Being GC and fearing for your job

[JellySlice]

I work in a field where posters frequently say that they fear for their jobs if they are openly GC. This has made me hesitate about 'coming out' myself.

But are our jobs really at risk? Can you be fired for holding or expressing a particular opinion or belief?

I can't help wondering whether this is, in fact, another example of female socialisation against expressing strong, potentially contrary opinions. 'Men are forceful, women are pliant'.

And I'm not knocking this worry, I understand that it's genuine. But I also want to understand the reason and be fully armed before I stand up to be counted at work.

Two different risks: people are afraid that pointing out "Surely a reasonable person would deem women to be at risk in mixed showers, changing rooms, and toilets?"
could put their job at risk.

expressed support for Boris Johnson, was seen on TV holding a placard supporting him at a demo, would they be allowed to fire me for bringing them into disrepute?
I don't know about firing you but they could have you committed to a little padded cell

You could lose your job if TRAs get your full details and your boss is a bit of a wimp I think. Like, imagine you owned a business and all of a sudden you started getting literally thousands of calls/emails about a member of your staff. Regardless of if you agreed with the opinion or not, its got to get fucking annoying after a while. I can imagine some bosses find it easier to let go of the staff member than deal with the ridiculous amount of pressure TRAs put on.

Sorry, did you pick up she has mixed toilets, shower cubicles and changing rooms at work from another thread, it doesn't seem to be stated on here.

In wider life, I, as a woman, am at risk of sexual assault if I have males entering those spaces. The more males are allowed to enter, the more risk I am at. Self-id increases the number of males who will be allowed to enter, because excluding a GRC holder is very hard to do. Any reasonable person can see that. Expressing that opinion under my real name would be likely to result in a vocal delegation from my institution's student LGBT society seeking my dismissal.

Have ‘come out’ as gc at work. Waiting to see how long I last...

Well done mouse. Courage calls to courage. Be confident about it. The more timid you are, the more they'll see you as a target. and ] for the days ahead!

That little padded cell is beginning to look very attractive, RangeRider.

It has to be said, I'm so timid, i daren't say on here what happened at work. However, the stern talking to I've had to give myself every day for x years means that i will keep on until i can’t. Thank you for the flowers and wine.

I know what you mean and it's no lie to say for me that people like Ruth, Lucy, Kathleen, Venice, Posie, Linda and Pilgrim are inspiring. I saw Pilgrim speak in public and she was trembling. But she was more magnificent for it. If they can do it, I can.

I'm transexual/transwoman not transgender and already been disciplined for airing my views after challenging transwoman are woman

That is both utterly shocking and yet unexpected. Shocking that you, who live the life, actuality, reality, of the trans experience, are silenced when you speak the truth of it. Unexpected, because that is exactly what the trans ideology movement does to women. Does to the whole population!

Expressing that opinion under my real name would be likely to result in a vocal delegation from my institution's student LGBT society seeking my dismissal

It's already happened to me. In the end HR decided that freedom of speech was paramount, but there was a doxxing complaint from the student LGBT soc which was taken very seriously at the highest level of my HEI.

It was awful.

I am a coward: I know Kathleen Stock and others are asking academics to speak out, but I can't go through that again. I just can't. I can't rationally explain why even to myself - except that sense of assault and pain after 30 years of an active & exemplary career as a feminist academic trying to look after young women intellectually. I just have no words to describe how awful those 4 months when I was under investigation were.

I was told if I spoke about it to colleagues or via social media I would face further disciplinary action.

I think the awful thing for me is that I've realised that at base, fundamentally, I'm a coward. I hate myself for this.

I work as a teacher and as a university researcher. Teacher standards specifically mention that my suitability to work can be determined not just by my actions outside my workplace but by those of my family.

There is so much misinformation around equality legislation and well meaning acceptance of the Mantra out there that it would not take much for me to be suspended because of someone believing I’d done something ‘illegal’ e.g. by asking questions relating to trans issues when in fact I’d not IYSWIM. Like the GG, everything can be twisted to mean ‘not complying with our safeguarding policy’

It’s not just whether or not you’d actually lose your job but the suspension and isolation for months on end that would inevitably come before it.

I have, however, corrected a homework survey from my kids school which asked me to state my child’s ‘gender’ rather than ‘sex’

[flowers]@ShineOnHarvestMoon

Robin Effron's Letter to her students following her decision to be a signatory to the letter to Senate in re: Kavanaugh:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3386304-Robin-Effrons-Letter-to-Students-How-Difference-of-View-Should-Be-Handled

For me, it is level-headed and exactly what I'd like to see in a university - I know Robin is in the US but I wonder if there will be any repercussions for her or the other signatories?

I'm a single parent with no savings. I'd be in big financial trouble if I lost my job but I doubt I would be fired for this. My employers are lovely people and very sensible. However, we are a small business with some very big name clients. I could easily see TRAs targeting our clients or my employers. I don't want my lovely boss and colleagues to have their livelihoods put at risk or have to deal with the stress of abusive behaviour.

Not unexpected . My post makes no sense whatsoever without the 'not'!

It has long been the case that if you don't have the same attitudes and opinions as your bosses then you can be 'encouraged to leave', and in public facing jobs you cannot speak a word out of place. Many people find it can be difficult to find jobs in the first place because of that. It's the basis of the British class system. So yes this is a real fear when the people at the top are the middle class left wing liberal types, even before you factor in actively aggressive behaviour and financial blackmail.

To any one who won’t stand up and say things because you have too much to lose/ you’ve already had experience of what will happen, please be kind to yourselves. You are not cowards and not every woman fought for our right to vote for just the same reasons, but in the end we won.

arranfan I’ve read Snyder’s book and I found it utterly chilling when thinking about this whole issue. I hadn’t quite twigged how totalitarian it is. For me, this is the hill I will die on: not feminism, but freedom of speech.

I'm not allowed to express any political view in public (Civil Service). I don't have any social media activity at all under my own name, and I"m very grateful to those women who do stand up to be counted. However, I've been able to explain the difference between sex and gender at some meetings I've been to in the past year, so I hope I'm doing some good in a small way.

Blanketbox - may I recommend this piece (and her other writing by Jane Claire Jones)? JCJ is a researcher in the intersection of civil rights and society and has been a fascinating voice for many years.

For those of you out there still sitting on the fence, or who still believe that I, and everyone opposing this ‘civil rights movement’, is just a nasty evil hate-mongering bigot, please, if you give one shit about women and the protection of women, wake-the-fuck-up. This is actually happening, it’s scary as shit, and we may well be running out of time. This is what woman-hating totalitarianism looks like. This is not a fucking drill.

janeclarejones.com/2018/09/26/twitter-trans-rights-totalitarianism-and-the-erasure-of-sex/amp/?__twitter_impression=true