Are you scared?

[Jeanhatchet]

I. Am. Terrified.

The pace and scale of the attack on women and specifically feminists is like nothing I have seen in my lifetime.

Women are being arrested for speaking about being female. Women are insulted with derogatory terms for using words referring to their own bodies and the functions of those bodies. Suspended from their own political parties. Hounded from their jobs. Thrown out of their online spaces and denounced as bigots. Prevented from meeting to speak together. Prevented from hiring spaces to speak to each other. Being forced to say things that aren't provably true and that they really don't believe. Called terms that make them unsure of themselves. Gaslighted into accepting those terms. Made to feel guilty for wanting space where they feel safe and that has always been theirs and protected legally. Feeling uncomfortable for wanting to assert their legal rights. Feeling uncomfortable for saying no to male bodied people. Feeling uncomfortable for being lesbian and wanting only female partners. Feeling unsure if they can speak because they are terrified of upsetting a body of people who seem to have more power in every area of their lives even though those people are a tiny tiny minority.

As I just said elsewhere.... some women can take the temperature of the social/political/cultural water and feel their feet getting hot. I hope other women can feel this happening before women as a sex class is boiled alive. It is already uncomfortably hot for women speaking out. We are risking an awful lot.

I continue speaking out. I will be speaking at events wherever I'm invited about what is happening. Am I scared? Damn right I'm scared. Speaking about my body and beliefs about that body has become a revolutionary act.

Rather than ask if I'm scared that women are under such an organised, aggressive and escalating programme of attack I ask this of women who aren't scared .....why aren't you?

(Except at that one demo where one of them was committing arson, they're not that stupid.)

Supermatchgame you realise you have just said to me "it isn't all bad news. Others who use the same label as you but fundamentally disagree don't experience the same clash of identities" Should gender critical feminists find any comfort in that?

I'm pretty sure that comfort is the opposite of what Supermatch would like us to feel.

In order to steal 'woman' for themselves, they have to kick out the existing occupants.

Sorry if I missed this, but there are already transactivists telling women they are not allowed to use 'woman' to describe themselves, and instead must use 'XX'.

tinkletinklelittlebat Not scared. Very angry , very determined and saddened at the reality it's exposed of how much of society truly believes at gut level that women are subhuman, and how skin deep women's rights are. Essentially women may have rights so long as they in no way inconvenience a man.

It is this that gets to me. How easily and gleefully people jump on board with a set of such terrible beliefs that are destructive to women and our rights.

Pratchet I cannot see any real difference in the insistence that women call themselves XX, and the older 'cis' BS. It's all about getting women to give up their name, be assigned another one.

As an aside, I worked out what CIS stands for, when a female uses it:
Compliant Individual Signalling. That is exactly what they are doing, whether knowingly or not. Be forewarned, I will be using that, every time a woman refers to herself or other women in this way. I like to make stuff obvious.

As an aside, I worked out what CIS stands for, when a female uses it:
Compliant Individual Signalling. That is exactly what they are doing, whether knowingly or not. Be forewarned, I will be using that, every time a woman refers to herself or other women in this way. I like to make stuff obvious.

Ooh that's good!

Squirrel completely agree, and they'd steal whatever we ran to

Compliant Individual Signalling.

I will be using that, every time a woman refers to herself or other women in this way. I like to make stuff obvious.

May I steal that and do it too?! I also like to make stuff obvious.

lasqrll
thats really good. I will remember that.
Jeanhatchett
Not scared - well maybe a bit. Mostly bloody furious. I do what I can such as letter writing , discussing with folk I can trust, petition signing etc. It helps to channel it.

May I steal that and do it too?! I also like to make stuff obvious.

Yeah, steal away, with gusto!

Pratchet, you cracked the code now? (gathers nuts)

At first I was hmmmm "yay for a small group getting what they need" but on further thought and investigation... I realised WTF the whole damn job lot of us - women are being thrown under the bus AGAIN! Women have been fighting for equality for centuries and we were not even there yet, now we're back on the downslide again?! So gah. Enough being "nice" we need to do an Iceland! :(

@ToeToToe

I haven't seen or read the Handmaid's Tale yet (oh the shame!) but I believe a key point is how the Aunt Lydias and wealthy wives help support the system. IF women were united the patriarchy could not continue. Which is why so much effort is expended to pit us against each other.

@Jeanhatchet

Feel free to rephrase it in you own words and post it wherever you like. No need to credit me, it's your truth as much as mine. I don't have a blog, social media and a consistent platform makes it too easy to worry too much about what other people are commenting and responding. I generally prefer 'pigeoning' - where you swoop in, dump some shit, and fly off again. That's why I said to tag me, otherwise I'm likely to never look at the page again.

@UpstartCrow

Repost wherever you please :)

@boatyardblues

In some mostly matriarchal cultures like the Minangkabau of Sumatra they encourage the young men in the community to travel and see the world for a year or more at a time. I have a feeling this is a subtle effort to create a sushi train type of situation, with the young men from the neighbouring villages rotating through.

Obviously I'm not saying we SHOULD do that, I'm just saying we could.

And I'm not sure that a 1 man/100 women population bottle neck would be any worse for the gene pool than a 50 men/50 women population bottle neck. Just something else to ponder. It's less about how close people are related and more about the diversity of genes in the population.

Larry sounds like the quintessential Mediocre Man, farting out any opinion that happens to wander through his cavernous skull and assuming that is has value and worth. If you're reading this Larry, there's a little white box near the top of your screen. Try typing 'sex selection human example' or 'other cultures' or 'is marriage universal' or pretty much anything actually. I expect pretty much any website you land on will contain something that's news to you and might help you to contribute to future discussions in a meaningful way.

AngryAttackKittens
If trans women actually owned their experiences, ie. those of atypical men, then very few feminists would have an issue with that.

I doubt the average transitioned woman with breasts, (surgically constructed) vagina and female hormones circulating would identify as any type of man. Having a gender identity that is comfortable with that is not the gender identity of a man.

Being comfortable with having a male body, penis and testicles and testosterone circulating, but presenting in a dress makes you an 'atypical man'.

As does collecting navel fluff. (A man in Australia has actually done that).

AngryAttackKittens
I'm pretty sure that comfort is the opposite of what Supermatch would like us to feel.

Why do you think that Angry?

Sarah
Supermatchgame you realise you have just said to me "it isn't all bad news. Others who use the same label as you but fundamentally disagree don't experience the same clash of identities" Should gender critical feminists find any comfort in that?

No that's not what I said. I said There are many women who accept trans women as women

In response to your claim that They are mutually exclusive.

Transition is often about sex, not gender.

A little scared, but mostly I'm furious and utterly horrified.
I honestly did not realise how little women's experiences were valued or understood.
I think one of the wtf moments for me was seeing endless tweets with thousands of likes and RTs on International Women's Day of the 'gentle reminder that not all women have a uterus/vagina' and that 'celebrating it is exclusionary'.
IWD has always focused on issues like fgm, forced marriage, contraceptive rights -- all those things that disproportionately affect people with uteruses and vaginas but now we're not supposed to even mention them?
That was when I realised the trans moment wasn't about trans women being included, it was about shutting down any discussion of womanhood that isn't about them.
No other women's campaign group does this -- none of them give the others 'gentle reminders' that their experience isn't universal or that their own voices should be heard before other women's. It's just the trans activists who do that.
That's why the TERF label is so ridiculous. It's primarily TRAs who are exclusionary. Their focus is on amplifying trans women's voices and excluding women.
It would be hilarious if it weren't so bloody awful.

Because you've tipped your hand too many times already, SuperMatch. It's a bit late to pretend not to be openly hostile to the women here now.

Yes. Terrified. But that makes me angry too. Maybe angry enough to 'out' my terf ass publicly. But that's also terrifying!

Bloodmagic - I wonder if Rumspringa in some Amish and Mennonite communities serves a similar function, but getting the genes out into the wider population.

Yes I'm scared - more than ever now I have a daughter. I am scared and feel the Government had utterly betrayed us all. Labour are no better either.

Women who see TW as women?
There are women who pretend lol. They aren't treating TW as women, they're EXACTLY treating them as men. Prioritising them, listening to them instead of other women, trying to 'make it all better', trying to keep them happy, trying not to upset them no matter how high the price. Basic psychology (or simple experience of human nature) is your friend here.

Pratchet

Women who see TW as women?
There are women who pretend lol. They aren't treating TW as women, they're EXACTLY treating them as men. Prioritising them, listening to them instead of other women, trying to 'make it all better', trying to keep them happy, trying not to upset them no matter how high the price. Basic psychology (or simple experience of human nature) is your friend here

That articulates it so well

That's exactly what led me here a few years ago but I couldn't put my finger on my discomfort.

And when CJ came out with that Vogue cover and all- the fawning; the sense that they were in fact a woman more worthy of respect and adoration just stuck in yy craw

MY craw