Reclaim These Streets have been captured.

[stumbledin]

It was inevitable of course. Whatever the original intentions of the local women who set up the facebook event page, given the huge response they have had, it was just to tempting for those who always want to be in control not to take over.

So now there is a Reclaim These Streets facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/282187170119807/ which of course loads of women have joined. And although it is meant to be about sharing your experiences, your ideas, your whatever, turns out the group admins will not let your voice be heard if you dont express yourself in an approved way.

No need to detail what that is, but once again the vanguard of well schooled stonewall students are definitely in charge.

And of course this also applies to the now in excess of half a million pounds raisde for women's projects. It has been decreed - by knee jerk tweet that only trans inclusive groups will get women.

Tough luck on those providing women only services as legally allowed under the EA. So rape crisis helplines, women refuges, many BME groups will be deemed not worthy of financial support.

How come there are never enough mumsnetters out and about on facebook or wherever to capture groups?

That group is pretty navel gazing. How they can even comprehend what the patriarchy is and what is does is beyond me.

It's all intersectionality this and gender identity that.

They will be going round in circles for some time whilst the rest of us get shit done.

Tons of posts by men, lecturing women on what Proper Feminism is.

Domestic abuse and rape have to be punished. Women should be free to walk the streets. Every decent person should feel safe.

I cannot see why any decent man would have a problem with reclaim the streets.
Women should be free from rape, sexual harassment, or violence.
Just as obviously men should.
Why does it anger some men for women to be treated with decency?

If people think they do, and that TWAW is genuinely what most people think, in the same way they do, they need a wake up call.Most people just don't think about it that much. They're not pro trans rights warriors, they think it's a minority issue which won't affect them. When they see the implications they tend to answer differently

This is definitely the case! Ignorance is bliss, and then you wake up.

Maybe because most women and feminists are trans inclusive

The truth is that " most women" haven't really got a clue, yet, as to what is being pushed through.

I came here really not expecting it to be anywhere near as bad as the kids on twitter say...and the fact that I'm not sure if it is or isn't after being here a few days is rather worrying

Do adults really let " kids on twitter" set the agenda or define reality? Really? I'm not on twitter, though it always seems to me that when people are, their view of the world becomes quite distorted.

Maybe because most women and feminists are trans inclusive? Mumsnet feminist chat is an echo chamber really, not real life

Twitter and social media are the echo chamber. Real life is not in social media. It is in people's homes; in their relationships; their workplaces; in their families......

It seems to me that some have reinvented feminism to mean something other than what it always did - and that is a movement for the liberation of women; that centred the experience of women and girls.

"Feminism' as a term has now become almost meaningless........it now just seems like a catch-all term for a rag tag collection of activists of one sort or other.

That group is so depressing. So many “what about the trans????????” posts. TERF comments flying everywhere. Comments pointing out that TERF is hate speech are swiftly deleted and the posters kicked out of the group.

I’m so tired of this shit.

I see that they are now querying whether it is appropriate to have links to the writings and survey of Jessica Taylor. She has been labelled a terf and therefore should not be listened to. Admins are "investigating".

And what is sad is it seems lots of women have joined the group based on a very personal resonse and are sharing things meaningful to them, and the next thing they know someone is lecturing them about terfs and swerfs and (those who are brave) are saying what is this all about.

Interestingly the trans narrative that it is gender critical women who are spreading hate and upset. Just for saying women means biological female.

Im so upset with the reclaim the streets page. So much fawning over men who say they are not a threat to women. Fucking hell that is literally the basic in being a decent human being. What do they want? A medal?! And it Literally took me two minutes of a casual fb scroll to find said man who posted a thread about how he was an ally yesterday was in fact a misogynist.

Their language is appalling. Putting down women. Silencing women. Belittling women. It’s like they are either so thick they dont see the irony or they just are so brainwashed.

I dont know. Why is the page so full of trans threads anyway?! It is supposed to be a page about action to end sexism. Why is so much time and energy spent attacking women?!

Admins are investigating
Having seen the belittling language towards women of an admin tonight i dont see any good coming from that. Honestly, it’s a waste.

Reclaim the streets is not a safe space for women.

Forewarning ladies, this thread has been linked to the group
Wave at the TRAs..... hiya!

Mumsnet now has hit squads ...apparently. Those directed here will surely read the excellent arguments and think on, maybe..

No chance @Thecatonthemat, koolaid guzzled by the gallon

What should be a group for discussing feminist issues has devolved into nothing but arguing. Typical that again what should be centering the oppression of half the population is now more loudly about the tiny minority of trans people.

I saw a copy paste admin response implying that rad fems are hijacking posts and ruining them. However from all I have seen it is TRAs who are doing so. Sharing a survey on violence towards females descends into calls of terf and censorship. I'm not at all surprised anymore. The focus should be on the survey to help women but
apparently nothing to help women is good enough if it's not centering trans people first and foremost

I'm glad you highlighted this
I've left several groups recently due to the twaw movement which seems to insinuate itself anywhere where women's issues are discussed.. I feel marginalised and unsafe in speaking my feelings about this publicly anymore, it seems to invite an unnatural amount of rage, especially from women. It doesn't make any sense considering how much we've collectively been trained to put up with and ignore/ let slide over the last few hundred years as women.
I am sick of having my every 'safe' space infiltrated. It makes me feel sad and even more vulnerable than ever before.

On some of the facebook discussions about this to begin with everyone was saying oh the whole thing is just a front for Sisters Uncut (because of them turning up with megaphones and defund the police banners at Clapham) who are vehemently anti women's sex based rights. But someone pointed out that in a way it was worse than that. Apparently well meaning women with genuine concerns about threats to women's safety had been so indoctrinated via university, sm or whatever that they think they are the "corrrect" feminists.

Wouldn't you think that in light of the response to the murder of a woman walking home alone that the massive good that could come out of that, would be so many women finding out what they had in common, sharing stories, finding or forming local groups. But no. They seem to think everyone is politcally unworthy and needs to be firmly directed towards right thinking. And that seems to be signing Parliament Petitions and joining Kill the Bill groups - and not blaming men.

Funnily enough very little of it is about how to challenge male violence. Short of having enough police for every couple to have a police person living with them, it seems a very dubious misdirect to focus on this.

And apparently they didn't want to share a link from Police Spies Out of Lives which you would have thought was more in line with their focus. Wonder if that was anything to do with the wonderful Helen Steel who has a long history of activism dating back to the McLibel case as well as this case agains the Met Police. But apparently even that isn't good enough if you are identified as a woman who believes in women's sex based rights.

If women want to discuss policing and police sexism, a group could form to do that. But it is called Reclaim the Streets, and that means reclaiming it from random males feeling entitled to harass women and worse.

We can only prepare ourselves for the final slap in the face when all the money donated to what was said to be a fund for women's groups, will not go to women's groups.

@AngeloMysterioso

That group is so depressing. So many “what about the trans????????” posts. TERF comments flying everywhere. Comments pointing out that TERF is hate speech are swiftly deleted and the posters kicked out of the group.

I’m so tired of this shit.

Any timw on fb i see the work terf, i report. Nothing gets done but what else can we do?

They're a TRA group. They've even linked to this thread and are making comments about how mumsnet should stick to baking cookies and potty training with no irony or insight into how misogynistic their comments are.

Some of the posters on that FB really do hate women, don't they?

I feel so much sadness and sympathy for all the women who will have joined in rage and sadness at yet another woman murdered, only to be corralled into groupthink and told to prioritise men.

@ShowOfHands

Thank you.

I feel so dispirited today. I've lost friends since sticking my head over the parapet and they will forever sell the narrative that I'm a bigot. It feels impossible.

I feel the same way. I'm one of the least bigoted people I know. I don't understand how this hateful bandwagon has gained so much traction. I was in the original rts group and I almost shared some personal experience and then I noticed that the posts were losing sight of what I thought was the reason for the page and it suddenly seemed that every post descended into women attacking women for not putting trans people at the forefront of every discussion. It was a horrible angry place. I have noticed this in so many women's support groups over the last few years, people who write about their personal experience, whether it be periods, menopause, sexual experience etc, they open up, ask for help and then are shouted down, told to rephrase to be more inclusive of trans people etc. It's really hard to express anything without personal experience being invalidated and fear of death threats etc.

Thanks for the laugh. Have just been reading the mumsnet thread on RTS! These few self righteous TWAW who go round calling people out and getting them banned because they dare say women have sex based rights are obviously cowards.

What ever might be right or wrong about mumsnet, anyone who has the time, can join a discussion and others will reply.

It just illustrates the total dictatorial my way is the only way.

And one one level mumsnet being public is good.

Can only wonder what a state of divine outrage they would get into if they could see the comments about them on facebook friends threads. Most women want to see them as being infiltrated by Sisters Uncut etc., because otherwise it is too depressing to think that a random group of women got together and were immediately into TWAW agreement.

further down was astonished to see that a report from the WRC (Women's Resource Centre) the most MOR group (we know how to keep out funding) has been blasted for writing about CEDAW. And the poster of the link to the report has now been banned.

This is the most hilarious stupidity. It is because the WRC which set itself up to represent women's sector groups to Government and funders has never ever challenged the TWAW narrative, or ever defended women only services that they are widely despised in the women's sector.

But even their craven collusion with the MRA agenda of TRAs hasn't been enough. They have just not made the grade for the utmostly TWAW bullies on RTS.

Am going to be smiling tonight for the first time in a long time. What a hoot!

The intention of this Women & Girls group was great, exactly like the Women's March group (2016).

Unfortunately these groups grow quickly from a few women who want to make real change happen - bring attention to important topics by writing letters to MPs, creating, sharing and signing petitions, sharing stories with media or jumping on news stories, changing legislation, volunteering with women's groups, etc. You need a strategy to make things happen.

Instead important posts get low interaction and drowned by the noise of endless (and repetitive and daily) inclusivity conversations and keyboard warrior comments even after admin has clarified it over and over.

This conversation across things getting attention or attendence needs to change too. There has to be personal accountability. If it's important to you, then show up or share it with everyone, make them share it, email press (contact details are public).

No one invited me to these groups, or the Women's March, or told me to share details of Sarah missing on all my sm channels (after I saw it on a friends page) or to donate money. It was all my actions.

The admin claim they have received death and take threats. The group is public, open to anyone to view. I have a suspicion they are confusing actual transphobes and men who are viewing the group with gender critical women. Because if you aren't TWAW you're all in the same box apparently

How can these people not see what is happening. Why is the phrase trans men are men not parroted like the mantra of a cult like TWAW is. Why don't they question these things, really question them.