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.

Absolutely Badstyley

There is so much more pushback on Twitter than there used to be -from everyday folk finding out what is going . And wider media coverage

And yes my thanks too to @MNHQ for allowing women free speech (within reason) when nearly everywhere else was shutting it down. Like a lot of women I suspect I will never forget it.

It's always amusing to witness misogynists realise that the 'silly mummies' of MN are millions of actual people. With diverse opinions on an endless range of topics. Who won't necessarily shut up when told to do so.

That must be scary for them. And mind-blowing.

It's only in the last few months that the general public has started to notice the changes TRAs have already pushed through, and the ones they want to see happen next. In terms of pushback this is just the beginning. The public is not going to stand for people like Stefoknee in changing rooms and toilets with little girls, and that's before we even start to talk about sterilizing children.

Like a lot of women I suspect I will never forget it.
Me neither MumFun

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

There was one the other day I reported. The response I got from MNHQ was a 'good grief, thank you!'.

This person was trolling and was banned immediately.

A few regulars posted that they looked like a plant to get those all important screen shots to 'prove' transphobia on MN.

I think she's very young and therefore representative of that phenomenon we've all noticed whereby young, childless feminists think that becoming a mother means your brains drop out. So all we're allowed to talk about is babies and nappies and nannies, and if we choose to step outside those boundaries we are immediately transformed from dopey-headed mummies into evil witches.

It's not very feminist at all, when you think about it.

Do you think the poster(s) on Twatter who claim there are such threatening posts on MN actually believe that there are?

Nope.

Vicky Well fgs these are the ppl who say women have penises. They will actually b'leive anything.

Do you think the poster(s) on Twatter who claim there are such threatening posts on MN actually believe that there are?

Maybe... there is a phenomenon whereby some people assume other people think and behave in the ways they do.

I don't think I've ever seen a thread debating the hotness of Ant and Dec? I don't think either are sexy!

I'm quite tempted to start this thread in chat now... just for the "wtfs?"

It's always amusing to witness misogynists realise that the 'silly mummies' of MN are millions of actual people. With diverse opinions on an endless range of topics. Who won't necessarily shut up when told to do so.

This!

And I will not be shutting up.

Who is Amelia Tait? I'm sure I recognise the name?

Do you think the poster(s) on Twatter who claim there are such threatening posts on MN actually believe that there are?

yes many of them believe it because they are being told it and for some reason they are accepting what they are being told in an uncritical way. i have seen plenty of acquaintances of mine leap to accuse others of transphobia or think nothing of using the slur t*rf for really small things - such as posting an ever so slightly questioning article. these people have been told by there are heavily funded right wing groups stirring up "anti trans hatred". now i don't spend enough time on the internet to know if such groups exist. but i do spend enough time on mumsnet to know that fwr has a lot of left wing posters and that so many of the posters demonstrate time and again that they go away and actually do their own research to inform their opinions.

someone has a vested interest in people believing this shit. i no longer think that interest has much to do with rights for trans people.

I notice quite a lot of media articles mention something about mumsnet forums, even LadBible mentioned a thread on here once.

But is what we talk about really that newsworthy? Would it be newsworthy if it were any other lesser-known forum?

Does mumsnet pay media outlets to write about us for the advertisement in the hope it will bring in new members?

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.

Don't be silly. Harrison Ford at any age versus the latter, surely?

MN has, of course, too large and varied a membership to have a collective Id, but it's probably statistically provable by usernames that our favourite author is the late Sir Terry Pratchett.

I don’t know which of Ant and Dec is which, so couldn’t even begin to form an opinion on who is hotter I have a pretty good nose for lazy sexist stereotypes of motherhood though.

Harrison Ford is much too old for me, but still rather him than poutyface.

Also, TerryP4ever!

Another person wanting to thank MN HQ for not caving in to bullies and moderating in a pretty sensible fashion.

urgh neither Ant nor Dec for me thanks. i'm loving the guy in Informer - Nabhaan Rizwan. Swoon.

and yes massive thanks to MNHQ

Who is Amelia Tait? I'm sure I recognise the name?

She writes on digital stuff for the New Statesman.

Odd to have a whole article about free speech vs moderation on Mumsnet that doesn’t mention the great She Who Must Not Be Named fiasco of the mid 2000s. Childcare ‘guru’ takes legal action to have entire website shut down after Mumsnet poster makes a comment about her strapping babies to rockets and firing them into Lebanon, surely more relevant than Penis Beaker? No?

Thank you MNHQ. I am so grateful to have this platform.

I don’t know which of Ant and Dec is which, so couldn’t even begin to form an opinion on who is hotter

Ant stands on the left, Dec's on the right. That's how you tell, Soph. Unless Ant is not there, and then you'll just have to work it out

THANK YOU MNHQ

I guess we've been reasonably good at not naming SWMNBN, and - not sure how old Ms Tait was but I'm guessing she wasn't reading MN back then.

In the spirit of peace&love, a link to another of her articles.

www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/10/why-are-smol-puppers-cuter-little-dogs

I don’t know which of Ant and Dec is which

Ant is a small social insect and Dec was the manufacturer of my favourite computers in the 80s before Silicon Graphics. HTH.