Julie Bindel- you can't silence women.

[ArabellaScott]

Fantastic article. Happy weekend wims!

unherd.com/2021/07/you-cant-silence-a-feminist/

How much shit will we have to eat to get our stuff done?

Dunno about amounts, but I suspect the same; just a slightly different flavour to what we'd have to consume with the tribes we'd prefer to think of as 'ours'.

Imagine if we left-leaning GC feminists weren’t essentially politically homeless. How lovely that would be.

I guess it is better than being aligned with the same drug companies who are facing huge payouts for the US opioid scandal

not that any of it is on show here but I have always been puzzled by some transactivists' hostility to Julie, who is great

finally, I decided that her main crime in people's eyes was Being Northern

@FemaleAndLearning the other contributor might have been Joan Smith, who I would recommend reading. She was a journalist at the time and did a lot of work on the case, there's an overview in her book of essays "misogynies". More recently she has published "homegrown" which discusses the link between domestic violence and terrorism and is fascinating. And frustrating. For example she discusses how mass shootings America have been committed by men known to be perpetrators but were still allowed to have guns.

Yes it was a female journalist, I'm not very good at remembering names. Thanks for the resources, I'll take a look.

For that matter, 'people with a cervix' is language used to not alienate and possibly endanger trans men and non-binary people with a cervix
I'm sorry but have you actually listened to what you're saying? Barmy.

@Barheim

I'm beginning to think that I've got a different definition of 'being silenced', as mine doesn't involve getting a newspaper article, TV interview, radio interview or special shoutout for a book every single day of the week.

Being silenced as in women losing their jobs and their livelihoods for stating biological reality (Maya Forstater).

Being silenced as in hate speech laws being passed in an attempt to make it a criminal act to speak about women's issues or acknowledge biological reality (Scotland, and coming to Ireland pretty soon).

Being silenced as in women's groups being banned from holding meetings in public spaces (In Australia).

Being silenced as in women being charged with a crime for tweeting pictures of some ribbons (Marion Millar).

The women being silenced are ordinary women who don't have a voice or a platform. Which is why people like Julie Bindel and JKR and others are speaking out on their behalf.

@Barheim

I'm beginning to think that I've got a different definition of 'being silenced', as mine doesn't involve getting a newspaper article, TV interview, radio interview or special shoutout for a book every single day of the week.

Your general, average person in the street is either largely unaware of the issue or is in complete accordance with what are often called 'gc' views. Most women are effectively 'silenced' on the issues, even though given the chance to discuss them, ask questions and express themselves freely (say, on an anonymous forum like Mumsnet), they will agree with the feminists on here.

The silencing is a result of years of campaigns to deliberately stop women from discussing the issues. 'No debate' was a Stonewall slogan for some time.

Women meeting up to discuss these issues have faced bomb threats, smoke bombs, masked and aggressive trans activists, punches, doxxing, death and rape threats on Twitter, job loss, police charges, police visits, court cases (let alone being removed from Twitter, facebook, etc).

The fact that a few very brave, very tenacious women have managed to get the word out DESPITE the frightening, chilling and intimidating atmosphere is testament to their strength of character, and a result of their either being able to withstand the consequences or willing to sacrifice their livelihood, peace of mind and safety.

Women owe them a great deal.

@Barheim

Do you frequently call your vet to ask for your cervix haver cat to be fixed?

For that matter, 'people with a cervix' is language used to not alienate and possibly endanger trans men and non-binary people with a cervix, so I'm not sure* why you always use it to attack trans women.

*the answer is plainly obvious

Not sure I've understood the various negatives in your 2nd sentence, but how would referring to 'women' instead of 'people with a cervix' possibly "endanger trans men and non-binary people with a cervix"?

Trans people know their body parts as well as anyone. If the biological meaning of 'woman' is used in relation to screening, how would it affect trans men and non-binary people who have a cervix in terms of their knowing or not knowing they had a cervix? Surely if 'woman' and 'female' are used in their normal sense, they will know the same as anyone else?

Gynaecology - as a discipline and and a practice - is so named after the Greek for 'woman'. Should this change? Does it possibly endanger someone? Are transwomen in danger of mistakenly booking themselves in with a gynaecologist to get a cervical smear test?

Some hospitals that specialise in female-related conditions are called "Women's hospitals". Do you think that should change too?

For that matter, 'people with a cervix' is language used to not alienate and possibly endanger trans men and non-binary people

That's what the claim is. Someone more cynical might think that the true aim is to completely remove the connection between the word "woman" and female bodies.

You are completely correct Eresh. If the word woman is used to refer to people with women's bodies then that contradicts the idea that a man can identify as a woman.

'people with a cervix' only helps the health of trans men and non-binary people if they know they have a cervix. If, like many XX people, they don't know exactly what a cervix is or who has one, their health will be just as endangered as every other XX person in that situation.