I think MNHQ probably sit in the corner and swear a lot when another trans thread comes up as they know there are going to be a lot of reports.
You may say that, Ego. But we could not possibly comment...
Evening folks,
As you may or may not know, there have been many and various threads on what constitutes transphobia over the last couple of years on Mumsnet and our policy hasn't really changed in recent months. We don't have a hard and fast 'definition' of what we feel transphobia is. We've always said that obviously it's not something we are experts in, where other forums are, and it's a subject that is in constant flux and developing almost all the time. So we try to apply common sense and perhaps the way we deal with transphobia develops with the discussions about it on threads. For that reason we have encouraged debate as much as possible and it has often been an informative journey.
In general, we apply the same rules as we do to all posts that are reported. We ask that everyone on Mumsnet is respectful in the way they post and of other posters' points of view. If we feel someone is being personally attacked (whether that be in transphobic way, a racist way, or just a general being an asshat way) we will delete it.
In terms of misgendering, which often comes up, we again go by the rule of thumb that if, for example, a celebrity who was male had just come out as a (trans)woman, we wouldn't wave the banhammer at everyone who accidentally said 'he' for a while after. But if we felt they were misgendering deliberately in order to cause offence, we would. Same goes for general discussion about the whole issue. Questions about gender and biology, if they are meant in the spirit of polite and interested discussion, we would leave to stand. Comments about 'blokes in dresses' and that sort of thing, we would take issue with.
In general we just think it's nice to be nice, really.
Hope that explains our position a bit.