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Feminism: Sex & gender discussions

Allison Bailey to sue Stonewall

999 replies

OhHolyJesus · 27/06/2020 08:20

There is a crowdfunder so I won't share the link but here a part of the text. It's long but brilliant and this isn't the half of it. Off to find my wallet...


The new trans activism: all scrutiny and critical voices labelled ‘transphobic’  
In early 2018, when I first heard that plans were underway to make the lives of trans people easier, my reaction was that this was a good thing and I did not give it a second thought.  I kept coming across the term ‘TERF’ but ignored it.  I thought that bigots were simply being called out.  
Then one day I clicked on a link: terfisaslur.com where someone had collated the online abuse that was being directed at women who I realised had entirely valid concerns and questions about the wisdom of replacing sex with gender. 
I learnt that the new trans activism wants to smash the distinctions between men and women; replacing sex with notions of gender identity; making sexual difference a matter of self identification; and demands that any and every man that wishes to identify as a woman must be allowed to do so.
I learnt that the new trans activism is focusing, inexplicably, on young children and declaring them ‘trans’; treating puberty as a disease to be blocked with powerful drugs; delivering our young people into the arms of a multi-million pound industry of big pharmaceutical companies and plastic surgeons. 
I saw that the same males who would have society regard them as women, were quick to brandish knives, axes, baseball bats and nooses, as they threatened with rape women who questioned the wisdom of replacing sex with gender —TERFs.
I realised that the new trans activism operated a crude but effective system of punishment and reward: agree with every demand of the trans lobby and be safe; object and face vilification, abuse, boycott, character assassination and cancellation.
I was horrified (and terrified).
I wanted to look away, to pretend that I had not seen it; that it did not reveal the worst woman-hating, lesbian hating, misogyny that I have ever come across in my lifetime. 
I did not look away and I urge others not to either.  Thanks to brave women who have come before me, such as the late, great, Magdalen Berns, whose courage and no nonsense approach to calling out the new trans activism as the men’s rights movement it so clearly is, gave me courage.
I realised that I did not have to accept that any man can claim to be legally a woman, without having to undergo any hormone or surgical intervention, psychological evaluation or risk assessment. 
I realised that it was okay and necessary to say that it is reckless and naive to think that men will only identify as women if they are stunning and brave and harmless: that the wicked, abusive, predatory, unwell and downright cantankerous will, by some miracle, refuse to take advantage of free and easy access to women, to their politics, safe spaces, sports, legal protections and identities.
I was shocked to discover that significant numbers of male sex offenders are permitted to identify as women and nothing is being done to stop them.  In England and Wales, some 40 per cent or more of trans identified males in the prison population are men with convictions for sex offences, including rape and possession of the most serious indecent images of children.  I read a steady stream of news reports from around the world of males who identify as women committing serious sex offences.
It is repugnant to me and wholly unacceptable, and frankly unbelievable, that the new trans activism demands that sex crimes committed by males who identify as women are recorded as having been committed by women; and that these males can demand to be referred to by female pronouns.
I discovered that women incarcerated in prison are left vulnerable to serious sexual assault and mental anguish, as males, including sex offenders, are locked up with them. The new trans activism demands that a man’s desire to identify as a woman is more important than the right of imprisoned women to safety and dignity.  These women have no way to escape, no choice, they are locked up. I do not see how this is anything other than state facilitated abuse and mental torture.
Where there should have been discussion, investigation and inquiry, there has been the silencing of concerned and critical voices; not voices from the far right, but from women like me, who are of and from the progressive left.
Mantras have been chanted because the new trans activism is a movement that cannot bear scrutiny: TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN; TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS; TRANS PEOPLE ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE; PROTECT OUR TRANS SIBLINGS, and so on, do nothing to engage with and address the serious concerns that exist about replacing sex with gender.
The new trans activists are joined by politicians, journalists, lawyers, writers, entire organisations, and assorted celebrities, in the chanting of these mantras to shut down debate, while others who are appalled at what they see happening are too afraid to speak out. It is cult like behaviour, it is Orwellian, and it has disgraced and shamed a generation.
Labelling all critical voices ‘transphobic’ is a cynical political ploy of the new trans activism. It must be resisted.  
Surviving child sexual abuse: understanding that women and girls are oppressed because of their sex and not their gender identity
The man who sexually abused me as a 9 year old little girl; the man who targeted my single-parent mother; the man who told me that I could trust him whilst he slipped drugs into my orange squash to render me helpless as he sexually assaulted me, was tried and convicted of multiple sexual assaults against me in 2015, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was released from prison last month (May 2020) to serve out the rest of his sentence on licence.  
I make this disclosure now because I feel compelled to stand in solidarity with other women with similar experiences of male physical and sexual violence. It is not weaponising trauma to say so, any more than recounting racist abuse is.  
We must not allow men or women to bury, minimise and ignore the visceral reality of male violence.  We must not allow the new trans activism to force survivors back into the closet; this would be an abuser’s charter.  
It should be a cause of great alarm that the new trans activism takes such a regressive and shaming attitude to disclosures of abuse. This culture of denial and belittling has been the bedrock and the hallmark of every abuse scandal. It is a red flag that signals a safeguarding catastrophe in the making.
It is women like me whose lives have been torn apart and seriously blighted by wanton acts of male violence that know that men are often not who they say they are or claim to be. 
I know that conflating sex with notions of gender identity will leave women with no legally enforceable boundaries against any man.  
I know that if the new trans activism is not brought to heel, women will disappear as a political class.

OP posts:
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ahumanfemale · 27/06/2020 08:25

Wow!

What is she suing them for exactly? I can think of a few reasons, but wondering her angle.

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twoHopes · 27/06/2020 08:27

Here is an extract on the case against them:

The case against Stonewall (& my chambers)

The case that I am bringing is that I have been subjected to victimisation because of the concerns I raised about Stonewall’s actions.

It alleges that I have been indirectly discriminated against because both my chambers and Stonewall treat people such as me who hold gender critical beliefs as being bigoted and unworthy of respect. Those people are overwhelmingly women. This treatment is therefore indirectly discriminatory against women.

I am suing both my chambers and Stonewall because Stonewall caused and induced the treatment to which I was subjected by my chambers.

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BovaryX · 27/06/2020 08:28

I saw that the same males who would have society regard them as women, were quick to brandish knives, axes, baseball bats and nooses, as they threatened with rape women who questioned the wisdom of replacing sex with gender

OhHoly


Thank you for posting this. This paragraph is particularly striking. We currently live in an era where threats of violence or actual violence are ignored or justified depending upon the target. The violent misogyny on display is shocking.

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Prawnofthepatriarchy · 27/06/2020 08:29

When I search "Alison Bailey stonewall" nothing comes up.

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Winesalot · 27/06/2020 08:31

Thanks for posting.

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twoHopes · 27/06/2020 08:31

You'll find the crowdfunder if you go to her Twitter account:

mobile.twitter.com/bluskyeallison

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PronounssheRa · 27/06/2020 08:33

Wow, brave women

Prawn

2 Ls in her first name Allison Bailey

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wrongsideofhistorymyarse · 27/06/2020 08:35

Good for her. I hope she wins.

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KingofDinobots · 27/06/2020 08:39

Amazing. I’ll donate.

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twoHopes · 27/06/2020 08:44

She's an absolutely brilliant woman and a barrister so is bound to put forward an airtight case. Add to that the fact that she's black and lesbian so avoids the horrible Karen/white feminist trope and is squarely in the category of people Stonewall should be "helping".

I'd love to see how the hacks at the Guardian explain this one away.

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Binterested · 27/06/2020 08:45

I think they’ll be happy to Karen her.

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Al1Langdownthecleghole · 27/06/2020 08:45

Superbly written, off to do some digging. I hope this gets a lot of publicity.

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SisterWendyBuckett · 27/06/2020 08:47

Thank you Allison. You are an incredible woman and I'm so grateful for everything you're doing Thanks

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Dances · 27/06/2020 08:49

Thank you Alison.

I was also a victim of child sexual abuse. I cant even talk about even now in real life. I can talk about it online and I gave just recently started doing that. I have just been mocked and lied about on Twitter by some so called comedian, for talking about on a now deleted thread. I do not understand why some people will go to any lengths to defend this vicious ideology. I really do despair sometimes.

You are right. Stonewall is front and centre to blame for this.

I will contribute to your fund. I hope that the guilty are jailed for the harm they have done to young people.

Thank you

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Deltoids1 · 27/06/2020 08:54

Brava Allison!

Although I had a lump in my throat reading that. Just like JKR she’s had to unveil her own abuse to justify her position. Is it going to come to that for all of us? In order to be taken seriously (with employers, etc) will we all have to share horrifying detail of our own abuse by men?
It makes me sad, sad that successful, intelligent women like this will not be listened to.

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CourtneyLurve · 27/06/2020 08:54

Worth reading her entire statement over at crowd justice. Un-fucking-beleivable that a charity/lobby group had MEETINGS and helped tailor her employer's investigation outcome.

- Individuals within my chambers were liaising with Stonewall in the days following the launch of the LGB Alliance,

- Stonewall were involved in eliciting complaints against me from third party organisations and directing them to my head of chambers.

- The process by which chambers was deciding how to deal with me was being shared with Stonewall, and Stonewall were strategising on how to shape its outcome, including in relation to specific internal meetings at chambers.

- “Roundtable” and “data gathering” meetings appear to have been held between my chambers and Stonewall in which I was discussed.

None of this was known to me at the time, and none of it was known to me until Stonewall provided its second response to the Subject Access Request.

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BovaryX · 27/06/2020 08:55

I'd love to see how the hacks at the Guardian explain this one away

The Guardian doesn't cover news it deems problematic. That is one reason its readers who fail to access other media beyond Twitter, are so detached from external reality and constantly shocked and awed by election results.

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Janeaustensquill · 27/06/2020 08:59

Donated. Posted to my Facebook. Good for her - I have so much admiration for the women standing up to be counted.

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thelikelylass · 27/06/2020 09:00

We are with you Alison.

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PronounssheRa · 27/06/2020 09:03

CourtneyLurve

Christ, that is appalling and shocking.

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NonnyMouse1337 · 27/06/2020 09:03

Oh wow, thanks for sharing this. I'll donate today. All the best Allison!! You're incredible for taking this on.

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TheShoesa · 27/06/2020 09:04

Thanks for sharing this OhHolyJesus

I hope (although doubt) that this case gets lots of publicity

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LangClegTheBeardedVulture · 27/06/2020 09:04

Reading that turned my stomach. I’ve contributed and I hope others will too.

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BirdyCheepCheep · 27/06/2020 09:05

What an amazing woman.

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Battytwatty · 27/06/2020 09:05

Donated. Thanks for making me aware of this. I don’t do twitter

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