Glinner calling women "handmaidens"

I think the total opposite. It’s the perfect term to describe exactly what they are - perfect little obliging servants who will happily sell their sisters down the river to please their misogynist masters. It’s not about ‘going low’, it’s about calling out.

I think handmaiden sums it up nicely, and I don’t think we should police Graham
Lineham, he’s done amazing work for women

Let’s not get precious about language on here of all places. They ARE handmaids and anyone male or female can call them just that as it’s exactly what they are.

Is 'I remember when this was all fields' the new 'I'm as GC as they come but...'?

Interesting. Not what I predicted.

@FriendlyNeighbourhoodTrans
Glinner's behaviour is his own, if you don't like it, speak to him.
We merely comment on it. Mumsnet posters aren't a monolith, and each poster is responsible for their own opinion, as you are for yours. There's no collective responsibility, as I'm sure you are not here to speak for all trans women either.
As for handmaidens, I'm not sure who they're trying to please, as more will always be asked of them, and one wrong move and they're condemned to wear the scarlett GC anyway.

Take it up with him then. First rule of misogyny - women are responsible for what men do.

First post! Trans person here - having seen a little of what he's posted on Twitter and his blog thing (not too much, as I find his mental decline quite depressing to watch), it does seem like he feels entitled to the support of women in a way that he doesn't with men, and as such when any women falls on the wrong side of his Us vs Them dynamic he more often speaks in terms of "betrayal". Which sounds very patriarchal if you ask me...

In a similar vein, does it not bother Mumsnet that Linehan's last ban was for making death threats towards a group of women? Doesn't that puncture the illusion that he's in this for any reason other than it gives him a license to hate?

Because it's not just "handmaiden" he uses - he frequently accuses complete strangers of being groomers, paedophiles or some other form of irredeemable evil that means he doesn't have to treat them as people.

Handmaiden is a metaphorical term for something whose essential function is to serve or assist.

Seems fair enough to apply to those women who are hell bent on allowing males into female spaces.

Fuck em.

I really don’t like the term and think it’s completely counterproductive in this debate. Insulting people (particularly an insult which suggests they don’t truly hold their own views) will never change their minds and is more likely to entrench them. So I’m against its use by Glinner or anyone else.

Namecalling? You mean like Terf, or witch or hag - the things we are routinely called by the TRAs? Yes indeed, ladies - don't forget to alway 'beeee kind', even when people are shitting all over you.

The time for be nice is over, when laws and language and policy is being changed that threatens our single sex spaces, and when children are being indoctrinated into this crap I don't give a shit about being kind anymore.

And it's usually used, by myself and others to describe women who debase themselves and other women in the service of mens rights activists.

I'm with Glinner and I called these male appeasers 'handmaidens' a long time ago.
But then it was just us Lesbians who were being sacrificed..

If a woman supports a woman-hating ideology then she's a handmaid/handmaiden.

I don't have a problem calling it out when I see it.

The most annoying thing of all is that Margaret Atwood herself actually supports the TRA line because her privileged status makes her completely unaffected by the reality of the ideology..
My opinion of her has tanked.
That's the only reason I have to avoid the term "handmaid".

I would normally agree but in this case the women who are cheerfully handing over women’s protections and calling anyone who objects a bigot, are fair game for insults.

I think Glinner is brilliant

That's a lie

Sadly FWR left "when they go low, we go high" years ago. I remember when that was the mantra though.

It's one of the most beloved insults on here for anyone who doesn't toe the party line...

I’ve heard a few people using it to describe women who support TRAs. Personally I’d stop all the name calling and be more Michelle Obama ie. When they go low, you go high.

What was the context?