Milli Hill: I will not be silenced

[TheFleegleHasLanded]

I love Milli Hill’s work and know many other women on here do too. Check out her latest blog:

“But too many women have been silenced, and I don’t want to join them. There are conversations about women’s rights, women’s bodies, and the words we use to talk about women’s issues, which need to be had, but which have been made taboo in our current culture. And this is not healthy. Worse still, women like me have been used as an example to others of what happens to you if you raise questions. And others have seen these public draggings, and decided to keep quiet themselves. This kind of behaviour, in which dissidents are made a public example of in order to ensure compliance to dogma, does not have very good historical precedents. And yet it currently describes itself as ‘the right side of history’.”

www.millihill.co.uk/2021/07/10/i-will-not-be-silenced/

Yes Pumpkin Milli is saying how she won't be silenced by the abuse she has received. That's great, isn't it? A strong woman speaking up.

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

Ah, another person being "silenced" all across the media! Seems to be a very lucrative little grift.

Have you read her blog? She was piled-on, abused, relentlessly attacked and dropped by Birthrights. She writes her side of the story and now you're having a go because she's speaking up for herself. What could she do that you wouldn't have a dig at?

If someone who has been cancelled doesn’t talk to the media, then no one knows they’ve been cancelled - and so that becomes evidence that no one is being cancelled. If, on the other hand, they do talk to the media, that is also taken as evidence that they haven’t been cancelled. Heads I win, tails you lose.

This is why I will continue to defend the rights of women to keep the words woman / women and why I will not be told that nobody is taking those words away.

Defend how? What practical steps are you taking to defend the rights of women?

What practical steps are you taking to defend the rights of women?

Why do you ask?

@PumpkinSpiceWoman

Ah, another person being "silenced" all across the media! Seems to be a very lucrative little grift.

Ah, you’ve finally spotted the results of the Streisand effect then

Brits generally don’t like bullies, and we keep seeing the results of that. If transactivists expect to destroy people’s livelihoods by getting them “cancelled”, I expect it’s quite disappointing to see them thrive when people decide they’d rather support someone’s good work than the people who just want to tear it down.

Well I'm just wondering, there's loads of people who claim to be "fighting for" or "defending" the rights of women but this seems to be restricted to posting on Mumsnet.

Whereas birthrights actually do defend the rights of women.

How on Earth would you have any idea what people do outside of Mumsnet? And they aren't accountable to you. We get that you think Birthrights are great, and I'm sure they are, most of the time. That does not put them above all censure.

I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the one who said they defend women's rights.

But how would you know, needapoodle?

How could you know what else women do, as well as post on here? The women that I’ve met from here all have long histories of either feminism, LGB activism, political activism, or all three. I wouldn’t imagine that’s unusual.

Well I think most of us here are about defending women's rights

Which starts with knowing what a woman is, what the biological reality is

We don't do that by sitting down and shutting up

Many of us use this forum to self examine and challenge ourselves .

I'm not talking to you.

I'm replying to your post though. I'll post what I like and where I like, thanks.

That's cute. Outline identifiable details of your activities on a post about the economic and psychological punishment an identifiable woman received for saying the same things as you do?

Can't imagine why any woman would feel she could safely do so to people who are defending such economic and psychological punishment.

I was treated like a piece of useless shit when I gave birth and afterwards. I found "breast is best" stuff genuinely distressing because I failed due to ill health.
I was patronised and my trauma (physical and mental) was minimised when I finally raised concerns. I got an apology eventually and I "we don't do it like that anymore " as if maternity services are some new fangled experimental area.
When I see and hear these hypersensitive children getting the English language twisted for their alleged trauma and indulged to high heaven, it makes me want to vomit.
And I'm a gender non-conforming woman. Perhaps I should have bleated about that. Maybe I wouldn't have sustained so many life changing injuries.

"When I see and hear these hypersensitive children getting the English language twisted for their alleged trauma and indulged to high heaven, it makes me want to vomit."

Sorry, are you referring to other victims of birth trauma as hypersensitive children because they identify as non binary or trans? "Alleged trauma" as well? Because that is what it sounds like.

I'm referring to people getting distressed because she won't say "birthing people ".

Kim a bit like witches (often middle aged women who lived alone) who were guilty if they did not drown and if they drowned on the ducking stool that proved they were witches.

Ridiculous times. Women give birth, if that upsets a few trans people so be it. None of us want to upset them and we can certainly use women and transwomen if that makes them happier but there are not many of them so it is a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Thank goodness for The Times and Sunday Times for being the voice of reason in all this (and for the fact I don't read blogs nor twitter nor facebook)

I'm referring to people getting distressed because she won't say "birthing people ".

As opposed to people getting upset because birthrights do say birthing people (alongside the word women) you mean?

There is so little decent care for women who suffer trauma from childbirth that pretending that this is a problem for anyone other than the female sex by using woolly inaccurate language is a time wasting distraction.
I didn't suffer birth trauma because I have short hair, don't wear makeup and can do DIY, I suffered birth trauma because my biology was not respected before during and after childbirth.

I struggle now to go for a smear test not because my identity isn't respected but because I fear any health professional going near my female private parts due to the mess they made which can still hurt over 10 years on.

If they are so concerned about small groups of people, maybe they should say "including those who have suffered FGM". That is an actual bodily trauma that happens to female children and impacts on so many aspects of their life in a fundamental way. Including childbirth.

Well I'm just wondering, there's loads of people who claim to be "fighting for" or "defending" the rights of women but this seems to be restricted to posting on Mumsnet.

I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the one who said they defend women's rights.

You were talking to me. I am 'the one' who said that. But I'll refer you back to Ereshkigalangcleg's answer because I like it.

I'm not restricting myself to Mumsnet though, so don't worry yourself there on my account.

If it weren't for Mumsnet I'd know nothing about any of this, and I certainly wouldn't have a coherent argument.
I'd still be being #kind

I fear that our young women really don't get that their pretty young non-binary and trans friends are very different to the incel types who would absolutely use self ID to infiltrate women's safe spaces.
At the moment anything I say is falling on deaf ears, which is ironic since many of them are saying they only fear old straight white c*s men.
But I'm working on it.
So, these fine Mumsnet posters who can explain and articulate so well are definitely going a long way towards defending women, if they can help with opening and maintaining discussion and awareness.

DH has been rolling his eyes at me about this for some time, but today he heard the beginning of Jeremy Vine discussing whether the word 'women' needs to be abolished (i have yet to listen)

He sees what I'm getting at now so we have a new ally.

"Silenced" across the national media - she's going to milk the grift for all she can get out of it.

You’re repeating yourself, pumpkin, you already said that

Any chance of you participating in the thread(s) you started?