"Cis allies" being asked to provide "protection"

[OlennasWimple]

Can we talk about something that seems to be happening a lot at the moment: "cis allies" (note the " " ) are being asked to, in essence, prove their ally credentials but also take the risk and do the hard work apparently in order to protect transwomen (in particular) and transmen from attacks by terfs.

Just in the last week or so, there has been the video of the protestors on the stairs at the Jam Jar venue, which Bristol Sisters has claimed are "cis allies". There was a call out for "cis allies" to escort trans people home at night because they were scared that the terfs were in town and thus trans people were at risk of violent attack. The Free the She Wolf campaign explicitly asked for "cis allies" to attend the protest outside court in order to provide a human shield to protect the trans protesters who were going to be there.

And it's not just in person that "cis allies" are expected to get involved. When I posted the NUS slide presentation on "How to deal with terfs", one of the authors tweeted something along the lines of "Urgh, can a cis ally sort this out", and lo and behold a few new posters popped onto the thread to object to it, and of course MsIntern tweeted that she would get some of her MNHQ pals to take it down. (The slides also contain the suggestion that delegates "put yourself in between trans people and the TERFS")

What is going on here? How is the narrative growing that trans people are a) at significant risk of physical harm from terfs whilst also b) being significantly weaker than "cis allies" so they need their protection? Why are so many people apparently so keen to do this - to prove their woke credentials? Because they are hanging onto the coat tails of an exciting new movement and want to remain part of the gang? Why are so many of them women, when surely if you were looking for bouncers and security guards to keep you safe, you would want big burly men? (Pesky biology meaning that they are stronger than terfs)

Is this a new phenomenon? Have straight women always been asked to sacrifice themselves to the cause for no reward? Or is this just the TRA equivalent of making the sandwiches and putting away the chairs at the end of the meeting?

[HopScotchy]

Erm yes. This is nothing new bar the 'cis' label.

[UpstartCrow]

I see it as identical to MRA's who want to sit around playing video games all day. Its a performance, a parody of how they see things work at the moment.
Men are supposed to go out and earn the main income, therefore to subvert this, MRA's refuse.
TRA's are acting out how women hide behind big strong men.

[RedToothBrush]

Numbers and the appearance of numbers are important politically.

See Trump and his inauguration and the 'biggest crowds ever' in comparison to Obamas crowds and Clinton's popular vote. Its about legitimacy.

TRAs are actually small in number, though very well organised. That also makes the ultimately politically expendable and ignorable. Finding ways to inflate numbers or make them look like a bigger political force (and vote winner) is important to the movement.

[LightofaSilveryMoon]

It is also classic DARVO, of course Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.

[UpstartCrow]

You can see it happening now on another thread, the insistence that feminism = equality, and the reframing of what 'equality' means.
What they are doing is ''if you want to be treated the same as us you have to behave the same as us''.

It's an abusive, controlling tactic. Abusers setting the terms and parameters of the discussion. And nothing the victim does is good enough, they keep trying and jumping through the hoops only to be told they are still second class.

[CircleSquareCircleSquare]

I think it’s called “women please do the labour”.

[LightofaSilveryMoon]

And to avoid ambiguity, I mean that some MRAs always pose themselves as the victim, always.

[thebewilderness]

Part of the argument transgender identified males make about restroom access is that women should act as human shields for them.

[thebewilderness]

In reality it is DARVO. Adult males insisting they are afraid of women and girls assaulting them.

[Whyarealltheusernamestaken]

Sorry and no disrespect but I don’t know what these acronyms mean. If this is meant for the general public maybe assume we are all ignorant (but caring) and want to help :)

[OlennasWimple]

Upstart - yes, that makes sense. (Well, it doesn't because it's all bonkers) But they aren't hiding behind big strong men, they want to hide behind me

Red - yes, swelling the ranks is a classic technique, isn't it. Even if they are ranks of masked eejits

HopScotchy - I'm thinking of other SJW type campaigns, and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall women being expected to be on the front line in place of men? It was men like Swampy who were chaining themselves to trees or boarding boats or sabotaging hunts. Women were and are certainly involved - three of the six Greenpeace activists who boarded the Shell oil platform in 2015 were female, and I know various women from back in the day who were actively involved in stuff that would scare the hell out of the average TRA. But this was women campaigning alongside men, not doing it for them while the men sit behind a computer screen and wiffle about how words are literal violence

[thebewilderness]

There is the assumption that people will recognize a "cis" person when they see one.
1, these transgender identified males have no right to impose gender on anyone according to their own lights.
2, I suspect it is part of the effort to normalize the gender distinction that replaces the sex distinction.

[OlennasWimple]

Whyare - which acronyms?

thebewilderness - maybe we should say that we're prepared to share public toilets with any transwoman who changes the loo roll, wipes up the mess around the basin and tells the manager that there's a broken lock and a blockage that need looking at?

[thebewilderness]

The purpose of raising the trans umbrella in 2005 was to include so many people that they would be the majority so that majority could rule.

[UpstartCrow]

OlennasWimple
they aren't hiding behind big strong men, they want to hide behind me

Yes, they are acting out a reverse, a parody. Its supposed to be a lesson in 'equality'.
So they hide behind women, and ask for women to escort them safely home because they are scared of gender critical women.

[WillowWept]

Who do they think is going to be doing the attacking? It's not women. I cannot think of a single example of any woman attacking trans activists.

So what they're really asking is that woman protect men from potential male violence. Sickening.

I attended the women's place meeting in London. Coldest day of year. Suspended transport due to show and the people freezing cold and risking their safety to protest? Young women

[PollyGasson24]

So what they're really asking is that woman protect men from potential male violence. Sickening.
Anyone else despair that men will ever sort out the problems they actually create themselves? Whether men identifying as men /women/ something else.

[Battleax]

What are these dangerously violent feminists all supposedly using as weapons? Bookmarks? Crochet hooks? Laser pointers? That’s about all you’d get if I dredged up a local feminist death posse.

Honestly, I’m over saying “it would be hilarious if...”; It’s just hilarious. Who really believes this stuff?

[thebewilderness]

It doesn't have to be true. It doesn't matter if it is true or not. It's out there.
The goal is to get the story of how afraid transgender people are of "TERFS" out into the daily chat. Remember that saying:
A lie can make it around the world before the truth gets its shoes on.

[Battleax]

We need to be pushing back hard against the use of “TERF” if they had to say it in full, it would sound as ridiculous as it is.

[Battleax]

I.e “blah de blah type radical feminists are attacking people” just doesn’t sound believable.

By using “TERF” they obscure the meaning.

[LightofaSilveryMoon]

So: Sun headline: MASKED BLOKES SCARED OF WOMEN!!!

[Whyarealltheusernamestaken]

Sorry am I rude for asking what CIS, NUS, MRA, TRA means? I want to support but sometimes it’s a foreign language