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Original poster

Mail online criticises Manchester MORF charity for distributing binders to young teens

145 replies

Needmoresleep · 01/12/2018 22:43

A detailed article with quotes from David Davies MP.

dailym.ai/2DV13Nf

Apparently binders are sent to young teenagers in plain packaging behind parents backs. The health implications sound horrific. Where is acknowledgement of parents safeguarding responsibilities?

OP posts:
hackmum · 02/12/2018 21:15

Astonished at the Red Oak tweets. What’s their interest in all this?

OldCrone · 02/12/2018 21:04

They suggest their ‘quality’ binders are the equivalent of sports bras, and won’t cause damage. How do they know?

If they've done any research at all they know that they do cause damage.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2016.1191675

Full version here (on a transgender support website).
transfigurations.org.uk/filestore/binding-project-postprint.pdf

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 02/12/2018 20:54

Just read the (self serving) MORF response posted by pain. Where does this bloody ‘48% of young trans people have attempted suicide’ come from. It is used as a fact and a reason for justifying their actions, yet With no source. .

I am also not convinced by the suggestion that many trans people live in poverty. Many 13 year old wannabe trans men will be living quite comfortable lives accessing YouTube from their warm bedrooms. It is a piss poor justification for sending out potentially harmful stuff behind parents backs. They suggest their ‘quality’ binders are the equivalent of sports bras, and won’t cause damage. How do they know?

Paul Martin, OBE and all, may be a lovely bloke, but what does he really know about social contagion amongst teenage girls? Next, perhaps, he will feel qualified to give dietary advice to their anorexic peers.

It feels like an attempt to win the hearts and minds of our daughters.

Safeguarding, safeguarding, safeguarding....

OP posts:
Rattinghat · 02/12/2018 20:52

Is Japanese rope bondage an LGBT thing?
The workshop is only an hour, let's hope none of the knots get stuck..

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 20:49

Is Japanese rope bondage an LGBT thing?

lgbt.foundation/SWSTakeover

TimeLady · 02/12/2018 20:40

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rightreckoner · 02/12/2018 20:18

What the heck is going on at Red Oaks? Wonder if any MNers have kids there? I'd be highly suspcious after that set of tweets - and awesome work lemonjello getting screenshots.

I wonder if MN could put together some safeguarding principles that we could all cohere around? NSPCC have let us down, likewise so many charities with responsibility for children. Perhaps we could put together a list of safeguarding principles. Not about trans - but about common sense things that you must do if you are dealing with children.

Bowlofbabelfish · 02/12/2018 20:16

IF binders are medical devices (and I don’t know if they are or not) then I think there could be grounds to report to the MHRA.

But it would depend on if they were classed as such.

Rattinghat · 02/12/2018 20:07

The fact that there is a treasurer and a secretary on the committee is clearly to give the impression that it is a constituted organisation. You don't need a treasurer unless you have money coming in.

Bowlofbabelfish · 02/12/2018 20:06

Interesting. Amazing how when you shine a light on this things just disappear.

Keep talking, ladies. Keep talking.

This is what will get the public talking - because most people will have thought it was just some daft metropolitan crap that didn’t affect them. But when you start on something that could affect people’s kids, people take notice. Suddenly it’s closer to home, and the vast, vast majority of parents will see this and be appalled.

Rattinghat · 02/12/2018 20:04

Binders affect and retard the development of breast tissue in young girls, so when worn by girls still developing, they would count as a medical device. In grown women, I think they would just be an uncomfortable kind of corset.

Original poster
Needmoresleep · 02/12/2018 20:02

Just been digging around the Charities Commion. MORF does not appear to be a charity in its own right, but a service provided by the LGBT Foundation. Even then it only gets one mention in the latest available annual report.

I assume the grant figures used by the Mail, if correct, were obtained from the organisations making the grants as it is not possible to work out from the LGBT foundations accounts.

Pictures of binders have also disappeared from the MORF website. Someone is having a busy day.

Committee list was all ‘male’ first names.

OP posts:
Bowlofbabelfish · 02/12/2018 19:58

Thank you.

I notice the blog says there are no manufacturers of binders in the Uk. That doesn’t surprise me. It also suggests that they are not licensed here.

Thoughts:

  1. Are binders a medical device?
If so, they are subject to strict rules - you cannot just go supplying certain medical devices which are not licensed if you’re publically funded, so..
  1. What is the legality of an organisation (if publically funded eg by lottery money) sending out unlicensed medical devices? Especially seeing as those devices have zero positive effects and potentially serious negative physical effects?

I suspect MORF could find themselves in breach of a few of the rules on supply of medical devices here. As well as breaking every safeguarding rule in the book.

EverardDigby · 02/12/2018 19:55

And they were all male were they

Trans men maybe?

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 02/12/2018 19:55

This was a response to the article

Mail online criticises Manchester MORF charity for distributing binders to young teens
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 19:54

This reply has been deleted

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ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 19:52

The chair in 2012 was Elliot "Ewok" Brooker - don't know own how often roles change.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 19:49

I imagine it's not sanctioned by the school - it's probably someone in the PTA or something.

Hyppolyta · 02/12/2018 19:47

What is going on at Red Oak Primary School?
I dont understand how this is relevant to the primary school, or why they have chosen to defend MORFs actions.

Id have serious concerns if my childrens school acted like that.

Bowlofbabelfish · 02/12/2018 19:47

MORF. Interesting name.

This is child abuse. Encouraging self harm, grooming. And with public funding.

I am horrified.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 19:45

I found this though...

runtransboyrun.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/morf-binder-scheme-fundraiser/

LemonJello · 02/12/2018 19:45

And they were all male were they?

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 02/12/2018 19:44

It was first names only, so they weren't googleable.

EverardDigby · 02/12/2018 19:43

The LGBT Foundation board will be in their annual report, but if MORF is just a project rather than a separate charity there's no requirement to make these details public.

Bowlofbabelfish · 02/12/2018 19:39

Did anyone get a screenshot of the committee names or know where these are available? Surely this is info that must be registered somewhere?

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