I think I've figured out why the Guilty Feminists feel guilty...

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

@Glinner sent this round today:

"(From a thread by @Forwomenscot) The CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis has said "Sexual violence happens to bigoted people too. But if you bring beliefs that are discriminatory, expect to be challenged on your prejudice. Reframe your trauma" Apparently, survivors are to be "educated" in this service."

The CEO is Mridul Wadhwa, a male person who does not have a GRC and who believes that rape victims orgasm.

The podcast twitter account is blocking everyone who says "WTF?" etc

JFC.
Aren't they a federation?

@Hoping4second

I volunteer at a homeless outreach. Some of our service users are high, some are violent, some hate women. And yet we don't "educate". That's not the brief. We give food, clothes, and practical help. We've had to temporarily exclude people from the premises due to behaviour that endangered us and other service users but it was always temporary. Welcome back as soon as they are no longer a danger.

I am flabbergasted that this individual sees giving help to vulnerable people at the most vulnerable time of their lives as nothing more than an opportunity to preach and convert, on pain of denying service. That is despicable. I don't approve of drugs (strong opinion there) but would never lecture a service user on their drug use. First, they have other priorities. Second, my opinions are irrelevant! It's not about me! Third, in what universe do you deny service to someone in need based on their beliefs.

The world has gone mad.

You sound really nice and good at your job and completely suited to working with vulnerable people.

They told us that as a result of this, staff have been so disillusioned that they are currently arranging meetings outside of work to be able to discuss their concerns together and how to handle them. They told us they are also very concerned at the rhetoric from many women’s services and national organisations implying that any requirement for female-only provision is transphobic. And in fact our group has been contacted by women who are currently on Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) waiting lists for support, and who are absolutely terrified to ask for support on a female-only basis due to rhetoric both from RCS and from some of their network of services. One woman who has experienced multiple forms of abuse since childhood told us “I also feel like I am being victim blamed by Rape Crisis for not wanting there to be males in the centre when I am there. I don’t see how it is wrong that I feel the way I do after what I have gone through, and I don’t see why I should have to go through more distress just to get help”. We also know of at least one individual who has stepped back from accessing support because she finds it unbearable that her need for a female-only service is deemed transphobic.
Staff also noted with us that any potential adverse impact of these policies will disproportionately impact on the most vulnerable women, minority women, and women from working class backgrounds. They explained that in their view the most traumatised women are the least able to cope with male inclusion, and minority women often cannot access such services if they are mixed sex for religious or cultural reasons, and women with the least financial resources won’t have an alternative if the loss of female-only women’s services means they have to self-exclude. It was highlighted that these women are therefore the most likely to end up being unable to access the support they need if there is no longer any female-only women’s services.
Staff also told us that they were very disappointed at the lack of engagement from their national level organisations regarding reform of the GRA

Above from this report

wgscotland.org.uk/reports/

@GCautist

I found a screenshot - it’s not TRA specific but on the same theme by radical therapists network

What the fuck

RCS have tweeted some screenshots of the 'abuse' they have been getting.

It's four different angry people, probably women, saying they are shitting all over the women they are there for.

Have some more RCS: You spineless, craven, self serving leeches are betraying the women you exist for you, and damn fucking right you should feel really awful about that reality, and every ounce of the anger rightfully focused on you now.

Yes and they did it in a closed thread. Because they KNOW the replies would have the evidence of the abuse women get online from TRAs

#WhatAboutThisAbuseRapeCrisisScotland

Anyone trying to frame themselves as a victim, using their positions for validation and dishing out abuse to survivors has no business working with trauma victims.

Something has gone very badly wrong and the main organization needs to step in.

@WarriorN

Precisely:

This

@Thelnebriati

Anyone trying to frame themselves as a victim, using their positions for validation and dishing out abuse to survivors has no business working with trauma victims.

Something has gone very badly wrong and the main organization needs to step in.

@Thelnebriati you are correct. But I l imagine this will cause women who have been raked and assaulted to not trust organisations. It's horrific

[quote ItsAllGoingToBeFine]That Rape Crisis Scotland statement is quite something. I am genuinely angry about this gaslighting of vulnerable women. Where exactly is the campaign of misinformation when they themselves say this?!

Sexual violence is a gendered and has a disproportionate impact on women and girls; our services reflect that. Women only spaces are a core principle of the Rape Crisis movement and upheld through our National Service Standards (read these here). These spaces include women with a diverse range of lived experience and views, including trans women and girls.

www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/blogs/news/1038/redir/[/quote]
And please be aware that the minimum standard for trans inclusion of a male in what most female victims expect and need to be a female-only service is a verbal statement of identity. No changes required whatsoever.

The gaslighting from Rape Crisis Scotland is off the scale here.

DFW spoke at an event I attended some years ago, to address women who were very underrepresented within a particular industry. The synopsis was “women be kind and women make sure you include everyone (by which she meant men because who else is there) and women you’ve done well for yourselves so make sure you’re kind (ffs) and inclusive (ffs)”. She is a very polished speaker/performer and great at self promotion but certainly no feminist. Her book was so crap I couldn’t read past one chapter and I left it on our front wall for a passerby to have but no one wanted it so i threw it in the bin and felt bad for the tree.

Yep gaslighter

It's very easy to ignore and block people on twitter. I suggest anyone who feels strongly about this uses the Charity Commission complaints procedure:

www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity

Edinburgh Rape Crisis is:
not doing what it claims to do
harming people

Both of which are listed as possible complaints.

I am beyond disgusted at MW and the charity which employs MW. It is about getting raped women to accept services against their will and anyone who is involved in it is, at best deluded, at worst fulfilling a really sick desire to harm rape victims.

Every single time Rape Crisis Scotland say "women-only" they mean they include males who are indistinguishable from any other male if those males verbally assert their identification as a woman.

And posting their service standards is more gaslighting -

1.1 The organisation has a clear strategic plan that outlines the aims and objectives of the organisation and promotes values supporting empowerment, dignity and respect.

b) The organisation has clear values that are survivor focused and support a trauma and gender informed empowerment approach where service users are treated with dignity and respect within a culture of belief.

2.3 Services are informed by the needs of service users and each service user is an active partner in the service they receive.

a) Service users are enabled to make their own choices about the support and interventions they receive and who provides them.

That's not what Wadhwa stated today.

The solution to those "vile attacks" and "mis- and disinformation campaigns" is simple. All Rape Crisis Scotland has to say is that all female survivors of male sexual violence will be offered a female-only therapeutic environment because of course Rape Crisis Scotland offers survivor-focused and trauma informed care and they of course know that means a female-only therapeutic environment is required by 99+% of their female service users.

One simple commitment to meet the needs of female survivors and this is all over and done with.

As an aside, there is neither misinformation nor disinformation in the Twitter thread from Women and Girls in Scotland. There's two parts to what Women and Girls in Scotland say:

Many female victims of male violence are worried as to whether they will be able to access the female-only therapeutic environment they need to recover at a Rape Crisis Scotland centre. After seeing the public statements from Rape Crisis Scotland condemning those who speak about victims need for a female-only therapeutic environment and, these victims (many on Rape Crisis Scotland waiting lists) worry that expressing their need for a female-only service will see them branded as bigots and transphobes or, worst of all, denied help.

Some of these worried female victims have reached out to Women and Girls in Scotland to ask them to intercede with Rape Crisis Scotland on their behalf.

This help has taken the form of Women and Girls in Scotland asking the centres in the Rape Crisis Scotland network whether they could reassure these women that they will be able to access a female-only therapeutic environment. Two centres have replied to date, one said yes, one said no.

I'd love an explanation as to how this is mis- or disinformation.

Reframe your trauma

As a victim of rape having spent the majority of my life managing PTSD from that rape, I can confidently say that the body and the eyes and the ears and the nose remembers. Imagine being in the middle of a panic attack and having a rape counselor educate you on your bigotry against men.

I truly hope the person who wrote that and people who believe it are reading this thread because I have one thing to say to them:

Fuck you all to hell.

@FloralBunting

RCS have tweeted some screenshots of the 'abuse' they have been getting.

It's four different angry people, probably women, saying they are shitting all over the women they are there for.

Have some more RCS: You spineless, craven, self serving leeches are betraying the women you exist for you, and damn fucking right you should feel really awful about that reality, and every ounce of the anger rightfully focused on you now.

I believe some of those tweets are not current, and date from when RCS were lobbying against changing gender to sex in the the Forensic Medical Services bill.

Honestly, these people would consider it cruel to put a dog with someone it had a fear-conditioned response to, but they're quite happy to do it to a woman.

And yes, humans have conscious thought but our brains are not connected in a way that we can think ourselves out of our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) response, and to expect women to do this is victim blaming which will lead to more harm and re-traumatisation. For many survivors, recognising that we can't control our body's reactions is vital in stopping us feeling so much shame and guilt for not having been able to "do better". Being told the opposite of this again (we are bad for our trauma-conditioned response as we will have already been told over and over again) will set back the healing process and is arguably worse than doing nothing.

They liked this tweet...fucking baffling.

Also linking to thos literal research showing that transwomen are literally biologically women is literally really hard work.

Does Parliament have any say over this or can the ERC make up their own rules?

Can this VAWG petition help with the ERC situation or will it make no difference? At 100,000 signatures, petitions will be considered for debate in Parliament. There's a Deadline 5th September 2021 for the UK Parliament petition "Require local authorities to fund specific domestic abuse services for women". The UK Government response to the petition said: ^"Services must adhere to the law under the Equality Act for single sex provisions (www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents)."^
Thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4245933-The-Government-has-recognised-that-there-is-a-need-of-specific-services-for-women-because-of-the-level-of-violence-against-women-such-as-domestic-violence?watched=1&msgid=109819236#109819236

Not sure if this parliament petition can help as A) it's about domestic violence not rape specifically and B) I don't know if Scotland can ignore Parliament.

Bang on from Sandy:

Every time I think I’ve reached maximum horror over this, I find a new level.

The CEO of Edinburgh Rape Crisis does not understand what trauma informed care for female victims of male violence is, thinks it is appropriate to require raped women to adhere to a particular ideological viewpoint before they can seek help, and this attitude is being cheered on by people who believe they are doing good for women.

I feel sick.

“reframe your trauma”.

As GC beliefs are protected by law, how can a publicly funded body get away with stating this? It’s blatant discrimination and not to mention fucking coercive and abusive!