Reduxx article | archive

Excerpts from Reduxx. (This is not a copy/paste of the whole article, there is more there to click through to.)

EXCLUSIVE: Award-Winning Polish Musician Removed From Performances, Teaching Contract After Criticizing Gender Ideology

Justka’s ordeal began on July 1, when she posted on her Instagram in support of Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and professor Kathleen Stock. Justka uploaded multiple screenshots, including one with the definition of “lesbian” as a “female homosexual,” and another of a Telegraph article which denounced the term “TERF” as “the ultimate slur against women.”

Following her post on Instagram, Justka received hate mail in her direct messages and emails, angry comments on her post, a removal from a pending compilation album, and the cancellation of workshops and gigs.

One of her shows, which had been arranged at The Old Hairdressers in Glasgow, was cancelled, and Justka began to receive intense online and in-person harassment from local musicians. One local establishment, Stereo, even refused her service due to allegedly making patrons “feel unsafe” because of her views.

One of the hateful messages Justka received included a threat from music journalist Peter Kirn who stated “…tell you what, Ewa- we’ll beat you. I’ll do my best to absolutely makes sure no one works with you. So you want to see the power of this patriarchal system you’re so upset about? Watch me.”

Following the months-long ordeal, Justka continued to lose work, including a provisional arrangement to lecture for the London College of Communication at the University of the Arts in London. She has since moved to Italy in order “to escape” the situation.

While continuing her work in solitude, Justka has created an album in response to her cancellation and started a women-only project to encourage female musicians to create and build their own electronic synthesizers.

Calling gender ideology “extremely dangerous,” Justka notes that the language employed by trans activists often dehumanizes women and erodes women-only spaces.

“This all damages women’s rights so many feminists fought for. The art scene that celebrates this ideology is, in my view, extremely hypocritical and I could not subscribe to their agenda anymore.”

Justka notes that her expulsion from the Oram Awards was the most hurtful incident in her ordeal.

“The Oram Awards claims to be a ‘women-supporting foundation,’ yet it clearly does not stand for women since, in their view, men can be women and they’ll drop a female artist in a whim if she dares to question gender ideology,” she says. “I moved to the UK from Poland as I believed I would be valued according to my work, knowledge, and capabilities. Clearly, I was wrong – it’s unfortunate, but in UK, if you’re a female artist and don’t subscribe to gender ideology, you will be cancelled, and your work opportunities will be taken away. It’s very clear to me, that this is vindictive, Stasi-like discrimination of women and girls and we must speak out against it and stand for women’s rights.”

JK Rowling has recently tweeted about this:

I'd say 'unbelievable', but I know too many men in the arts like @ peterkirn to be under any illusion. Men like this are thrilled to have found an excuse to bully non-compliant women, delighting in threats of professional retribution. That said, this guy really took off the mask.

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