How I became Gender Critical

I'm interested if anyone was GC right from the start? Or did everyone start out supporting trans rights until they clocked what it actually meant?
I didn't realise I was GC when I watched butterfly with my husband and I said, if that was my own child I would just ignore stereotypes and allow them to wear as much pink and sparkles as they like without resorting to surgery. I didn't realise that tra would have a problem with this stance.
I didn't realise what was being asked for. In one year I both shared an article about how girls were being pushed out of their sports by males and one about two spirit showing how trans is innate.
I didn't use my critical thinking skills to realise that if I reject stereotypes and support women it clashes with trans people's aims, as their aims were misrepresented as similar to the gay rights movement-ie. Free to live in peace etc.

JK made me realise that holding my boring, unremarkable view that biology is the only thing that we need separate faculties, sports and services was seen as transphobic.

So whilst I remember vividly arguing for trans rights to be allowed to express themselves, on social media, and would have described myself as an ally, I didn't realise that they didn't want allys like me.

Their loss.

I'm interested if anyone was GC right from the start?

I used to think all born male people who wanted to be seen as women by society were those (rare) extreme types who go through surgeries and are very effeminate. They deserve to be recognised as women because of the lengths of effort they've endured.

I thought all transwomen were like Blaire White basically. That we just couldn't tell.

I believed that transwomen are using women's spaces all the time, we simply don't notice them because they blend in so inconspicuously, and how could anyone make them use male spaces. That'd be like asking me to use a male space.

I used to think.

It takes a proper grown up to consider the opposing view, do some research and change your mind publicly and back down. Something I know i find difficult and admire it when other people can do it. This TRA movement is shitty to all women but the height of shitty towards lesbian women and the betrayal they must feel towards Stonewall who have turned their backs on lesbians, must be off the scale.

I'm interested if anyone was GC right from the start? Or did everyone start out supporting trans rights until they clocked what it actually meant?

I think for feminists and left-leaning people, the almost universal starting point is a reflexive be kind and support this opressed group. Some people figure it out sooner than others of course!

Possibly conservative or religious types arrive at something like a GC view from another direction.

@FuriousAndFrustrated because I can't imagine the stress you went through. I don't know if I could forgive either.

ScraggyThang I appreciated him coming from a different perspective and I have to say, this essay is possibly one that could change some of my friends rigid views.

I agree.

The risks of coming out as GC in the LGBT community are very high.

Oh my god my comment was deleted for pointing out the difficulties faced by LGB people who are GC.

Thank you SapphosRock for your account of how your views shifted. I remember you on this board a while back when you were presenting the be kind argument, and it must have been difficult to hear what we were saying. But then you looked and learned and experienced what we were talking about. And came back on to tell us why you changed position,and I thank you for that, as a lesbian who is depressed by other lesbians who have not been able to reject the TRA ideology.

Massive dick move to report you @FuriousAndFrustrated also further proof that Stonewall has turned the whole movement into a cult. People are so absolutely sure they are the good and the righteous, that this is tolerance and kindness, everyone else is hateful and need to be dealt with.

I remember Duncan on Twitter. He put up with a fair amount of abuse. I appreciated him coming from a different perspective and I have to say, this essay is possibly one that could change some of my friends rigid views. Voices from the LGB community are very insightful and important. Especially as most men were on the side of “be kind” before the penny dropped.

Duncan Henry says he realised the gaslighting of lesbians — demanding that they accept transwomen as sexual partners — is a form of ‘conversion therapy’.

I agree, but the trans lobby has twisted the meaning of ‘conversion therapy’ to include include counselling for young people who are convinced they are trans, and want drugs and/or surgery to affirm their identity. Counselling gives them a chance to think these life-changing interventions through first.

The government is currently considering extending the present restrictions on conversion therapy to limit what therapists can do to help people like Keira Bell avoid making a life-changing mistake.

If you want to give kids this chance, let the government know. The consultation is at
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-conversion-therapy

He did apologise, via a mutual acquaintance. He couldn't apologise directly as I had blocked him everywhere. (And still have him blocked!)

We no longer work at the same organisation, so I don't have to come into contact with him . Mind you, we hadn't worked together for years even before this, and yet he still felt inclined to try to get me into trouble. I just can't understand the mentality of "you must agree with me or I'll try to get you sacked."

Thanks for posting Sapphos. We've seen similar accounts from other women, with all the same intimidation and taking over of lesbian groups. There's been a bit of a complicated history with women and Stonewall or its predecessor campaigners. I always felt that it was essentially a men's movement even when gay women decided to join it and even though they've had women in prominent positions. But the way it's turned out in the last five years has been disastrous for women.

You can't promise that, Sapphos. On the other hand if you wrote of your own experience, that would be different.

Thank you for posting that extract FuriousAndFrustrated. I now know that I don't need to read any more from someone who in all seriousness
"tried to make her see that trans women are women, just as much as she was...". And that's without the last part of that sentence to cap it.
Too bad you had to endure the idiocy never mind the reporting and spite.

As someone with a close family member who is a trans woman, who has banned JK Rowling in their house and grimaces at her name being mentioned, this was an interesting read in what is a very confusing time for my family.

I have to say his essay is exciting to me. It articulates everything, but with a broader back story.

@FuriousAndFrustrated that time would have been maddening. I hope he apologises

I was the work colleague he reported. I've still not forgiven him, though I'm pleased that he has revised his opinions.

Bloody hell. I can't imagine how I'd feel in those circumstances. Not happy is an understatement.