Until we organise as well as the transactivists we're not going to stem the problem

[dorade]

Everyone, regardless of race, creed or sex is entitles to the same human rights.

I have three issues with much of the current trans ideology:

1. The erosion of women's spaces, sports, achievements and quotas by biological males who wish to identify as females.

1. The transing (and therefore subjection to lifelong medical treatments, invasive surgery and potential sterilisation) of children for failure to comply with societally-imposed gender norms.

1. The erasure of lesbians, either by transing of potentially lesbian girls or by transwomen claiming to be lesbians.

The trans lobby is vocal and well funded. They have found an enormously soft target in schools/government/social care, all of whom unsurprisingly associate transgender with gay and lesbian issues and don't want to repeat the bigotry that gay and lesbian people were (and are) subjected to. Identity is not the same as sexual orientation. A person's sexual orientation treads on no-one else's rights. The same cannot be said for gender identity.

When articles, such as the recent transgender rapist one, appear in the press, the vast majority of comments show that the public is not fooled. Yet people keep quiet so as not to appear bigoted, thus allowing the movement to steamroller on at the expense of women and children.

I believe that the main target for opposition should be in our schools. Organisations such as Gires and Gendered Intelligence distribute material that promotes ideas such as pink and blue brains and that any child can choose whether to be a girl or a boy to impressionable children, backed up by teachers. Opposition to this is needed and it is not happening in any concerted way. I think a backlash has every chance of succeeding as there is huge latent support for it.

The average person in the street knows little to nothing of trans issues, but is likely to believe that a transwoman will have had his penis removed. The fact that in 2 weeks' time the Government is going to be debating replacing sex with gender identity as a protected characteristic is way off the radar of 99% of the population.

Mumsnet is brilliant in debating these issues, but we need to take it to the next level.

character? Don't know where that came from!

cuppateaI was going to buy it for 3yo DD but won't now. I saw the page on the Uterati Facebook group. Safe to say I will not now be spending my money on it!

Sorry it's actually called 'good night stories for rebel girls'. I saw some people had tweeted them using #rebelgirls but I've found that's used for other things as well and can't find their actual Twitter handle (not fully on top of this Twitter thing yet!) it might be easier to find their Facebook page.

MTT are not 0.7% of the population, they are MRA shills. They call it 'bendergate' after 'gamergate'.

"Deciding to be a woman is deserving of such compassion and understanding. Why? Desiring to be a man goes by relatively unnoticed. Wanting to be a man -completely understandable. Wanting to be a woman? Madness - you must be sooo brave."

Yes Datun, absolutely spot on. And your observations here too.
*"There is also the trouble with new research. Scientists and gender specialists are being hounded. I read somewhere that scientists don't touch trans research with a bargepole, for that very reason.

All the trans positive resources that are getting sent out to government, schools, institutions, the ones changing culture and protocol cost money."*

In last night's London Evening Standard, encouraging that they actually printed it. There's a #savetheladies hashtag on Twitter for toilets.

I have contacted the Barbican to complain about the gender neutral toilets (mentioned in article in the above post ^). Here's the link if you want to as well:

www.barbican.org.uk/contactus

Did anyone see The Big Questions on gender neutral language?

I wanted to rush in and demand of the 'non binary' main speaker what are you on about?

It was crap as debates go, they completely mixed up using terms like firefighter and chair with the gender identity issue, but then again it's deliberate isn't it?

I saw the so called debate Charlie. I wish someone had mentioned male crime being reported as female crime, losing the right for women and girls to compete fairly etc.

I contacted the Barbican too. They replied that it's only an experiment in part of the Centre. If we all protest maybe they will see it is a failure.

www.buzzfeed.com/lorynbrantz/9-feminist-baby-comics-that-will-make-your-ovaries?utm_term=.ly5bExRdX#.wamA1nqeV

Another stupid article...

Is that meant to be pro feminism? It's a little difficult to tell.

There are many men who have a bathroom fantasy and there are many forums where they openly discuss it. I don't agree with gender neutral toilets because of men like this, and he's only one of thousands.

Ewww. That's repulsive. Next time there is an AIBU or Chat trans in toilets thread be sure to post it!

So I'm scrolling through my Twitter feed and I see this:
www.vice.com/en_us/article/jennifer-boylan-wants-less-gender-theory-more-justice

I start reading and I'm actually engaging positively because she seems to have a knowledgeable, nuanced view of the trans experience and I think I should keep reading so that I can maybe gain some further understanding for myself.

Then I get to the paragraph about Chimamanda and I see that trans "womanhood" is not to be interrogated, questioned or criticised and that unless we are a trans person we are to shut the fuck up.

Charming.

Nellooo

It's the sheer, bloody, brassed necked arrogance. 'I am a woman and although I am nothing like you, this is what a woman is. If you don't agree you can shut the fuck up.'

I have no doubt that presenting as a woman enables a man to be able to express himself differently. Maybe it's liberating, who knows?

It's NOT what being female IS.

It's using femininity to express yourself. Go for it. But don't ever deny that you are using a superficial version of womanhood to escape your masculinity. That is all it is.

It's because they're men. They don't understand why we mind because they place no value on actual womanhood. It's fine if it means whatever, it's cheap, meaningless.

Datun well said, there is a difference between femininity and female.

I think that's exactly it Charlie. Their "identity" is all important and can't possibly be questioned, but when they turn womanhood into a parody, we should just accept it.

I'm really starting to need to analyse and articulate why it is that this trans stuff gets me so riled up. I'm genuinely an openly liberal, inclusively minded person so this is a very odd feeling for me.

I think it's mostly because I have a small baby at the moment, so being a womanly, mothering kind of woman is what I'm up to right now, rather than being the stressed out worker/drone I was some months ago. I was fortunate to have a completely natural - truly wonderful, textbook - water birth. I'm EBF 8 months now and I also BF the other one until he was 3. My body has done and is still doing many incredible things that no man's body will ever do. It is this essential fact, whether we choose to bring about and sustain life with our women's bits or not, that is stripped away and devalued every time a transwomen shouts that she can be a woman whenever and however she wants to be. It is both painful and hurtful to see the meanest and seemingly most prominent transactivists repeatedly using the most derogatory and offensive language ("shut the fuck up" etc.) in addressing we who have what they want (or want to control) but cannot have. It's got me headed for fully fledged TERFdom. Sign me up and get me the t shirt.

Nellooo

See that's the other thing that gets me. If you use what our biology does for us as an argument as to why men's can't be women, you get countered with, yeah but not all women have babies, breastfeed, etc.

Which of course is entirely true. But that doesn't mean these things are not a unique female experience.

But they are disallowed because they are not the definition of womanhood.

By saying there is no universal experience of womanhood it minimises or erases any experience of womanhood.

Plus they play against women's solidarity. They are very fond of guilt tripping you when you talk about say fertility. Gleefully pointing out the potential sadness of infertile women (actual women).

Women know only too well the distress caused by infertility. It's a very effective shutdown because women will empathise to the point where they will not talk about these things during a head on argument with a TA. It's divisive.

Women know only too well the distress caused by infertility. It's a very effective shutdown because women will empathise to the point where they will not talk about these things during a head on argument with a TA. It's divisive.

YY. They will go straight to that line of argument. It's deliberate.

I'm an actual infertile woman. I'd happily slap every MTT or ally who coopts MY lived experience for their bullshit agenda.

The fact that they would even suggest that there is a comparison illustrates what they are up to. It's a stupid thing to say, infertile woman can't have babies, men can't have babies, therefore man = infertile woman.

Yet again a bunch of vehement uninformed people presuming that being trans is a choice or somehow illegitimate....just like people used to believe being homosexual was something that could be 'cured' and was a lifestyle choice. For heavens sake people, trans folk were born different, and have existed for ever, but now are finally beginning to feel comfortable enough in this society to be themselves. Denying them that right is petty, harmful, ignorant and downright wrong. You are the same as those people who felt/feel massively threatened by the existence of unapologetic homosexuals....how about trying a bit of compassion??