How many gender critical feminists are actually 'out'

I am, but I'm male so don't think it's quite as risky for me as most women.

Don't do FB or Twitter anyway, but am quite GC on reddit and seem to have got away with it so far. (Although have been banned from both the trans and transgenderUK subreddits)

Out at work, it's only a tiny startup and I'm one of the directors but the CEO likes to pretend he's quite woke so have had to argue about the pronouns in emails bollocks etc.

Happily out with friends, down the pub etc. Have lost one friend over it but have found that most men who start an argument on the TWAW side are actually quite TERFY once you start pointing out how it's affecting their wives and daughters.

The only time I have to be a bit careful is with DD. Shes 15 and has a trans best friend. I keep my mouth shut around her friends as I don't want her to get grief based on my opinions, but I'll happily have a discussion about it with her. JKR was where we first discussed it, as she loves HP and was expressing her unhappiness with JKR. We had a long conversation about that, and is now listening to The Witch Trials of JKR. It's not going to be a quick win with her but I'm happy I can have a conversation about it without it descending into insults.

I'm all out. The notion that you can change your gender is pure lunacy. I would sacrifice anything for the truth.

That's brilliant.

I'm out to my husband, and a couple of close friends but that's it. I would worry about repercussions in my job if I came out to a wider audience

Me. I've just joined the inclusion group at work as openly GC
I made the point that it's not really inclusion if you don't include everyone

They didn't disagree

Also I work in HR and frequently quote forstater and I think they know I'd take action if I was discriminated against for GC. That helps

I am so angry that women are still fearful at work despite the law being clear. It is really good that you are doing things within your job to change language back etc. As older women who do not have to worry about work we are able to speak out more. Yes I am out on FB, don’t do the others, but prefer to be clear in person, have lost friends over this which feels bad but I am not prepared to shut up. Have now found a small group of likeminded women to talk things through with. Much harder is the anti lesbianism stuff which often happens as a result of being clear about not believing that you can change sex. This I really can’t forgive so I now know who I can rely on. In smaller communities this obviously is harder.

I follow an approach that is very similar to this, although I'm currently experiencing an interesting time on a different thread where the motivations behind my reasonable approach are being questioned by posters who I share a gender critical position with. For me this underlines how difficult it would be to be "out" more widely. I suspect I've been accidentally misunderstood rather than wilfully but it makes me realise how exhausting and time consuming I would find it if I was more widely out.

@PurpleBugz I've also been finding some of this weekend's threads (two in particular: "still genuinely.. good faith" and the steel-manning one that we've both been on) really helpful in understanding my thoughts. Aside from my questionable motivation (🤦‍♀️), I'm finding them great places to explore thoughts and exchange different viewpoints respectfully. Even with the uncomfortable bits, I feel the same. At the time of writing this, I have no idea if my explanation of my motivation in the thread where it's been questioned has made any difference to the opinions that I was gameplaying (I haven't actually looked yet) but I may never get any feedback on that, so it's not going to deter me.

I have very limited social media, so I'm going to continue my one on one conversations in person or in writing (e.g. writing to my MP, signing petitions) using my name. But otherwise, I'll remain anonymous for now so that I can focus on my primary goal of supporting other autistic gender-questioning girls like my daughter.

I am out to most family but not friends - such as remain! I am on Twitter anonymously. I don't do FB but DH does and GC posts go up from us. Have an intermittent blog on Wordpress which has been noticed but it is not linked to me on MN. So, shadows, not because I could lose job or home (might lose p/t job, I suppose, not thought about it) but because I am in a Labour stronghold with little GC contact except online - difficult to find groups of like-minded people and wary of bringing up the topic with acquaintances/colleagues as they may be on the 'be kind' pathway - m/c liberals. I got cheered in local pub once for stating TWANW in a discussion but everyone said they could not say it themselves because of jobs.

I managed to get references to gender changed back to sex in various policy documents and I have had influence over some initiatives to extend prescribing of cross-sex hormones.

But I'm just saying that those of us in the closet at work can have influence.

👏👏👏

One of my relatives is trans. I have made it clear that while I will use their preferred pronoun and call them by their new name I do not accept that people can change sex and I wish they would not support Mermaids, I certainly will not. (havent actually said I contributed to LGB alliance fundraiser). Have raised this with our "be kind" MP. So I'm as out as I can be. Fortunately I am financially secure. Some of my friends agree, some are scared to say anything for fear of upsetting their children. My child is not happy about it, I'm ashamed of them.

Dont use twatter, have posted something that was gc on Facebook and was liked by a (closer than me) relative of transperson, much to my surprise.

If I was working in a large organisation I would probably not to be out.

I'm out. Luckily in my job, my team feel the same as me which is good, but we are careful when we speak about things like this. Tbh they rarely come up in the workplace. I'm out online on SM, I probably have lost some acquaintances but I really don't care. If they don't agree with protecting women and their rights, I don't want them as acquaintances anyway.

It is tricky. I might not be fired, post-Forstater, but I would be sidelined. By keeping my GC views below the radar, I am able to have more influence on policy than if I were out as a T**f. For example, I managed to get references to gender changed back to sex in various policy documents and I have had influence over some initiatives to extend prescribing of cross-sex hormones. I would just not be allowed on the decision-making committees, if people knew my true views. There is a very prominent TW policy-maker who polices everybody.

I'm not claiming that this is why I am not out at work - it's because I don't want to foul my career, and I would be a hypocrite to pretend otherwise. But I'm just saying that those of us in the closet at work can have influence: it's not an all-or-nothing situation.

I'm greatly in awe of women like Maya and Kathleen Stock, who have the courage to be out, despite the damage to their careers.

I've been thinking and I know at least 4 closeted GC / biological realist people - most of whom are not out because of fear of the consequences in their workplace. That's just so sad.

Yes, over the past few years I've slowly had a few people sort of sidle up and re-raise the subject again, having brushed it aside previously. But most of them are scared to raise it, despite knowing that I'm a raging feminist.

I'm out to my friends and I guess I'm out on SM because I like and follow GC people and their GC posts under my own name. I'm not someone who posts much on any SM platform, so I'm not shouting it from the rooftops, but if anyone cares to look I think it's pretty clear what my views are.

Well, sort of.

I don't hide my beliefs, but I also have a general 'no politics' rule on social media. I try to avoid it as I think online discussions can really go downhill quickly. Far happier to talk in person.

I have lost a couple of FB contacts over it.

I've even out since I peaked about 7 years ago. At the time I was naive and thought it was so ridiculous that as soon as people knew what was going on they'd totally peak too. Silly me. If it's not in the guardian it's not happening in the view of a certain type of person. Others thought it was so stupid it couldn't be happening 🙄

Anyway I am now the wise woman who knows all and people are always coming to me now as they've known I've been involved for so long. All my family and friends are fully GC. Work I don’t discuss it as I'm now remote. When I was in the office I was out though.

Definitely @dimorphism

My husband knows and he feels the same as me. My two friends know and agree. My niece calls me a terf but we laugh about it and agree to disagree. My sister knows but doesn’t get it.
my brother in law is a mega terf. I love it. He said “why aren’t more women angry”. Preaching to the choir!
I work for a local council who are up stonewalls arse so I can’t be open in work but I’ve spoken to some friends about it and they get it. Helped by the fact that a sleazy bloke has come out as non binary and on his “femme” days he wears fake boobs into work which everyone thinks is ridiculous

The institutional capture is insane. I bet for every 'out' GC person there are at least 10 who are in the closet and probably another 10-20 who'd agree if they knew more about the issue.

Same. I work in a fully captured field (medicine), in a role that gets a fair amount of scrutiny from NHS England. NHS England, the regulators (GMC & CQC), plus my professional bodies (2 Royal Colleges) are all Kool-Aid imbibers. Close colleagues know I have concerns about transitioning children, but not how GC I am in general.

Oh, my boss is a gay man who recently posted a 'no LGB without the T' thing on LinkedIn. I like my job (I like my boss, too, I can separate the TRA from the person) so 🤐

Also to add, I often feel a bit shit about being a coward and have huge admiration for the bravery of KJK and other women speaking out.

I'm a children and young person's therapist and very sadly for me a member of the BACP.

I'm not out to anyone really except DH. I have tested the water with some people by saying things like "why does everyone hate JK Rowling all of a sudden" and most people shrug and don't know/care can't see what the fuss is about.

I have one openly TRA friend who I avoid the subject completely with. She did tell me that when she goes on first dates with men (she's in her 30s) she makes a point of dropping in that she believes that trans women are women then waits for her response.

I get why she does that from a dating perspective as it's such a divisive issue but my mind boggles at her clear understanding that this subject is a matter of faith and yet she cancels anyone who doesn't share her faith

I'm out to a few friends and DH. DH is also gender critical but is against me being 'out' in the sense of giving a speech at Let Women Speak etc because he's worried about the consequences for us and - most importantly - our children. This includes direct violence / harassment and indirect things like job loss.

We have a massive mortgage and if either of us lost our job we could lose our home. My company is American and his is an ultra-woke public sector organisation so the fear of being out at work or having a social media / real life visible presence is that we would lose one or both jobs which would throw our children into poverty. I know you can take (incredibly slow, years long) legal action but what are you supposed to live off while that's going on?

Having seen what's happened to women like Kate Scottow and Marion Millar I think we're right to be afraid. I look forward to the day when Maya's judgement really means belief in scientific reality is protected as in so many workplaces it really still isn't. The recent news about Caroline Farrow and the visits of the police to KJK seem to suggest that the police are enabling those who want to use them to harass biological realists. .

I have said to a few people I don't think JKR said anything transphobic and have sent some emails to my MP about single sex toilets in schools and more recently the definition of 'sex' in the Equality Act (the Sex Matters email), but most of my terfery is anonymously.

This is the only issue where I feel afraid to speak out. I feel I could voice my opinion freely on literally any other issue, Brexit (remainer), corruption in the Tory party / during the pandemic, incompetence during the pandemic leading to unnecessary deaths (e.g. care homes), environmental issues, etc It is only this issue where I fear having an opinion, respectfully voiced, could lead to violent / life altering consequences.