Mumsnet moderators are struggling to find the line between free speech and transphobia

[Ereshkigal]

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mumsnet-moderators-trans-rights-debate

Digested read: Why can't Mums stick to talking about biscuits and Ant and Dec instead of having opinions about issues which concern them? And why can't we call them goady names? And why are they so mean? And why is it allowed?

Comments from MN moderators are measured and reasonable, however.

This article uncritically presents doxxer Emma Healey who put women here at risk from TRAs as a noble whistleblower.

Other Mumsnet moderators express similar pride – although only under the cover of anonymity. Only one of the moderators I spoke with would give their real first name, two did not want to reveal their age, and none would chat over the phone. One moderator did not even want WIRED to include the year she started her job at Mumsnet for fear of being identified.

Hmmm, I wonder why that would be, Amelia? I don't think it's MN feminists they are afraid of now is it?

Another piece of poorly researched, biased nonsense.

Aside - does anyone think either Ant or Dec are hot? Is this a thing (that I'm just too goth to understand)?

Ant looks like an ex of mine.

So I guess I did!

Huh. I saw a thread recently where people were discussing pop stars of the 80s and 90s and which were hot, but Ant and Dec did not merit a mention!

Thank you MNHQ in buckets. Thank you for allowing us to have the debate, to express our fears and our anger. It is very much appreciated.

the website – once known primarily as a place where mums could discuss feeding routines, ask politicians about their favourite biscuits and argue about who is hotter, Ant or Dec

Really? Not since I've been on here. MN has always been full of intelligent women discussing everything from Brexit to postmodernism.

Just yet another female journalist seeking to win male approval by attacking other women, I guess. They've been around for a very long time.

Cis is an insult. Mis-sexing is an insult. Appropriation of the word "woman" is an insult.

YES. Totally with you there, LangCleg.

We are supposed to just swallow this constant affront to what it is to be a woman, in a society where males have dominated for sooooo long and women have been shat on every which way. And now being shat on by stealth, under cover of wokeness.

Fuck it. Fuck Wired and all the misogynists out there. Fuck this bastardisation of language and false appropriation of the mantle of civil rights, which together are intended to further oppress women and con us into thinking it’s a good thing.

No. No, you can’t have the word woman, or the word feminist, you can’t have our pronouns, or our safe spaces, or our sex based rights. We see you and we are going to fight you every inch of the way.

Here we have someone claiming that there are screenshots from MN of posters threatening to rape and murder trans people. They never do quite manage to post any though.

no. despite the regular attempts by AWAs to come here and goad people into saying nasty things they never find threats to rape and murder anyone because most of the posters on FWR are a) female and b) engaging with rational discussions and measured, backed up debate; not hurling mindless revolting abuse.

the deletions generally happen when a poster has been goaded into doing something like misgendering. this is seen as the height of all insults by some people despite the fact that the person doing the misgendering most likely doesn't believe in gender identities anyway and was thinking of the person's sex.

All that very silly quote does for me is reinforces how obsessed with archaic gender roles TRAs are. It's like they saw The Flintstones as children and thought it was a how-to guide.

Another poster who is grateful for MNHQ for standing up to those who would silence women's voices. And I reckon that the mods do an incredible job - I can only imagine the concerted attacks in all forms that they must get.

and to all of them

I find ant And Dec to both be a bit "short" for my liking, but that's weird because I've never actually stood next to either of them, they could both be tall for all I know. But on telly they look short to me.

hackmum yes, I know! She couldn’t be more committed to perpetuating sexist, misogynist stereotypes of women if she tried, could she? And has the gall to position herself as a feminist and us as the non-feminists. You couldn’t make it up.

Thank you MNHQ for all the efforts you make in trying to allow debate to continue and for allowing women to talk about what they want to talk about.

Parenting issues are still the bedrock of MN. From TTC through pregnancy, birth, feeding, 'ages and stages', schools, right on to uni.

And guess where it all starts? Sex. Biology. A parenting site is rooted in that reality. We need the clear, unmangled, language of womanhood. And then it goes on to children ... nurturing, understanding, protecting. Women have skin in this game, both our own and more precious than our own.

Thank you @MNHQ .

And to Michael, for all the vexatious complaints he has to deal with. As already pointed out, we all know which camp those are coming from, in such great volume.

I’m sensing a certain desperation from the TRAs. They know the tide is turning and panic has set in. @MNHQ you’re doing a great job, and there’s a little piece of history happening right here on these boards. They’ve got nothing on you and you know it, and they know how instrumental you are in leading the push back. Puuuulllll MNHQ, puuuuuullllllll!

Thank goodness there’s a place where I don’t have to be called ‘cis’ - I do not accept it
Thankfully mnhq gets it right

And does the article know how erasing her words are to lesbians? How dare she suggest that we should pick either Ant or Dec? That’s literal violence.

Another one weighing in to thank @MNHQ. I hope you realise just how important you are to women.

Puuuulllll MNHQ, puuuuuullllllll!

Maybe it should be 'Puuuushhh, puuuuushhh'?

And cis is a fucking insult. I have no idea what I’m supposed to identify with but the chances are I don’t, and why should I feel I have to identify with anything? I didn’t know a female body came with Ts & Cs.

And guess where it all starts? Sex. Biology. A parenting site is rooted in that reality. We need the clear, unmangled, language of womanhood. And then it goes on to children ... nurturing, understanding, protecting. Women have skin in this game, both our own and more precious than our own.

👏👏👏 Errol

And does the article know how erasing her words are to lesbians? How dare she suggest that we should pick either Ant or Dec? That’s literal violence.

And to goths too! Those two are both far too bloody cheerful.

Seriously, why did she pick them? As far as I can tell the collective MN id drools over Adam Ant, various other 80s pop stars, Brian Molko, and that sulky young dude who played Kylo Ren.

And yes, how very odd that a site where women come for explicit advice on breastfeeding would be full of people who understand how babby is formed and why it matters.

I’m not and will never be CIS: meaningless, stupid, pointless term.
The tide is turning and the TRAs are still demanding validation whilst starting to recognise, to their horror, that WOMEN are not giving in, not backing down, not moving on this issue. We see you. We know what’s going on. We won’t tolerate this.