Feminist Current: I supported Trans ideology until I couldn't any more

[BernardBlacksWineIcelolly]

Really interesting article about by a woman who changed her mind on trans issues this year

www.feministcurrent.com/2019/04/10/i-supported-trans-ideology-until-i-couldnt-anymore/

I thought this was interesting

Now, when I reflect on my “switch” from being an unrelenting trans activist/“ally” to being critical of gender identity ideology and legislation, I’m chilled at how easy it was for me — a psychologist (now retired), ostensibly trained to understand the human mind — to become so caught up in the momentum of “trans rights” that I avoided critical thought, much like a new member of a cult

Should referring to a self-identified transwoman as “he,” even inadvertently, mean that women deserve to have online methods of communication (a vital tool for women, enabling them to participate in both public and private conversations) cut off?

Also, one of the key things that got her rethinking her stance was talking with Morgane Oger - who'd have thought it eh?

How strange that’s she believed this stuff

Jeez was just like her brain didn5 work

And she worked in anorexia field

And she took to twitter to have conversations

Jeez

Really interesting article!

I went to Twitter after reading it to follow her but it turns out we follow each other already 😄

I think this is an important article that should be widely circulated. So many educated people who want to be inclusive and helpful have been caught up in this. Her story would resonate.

It's scary how some people get sucked in, but I guess that's why cults work.

I've never been on the TRA side, but I was first introduced to the ideology through FWR, and then went to learn, so maybe your stance depends on your entry point?

I just saw this on Twitter & came here to start a thread on it, but see it's already been done!

And I get what you're saying littlebrowndog but I think the conditioning has been SO strong on this issue that all kinds of otherwise really intelligent people have been sucked in - one woman I know, a midwife no less, is a loud & proud TRA ideologist, despite the evidence of her own eyes that it's only people with a particular body type (ie biologically female) she supports delivering babies day after day after day... I can't begin to comprehend the cognitive gymnastics it must take to maintain that degree of dissonance, but there's still, unfortunately, far too many people like that out there!

I knew her on Twitter when she was completely mired in the ideology. This was early 2017. I'm astounded, though very pleased that she's done a complete 180.

Like littlbrowndog, I don't understand why otherwise intelligent people have been sucked into this cult. I suppose some of them start off by thinking that maybe they don't understand the issue well enough, and it doesn't affect them anyway and they don't have time to research it.

I struggle to see how parents, teachers and medical professionals can be on board with it, though. It should be really obvious how harmful it is to children, by reinforcing gender stereotypes and medicating and mutilating them.

I just did a cheeky back search, and sure enough, I argued with her back in 2018 when she was entrenched in TRA stuff!

Wow.

The most convincing thing trans ideologues have is the existence of apparently 'trans' kids. I have to admit that gave me pause. I would never have accepted they were the opposite sex but as a mental condition it looked real.

For me, what's slightly worrying is that the trigger was the ball waxer. The trigger was someone taking advantage of the ideology. Not the ideology itself.

Any grown-up would, surely, have already understood that advantage can be taken. It shouldn't have been a slow realisation.

Nonetheless, it's good that she's got the guts to set it all out, analyse it and publicise it.

Yeps. She didn’t believe what women were sayin.

Quote below

If all else failed, I’d mention my PhD. Then, I would end the conversation, as I did not believe I needed to reflect upon this further. After all, I had federal law backing me. Clearly I was on the right side of history. And so, instead of listening, I kept climbing my personal peak, feeling more righteous the higher I went.

Shutting women up with her education qualifications

Well at least she has written it all out and has changed her views but still can’t believe that anyone despite how educated they are could believe the whole thing
Just weird

It IS a cult. I've known people in (religious) cults. The inability to see clearly, to criticise what is right before your eyes, is exactly the same.
But the fact that she finally opened her eyes gives hope.

Interesting.

I've always wondered how people who robustly defend the notion that TWAW and TMAM are able to override their internal logic to do so.

Reading that article it sounds like they don't.

Rather, they rationalise the lie on the basis that the end justifies the means.

Similarly, the conflict with women's rights is not acknowledged publicly but internally rationalised as a price worth paying to support and protect a what they perceive through relentless PR/SM/propaganda are a highly marginalised and ill treated group.

For me it circles back to a previous thread on here asking what equal rights do the trans community not already have?

The response was predictably, none. What they do demand is rights in excess of everyone else, which is arguably the mark of a highly narcissistic and dangerous movement.

I was definitely taken in by TRAs until I peaked transed about 2 years ago.

I knew a few MTF and they had full reassignment surgeries. I thought the discussion was around them and I thought how mean all the hard core rad fems were to get so worked up by transsexuals in their spaces. I hadn't realised the full extent of the ideology as you don't know what you don't know.

I quite happily shared my spaces with transwomen, not anymore.

I think it's great she's written this.

I almost fell off my chair when she peaked!

Very interesting that it all started with the Streisand Effect of Wax My Balls.

Exactly Lang. It's a shame it took her so long and it meant that she was horrible to women on twitter, she got there in the end.

Yes, I think she's very brave to have written this.

I am interested in what changed her mind. She clearly done a 180 and it's something we need to encourage in others

As Datun often says, then answer is probably sunlight....spending time talking with Morgane Oger does seem to be what made her start thinking

although how the hell she spent time on TRA twitter and never thought hang on a minute... I can't imagine

(I'm also slightly worried that I never really bought into TWAW - does this mean being a good, inclusive person is not part of my internal identity?)

Rather, they rationalise the lie on the basis that the end justifies the means.

For me it wasn't exactly this. It was more that I felt an enormous amount of pressure to believe it. Everyone around me believed it (and as far as I know most of them still do). It was part and parcel of being a progressive, good person in my mind. I was unaware that the criticism was coming from feminists until I heard about the no-platforming of Germaine Greer. I fully bought into the equation of transphobia with homophobia and I thought that the reason I had these doubts meant that I was a transphobe. So I pushed the thoughts deep down. I really really wanted to believe and if you want to believe something you usually can to a certain extent. I was never a full-on batter for the TRA agenda, but I would definitely have described myself as a supporter and said some very embarrassing things on occasion.

It IS a cult.

www.grunge.com/47584/cults-trick-believing/

Someone posted this the other day. So much of this applies to trans ideology.

That’s probably difference magicmix

Nobody around me thought that you could change sex.

Either in my family or social life

We ar3 just ordinary people with no thoughts of having identity.

Similarly, the conflict with women's rights is not acknowledged publicly but internally rationalised

Again, no this isn't exactly it from my experience anyway. It's just that if you can believe TWAW, the conflict doesn't exist. You can easily see that this is the way they think about it - they say this explicitly. If you believe in gender souls, it's easy to believe that TWAW. If you notice that you don't have a gender soul, it's easy enough to believe that the reason for that is because you are 'cis' and you just don't notice it.

Magic interesting perspective - thank you.

Perhaps it is more to do with tacking the T onto the LGB?

I suspect many people who are strong supporters of LGB rights felt an automatic pull to the T without necessarily realising the circumstances are very different.

Nobody around me thought that you could change sex.

Well, neither did I if someone had pushed me on that point. I just wasn't thinking about it in those terms, if you can understand that. It is very hard to explain.

Perhaps it is more to do with tacking the T onto the LGB?

Absolutely. This was their masterstroke in my opinion.

The most convincing thing trans ideologues have is the existence of apparently 'trans' kids.

Really? It was the notion of 'trans kids' that peak transed me. I watched the Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best documentary a couple of years ago, to try to understand how kids could be 'trans'. I spent an hour shouting 'that's child abuse' at the TV, and ended up convinced that 'transgender' kids were clearly ones who didn't conform to stereotypes, aided by parents who wanted their moment in the spotlight.