Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Work reproach regarding my social media usage in trans discussions

33 replies

VladmirsPoutine · 27/10/2018 14:34

I'm wondering what, if anything, I can do. I have a Twitter account which among other things I use to tweet news articles, Brexit updates, the bagel offerings at the café down the road and so forth but increasingly I have retweeted people with GC views on the trans discussion.

I do not work in a role related to the social media management of my organisation but we do have a sort of generic social media policy that outlines the usual things such as not bringing the organisation into disrepute. Thus far none of my musings have done so - as it's not a line I wish to cross and I'm very wary of a backlash having seen it happen to others.

However, at some point during the past couple of weeks a senior manager 'had a word' and in effect told me to be more "mindful" of the content I tweet/retweet as the organisation "does not tolerate discrimination". This has never been an issue until my recent tweeting of articles and assorted tweets by those I think are making valid contributions to the wider trans discussion and the role of women within it.

To give you a couple of examples of the things I have tweeted; please do point out where I have crossed the line and stumbled into impudence:

  • Recent news story about a transwoman whom pretended to be a 14 year old boy in order to groom a young girl. I retweeted someone who commented under an article that had used 'Woman' in its headline as opposed to 'Transwoman', something along the lines of; why be a determinist about time because if the predator can be a woman why can't they also be 14 years old.
  • A story about the unfairness of a transwoman who had won a cycling race.
  • The use of the #NoDebate hashtag serving as yet another convenient tool to silence and denigrate women who take an alternative view to the dogmatic "Transwomen are women. Full stop. #NoDebate".

Apologies for the essay but I'm caught between going back to just tweeting about bagels and cream cheese, the occasional news story and leave it at that; but equally I also want to scour twitter for more GC views to retweet as frankly I don't want to be silenced.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
FeminismandWomensFights · 29/10/2018 07:38

This thread is is helpful to see and I completely understand the caution around this. My employer has got various policies that refer to gender when it should legally be sex. I am just thinking how best to approach that.

ShotsFired · 29/10/2018 07:22

Sure - it was "Fear, fence-sitting, compassion for trans people & women’s rights. What to do?" and I got it on the 7th October.

Binglebong · 28/10/2018 21:08

Thanks Shots, I'll contact FPW. Can you tell me the subject header so I ask for the right one?

Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 28/10/2018 18:53

Cheers @ArkeNOTen, I did stumble across that thread on Twitter and whole heartedly agreed with it; despite consciously deciding against retweeting it Grin

OP posts:
ShotsFired · 28/10/2018 12:15

I don't, sorry Bingle, but you can ask FPW for it, or if you pm me an email address I can forward it to you?

ArkeNOTen · 28/10/2018 08:58

Thought you might be interested - thread in Twitter I’ve just seen from someone in your boat OP - very eloquent

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1055511561987674113.html

Binglebong · 27/10/2018 20:13

Have you got a link to that ShotsFired?

ShotsFired · 27/10/2018 18:59

For various reasons I proactively sent the FPFW explanatory email to my line manager with a little preamble to explain why.

He was not aware of any of it bar seeing the odd headline, but after reading the email, he has reassured me that I have his full support should any attempt be made to dox or otherwise negatively affect me via my employer.

What a ridiculous state of affairs where people are now having to pre-empt the thought police.

Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 27/10/2018 18:48

@ArkeNOTen Precisely my dilemma. I feel as though if I 'hide' then it seems I am alone, I'm very sure I'm not alone but there we go.

And with apparently no hint of irony, the voices I seek to question appear to be so loud, dominating and dogmatic in their rhetoric with such unquenchable support, that it renders any other view at best negligible and at worst bigoted cis-menstruators.

OP posts:
Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 27/10/2018 18:37

@Iused2BanOptimist I agree very useful advice here - especially for sounding out my thoughts. I did think I might end up having to create a new account with a pseudonym of sorts but for whatever reason I also thought that in itself is also encroaching on being censored. However, as has been pointed out by PP, which is also a conflict I've been toying with, is ultimately I need a job and I need to pay bills to live - therefore it would be especially unwise to rock that boat. Other than contributing to consultations (GRA) and donating to certain causes - that's pretty much all I can do and I do admit to feeling quite embarrassed about the fact that I don't want to stick my head above the parapet, as it were.

But back to your point - my twitter account is to all intents and purposes a private account but I have in the past and continue to use it professionally. This has never been a problem until I happened to engage in discourse about the trans movement.

When I refer to the social media list it isn't anything particularly nefarious or untoward. It's a generic list of colleagues who have social media accounts that the External team grouped together. Similarly to the way I have a list of US-news journalists or BBC journalists. So in that sense whenever they've a new release they notify the 'social media' list iyswim?

OP posts:
ArkeNOTen · 27/10/2018 18:18

I didn’t know about the Overton Window - thanks for that.

I think you should have a private twitter account too if you want to keep abreast of what’s going on. Use your existing one to share the most common sense and mainstream manifestations of your views. Trevor Phillips being the obvious one as mentioned. I think you should be entitled to have a dialogue with colleagues about factual errors.

Thisnsino viouslt a really prescient question and lots will be dealing with it. If we’re all too scared to say our views others with the same view won’t know they aren’t alone in the minority

rosablue · 27/10/2018 17:48

Thanks for the link to the times piece by Trevor Philips - and yes, that was exactly my thought about being a good thing to retweet as if they said anything about it to you, you can keep saying that you believe in the equalities act and how can they reprimand you for that unless they are saying they don’t support the equalities act which isn’t going to go down well!

Iused2BanOptimist · 27/10/2018 17:32

What a resourceful lot of posters with some top advice.

But I do use my real name and I'm also on a 'social media' list that was made by the External Outreach department who often encourage us to tweet out their statements/blogs/reports and the like.

There seems to be a confusing mix of work and private on your twitter account. When they "encourage " you to tweet out statements is that in your own time or theirs? Is this a private or a work account?

I would treat this account as a work account, purge followers and who you are following, block any managers or at least that one just because, and wind down your use of the account whilst setting up a new anonymous account and carefully following everyone non work related from your other account. Keep work and private separate. Don't follow anyone from work on your new account and block them if they find it.

And follow advice of pp's to keep a record and protect yourself.

2BorNot2Bvocal · 27/10/2018 16:57

Agree get your name taken off the external outreach list. They have no right just to add you. Or stay on it and go back to bagel reviews.

cheminotte · 27/10/2018 16:53

It’s possible the manager who spoke to you was warning you to be careful.
I’d agree that you need to be very careful what you post in your own name and an anonymous account may be better.

ErrolTheDragon · 27/10/2018 16:47

Here's a shareable link to the Trevor Phillips article if anyone wants it

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-extremists-are-putting-equality-at-risk-fjv8skwz0?shareToken=2cc0c88834f61cb125951a1aefeacc37

Charliethefeminist · 27/10/2018 16:30

Great advice from pp, I would add, check the twitter timeline of others on the firm with the same social media status. If they are tweeting pro trans material it might help you.

AspieAndProud · 27/10/2018 16:14

There was a great article by Trevor Philips in the Times (I think!) recently (it’s mentioned in the feminism topic, at least 1 thread about it) that might be worth retweeting as he wrote the equalities act and reckons it is being hijacked

I’d love to see how anyone could discipline staff under the equalities act for tweeting something from the guy who wrote it.

AspieAndProud · 27/10/2018 16:10

Always keep a record of discussions with your line manager. They certainly do.

Coyoacan · 27/10/2018 16:07

Sorry VladmirsPoutine, I misunderstood the nature of your account.

Just as a matter of personal privacy, I don't use my real name anywhere on social media.

rosablue · 27/10/2018 15:56

Do you have a diary or day book or something you could make a note in about the conversation so if anything rears it’s head later you have something contemporaneous to fall back on?

Maybe something along the lines of ‘curious chat with xxx today. Surprised he follows me on twitter but glad to see that he also seems to be worried about the increased discrimination women are suffering’ - sort of deliberately misunderstanding your discussion with him so that if there is any comeback you can say ‘but look, at the time I thought it was curious and there was certainly no element of formal warning or telling off, I thought that he was also worried about the fact that the rights of women, protected under the equalities act, are being pushed aside for others that aren’t even mentioned in the equalities act. I’m sure that you too must agree that it’s very important for diversity to ensure that all listed protected groups are treated equally and any issues are treated seriously because at the moment it seems that women are the group having their rights ignored and removed and I’d really like your help in ensuring that this workplace doesn’t discriminate against women...

There was a great article by Trevor Philips in the Times (I think!) recently (it’s mentioned in the feminism topic, at least 1 thread about it) that might be worth retweeting as he wrote the equalities act and reckons it is being hijacked. Also a good piece by a gay guy that has been recommended several times on here - so if they were reading your account you could at least educate them!

AspieAndProud · 27/10/2018 15:47

I wouldn’t link anything GC to my own name.

Even if my current employers were relaxed about it any future employers might not and they might look at my social media profile. The Internet never forgets.

It might be cowardly and I salute those brave enough to come forward but I have to eat.

Right now the Overton Window* is centred on trans ideology. My only comfort is the belief that it will eventually shift back and the more deranged supporters find out what it’s like to have their misogynistic views thrown back in their faces.

*I’m relatively new here so not sure if the term Overton Window is well known.

The Overton window, also known as the window of discourse, describes the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse. The term is derived from its originator, Joseph P. Overton, a former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, who, in his description of his window, claimed that an idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within the window, rather than on politicians' individual preferences. According to Overton's description, his window includes a range of policies considered politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too extreme to gain or keep public office.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

TrippingTheVelvet · 27/10/2018 15:33

You either need to be removed from the social media list or stop referencing anything 'controversial' on your feeds. If you're removed from the list and have no work colleagues/clients following you, they'd be hard pushed to discipline.

Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 27/10/2018 15:26

@Coyoacan I also don't think it's an unreasonable policy. In fact I'd go so far as to say it should be more robust** as currently it's more or less just a general statement of common-sense values.

**robust if they intend to pick people up on things which don't contravene the policy. Short of expressing ableist, ageist, racist and other deplorable views, everything else seemingly goes...

OP posts:
Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 27/10/2018 15:18

Don’t feel ashamed if you decide the back seat option is the safest for you right now.

@BettyDuMonde I hate to say it but that's exactly how I feel right now.

OP posts: