AIBU to be extremely proud of Justine Roberts & Mumsnet right now?

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

Open access link. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mumsnet-founder-justine-roberts-transgender-activists-try-to-curb-free-speech-on-site-z3sr3nf6q?shareToken=ade388be59ac427155003eff83c5158c

“Transgender activists have contacted Mumsnet advertisers and said they will be organising a boycott of their products if they don’t remove their advertising from Mumsnet,” Roberts said.

“A significant minority of our users feel very strongly about women’s rights and very uneasy [about the proposals]. This is an issue that needs to be discussed and that’s why we’re prepared to take any potential advertising hit.”

Free speech for everybody! Thanks Justine & all at MNHQ. take your pick!

I will boycott any advertiser that pulls out of MN due to trans extremist pressure. Brands that are complicit in bullying women into silence will not get my custom.

Yes!!!!

Fair play Positively. I had extrapolated in my head that it was to withdraw.

I don’t think we should be contacting advertisers and making threats, as we don’t want to come across as being like the TRAs. I will quietly boycott those advertisers that do pull out, but I won’t be harassing them.

AornisHades don’t worry, I had to reread the article before the penny dropped. 😁

Advertiser - "hmm, whose custom should I be more concerned of losing, a student who lives on value noodles and spam, or the mother of four who needs to feed the empty-pit-stomachs of growing children... (and who has quite a gin habit)"

Who are the advertisers?

I see no ads on mobile site

Where do people work that they're afraid to talk about these things? Not disbelieving, just curious - I can't imagine anyone at my own workplace giving a shit about anyone else's views on trans people, and it's pretty liberal/left-wing.

That’s great!

I'm on the mobile site & I see quite a few. I would happily add any to my already long boycott list if they dropped MN for supporting freedom of speech & women's rights though.

If it wasn't for browsing MN I wouldn't have known about this issue and how it could affect me and my daughter...thanks MN

Thanks very much indeed. This is really smashing.

Can we have a list running on a thread somewhere of advertisers who pull out so we know who not to buy from?

psychomath have you tried to discuss the concerns regarding self I’d in your work? Not as in “it’ll all be ok” but rather, “these are the risks to women”.

Wonderful. Well done Justine and Mumsnet.👏👏👏

I don’t think we should be contacting advertisers and making threats, as we don’t want to come across as being like the TRAs. I will quietly boycott those advertisers that do pull out, but I won’t be harassing them

Absolutely agree that we should not harass advertisers. But there is nothing wrong with politely but firmly making it clear that we will boycott brands that support the silencing of women.

Being quiet is all very well, but our opponents are loud, and it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. TRAs have become incredibly influential, incredibly quickly, by being noisy and insistent. It's obvious from the response of many businesses targeted by TRAs that it simply hasn't occurred to them that there is another side to the issue. The moment that TRAs start harassing them, they cave because they don't realise how tiny the trans extremist lobby is, and how many of us oppose the extremism (though we support rights for trans people). The only way to redress the balance is for women to make brands realise that they will lost millions of customers if they co-operate with TRAs to suppress women.

Thank-you Justine

Positively self-ID hasn't come up specifically but other people have brought up how they don't 'get' being transgender, don't see how you can go through your whole life and suddenly decide you're a man/woman (in the context of Caitlyn Jenner), think it's unfair for transwomen to compete in female sports etc. So I don't think anyone would bat an eyelid if I said I wouldn't be comfortable having a male-bodied person in a female changing room or whatever.

Thank you for making a stand on this.

Respectful debate on any issue is vital.

It's an emotive subject and I've seen some awful things posted on SM and even on MN (generally quickly deleted) by both "sides" of the debate.

I think MNHQ has been brilliant at providing a forum where this can be discussed and differing views allowed.

I've posted before about how I feel that this discussion is so polarised (and becoming more so) that that potential for resolution is reducing and I genuinely think MN is at the forefront in trying to enable factual and evidence based debate to respect the rights of all.

I totally understand what you mean TheXXFactor, but I would imagine that advertisers will have their people monitoring Mumsnet now, to see what the issue is. Rather than write to them, we could, as other posters have suggested monitor the adverts and create a list of those who pull out. Let them know we are aware and will boycott them, but there’s no point, at this stage of writing directly to them.

I completely agree, psychomath.

Oh for a mumsnet like button.
Thank you Justine and MNHQ for your stance on this. I only came to the subject through Mumsnet but it has rekindled the feminism of my 20s and explained a huge amount about a previous baffling relationship. So I too am prepared to put my purchasing power (gold plated pension you know) into the coffers of the grown ups.

Thank you Justine and Mumsnet.

Oh and besides which, how bloody dare they?

For anyone new to this issue, please consider signing this petition asking for women's consultation on changes to the law. Thank you.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/214118