Lindsay Shepherd has been permanently banned from twitter. She came to fame, or notoriety according to how you feel about free speech, as a Ph.D. grad student who showed a clip of Jordan Peterson on the issue of pronouns in her class. That was more than her college could take.

Since then, she’s become a rational voice for free speech and heterodox thought. Then came Jessica Yaniv.

Free-speech activist Lindsay Shepherd was permanently banned from Twitter earlier this week, following a clash with trans-woman Jessica Yaniv. Responding to Yaniv’s misogynistic comments about her uterus and vagina, Shepherd ‘misgendered’ Yaniv, which led to Shepherd’s permanent suspension.

“Misgendering” is one of those curious political dictates, as it compels people to not merely accept another person’s self-identity, but creates a line of acceptance over which one may not cross without condemnation. One can’t “deadname,” which means it’s “Jessica,” not Jonathan. One can’t misgender, which means if Jessica says she’s a woman, you must accept that as reality without regard to whether you believe it to be. You are compelled to believe. At least if you don’t want to be banned from social media,

But what if someone like Yaniv isn’t exactly the real deal, but just a scammer abusing the opportunity presented by wearing a dress?

Lindsay Shepherd: I’ve been aware of Jessica Yaniv’s activities for quite a few months. Although there was a publication ban on the waxing case in Canada, there was a blog outside of Canada that revealed Yaniv’s identity. Then some screenshots were leaked showing Jessica – then still called Jonathan – asking advice from women in a Facebook group dedicated to make-up. He asked whether he should teach 10-year-old girls to use tampons, how to bond with other girls in the female washroom, and if anyone had seen ‘tampon strings hanging out of a girl’s thing’? So this is how he operates. And to me, this is something you don’t give excuses for. He is either trying to get off on fantasising about these things or he really is planning to approach girls in the female washrooms using the advice he’s given.

Notice anything. Yes, Shepherd uses the male pronoun “he.” On the one hand, this could be a political statement about acceptance of transgender legitimacy. On the other, this could be about Yaniv being a lying scammer. Which it is doesn’t really matter; there are clearly reasons to suggest that there is a sound basis for either view. So isn’t Shepherd entitled to consider the facts and make her own choice?

No. Not to twitter.

He tweeted to me that I have a ‘loose vagina from pushing out a 10-pound baby’, but that he ‘still has a tight pussy’. It was all so depraved. I replied saying that if he’s trying to sound like a woman, this is not the way to do it, as he sounds more like a man who doesn’t have a functional relationship. Saying ‘Oh, you have a loose vagina’ is kind of how a bro would talk. Yaniv then replied to this by making fun of a reproductive abnormality I have called a septate uterus, which causes higher rates of miscarriage.

Under almost any other circumstances, one would have expected the person attack Shepherd to be the person challenged. No man could get away with being so offensive to a woman on social media without condemnation. But in the scheme of identity politics, transgender trumps gender, and Yaniv, despite being outrageously offensive, aggressive and, in all likelihood, utterly disingenuous, was the oppressed victim.

People are pointing out that I violated Twitter’s terms of service. I misgendered Yaniv and that technically should result in punishment. But it is something to think about that Twitter is saying that in order to be on our platform, you have to accept the gender ideology du jour. If you don’t, you’d better shut up or get off our platform. But when it comes to Yaniv, sexist and misogynistic comments are allowed.

There are simplistic assumptions on the part of the woke, one of which is that “gendering” is some form of pseudo-violence. There is jargon that goes along with this, that it “erases” identity, as if one’s existence depends on someone else’s validation. But what “misgendering” fails to accommodate is the perspective that sex is binary, or that gender is determined by such objective matters as genitalia.

The point isn’t whether they are right or wrong, but whether failure to believe and accept the premise of the woke is so offensive, or such an undeniable wrong, that it isn’t merely a different perspective, but an offense. From social justice assumptions, it is most assuredly an offense, one worthy of condemnation as well as punishment, because they believe that refusal to adopt the view that every person is entitled to decide their gender, penis notwithstanding, and any person refusing to accept and adhere to the choice is hateful.

There was certainly someone hateful involved in this exchange between Yaniv and Shepherd, but was it Lindsay for not adopting Yaniv’s gender demands or Yaniv for his attack on Shepherd’s, ahem, physical womanhood?

And no matter how passionate one believes, it would still seem a bit over the top that he would reply to Shepherd by extolling his own “tightness.” Beyond that, the thought is too unpleasant to discuss. Yet, Lindsay Shepherd remains permanently banned from twitter.

There is no doubt between Shepherd and Yaniv that Lindsay is a woman. One might think that would matter, and that Yaniv’s attack on her for being a woman would be cause for extreme alarm. But in this gender war, the woman lost.

Update: Lindsay Shepherd’s permanent ban has been rescinded. She’s back.