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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Why is British media so transphobic?

70 replies

Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 12:16

"The other path through which many British women have taken up a particularly transphobic ideology is, somewhat incongruently, the parenting website Mumsnet. The idea that a forum on which women talk about diaper rash would produce a wave of TERFs sounds a bit off, but in the U.K. this has reached the status of conventional wisdom."

OP posts:
sashagabadon · 11/07/2020 19:14

@ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings

There was a discussion about why the UK is leading the way on this in r/GC a while back. One theory was that it's because we live on a tiny island. No one is more than a days travel from anyone else in the UK. That makes it much much easier to organise than in the US or Canada. Realistically women in America will struggle to meet up if it means going to a different state, which means the size of the group they can get together in person is much smaller. But we can, with comparatively little effort, organise meeting and protests which hundreds or thousands of women can attend. Our biggest barrier is childcare commitments, not geography.

The idea that the British media is transphobic cracks me up. I read an article by a TRA last year which said that "TERFs" had the full support of all the media outlets and every political party, as well as billions in funding?! It was either the most brazen DARVO if all time, or the author was living on a different planet. Earlier this year a TRA reddit sub was full of people swearing not to vote in the last election as apparently every political party was transphobic and against them. 99% of the establishment as bending over backwards so far for these people that their heads are hitting the floor, whilst feminists have to beg and scrape to get a politician to listen for even 5 minutes. They have millions in government funding going to their campaigns whilst everything we do is crowd funded from an average donation of about £30,and half our bloody crowd funders get shut down! And yet they still seem to think that they're hard done by and that we have all this power. No mate, if we're doing better than you it's because even with all financial and government support you get, your arguments are still too batshit to convince most people.

Yes that's an interesting point re. Geography. We are also wuite an interconnected country in that we can travel by train or car quite quickly.

I also think it is to do with population size. I.e we are a mid sized population, big enough to have a critical mass of women that can see the issues saying eh?! BUT not so large that there are too many other differences to overcome.
So maybe geography plus population size together

peadarm · 11/07/2020 19:13

@Bluebooby

Why a forum predominantly dedicated to the results of one the most obvious biological distinctions between men and women would be full of people with a basic understanding of biology, I am not sure.

But is it true that the British are leading the way on this? I've heard it said before, but if so then why?

There was a piece of invective to this effect in the New York Times last year, entitled “ How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans“: www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/terf-trans-women-britain.html
PurpleHoodie · 11/07/2020 19:03

What they all just said.

Plus see also: South Korean Feminists.

They are rocking it hardcore Flowers

DryHeave · 11/07/2020 19:00

Motherhood was the most radicalising thing to happen to me. I was previously ignorant to the impact of my biology on my life’a course and the minimal value ascribed to producing the next generation.

ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings · 11/07/2020 18:54

There was a discussion about why the UK is leading the way on this in r/GC a while back. One theory was that it's because we live on a tiny island. No one is more than a days travel from anyone else in the UK. That makes it much much easier to organise than in the US or Canada. Realistically women in America will struggle to meet up if it means going to a different state, which means the size of the group they can get together in person is much smaller. But we can, with comparatively little effort, organise meeting and protests which hundreds or thousands of women can attend. Our biggest barrier is childcare commitments, not geography.

The idea that the British media is transphobic cracks me up. I read an article by a TRA last year which said that "TERFs" had the full support of all the media outlets and every political party, as well as billions in funding?! It was either the most brazen DARVO if all time, or the author was living on a different planet. Earlier this year a TRA reddit sub was full of people swearing not to vote in the last election as apparently every political party was transphobic and against them. 99% of the establishment as bending over backwards so far for these people that their heads are hitting the floor, whilst feminists have to beg and scrape to get a politician to listen for even 5 minutes. They have millions in government funding going to their campaigns whilst everything we do is crowd funded from an average donation of about £30,and half our bloody crowd funders get shut down! And yet they still seem to think that they're hard done by and that we have all this power. No mate, if we're doing better than you it's because even with all financial and government support you get, your arguments are still too batshit to convince most people.

Michelleoftheresistance · 11/07/2020 18:44

Why on earth would women care about women's rights and safeguarding? And the exclusion of vulnerable women? And the concept of everyone's rights being met by third way solutions instead of just hurling people under the bus? As if they had brains and the power of critical thought?

It's mad right. You'd think a bunch of mums would be mindlessly mummying the menz like good girls, and changing nappies.

sashagabadon · 11/07/2020 18:36

I think the uk , in no small part thanks to mumsnet and lots of clever mumsnetters, are just ahead in the arguments.
The UK is having debates that other countries have not got to yet. But they will.
Uk feminists are changing the debate in the rest of the world and women in other countries are watching and learning, hence the attacks.
TRA's also underestimate mumsnet of course, that has worked in the UK feminists favour as it gave time and space to gather and hone the arguments.
This underestimation is purely down to good old fashioned sexism.
Might actually be the only case where sexism has been a postive thing for womens rights Grin

boatyardblues · 11/07/2020 18:30

[quote Bluebooby]They (group people) also shared an article in Time that refers to Mumsnetters doing genital inspections. I was upset yesterday at their nonchalant sexism, but today I'm finding it quite amusing and wondering if I should come out as a mumnsetter.

time.com/5865581/transphobia-terf-harm/?fbclid=IwAR08FSQomdppbePpH3vpedVfl1OfWQOJSaHEkT-KGmVk2OL_QSX89npSgjU[/quote]
They sound like a bunch of credulous numpties. 🙄 Are they friends? Colleagues? Now you’ve seen how pathetic their critical thinking skills are, is there any way you can quietly ghost them?

PurpleHoodie · 11/07/2020 18:20

Multicultural Parenting
And the Disability boards

PurpleHoodie · 11/07/2020 18:20

What Ova said.

I sincerely believe we need to keep repeating what the Protected Characteristics are.

Every.

Day.

In AIBU
In Chat
LGB Parenting
Pregnancy (for working parents)
And here.

PurpleHoodie · 11/07/2020 18:17

I hate the word diaper.

Chiochan · 11/07/2020 17:27

I think they have sex protections in American law too, wasn't that what the recent case of the funeral director who wanted to wear dresses and full makeup to work all about?

I think it says more about the US that feminist voices are being silenced that it says about the UK where more leeway is permissable.

Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 15:32

Ah that makes sense Ova. Unfortunately thanks to stonewall etc more and more British people don't seem to realise exactly how our EA works.

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OvaHere · 11/07/2020 14:00

The main reason Americans (#notall) struggle with understanding UK politics and UK feminism is because we have established protections based on the 9 characteristics of the Equality Act that they don't have.

Sex as a characteristic has legal protection here as does gender reassignment.

So when transactivists attempt to make a land grab to remove sex as a protected category or to misrepresent current law so that the legal protections of sex are ignored of course this is going to create a huge resistance. The same would happen if activists tried to do this with the category of 'disability' for example.

Stevienickssleeves · 11/07/2020 13:58

How is Time magazine publishing that pack of untruths and utter bollocks. It's just pandering

Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 13:42

They (group people) also shared an article in Time that refers to Mumsnetters doing genital inspections. I was upset yesterday at their nonchalant sexism, but today I'm finding it quite amusing and wondering if I should come out as a mumnsetter.

time.com/5865581/transphobia-terf-harm/?fbclid=IwAR08FSQomdppbePpH3vpedVfl1OfWQOJSaHEkT-KGmVk2OL_QSX89npSgjU

OP posts:
Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 13:37

As to why Britain? i wonder if its to do with the existence of FWR. There was already a place where women gathered to talk about their issues, so they had a head-start on spreading the word. A critical mass of stroppy women, already with a head of steam.

I'd love it if that were true. I hope it is. It sounds plausible.

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Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 13:35

It was shared in a group I'm in, and I think it was done so as a reaction to my "transphobia" for defending JK Rowling from the accusation of transphobia.

OP posts:
Bluebooby · 11/07/2020 13:34

In case it was unclear, as some of the replies suggest it was, "why is British media so transphobic" is the article title...not my question!

OP posts:
7Days · 11/07/2020 13:20

How transphobic.

Couldnt they just have described the crowd here as dirty bottom cleaners talking about diaper rash.

Do Better.

bitofasleuth · 11/07/2020 13:15

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

Some adult humans have two X-chromosomes, and others have one X and one Y.

It is not being transphobic to point this out.

It is an unassailable biological fact, and is determined at the point of conception.

wellbehavedwomen · 11/07/2020 13:15

[quote Thelnebriati]It was written in Nov 2018 and has been archived 35 times, which is unnecessary as its a static page. I wish people would check to see if an article has been archived first. I know its an extra step but it only takes a second.

web.archive.org/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic[/quote]
That comes up as a dead link, for me?

wellbehavedwomen · 11/07/2020 13:14

@RoyalCorgi

The idea that a forum on which women talk about diaper rash would produce a wave of TERFs sounds a bit off

They don't even bother disguising their misogyny, do they?

Well, in fairness they do lobotomise all women as they leave the birthing room.
Chloemol · 11/07/2020 13:12

It’s not all British media though, so your title is very misleading

wellbehavedwomen · 11/07/2020 13:12

That logic boils down to a very basic refusal to accept that trans people are the gender that they say they are rather than the one that they were assigned at birth. For the self-styled “feminists” who follow it, this manifests in a refusal to accept that trans women are women, and thus that their presence in “women’s spaces” such as changing rooms, rape crisis shelters, and gender segregated hospital wards, is not a threat.

Yes, we refuse to accept a claim (that male people can become female people, and solely by saying, "I am a woman" and immediately pose no risk to women at all) when that claim is contradicted by the actual data on crime rates. Male people are a fucking threat; pretending otherwise just puts women in harm's way. Either you care that male people (nothing to do with trans; trans people are no more likely to harm anyone than anyone else of their biology) are a risk to female people, and therefore we need single sex spaces, or you don't.

It's also very tiresome to have the accusation of transphobia flung around, each and every time women point out that no, we don't identify as a doormat. If sex weren't under threat as a criteria, and women weren't having their right to sex-based provision threatened, there'd be no dispute at all, other than the quality of care given to gender questioning young people needing to be infinitely better (which is hardly an issue being raised solely by us).

I do like the suggestion that modern gender theory is akin to homeopathy, though. Very apt; I could not agree more.

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