I mean, I understand how hard it is to moderate forums like this.... but this is quite disturbing, to remove a thread about a male sexually assaulting a woman at her place of work because it looks ‘inflammatory’ is very very alarming to me
context MN FWR is 'monitored' & Safeguarding /Women's rights discussions are sometimes mischaracterised:
December 2018 Vice article By Eve Livingston,
'How an Online Forum for Moms Became a Toxic Hotbed of Transphobia'
(extract)
But if, as Roberts and Pedersen assert, the community’s influence is a result of its engaged membership, Mumsnet finds itself at the political whims of a very particular membership base. When it comes to Mumsnet’s reputation for transphobia, it seems that the very demographics to which Pedersen attributes its success may have resulted in an especially narrow vision of womanhood—one that specifically excludes trans women.
Since 2016, Mumsnet—specifically its Feminism board—has increasingly found itself on the receiving end of criticism from trans people and their allies. “When I started using Twitter and engaging in the trans sphere in mid-2017, Mumsnet was constantly referenced both on my timeline and in DMs,” says Joss Prior, a trans woman who is part of a sizable trans community that monitors and discusses Mumsnet regularly. “The whole of the Feminism board was like a spectre hanging over the daily trans discourse.” (continues)
In March of this year, Mumsnet was used to organize against Girlguiding’s trans-inclusive membership policy in collaboration with anti-self identification campaign group Fair Play For Women. Users also responded to Gender Recognition Act proposals that would allow trans people to self-identify with protests such as Man Friday, a campaign that encourages cis women “identify as men on Fridays" and partake in male behaviours like “manspreading and mansplaining” or to access single sex male spaces such as changing rooms, swimming facilities, or sports clubs.
“It’s a core group of a few hundred hardcore trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs), a tiny percentage of overall users,” says Christine, the mother of a trans child and also part of the network that regularly monitors Mumsnet* (Christine’s name has been changed for privacy reasons.) “Yet the Feminism board is just 90 percent discussions about trans people on any given day.” (continues)
broadly.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/a3mn9k/mumsnet-uk-mom-forum-terf-transphobia-feminism
thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3444548-Vice-how-an-online-forum-for-moms-became-a-toxic-hotbed-of-transphobia