What brought you here?

It has been extremely painful to see the misinformation coming from formerly trusted places like the Guardian and the BBC (or rather, an awful lot of "misdirection through omission") allowing the narrative to successfully take hold among lefties in particular that giving a shit about this was all just part of an evil "Tory culture war". A great many people do still only get their info from those sources. When academia is at it too, the ideological bullshit seen as "the clever" or superior way to think, when it's quite obviously nonsense. That supposedly left wing politicians have been parroting it too has been appalling.The hate and the actual harms being done both to our rights and to kids has been dragged out for SO long because of those enablers.

I've lost trust in so many things and people, and have never in my life before had to be extremely careful what I say & to whom. That was another sign of something very, very wrong.

I've been here a while but can't remember exactly when I joined - I previously thought Mumsnet was just for mothers (which I'm not) sharing childcare tips but it was seeing the venom directed at the site by rabid transactivists on Twitter, trying to get Mumsnet's advertisers like Flora to quit and destroy the site, Twitter posters like 'mumsnet madness', made me curious - a lot of angry men who wanted access to women's toilets, and parents who were encouraging their probably gay offspring to chop bits off themselves wanted a site where women talk amongst themselves shut down. The Guardian and BBC were captured, as was Twitter & FB - this turned out to be a surviving place where women could still air their views and concerns, like the Gaulish village in Asterix holding out against the colonisers.

When Stephanie Davis Arai of transgender trend wrote a school's guide, transactivists went ballistic in their desperation for no one to read it.

The mammoth, foot-shooting insanity of telling people to shred it before they read it was almost hilarious.

They were an actually saying 'Don't Read This'😂.

Which, of course, made it completely irresistible.

Probably the biggest catalyst in shifting my thinking was my dismay that people just didn't seem to actually be listening to what was actually being said (all eminently reasonable stuff!)

This is a key feature of the transactivist movement, sadly. And yet another thing that sent me scaling that mountain. The constant lying about what people were saying. The bad faith misinterpretations. The "I'll tell you what that person secretly thinks so you don't have to see what they said for yourself" or "Let's cancel them so nobody can read or hear their ideas."

No genuine civil rights movement ever has had to do this. And once you see someone telling or spreading a big old lie about an event or history you were part of, or about a person you know, that's it. Their whole base crumbles. The lying, DARVO and projection is so notable and consistent, and so reminiscent of both abusers and people with dark triad personalities, that you then realise the misinformation, demonisation, smears, language tricks and gaslighting must be a deliberate strategy from those instigating it. Plus the power moves and entryism, the "under the radar" stuff, the deliberate glomming onto more popular causes and forced teaming, all the Denton's report stuff.

Again, nobody who needs to do all that to succeed is going to have good intent, integrity or care about equality; it's all about forced imposition and trying to remove any opposition, questioning or barriers. And that's cult religion territory.

Probably the biggest catalyst in shifting my thinking was my dismay that people just didn't seem to actually be listening to what was actually being said (all eminently reasonable stuff!)

yes. Even before I read any of the actual arguments, I could tell that the posters on here were articulate, reasonable and incredibly insightful.

Just in the way they wrote.

Well who knows. There were a subset of posters who made it clear males aren't welcome, regardless of how much of an "ally" they are.

I think Miranda started to appreciate that this was a space for women and as such he decided not to be here, but I could be wrong.

I must say it was his website and writing that did help to clarify some questions I had as he was so very blunt about it. it was the first time I'd heard of and read about agp.

I came here around 2011 for pregnancy and then baby boards.

Found the Spartacus threads around 2016 and started reading here to work out what the issue was initially, then posting around 2017.

I've been "GC" since I was around 6 due to something that happened in my class at school and then later again with a child I taught around 2009 - it was I obvious that sexist gender stereotyping was an issue for these children and then the added impact of media click bait which then was more TV.

Slow burn for me. Started on mumsnet when pregnant and searching for advice then stuck around to doom scroll on AIBU. Would occasionally stray to these boards and think everyone was a bit unhinged. Admittedly I initially just totally accepted the groupthink and assumed that of course we must all support trans rights!

I only really started to think a bit differently when I heard JK had been cancelled for being a massive transphobe. But then I actually read her tweet and thought "But ... this just seems... reasonable. Where's the transphobe bit?"

Bit by bit my straying here turned into lurking, which turned into clicking through links, until I suddenly found myself thinking quite differently.

Probably the biggest catalyst in shifting my thinking was my dismay that people just didn't seem to actually be listening to what was actually being said (all eminently reasonable stuff!)

The propaganda on TV news was quite something, wasn’t it? I still can’t believe they blurred out her hand and claimed she was making a far right hate signal. On the evening news. Funny how Shaneel Lal making the exact same ‘OK’ sign was given the benefit of the doubt. Fully captured media make it an uphill battle in NZ.

I followed a link to the Break It Down For Me mega-thread from the Martin Lewis chat forum about 4 years ago. It was a huge amount to take in, but it explained why an otherwise decent lefty bloke I knew was posting puzzling "jokes" about JK Rowling on Facebook, and why a female colleague had wanted to talk to me privately about HR's usage of "sex" and "gender" on forms.

I then started lurking here, although it took me ages to work out that the word "peak" was banned. I was unfamiliar with MN so was staggered that I could freely type Fuck and Cunt, but Peak was now a deeply offensive swear word. I did a module on the Political History of English at university so this particularly interested me.

Accidentally arrived here; came for the ante-natal/ maternity stuff and stayed for the feminism. It’s opened my eyes I can tell you!
I don’t want to fan-girl (!) but I honestly have learned a lot 😁

Long-time MNetter, generally aware and reading FWR for many years, but what properly grabbed my attention and then kept me here for good was the fell-runner Lauren Jeska being convicted of attempted murder after attacking three athletics officials with knives. One, Ralph Knibbs, was extremely lucky to survive his stabbing. His life has been severely affected.

Jeska had been competing as a woman and, predictably, winning, but didn’t want to provide blood samples for a hormone-level check to see if they remained in the male range.

Aimee Challenor was a slightly later, genuine blood-running-cold moment. Actually I do think that’s one of the things (among so many) I still need brain-bleach for even now.

Mainly Twitter, as a TWAW type beforehand. Initially following Glinner for the comedy, but also becoming intrigued by what posters on there would decree 'hateful'. Mumsnet, JKR, KJK. What was that all about? So, came to see.

The local ReSisters group were told by the leader of the council, in the chamber, that saying women can't have penises was 'hateful'. I realised morally I could not stand for accepting that and could no longer take seriously anyone who did.

Thanks OP for starting this thread. It's so interesting to read about all the different routes that led so many brilliant, clear-thinking feminists to converge right here. I haven't been here that long, although I've been vaguely gc for several years... I just felt a bit aimless and isolated because I didn't know how to stay across what was actually happening. Hadley Freeman's disappearance from the Guardian, along with so many other brilliant feminist commentators - Julie Bindel and Suzanne Moore - left me distraught. One day I started reading and re-reading Hadley's old gc columns and found one that said "Who would have thought Mumsnet would become such a hotbed of feminism?" It was like a breadcrumb trail... I came on the site, searched around and found this - and it's been life-changing. I hope many more women and girls manage to find their way here - this thread seems to prove the route here is definitely not an obvious one. I am constantly in awe of the ability of certain people here to express so precisely and knowledgeably what it means to be a woman and what defines and differentiates us - I feel like Mumsnet should be taught to girls at school.

Some posters on here were quite unpleasant to Miranda and partner when they posted.
I found it sad as I was interested in what both of them had to say.
AFAIK Miranda and partner are both happy with he/him pronouns.

I've been here since before the trans issue was the main talking point. It was the only place I could find in depth analysis of feminist positions and different types of feminism. Plus the regular MRA incursions showed the talking points in action.

This was where I learnt what my brand of feminism is and to be comfortable with it and I'll always be thankful for that. I learnt a lot here from some amazing posters. Always wondered what happened to VestalVirgin - she took no shit at all, was totally uncompromising but also flipping hilarious.

Where I llive, I have yet to encounter someone who actually believes TWAW and I'm sure the majority of people have no idea what our laws actually say. There's more #BeKind and 'I don't care who uses the cubicle next to me', but when I have queried these views, everyone has seemed to understand my point of view, they just haven't really thought very hard about it.
My 17yo daughter reckons that most of her peers are very GC. My son is at uni and that's quite rainbow-captured, but again, amongst his peers, no one believes it. My worry is that for their generation, the boundaries are blurred between gay and trans, they seem to struggle see a difference. That concerns me.
The media is shit - no mention of the Cass report in mainstream media, no mention of the Tickle/Giggle case. And I saw a Freedom of Information report the other day (on a feminist website) saying that 14% of transwomen prisoners are in women's prisons.

A former tutor of mine posted a friendly query to his page asking people to explain the transgender wave? Movement? om Facebook. The batshit replies he got made me look into it all a bit more. I replied and was told that due to my interests I was probably non binary and not a girl at all!
Then working in education and seeing girls with clear mental health issues sliding into wanting to be boys. And their parent also with clear mental illness (unable to leave house etc) being very proactive in encouraging them. And it compounding both of their problems instead of helping at all.
Was on MN anyway and started reading these boards more often.

2016. Wondered what Germaine Greer could possibly have done and an attack on a feminist bookshop in Canada caused me to look into what was happening and discovered the shitshow. It was quite unbelievable at first.

Me too - JKR led me here, via Twitter posts. I'd previously noticed odd bits and claims of transphobia, but thought TWAW was so obviously ridiculous that it would go away. Little did I know.

Never had a Be Kind phase.

Found FWR somehow - probably Twitter again - and joined MN to read and comment.

I have a friend like that. In her case, it wasn't social media, but the son of a friend of hers claiming a special identity. It was extraordinary. The boy's feelings were suddenly the only thing that mattered to her! Women prisoners, sports, none of it mattered any more. Resolutely refuses to talk about it.

Never been a feminist, then one day I needed advice on jeans, landed in FWR by mistake instead of S&B and couldn't believe what I read. Ended up attending feminist meetings and supporting various fund raiser appeals for court cases.

Also, all my life I had been very much a trans ally until Lang, Magdelene (RIP), Datun educated me.

It was also around the time the Labour Party gave the womans officer position to a teenage boy.

I think it was 2015 when a woman started a thread on FWR saying something like why the bloody hell aren't you lot all reading and commenting on this other thread about the IOC rulings coming into effect?

It looked like a bunfight was about to ensue because the women here clearly didn't like being told what to do.

But then they read it. And I read it.

And there was a collective wtf?

That started the ascent. Quite shortly after that there were two websites called something like 'what transactivists say.'

They were so eye-opening and so revolting that I went scrabbling up the mountain just by glancing sideways at them with one eye closed.

Then they were deleted.

That did it. I reached the first of many peaks.

Operation let them speak means you hear what TRAs say whilst they're simultaneously denying they're saying it.

In terms of being counter-productive, it couldn't be more effective.

Herawouldntstandforthis · Yesterday 20:58

No, it wasn't D Spy, I've not heard of it.

Exactly the same for me. Opened my eyes.