AIBU to be asked to reframe my trauma by the trans CEO of Scottish Rape Crisis?

[herewegogc]

The CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis has said "Sexual violence happens to bigoted people too. But if you bring beliefs that are discriminatory, expect to be challenged on your prejudice. Reframe your trauma"

Apparently, survivors are to be "educated" in this service.

forwomen.scot/10/08/2021/the-real-crisis-at-rape-crisis-scotland/

Tonight is a really tough one. Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted need females to listen to them. Rape Crisis was that service and used to offer trauma based therapy.

I don't need educating - I know that detailing my experience to a man, or a transwomen is NEVER something I will do.

This is too much.

From Karen inglas smith.

Also a 'Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology'

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons

That statement is absolutely doubling down & pushing the narrative that not believing that a person of one sex can magically become the other is transphobia.

I'm not anti catholic because I don't believe they're actually eating the blood & flesh of Christ 🤷‍♀️

Yep, exactly it.

Arabella, don’t you need some kind of qualifications to work with people in deep trauma? I am quite worried now.

Are you fucking serious? He has a diploma in catering??? which qualifies him to provide a service to victims of rape??? WTF

Seriously. WTF?

They are laughing at rape victims as they destroy the services that women built for us and our children.

[quote littlbrowndog]Hit the news here now. Comments well 🏌️‍♀️🏌️‍♀️

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19509343.outcry-plan-educate-bigoted-rape-survivors-trans-rights/[/quote]
That Herald piece is surprisingly good. It clearly lays out all of the facts with no obfuscation. An example:

'But she left the party [SNP] in December after MSPs backed a law to let rape survivors choose the sex, rather than the gender, of the person examining them, and joined the Greens instead"

That was from looking at Mridul's LinkedIN. For all I know Mridul could have qualifications or memberships that just haven't been put on the LinkedIN page, I suppose.

Some excellent comments on that Herald article, this in particular:

This re-education of rape survivors looks very much like the treatment of the Uighirs by the Chinese state. Is that the example Scotland really wants to follow?

Pertinent comment not only on this but the entirety of the TRA agenda and activities in Scotland willingly cheered on by the SNP and Greens.

The Herald piece is also archived here: archive.li/6qBgF in case anyone gets caught by the paywall.

I'm very pleased that this is hitting the media, and the main part of Mumsnet.

The individual in question is an adult human male, and it's my legally protected belief that I think this equals man.

They should not be in any kind of position where they can dictate to raped women that they cannot choose the sex of the person to examine them after a sexual assault. Or the women, any woman, cannot hold the belief that adult human males are men and therefore should be excluded from their environment where necessary.

This was the EXACT scenario that the exceptions had written into them.

No one, absolutely no one, thought it was acceptable for a male to be in this position.

[quote littlbrowndog]Hit the news here now. Comments well 🏌️‍♀️🏌️‍♀️

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19509343.outcry-plan-educate-bigoted-rape-survivors-trans-rights/[/quote]
Thanks for the link.

This really pissed me off -
She concluded: "If we want to be a truly feminist organisation, we too need to be an anti-racist organisation, we need to be an organisation that stands up to homophobia, ableism, classism and yes, transphobia.

Why is it that women are always, ALWAYS expected to centre everyone else - even in feminism!!

I'm not saying that standing up to other issues is not important, but no other lobby group is expected to do this. If she had stated that feminism needs to be about ALL women; all races, all classes, disabled women etc., then that would have been different, but it's quite clear she means that feminism needs to centre everyone else - which is bullshit!

Also this -
The centre is currently advertising for a chief operating officer, who must also be a woman, and says applications from trans women would be “especially welcome”.

This is just more men at the top of the organisation, they're not even trying to hide it. If she wanted more trans people involved, why not transmen ?

@ArabellaScott

I think it is worth noting that Mridul does not have the work history, training or qualifications that one would expect for someone working in this field.

I've been wondering about this @ArabellaScott. Are you able to expand please? I'd be really interested to see what qualifications/history Mridul actually has.

What kind of human being deliberately goes into rape counselling purely for the captive audience?

Someone who is more interested in validation of their feelings and perceived needs than anyone else's, including those who have turned to them for help. I'd argue that that's the last sort of person that should be involved in counselling.

From the Herald article "If what we see/hear from someone is clearly prejudiced and we are not responding to their urgent support need it is also part of our role to provide a space to explore and challenge this, in as kind a way as possible."

No, it really fucking isn't your role to 'challenge'. It's your role to help a traumatised and raped woman, and your own personal agenda comes so very far down the list of priorities that it's not even visible. You aren't a 'trans rights education' service.

The Herald article is very good, it feels like decent journalism, it's printed the statement published today which lends balance.

The comments, whew, they're "not safe for mumsnet", such a guilty pleasure seeing uncensored comments.

To be clear.

The CEO of a rape crisis centre in my country Scotland does not want women and girls choosing a female examiner after they have been sexually assaulted

That CEO campaigned against it

And that CEO is being paid money to do this 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Wow. I am so pleased that this thread has allowed so many different opinions and that @MNHQ have allowed it to stay on AIBU. Such a breadth of experience from all sorts of women have been shared. I have spent the last couple of years despairing that no-one was listening to how survivors felt, but this has been brilliant. My feeling has always been that that trans women have a horrible time, and for those who don't want to gatecrash our spaces I will stand shoulder to shoulder in getting spaces where they feel comfortable. And, I would argue that these are the majority but they are also being silenced. To all those who have shared their trauma, and made such brilliant points, thank you.

This is the law

So according to their new statement, the ERC is still a re-education centre for any wrong-think… just that it will be done ‘kindly’.

Well…. That is better than done nastily, but only marginally.

It still reads like this CEO, who has trained support teams in the past to follow these same principles, has appointed themselves as an authority deciding what is wrong-think and curing rape victims of this wrong-think.

A re-education centre just the same, whether done kindly or not.

From the charity registration mentioned above.
"Object:
In particular the Objects shall be: 5.1 to relieve the distress of women, men, boys and girls aged over 12 years who have been raped or who have experienced sexual violence and of their partners, friends and families through the provision of emotional and practical support, information, advice and advocacy; and 5.2 to advance education, through the provision of information, advice and advocacy, among professional bodies and the general public about the causes, nature, extent and effects of rape and sexual violence against women, men, boys and girls aged over 12 years, and ways of preventing or relieving the suffering it causes".

Bore, I'm just going on what I can see from Mridul's LinkedIn page. And from checking both the BPS and the BACP.

It could be that Mridul has other qualifications and so on that aren't on the LinkedIn page, or that there are other relevant professional organisations MW is a member of.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the sector and what is usual in terms of management experience/quals, etc, can comment.

And now in this my country we have this My country enlightenment

And this fuckwittrry sigh

archive.md/q47E0

And then to add insult to injury, MW actually appears to be saying that this apparent transphobic viewpoint is causing violence against women. ("violence against women is a cause and a consequence of a deeply unequal and sexist society"). Abhorrent.

Yes this exactly. Reading the second statement - way to double down and dig yourself deeper. It’s absolutely redolent of victim blaming - so what MW is saying is that victims should be enabled to come to understand that the roots of sexual violence are the same as classism, ableism and transphobia? In effect - rape survivors, recant your sins in order to heal, as we show you how you are complicit in the systemic oppression that caused your own trauma.

Disgusting, really. It might impress teenagers and undergraduates as a woke argument on Twitter, but “reflect on how you are also yourself complicit in systems of injustice, and repent as part of your healing from trauma” should be nowhere near a grown-up discourse about providing services for raped women. Shame on MW.

@littlbrowndog and of course Stonewall are involved. How are they still being taken seriously after recent events?

Properly at this in particular -

'The guidance also includes a recommended reading list for primary schools, designed to promote trans inclusivity, and calls for posters which "challenge gender stereotypes" to be put up in classrooms.

One book included tells a story about a blue crayon which suffers an identity crisis because it was mistakenly labelled as red.

Another features a primary school-age narrator who says she has “a girl brain but a boy body” and claimed she knew that she was transgender as a toddler.

The character claims “pretending I was a boy felt like telling a lie” until an “amazing day” when she went to a doctor who diagnosed her as transgender'.

I mean, FFS.

And now in this my country we have this My country enlightenment

Christ, they have utterly lost the run of themselves

Preschoolers identifying as transgender. What utter bollocks.

I know some people are going on the principle of a rape crisis centre not having any business in addressing the politics of the women involved, but, for me personally, understanding that sex is important, and that it is absolutely fucking crucial when you have been raped, is nothing to do with politics or wrong think, or principles.

Addressing the mindset of the women involved, is one (wrong) thing, but addressing them over this specific issue is quite another (worse thing).

It's bad enough not being able to identify the male sex, but when it is the basis of your trauma, it's inhumane.

Being compelled to not identify the male sex is a huge safeguarding failure.

The fact that it's the head of a rape crisis centre doing it, is breathtaking.