Be Kind 2.0 and the "Persuasive TRA"

Possible shift from the catch-all "anti-trans" to the equally undefinable catch-all "anti-rights.". From the Amnesty thread. It may be that "anti-trans" is so ubiquitous now that it's lost a lot of its power? Hence the shift? One to watch for.

Thanks to @ProfLargofesse

One I'm seeing a lot of just today, on several threads:

There are more important issues than...

how women feel about having men in their prisons;

whether or not we should be checking our "chests" or our "breasts" for signs of cancer;

wondering if women are not speaking up about men in their single-sex spaces because they are afraid ...

(to point out a few)

Attemped deflection is not a new tactic, of course, but it's interesting to see it on so many threads all at once. Seems like evidence that the usual arguments are wearing thin, perhaps? Or maybe it's just the heat!

Thanks! Yes, I saw that and thought might be one for the list, so I'm not the only one- it'll be a useful tactic to try, won't it?

@FarmersBlonde I hope you don't mind, I picked up on something you were saying early during the Tempest tribunal this morning, and thought I'd add it in here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5551959-tempest-v-rural-payments-agency-tribunal-thread-7?page=9

It’s probably going to be the next way they’ll try and diminish our experiences.

[Let's call this "wearing our symptoms" (à la Igmum's "wearing our arguments") - the obvious one being menopausal symptoms. Not an entirely new tactic, but one that perhaps we should look out for more, now that other avenues of "performance" are being closed down to trans-identified men. ]

Thanks to FarmersBlonde for this one!

with thanks to @Helleofabore

from the "Arm the Dolls" thread:

Page 9 | 'Arm the Dolls' | Mumsnet

"authentic acceptance"

Apparently, that intimidation has not created a situation where girls and women will comply and not show any visual discomfort.

Meaning that apparently, every single interaction with female people that a male person with a transgender identity has, is supposedly authentic acceptance....

...this is part of the harm of this false framing of language compliance as being ‘respectful’.

"it's respect, not compliance"

Another one for the stewing pot:

"inclusive feminism" is the new "feminism" - and includes trans-identified men as "women" (but not trans-identified women, for some strange reason that only those on TRSOH understand)

from the Tinkerbell Tribunal, Thread 4:
Page 37 | Tempest v Rural Payments Agency Tribunal Thread 4 | Mumsnet

NC - so achieved a shift to an adoption of
..your view
ED no this is global acceptance
NC almost universal adoption in civil service
ED most feminists are inc feminists, the ones that I know in civil service
J - inclus fem incl trans people
ED yes
NC - so your work place activism has ach an almost total victory, so you think no more activism?
ED everybody has reached the consensus that incl feminism is the way forwardTrans allies now have to defend 30 years of feminism, accept TWAW

I'll have to do some kind of analysis of these lists at some point. The list is just too long now.

(I'll add that to the list!) 😄

That's particularly feeble, isn't it? Thanks, will add to the list.

!! haven't had that yet, thanks!

Your handy activist handbook summary. (this is getting very long now)

Periodic Summary 3 - The "Persuasive TRA"

The Shift: "from No Debate to If you can't baffle them with 'trans' science, bore them with complete bullshit"

The Difference of Opinion (or The Infighting) "Trans" is different but valid OR "Trans" is a male with a female soul
[so, which is it?]

The One About Common vs. Expectation: "Typical (common) behaviours to a sex isn't the same as stereotypical (expectations) behaviours"

The Persuasive "TERF": sowing doubt [possibly TRAs who posit GC views when it's just natter, but also work to undermine good news stories]

The PR Problem: LGB people need to make the T look better!

And, finally, some choice examples of "persuasion" from the thread below. Enjoy!

Transgender women will not be prosecuted in the use of women’s single sex facilities | Mumsnet

The Who Cares?: "Transgender people have spent years transitioning: why stop now?"

The Other Who Cares?: Prosecution is fine. Persecution is what "transgender women fear.

The Threat: "people can be angry and upset and take action with violence and take lives"

The Other Threat: Women, don't prosecute, it's unsafe and you will be cancelled.

The Policing Problem: No one will police single sex spaces, and women don't have the time or resources to do this anyway

The Poor Menz: "Transgender women on medication will be threatened with violence going in the men’s spaces"

The Pretend You Just Don't Notice [a man in your female single-sexed space]

The Emotional Blackmail: Fighting for women's single-sex toilets will be bad for disabled people [disabled toilets will be "used as third and fourth spaces. The toilet will be clogged or dirty"]

The NATWALT: "I’ve met trans women and they respect women’s rights"

The Lie: EIAs show that the "men’s is not 💯 safe for transgender women" [what EIAs?]

The Other Lie: "Transgender women have won" [this one is especially desperate]

The Truth: "We need a truce of sorts" [And there it is, ladies and germs: THEY WANT A TRUCE]

…………………………………
Previous summaries
Periodic Summary 2 - The "Persuasive TRA"

The Word Salad tactic (really, a Classic):
"No, those aren't really problems or uncomfortable facts - if you were as clever as me you'd know that.'
The "it's segregation" tactic (especially relating to the EHRC guidance and the EA)
The "it's unworkable" tactic (especially relating to the EHRC guidance and the EA)
The guilt-tripping women into not complaining tactic (especially relating to the EHRC guidance and the EA)
The use of data to 'prove' there wasn't a problem tactic (when they refused to allow the collection of data in the first place, e.g. recording "gender" instead of "sex")
The "it's part of a right wing plot to distract us all from... (defunded public services)" tactic
The delay changes, obfuscate, plead confusion, argue that it's too difficult, etc., tactic (currently being used in some charitable circles)
The inappropriate literature tactic (using transactivist 'literature" designed to normalise sex change, gender identity and the erosion of boundaries to children) - this one is not new, but ongoing, but is subterfuge, and links to activists in schools
The Rapid Onset Women with Alopecia, Cancer Survivors and Butch Lesbians Concern (or Rapid Onset Everyday-looking Women Concern) tactic: women who look "like men" will be challenged in women's toilets and changing rooms
The Tiny Number tactic (shifting seamlessly from toilets to opportunities: 'it's just a tiny minority (of boys and men taking sporting opportunities, scholarships, funding, awards, places on teams and endangering others) so why worry?')
The Criminal Gender tactic (akin to Rapist Gender but broadening out now to include "everyone we don't think should be included as true trans because we really don't like the optics.")
and previous summary:

Periodic Summary 1 - The "Persuasive TRA"
possible activist tactics to try to remove rights from women and girls
(many are as old as Time, but some new ones seem to be creeping in):
mirroring
wearing our arguments
wearing our history
'gender policing' - re toilets, esp. trans-identified women
Fog of Confusion (see also word salad and is/ought)
piggybacking
appropriation
bargaining and bartering
pleading (see also Can't we agree to disagree about gender?)
Mental health impact on trans people
using AI: 'use GC arguments to defend your position'.
manufactured outrage
is/ought
Treating minorities like they're conspiracies
Dehumanising transpeople
escalating the drama
Hoax=Not Real Trans (AKA hoaxer-gender)
AND... (the Classics)
➡ALL OF THIS, AKA "full on throwing things"
Refusal to talk. NoDebate.
BeKind.
Verbal aggression and belittling.
Walking on eggshells eg loss of jobs.
Darvo.
Gaslighting aka mirroring.
Whining.
emotional blackmail
word salad
drama and hyperbole
women’s objections appear mean, petty, almost obsessive (see "hysterical ")