Career worries

[Ideologicalissues]

First of all I want to say thank you to all the posters on this forum; it's really opened my eyes to the difficulties that are created by the TWAW rhetoric. It's scary how much this has took told, and any backlash is seen as bigoted or just "be kind".

I'm about to begin my career in something that is currently extremely bought into this ideology, and I'm really worried about how I can stay true to my own values / not be incredibly pissed off when this is discussed. However as we all know I need to tread lightly. This is my dream job and I've worked for years and years to get here, I'm just so scared of repurcussions, but I can't just sit back and pretend I'm fine with it.

What should I do??

If it's the career you want then go for it. I'd probably think of strategies not to engage initially. There will be lots of similar people I'm sure but the bullying and intimidation is so off the scale that everyone is scared.
Focus on the work and enjoying that, strategically avoid as much of the woke drivel as is possible and keep an eye out for allies. Often the leaders of all this in workplaces are not popular - because most people who self importantly police others are never the ones who people are drawn to.
Good luck.

I'd echo what MrsOvertonsWindow said - if this is the career you want, then go for it. Keep your head down and avoid getting into any of the ideological stuff. Depending on what's involved, you might be able to gently nudge things at work away from going too overboard. There's still a place for much needed balance in sectors that are overrun by ideological fanatics.

If things are really, really awful and unbearable, then you can always leave it for something else, but don't give up on your dream job in the first instance. You've worked very hard to get to this point.

I agree with what was said above. These issues are society wide right now, so it is almost impossible to avoid. Focus on the work you want to do. This particular moment in social history will change as they all do. There are women who are standing up because they have less to lose than those starting out. Support them quietly behind the scenes and good luck.

Good luck with the new job. I’m very much hoping that the more frenzied nature of the current rhetoric means it’d all going to reach a quite unbearable peak that can no longer be ignored and resolution will be on its way. In the meantime, I hope you can find a way through.

Take the job. Things are coming out into the open now. You can always test the water in subtle ways.

I'd definitely not be put off. Tbh most people most of the time are able to come up with reasonable solutions. I recognise that I'm on the extreme end of these views and would probably need to compromise my beliefs to a extent, but I do believe there are answers that allow most people their dignity.

If you're in a professional situation where really hard situations are already happening - eg ministry of Justice or prisons - then you can choose to keep your head down and/or look out for allies. The situation is fluid IMO as some of the outcomes of extremism in policy get noticed.

Thanks all, definitely feeling more reassured. I don't want to be too specific, but it is a case where difficult conversations / situations will already be happening (e.g. prisons) so it's definitely not the case I'll be able to avoid it completely unfortunately.

Glad this has helped OP. It might be worth collating a list of relevant questions. The ones that expose the lack of concern / care for women and children's safety and using them very occasionally :

If this rapist who now self identifies as a woman is put into a women's prison, what needs to happen to make sure that women are kept safe from them?

This prison has a mother and baby unit. Should we put someone convicted of sexual abuse of children in there with babies?

What does the risk assessment say about the risks to women this individual poses?

Is that the legal interpretation of the Equality Act? Didn't a university get into difficulties and have to apologise to someone for following this "advice". Should we double check with the legal department rather than Stonewall?

Has anyone got a copy of the equality impact assessment for this policy / action / proposal?

And so on.

Keep it simple.

'What was the risk assessment?' covers an awful lot of it. Which explains why so often they either weren't done, have been lost or say 'Not applicable' when it is very applicable.

Do some listening, you'll probably find your eyes opened ☺️

What do you mean @happydays2345?
I do plenty of listening in my role

Keep your head down.

I've been in jobs through the years with a load of different types of sexism. Including being paid much less unfairly in two jobs. Obv as a feminist since forever it was all stuff I noticed and got pissed off about.

The choice is the same as it's always been.

Speak up and be seen as difficult etc.
Head down and put up with it.

Is it an HR job or lbgt+ charity or something?

If it's a job which is not in an area that is specific to this, or one where you are likely to receive a lot of training in D&I ETC, just a company that has bought in. It's not likely to come up much I would have thought.

Really depends on the job and the org I'd have thought.

But no in a career dream job it would be inadvisable to go in and start challenging their stuff.

If it's really important to them then they won't see you as a good fit/ or as arsey.

I mean unless you're going in really high up.

Don't forget that there are oodles of sexist etc people working who feel like they 'can't say anything any more' in work. And they have been trying their best to bite their tongues for years now.

@Ideologicalissues

Thanks all, definitely feeling more reassured. I don't want to be too specific, but it is a case where difficult conversations / situations will already be happening (e.g. prisons) so it's definitely not the case I'll be able to avoid it completely unfortunately.

Ah sorry missed that.

My industry has sex as a key factor. Has like everyone else been using gender for years but always meant sex.

We are looking at how to move on this to collect what we need while still trying to be sensitive.

Everyone thinks that gender ID > than sex is silly and a danger to women.

So there you go.

Hi IdeologicalIssues I think I may be in a similar situation!

For me, I think that holding onto my core values is going to be very important - I'm not going to be silent in a situation where there is risk to a vulnerable person.

In previous roles, if I've needed to speak about a concern where a trans identity has been relevant, I've found it helpful to keep any comments very focused on the specifics of the individual - their current behaviour and risk history for example.

I've also found that there are other issues, totally unrelated to gender identity, where I have needed to speak up - eg safeguarding concerns or poor practice. To me, that has felt at least as difficult to navigate and has needed a similar awareness of my values to work out how to proceed with integrity.

Hang on to the little things, OP. Don't be bullied into putting pronouns on your bio.

Always ask why (a general rule, not re. pronouns)

I'm not as upbeat as some of the posters upstream. For evil to triumph, all it takes is for good people to do nothing