Magdalen Berns - back to basics

[pombear]

Reflecting today with others and thought of those of you who may be newer to the discussion on this board.

And that you may see her Magdalen's name smeared elsewhere.
I thought it might be useful to link to her youtube for those who haven't seen her films before.
https://www.youtube.com/c/MagdalenBerns

She was awesome, she spoke the truth. Everything she said is still relevant.

Her videos also shine a light on what was going on several years ago, before some of the Stonewall/trans-washing was going on, especially the stuff that appears to be trying to deny some of the gaslighting that was happening at the time (and, to be fair, right now).

Eg: Cotton Ceiling
This was 2016.

Magdalen's voice was instrumental for some of us on this board to starting listening and starting to understand what was happening, particularly to lesbians.

Her videos are worth a watch.

"I'd rather be rude than a liar"

I've learned so much about how to live as a woman from her videos.

She made me realize for the first time just how much time I spent apologizing for myself and my opinions by watching her be unafraid to be herself

Miss her voice so much.

If there's a particular video, maybe link here to share quick links for others who might not have seen it before.

Like this Clymer response video.

EveSix - me too.

.

She asked us to be brave.

im being more brave because of her.

It makes me so sad I didnt know about her until a few weeks before she died. What a wonderful voice for truth she was. So sad shes gone.

"I'd rather be rude than a fucking liar" was such a shocking statement for me. It runs so solidly counter to feminine socialisation. Especially as I virtually never swear.

But dear God it is true. It is necessary. It is critical.

When you're being told it is rude to raise safeguarding concerns, when you're told it is rude to consider that women's needs matter, when you're told it is rude
to refuse pander to a man's, erm, wishes, then you have to embrace 'rudeness'.

You don't actually have to swear.

This one has always been my favourite. Why aren't you widening the bandwith of being male?

It really highlights the difference between the public's perception of a transwoman and the actual reality.

The more that the general public realise that today's transwomen are more like Alex Drummond than Hayley Webster, the more the tide is turning.

Surveys consistently have completely different results if you mention the fact that the vast majority of transwomen have fully functioning male genitalia.

Not only was she always right, she was a joy to watch. The woman had real presence.

Plus her videos were always forensically well researched.

I can't remember which one it was, perhaps pombear can help, but there was one where she tackled the definition of the word gender.

Everywhere she looked, every group and publication, including those that are pro trans, described gender as societally imposed expectations of behaviour and roles.

The idea that it was some kind of inner essence simply wasn't propagated. That came from the ground up. Largely, presumably, from men with AGP.

Thank you, heathspeedwell. That video was so refreshing. I'm going to watch it every time I feel weary of challenging this whole stupid, dangerous shitshow. She says out loud all the things I would like to when you hear transactivists dancing around the elephant in the room.
'Yup, they cut your cock off, Alex'.

"Leave. Lesbians. Alone"

This is a lovely conversation from 2018 showing her friendship with Posie/Kellie Jay.

What really interests me here is this was earlyish in KJK's journey into this stuff. She calls herself a lefty feminist. She doesn't do that now because she held her ground regarding the right of women to claim women's language which is one of the reasons Magdalen is awesome. KJK was pretty well ostracised by lefty feminists for doing that and so went her own way, refusing to kowtow to anyone.

It is a little moment in the history of this movement, an insight into two important figures having a chat in a garden.

The Alex Drummond one is always my favourite. Haven't heard about him for a while - does he still go into schools to tell children he's a lesbian I wonder?

I was obsessed with Magdalen (in a ‘I’m in awe of you!’ way, not a creepy stalkerish way!).

I’m old enough to be her Mum, straight and probably seem quite a ‘married with 2.9 kids’ type on the face of things, but I identified with her SO much and just thought ‘What a marvellous bloody woman you are!’ every time she opened her mouth.

Fiercely intelligent, uncompromisingly honest and wickedly funny. A brilliant young feminist.

She had that that knowing way of truth telling that is so rare. The type where you shut up and listen.

I particularly love Non Binary Bullsh*t.

"Fuck OFF you're not us!"

Some people fit a whole lifetime's worth of magnificence into a short span.

Magdalen was one. Truly, genuinely, stunning and brave.

Her YouTube dissection of Riley J Dennis was a Eureka moment for me.

Another thing - the TRAs are always banging on about GC ppl being influenced by right wing extremists and Evangelicals etc. I only learnt recently that Magdalen's mother , Deborah Lavin , was a founder of the Communist Party of Britain.
Stick that in yer pipe Riley.

What a brave and honest woman. RIP.

RIP Magdalen, and so sad that her Mum died the following year. The Morning Star (my DP is a subscriber) is staunchly pro womens rights and Deborah's obituary pays tribute to Magdalen too.