Amnesty

[GeraltOfRivia]

I replied to Amnesty in relation the assertion that:

"The reality is that men who abuse women already have plenty of existing opportunities to do so."

In the context that this means that opening women's spaces will have no impact as, hey, women are already attacked.

Their response...

"Our policy on transgender rights is not going to change. My colleague provided you with plenty of examples that back up our position that self-identification is no threat to women’s rights. If you choose not to accept that, we are just going to have to agree to disagree." And then saying that if I provide details they'll remove me from their database so I don't get asked to donate.

So there you go. They will most definitely prioritise this issue over women's concerns.

“We’re going to ignore any inconvenient evidence that disproves our need to prioritise trans women over women now fuck off”

I genuinely don’t know whether to laugh or cry

I'm furious. I'm really not coping with feeling so impotent.

What a weirdly unprofessional reply.

'God will you just shut the fuck up you annoying woman, showing concern for the safety of women and girls. Who do you think we are - Amnesty International or something?'

You could escalate it - ask for a copy of their complaints policy And insist on going through all the levels of it

I doubt they will rethink their stance but complaints are a pain & suck up organisational energy so at least they’d get to experience how it feels to be us

Wow ‘shut up you stupid woman’ is about it really.

Amnesty really are crap. The only bad thing about this lockdown is that they used to chug next to my office a lot and I would often engage...

Men will attack women
We won't do anything about it
We won't do anything about the negative impact that shared resources have on women.
Everything should be mixed sex.

Not a penny more from me. They seem to forget that they have a lot of female donors and volunteers who aren’t impressed with this kind of brush-off. I was already angry with them with their stance on “sex work”.

Highly unprofessional. Also, wrong.

'Our policy on transgender rights is not going to change.'

What waffle. No organisation picks a policy and stays with it no matter what. Especially considering an NGO/pressure group exists to try and make change, to try and negate the need for itself, so really needs to be responsive and adaptable as matters progress. It's clearly a member of staff reacting in a personal and emotive manner.

I would say a complaint was justified here, though I fully understand it's draining and probably pointless.

I could complain. Aye. It's times like this I wish my mate still worked in journalism. She used to have loads of contacts, some of whom would have been well up for a "Amnesty tells women to shut up and put up" headline.

Their own women's human rights page sets out why sex matters and directly equates this to "being born a girl"

www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-girls-human-rights-maternal-health-violence

Creeps. That’s the last donation I ever make to them

OP if you can post the reply on fb or Twitter, the more you can get word out about these organisations that refuse to recognise women’s concerns the better, and you may be able to get it under the eye of journalists.

check out #boycottBodyShop to see what happens when women are ignored !

I emailed to tell Amnesty why i was unsubscribing from their newsletters and campaigns, and would not be donating any more. Haven’t heard back. Given what I’ve read here, I’m glad.

So ask them what data they hold on you under GDPR and request it all be deleted (but that you are added to a block list so that you never hear from them again).

I do have a Twitter account but I'm pretty clueless. I shall try and investigate properly! What's the best way to get it seen. Tag some of the people I follow on this subject?

Yes tag everyone you can

Yes you need ti @ them. Sonia poulton was good on the body shop stuff so her, the baroness, Kathleen stock, Julie bindel, Jessica Taylor maybe

Great. Once the kids are asleep I'll see what I can do!

Just remember to blank out identifying details in your email so you aren’t doxxed.

I used to have such respect for Amnesty. Such utter disregard for women's lives and safety.

As someone who experienced male abuse for the first 30 years of my life, which, unsurprisingly has shaped everything else, I find this shocking. For most of my 20s I couldn't even sit next to a man I didn't know on a bus or in the cinema without feeling complete panic. There's no way I would have been able to do anything in which I was vulnerable with a male-bodied person present. But Amnesty clearly doesn't give a shit about abused girls and women like me. Great.

@boatyardblues

Just remember to blank out identifying details in your email so you aren’t doxxed.

Good shout, I'll be careful.

I saw a smart thing (here I think) where someone copied something similar and added wording about ‘and if my details gets ‘leaked’ I will GDPR the arse off your.

Link it here when you’ve done it and we can retweet it too.

It’s interesting to see just how much the tide is starting to turn now that this has really hit the public eye, and almost hilarious to see the male entitlement and narcissism at play when people start saying ‘hang on you can’t do that’.

The easiest way to judge a man’s character is to tell him “No”.

Dear Mr Man,

May I ask why Amnesty international believes that refugee men are dangerous to women and therefore advocates for single sex provisions?

Is it because you believe male refugees to be more dangerous than British men or have you been reeducated to believe those refugee women looking for single sex provisions are hateful bigots?

One woman told Amnesty that in a reception centre in Germany some refugee men would watch women as they went to the bathroom. Some women took extreme measures such as not eating or drinking to avoid having to go to the toilet where they felt unsafe.

“If this humanitarian crisis was unfolding anywhere else in the world we would expect immediate practical steps to be taken to protect groups most at risk of abuse, such as women travelling alone and female-headed families.

“At a minimum, this would include setting up single sex, well-lit toilet facilities and separate safe sleeping areas. These women and their children have fled some of the world’s most dangerous areas and it is shameful that they are still at risk on European soil

www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/women-refugees-face-assault-exploitation-and-sexual-harassment-journeying-through

www.amnestyusa.org/how-toilets-can-make-schools-safer/