Lesbian Visibility Week

[Shizuku]

Shout out to my fellow lesbians on this important week!

I will be wearing my lesbian pride badge right next to my trans pride badge for the whole week in all public spaces.

lesbian-rights-nz.org/shame-receipts/

Just reading these is distressing enough and I am not a lesbian. I cannot imagine how these people continue to be supported by the LGBT community.

Maybe Shizuku would like to address these accounts posted by purgatory and the content of the lesbian-rights website....

And maybe, in light of this being Lesbian Visibility Week, Shizuku could also tell us exactly what the trans activists are doing to change this abusive culture that is continuing to build.

After all, if you are wearing the badges, it must mean that you are active in making positive changes for those on the badge. If you tell us how you are going about making these changes, maybe we can support you if they are, actually, positive changes for lesbians.

So, what are you and the activist community doing to address the abuse we seen in these links, and to be honest, I see every day on social media?

I think I am not the only one who would be very happy to join in if it helps those females* who are same sex attracted.

• (And by female, I mean those with a body formed around the production of large gametes, regardless of whether they produce those large gametes or not, or ever have.) And isn't it great that in Lesbian visibility week I need to add this definition to my posts because the words lack meaning otherwise. Or though, the law has clear meaning such as up thread.

But the post count remains the same and the number of posts is fixed,, so I don't think that can be it.

It's lesbians disappearing into a wormhole in the fabric of space and time, Weevils, it happens every so often.

Its interesting the level of personal abuse and rudeness allowed in this forum against posters who support trans rights and lesbian women. Takes me back to junior school.

Thanks hamster and hellebore

It’s shocking to see the hate towards lesbians

@HamsterV2

SapphosRock I think you've hit the nail on the head perfectly with your male with a lesbian fetish comment. I think it's nothing but pure sexual fetishisation - plain and simple. For me personally, I dont understand the whole "girl dick" thing, because for a trans person with crippling gender dysphoria, it's one of the things that you desperately want to change about yourself. I cannot describe the abject disgust at seeing "it" there between your legs. It's an obvious blatant reminder of that constant dysphoria.

The gaslighting, coercion and bullying involved to try and instigate relationships with lesbians is a testament to what is essentially another form of male violence towards women and it's not just horrific but endless - and seems to be getting worse within the trans community. When women try to counter it, they're just met with more violence. It's just a cycle.

My partner (male) and I were talking about this issue in a roundabout way the other day and he's convinced it's due to exposure to porn and female sexual objectification from a young age, mixed in with a heavy dose of AGP. There also seems to be an age bracket for the worst offenders too, 20-30, which may or may not be co-incidental.

I really want to see the likes of LGBA and grass roots lesbian groups reclaiming your culture and telling women it's ok to be with other women before it's diluted by the worst of the TRAs. No woman should be coerced in the way that's happening now.

I have no big solution, but women need to take back control of their boundaries, spaces and rights before they're eroded further. It's nice to see this starting to happen. Seeing Bev and Kate on Glinner's show yesterday really bought a smile to my face, especially seeing the dignity with which they both handle the constant harrassment. Absolutely amazing women!

Thank you Hamster for your perspective.

@DisgustedofManchester

Its interesting the level of personal abuse and rudeness allowed in this forum against posters who support trans rights and lesbian women. Takes me back to junior school.

Maybe you'd like to tell us what the LGBT community is doing to eliminate this style of abuse towards lesbians, Disgusted. Since you are here.

lesbian-rights-nz.org/shame-receipts/

And the personal accounts posted on the previous page. What do you think of this abuse? I see it most days on twitter and report the fuck out of it, but what else is being done.

What initiatives can we support that have been launched in Lesbian Visibility Week to counter this abuse levelled at females.

I'm a bit confused by the thread. You are a trans man OP in a relationship with a female? So a lesbian (like Eliot Page?)

We hear a lot of experiences of TW but many fewer of TM.

Thank you for your perspective, @HamsterV2 - that's a really interesting read.

In case it got missed, this is an extract of an extract!

A few years ago, I used to play a MMORPG in which I joined a LGBT guild because I wanted a place where I could be myself without risking being harassed or bullied if people found out that I am a lesbian. I had a great time in this guild and made a lot of friends.

"About 3 months after I joined, a transwoman in the guild sent me a private message in-game asking if I would be interested in dating her. I politely declined. She asked if it was because she was trans and I said yes. I tried to explain as nicely and politely as possible that I just can’t deal with penises, male bodies, and male voices. I just can’t find them attractive, especially penises because just seeing them brings up memories of when I was raped as a child. She demanded that I date her anyway and threatened to tell everyone in the guild that I was transphobic if I didn’t. She also demanded that I send her nude pictures of myself. I refused. I took screenshots of the chat log just in-case, logged off, and went to bed feeling awful.

"While I was asleep, the transwoman did exactly what she said she would do. She told the guild’s leader that she asked me for make-up advice and that I responded by saying she could never look like a real woman and that I had called her a bunch of slurs. When I turned my PC on the next day, I was greeted by a message from the guild leader in the guild’s group chat on Skype (this was before Discord existed) that I was going to be removed from the guild because of my alleged transphobia. I denied it and a few of the other members came to my defense, saying it didn’t seem like something I would do, as I was always very friendly to everyone. I sent the screenshots of the chat log thinking it would clear my name, since she straight up said she was going to lie about me. Instead of focusing on that, the discussion shifted to me refusing to date her. I was told, by people that had been my friends for months, that my “genital preference” was transphobic and that I should just get over my trauma or just kill myself. I was told that even if I am not attracted to her, I have to date her to affirm her identity as a trans lesbian. I was given an ultimatum, date her or be removed from the guild. I refused and was kicked out.

How can people judge a woman for being lesbian, but ignore blackmail?

@Shizuku, I’m confused.

Wandawomble wrote:
do you believe that straight men who say they are women are also entitled to say they are lesbians?

You replied:
They can say what they like, but it doesn't make them lesbians.

I though self-identity was valid? We are to accept a person’s identity without exception.

So these hypothetical straight men saying they are women, are in fact women. Or are you saying they have to have surgery/hormones to be valid as women? Hope not, ‘cause that would be TERFy.

Those receipts are really upsetting

Happy belated lesbian visibility day to my lesbian sisters and friends. Wishing you every happiness, and know that I will be by your side in the fight to free you from persecution and lesbophobia every step of the way x

Wow, those screenshots!

I'm another who is very interested in what @Shizuku and @Asugarr are doing to confront that sort of abuse against lesbians during this Lesbian Visibility Week?

How can people judge a woman for being lesbian, but ignore blackmail?

Quite.

I'd also be interested to hear thoughts on this too.

Here are some lesbians being visible so it seems appropriate for this week, especially as it's almost over.

The entitlement needed to sweep in and change the language women use to describe themselves, imposing this language upon them under pain of social ostracism and worse, to alter the meanings of words they use to identify themselves and their sexuality, to annexe their spaces and insist upon being prioritised, well it's very colonial male isn't it? Very patriarchal. Oppressing and demanding dominion over a group with less power. I mean it's almost as if it's the same old shit dressed up as progressive.

Oh, following on from Hecates post above, for the many many, many posters who find the term 'cis' to be offensive and incorrect, you may like to know that Mumsnet's official stance on the obvious goadness by certain posters is -

'We do also recognise that for a lot of trans-friendly voices, 'cis' is a crucial piece of language, so that's the context in which we consider reports about this term...In this context, we don't feel this post is in breach of our guidelines'.

I would suggest complaining but given the horrendously dismissive reply I received when I challenged this, I don't think they care very much.

Women protesting about the language used to describe them and which is being imposed upon them against their will is no issue it seems.

Oppressing and demanding dominion over a group with less power. I mean it's almost as if it's the same old shit dressed up as progressive.

Indeed it is. And it is hard to unsee it once seen. Like the discrimination against females being perpetuated by people who are publicly saying they fully support them.

I guess not NecessaryScene1.

I have a feeling it won’t work like that, necessary.

I am going to conclude that we feminist-friendly types are just better with the language, then, and do not need to resort to language that others find distressing in order to get our points across. How disappointing that others can’t similarly raise their standards.

Oh, how predictable was that. Language which we don't like is A-OK but a reversal earns an almost instant deletion

Just checking/demonstrating.

OhHolyJesus I really enjoyed that video and listening to Lauren's gorgeous Irish accent.

For those intrigued by the reference in the video to Rory O'Neill and the receipts, Rory (who is the drag queen Panti Bliss, and who accused Lauren of not being Irish enough) tweeted these immortal words last autumn.

"The idea that lesbians are being harassed and bullied as transphobic if they aren't sexually attracted to trans women is utter bollix, and remains utter bollix no matter how often the anti-trans crowd pretend it's a thing"

Twitter link here: twitter.com/PantiBliss/status/1322900409594351618?s=19

As you can see if you click through, people, especially women, posted the evidence. He did not respond.

This, however, was the One Thread of Receipts to Rule Them All: twitter.com/7Wimpund/status/1322951804666187778?s=19

He did not respond.

P.S. this was his follow up tweet to that first one I quoted.

If it were true, they'd be able to provide the receipts of course. But they never do. Because it's not a real thing.
Citation please!

Yep, that's right, he asked for all these screenshots, and then ignored them all.