Excellent article on the problem of transphobia

[crispbuttyfan]

www.huckmagazine.com/perspectives/opinion-perspectives/mumsnet-transphobia-online/

"Regardless of intention, it seems to me that Mumsnet has allowed transphobia to become associated with their brand through their inaction. These boards have now become nothing short of echo chambers, spaces in which anti-trans rhetoric is continually employed with little objection."

The evidence is apparent throughout the feminism board.
Where lies are spread with abandon and the truth is slandered as 'gaslighting'.

mum, numerous posters, including me have expressed interest in what you're posting, asked you to stay, and respectfully engaged with you. You've ignored everything I've said, but you don't hear me boo-hooing about that.

It's the feedback that's hard to hear that helps us grow the most, and when people here say what you're posting is hard to understand, and appears to lack scientific rigour, then you can take that on board, or not, as you wish. Taking it on board might help you refine your position. Which is surely what you'd want?

whathaveiforgottentoday
context.

goodnight all

@PurpleCrowbar yes I noticed that too 😁

Your DNA will be read like a blueprint as a male or female phenotype relative to you. Pre transition before most secondary sex characteristics are formed you would be reading off one set of blueprints as you go through puberty the other set is repressed. when you start taking hormones and GNHR injections your endogenous hormones are reduced or stopped and replaced by exogenous ones.

Hormones bind to cell receptors this in turn effects the behaviour of cells and what part of DNA may be read within each i.e. what tissue structures they take on collectively for example facial hair follicles developing mainly in males or breast growth and the development of milk ducts in females.

by intervening using a GNHR injection you stop the pituitary from sending that initial signal to the cells of the body and replace it with that of the opposite birth sex this means your cells start building tissues and most large scale structures of the body according to that signaling pathway.

this enhancing and repression of genes without altering underlying genetics is known as epigenetics. in this instance the factor driving the epigenetics and new female or male transcript is endogenous.

After puberty the trans person apart from a few parts of the reproductive system (which they may opt to remove) in my book is for all intents and purposes the phenotype of the sex they have transitioned to, at least for the most part.

So this explanation is about how puberty blockers and hormones react with genes to form different characteristics.

What are the long term contraindications of these on pre-pubescent children?

And how does it work with over say 16 year olds? Adults if you wish?

Here is my view. I love humanity, and like everybody else I know that there are two sexes that determine the evolution of the species through reproduction. I think trans people are as human as anybody else and deserve equal rights. You cant change sex. My biggest problem with trans ideology, is that I believe, trans people are being used. By that I mean, trans people who want surgery/hormones, are being used by scientists, to see how hormones work on the opposite sex, its all a trial, and we are all witness to these experiments on peoples bodies under the guise of 'diversity'. I don't believe its ethical to take advantage of people with gender dysphoria, to improve scientific research.

TERFragetteCity I have to sleep I collectively look after 150-200 kids on a daily basis ! I promise I'll message you personally tomorrow. I like being challenged and questioned.I don't like just being told I'm an awful teacher.

Mumtobe25 You can't bend the rules of science just to make people feel happy. There's no context to that.

TERFragetteCity I have to sleep I collectively look after 150-200 kids on a daily basis ! I promise I'll message you personally tomorrow. I like being challenged and questioned.I don't like just being told I'm an awful teacher

Hi. Please dont message me personally, just respond on here. Whenever you can, no rush.

mumtobe25 nobody has said you are an awful teacher. However, people have been critical of the science that you have presented as factual. Perhaps, read over some of posts particularly those by babelfish and then come back and debate.

Mumtobe25

CharlieParley I appreciate you saying that just because I'm pro trans doesn't mean I'm a bad teacher.

I cannot let this stand.

The other contributors to this thread have expressed their alarm or disquiet or discomfort at you teaching biology at school NOT BECAUSE YOU ARE PRO TRANS but because you have demonstrated a serious lack of understanding of fundamental facts of human biology.

I understand, I really really do, that you want to interpret the science in line with your belief. And you are free to do so and free to share that interpretation with others. But when you share it with us, we can and will refute your points if they are incorrect. That's not bullying, that's having a discussion.

Like the other posters here, I am not anti trans. We support rights for trans people, we want them to be safe from violence and not to be discriminated against for being trans. And many of us have supported trans rights for decades.

We are all of us here supporting and many even fighting for women's rights and we believe that it is possible to protect trans people without disregarding women's rights. This is what we want to debate. Not whether trans people should have rights, but how we can make sure that when our rights compete, we find a fair and just solution that protects women and girls.

That is what feminists, whether male or female, fight for: the rights of natal women and girls. Trans rights campaigners fight for trans people - we're not asking them to center black people or blind people or bisexual people in their fight, because their fight is for trans people. When we feminists therefore center natal women and girls, that is our right and the only way to achieve our aims is to concentrate on our goals, not everyone else's.

'this enhancing and repression of genes without altering underlying genetics is known as epigenetics.'

That isn't what epigenetics is.

Your argument seems simple to me...

A phenotype is different from a genotype (true).
There are primary and secondary sex characteristics (true).
A person's sex can be defined scientifically on the basis of their secondary sex characteristics without reference to their primary sex characteristics i.e. genitals, gonads (untrue).

There's no need to bring epigenetics into this at all, and indeed you haven't done so, just randomly inserted the term in a description of something else.

Why is mum2be privately messaging me?

I would like to conduct the conversation on the boards. If I wanted private discussions, I'd email my friends. This is public debate.

combined with a rather shifting 'voice' .

YY.

Is Mumtobe the same biology teacher who wrote that idiotic post on Facebook about clown fish?

On a more serious note, of course mumtobe is a troll.

None of you seriously believe she teaches biology do you? She is clearly on the wind up.

Well, I don't believe it for a moment because I work with lots of biology teachers & they're all capable of stringing a paragraph together.

The early posts were devoid of punctuation, were entirely unstructured (but in a 'person with a decent vocabulary pitching as a person with poor literacy skills' manner that was blindingly obvious, & presented a wide eyed 'but all my trans girlfriends are lovely' narrative.

& I'm sure they are & that's fine.

Then suddenly we've got a slew of dodgy science that is dumped in relatively coherent syntax, with none of the previous illiteracy, & a claim to teach biology to A level.

It's just risible.

Obvious trolling is obvious.

Sorry MNHQ.

I suspect you might be right about Mumtobe, my friends... (I sincerely hope she's not teaching biology to your children! I always held the educational system of the UK in high regard. Even here in the States, I don't think she'd make it.)

And I LITERALLY (God, I hate that word now!) just spent 30 minutes writing about GnRH agonists in response to one of her comments. Argh! Oh well, it just reminded me how strongly I feel that we shouldn't f* with the pituitary gland.

Yes, I don't think they are what they say they are (on the other hand I do know scientists in RL who are young earth creationists). But it's been worth it for Bowl's posts.

I did wonder if they had mixed us up with Nethuns at first. Mistake people make with women.

I’m a professional writer. I can’t help feeling the original article was slightly lacking in oomph OP. I have rewritten to correct the inaccuracies and ensure that the information provided is clear and to the point. Please find the amended article below.

Has Mumsnet become a hub of online transphobia?

No.

What a lovely set of sentiments to wake up to: "either you are a troll or you shouldn't be teaching";

I sincerely hope she's not teaching biology to your children

None of you seriously believe she teaches biology do you? She is clearly on the wind up

Well, I don't believe it for a moment because I work with lots of biology teachers & they're all capable of stringing a paragraph together.

Their science is rotten

Then suddenly we've got a slew of dodgy science

Obvious trolling is obvious

I don't think that Mummytobe25 is posting in good faith.

I felt the last one ironic considering that to an outside observer none of the above is posting in good faith. I stand by my original statement that Mumsnet is not transphobic many of us believe transmen/transwomen are what they transition to, they are welcome here, many will be wonderful parents and if they have questions about parenting I and many others on this site are happy to help. Why I've been targeted in discussion like this or that is somehow a debatable position to hold is beyond me. Honestly, it seems to undermine any claim that the articles coming out about sub groups in this place are false. In any case I need to get off to work I'm just taken aback by the witch hunting nature of some (not all) of the people on this thread.

p.s. By the by I am a good teacher and I've now come to realise that my kids are what's important not what transphobes on this site or homophobes on alt right, extremist religious sites etc. think of me or my teaching whilst saying I believe trans and gay people have every right to be acknowledged equal to their cis and straight counterparts.

I believe trans and gay people have every right to be acknowledged equal to their cis and straight counterparts.

I don’t think there is a single poster in here that would disagree with this.

It is the difference between being talked to and talked at, I think.

Wouldn’t ignoring the obvious GF threads and letting them slide off the board without a single reply be the wise thing to do?

We are being targetted and distracted and/or used for ‘proof’ of our hateful, bigoted ways 🙂
If we don’t give them what they want, they will soon get bored.
Play the long game, don’t rise to the bait.