I've been reading this thread for two days now, and have been trying to find the words to describe how I feel, but I just can't. I'm furious, and frustrated, and wanting to shout about this. I tend to be quite vocal on FB, I don't censor my beliefs. I'm in Ireland, and am seriously pro choice, so I post about Irish women's right to abortion, a lot. Essentially, I'm a great big leftie.
However, on this issue, I have silenced myself, as I know what the backlash will be. I will be attacked, accused of being transphobic and a TERF. I've seen it being done to other people.
This post, by Inertia says it all, and yes, I'm going to repost the whole post, so accurate was it.
This is like manna from heaven for all the men who think women have got too big for their boots, what with all our 'equal rights' and everything. There would be all sorts of legal pitfalls if women were discriminated against by explicitly withdrawing the equal opportunities, rights and services that women are entitled to.
Instead, women are losing our rights because a particularly vociferous group have decided to redefine women as a subset of men. And not just any old subset, we are now a subset who had better shut the fuck up about our own biology, our own reproductive health, our own maternity-based rights - even our right to choose who to have sex with - because men who feel like women don't have those issues so talking about them is either triggering or irrelevant or transphobic.
And so those of us who have always considered ourselves feminists but never really got involved in campaigning begin to realise how far down the slope women's rights have slipped, and realise that actually we need to start adding our voices. But I'm terrified of the repercussions. I'm too frightened to speak out in real life -partly because women who do speak out are subjected to threats of violence and rape which seem to go unchallenged, but mainly because I have daughters, and I would genuinely fear for their safety.
Meanwhile, men-who-identify-as-transwomen are gaining access to refuges and assaulting women. Men-who-identify-as-transwomen are raping girls and women and then demanding access to women's prisons because they now feel like women (and don't want the same brutal treatment from other men that they are quite happy to dish out themselves, and of course the free access to vulnerable women is a bonus). And the statistics become utterly meaningless, because it's 'women' that commit the crimes.
And anyone who protests that actually women should have the right to be safe and choose their own sexual partners is called a bigot, or threatened with exactly the same sort of sexual violence that we're trying to raise awareness of - yet nobody seems to grasp the irony of men-who-identify-as-women who want access to women's safe spaces using the threat of male-perpetuated sexual violence to intimidate women who protest against men entering women's safe spaces.
How can groups of women act to protect ourselves and one another?
(The craziest thing is I've just had to go back and edit so as not to be accused of misgendering by calling a convicted rapist a man).
Like Puntastic, I have the group page opened in another tab. I'm nervous of joining it, as I'm sure that there will be a backlash if the group name shows up on my newsfeed. Specifically multiple posts on my FB accusing me of being transphobic and a TERF. I have seen it happen to other friends. I really want to speak out on this issue, but feel like I'm being silenced.