I think I'm becoming a feminist

[GoldenBlue]

I've always called myself an egalitarian. But with the recent erasure of women with comments like menstruaters I think I am becoming a feminist.

I am grossly offended by being reduced to a bodily function.

I'm also offended by being called CIS and feel I'm being reduced to a sub type of women rather than simply being a women.

I'm afraid about the erasure of free speech and deplatforming of women with views that some loud voices disagree with.

I'm concerned about the innate sexism associated with gender identity that seems to set us back 50+ years with old fashion views about what a 'real woman' likes and how she behaves. I don't want any of us to be out back into traditional gender roles.

I'm afraid for vulnerable women and children in refuges where male bodied people may be allowed inappropriate access.

I'm angry that male bodied people being given access to female prisons and the risk thus entails

I'm worried about the risks to female sports opportunities being lost to male bodied participants

I sympathise and support trans men and women and support gaining 3rd spaces for those that do not feel comfortable in their appropriate single sex spaces.

And I'm concerned that I can't speak out against this without risking my job (public sector). It just feels that all sensible debate is shut down.

I'm struggling against my own learned behaviour to be kind/nice/shift up. But it is slightly easier to defend vulnerable women and children than it is the fight for myself.

It is interesting times, I feel I need to step up but it is a bit scary

It's almost impossible not to be a feminist once you see the inherent misogyny in the whole world gender ideology.

So what can I say
Welcome!

Welcome to the sisterhood

I love this post

I have just become a feminist for all your above reasons and I feel empowered and I'm passing it on to my daughter's.

Can I copy and paste your post to Twitter please, it says everything?

Welcome. Sorry for the rage that brought you here.

Yes I have no issue with you copying, thanks for the complement

Very similar journey here too.

It shouldn't be scary to speak out yet now it is. We are women, we have the right to women only spaces but apparently that makes us transphobic and likely to be told to suck girl dick, what the fuck is wrong with people

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Welcome, OP.

It is scary, my partner male, is listening to everything I say to him about GC and women's rights and he agrees.

However, he says be careful, work is woke and you don't want to lose your job. This is why people don't speak up..

The truth is blindingly bright once you see it. Welcome.

Same here. Mumsnet has been invaluable in my awakening

So many of us are in the same boat, OP. You are not alone.

The other frightening thing is realising that I would have been a prime contender for transitioning as a teenager. I was very depressed for most of my teenage years, lonely, non conforming and angry about how I perceived puberty was going to prevent me living the life I wanted until after menopause.

Now I'm happy and have children I adore. Its so scary to think that I may have missed the opportunity for the best thing in my life if I had the misfortune to have been born in the 2000's.

It is even more scary to think that some of the children taking irreversible decisions now will be denied that opportunity to discover the joys of learning to feel comfortable in your own skin because they have taken a decision in the midst of teenage angst and depression.

I too would have been a prime candidate for transitioning.

I had eating issues. Body dysmorphia (thought I was hugely fat at a size 10/12)
I was lonely.
I was very different to my friends.
I was a tomboy.
I was realising I was sexually attracted to women.

Back then I just waited and lived it out. Figuring out that I was just an arty woman, who was bisexual and not particularly 'feminine'.
In my 20s I became an avid dress wearer.

It was just a stage of development.

Today I think I would have bought into being trans or gender fluid.

I wasn't. I was just a NORMAL GIRL WHO DIDN'T CONFORM TO GENDER STEREOTYPES.

#RadicalisedonMumsnet

It's hard to face the facts of female oppression. I've had a quiet rage over it for several years now and I want to un-see it sometimes.
I believe a lot of women do go into denial about it because it's too painful to face the hard reality.
And they want to cling to the romantic notion that most men are loving and equally considerate of women. Pffft🙄

#RadicalisedonMumsnet

love it

You’ve written down my own thoughts but more more eloquently than I could. Welcome 🙏

Thanks @goldenblue

@goldenblue, me too. I've been gradually become more aware over the past six months, and now I am WIDE AWAKE and actually quite ashamed at my failure to engage in all the issues that you describe before. I've sent more emails to politicians in the past 48 hours than in my entire (middle aged) life before.

For those of you who have been walking this path for a long while, do you feel that there is a real change happening right now? Are women like me (who have always thought of themselves as sensible, middle of the road liberals who naively trusted left-wing politicians and pressure groups that tout equality were protecting our rights at the same time) suddenly waking up?

You're becoming a feminist?

You're going to love it OP

I've a similar journey to you. Particularly the woke work bit. I said something on the JK thing under my own name and got a few acquaintances coming to say they agreed, but couldn't say anything, and I should be careful of my job.

My acquaintances pm'd me, that should say. They could never chime in openly.

That is a big problem I think

A lot of women work for the public sector or with disadvantaged people etc etc. We see what's going on in real life, yet we are not allowed to say it.
It's so neat.

I think it was the Body Shop that was the straw that broke the camels back

Love this GoldenBlue. THANK YOU!

I pray that more women like you wake up to this. I have been a feminist for decades and I have never been more depressed about levels of misogyny.