Stephanie Rodgers 🍉

@bootstheory.bsky.social

3286 Followers 563 Following

Feminist, leftie, māmā. Tangata Tiriti, she/her. Opinions stated are entirely my own and do not reflect any other person or organisation.

I make this submission on my own behalf, as a cisgender woman, a New Zealander, a public servant and a lifelong feminist. I am the mother of a daughter. I have organised rallies against rape culture and worked in the office of Jan Logie MP during her term as Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice on Domestic and Sexual Violence Issues.
I am unequivocally opposed to this Bill and appalled that it has proceeded to Select Committee.
It is a nonsensical solution to a problem that does not exist. It flies in the face of common sense, basic justice, and biological reality.
Far better qualified people than me have made submissions pointing out the ways in which this Bill is poorly drafted, legally unsound, scientifically bankrupt, and yet paradoxically represents a genuine threat to the health, safety and wellbeing of trans people, nonbinary people, intersex people, and all girls and women – cis or trans. I tautoko them.
I am driven to make this submission because the promoters of this Bill purport to represent me. They assert that their motivations are the safety and hypothetical sporting ambitions of my daughter. And I will not have this be done in my name, or hers.

A table covered in playing cards loosely depicting a courtroom drama. The game is Lawyer Up and I fight dirty

A child's knitted tee in a vibrant red yarn, with rows of eyelet decoration around the cowl

A pair of hand-knitted socks laid out on a table. The pattern is fairly plain but the cuff, heel and toe are in a bright tomato red yarn and the body is in a bright teal.

Screenshot of an opinion piece in the NZ Herald by Ani O'Brien titled "Why I shared Benjamin Doyle's screenshots and why I am furious at the Greens" demonstrating she is both a disingenuous conservative hack and a terrible writer

A post from Opportunity's Facebook page in the standard old John Ansell meme format, with Winston Peters on the left saying "Let's talk about what's in people's pants" and Q (that name will never not be funny) saying "Let's talk about affordable, secure energy"

The front of a small red foil bag containing Project 32 Crunchy BBQ Chickpea Puffs, handed out on an Air NZ flight today

A small child in a bucket hat, denim dress and orange sneakers walking across the grass towards the large Boy Walking statue at Potters Park. Their poses are identical

A knitted jacket for a baby in white merino, with a regular "dot" pattern worked into the fronts, and bright blue buttons

Five knitted baby hats in a mix of patterns and colours, and a vest knitted in pale pink

A loose sleeveless vest or waistcoat, made up of crocheted granny squares in a muddle of colours - white, browns, yellow, red and navy

A fat white woman in a white two piece outfit and silver net dress posed on a pole, holding on with one knee hooked on the pole, the other leg and torso basically horizontal, toes perfectly pointed. She has one arm raised over her head like she's despairing at how fucking eager people are to have a group of marginalized people to shit on, and she looks fucking great

A screenshot promoting RNZ's Saturday Mornings show, with an interview with Hilary Cass, horrible disingenuous transphobe, except for some reason they describe it as:

"New prescriptions for puberty blockers were to be banned by the Government just before Christmas, but an urgent High Court injunction has called a halt to the new regulations and a judicial review is set down for May.

The findings of an independent report and subsequent major clinical trial in the UK prompted the Health Minister Simeon Brown to press pause on the medications for new patients with gender dysphoria.

The four-year Cass Review, carried out for NHS England recommends limiting the use of puberty blockers to research settings. It also urges unhurried holistic care, caution around irreversible treatments, and the recognition of complex factors such as mental health, neurodiversity and social media as possible contributors to the rise in young people questioning their gender.

Baroness Dr Hilary Cass joins Susie live from the UK."

Two balls of yarn on a table with newly started projects attached to them. On the left is a warm yellow yarn and the beginning of a wrist warmer, in a bumpy textured fabric. On the right is a violently pink, fuzzy yarn being knitted on wooden needles into a scarf with a triangular tip

A white woman's hand holding an old fashioned gold coloured doorknob, which has been wholly detached from the door it's supposed to open. The woman and her phone are reflected in the doorknob and you may be able to sense she is slightly exasperated

A very tiny guinea pig with black and orange fur, sitting on a table next to a standard size beer can (Hāpi Daze by Garage Project). She is about one-third the height of the can and staring very sternly at the camera.

Screenshot of Josie Vidal on The Platform's YouTube channel saying "and I guess absolutely no interest of regard in how the world works" in response to the Greens' policy against fast track mining projects

Two baby jackets knitted in a mottled white, pale blue and purple yarn, lying on a violently bright blue tarpaulin, what was I thinking

A knitted jacket and hat for a baby, in soft white yarn. The body and middle band of the hat are worked in a stitch that looks like rows of little scallop shells

A knitted woollen beanie in soft, squishy yarn, with a tall band of penguins smooching all around the circumference

A spread of four large playing cards on a table depicting the Mesa Verde, Black Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon national park sites in gorgeous retro style art

A chaotic arrangement of granny squares crocheted in red, yellow, white, navy, light and dark brown, laid out on a grey table

A child's crochet cardigan lying on a grey table. The cardigan is worked in concentric stripes of purple, pale grey and dark teal starting from the underarm and radiating out to the shoulders, centre opening and hem. The purple yarn has been worked in a half-shell stitch around the cuffs and bottom hem. It closes with a dark gunmetal button one third of the way down the front opening.

A crumpled crochet hexagon with concentric stripes in purple, pale grey and dark teal

Photo of a very bright cyberpunk board game set up on a table (Shadow Moon Syndicates, published by Arkus Games)

A screenshot from Meta announcing changes to their privacy policy ie using "your interactions with AIs" to "personalise your experiences and ads" which means "suggesting content like posts that you may find interesting and reels to watch" because what literally any human user of Facebook wants at this point is more fucking spam cluttering their feed, good job, Mark

An electronic billboard on the Embassy Theatre in Wellington reading "Have you voted yet? Why not? Because it's STV don't vote more than 3"

"We do, however, in considering the Media Council's decision, disagree with their finding on balance and fairness. RNZ interviewed people who had direct relationships with Alex. Those were their stories to tell. It sends an alarming message to newsrooms if they are expected to balance first-hand perspectives from people directly involved in a story and information contained in verified documentation with second-hand sources."

Two women in the distance (my mother and grandmother) walking away from the camera along a rough sandy beach (Cheltenham in Auckland), fringed with pōhutukawa

Screenshot of a post on the Herald's Facebook page about the Green Party chief of staff's resignation, featuring the laugh emoji

A small child, face obscured by a heart emoji, wearing a poncho and oversized beret crocheted in thick stripes of black, purple, red, yellow and aqua yarn

Photo of very pink and purple board game components themed around a strip club, including paper money, tokens depicting shot glasses and champagne flutes, and a long dance stage in the middle of the board

Master Shake saying "literally hundreds"

Screenshot of a sponsored post on Instagram advertising the World Food Programme's relief campaign in Gaza. Instagram has posted a disclaimer at the bottom just so you know they don't give a fuck about helping starving Palestinians

Screenshot of Bluesky search page, demonstrating vibrantfacts has never posted about China except for this post

Two Bluesky posts. The first is @oldmatecans chanting "Jelly and ice cream when the Platform dies" and the second is me recounting how my 4-year-old will present me with a bowl and spoon and point at the kitchen saying "freezer" when I tell her she can't have ice cream, like a cat bringing me a dead mouse because I can't hunt properly

A screenshot from the Parliament website with my submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill, reading: "I oppose the Regulatory Standards Bill. It is a partisan attempt to rig the entire machine of government in favour of an unpopular and unworkable set of "principles" which do not represent the best interests of the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. I support the much more detailed submissions of Dr Jane Kelsey and Dr Ganesh Rajaram Ahirao, and urge the Select Committee to listen to them and other experts who are able to address the technicalities, context and potential harms of this Bill. My recommendation: reject this Bill in its entirety."

A photo taken from a high building showing the Wellington harbour. The sky is overcast and a very bright rainbow is arcing across the sky and touching down on Matiu / Somes Island

A split screen photo. On the left is a small baby, smiling and swaddled in white sheets on a hospital bed. On the right is the same girl, now four, dressed in an aggressively floral winter coat and checkerboard leggings, going out for a walk and still smiling.

Me, a fat white woman in a black T shirt with the words "Sweat With Pride" on the front, holding a purple water bottle and looking unimpressed with myself

A piece of knitted fabric being held up to the camera. It is striped using solid black yarn with a vibrant pink, purple and red variegated yarn

A white woman's hand holding a oiece of knitted fabric, still on the needles, in red and light grey. The most recently knitted rows are in a geometric colourwork pattern

The Millennium Falcon flies away from the exploding Death Star. The caption reads "Toitū te Tiriti"

A small pink baby with dark hair, dressed in a white onesie, curled up like a kidney bean in her mama's lap.

A boardgame in a plain, matte black box with the name "Nightshift" printed on top, sitting on a grey table

A screenshot from YouTube reading "Current subscribers: 50"

Google News results reading "Social media strife: Greens coleader edits chocolate bar post after PM's warning", "NZ Minister wrapped up in Māori lanfuage chocolate bar row", "Davidson defies chocolate ad bar", "Ardern 'caught red-handed being a hypocrite" and "Marama Davidson told off for Whittaker's post - but which other Ministers have..."

Major Kira Nerys, flanked by Commander Sisko, looks intensely irritated and says "it ANNOYS us"

Screenshot of a submission on the Social Security Amendment Bill. Reads, "Ko Stephanie Rodgers tōku ingoa.

I was born in 1983 to a young solo mum and spent the earliest part of my life being supported by the Domestic Purposes Benefit, while my mother was able to access the Training Incentive Allowance to put herself through university and build a successful career as a lawyer. It was not easy.

I am making this submission against the Social Security Amendment Bill because its proposals are unnecessary, counterproductive, take no account of the actual reality of life for beneficiaries, and has the potential to cause grievous harm to whānau, to children, and to people with longterm or permanent illness and disability.

The uncomfortable truth for this Bill and this Goverment is that benefit sanctions do not work. You cannot starve someone, or their child, into finding a job when there are no jobs. You cannot CV workshop someone into economic productivity when the economy is in the toilet. You cannot bully a sick person into health. You cannot money manage someone into prosperity when their number one problem is not having enough money to begin with.

This is legislation driven not by evidence nor common sense, but simple cruelty towards those who have no choice but to rely on the state to support them. It is a waste of time for everyone involved and will only increase the barriers and costs involved in operating the welfare state. It is possible that that's the point. " (continued)

A tall round cake covered in bright purple icing, with a golden number "3" on top and decorated with paper butterflies