Complaining about an "anti-TERF" workshop at YIWW - help please!

Thank you. Te*f is a slur, they could have run that event without the bigotry.

Well done Grace

More power to your elbow Grace

• are misogynistic, stupid and dangerous.

Not ‘pre’ misogynistic

Sorry my formatting hasn’t had coffee yet

Hi OP. Thanks for taking action on this. These organisers who are happy to use an offensive term against older feminists (they think- but actually the term TERF gets used against anyone dissenting so it’s just a term of abuse... ) pre misogynistic, stupid and dangerous.

Maybe if they think they are woke they don’t want to be encouraging hate speech against a protected characteristic in the EqA 2010: lesbians.
You could make it quite short if you want.

Dear organisers, you’ve used the word TERF as it if we’re a neutral description word. It’s not. Are you happy that lesbian women are being called TERF because they won’t have sex with penises? Because they object to men in lesbian venues and spaces?

^Are you happy that the TERF word is being used against lesbians to call for them to be physically manhandled out from spaces which claim to be LGBT friendly? To make them feel unwelcome in their own lesbian and gay ‘village’ spaces which generations of lesbians have worked to build together with gay men? Whuch provide a lifeline out of isolation and a real life (not online) community for lesbians that they should be able to freely access? Where lesbian-owned and run businesses offerinf lesbian- friendly goods and services should be able to flourish?
Are you happy that the TERF word is used to advocate physical and verbal violence against lesbians?^

Are you aware that being a lesbian is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 therefore anti-lesbian rhetoric such as TERF is not only offensive and dangerous to lesbians (and to all women) but could also be illegal under EqA when used against lesbians? Is your session actively trying to exclude lesbians on purpose and to make lesbians feel unsafe, and/or is your session intending to make lesbians actually be unsafe? Which would be a police matter.

Point them to the London 2018 and Manchester 2018 Pride threads - links on here
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3443042-The-misogyny-continues-in-Manchesters-Gay-Village

I think this would be exceeding useful for you GraceMarks. It is imperative that people understand why women are speaking out, what the issues are and why the knee jerk reaction to any criticism of Self ID by using the words transphobic and TERF is intellectually lazy and dishonest.
Citizens of any country, (one that allows free speech!) have the right and indeed had the permission of the Government to make submissions on the proposed change in the GRA. I hope you read the three demands that SUFW made of our Government. Reasonable
demands which have been met with a deferral of Self ID proposal here in NZ.

The extract below is from Ani O'Brien's brilliant speech at the Speak Up for Women Conference in Auckland, NZ, on February 26.

Her take on the use of the term TERFS. I hope it is helpful.

Now, before we go on I want to clarify for those of you who do not know that the word “TERF” is a slur. It may once have been a benign descriptor for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist” but it is now used as an insult and a silencing tactic.

Much like the word “transphobic” it has been so liberally slung around that if applying popular usage of the word virtually everyone in this room would qualify as a TERF

<span class="italic">If you do not believe that transwomen are 100% biological females you are a TERF</span>.
<span class="italic">If you think putting violent male criminals in women’s prisons is a bad idea you are a TERF</span>.
<span class="italic">If you want women and girls to be able to change into their togs in the female changing rooms at the swimming pool without fear of an entirely intact male exposing his genitalia (and be completely within his rights to do so) you are a TERF</span>.

If you think it is unfair that male-bodied athletes can compete in women’s sports competitions you are a TERF.
If you are a lesbian or heterosexual man and refuse to consider transwomen as sexual partners because you are not sexually attracted to male bodies you are a TERF
Have you bought Whittaker’s limited edition Plunket chocolate? TERF.
Do you say breastfeeding instead of chestfeeding? Utter TERF.
Have you spelt ‘transwoman’ as one word instead of two? TERF
If you believe that we are born male or female with the exception of a miniscule number of intersex people and cannot change our biological sex you are a TERF.
And, if NZ twitter is anything to go by, if you defer a Bill due to insufficient public consultation, you too are a TERF. Sorry, Tracey!

Ok. Now that we have established that you are all hateful bigots who should “die in a fire” let me take you through the three demands we had for our Government and which they seem to have delivered on.

speakupforwomen.nz/speech-lets-talk-about-sex-self-id-event/

And we're talking about people with gender dysphoria from an early age.

Bear in mind too that under this brave new world men who just like to dress as a woman on Tuesdays, men who are perfectly happy with their male bodies and beards but just like calling themselves women and using women's spaces, men who find cross dressing sexy especially with other women around them in personal spaces, men who have autogynephilia and sex offenders who see a ticket into the sweet shop are also supposed to be able to be 'women' without any questions asked. Stonewall's umbrella is used as standard and includes all the above.

As I said to Dadjoke, it's most people, because most people don't make the random, undefined, stereotype based, arbitrary distinction he does between biological sex and "woman" gender. Then there are a small proportion of zealots who do believe that MTFs (however defined) are actually female. But most people are just being "nice" when they say they (broad Stonewall definition) are women. They don't actually believe it.

It would be well worth finding all the statistics that you can on how many women actually believe Transwomen are Women.

There are several recently taken polls.

Spectator March 2018
Fear and loathing grips the gender debate
James Kirkup

(extract)
How did we get here? How can it be that in modern, democratic and free Britain in the early 21st Century, women are frightened to meet or talk about law, politics and society? Don’t we have institutions and, more important, social norms that say this shouldn’t happen, can’t happen? Shouldn’t this stuff get the attention and interest of politicians who are supposed to listen to all the different strands of public opinion, and ensure that everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard?

Bluntly, why the hell is no one in politics shouting from the rooftops about this stuff? We’re talking about people trying to put the frighteners on Mumsnetters, for goodness sake. In any other area of public life, politicians usually fall over themselves in their rush to speak up for middle-class working mothers. Yet the politicians who were desperate to talk biscuits at Mumsnet Towers are curiously silent about the intimidation that some women now report there.

If this was simply a story of a small number of nasty people online and – sometimes – on the street doing bad things to women who speak up about a political issue, I suspect this problem wouldn’t persist. The relevant legal and political authorities would indeed pay attention to that fear, and maybe even do something, even if that was just listening to those women, meeting them, answering their questions.

But that doesn’t seem to be happening. It’s because those women have been – quite successfully and even skilfully – demonised and stigmatised, put beyond the pale of civilised debate as those who question orthodoxy often are. They’ve been given a name, a name that means they’re bad people, people who should not speak and should not be heard. That name is “Terf,” which once meant “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist” but now appears to stand in its own right as a term of abuse and dismissal alongside the other short, harsh words often used to question the worth and virtue of women.

And that small number of people who direct violence and abuse at “Terfs” are swimming in a larger sea of contempt and dismissal. Their conduct takes place in a social context where hostility to “Terfs” has become not just normal but even amusing, where there is no social cost to talking about and perhaps even inciting violence towards women who hold “unacceptable” views. Simply, some people, including people who would never themselves engage in that sort of violence, are doing things that make violent discourse and even violence look and feel OK. Sadly, they include journalists and politicians, people who parade their support for minority groups but speak about feminist women in terms they would never use about other people." (continues)

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/03/fear-and-loathing-grips-the-gender-debate/

Good article by Amy Dyess here:
TERF Is Hate Speech and It’s Time to Condemn It
Go to the profile of Amy Dyess
Amy Dyess
Oct 25, 2018
For the most part, mainstream media and so-called LGBT organizations have chosen to ignore a specific demographic of the Me Too movement. “TERF” is a slur used to sexually harass, threaten, and silence lesbians. Instead of standing up for female homosexuals, “LGBT” orgs and media are persecuting lesbians and disguising it as social justice. The gaslighting is next level, but the majority of the world is starting to wake up to this injustice. Time’s Up!

TERF was initially used as an acronym that meant Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, but the term has always been used to muzzle women from discussing our rights. For the past year and half, TERF has been widely used as homophobic hate speech aimed at all lesbians. That’s right… ALL lesbians.

You don’t have to be a radical feminist to be labeled a TERF. A lesbian can make it clear she believes trans people deserve human rights and respect, but she’s still a “TERF” because her sexual orientation has an innate boundary. That boundary is same-sex attraction for other adult human females. Lesbians are the only sexual orientation that excludes penis, and that makes us the most dangerous adversary to the patriarchy." (continues)

Extremists don’t believe women, chiefly lesbians, deserve boundaries. That’s what this issue is all about. They disguise their misogyny and homophobia as social justice in order to gain support from people who are misinformed. So-called “progressives” are openly oppressing and condemning the homosexual community, primarily the lesbian community.

The Economist has banned the use of “TERF” in articles and comments because the slur “may have started as a descriptive term but is now used to try to silence a vast swathe of opinions on trans issues, and sometimes to incite violence against women.” Unfortunately, too many journalists and sites have decided to do the opposite. Even editors are doubling down on their misogyny and homophobia. (continues)

Pink News shamefully tried to defend using the term TERF, but even they admitted it’s a slur. “It’s hard to disagree with the claim that TERF has assumed a negative connotation,” Pink News conceded, “but this has to do more with the nature of the beliefs defined by the word, than the word itself”

TERF is more than a slur. It’s hate speech, which is defined as “abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation.” A lesbian is a female homosexual, and it’s homophobic to state otherwise. Lesbians are under attack for being ourselves." (Coninues)

medium.com/@amydyess83/terf-is-hate-speech-and-its-time-to-condemn-it-6efc897ce407

medium.com/@amydyess83/terf-is-hate-speech-and-its-time-to-condemn-it-6efc897ce407

Transwomen are men. The clue is in the name, women can't be transwomen.

If stating reality and biology is transphobia then ok, so transphobia is no longer something wrong or to be worried about. Human right to freedom of belief. Actual facts matter. Women's rights matter.

Whatever names you call me, I won't be backing down on that. This is not about trying to persuade people to be inclusive, this is trying to enforce women's obedience to their own oppression. Fuck right off with that.

Might be worth pointing out that this term is now applied to all those who believe that lesbians are female homosexuals.

That a sexual orientation includes and excludes people as potential sexual partners on the basis of those people's sex is neither prejudiced nor outdated, bigoted or transphobic.

And yet here we are.

If your sexual orientation means you exclude certain people as potential partners on the basis of their sex, you are officially a TERF. Although sexual orientation is a protected characteristic under the EqA, in this way homophobia has been legitimised under the guise of a rights movement.

No need to mention TWAW.

Its worth mentioning that Maria MacLachlan was assaulted by trans activists with banners declaring 'Kill All Terfs'.

This genuinely is hate speech, the words used by a violent minority who want to destroy freedom of speech.

It seems that TERF has just become a term for anybody who does not believe Transwomen are women.

It would be well worth finding all the statistics that you can on how many women actually believe Transwomen are Women.

Thus point how out exactly how many women are being demonized by this nonsense.

Then ask them why such a huge number should be made to feel unwelcome

Oh that's so very true Grace.

Thank you so much for trying to reach out to the sensible people, this sort of language should not be used.

This made me laugh. Come taste chocolate! Do drama! Burn a few witches te*fs

www.yorkhumanrights.org/
This is one of the funders, they look a sensible organisation with laudable aims. They should know how their funding was spent.

Likewise
www.york.ac.uk/womens-studies/staff/
The women's studies director is there. I'd copy in the vice chancellor too. They need to account for university money being spent in this way. Hey! Normal York women, you're te*fs.

I'd point out the use of such offensive language is escalating hostilities, is completely inappropriate, and counter productive

Thank you so much op for doing this. You're a

I think you might get them on 'debate' - the 'human rights city' thing says it encourages debate around human rights. 'Terf' shuts down debate or conversation of any kind.

Funders.

Still women's studies eh? Is that allowed?

And York human rights city? Does that include the right of women to sex based protections?

This though 👀👀👀

yorkinternationalwomensweek.wordpress.com/2019-programme/

There actually seems some normal York people (as opposed to non binary students) involved in other workshops. Maybe they should be copied in. I don't think the Minster would be very impressed to realise it's event had been marketed alongside such hateful activity.