Just outed myself as GC

[buttyblahblah]

Aah, couldn't help myself commenting on a post by James Fell on FB. He's suddenly all about the TERFs, doesn't seem to be reading any of the articles being linked in the comments. I'm very disappointed, he seemed like a good one.

🍷 to all GC people everywhere

Chickened out and deleted my comments, don't want to lose my job for trying to have a rational debate about women's safety.

Keep yourself safe, and protect your job x

Actual good men don't act like that, James.

Ugh just saw his post - have to say I'd never heard of him before - he sounds confused and hateful. He's the kind of person who isn't going to respond to argument, so if I were you I'd unfollow.

Oh no, I used to follow James Fell when I used FB. He posted a lot of good stuff about women runners and things.

I hate that we have to hide our 'wrongthink' butty

GC??

Gender critical

I have unfollowed him now.

The madness of the replies, basically just TWAW over and over again and a bit of mocking the crazy women in between.

On the plus side it seems to have got me accepted into a feminist FB closed group!

What’s gender critical?

GC=bollocks to trans people in the wrong bogs??

Gender Critical - gender is the way people are conditioned to perform by society, based on their biological sex.
GC people think that stereotypes are harmful, that people should be able to dress how they like, and have whatever preferences they have without judgement and without needing to 'change sex'.

It might be good to have a new thread explaining what gender critical means. I saw a confused person posting about it on Twitter today. Some people seem to think it means biological determinism, but that's the opposite of what it is.

As I understand it, there's the concept of biological sex (male/female - same for humans and animals) and then there's a concept of 'gender' - the social construct around biological sex. So people who are female are expected to go into certain jobs, wear certain clothes, act in a certain way etc. Same for people who are male.

Feminists are campaigning for equality and so they criticise the social construct around each gender, because it acts to disadvantage women. For example, the belief that women aren't suited to leadership roles, or that men should bottle up emotion.

That doesn't stop feminists from acknowledging biological sex and how that impacts people's life experiences. Maternity pay, abortion, discrimination in case of pregnancy, contraception... these are all things that affect female-bodied people, e.g. women. Also men are on average physically stronger than women, and seem to be naturally more violent and sexually predatory (some feminists might dispute that). That means in some cases the sexes need to be kept separate - whether in sports, prisons, refuges, changing rooms etc. In most cases they don't.

That fb thread is a mess.

"Give me an example of tw causing problem"

"Yes well not all tw do that and besides what about women who do it?"

They honestly can't even speak straight without falling over themselves.

Heh can't edit, 'criticise the social construct around each gender' should have said 'criticise the social construct around each sex'. Gender is the social construct. The problem we've got now is that TRAs have changed the concept of gender to mean a feeling of being male or female, no matter what anatomy you have. TRAs reinforce gender by insisting that the social stereotypes and an innate sense of being manly or womanly is much more important than your physical body.

So while feminists say that a woman is an adult human female with that biological reality, but she can dress how she wants, take any job she wants etc... TRAs say a woman is anyone with an innate womanly feeling, who is most likely into make-up and all the other girly stereotypes. By extension, a woman who doesn't have a deep sense of womanliness and isn't into those stereotypes is probably non-binary or trans. TRAs reinforce gender - they are the regressive ones.

I guess I must be trans then as I have no "womanly feelings". I just menstruate, have had babies, almost breast fed, get smear tests on my non imaginary cervix, do 90% of the childcare and get patronised by younger men.

I've just had a few of those circular 'conversations' with TRAs/TG allies on twitter. There is a definite trend among them to misrepresent the GC arguments and try and turn them back on us. That worries me - not because I can't or won't argue my corner - but because this new stupidity will spread and start being parroted by many more TRAs/trans allies, especially the ones who think it sounds clever but haven't got two of their own brain cells to rub together.

Lots more situations where you have to decide whether you make the time to engage, knowing it will almost certainly be fruitless but at least your points are out there and may be read by others coming across the convo, or just mute/block and move on.

There is a definite trend among them to misrepresent the GC arguments and try and turn them back on us.

Most definitely. I've seen endless refutations of 'gender critical' arguments that are pretty much endless strawmen and misrepresentations.
I think some are genuinely clueless and think that's what gc feminists are saying because they're in their own little bubble and have only heard the strawmen, but there is also definite deliberate misrepresentation.
I'm still waiting for the day a trans activist listens to an argument a gender critical feminist is actually making and gives a response to that actual point.

Also, solidarity with you, OP. I'm not 'out' on Facebook. I suspect there are a lot of us.

Gah, there's a wonderfully articulate GC woman posting in the comment thread, and the male bodied person she is talking to is the perfect infuriating example of the idiotic escalation of response to GC ideas.

It's all 'You want to see me homeless and dead!' accompanied by lots of name calling. I often wonder if this stunning inability to see themselves ranting in extremis is related to some of them convincing themselves that everyone genuinely thinks they are a woman. Like they look in a mirror and just can't see the obvious.

Can you link Floral?

He is odious.

twitter.com/BodyForWife/status/1079189168905830400?s=19

Meh, just gone back to find it again and I think the original GC comment has been deleted so the thread coming from it has gone too. Nothing you won't have read before, and there's plenty more close minded anti-woman batshittery under the post should you wish to clobber yourself over the head with stupid before the year ends...

Never heard of him before but just looked at his fb post & come away sickened. Just him and loads of other people making dehumanising comments.