Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be [hmm] about this? Or aib miserable?

18 replies

MonsBinary · 04/10/2017 14:00

Firstly this email was directed to students of Birkbeck, most of whom are mature students, but definitely everyone is over 18 and there are no “girls”.

Secondly, wtf does being non binary or identifying as a woman, have to do with anything? Are males that later identify as non binary or women given fewer opportunities to learn tech as children? How does that work?

To be [hmm] about this? Or aib miserable?
OP posts:
blackteasplease · 04/10/2017 14:03

And the standard of English is awful too!

Kelsoooo · 04/10/2017 14:06

Took me a few attempts to even understand what they're on about!

Inclusion.....too far.

puddingpen · 04/10/2017 14:09

Erm, what? That's horrific!! I can't even work out what they're on about!

TalkingintheDark · 04/10/2017 14:11

With you all the way, OP. The whole tone of that is just boakworthy, girls is incredibly patronising, and "those who identify as women/non binary" is misogynist bullshit.

People born male do not face the same socialisation as people born female, and a service like this that is set up to redress the balance should be reserved for those who are generally disadvantaged in terms of STEM subjects. Ie those of us born and socialised female.

ScipioAfricanus · 04/10/2017 14:13

It's bizarre that they are modern enough to be inclusive to gender fluid etc people but not modern enough to understand that 'girls' applied to over 18 year olds is not appropriate in a professional/educational context.

MonsBinary · 04/10/2017 14:17

Just what I thought scipio

OP posts:
TalkingintheDark · 04/10/2017 14:20

Just googled them and Code First: Girls actually sounds like a really good organisation that promotes women in tech. So why such an awful name? And why open it up to males who identify as women when that demographic is already extremely well represented in tech?

topicOfTheDay · 04/10/2017 14:33

Terrible ad but

""those who identify as women/non binary" is misogynist bullshit."

Get a fucking grip. What about that suggests dislike or hatred of women.

TalkingintheDark · 04/10/2017 15:06

ODFOD. It's misogynist bullshit because language like this is erasing the reality of what it means to be a woman; it denies the reality of biological sex-based oppression, and that in turn takes away rights and protections from women.

If the current trans ideology holds sway and you one day find that you can no longer access any single sex spaces or services because they've all been opened up to males-who-identify-as-women, then you might realise that ranty feminists were right to say this is misogynist bullshit. And you'll be ready to hand yourself that fucking grip.

topicOfTheDay · 04/10/2017 15:14

"erasing the reality of what it means to be a woman"

Do you ever read your posts back and feel relieved that you're anonymous?

What rights and protections are being taken away?

Why would I want to access single-sex spaces?

I think you need to calm down a little before you faint.

glenthebattleostrich · 04/10/2017 15:19

Topic, I don't particularly enjoy washing out clothes I've bled onto in front of men, particularly if I'm standing in my blood soaked underwear so quite value women's toilets.

My daughter is getting very good at tennis, I'd rather she had a chance at playing against other women when she's older instead of people who have been through the biological changes of male puberty.

My Muslim friends quite like being able to try clothes on in women's changing rooms and having treatments by female doctors.

Just a couple of little examples for you.

topicOfTheDay · 04/10/2017 15:27

That was 3 examples.

Religion and anti-male bigotry don't do you any favours.

AshleySilver · 04/10/2017 15:27

Maybe I'm just an old fart, but it seems a weird mismatch for a feminist organisation trying to get more women into a male-dominated field to refer to grown-up women as girls.

Autumnleaves7 · 04/10/2017 15:38

terrible language as with so much of modern communication. It reads like an attempt to be inclusive by someone who's not up on it at all!

BTW: did anyone see that the Scottish government's anti-terrorist command centre is called the 'Resilience Room'? Is terrorism just a success that hasn't happened yet?

TalkingintheDark · 04/10/2017 15:53

Hmm, topic, let's see, what single sex spaces could a woman possibly want or need? Well, maybe none of these apply to you in particular, but they certainly apply to many, many other women:

  • Rape crisis counselling/sexual abuse support groups
  • women's refuges for victims of DV
  • a female HCP to do your smear test
  • a female carer to look after your elderly mother's intimate care when she can no longer wash herself (or potentially your own, come to that, in the fullness of time)
  • changing rooms/shower facilities at those gyms and health clubs where it's all open plan and no cubicles
  • sporting events where physical size and strength is a major advantage
  • a prison cell, in the unfortunate event of being imprisoned
  • and of course education and training opportunities in fields where women have been historically under-represented, and where a predominantly male culture can often be intimidating to women.

Just a few.

These rights and protections are all under threat at the moment, with the proposed legislative changes this government wants to push through. The meaning of the word "woman" is currently being redefined to mean not just "adult human female" as it used to, but also "any adult human male who says he identifies as a woman".

No need for surgery (the vast majority of transwomen still have their penis); no need for hormones unless you really want them; no need to change the way you dress - you can even keep your beard if you want to (google Alex Drummond if you don't believe me) - and you can still claim you're a woman.

"Women" with beards and/or penises are already using women's changing rooms and women's refuges in the US; "women" rapists are already being housed in women's prisons here in the UK as well as the US, Australia, and god knows where else; "women" who lived four decades as men are taking awards meant to promote women in leadership.

You're either one of those women who doesn't yet know about this, or you know and you don't care. If you didn't know before, you do now. If you don't care, that's your problem, nothing anyone else can do about that.

LittleWingSoul · 04/10/2017 16:17

Well said Talkinginthedark

SunnyCoco · 04/10/2017 18:26

Thanks for expressing this so eloquently talkinginthedark
I feel exactly the same as you but struggle to articulate it as logically and clearly. Well said.

TheDowagerCuntess · 04/10/2017 18:42

I think you need to calm down a little before you faint.

Says the person who just posted 'getting a fucking grip'. Grin

Well said Talking.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page