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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Allison Bailey to sue Stonewall

999 replies

OhHolyJesus · 27/06/2020 08:20

There is a crowdfunder so I won't share the link but here a part of the text. It's long but brilliant and this isn't the half of it. Off to find my wallet...

The new trans activism: all scrutiny and critical voices labelled ‘transphobic’

In early 2018, when I first heard that plans were underway to make the lives of trans people easier, my reaction was that this was a good thing and I did not give it a second thought. I kept coming across the term ‘TERF’ but ignored it. I thought that bigots were simply being called out.

Then one day I clicked on a link: terfisaslur.com where someone had collated the online abuse that was being directed at women who I realised had entirely valid concerns and questions about the wisdom of replacing sex with gender.
I learnt that the new trans activism wants to smash the distinctions between men and women; replacing sex with notions of gender identity; making sexual difference a matter of self identification; and demands that any and every man that wishes to identify as a woman must be allowed to do so.
I learnt that the new trans activism is focusing, inexplicably, on young children and declaring them ‘trans’; treating puberty as a disease to be blocked with powerful drugs; delivering our young people into the arms of a multi-million pound industry of big pharmaceutical companies and plastic surgeons.
I saw that the same males who would have society regard them as women, were quick to brandish knives, axes, baseball bats and nooses, as they threatened with rape women who questioned the wisdom of replacing sex with gender —TERFs.
I realised that the new trans activism operated a crude but effective system of punishment and reward: agree with every demand of the trans lobby and be safe; object and face vilification, abuse, boycott, character assassination and cancellation.
I was horrified (and terrified).
I wanted to look away, to pretend that I had not seen it; that it did not reveal the worst woman-hating, lesbian hating, misogyny that I have ever come across in my lifetime.
I did not look away and I urge others not to either. Thanks to brave women who have come before me, such as the late, great, Magdalen Berns, whose courage and no nonsense approach to calling out the new trans activism as the men’s rights movement it so clearly is, gave me courage.
I realised that I did not have to accept that any man can claim to be legally a woman, without having to undergo any hormone or surgical intervention, psychological evaluation or risk assessment.
I realised that it was okay and necessary to say that it is reckless and naive to think that men will only identify as women if they are stunning and brave and harmless: that the wicked, abusive, predatory, unwell and downright cantankerous will, by some miracle, refuse to take advantage of free and easy access to women, to their politics, safe spaces, sports, legal protections and identities.
I was shocked to discover that significant numbers of male sex offenders are permitted to identify as women and nothing is being done to stop them. In England and Wales, some 40 per cent or more of trans identified males in the prison population are men with convictions for sex offences, including rape and possession of the most serious indecent images of children. I read a steady stream of news reports from around the world of males who identify as women committing serious sex offences.
It is repugnant to me and wholly unacceptable, and frankly unbelievable, that the new trans activism demands that sex crimes committed by males who identify as women are recorded as having been committed by women; and that these males can demand to be referred to by female pronouns.
I discovered that women incarcerated in prison are left vulnerable to serious sexual assault and mental anguish, as males, including sex offenders, are locked up with them. The new trans activism demands that a man’s desire to identify as a woman is more important than the right of imprisoned women to safety and dignity. These women have no way to escape, no choice, they are locked up. I do not see how this is anything other than state facilitated abuse and mental torture.
Where there should have been discussion, investigation and inquiry, there has been the silencing of concerned and critical voices; not voices from the far right, but from women like me, who are of and from the progressive left.
Mantras have been chanted because the new trans activism is a movement that cannot bear scrutiny: TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN; TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS; TRANS PEOPLE ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE; PROTECT OUR TRANS SIBLINGS, and so on, do nothing to engage with and address the serious concerns that exist about replacing sex with gender.
The new trans activists are joined by politicians, journalists, lawyers, writers, entire organisations, and assorted celebrities, in the chanting of these mantras to shut down debate, while others who are appalled at what they see happening are too afraid to speak out. It is cult like behaviour, it is Orwellian, and it has disgraced and shamed a generation.
Labelling all critical voices ‘transphobic’ is a cynical political ploy of the new trans activism. It must be resisted.

Surviving child sexual abuse: understanding that women and girls are oppressed because of their sex and not their gender identity
The man who sexually abused me as a 9 year old little girl; the man who targeted my single-parent mother; the man who told me that I could trust him whilst he slipped drugs into my orange squash to render me helpless as he sexually assaulted me, was tried and convicted of multiple sexual assaults against me in 2015, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was released from prison last month (May 2020) to serve out the rest of his sentence on licence.

I make this disclosure now because I feel compelled to stand in solidarity with other women with similar experiences of male physical and sexual violence. It is not weaponising trauma to say so, any more than recounting racist abuse is.

We must not allow men or women to bury, minimise and ignore the visceral reality of male violence. We must not allow the new trans activism to force survivors back into the closet; this would be an abuser’s charter.

It should be a cause of great alarm that the new trans activism takes such a regressive and shaming attitude to disclosures of abuse. This culture of denial and belittling has been the bedrock and the hallmark of every abuse scandal. It is a red flag that signals a safeguarding catastrophe in the making.
It is women like me whose lives have been torn apart and seriously blighted by wanton acts of male violence that know that men are often not who they say they are or claim to be.
I know that conflating sex with notions of gender identity will leave women with no legally enforceable boundaries against any man.

I know that if the new trans activism is not brought to heel, women will disappear as a political class.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
19
shadyzadie · 27/06/2020 12:06

Thanks for sharing. Donated.

Herja · 27/06/2020 12:08

Thank you onalong!

Donated now, I'll bookmark it to keep sending cash as I get it.

My income is student loans and ctc. It makes me rather happy to think, that in a small way, the UK gvt will be regularly contributing to this crowd funder Grin.

TeaAndHobnob · 27/06/2020 12:12

£36k now. Have pledged. I hope she's really feeling buoyed up by the avalanche of supporters. Thank you Allison.

QueenCartimandua · 27/06/2020 12:16

Donated - can't believe how quickly this has grown.

DuDuDuLangaLangaBingBong · 27/06/2020 12:17

Wow.

Nappyvalley15 · 27/06/2020 12:17

Agree the thread title needs editing to show the correct spelling of Allison to make her funder easier to find.

Sounds as if she has been treated appallingly. Wishing her all the best.

Thanks onalongsabbatical - still I rise is very apt and is an amazing poem.

terryleather · 27/06/2020 12:19

Just chucked in my spade's worth for Allison.

Stonewall need to be shown up for the absolute state that they are - I wouldn't give those feckers a lick o' ma shite.

£37,000 now...

FreeKitties · 27/06/2020 12:21

Donated. Such an important case, and it’s inspirational to see Allison stand up to these bullies.

We are all behind you Allison.

Flowers

PS I love that Chinese proverb shared earlier!

“When sleeping women awake mountains move”

Hell yes!

CaveMum · 27/06/2020 12:21

I’ve donated.

I too am gobsmacked by the actions of her chambers in liaising with Stonewall over her complaints. How did anyone not see that it was appropriate?!

Speakingofdinosaurs · 27/06/2020 12:23

I have donated and shared on Facebook.
We all need to stand up against this insidious hatred & bullying of women that is creeping into our everyday lives.

Barearseloverofthigh · 27/06/2020 12:24

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig
On Allison's Crowdfunder the whole day through
To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig
Is what we like to do!

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 27/06/2020 12:25

I donated when I saw it during my morning coffee - a couple of hours later and it was already at 20k - with an average donation of about 30 quid - so clearly there's a lot of women feeling very strongly about this.

Stonewall were hunting her. A black lesbian. How can they justify it to themselves? How can anyone support them after this.

WifeofDarth · 27/06/2020 12:28

I’ve never heard of this woman before. She sounds incredible. I’ll donate.

MagratsDanglyCharms · 27/06/2020 12:29

Bravo! Donated! :)

AmericanSlang · 27/06/2020 12:36

I've donated, this is incredibly important for free speech generally (being able to discuss issues without being hounded out of your job) and corporate capture, as well as women's and LGB rights

DidoLamenting · 27/06/2020 12:38

This includes self-employed people on a contract for you

That refers to hiring self employed contractors to do work for you. The contract a barrister has with chambers is basically chambers is providing office and admin services

NotAssigned · 27/06/2020 12:46

I'm beginning to think we could do the whole £60k in one day.

littlbrowndog · 27/06/2020 12:49

37k. In 2 hours

Nihiloxica · 27/06/2020 12:52

Donated.

I really admire Allison Bailey. She is so incredibly smart.

How dare these fuckers go after her. How fucking dare they?

Iamhangingin · 27/06/2020 12:53

Donated - thrilled to see the support she is getting! The world need to hear more common sense strong women voices and less Twitter paranoid drivel.....

TheTrickyWitch · 27/06/2020 12:54

Brilliant, brave woman. I have been digging and sharing!

onalongsabbatical · 27/06/2020 12:54

40 grand!
GrinSmile

justicewomen · 27/06/2020 12:58

@DidoLamenting

I wonder how Stonewall will react

Point out that Allison Baillie isn't their employee?

It says on the funding page

I am crowdfunding to pay for legal representation to take this case to the Employment Tribunal

Barristers are not employed by their Chambers. I assume she has thought about this but if I were acting for her chambers or Stonewall my response would be that it is an incompetent application.

The Equality Act does apply to barristers chambers and to this scenario ... see s47
SecretMillionaire · 27/06/2020 13:00

Thank goodness for a strong woman who refuses to be silenced. An absolute pleasure to donate.

justicewomen · 27/06/2020 13:00

[quote EverardDigby] Barristers are not employed by their Chambers. I assume she has thought about this but if I were acting for her chambers or Stonewall my response would be that it is an incompetent application

I'm guessing as she's a barrister she's probably covered that already. This page says that self-employed workers are included in relation to discrimination www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/discrimination-during-employment[/quote]
Some self employed people are covered by the Equality Act and mentioned above barristers explicitly covered under s47. Whilst I cannot predict outcome there doesn't appear to be jurisdictional barriers to the claim