"Cis allies" being asked to provide "protection"

[OlennasWimple]

Can we talk about something that seems to be happening a lot at the moment: "cis allies" (note the " " ) are being asked to, in essence, prove their ally credentials but also take the risk and do the hard work apparently in order to protect transwomen (in particular) and transmen from attacks by terfs.

Just in the last week or so, there has been the video of the protestors on the stairs at the Jam Jar venue, which Bristol Sisters has claimed are "cis allies". There was a call out for "cis allies" to escort trans people home at night because they were scared that the terfs were in town and thus trans people were at risk of violent attack. The Free the She Wolf campaign explicitly asked for "cis allies" to attend the protest outside court in order to provide a human shield to protect the trans protesters who were going to be there.

And it's not just in person that "cis allies" are expected to get involved. When I posted the NUS slide presentation on "How to deal with terfs", one of the authors tweeted something along the lines of "Urgh, can a cis ally sort this out", and lo and behold a few new posters popped onto the thread to object to it, and of course MsIntern tweeted that she would get some of her MNHQ pals to take it down. (The slides also contain the suggestion that delegates "put yourself in between trans people and the TERFS")

What is going on here? How is the narrative growing that trans people are a) at significant risk of physical harm from terfs whilst also b) being significantly weaker than "cis allies" so they need their protection? Why are so many people apparently so keen to do this - to prove their woke credentials? Because they are hanging onto the coat tails of an exciting new movement and want to remain part of the gang? Why are so many of them women, when surely if you were looking for bouncers and security guards to keep you safe, you would want big burly men? (Pesky biology meaning that they are stronger than terfs)

Is this a new phenomenon? Have straight women always been asked to sacrifice themselves to the cause for no reward? Or is this just the TRA equivalent of making the sandwiches and putting away the chairs at the end of the meeting?

Cis isn't an acronym, it's used to by trans rights activists (TRAs) to label actual natal women as a subcategory of women. The TRAs will claim it simply is the opposite of trans, but as they also claim is means somebody comfortable with their assigned gender and many women (especially feminists) are not then we reject the term and point out we are not a type/variety of woman but that woman is an adult himan female and we don't need modifiers or prefixes.

NUS national union of students. They had a conference very recently and one session was on how to deal with TERFs (aka any woman who knows that women don't have penises and that only women can gestate babies).

MRA is men's rights activist. The kind of man who thinks women have too much equality now and that man can't grope their female colleagues/hit their wives/abandon their kids any more due to the pc brigade.

TRA trans rights activists. The transpeople and their allies who will claim misgendering is violence whilst advocating punching women in the face for attending a meeting on women's rights.

Many thanks @koyaanisqatsi

Also TRAs are a distinct group. Not all people in the trans community are TRAs. It is important to understand this and how the beef is with TRA tactics and behaviour and not with trans people as a whole.

RedToothbrush Yes, that’s a very important distinction which could probably do with repeating more often.

I can never remember DARVO. Would one of you be kind enough please?

DARVO:
Deny
Attack
Reverse the Victim and Offender

"Also TRAs are a distinct group. Not all people in the trans community are TRAs. It is important to understand this and how the beef is with TRA tactics and behaviour and not with trans people as a whole."

Yes, and it's important to recognise that the behaviour of TRA might not always be aggressive. I've seen TIM use charm to convince women that they are the the most vulnerable group, that they are not the like other TIM. Women then act like human shields to protect these TIM against women who don't distinguish between the good TIM and the aggressive TIM.

I've seen TIM use charm to convince women that they are the the most vulnerable group, that they are not the like other TIM.

Its called love bombing and is a propaganda technique.

Sadly very effective. It means that individuals sucked in by it say "but that person is lovely you must have done or said something to upset them for them to react in that way". Or the "If you just put the effort in, they are lovely once you get to know them".

I believe that some TRAs just take a dislike to certain people in the course of things and then decide to use them as their personal emotional punching bag, and no amount of effort is ever sufficient if you happen to be one of those unlucky people they select as their 'oppressor'. Its out of a need to play this role of the victim.

I do not believe it matters what your opinion and position on trans rights actually is in these cases. You could be very open minded and supportive from the outset. If you are 'competition' to their love bombing target you've had it.

The pattern seems to repeat constantly, and is well demonstrated by Stella Creasy as a love bombing target.

Well, I think of TERF as meaning "telling everyone real facts" which I recently read in an article but cannot recall which one.

There is a wider context...

Stonewall have a number of LGBT programs/workshops for allies- aimed at creating a more inclusive workplace.
There is a specific Trans Allies program.
www.stonewall.org.uk/get-involved/get-involved-ind-and-comm/trans-allies-programme
"As part of Stonewall’s commitment to trans equality, we are proud to launch the Trans Allies programme, kindly supported by EY. It will empower attendees to be active and positive allies who work to create more inclusive workplaces for all trans people.
The programme offers you the chance to:
Explore and better understand language and terminology
Hear personal stories from trans people and learn about the lived experiences of trans individuals in society and at work
Recognise your influence and responsibility when it comes to creating an inclusive workplace"

"I grew up in the 80s, when the UK was a very different place. The progress the UK has made in equality for the LGBT community would not have happened without the support of many allies. Therefore, as a white gay man, I try hard to bring about positive change for people who identify differently from me. I am determined to support my trans colleagues and customers on a journey where the destination is hopefully true equality for all. As an ally, I take responsibility to consistently influence our working culture and practice to be inclusive and take a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination."
I grew up in the 80s, when the UK was a very different place. The progress the UK has made in equality for the LGBT community would not have happened without the support of many allies. Therefore, as a white gay man, I try hard to bring about positive change for people who identify differently from me. I am determined to support my trans colleagues and customers on a journey where the destination is hopefully true equality for all. As an ally, I take responsibility to consistently influence our working culture and practice to be inclusive and take a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination.
JOHN GLENTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CARE AND SUPPORT, RIVERSIDE HOUSING

April 18th House of Commons
www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/offices/commons/media-relations-group/news/house-of-commons-proud-to-join-trans-ally-scheme/

as Helen Lewis in NS described:
“Some feminists have a different conception of gender to me” gets smudged into “some feminists talk about me in ways that I find offensive” and on to “some feminists are basically Hitler, trying to eradicate people like me”.

Once you reach the last statement, then of course you can slap a woman and still think of yourself as a good person. She wants to kill you; a mere punch is self-defence. (I’m not exaggerating about the language. The Edinburgh branch of Action for Trans Health tweeted the day after the attack: “Punching TERFs is the same as punching Nazis. Fascism must be smashed with the greatest violence to ensure our collective liberation from it.”)

There has been a very powerful narrative driven at times by misleading propaganda created & pumped out by a few accounts.
The way that social media (especially Twitter) works, a huge number of people within the LGBT+ community have been comprehensively manipulated by a few 'activists' into believing that transgender people's existence is in fact being threatened by people gathering with baseball bats and hatred...

Pink News "Anti-trans activists hit out at ‘parasitic’ trans people at event in Parliament"

As an ally, I take responsibility to consistently influence our working culture and practice to be inclusive and take a zero-tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination

At work I would absolutely step in an intervene if I saw a trans colleague who was being bullied, harassed or discriminated against. I am a policy maker, and I would work hard to ensure that the policies I was working on were inclusive. But that doesn't mean that I should be expected to share my toilet and shower facilities with anyone who says that they are female, nor extend membership of the women's group to anyone who says that they feel like a woman.

(Post edited by MNHQ)

I am not 'cis'. I am a biological woman.

I will absolutely defend the right of transpeople to live their lives free from discrimination or attack (regardless of my own gender critical views).

I do not, and will not, support or protect a damaging ideology like TRA. They are not seeking an ally for trans people. They are seeking people will agressively defend and protect an ideology.

Aw, bless. Poor timid creatures.

OlennasWimple
your position would be incompatible with Stonewall's, I think.

R0wantrees - yes, I expect so. No fucks given

(Though I say that from the position of not having to walk the walk at the moment because I'm not working at the moment so it's a bit hypothetical)

@OlennasWimple I think you may have a rogue 'not' in your post above- I wouldn't in any other circumstances mention such things but with screen shotters poised!

It's a badly written and repetitive post, but no rogue "not"! I'm not working at the moment, so no opportunity to be a good trans ally but also no requirement to share the ladies loos with any men

Thanks, though. You're right about the potential for screenshots and stuff being taken out of context (the S28 post being a prime example...still amazes me how people are being outraged by something that says the complete opposite of what they claim)

its the 'not' in front of inclusive!

Yes I thought the same.

@OlennasWimple Sorry, meant your post at 14:22 'policies I was working on were...'

I wonder if the focus might be an attempt to explain away "hang on, none of those protestors are trans?" Like preempting the question with "oh yeah, it's all our cis allies as we don't feel safe..." itswim?

Oh crap R0wantrees, you're right. I've asked MNHQ to edit it (I started to type "not discriminatory" and changed to "inclusive" but erroneously left the initial "not" behind)

Is this wall of allies needed? Is there some sort of When Feminists Attack scenario happening whenever there is a TRA protest?

Because the only violence I’ve seen has come from the TRAs. Why do they need this wall of people around them? Why do they need escalating home?

In short, who is physically attacking them? Because physical attacks by women on men are rather, ahem... rare, are they not?

And if the unthinkable happened and a small five foot two extremely angry woman had a swing at a six foot two chap, who do we think would come out better off?

Is it really women attacking?

I think it's more than the usual male entitlement/laziness at work here. It's TIMs playing out damsel-in-distress to affirm their "femininity", but I also strongly suspect these particularly misogynist TIMs are more than happy for women to take the risks on the frontline. They'd see it as fair because they're the poor oppressed "trans women" and their anger and resentment of women is such that it wouldn't upset them one bit to see a "privileged cis woman" take the hit or take the fall for them.

I have a headache so what I say might be crap.
But if terfy women are so violent why don't transwomen just use the men's toilets?