed themselves.
We stood in silent solidarity. We didn’t say a word.
Our aim was simply to bring awareness.
A woman approached us to talk. She had a dog on a leash and was quite pleasant. She told us about how she worked in the criminal justice system and understood how violent prisons can be, which is true. She said that she could accept that Rivers is a man, but she also wanted to understand why we thought he should be held in the men’s prison. Even though she acknowledged that Rivers is a man, she referred to him as “she.”
For the most part, we did not engage with her, other than to inform her that our purpose on that day was not to engage with the public but rather to stand in silent solidarity with incarcerated women. She was advised that she could visit the website of Women’s Declaration International USA if she wanted to learn more. She accepted that and was about to walk away, when …
A man on a bicycle headed towards us from the left, running into the woman who took the photo above, nearly knocking her down and dislodging her phone. This is a deliberate tactic on their part - to take out anyone recording evidence of their violence.
Milliseconds later, a group of around 8-10 men came at us from the right. A man shoved an open umbrella into me and then I felt something hit the right side of my head. That turned out to be a raw egg. I felt raw egg dripping down my neck and chest, and into my shirt. It was very disgusting and minimally painful. Lierre and a woman named Arla both had pies thrown at their faces and were covered in sticky goop. I spent about an hour picking eggshells out of my hair and coat at the house later.
After they threw eggs and pies at us, they violently tore our banners out of our hands and ran off with them.
California Penal Code section 211 defines robbery as:
the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.
Section 240 defines assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.
In my view, these men’s actions constitute both robbery and assault under California law.
We immediately called 911, and the police were interested and responsive, but they are unlikely to take any action. They were unable to find the men who assaulted and robbed us, and none of the men are identifiable in any of the footage.
I have to wonder: The men who hate us have escalated to throwing objects at our heads. On Monday it was an egg to my head, and pies to Lierre’s and Arla’s. What’s next? Rocks? Bricks?
The feminist publication Reduxx wrote a great piece about the entire thing. The Post Millennial has footage of an interview that Lierre, Jesika, Arla and I gave after the attack. The Epoch Times has footage of the actual attack, including our interaction with the woman with the dog.
Please read all three if you have time, but in my view, the video in the Epoch Times piece is essential viewing. You can see the attack itself as well as the woman’s shock. In an instant, these violent men made themselves visible and she could see with her own eyes exactly what we are up against in the fight to protect the sex-based rights of women and girls. She was rightly appalled at their behavior.
“Why can’t we have a dialogue???,” she implored. Why, indeed.
The men who hate us think they won. They boasted about their burning of our banners later, still wearing their hoodies and their masks so that their identities would be hidden from view.
In contrast, this was us, after these violent men attacked us:
We talked and laughed with each other, we engaged with passers-by, and we played with the dog, all out in the open (well, I didn’t play with the dog because I am not a dog person, which you can see in the Epoch Times video, but others did).
Our opponents assault women and burn objects while wearing masks to obscure their identity.
Dear trans cult: You accuse women of engaging in “literal violence” because we tell the truth about the material reality of sex. Meanwhile, you’re the ones assaulting people and burning things. I suggest investing in a mirror. I realize that might sting a bit, given that you’re probably not accustomed to looking in one because your mom hasn’t sought fit to put one in your basement hovel. Still, can you look at yourselves? Are you man enough?
We have ovaries of steel and we’re just getting started.