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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Heads up: MNHQ planning to create a sex/gender topic separate from FWR.

389 replies

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 11/06/2021 12:28

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/4267223-Any-chance-of-a-review-of-the-FWR-moderation-rules-in-light-of-Maya-Forstaters-success-in-court-please?pg=1

We also think now might be the time to consider a reshuffle of the topics in the Feminism board. Feminism and feminist organising has always been a crucial part of Mumsnet and we want all Mumsnet users to feel they can use these boards to discuss the hundreds of ways in which sex - and gender roles - impact on women’s lives, irrespective of their views on sex and gender. So we’d like to introduce a separate topic for Sex and Gender issues and at the same time streamline some of the other topics under the FWR umbrella (some of which are rarely used).

As I said on the linked thread, I thought sex/gender was the basis of feminism and therefore a bit odd to split it off.

OP posts:
LibertyMole · 11/06/2021 18:06

This is how we ended up with all these different feminist boards in the first place.

MN created feminist theory because the feminist posters were too radical, and they wanted them to post there.

The lib fems never actually showed up to use fwr chat, so the original feminists just moved back to the chat board.

I predict the same happening this time. The board should never have been split in the first place.

Iwishihadariver · 11/06/2021 18:06

"Mumsnet itself is a feminist site simply by dint of women talking and helping each other deal with the stuff that crops up in women’s lives. You don’t need a soft, don’t scare the horses feminist discussion board because that’s already covered by the site as a whole. You need a this-isn’t-nice-but-it-hurts-us-and-it-needs-to-be-said feminist discussion board or it has no purpose."

THIS is it for me. I sometimes wince at some of the more forthright comments from posters here but I absolutely want to hear the unvarnished thoughts of these people. I would not spend any time on a libfem board. I want to be shocked to remind me of what's at stake for women.

TedImgoingmad · 11/06/2021 18:01

@GrammarTeacher you said:

multiple threads on yesterday's judgement that missed the bit where the judge pointed out that harassment was still harassment

I did several times. Got told I wasn't a real feminist because I happened to disagree.

You haven't come back to me to tell me which threads, so I looked at the 2 main threads on Maya's case on FWR, and it is simply not true that this was missed. I didn't see your name appear on either of those threads, so maybe you missed the discussion. I didn't see anyone being told they are "not a real feminist."

On the longest thread about the case, called Maya's judgement Thursday 10th June 10.30am , harassment was indeed discussed.

At 10.48 - 18 minutes after the judgment was released - @CardinalLolzy summarised the judgment including the passages about the judgment not sanctioning harassment or taking away transpeople's protection against harassment.

A number of other posters discussed what might be harassment, both in Maya's case and in theory, and @ANewCreation posted another extract from the judgment relating to harassment, :

That is not to say, of course, that the Claimant can, as a result of her belief, disregard
the GRC; clearly, she cannot do so in circumstances where the acquired gender is legally relevant, e.g. in a claim of sex discrimination or harassment. Referring to a trans person by their pre-GRC gender in any of the settings in which the EqA applies could amount to harassment related to one or more protected characteristics; whether or not it does will depend, as in any claim of
harassment, on a careful assessment of all relevant factors, including whether the conduct was unwanted, the perception of the trans person concerned and whether it is reasonable for the impugned conduct to have the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the trans person. A simple example of a situation where referring
to a trans person by their pre-GRC gender would probably not amount to harassment is where the trans person in question is happy to discuss their trans status or is sympathetic to or shares the Claimant’s gender-critical belief. The Tribunal itself acknowledged that “Many trans people are happy to discuss their trans status”, and had before it the uncontested evidence of Kristin Harrison, a gender-critical trans woman, who, presumably, would not have felt harassed by being referred to as a man in some circumstances. It is difficult, therefore, to understand the Tribunal’s conclusion that the Claimant’s belief “necessarily harms the rights of others through her refusal to accept the full effect of a GRC…”. Not only is this conclusion predicated on the incorrect assumption that the Claimant would always misgender trans persons, irrespective of the circumstances, and that the full effect of a GRC goes beyond legal purposes, but it also fails to recognise that whether there is harassment in a given situation is a highly fact-sensitive question.

At 15.59 @yourhairiswinterfire posted:

ItsAllGoingToBeFine
The sheer confusion is huge

It's deliberate. Before the case "Maya was harassing transpeople at work and her views are not worthy of respect" after the case "we never said that, and this case supports trans rights"

TRA: "x is always y you bigot"
GC: [unarguable proof that TRA is wrong]
TRA: we didn't mean it literally / we never said that / this is a win for X is always z.

It's bonkers, and so bloody predictable now.

On the old Maya thread, there were posters saying they hope she loses so she doesn't win the right to discriminate against/harass trans people at work.

Wouldn't have it when they were told that that wasn't at all what the case was about and no one would support that. We even linked to Ben Coopers specific examples during the appeal of the difference between holding a belief and using the belief to harass someone, to prove that the case wasn't asking for the right to do that, but nope, wouldn't have it.

Now the classic reverse ferret where they have to deny they ever said X, despite all the evidence that they did, all to convince themselves that the ''trfs'' lost.*

On the Victory for Maya! thread, most of the posts were not in discussion form, merely "Congrats!" type posts. However, @Zzelda (13.06), @notyours (13.11), @justanotherneighinparadise (13.15), @Ereshkigalangcleg (13.16), @jellybeansforbreakfast (13.24) all posted about the fact that the judgment did not give anyone a licence to harass trans people, and nor should it.

All those posters on FWR took their time to post, discuss, clarify and agree that, as you put it, harassment is still harassment.

Now, there was another thread on Maya's case, on AIBU, but as that board has nothing to do with FWR, you can't complain that the FWR board is "drowning out" other opinions because of things posted elsewhere. Is that where you were posting? I scrolled through that one too - including about 10 tedious pages about tampons - and your name doesn't appear there either. Nor is anyone called "not a real feminist", nor are any of the FWR regulars disrespectful, quite the opposite actually. All the insults are being slung from the opposite side. And yes, the issue of harassment came up, and yes, it was made clear that this case does not sanction harassment, and no GC poster has ever intimated that it does.

So where exactly were you posting?

Ultimately, it is really wrong and utterly disingenuous to say that something is being ignored or not discussed, when it in fact is extensively; it's an attempt to paint this board in a bad light using unfounded claims, and silence the voices on the FWR board, none of whom can or would stop you posting your viewpoints, opinions and facts if you wanted to.

Imasoulman · 11/06/2021 18:00

I never suggested that you had, but I assure you it happens and I can't see how a different board would change that.

shesellsseacats · 11/06/2021 17:56

I've made a suggestion for a compromise to this here:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4268307-Compromise-for-new-FWR-section-could-you-support-this

Viviennemary · 11/06/2021 17:51

Sorry I do now know what Stonewall is. I thought it was just about trans issues.,

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 11/06/2021 17:50

One of the reasons I now post on FWR is because over the years, I have got sick of trying to have discussions about feminist issues elsewhere, because it always gets derailed by the trans debate.

Discussing male violence? Someone pipes up that transwomen have it worse and accuses you of cis privilege for discussing that men murder two women a week.

Discussing sexual harassment in public places? Someone pipes up and says the discussion is cisnormative and they (a transwoman) have never been harassed in a public place and they're a woman. They explain that the article has artificially inflated the figures of sexual harassment by excluding transwomen and I'm being trans-exclusionary.

That actually happened

If people want to centre the trans experience over all else, they have the entire rest of the internet to do it in. I have no objection to MN adding another board but we should not be expected to hand over this space to it.

Viviennemary · 11/06/2021 17:49

I think it would be a good idea. Nearly every topic is about transgender transphobia and Stonewall shatever that is.

PicsInRed · 11/06/2021 17:47

@TeenMinusTests

I think streamlining the other sub topics is sensible. I think having a separate Sex & Gender topic is daft. Male bodied people encroaching on women's spaces is about sex, not about gender.

They could perhaps have a Gender topic so maybe separate LBG and T boards. Then people who believe in a spectrum of genders can discuss them to their heart's content.

But leave feminism to be about issues impacting biological women?

This. A separate gender topic in the appropriate area, and permit the continued discussion of sex related issues in FWR.

We only just had the groundbreaking ruling around the right to an opinion on the immutibility of biological sex yesterday, what's with this timing MNHQ? This should be the legally safest time for the hosting of any such discussion to take place.

Whatsnewpussyhat · 11/06/2021 17:46

@esterwin

So cant we just talk about things like period poverty without getting into the transgender debate? It just feels like everything else is ignored.
Yes, it would be lovely if we could talk about how period poverty affects women and girls without someone coming along to tell us that men have periods too....
PurgatoryOfPotholes · 11/06/2021 17:44

@esterwin

So cant we just talk about things like period poverty without getting into the transgender debate? It just feels like everything else is ignored.
Don't we normally have them? Perhaps typically in AIBU to be fair.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3801915-radio-dj-liz-kershaw-on-periodpoverty-ffs

Floisme · 11/06/2021 17:44

As I've said, I've no issue with asking asking MNHQ to set up an additional board if FWR doesn't meet their needs. Make your arguments and, if HQ agree then crack on. My objection is to expecting this board to move over to make room: entitled behaviour.

MsMarvellous · 11/06/2021 17:41

Surely feminism is fundamentally dependent on understanding what a woman is! I think this is a ridiculous idea. You cannot isolate a discussion that impacts feminism at its very basic level.

BreastedBoobilyToTheStairs · 11/06/2021 17:41

Saying 'But how can you discuss feminism without mentioning sex?' is disingenuous imo. Having a 'sex and gender' subsection would mean having a section specifically devoted to the debate over gender identity and biological sex, it wouldn't mean that referring to sex or anything pertaining to what sex you are would be verboten in the rest of the feminism section!

Say someone posts about violence against women. Or healthcare for women. Or women and poverty. Or sex work. All seriously important topics you'd expect feminists to engage with and which you'd expect to sit on the main board.

Posters that respond are either going to believe that transwomen should be included in the figures for that discussion, or that they shouldn't, depending on their views around sex and gender.

In order to get any semblance of a decent conversation going there needs to be some sort of baseline for what is being discussed otherwise people will be constantly talking at cross purposes. That's the bit that ends up turning into a sex and gender discussion and is why it seems like some posts get hijacked.

Sex and gender are entirely relevant because the statistics and the underlying complexities around the topic will be different depending on which cohort of people you're talking to/about, even though the post itself isn't actually about sex and gender. That's before we even think about getting into the complexities of the terminology used. You simply can't ignore something so pivotal to the discussion.

AssassinatedBeauty · 11/06/2021 17:41

I'm sure you can. Start a thread, respond to posts that meet your requirements and ignore those that don't.

esterwin · 11/06/2021 17:38

So cant we just talk about things like period poverty without getting into the transgender debate?
It just feels like everything else is ignored.

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 11/06/2021 17:36

Eg. Period poverty - like it or not it overlaps because for those on the more libfem end it is important to discuss it using language that doesn't exclude transmen, and for those on the radfem end it is more important to be sex specific in order not to conceal the underlying problem. So where does that sit? In the new subforum or not?

This. This is what happens on other boards, and in the resulting fracas, no-one talks about period poverty!

AdHominemNonSequitur · 11/06/2021 17:25

It is impossible to separate gender debate from feminism, it is absolutely integral. The most pressing concern of our time. Societally imposed gender expectations or assumptions are the root of nearly all barriers to equality.

Name one topic in feminism that doesn't involve gender. This is a terrible idea Mumsnet.

esterwin · 11/06/2021 17:22

I agree that if you question the narrative on here you are accused on being a troll or a man.

MedusasBadHairDay · 11/06/2021 17:12

Saying 'But how can you discuss feminism without mentioning sex?' is disingenuous imo. Having a 'sex and gender' subsection would mean having a section specifically devoted to the debate over gender identity and biological sex, it wouldn't mean that referring to sex or anything pertaining to what sex you are would be verboten in the rest of the feminism section!

The problem is that there are a lot of subjects which are not directly related to debating the gender identity/biological sex divide, but due to them being feminist issues they will naturally have some connection to that debate. Eg. Period poverty - like it or not it overlaps because for those on the more libfem end it is important to discuss it using language that doesn't exclude transmen, and for those on the radfem end it is more important to be sex specific in order not to conceal the underlying problem. So where does that sit? In the new subforum or not?

jellyfrizz · 11/06/2021 17:11

@SoapboxFox

Why should sex be in the same topic as gender?
^^This.
CuriousaboutSamphire · 11/06/2021 17:10

Well there you go. As someone already said, I don't intrude.

Like the BlackMNers board, I have nothing valid to add so I don't intrude.

TinselAngel · 11/06/2021 17:10

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Armitage Shanks Law 😁

Taking that one too!

Please do! I'm trying to make it a thing
CuriousaboutSamphire · 11/06/2021 17:09

Armitage Shanks Law 😁

Taking that one too!

Waitwhat23 · 11/06/2021 17:07

@TinselAngel 😆 so true!