I don't want to talk to any of my friends anymore

Man who has it all twitter guy is selling kids tees flipping the script printed on children's clothing.

You never see that written on boys’ clothes, do you?

No you're quite right, you don't.

The peaks just keep coming, I’m afraid.

Check out the stories of transwidows, they’ll strengthen your feminist resolve like nothing else.

There are lots of GC Facebook groups where you can find new friends, women who won’t shame you because you know the difference between a male human and a female human and you aren’t willing to pretend you can’t.

Some admins will want to vet you a bit first.

Always ask yourself the "Is it me or is it them" question, HarryHarry. It is so important to be honest with ourselves. Be wary of people who do not ask themselves that question.

@Ninkanink This “be kind” thing pisses me off! I have been attacked by men countless times because I was afraid of them but instead of trusting my instincts and telling them to fuck off, I stayed silent because I didn’t want to be rude.

I was going to buy some Peppa Pig socks at the weekend but I noticed they had “Be kind” stitched on them. They were aimed at little girls of course. You never see that written on boys’ clothes, do you?

@ExhaustedFlamingo I totally understand what you’re saying. I’ve gone round and round in my head asking myself “Am I wrong about this?” especially as I am the only person in my social circle who has questions and concerns. I hate finding myself on the same side as people I really dislike, or who hold abhorrent views on other topics, or who probably really are horrible transphobes. I hate feeling like a bigot. But I really do think I’m right to be against some aspects of trans ideology.

I’ve also wondered what I would do is my son or my daughter came out as trans. I would hope that I’ve done enough to teach them that they are perfect just the way they are and don’t need to change anything about themselves, and that gender is regressive bullshit, and that WHAT they are in terms of biological sex has no bearing on WHO they are as people. But if they really believed that they were the opposite sex? If I felt certain that we’d addressed all any underlying mental health issues, I guess I’d have to support them through their transition. It’s such a tough one!

I welcome this thread, as I had to de friend and block a number of people on social media last week, after I posted something they objected to. Saying sex is based on biology, and that I'm a Woman, turned people (who I thought were friends in RL,) abusive, aggressive towards me.
It is a cult, isn't it . If you don't believe, you must be punished

That's all trans ideology is: a faith-based position.

Yes, indeed. I'm startled every time I try to discuss these things with people - people who will berate others loudly for their ignorance. Yet you ask a couple of questions, and it's clear they've not actually done the barest minimum of research, nor taken a moment to think carefully throught their position. They've just heard 'TWAW' and think it sounds kind of righteous, so they've nodded along. Bit depressing, really, how easily people are seduced by a punchy sounding slogan.

Many, many women have been where you are.

There are hundreds of thousands of us. They can’t eradicate us all.

It is not phobic or hateful to speak material reality.

It is not phobic or hateful to speak biological fact.

It is not phobic or hateful to say I am not okay with men demanding access to women’s safe spaces.

‘Be kind’ more often than not = ‘Know your place; Shut your mouth.’

A useful insight from parents and clinicians on the perils of the current medicalisation of young people.

www.bayswatersupport.org.uk/j-k-rowling

OP @resistersUK is there ok on twitter. Is it Ireland you need? Quite a few of the UK branches have their own twitter so if you can find out which you are you can follow.

@ExhaustedFlamingo
I completely see where you are coming from. I probably fall down the middle. There are a range of views in the 'resistance' to policies which replace sex with self-identified gender, but maybe the more black & white, certain sounding, voices are heard more.

Isn't it strange that I can be friends and cordial colleagues with people who believe that they will go to heaven because they're baptised churchgoers, but I will go to hell because I reject Jesus and practice a different faith, and we can discuss our different beliefs together, attend each other's weddings, Christenings and Bar Mitzvahs, and trust each other to babysit? I have never been treated with hatred by Christians for not sharing their faith.

People of different faiths, who insist on only doctrinaire adherence to the dictates of their own faith are respected only within that faith - and even then, only among the most doctrinaire.

That's all trans ideology is: a faith-based position.

@WhatTiggersDoBest. Thanks so much for the kind words. Child is 16 now and knows they aren’t trans. Still very supportive of the movement though, and very willing to condemn wrongthink. All the dysphoria seemed to be shrugged off like an old skin. I think it was puberty self consciousness, but if I d said that then I would have been seen as an abusive parent, and now it’s past, I wouldn’t want to embarrass them by raising it it. It’s weird for us to have gone from agonising over pe lessons and clothing to seeing this wonderful teenager enjoying the strength and beauty of their body.Last year is a lifetime ago for a teenager, but I don’t know if I will ever properly recover from the those 2 years. older siblings are allies and encouraged this weird situation where we were seen as the enemy, although we Tried just to be loving and to not jump in to anything. I feel like I walk a tightrope. I love my children, don’t want tofall out with them, but somehow have also to protect their future selves. It has been awful.

Oof that medium article. Error immediately. Boris Johnson isn't "eroding rights", he's just not changing the existing law. I know some people have been acting like self ID was already law but it wasn't.

Trump however, is being a total arsehole just for the sake of it and I do oppose the changes he's trying to bring in.

I am finding this so, so hard. My views fall down somewhere in the middle of everything but I have no solutions, just moral questions and dilemmas.

It goes without saying that trans folk are vulnerable, and need protection. Many have been on a distressing life journey and face continued challenges. Discrimination against trans folk is not OK.

At the same time, I am a woman and I don't wish to be spoken over. It's taken a long, long time for our voice to be heard and it's already being shoved aside. And that's before we've even achieved equality. JKR summed up a lot of what I believe. I don't wish to be a person who menstruates. I am a woman and its core to my identity. I find it insulting that someone who just feels mentally like a woman but has a penis is apparently also a woman, just like me. I can't get behind that. Do our views really matter so little? I shouldn't be surprised really. Men always get to talk over us and lecture women about what they believe we should think and feel.

If a trans woman has surgery, I'm fine with her entering a single sex space. She will have boobs, a constructed vagina and no penis. I don't mind her being referred to as a woman, without the "trans" prefix.

I'm not OK with a trans woman entering female sports as she will have an unfair advantage from previous testosterone production/muscle growth.

I'm not OK with a pre-op trans woman entering a single sex space. They're not "a woman" - they still have a penis. They're a trans woman. I will support you, I will fight discrimination against you - but I won't share a single sex space with you.

And then I question myself.......

What if one of my children were trans? What if my son identified as a trans woman? Forcing him to use male facilities would put him at huge risk of attack from predatory or transphobic males. Even though I would know he's not a danger, it's unfair to allow him into a female only space. It leaves him horribly isolated.

I think it's right to challenge my own views. Putting one of my children hypothetically in that situation is, I find, quite a useful way of thinking about how the other side might feel. The trouble is, it just creates more questions than answers.

Is the solution to create a third area for pre-op trans folk - or does this leave them further marginalised and not truly part of either gender? Or maybe it's a third area for all those who don't identify with a gender - such as non-binary too? Non-binary support groups say non-binary folk should be able to use whichever bathroom they want - male or female - so maybe they do fit better into a third area too along with pre-op trans?

And as I'm letting it all out, I don't get non-binary either. I've known loads of women over the years who hated all things feminine with a raging passion and firmly rejected all stereotypical expression of their gender - but they also weren't "masculine" nor did they feel like men. Think androgynous. They are women but with an identity in direct contrast to the norms of gender expression - but weren't labelled as non-binary and were fine. They were just women, their biological sex, which they chose to express in their own personal way. I don't understand why we need a non-binary label. I've really, really tried to understand but it just seems to complicate matters without helping. To be fair, probably not aided by famous non-binary people like Sam Smith who are utterly attention-seeking and the perpetual victim.

I feel like the world's biggest prick writing all of this. Like I'm a terrible, bigoted right-wing person - and I'm really, really not. My politics are firmly to the left. Nor did I vote for Brexit. People who know me would be shocked this is what I think.

With my horrible views I feel like a cuckoo in the nest.

I cannot imagine how terrible it must feel to believe that you are in the wrong body. To be so utterly certain of that fact that you're willing to ultimately undergo radical surgery to amputate your penis or chop off your breasts. I absolutely want to be kind and inclusive.

I want a discussion where people don't fling hatred just because you have reservations about a person with a penis being in a woman's refuge.

Maybe there's things we don't know yet. Twitter had a really interesting thread from a marine biologist which talked about buried sex markers which was a fascinating read. Maybe as science progresses we'll learn more about a biological reason for all of this. Who knows?

I think.....that at least for now, it's right to align gender with your sex - and if you have female genitals (either birth or constructed) you can use "woman". If not, then it's a trans identity.

I feel like the worst person even admitting this is all what I think. And I'm open to someone convincing me why I'm wrong but I've not heard anything persuasive so far.

because are they FUCK going to ruin our lives.

@freddo I sympathize. My 21 year old daughter is similar. Too much tumbler! Like OP said about her dad, in time they will catch up. I love my daughter very much so she's the one person I'll give a pass to on this. We'll just avoid the subject as much as possible, as she really can't deal with it rationally. We do talk about women's issues and feminism apart from this, so there's much to build on. In many ways it's easier to understand what happened to their generation. It's older women, 40+ who've drunk the koolaid I can't understand.

This week has been a watershed for many of us. I came out too on FB. Mixed response. I just find I've lost interest and respect for anyone who has a cult like response to this. So I think I've lost friends too, but it's my choice, I feel like I've left them behind. I really can't be bothered making an effort with those people and I don't feel sad about it. I feel positive and energised by being bold and my brain feels freed and sharper now that it's not tied down in cognitive dissonance.

I just can't support trans women having access to refuges.
Trans women shouldn't be in these spaces. They need a third space where they can rant and rave by themselves without making natal women suffer.

Because that’s what abused trans women do is it? Rant and rave?

I always used to consider myself pro-trans.

I’m not sure pro-trans means what you think it does.