TRAs planning a protest against A Woman's Place meeting on July 10th

[NotTerfNorCis]

The theme of the WPUK meeting is Why female sport matters, and why we must protect it. Effectively the TRAs are protesting against fairness in women's sports.

Details of their protest are below. Protesters are advised not to be violent, to carry offensive banners, or to try and physically stop the meeting from going ahead. 'This is a response, not an attack.'

www.facebook.com/events/2255386031382613/

Women's place UK are a transphobic hate group that work towards the rolling back of trans rights. Their meetings are recruitment drives where they peddle transphobia and their endless justifications for transphobia.

This is happening in our town. Where we live. We need to show them that we won't let hatred towards our trans brothers, sisters and everyone else stand without a response. A fun, musical, party response.

The protest itself will not be taking place at the National Gallery. That is only the meeting place due to it being a large area next to several decent transport routes. Women's Place UK don't release the venue until several hours before the event, so we will move there as soon as we know the location.

Cis allies are encouraged to attend. Allies are needed. Trans people cannot do this alone.

Some ground rules.

1. DO NOT ENGAGE WITH ANY ATTENDEES OR WOMEN'S PLACE UK MEMBERS/SPEAKERS DIRECTLY.

Stay away if you cannot keep it together. Do not directly engage, even if you are baited. If anyone does bait you and you cannot ignore them, walk away.

2. WE ARE NOT ATTEMPTING TO STOP OR INVADE THE MEETING.

This is not the goal. This is a response, not an attack.

2. THIS IS A NON VIOLENT PROTEST.

If anyone is suspected of having any violent intentions, you will be asked to leave.

3. BRING BANNERS THAT WOULDN'T UPSET YOUR MOTHER

We want this to be a family friendly protest. Please avoid swears on your banners.

4. BRING A GUITAR

Singing is fun.

5. DO YOU DO CIRCUS THINGS? BRING CIRCUS THINGS

Every protest needs a juggler.

Sounds like a great night. I look forward to seeing the media reports tomorrow...!

Need. Tea.

Does anyone know which sports organisations had representives in the audience?

I will do GC.

All Sounds awesome!

Going to catch up on Friday.

May I ask who is the best person to look for on Twitter for a live tweet thread.

When I search WPUK or #WPUK on Twitter I get about 5 tweets about the meeting

The hashtag was #WPUKFairPlay.

#WPUKFairPlay is the correct hashtag

Thanks both - that was more successful - off to read....

The "what could have been".

Sharron mentioned a US swimmer who would have been one of the very greats. No one has ever heard of her as she was consistently beaten by East Europeans. Sharron too would have become a national treasure. She jokingly suggested she would have received Wimbledon tickets (Dame Kelly's video was seemingly filmed at Wimbledon) but she is right. Instead of being a red button presenter, she would have had her Wimbledon tickets, her Damehood, perhaps replaced Sue Barker on a Question of Sport.

Wimbledon take note. Find a ticket for Sharron.

RhymesWithOrange Hope your tea works. I've had tea and am on my fourth coffee.

I struggled to get to sleep last night and woke again at 5am as my head was buzzing.

Being in that huge conference room packed with so many women listening to fantastic speakers was so exciting. It's hard to believe that just over a year ago I was at a WPUK meeting with only a few dozen attendees and now we're having huge meetings in central London. Things really do feel like they are moving.

Does anyone know if the slide show is up anywhere? I want it as my screensaver!!!

Was a wonderful evening... thanks to all the organisors, speakers, contributors, attendees, everyone....

Tea is working. I think I'll crash early today though!

And yes, still buzzing.

Brilliant evening. Knackered today but feel honoured to have been there.

Has anyone seen any news coverage? I googled hopefully, albeit briefly, but didn't spot anything.

The venue was fantastic - it suited the occasion.

I was so impressed with the speakers and pre-recorded messages. I'm alternatively alarmed by the struggle we've got on our hands to being overwhelmed with positivity that we're going to win.

I'm glad I went to the pub afterwards I met so many amazing women, many of them mumsnetters. You're all wonderful!

Terfnserf - thanks for the drink! I hope you got home safe.
RhymesWithOrange - I hope you got your train - sorry I didn't get to say bye.

I think we're going to have to wear something identifying as Mumsnetters. I went on my own and would have loved to have met some of you and gone to the pub afterwards.

The meeting was utterly inspiring but they were preaching to the choir and I fear we're going to have an uphill struggle. They don't call it "Regulatory Capture" for nothing.

At least we know there's a choir. We will be heard.

I am quite happy to join protests in Parliament square at some point. Imagine the square full of women sitting peacefully with our mouths covered (like a blind fold) all in dictionary definition or wpuk etc t-shirts and placards. 8-8 for a day or two.

I don't think they allow it anymore in that square, so maybe at Millicent Fawcett's feet with some 'courage calls to courage' t-shirts too.

A silent protest against our silencing.

The meeting was fantastic. The speakers were ace, but the best bit for me was the feeling in the audience - there was such a strong depth of feeling and passion for women's rights that was evident from the moment the meeting started. I felt so overwhelmed to be part of this huge grass roots movement.

And I don't entirely agree about preaching to the choir. Two years ago who could have predicted that more than 700 people would turn up for a meeting on women and sport? The word is spreading, and spreading fast. Women are angry.

It's all good news.......Women's Sport will end up being the main entry point for many into this whole TRA business; and having gained entry the dots will rapidly start to be joined up.

The meeting was fantastic. The speakers were ace, but the best bit for me was the feeling in the audience - there was such a strong depth of feeling and passion for women's rights that was evident from the moment the meeting started. I felt so overwhelmed to be part of this huge grass roots movement.

The word is spreading, and spreading fast. Women are angry.

This^^.

This was my first meeting. I spoke to a couple of people who went to the last London WPUK meetings. They said that there were about double the number of people there last night compared to a few months ago. Word really is getting out.

Sharron D made salient points about the lifetime impact not just for her and the other athletes who unjustly lost out to the East Europeans but the generations of girls who missed out on role models for their own activities.

Over their history, the Olympics and sports competitions will probably never have achieved fairness for women. Look how long it took to have women's events including sprints, the marathon etc introduced to the games - and the huge time lag in Winter Olympics.

And now, as we're still struggling towards adequate inclusion, women are having their records and events stolen in plain sight.

Research in female sports physiology has been hampered by treating women like men or making them more like men (through doping in some countries). And now, there's will be negligible impetus to research appropriate training and coaching methods. Women acquire ACL injuries more readily; there's whatever the new name is for the female athlete triad (osteoporosis/osteopenia, amenorrhoea, and disordered eating); and understanding how to coach women through hormonal cycles (associated with variable susceptibility to ligament injuries etc.).

Yes, I've been to all the London one's (do I get a badge? )

The number of people has grown a lot. I brought a friend from RL for the first time and have 3 more people lined up to join next time. If everyone has done that then the numbers grow pretty quickly.

Millwall football club, are you ready for us now??? #MoreBallsThanMillwall

Did anyone go to the WPUK meeting at the Karl Marx library back whenever it was? Only about 30 people there. Still, the drinks in the pub afterwards was fun and interesting. Talked to Karen Ingala Smith and Clare MRKH.

Last night there were HUNDREDS and on a school night, too.

Dunno about silent protests in Parliament Square, I'm so angry I'm leaning towards a bit of direct action if this sports-stuff doesn't get enough traction

The mention of Millicent Fawcett's statue above reminds me.

I had some time to kill before the meeting so I went to see it. There was a guy there leading a group of youngish school kids. He briefly pointed out the statues of Churchill and Gandhi but said Millicent Fawcett's was the one he wanted to tell them about. He went on to say that here was another name for them to remember - Caroline Criado Perez, a 21st century icon, who had campaigned for the statue, for women to appear on banknotes and for Twitter to do something about reporting abuse.

He caught my eye as he moved on with the group. We exchanged big smiles and I gave him a thumbs up.

I know it's daft but it was a bit of a 'moment' and I felt so heartened.

Hellmistress - I'm sorry about that - I was a lone newbie at the last one and was a bit shy/overwhelmed. This time I met up with a few mumsnetters before and it made such a difference.

We'll (maybe me ) sort out something for the next one. I'll keep an eye out for your username.

I agree we need to spread the message. From my experience most women (and men) are genuinely unaware of this, or if they are they think it's just some fringe 'loony-left' thing and not something that concerns real life. They are uniformly incredulous when I tell them that all the major political parties are on board or when I tell them about self ID, women's sport, girl guides, Canada, the cotton ceiling, prisons, etc.

I think we need to encourage women from all sections of society and age groups too.