Statement in support of women threatened with a 'device' for speaking

[JoanSummers]

A meeting planned by the women's rights group Woman's Place UK has been threatened that a "device" will be placed at the venue.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3278892-Womans-Place-UK-meeting-threatened-with-device

The device is allegedly being placed 'in retaliation' for the Hampstead Pool action taken by another women's rights group, #ManFriday, which is organised by a group of female Mumsnet contributors.

The Hastings Woman's Place event that has been threatened is likely to be attended by women from all over the UK, including many who are regular contributors to Mumsnet.

Given that Justine and MN have recently created new rules regulating the words which women may use here when speaking about women's rights, especially in the context of the current battle over gender, in which both Woman's Place UK and #ManFriday are involved, and that Justine's statement regarding these new rules begins:
"Mumsnet will always stand in solidarity with vulnerable or oppressed minorities. Mumsnet is also committed to freedom of speech."
www.mumsnet.com/info/trans-rights-moderation-policy

I would like to ask Justine and Mumsnet if they will make a further statement in light of this new threat against a women's meeting which multiple regular MN contributors will likely be attending, stating that Mumsnet stands in solidarity with women who are speaking and organising for women's rights, and condemning the actions of those who threaten them.

How about it?

Thank you, @JustineMumsnet. Regarding the bomb threat, I went to a feminist meeting in Euston this year. We had to meet at least half an hour in advance at a café and then be escorted to the actual venue. The venue had to arrange extra security. And all this to protect a group of women to meet to discuss the effects of Self ID on women's interests.

This really is extraordinary. It should be a national scandal, an outcry. Have you seen the of the women trapped in the staircase by masked and disguised protesters at the recent meeting in Bristol? This sort of thing is hardly believable in the UK in 2018.

Please come a little closer to this issue. Feminists really are under attack here. I imagine your role now doesn't involve a lot of Mumsnet browsing, but I would urge you to spend some time reading threads on the FWR board, to witness posters there tying themselves in knots to avoid mentioning someone's sex in debate where their sex is the entire point you are making.

A story about boys who identify as girls taking the two top slots (including the sports scholarships that go with them) in a school athletic competition can easily turn into "two girls stole the top two slots in a girl only contest" - which makes no sense, of course.

Witness too the constant pressure the board is under from TRA posters and allies who try to goad regulars, to try to generate screen shots and to get people banned. There is a real - and legitimate - feeling that we're under attack.

Words that are unobjectionable in mainstream media - like saying someone identifes as trans - have been forbidden and alternatives have their own baggage. For instance, many feminists refuse to use transwoman because a man who identifies as a woman is not a subset of woman.

I won't go on, but please have a little look.

Thank you Justine. I hope you will reconsider the new rules you have put upon contributors to the women's rights board which make it incredibly difficult to talk about the threats and violence directed at women by trans activists. We are not the bad guys here.