Someone (a man) just blocked me on FB for sharing this

[sunnypatio]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/self-defining-trans-women-to-be-allowed-on-labours-all-women-parliamentary-shortlists-partys-nec-set-to-announce-equalities-committee_uk_5a9d94f4e4b0479c0255e9c2

I wrote that I couldn't vote for Labour any more.

Admittedly, I don't know him all that well. He's the exH of a friend that I never bothered to defriend. He works in the NHS and I think considers himself quite "right on", labour voter, etc.
He didn't engage, just wrote "blocked" underneath and has indeed blocked me.
No great loss, but it obviously really offended him and I'm kind of surprised, that he would be offended enough by it to block me. Also noticeable was the huuuuuge tumbleweed from other people. My FB is a bit of an echo chamber of people who think themselves "left/progressive/whatever". Not one commented. nobody liked it.

I think I have outed myself as a TERF and I think I'm probably the only one or the only one to admit it.

Another person I like and generally agree with was spouting some bullshit about scientific evidence for male and females brains the other day.

I've read so much (really thought provoking) stuff here but I think most people haven't realised the implications of Self ID or know nothing about it.

That's it really, just a bit taken aback by reactions.

It's probably crap of me but I've deleted all references to feminism and trans issues from my FB feed and have decided I'm not mentioning politics on there any more.

If you've deleted all your posts about womens rights, he has silenced you. But he has blocked you anyway.
I'd respond to his 'blocked' with something like '''no debate' is undemocratic.''

Share it again. Who cares what some jumped up kool aid swallowing plonker thinks? It's your facebook, not his

It may just you saying you couldn't vote Labour full stop than why you can't.

You’ll get used to the tumbleweed and the odd outraged reaction/defriending from the woke lefties who haven’t bothered to apply any critical thought to the issue or educate themselves - they just knee jerk ‘transphobia’ rather than bother to engage.

The tumbleweed frustrates me a lot - I have several libfem friends who make a song and dance about how feminist they are and were all over International Women’s Day but on this, the biggest threat to women’s righrs in decades? Not a peep. Not even a surreptitious like. And I post a LOT about this stuff. They’ll like photos of my kids or holidays or other status updates but studiously ignore anything gender critical.

People will be reading but too scared to like or comment. Keep going x

I probably shouldn't have deleted stuff. It was a knee jerk reaction. Yes, loads of my friends posting about IWD, not a peep about this stuff. One posted a link to posters from IWD, but about 3 of them were "transwomen are women" type things and I just thought, what?
They seem to be very very keen not to seen as anti trans.
I suppose I was just a bit shocked by being blocked by a MAN about all this. I think perhaps he's a bit of a Momentum type. Beard n all.

Jeremy Corbyn told Andrew Marr, "These people have been through a big decision a big process a big trauma, let’s look at the human beings in front of us." The WHOLE BLOODY POINT is that he's saying anyone who self-identifies, without any medical treatment at all, is actually a woman. So, then, what is this big process and big trauma?

I shared that Julia Talk radio thing with LM and put something like, this is ridiculous, the Labour women's officer is a man, or something...I can' t remember. Not a single comment or like, nothing. Not a peep. So either a lot of my supposedly super liberal, leftie FB friends are all happy about Self-ID or know nothing about it and think I'm a massive, right wing, TERF-y twat.
Just a bit surprised really.

I posted that IWD was interesting- some great gains, but also some great losses of women's spaces - TIMs in sport etc.

I got one positive comment to break the tumbleweed.

Nearly 80 years ago men in this country bravely went to war and fought fascists.

These days there are men who are too cowardly even to listen to an opinion they don't agree with.

The only people who I've had any interaction with it about (the one about female and male brains) was very nice about it but didn't seem to grasp the implications. Just seemed to think all trans people are nice men who just want to live quiet lives as women (which of course there are too), without seeming to understand about the whole TRA thing. Admittedly she isn't from the UK and doesn't know about the GRA.
Everyone else seems to think women should give their rights so as not to be "exclsuionary" or bigoted or whatever, or just seems to have no opinion on it.

give up their rights.

I posted a link to that consultation for the Scotland thing too. Not a peep. Not a like, nada.

People will be reading but too scared to like or comment. Keep going x

This. It's interesting that although you didn't get any positive feedback, the only pushback you got was from this one guy. It's probably due to most people not wanting to start an argument, but no doubt there will have been some women reading and agreeing, or at least thinking about this issue in a way they hadn't before.

I might go back to just liking the odd thing from Radfem collective. I'm still just so surprised that a man (not a TIM, just a bloke) would be soooo offended by me saying that allowing transwomen on AWS was so awful he needed to block me for it.

Sunny I think I'm living your parallel life. I've been posting things for weeks and nada. The only likes I get are from a male Muslim friend who does get it, sadly he's admitted privately that objections from the Muslim community would be overshadowed by cries of bigot. A lot of my FB friends have daughters and don't seem to understand the implications of potential self id boys in the girls' changing room.

I suppose I was just a bit shocked by being blocked by a MAN about all this.

We have men telling women what it means to be a woman and what the definition of a woman is. We have men threatening and physically assaulting women for wanting to talk about women’s issues. We have been self identifying as women in order to steal women’s roles and invading women’s spaces. It really shouldn’t surprise you that a men should block you. Don’t you realise by now, we need men to tell us what a woman is? 😒

It's not surprising that it was a man. Probably he just doesn't like aws.

Those who probably agree with us aren't speaking out because they've been trained into silence. When we speak out, we are breaking the spell. Keep going everyone

have been self identifyin Sorry, that should say have men self identifying

The tumbleweed frustrates me a lot - I have several libfem friends who make a song and dance about how feminist they are and were all over International Women’s Day but on this, the biggest threat to women’s righrs in decades? Not a peep. Not even a surreptitious like.

It is annoying but I think it stems from a fear of what will happen if we do speak out. I work in academia and it's amazing the extent to which feminist scholars are failing to engage with all of this. However, I can see why they don't, given the emphasis on safe spaces and no-platforming in universities. I take my hat off to people like Dr Rebecca Reilly-Cooper and I hope she does not cop too much flak for doing what she does. I personally don't have the gravitas or experience to weather the storm that would come with being exposed as a TERF. If more senior and influential feminists took the lead, I would follow though. Wimpy, I know.

People not responding may not just be due to them disagreeing, or not caring.

Some might be scared of the repercussions themselves, and the consequences will vary from person to person.

Eg, I am job hunting at the moment, and some of the roles I am going for require political impartiality.
I have removed/hidden everything political or controversial from my social media, just in case. There is no way I would publicly tangle myself up in the trans debate at the moment. I know that's cowardly, sorry.

squishy me too.

My name is plastered all over a load of very public work stuff. I have to appear totally beige in my online presence.

I can only cut lose on Mumsnet.

I've shared similar things from A Woman's Place and not had a single like either.

I think I was surprised more because my FB is very leftie. I really don't have anyone on it who isn't "leftie/liberal", well hardly anyone. They're all remainers, Labour/Green party tyes. Although maybe that's partly it, they don't want to seem "transphobic", more perhaps than less leftie types. I don't know. But I felt really shocked being blocked. I'm obviously not very thick skinned!

Same here. I posted a few articles with no likes/ comments, although I peak transed a friend recently and she liked a post I made. I have been debating these issues on fb Labour Forums but the entire posts just get deleted, repeatedly! Even when the debate is quite good natured. Its infuriating censorship. I don't know if the answer might be to befriend a few other GC people to connect on fb for a bit of moral support? Not that I go on there much now I've discovered the delights of Twitter (although it is an echo chamber )