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Are you inadvertently being transphobic? Find out here

133 replies

AskBasil · 03/05/2018 09:18

A lot of Twitter transactivists think Mumsnet is transphobic. Every time women ask for a definition of transphobic, they get blocked, so you may be confused as to whether you're transphobic or not. So I thought I'd be helpful and give you a few examples of what you must not believe, if you don't want to be a transphobe.

If you believe any of the following, you are transphobic:

  • Female mammals gestate their young in their wombs. This includes human mammals.
  • Only females menstruate.
  • A penis is a male organ
  • A vagina is a female organ
  • You can find out whether your baby will be a girl or a boy by going for a scan
  • The duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy.
  • Gay men have male bodies and want to sleep with other men with male bodies
  • Lesbians have female bodies and want to sleep with people with female bodies
  • A woman is an adult human female. A female in this context, means of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilized by male gametes
  • A man is an adult human male. Male in this context means of or denoting the sex that produces gametes, especially spermatozoa, with which a female may be fertilized or inseminated to produce offspring.

These are just some of the basic things you need to stop believing if you want to ensure you don't engage in wrongthink. I hope this is helpful and will guide you in ensuring that you learn to think correctly and stop being a terrible bigot.

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FermatsTheorem · 04/05/2018 09:00

Especially women's sports' scholarships. Object to transwomen taking those? Transphobe.

YourVagesty · 04/05/2018 08:57

also, if you object to transwomen being allowed onto all women's shortlists, grant schemes, scholarships, whatever. Guess what you are?

Huh huh HUH?

EmpressOfSpartacus · 04/05/2018 08:37

I agree but the TRA will tell you that a boy playing with dolls or a girl playing with cars are actually trans and not just kids playing with toys.

And anyone who actually believes that is sticking to ridiculously old fashioned gender stereotypes.

Then again, in the US liking soccer is a feminine characteristic. Which just proves my point really. Arbitrary and ridiculous.

SimonBridges · 04/05/2018 07:37

Sorry to pick hairs but that's not transphobia, it's just plain old sexism. (Indeed the campaign Let Toys Be Toys which campaigns against the use of gendered stereotypes in toy marketing was started here on mumsnet).

I agree but the TRA will tell you that a boy playing with dolls or a girl playing with cars are actually trans and not just kids playing with toys.

TheVastMajority · 04/05/2018 07:22

I think the three handmaid statements above should be used whenever a TRA makes a statement on mumsnet. It could be the feminist equivalent of the biscuit. We need a handmaid emoji.

TRA: Men can have babies too!
RESPONSE: May The WIne Open!

TRA: It should be Mansnet!
RESPONSE: Under Bird's Eye

TRA: And soon will be!
RESPONSE Blessed be the fruit shoot

blinkowl · 04/05/2018 00:06

So, in case anyone was wondering, the following phrases are also transphobic and should be avoided at all costs:

Breastfeeding is natural
We should be cautious about giving puberty blockers to teenagers who may turn out to not to be trans, given time
Lesbians don't do dick

PosyFossilsShoes · 04/05/2018 00:04

@ToeToToe Captain Birdseye totally has a denial beard.

blinkowl · 04/05/2018 00:00

It's sexist to say that some toys and activities are for boys and others are for girls

Sorry to pick hairs but that's not transphobia, it's just plain old sexism. (Indeed the campaign Let Toys Be Toys which campaigns against the use of gendered stereotypes in toy marketing was started here on mumsnet).

Loving this thread though. Will think of some examples to add, to help out...

OlennasWimple · 03/05/2018 23:52

Wandering past the Tampax aisle without adopting a withering look and a tut.

That's incredibly passive, and all good cis allies owe it to themselves to activate on behalf of others who would find a discussion like this triggering, hurtful and exclusive.

Unless you have staged a protest outside any store with a feminine hygiene aisle and started an online petition to spread the word about how transphobic it all is, I'm afraid you're failing and are probably transphobic as you do so

ToeToToe · 03/05/2018 23:42

Rabbit holes - Transphobic.
Mother Nature - a transphobic bitch

Die in a fire - not transphobic

Captain Birdseye - last seen crying into a plate of fishcakes. (Has since announced via twitter they are enby.)

Jeanhatchet · 03/05/2018 23:13

Wandering past the Tampax aisle without adopting a withering look and a tut.

MipMipMip · 03/05/2018 22:58

Im worried many on AIBU don't realise how transphobic they are. Should this thread be restarted there?

Truscum you made me genuinely laugh out loud at the mirror comment. Grin

EmpressOfSpartacus · 03/05/2018 22:32

Men can have babies too.
It should be Mansnet.
And soon will be.

But then you're excluding the TIM parents so that's transphobic too...

This is complicated. I think Bird's Eye had the right idea.

Potato potato potato.

BlytheByName · 03/05/2018 22:23

I think roast dinners may be transphobic, well chicken ones anyway.
Because of the breast.

Kohoutek · 03/05/2018 22:20

Lying in my Trans Tables Are Beds laughing

BesmirchingMotherhood · 03/05/2018 22:17

Maybe to be sure we’re not going to Transphobe Jail we should just punctuate our sentences with TWAW.

  • What’s for tea transwomen are women?
  • Birds eye fish fingers and fruit shoots transwomen are women.
  • How long til it’s ready transwomen are women?

Etc twaw

Kohoutek · 03/05/2018 22:12

If you want to be watertight, just say Trans Women are Women.
If someone asks what a woman is, repeat it.
If someone asks what the “trans” denotes, repeat it.
If someone says- hey, it’s fine to wear a dress whilst sporting a peen, tell them they’re obsessed by genitals so they feel like a rotton perv.
If someone says- but I don’t identify with the gender I was assigned, because it’s the shit one and pays me less and got me raped, then tell them not to attempt to derail the conversation about mens’ oppression.

AssignedPuuurfectAtBirth · 03/05/2018 22:08

I'be been giggling about those for the last hour

Mumsnet is Mighty

AskAuntLydia · 03/05/2018 22:02

at May the wine open

and Under Bird's Eye

and Blessed be the fruit-shoot

Grin Grin Grin

Cannot stop chortling at those and I haven't even had any wine. The wine's not gone and opened.

Bowlofbabelfish · 03/05/2018 22:02

If you're in a toilet with separate cubicles why does it matter?
If you're physically vulnerable to men because your hormone/ muscle biology makes you vulnerable why does the chromosomal difference matter?
If you have a vagina, surgically constructed or otherwise you are still vulnerable to rape, in a way that a man isn't so why does the difference matter?
If you have a prostate then you may need to get checked for prostate cancer, so yes then it matters.

Ok well toilets. It’s not a transitioned trans woman that’s the issue. It’s the fact that self ID would let any man enter and no woman or girl could challenge that. So safety/safeguarding there. Note that men are the threat.

Women are more vulnerable - hormone treatment doesn’t diminish Male strength much but again, the threat isn’t from the transwoman transitioning and taking hormones, it’s from men self ID big into the space. That makes transwomen vulnerable too.

Rape - again the issue is men. It’s not a trans woman with a reconstructed vagina women are wary of, its men self id ing into the space and us being unable to question or challenge.

The common thread here is that a transwoman who has transitioned is no threat. The threat comes from the consequences of self ID, which allows any man, with fully functioning Male biology into any female space, without right of challenge. Thevthreat to safeguarding of children is similar - it’s not the transitioned transwoman, it’s the self IDd man. And the ‘no need to disclose’ And guides sharing tents with the opposite sex.

There are so many consequences.

SimonBridges · 03/05/2018 22:02

The other day I had to go to my local sexual health clinic.

When I had to fill out my details I was asked my gender and given four options. At no time was I asked what my birth sex was.

So when someone goes in saying they think they have an STD or to get contraception is the HCP transphobic is they ask what junk you have?

SimonBridges · 03/05/2018 21:58

These TRA are so damaging for those who are non-binary who just want to quietly get on with their lives.

Exactly this.

Ereshkigal · 03/05/2018 21:56

That's a bit rich when you want the whole world down a rabbit hole.

Grin
PermissionToSpeakSir · 03/05/2018 21:53

Ooh you're off down the rabbit hole Permission. Not joining you tonight.

That's a bit rich when you want the whole world down a rabbit hole.

Grin
SupermatchGame · 03/05/2018 21:47

Ooh you're off down the rabbit hole Permission. Not joining you tonight.

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