I just came out as GC at work, to the big boss and I feel a bit sick

[JustcameoutGC]

I have NCed for this. I have just outed myself as GC in work to the big boss (and some others cced in).

I was asked to sign off on something that I just couldn't and I said so, and explained why.

I literally feel sick. Like I have put a big fat GC target on my back. My org is totally woke. I wonder how many times my response has been forwarded already.

AnyOldPrion:
I can’t speak for anyone else, but my personal opinion is not that I recognise different struggles: it’s more fundamental than that.

I do not believe it is possible to change sex. So I accept that men who claim they are women may have different struggles from other men, and might therefore wish to be seen as a separate class from other men, but that they are not women.

If they feel unsafe in spaces with other men or need additional rights to protect them, then it might be necessary to campaign for safe spaces or separate rights of their own, but moving them into women’s spaces or giving them women’s rights is not an appropriate solution.
.......

I agree with that, am gender critical too.

I support you. Thank you for speaking up and being bold.

Good for you OP, a lot more people need to "come out" on this topic

I can’t speak for anyone else, but my personal opinion is not that I recognise different struggles: it’s more fundamental than that.

Yes, I think it's wise to be very careful of emphasising the struggle business. It puts the question square in the court of identity politics/critical theory/queer theory etc.

It's true of course that these groups have different struggles, but it's not the main point. Even if neither had any struggles, or it was the same, they are not the same thing, as a matter of fact. In reality, differences in men's and women's experiences (which they may or may not see as struggles) are underpinned by these more basic and enduring differences of biology.

I am with you all the way, JustCameOut.

However I am really surprised that this came up at your work place, it doesn't at mine. The current 'trend' must have spread far further than I imagined.

Most people recognise that, however someone styles them-self, which they are entitled to do, their biological sex will remain the same as when they were born.

If I took hormones and had surgery in order to resemble the male gender, I would still be biologically a woman.

That is obvious and I've no doubt the majority of people think that.

Wish I had your courage OP! Well done!!

*I do not believe it is possible to change sex. So I accept that men who claim they are women may have different struggles from other men, and might therefore wish to be seen as a separate class from other men, but that they are not women.

If they feel unsafe in spaces with other men or need additional rights to protect them, then it might be necessary to campaign for safe spaces or separate rights of their own, but moving them into women’s spaces or giving them women’s rights is not an appropriate solution.*

^ This

As well as the risk of confusing the people the material is aimed at. This risk needs to be properly assessed and managed before this radical change in language is adopted. I would have been negligent not to speak up. This is in addition to my personal views that erasure of women from language, particularly around health, is really damaging and disenfranshising

I couldn't agree more. There is plenty of research around health communication and how language needs to be simple and precise to ensure people are able to understand and act upon health advice. Communications needs to be accessible to people for whom English is not a first language, who have learning disabilities and who have low literacy and education levels. In other words, the language needs to be genuinely inclusive, in terms of being understandable, to a wide cross section of society.
I find it genuinely disturbing that people from these groups, who already suffer disadvantage, are being put at risk due to complicated language. That complicated language (cervix havers etc) is created entirely to satisfy a small section of the population, not because that population cannot understand whether the term woman does or does not apply to them given their biological sex, but because they want to force everyone to submit to their gender ideology in ALL situations, regardless of the impact on this, including in terms of access to life saving screening, on the most vulnerable in society.
Its a clear example of privilege, class and race, privilege at that, in action.

Well done OP.

I applaud your bravery

I have been really hesitant to do or say anything in the workplace. But I had to today, primarily because in my professional view there is a reputational risk of our company being associated with exclusive gender neutral language such as cervix havers or chest feeders as well as the risk of confusing the people the material is aimed at. This risk needs to be properly assessed and managed before this radical change in language is adopted. I would have been negligent not to speak up.

This is in addition to my personal views that erasure of women from language, particularly around health, is really damaging and disenfranshising.

The government is seeking views to help inform the development of their Women’s Health Strategy? It closes May 30th and is really worth filling in.

"For generations, women have lived with a health and care system that is mostly designed by men, for men.

This has meant that not enough is known about conditions that only affect women, or about how conditions that affect both men and women impact women in different ways. Pregnant women and women of childbearing age are also under-represented in clinical trials, which can create troubling gaps in data and understanding.

This problem affects half of our population. It can lead to poorer advice and diagnosis and, as a result, worse outcomes. Symptoms can often differ between men and women, and studies show some conditions, like coronary blockages, are more likely to be misdiagnosed among women than men.

This ‘male by default’ problem of the past must be put right. Despite living longer than men, women spend a greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability, and there are growing geographic inequalities in women’s life expectancy. This makes levelling up women’s health an imperative for us all and will support progress towards the government’s commitment to extend healthy life expectancy by 5 years by 2035.

There’s a lot of great work already underway. This government is working on the next Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, and has announced plans for a new Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, which we plan to publish later this year.

Although this focused work is important, it is also important we take an end-to-end look at women’s health, from adolescence to older age. So, we’re bringing forward England’s first Women’s Health Strategy, to make women’s voices heard and put them at the centre of their own care.

We know that not all women have the same experiences, so we want to hear from as many women as possible from all ages and backgrounds about what you think works well and what we need to change.

I’d urge you to come forward and have your say, so we can make sure our nation’s health system truly works for the whole nation.

The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP"

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/womens-health-strategy-call-for-evidence/womens-health-strategy-call-for-evidence

current thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4217476-Government-Womens-Health-Strategy-Call-for-Evidence

I'm GC too then.

I've learned something here today. thank you OP

You don’t ‘come out’ as GC. If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action. I reported similar behaviour relatively recently and it was handled very well. I don’t think you have anything to be proud of here and I hope any decent work place will remind you of company policy and/or professional behaviour.

Well done OP. And thank you for standing up for women and girls.

I did something similar in my old workplace and I absolutely understand that feeling you describe.

I have actually lost friends over this issue, but it is so fundamentally important that I’ve had to adopt a zero fucks attitude. There’s too much at stake.

Communications needs to be accessible to people for whom English is not a first language, who have learning disabilities and who have low literacy and education levels. In other words, the language needs to be genuinely inclusive, in terms of being understandable, to a wide cross section of society.

General estimates indicate that the average reading age (literacy level) of adults in the UK is that of a 12 year-old and the numeracy level is equivalent to that of a 9 year-old. And this is at the best of times for some people, not when they're tired, ill, or stressed.

Health literacy is a substantial block to healthcare in the UK. Many of the messages during the pandemic did not take account of this.

We need plainer language and straightforward communications.

@SweetPetrichor

You don’t ‘come out’ as GC. If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action. I reported similar behaviour relatively recently and it was handled very well. I don’t think you have anything to be proud of here and I hope any decent work place will remind you of company policy and/or professional behaviour.

What would the 'further education' consist of? Telling people that orange is purple?

@SweetPetrichor

You don’t ‘come out’ as GC. If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action. I reported similar behaviour relatively recently and it was handled very well. I don’t think you have anything to be proud of here and I hope any decent work place will remind you of company policy and/or professional behaviour.

And it is exactly people like you I am afraid of. People who instead of listening to rational, evidence based concerns seek to punish and re-educate me for my wrong think. You honestly make my blood run cold.

I would also encourage people to discuss issues in this area, which affect their work. I did at my work, I asked to give a talk and it was followed by questions. Our manager, a fully paid up post-modernist - gave me quite a grilling, but later that day he contacted me to say he had considered what I said and agreed with me and the way we work has since changed to recognise the difference between sex and gender identity.
The appalling stories of women being witch hunted on this topic make the GC news, but actually most people are reasonable if a reasonable and evidence based case can be calmly presented.
And we have the evidence on our side.

[quote SchadenfreudePersonified]Hence the end result that male rapists are being sent to female prisons to mix with women who cant escape from them.

And paedophiles escaping jail because they are "vulnerable".

twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg/status/1382642073275408384[/quote]
Holy shit. That is absolutely awful! Words fail me...

If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action.

The OP has made clear her motivations were based on recognition of risk to the company and potential impact on customers/ patients/ service users:

But I had to today, primarily because in my professional view there is a reputational risk of our company being associated with exclusive gender neutral language such as cervix havers or chest feeders as well as the risk of confusing the people the material is aimed at. This risk needs to be properly assessed and managed before this radical change in language is adopted. I would have been negligent not to speak up.

@SweetPetrichor

You don’t ‘come out’ as GC. If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action. I reported similar behaviour relatively recently and it was handled very well. I don’t think you have anything to be proud of here and I hope any decent work place will remind you of company policy and/or professional behaviour.

Disciplinary action? Reporting 'such behaviour'?

I'm glad I don't work where you do! (as are you, no doubt)

@SweetPetrichor further education

This tells me everything I need to know about you. You are wilfully close minded just like all the authoritarians of the right and the left in history behind you.

@SweetPetrichor

You don’t ‘come out’ as GC. If I worked with you, I’d be reporting such behaviour for further education and disciplinary action. I reported similar behaviour relatively recently and it was handled very well. I don’t think you have anything to be proud of here and I hope any decent work place will remind you of company policy and/or professional behaviour.

Shudder.

Well done! That must have taken guts 💐

The silence might well be fear. Not disagreement.

That's very likely. There's currently a consultation underway in my workplace (driven by the likes of Stonewall, Gendered Intelligence etc) working from the basis that trans people are under attack and facing disproportionate levels of workplace discrimination and transphobia. The question of what exactly is being defined as transphobia is vague, as is so often the case. Perhaps transphobia is defined in terms of my own (sex based) experiences and oppression as a woman, in their very workplace. I've had my reputation unfairly trashed for daring to report sexual harassment against me. If this consultation goes the way I fear it's going, I will probably end up being expected to share toileting facilities with my harasser (I already carry a rape alarm and live in fear as it is).

I'm genuinely afraid. That is, not wanting to 'deny the existence' of trans people, but plain, unadulterated fear. I already know what men are capable of doing, having experienced some of the worst it it. I now fear enduring even more of this, at a time of my life when I just thought (EMDR therapy having concluded a mere 2 years ago) I might be in a place where I can move past it. Fear that even a place of safety from that harasser might end up being open season. What about women? Why doesn't our discrimination, dignity, and safety matter?

The trans lobbyists already have a very effective rebuttal from the distressed pleas of women like me. We are 'weaponising our trauma'.

Women are fucked. I'm so depressed and feeling utterly hopeless about all this today.