The GC what now? Are we the cult?

[Anotheruser02]

Twice in the last week or so I've read TRA posts on twitter saying GC fems are a cult. Despite the fact the movement begs for debate and sunlight. No secrecy or pushing for kids to hold secrets from their families.

Is this the latest in "I know you are but what am I" or has this been a claim all along and I haven't noticed?

@AlfonsoTheMango

I'm hurt that no one asked me to join their cult. I never get invited to anything.

Me too. Same as the International Group of Powerful Lesbians. I sent off an application form but never heard anything.

And I’m still waiting on my cheque from the American Right.

Who do I complain to?

Yes I'm sure I was promised cheques and wives?

@DickKerrLadies

Yes I'm sure I was promised cheques and wives?

They promised me Czechs and waves. Still waiting.

RedToothbrush

I've seen little OJ refer to us as a "cult" before. It really is projection.

The coven meets on Hampsted Heath every full moon, with Glinner in the Goat's Head in charge. You will be summoned for initiation, Dennis Wheatley style, when the time comes.

@Passmeamenuatthetottenham

Being so obsessed in "ribboning", because someone in trial for an accusation of homophobic/transphobic hate crimes decided to stalk someone to take pictures in their home environment

Yeah honey.... You're gonna have to back up that allegation.

What is “home environment” in this context?

Or do we actually mean “vaguely in the vicinity of a well known workplace that runs public tours”?

They always do this. They take what is said about them ("Trans Cult"), protest loudly that it's offensive and get it shut down, then use it themselves to attack others.

Ooooh, can I do the outfits? Im thinking long and drapy like the Hari Chrishna. But not orange tho, more gray and natural tones?

I have shares in hobbycraft.

Sorry to be thick and miss the point Red but are Hobbycraft far right in some way? I did not know.

The cult that settled in my small German village in the 1980s had a leader and a prophetess (I am not making this up, it's true). Graham and Posie could run the cult together in different roles.

They always do this. They take what is said about them ("Trans Cult"), protest loudly that it's offensive and get it shut down, then use it themselves to attack others.

They do indeed always do this.

The cognitive distortions created by DARVO cultivate an ecosystem of moral corruption. Members of the peer group are encouraged by the narcissist to engage in polarized or black and white thinkingng_.^
The group’s empathy for the narcissist is weaponized and used to encourage negative biases about the recipient of the abuse. Narcissists, psychopaths and other manipulators do this in order to ensure that members of the dominant clique become indifferent and callous about the betrayal of the survivor.
The desensitization of the group opens the door to the objectification of the targeted individual and once this is accomplished every kind of violence becomes acceptable.
Examples of this can be seen in manifestations of anti-semitism, racism, sexism and homophobia.

medium.com/narcissistic-abuse-rehab/how-narcissists-use-darvo-to-escape-accountability-f0cb48708010

Speaking of costumes, how about more of those worn by the women yesterday protesting the Scottish census decision.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4351313-Statistics-Watchdog-queries-trans-self-identify-census-plan?watched=1&msgid=110872640#110872640

I do have to laugh when I read bullshit like this - 'As does plastering 'woman = adult human female' everywhere, followed by the predictable outcry of 'silencing' when it gets removed, even though you can't fling a rock in a pile of newspapers without it hitting one with an article from some poor unheard silenced deplatformed gender critical voice.

Silencing like Kirkcaldy Police investigating 'women won't wheesht' as a hate crime?

Silencing like being unable to discuss opinions in your own house under the Scottish Hate Crime Bill?

Silencing like the Scottish Government issuing a second consultation on the GRA because they didn't get the results they wanted the first time and then refusing to publish the submissions?

Silencing like some peaceful protests being banned outside the Scottish Parliament building?

Silencing like women being removed from a pub for putting leaflets in toilets, in August...during the Edinburgh Festival?

Silencing like newspaper articles not allowing comments or only allowing pre approved comments. Newspapers declining to investigate or comment on current social issues. Newspapers not publishing retractions regarding articles published which were incorrect.

And let's not forget no debate, no platforming, the physical attacks on women attending meetings, the death and rape threats directed at JKR and the chilling effect generally.

What does this all remind me of?.....

@Fariha31

Ooooh, can I do the outfits? Im thinking long and drapy like the Hari Chrishna. But not orange tho, more gray and natural tones?

Green, white & violet stripes, surely?

Are we mixing up Hobbycraft with Hobby Lobby in the US? My memory fails me a bit, is their chief exec anti-choice or anti equal marriage, something like that. Hobbycraft is just a fast way to spend tons of money, not aware of any politically dubious links.

Nope definitely Hobbycraft.

Where the hell do you think i get my ribbon from?

I'll engage seriously with some of your points Barheim. No doubt unconvincingly. Yes I'm worried sometimes at finding myself looking at US right-wing material and speakers when on chains of tweets about GC stuff. There is no doubt at all that Republicans and some extremists have sunk their teeth gratefully into this issue in the way that rightwingers in the UK loved to go on about 'loony left' councils back in the 80s - it's comfortable stuff to confirm to their followers that they are the voice of common sense, and not a bunch of limited people with deep pockets and short arms who just want anyone who looks a bit different to go away. There is stuff that is blown up out of proportion and there are things that get forgiven by supporters that shouldn't be.

All that. And then I think again about men and women and the sheer stupidity of some of the ideology that is now being promoted, and I can't do it. This is not liberation of men or women who need to live a different life. It is saying lies are truth. As if the Gay Liberation Front had set out as its aims that gay people should be called straight. As if medicalising adolescents were anything other than the most rapacious neoliberal health industry on the planet calling itself 'care'. An oddly 40s split between psychological issues - must be bad! And physical treatment- must be good! As if it's an insult to say that emotional and psychological development even exist, that a child's view of the world is real and meaningful but not the same as a settled adult view of life.

Ah! Hadn't made the connection with ribbon, apologies

@PermanentTemporary

Ah! Hadn't made the connection with ribbon, apologies

Transactivists should be taking photos of all women of a certain age entering hobbycraft because they are dangerous. If you go to the crochet aisle you can sometimes find leaflets about upcoming illicit meetings.

Waitwhat23

Continuing on.

Silencing like the WEP consultation being swept away after stating it was going to form the direction for the party?

Silencing such as lesbians being told what they can and can’t campaign for during LGBT marches?

Silencing where women meeting encounter violence to prevent the meeting or to disrupt the meeting.

Silencing where trafficked women are threatened for protesting about lack of protection for women and lesbians are threatened by flares at different marches.

Silencing where female speakers are deplatformed because they believe sex is immutable even though that is not the topic they are due to present.

even though you can't fling a rock in a pile of newspapers without it hitting one with an article from some poor unheard silenced deplatformed gender critical voice.

And if mainstream media isn’t reporting simply the facts in articles and including balance then complain. But complaining about media publishing opinion pieces because they don’t align with yours IS a silencing tactic. FFS that is exactly the attitude of someone wanting to exist in an echo chamber.

And if they happen to be the voices of women deplatformed elsewhere, maybe that says more about those deplatforming than those speakers. That someone declaring feminists are in an echo chamber cannot see the wall of the echo chamber is of their own chamber. I know very few people who are involved in fighting for women’s rights who don’t listen to opposing views.

The hypocrisy is so clear but I guess those flinging rocks really are deeply entrenched and cannot see the wider view.

The hypocrisy is so clear but I guess those flinging rocks really are deeply entrenched and cannot see the wider view.

It is true they wouldn't know liberalism if it hit them in the face.

Oh wait, its not GCs doing the hitting now is it?

Honestly, it's really not worth dignifying this stuff with anything more than sarcasm.

@Barheim you forgot the t-shirts
I have 3, am I eligible to join the cult?

Well, thanks for engaging, Barheim. Looks like you spent a considerable amount of time on that post.

I really do appreciate it when people offer detailed and considered representations of points of view that differ from my own. It's good to listen and to check one's thinking.

It's also - I know I said this earlier - interesting to see that whenever posters on FWR have suggested or raised the question of whether ideologies might be displaying cult like behaviour, we have had our posts deleted. Very swiftly.

Yet this one has stayed up. Why would that be?

Who says 'no debate'?

Who says 'get over it'?

Who is asking over and over to be allowed to ask questions? Who is asking for more research, more evidence, more discussion, more consideration?

There are things I don't always agree with from people who share similar views as my own, what you might call 'gender critical'. But I don't really expect uniform thinking. Women on here are not only from a very disparate range of backgrounds and political inclinations, cultural and social backgrounds, but I find people who are willing to question the current and prevailing orthodoxy and stand up to speak their truth tend to be stronger in their own thinking.

What I have found in common is a commitment to truth, and a strong desire to protect women and children from harm. That's okay as a baseline, to me.

I don't mind affiliating with people who all agree that we should be free to discuss issues affecting us. I am happy to discuss matters with those from different political backgrounds, including conservatives, greens, labourites - hell, even Lib Dems. I'm happy to rub shoulders with Christians, Muslims, atheists and others - I'm not afraid their faiths or lack of faith is going to endanger my own position. I'm comfortable with lesbians, gay men, straight people. I am happy to chat with trans people, gender non conforming people and those who feel they are outside of the binary.

I recognise that we have a broad church here, and I'm glad of it. I don't recognise any truth in any of your accusations, Barheim, but thanks for trying to help. Do keep holding us to account, it's a useful service and we should all be open to good faith criticism and comment.

That was a joke about the Libdems, by the way. I have voted LibDem in the past and I have nothing against them as a general proposition.

Green, white & violet stripes, surely?

It's been nicked, by guess who?

nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Genderqueer_flag

By coincidence, the colors are similar to the British Suffragette Flag which is sometimes used by TERFs online, causing some confusion. The creator of the genderqueer flag had no knowledge of the British Suffragette Flag.