Vice: how an online forum for moms became a toxic hotbed of transphobia

[NotTerfNorCis]

broadly.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/a3mn9k/mumsnet-uk-mom-forum-terf-transphobia-feminism

Thought people might be interested in this article. One thing that strikes me is the 'reducing women to their biology' argument. Don't transwomen 'know' they're not male because their body feels wrong? Then it is about biology isn't it? Otherwise why do they think they're female?

Actually, I think my suddenly-sprung theory might actually have some credence. The majority of TRAs are white middle-class boys, their mothers will by and large be politically-aware, second-wave feminists, who were very much the product of first and second-wave feminism.

Tip. Follow the example of my London sixth form daughter (well till a couple of years ago) and lurk on Relationships and AIBU. Some threads were so juicy that she couldn't resist sending me links.

My observation is that MN is a refuge for insomniacs whether mums or not. My 'there but the grace of god' are the Friday night posts by those battling cocaine addiction. And though I am white middle class I have learnt a lot about the challenges faced by others. Oddly though FWR is the board where class seems to matter least. Women are women and I admire.my working class heros as much as the middle class ones.

Cotton?

You privileged bastards.

I bed down on a nest of gravel and damp hessian of an evening.

And I'm thankful for it.

There seems to have been a flurry of these type of articles in recent weeks.
All written by women of a similar age etc

Are we allowed to think penises don't belong in women's prisons if we're from council estates? I mean, I can't get away from being a mother and therefore at least 90% of what I have to say should obviously be disregarded, but I am at least not naice, so maybe I'm worth a tenth of some posh white transactivist?

Is a feminist hotbed with a cotton ceiling a four poster bed in old fangled language?

Ergo, their collective tantrum, which particularly centres around telling middle-aged, middle-class women to fuck off, is just a middle-finger up to mummy dear, due to their unresolved Oedipal issues.

Actually, I think my suddenly-sprung theory might actually have some credence. The majority of TRAs are white middle-class boys, their mothers will by and large be politically-aware, second-wave feminists, who were very much the product of first and second-wave feminism.

More to the point, their mothers will be white feminists.

The trans people and allies that I spoke with allege specific tactics used to shut down dissenting views, including posting coded emojis or food references and recipes to derail threads in support of trans people.

I've never read anything so shocking in my life. My heart is bleeding for the poor souls who came here to denounce us all as bigots and had to contend with uppity women ignoring them and talking about biscuits instead.

There seems to have been a flurry of these type of articles in recent weeks.
All written by women of a similar age etc

It's a handmaiden astroturfing offensive.

"These women don't speak for me or feminism".

It always makes me laugh that my mum and her friends, late 80s, fairly conservative, religious, etc are all radical feminists.

Probably a memo went out, like needing to talk about period poverty for TRAs.

Love this: "his interrogators quizzed him from behind screens." You'd think we were all hiding from him.

I find it alarming how there are constant attempts to silence or negate the views of a whole swathe of the female population. Are white, middle class women not allowed to have views or debate issues? Seems a bit odd to me that a group of women should be silenced because of the colour of their skin and/or their perceived class (a fairly nebulous concept that often based on relative perceptions).
And, if I start life as a lower class girl and work hard at school and get a job that "qualifies" me as middle class do I lose the right to voice an opinion?

Sarah Pedersen? She's the professor in Aberdeen who wrote about the Trump threads!

"Citizen curation" in online discussions of Donald Trump's presidency: sharing the news on Mumsnet.
openair.rgu.ac.uk/handle/10059/2566

It was a fair piece, and her other publications also look worth reading.

In particular, she has published on mothers online, Mumsnet, blogging, women during the First World War and the Suffragettes. ‘The Suffragettes in North East Scotland’ is a Heritage Lottery Fund project led by Sarah.
www3.rgu.ac.uk/dmstaff/pedersen-sarah/?

Also, just to say to Eve Livingston and the 'monitoring network' the concerns and discussions on FWR are about the possible impact on children, safeguarding, women's rights, free speech etc of trans-ideology, lobbyists & trans-rights focussed policies

Reading the threads and reflecting on the posts rather than screen-shotting titles and perceived 'errant' posts would make this clear.

No MrsFogi, your views are only important up until the point you are educated enough to articulate them.

Ergo, their collective tantrum, which particularly centres around telling middle-aged, middle-class women to fuck off, is just a middle-finger up to mummy dear, due to their unresolved Oedipal issues.

Yes ! ! Nailed it perfectly.

And, if I start life as a lower class girl and work hard at school and get a job that "qualifies" me as middle class do I lose the right to voice an opinion?

Me!

Oh yes Platypus.

I’m not a mother, do I even belong here so? I came to Mumsnet from googling hysterectomy. Got lots of info, advice & support.

Does this mean I’m even a woman as I no longer have a Uterus?? Am I allowed an opinion on penises in womens spaces?

No MrsFogi, your views are only important up until the point you are educated enough to articulate them.

This!

The number of times I've seen this – not just about trans stuff but on all subjects.

mmm, people do seem to confuse lifting up the voices of marginalised people with shouting down the voices of others

Hey, at least we know the bedding for the hotbeds has a high thread count

What a load of student newspaper rubbish that was.

of course if you don't care about amplifying the voices of marginalised people but just want a dog whistle way of discounting what people who disagree with you say, then I can see how that would happen