Thank you dearest Mums Netters.
I've just spent the last couple of hours reading through this thread and taking every single comment in.
I can't tell you how much it means to me to know that there are women (and others) out there who see and care about what is going on, and are prepared to stand up and say so.
I was propelled into the Trans world 12 months ago, when my 20 year old daughter suddenly, and completely out of the blue, announced she was non-binary and asked us to call her 'they.' We thought this was a phase, a reaction to some very difficult and stressful years which culminated in her having to give up the thing she loved the most, and which she'd been training to do since she was a tiny girl.
However, since then things have moved at a frighteningly fast pace - she has developed gender and body dysphoria and has to wear a binder, now refers to herself as they/he, has changed her name, and has already been approved by an NHS 'gender specialist' for testosterone and a double mastectomy.
We still think of her as 'she' and her original name, but obviously wouldn't say this to her as it would trigger a reaction and create an even bigger rift between us. She has refused to see us since just after Christmas, which was when we started to voice our concerns and worries. Communication between us is hanging by a thread and we have to be extremely careful what we say now.
I'm not posting this for sympathy or to hijack this thread, but to tell you all that I am so grateful that this space exists. So relieved to know you are all out there. I find Twitter such a difficult place and so very depressing at times - but this is a place where women can be themselves, tell the TRUTH, and not feel ashamed or frightened about it.
It feels like I'm fighting a battle on so many fronts right now - personally and also on a universal/political front.
I want to protect the status of women, no way can I stand by and allow the erosion of women and girls' rights and spaces. It feels like the sudden 'loss' of my own daughter is living proof of the way parts of the trans movement support the cultivation of young, often lesbian, women so that they buy into the belief that their female bodies are shameful, not fit for purpose, and need to be surgically and hormonally stripped of their physical and biological markers. I think this is projected envy by the TRAs.
Interestingly, my daughter says she is still determined to have children - but if I dare to voice my worries that she will make herself infertile she tells me that she will adopt. The adoption mantra is all part of the cultivation and I believe it's seen as 'proof' of your trans 'commitment.' There's absolutely nothing wrong with adoption of course, but in this particular context it's extremely concerning.
Some days I feel broken. The debate, in all its complexities and many layers, dominates my thoughts and it all feels so hopeless. On days like these I turn to MN, read your thoughts and feel supported and held by the sanity and wisdom of my fellow sisters.
Thank you.