Let's meet up - find/start gender critical feminist groups

[BetsyM00]

There have been a couple of threads recently about finding/starting local gender critical feminist groups in real life, see here and here.

How about we just do it!

If you feel comfortable doing so, please post your nearest large town/city and we can then contact each other by pm (after due diligence with an advanced search) and talk to each other at a local level, and then organise for groups to meet up in real life.

I'll start. I'm in the far north of Scotland so don't really expect anyone very close to me, but would love to find anyone who could meet up in Inverness.

I also know of groups who meet up in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh who I would be willing to pass on your details to.

Many of us are quite rightly cautious of being out in public on this issue, but are simultaneously desperate to find like-minded women. If anyone has any better ideas for us connecting in real life, please post.

Nousernameforme and IUsed2Ban, I may be near you too, well maybe 30 min drive away but prob in the same county. I’m mostly a lurker but have posted a few times.

East Anglia

What a fantastic thread! Makes me wish I was still in the UK.

Bayeaux I'm thinking I'm probably about 30-40 minutes away too. I'd like to take a trip to Wells one of these days as I've never seen the Cathedral there. Wondering if that is in the general direction?

Preston, Manchester or Bolton for me .

I'm in deepest rural Witshire, Trowbridge is quite close. Is there anyone near me?

DonnaBe That's a familiar name. Unless I've confused you with someone else, that's great to hear you're thinking of looking to meet up with gender critical women to discuss the issues.

Sounds like you've done some further research and thinking since earlier in the year?

Although a quick glance at your twitter thread from the weekend still has lots of references to c* and t**, so you may find the discussion you're seeking a little stilted with such a difference in your starting points of reference.

Or was there another reason you were wanting to know people's locations near to you?

I'm not interested in people's locations at all. But I'm always interested in discussing issues that mean a lot to me. Happy to discuss with anyone, whether I agree with them or not.

And BTW, i rarely use c* and t**, so you may be looking at the wrong person on twitter. Or you've gone back a long way....

DonnaBe I can understand why this issue means a lot to you. I'm not going to link to your twitter as, like many Mumsnet users, I have no wish to link you to your 'real life', though you managed to do that pretty much all by yourself in April.

You may not have used the term yourself, but your many and varied retweets do.

And imply that your starting point in the discussion may be very different to women on this thread who are looking for an opportunity to discuss gender critical issues with like-minded people.

I'm with pombear here, I don't think GC groups are the groups you are looking for DonnaBe. Nice try though.

So you don't want to discuss with a trans person? You'd rather stay in your own bubble and not hear what different people think?
Mumsnet Feminist Chat has been turned into a discussion about trans people by non trans people. Don't you think you should listen to trans voices? After all, it's our lives you're discussing.
Whenever we do post stuff on here, we get drowned out or deleted or you all start talking about soup.

Wouldn't it be good to discuss our differences?

I think DonnaBe you have completely misunderstood the premise of this thread and what women are seeking here. We talk about and with other women, about our common concerns and experiences and have a common bond through shared lived experience. Having that matters to women, and when we want to talk, laugh, cry and comfort one another, it's a lot easier without someone demanding they be centred or who wants to police what and how women talk to one another.

But you carry on thinking we are all sitting round discussing trans people as though that's all we talk about. I mean, what else would women have to talk about eh?

Donna, I'm only going to post once more on this thread, as I don't want to hijack it. The word 'disingenuous' is ringing loudly in my ears right now.

Discussions take place with trans people on here, in real life, all over the place. You've also just lumped all posters stereotypically together - 'you all' - we're not some homogenous club.

But you may recall that it's often pointed out that many of us want to centre and discuss the rights of women and girls, and the impact of laws and gender on those rights. Don't you think you should also listen to women's voices? It's our lives you are discussing.

Your posts demonstrate very clearly why sometimes people want to discuss these issues without having to include everyone else's issues all the time.

But you carry on thinking we are all sitting round discussing trans people as though that's all we talk about. I mean, what else would women have to talk about eh?

Well most of the threads on Feminist Chat are about trans people. And they are not "by" trans people.

How would you feel if me had a chat board where they discussed stuff like legislation that affected women and how to extend it to restrict women's rights?

Oopps,, that should be "...how would you feel if men had a chat board...."

Isn't there a forum specifically for trans people where they can discuss their issues without needing to gatecrash this one?

How would you feel if me had a chat board where they discussed stuff like legislation that affected women and how to extend it to restrict women's rights?

You are hilarious Donna. Really. A total hoot.

What about this then. A group of non trans people are discussing a law that is aimed entirely at trans people.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3366267-No-need-for-any-changes-to-the-GRA-Profs-Rosa-Rosemary-make-the-case

Why am I hilarious for wanting voices like mine heard in such a discussion?

If you think it affects non-trans women, you have every right to discuss it. But the GRA defiinitely affects trans people. If you're discussing repealing the GRA without including trans people, aren't you being a bit exclusionary?

Shouldn't you be discussing it with us?

Here's another witty comment Donna finds hilarious, just so anyone who wants to meet up with Donna can rehearse splitting their sides at such witty repartee

Q: What is the difference between a catfish and a t*rf?

A: One is a bottom-dwelling, garbage-eating scavenger. The other is a fish.

So witty.

I'm sure there will be a deluge of PMs heading your way Donna, as multiple women rush to invite you to join their groups to entertain them with more of your 'edgy' humour, and sincere wish to talk to women.

Here's another witty comment Donna finds hilarious, just so anyone who wants to meet up with Donna can rehearse splitting their sides at such witty repartee

Q: What is the difference between a catfish and a t*rf?

A: One is a bottom-dwelling, garbage-eating scavenger. The other is a fish.

So witty.

I'm sure there will be a deluge of PMs heading your way Donna, as multiple women rush to invite you to join their groups to entertain them with more of your 'edgy' humour, and sincere wish to talk to women.

Oops.

The GRA seeks to exclude women (you know, actual women, not the ones with a penis) from women only spaces by making them inclusive for any Tom, Dick or Harry that says he's a woman, so please don't insult us by complaining we are exclusionary.

Hi Donna. I'll debate with you here. What do you want to choose as the starting point?

Beds/Bucks/Cambs -

That joke is usually told about lawyers. I've heard it many times before.
Sorry if my laughing at an old joke offends anyone.

The GRA seeks to exclude women
Great! now we are discussing things. I'm not sure how it excludes women. It mostly lets trans people change their birth certificates. It was important after Corbett v Corbett 1970 stopped trans people from marrying. But probably less so now we have much more liberal marriage legislation.

It doesn't give access to spaces. When did you last have to show a birth certificate to access anything? There was a 1999 court judgement that effectively did that (can't remember the name) and the EA formalised that and included some other judgments. (European Court of Human Rights I think.)

The law is a bit inconsistent. And confusing. But the GRA doesn't make someone legally a woman or man. Effectively the EA and case law do that.

So why do you think the GRA excludes women?