Are women in Scotland aware of how bad things have got?

[Leafstamp]

I hang out on the Feminism board a lot, and I know not all MNetters care for that section. Which is fine. But I am continually appalled at how bad things are for women in Scotland - compared to England.

For example, this, from Feminism thread:

www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/01/the-thought-police-are-here/

To briefly summarise:

• Mridul was born male

• Mridul is legally male with no GRC

• Mridul is the CEO of Edinburgh Rape crisis

• Mridul claims women who want female only rape crisis services are bigoted and should 'reframe their trauma'

• The CEO of a domestic violence charity Nicola Murray stopped referring women to Mridul's rape crisis service due to Mridul's misogyny

• Mridul reported Nicola Murray to the police for committing a hate crime

• The police actually visited Nicola Murray to question her thinking

Please can any not-particularly-feminist women share how you feel about this?

I've taken it seriously because MN is widely thought of as an anti trans. I don't think silly comments like that help tbh. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh come on, it was funny.

OP completely share the concerns about this. When you find yourself self-censoring on twitter for fear of the police knocking on your door, for saying something that shouldn't even be controversial, you know something is going badly wrong.

I knew about the CEO of Rape Crisis but not the subsequent events.
Truly terrifying.

It doesn't breach guidelines so why would I report it. I certainly don't think that everyone who discusses sex and gender on MN is ill informed- far from it. That's why it's a shame when threads are tarnished with silly comments like yours.

Lol. It would be nice to hear your opinion on the matter then @alicesfavouritepen. Do you think Scotland is a good place for women? Are you supportive of the legislation, do you think it's okay to be visited by the police to check your thinking?

I'm very interested.

I'd reject that MN is thought of as anti trans. It's really only generally allowed to be against some of the actions taken in support of trans lobby groups and the like in the correct section of the Feminist boards.

I don’t think in general that women n Scotland are aware of what the SNP/Greens are pushing through

I share your concerns op. One thing I have noticed though is that women I know are starting to have conversations that are critical of the current political direction - a few yes ago I felt very alone in my views, but now I have friends and relatives who feel the same.

@LargeProsecco

I heard the advert on the radio, encouraging "people with a cervix" to come for a smear test - WTF!!

What's wrong with the word "woman".

The needs/rights of 99.9% of women are being trampled by a minority

A devastating side point of this statement is that there will be many women in Scotland, of smear test age, who won't know what the word cervix means so may think this doesn't apply to them.

I don't think that the world is currently a good place for women. I think that this issue is horribly complex and yes I do believe that overall women's rights will suffer as a result of trans rights.

The fact that you don't recognise that MN is seen my so many as anti trans only highlights your ignorance on the subject and may go some way to explain your silly comments.

Unfortunately loads of people especially women, don’t seem to know how crap things are up here, and how much worse it’s going to get if we allow it to.
However many of us are trying to inform people and raise awareness via women’s groups, stalls to inform as many as possible and writing articles and letters to our MPs & MSPs.

If you want to help please find a local group , make your voice heard by all political parties.
Remember there are elections coming up soon. Grab the opportunities to speak to any political representatives who come to your door, don’t let them dismiss your questions, don’t let them dangle independence to sway your vote because Scotland doesn’t deserve independence if it’s government cannot, and will not safeguard the rights of women and children here.

We are not anti trans, we are pro women and children. We are from many different backgrounds and political affiliations but our real & overwhelming concern is for the women and children of our country.

The government at Holyrood must be told that our concerns are valid, our issues are valid, our fears are valid and our rights are valid.
Please use your voices and your votes.

That wasn't the question really.

I wasn't aware that you were the gatekeeper of mn and therefore correct to judge in this matter. Maybe you just don't read the same threads as I do.

Mn generally shuts down anything that doesn't fit with stonewall or moves it to the specific area in feminist section.

You have a different experience.

That wasn't the question really.

Well what was the question?

I wasn't aware that you were the gatekeeper of mn and therefore correct to judge in this matter. Maybe you just don't read the same threads as I do.

Im not a gatekeeper obviously. I am entitled to my opinion that your post was puerile and helps contribute to the idea that MN sex threads are ill informed and or anti trans.

Mn generally shuts down anything that doesn't fit with stonewall or moves it to the specific area in feminist section.

Okay.

You have a different experience.

I like to think that there are a lot of people like me who are reading the feminist section, rarely posting but learning and writing away to their nap’s, responding to consultations in the hope that we get listened to.

I think that the bbc be slightly more questioning of the political landscape in Scotland rather than ignoring some of the really bad proposals such as grc. But we are a long way off from women in Scotland actually realising what is going on and I am concerned that once they do, the legislation will be in.

The issue isn't complex at all.

Legislation to protect women should be based on our sex. Entirely separate from any male with a 'gender identity' who are not part of our sex class.

There are only 2 sexes. Feelings are irrelevant when we need sex segregated spaces, services and sports.

The 'anti trans' crap is nothing but deflection to silence women who dare to discuss the impact of redefining half the bloody population and removing their legal protections just to appease a small subset of males.

Well what was the question?

This was the question: Do you think Scotland is a good place for women? Are you supportive of the legislation, do you think it's okay to be visited by the police to check your thinking?

My reply was about you telling me that MN was seen as anti trans.as if you were the only one to be able to decide that.

Instead you keep ranting on about a joke that everyone else took as a joke...and you chose to comment on that rather than anything to do with the question and OP at hand.

Honestly, anyone would think that you only post to cause arguments with me.

The issue is complex or else there wouldn't be all the issues we are facing and the numerous threads on here and on Twitter.

I answered your question @ElephantOfRisk . I have no particular interest in you personally. I don't know you. If you can't understand that some jokes are offensive and undermine a bigger issue then I'm not really sure what to say to you. Simple.

No you didn't answer the question but again, whatever....

Sorry that you are offended but that's the breaks eh? I can't decide what you choose to be offended about and i don't think anyone but you took it seriously or thought that it "undermined the issue".

.

To recap: no I don't think Scotland, or the world, is currently a great place for women. I believe I did write that.

I'm not offended. Many are though by comments such as yours and sadly these comments help create the impression that MN is an anti trans hotbed. If you can't understand the bigger issues at play here then so be it.

Can we just agree that NO, Scotland isn’t great place to be at the moment if you are a woman?

Of course. But we also need to think about how we sort it and presenting ourselves as morons who believe that women with short hair are going to be transitioning to male, even as a joke, isn't the way. It just undermines every intelligent well thought out post on this forum.

You keep telling me I don't understand which is pretty insulting actually from someone who can't seem to manage a scroll bar to look at her own posts and see that A: you didn't mention Scotland in your reply and B: didn't answer the other parts of the question. The OP is really about Scotland and whilst I don't disagree that the world in general is shit, we are in Scotsnet discussing Scotland

Now I know you don't owe anyone an answer but that's generally how things work on MN.

@alicesfavouritepen

Of course. But we also need to think about how we sort it and presenting ourselves as morons who believe that women with short hair are going to be transitioning to male, even as a joke, isn't the way. It just undermines every intelligent well thought out post on this forum.

Oh my!

I don't believe you do understand. Scotland isn't particularly unique in its current approach. Different to England? Slightly for now but radically different on a world stage? Nope. This isn't a problem that's unique to Scotland and it's a bit short sighted to consider it in such a way.

What other parts of the question?