Using women as human shields

[UglyCathKidstonBag]

My workplace is having an interesting week. A woman on the day shift (who I only meet at handover) seems to be an ardent GC-er and is peak transing people left right and centre.

It seems yesterday she mentioned women being used as “human shields” which drew a few raised eyebrows and it couldn’t be discussed further due to a work situation.
We picked up some of the discussion on our shift, including demands for cis allies to create barriers at protests or events and even the fact that forcing spaces to become unisex uses women as a human shield.

I thought it would be useful to have a thread documenting when this happens because it is quite extraordinary to ask an adult human female to protect a trans woman from a adult human male.

If anyone has any links to articles/social media posts/threads about this specifically happening then please share them here as this seems to be a cause for concern for many outside or new to the debate.

So concepts like "microaggressions" triggers, "epistemic violence" are being weaponised against GC views both on an individual level (you're making me want to kill myself) and a class level (your views invalidate trans people).

The logic falls down, doesn't it? The respect only ever goes one way. And the only answer I can ever find is 'privilege'.

This. Exactly.

letsqueerthingsup.com/2017/06/22/cis-allies-you-probably-think-this-work-is-about-you/

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told by cis “allies” that if I don’t directly appeal to them in the most generous terms possible, I can’t expect their support. And as far as I can tell, this is a pretty explicit way of saying, “I will not affirm the humanity of transgender people unless their movement caters to me.”

That whole post is the kind of mind set we are dealing with here.

They want the power of knowing they can deliberately be offensive to people women who they secretly despise and still count on their support and for the allies to put the TRAs' feelings ahead of their own.

What will really creep you out is when you find out what they mean by "support".

And heaven help you if you step out of line, even inadvertently.

"Letsqueerthingsup"

No. Let's not.

In TRA terms "support" means "obedience", and also possibly "donations".

I intend to give neither.

Respect, yes, absolutely. I'll gladly respect the humanity of any being, and that's unconditional. But affirm? Is it really anyone's responsibility to affirm anyone in anything? Or a healthy thing to be requiring from 'allies'? I'm never comfortable with the allies term either, it again frames things with dodgy connotations. This isn't a war zone, there aren't armies and sides, grown up words would help here.

I also find it very difficult to take seriously statements around 'affirming the humanity of' or 'invalidating existence of' or 'right to exist', and again these have become well known, standard script lines, used quite casually on social media. It's obvious that if someone's sense of self is so fragile that a random anonymous post on the internet can throw them into dangerous existential doubt then their crisis team need to be taking better care of them. So if it's just a figure of speech not intended to be taken literally (like the death and rape threats which are apparently just harmless hyperbole), then it's quite a dramatic one and it's intended to be emotionally manipulative, which makes it all a bit teenager in a flounce which casts me as the parent figure. No thanks. I'm not keen on game playing and dramatics, even when its my own kids doing it.

Fab posts Knicknack.

It's obvious that if someone's sense of self is so fragile that a random anonymous post on the internet can throw them into dangerous existential doubt then their crisis team need to be taking better care of them.

Elephant in the room. "but not a mental health issue".

"Be interesting to explore the psychology behind asking for specifically women to act as shields.
Obviously, asking men would be more obvious if they genuinely felt under physical threat. Specifying women is a political statement, isn't it?"

No, it makes total sense.

If I ask a guy to walk me through a dangerous area I'm not using him as a human shield, I'm asking him to use his power to protect me. It's a request that acknowledges him as the one with power.

When you use someone as a human shield you demonstrate your power over them. Their willingness is irrelevant. If I was a psychopath and wanted a human shield in a shoot-out type situation I wouldn't grab a man, i would grab a child or an elderly person, someone I could control. That's why they're using "cis" women (who they see as below, or subordinate to them). They see it as their right to demand the use of womens bodies in this way. It is an assertion of power. Requesting the assistance of 'cis' men would be accepting a lack of power.

One that was like this was

A tweet asking for donations for cabs for trans people after nights out

Which asked readers to "try to imagine " what it would be like walking home and being scared...!

It's tone deaf because it's a men's rights movement and they are simply not interested in women and our lives, all they care about is that we do as we are told, and provide sex if that is their orientation.

On why men are never asked. Why would they be? They are men, they are not there to have demands made on their time, or their thoughts. They can and should proceed as they are. Of course they are not asked.

twitter.com/ryanjohnbutcher/status/942714839109128192?s=20

This one?

Ryan John Butcher
Ryan John Butcher
@ryanjohnbutcher
ATTENTION CISGENDER PEOPLE.

Can you imagine what it's like leaving your home in constant fear of assault, harassment and ridicule? This is what trans people experience every day of their lives. Help our trans siblings. Read this thread and share, please.
Travis
@travisalabanza
It'd be great if everyone who could, would donate or share to this travel fun being set up to support trans women and trans feminine folk. (Thread below to come on why urgent) (link: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/travel-bursary-for-trans-feminine-people/) crowdfunder.co.uk/travel-bursary…
Show this thread

Why yes, yes I can. Every day since about the age of 10.

Talk about tone deaf.

He's such a clueless dude bro idiot.

Some of the replies are great! He sulked about it afterwards, about all the harassment.

I remember reading that Ryan John Butcher tweet and it was like a punch to my stomach. In one tweet I cold see how invisible women's plight is to men unless they actively go out of their way to find out about it - and their understanding thereafter will be patchy at best.

This man showed utter contempt towards women.
I remember his defense was along the lines of 'I don't even think of women existing and using Twitter - I only concern myself with dudes'. And he ofter no apology or anything. Such an utter male-entitled wanker. There are a lot of these deeply misogynist men about.

Something else that bothers me is gay male trans activists using women as sort of stooge beards in their profile pictures. Thinking of Adrian Harrop changed his twitter profile after his disgusting misogyny is made clear twitter.com/DrAdrianHarrop and Owen Jones in his background image twitter.com/OwenJones84

It is as though they are saying "I can't be an utter misogynist wanker - here look at this picture of me with a female - she isn't punching me in the face or anything".

https://twitter.com/nicolajayneh/status/1022387773087657985?s=20

Check this reply to Alison Moyet and someone agreeing with Alison about about the use of "cis" to belittle people women

Pattern matching to understand underlying systemic issues is not a form of 'micro-aggression' ffs.

These white fellas with too much free time and money to spend on their autogynephilia just love to imagine they are oppressed don't they?

Oh yes.

Emma the MN intern and other female allies joined this thread about the 'How to Deal with Terfs' slideshow which had been shown by two transwomen NUS officers at NUS Women's 18:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3222263-Slide-show-on-How-to-Deal-with-TERFs

OlennasWimple This thread was one of yours too!

Tara Hewitt Tweet.

See current thread with Tara Hewitt's description of her influence and roles NUS / Legal / Safeguarding:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3317880-Parents-who-wont-affirm-8-yr-old-gender-change-being-referred-to-social-services

Have you demonstrated your total embrace of the Genderism belief system by promoting the interests of transgenders and transgenderism every day in as positive way as you possibly can regardless of the harm this may do?