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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Mermaids closes chatlines

143 replies

Sparklybutold · 12/10/2022 23:53

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls. I can't help but think this is awful behaviour from those ringing.

OP posts:
Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 13/10/2022 08:14

334bu · 13/10/2022 08:12

I believe any charity helpline gets regular dubious calls from men. A young female acquaintance of mine worked for an animal charity and they were often the victims of this.

I've even got them in an office job previously where I answered calls to them public. One even asked me to keep talking a bit longer as he was close. Doesn't surprise me they'd phone charities/helplines

Hoppinggreen · 13/10/2022 08:16

Given that this group and the people who support them think basic biology facts and someone saying “ well I’m not sure I agree” is literal violence then I doubt it would take much “abuse” for them to shut the phone lines

ResisterRex · 13/10/2022 08:24

NotBadConsidering · 13/10/2022 01:10

I love the suggestion that Mermaids aren’t a bunch of amateurs and are organised enough to record phone calls, and protect that data properly with safeguarding strategies to make sure details aren’t shared.

If nothing else works, a total pigheaded unwillingness to look facts in the face will see you through, eh Marg?

Star
Sparklybutold · 13/10/2022 08:32

God I actually hadn't actually thought of the convenient timing nor the possibility of journos calling. Sometimes I feel so gullible.

OP posts:
RocketPanda · 13/10/2022 08:37

I'm getting old and rather cynical about the world. Funny how Marg and her ilk are concerned with alleged abuse to adults over the phone to actual abuse of children. Safeguarding of children needs to be robust and watertight. It shouldn't be trans/woman/cat inclusive, it needs to be absolute and done regardless of anyone's feelings.

LavenderfortheBees · 13/10/2022 08:42

I would be very surprised if Mermaids record calls. Its not common practise for helplines and I doubt they would be organised enough in any case.

I used to volunteer for a helpline and the sex calls were never ending. The straightforward ones I didn't mind so much as you could just hang up. The ones that upset me were the men who phoned and pretended to be survivors of child sexual abuse. You would talk to them for a while before it became clear they were calling for kicks and you couldn't hang up straight away as you would have to try and redirect the conversation back towards feelings in case they were genuine. Real survivors would talk about the impact on their life but the pervs would describe the 'abuse' in detailed, sexualised terms. It was utterly disgusting.

teawamutu · 13/10/2022 08:45

Hoppinggreen · 13/10/2022 08:16

Given that this group and the people who support them think basic biology facts and someone saying “ well I’m not sure I agree” is literal violence then I doubt it would take much “abuse” for them to shut the phone lines

This. They regard the stating of facts regarding statements they've actually made, and things they've actually done, as a 'smear campaign', so I would like to know what form this 'abuse' took.

TheClogLady · 13/10/2022 08:47

Ritasueandbobtoo9 · 13/10/2022 08:08

Given zealots of this ideology often report women for fighting for women’s rights as hate crime then I am not sure really that I believe them.

I dunno. The TRAs tend to turn on their own so I wouldn’t be surprised If Team Trans are calling up to tell Susie off for letting the side down and not keeping all these journalists sufficiently away from trans business.

Some of them have form for getting very angry at women.

NitroNine · 13/10/2022 08:48

I found it interesting that JKR was being blamed for lots of angry men calling up to sling abuse at them.

Leaving aside the fact the Rowling is not, in fact, the leader of some kind of [sinister] anti-trans cult; were she indeed TERFdemort directing the Gender Eaters to do her bidding; & should she have commanded an assault on the Mermaids Helpline such that it would close under the weight of abusive calls; why the bloody hell would she have waited until now?! “Yes, I’ll just keep on facilitating irreparable damage to children & adolescents… to give me something to complain about on Twitter?” (Sadly, that would absolutely be accepted as a reason by TRAs. Rowling doesn’t really think Mermaids are harming children & adolescents; she’s Just Being Cruel To/Causing The Genocide Of Trans People. Worryingly, the latter is an accusation repeatedly leveraged at her.)

Mass media coverage of a children’s charity having employed someone with socially unacceptable views on paedophilia is going to bring attention to that charity. Are these people so confused they think JKR writes everything published in the UK? Or even just the news articles she tweets? It’s genuinely quite worrying that people are seemingly so unable to follow the very simple thread of i. journalist tipped off ii. journalist investigates & writes story iii. story is published iv. British people follow tradition of being untoward about paedophiles & their enablers.

Of course, it is a bit silly of me to think Rowling could expect to be separated from the actions of men ringing up to yell at hotline staff/volunteers about paedos & nonces. She is a woman & thus of course responsible for what men do. On the same basis, probably it is her fault the Trustee in question was appointed in the first place. She totally used the Imperius Curse, how else could it have happened?!

Handsoffmyrights · 13/10/2022 08:48

Sparklybutold · 12/10/2022 23:53

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls. I can't help but think this is awful behaviour from those ringing.

Let's hope the investigation of Mermaids reveals the truth behind this charity's operations. Transparency is needed here. The truth will out.

Let's hope you and they have the integrity not to position Mermaids as the abused. That would be morally bankrupt, no?

Abuse seems to be used freely by many, especially TRAs. In life, It's child abuse that concerns me above all. The abuse of power. Positioning an abuser as the abused. I'm sure we all agree that's wrong, don't we OP?

CanYouFeelMyHeart · 13/10/2022 08:49

Mermaids doesn't seem overly dedicated to helping people does it, all of a sudden?

I've worked in call centres; in fact my very first call ever was someone who knew where our office was and threatened to come and shoot me in the head at the end of my shift.

We didn't have the option to revoke our services though; interesting that they'd rather not give that help which children were so desperate for, than teach their staff/volunteers to deal with abusive calls directly.

AmaryllisNightAndDay · 13/10/2022 08:52

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls

Well... they would say that wouldn't they? Right now they have other good reasons for closing their chatlines as well, but reasons they prefer not to highlight.

Handsoffmyrights · 13/10/2022 08:55

AmaryllisNightAndDay · 13/10/2022 08:52

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls

Well... they would say that wouldn't they? Right now they have other good reasons for closing their chatlines as well, but reasons they prefer not to highlight.

Agreed. Is DARVO the best you've got OP?

IvyTwines · 13/10/2022 08:55

I'm another in the 'they closed the chatlines to avoid greater scrutiny' camp. We have seen the nature of the men they appointed to positions of power and trust in the organisation, either without diligent background checks or they knew and didn't care, so god only knows what the situation is with the faceless people who join them to directly interact with children.

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 13/10/2022 08:57

AlisonDonut · 13/10/2022 08:00

Yesterday's revelations were that they employ with a 'trans friendly DBS' - whatever that means [an assumption that trans people's old lives mustn't be looked at?], and that they encouraged kids onto Discord which is for over 17s only.

So I'm very pleased the chat is down. May it forever stay down.

A > insert demographic here < friendly DBS sounds like the biggest red flag on the planet Confused

Needmoresleep · 13/10/2022 08:59

I agree. What safeguarding and counselling training did the chat line workers have. What guidelines. Training for Samaritans and Childline is pretty rigorous. I wonder if Mermaids was less so.

GoTeamRocket · 13/10/2022 08:59

My DH as a second job works on an online chat helpline for a very boring retail website, selling garden products etc. He gets prank and abusive chat messages!!! There is an established process to respond.

What ever rhe technology, people will abuse it.

Anyway, I assume that Mermaids, as a professional charity, which gets shedload of government money from grants etc, and oodles or corporate support and celeb backers including royalty, will have the systems and processes in place to respond to this professionally.

beastlyslumber · 13/10/2022 09:10

I would like more detail about this abuse and I'd like to see some evidence. I'm sorry, I appreciate that is very cynical, but Mermaids are an exceptionally dodgy organisation. They employ paedophiles, ffs.

I agree with the MP who called for a criminal investigation.

RoyalCorgi · 13/10/2022 09:16

A > insert demographic here < friendly DBS sounds like the biggest red flag on the planet.

It absolutely does. Assuming it means "we won't look into your history under your past name/gender identity" - and what else can it mean? - then it's an open invitation to predators.

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 13/10/2022 09:17

I’m trying to figure out why Mermaids have proven to be quite so spectacularly shit at, well, everything

lack of self reflection maybe?

they are after all a bunch of people who think that the answer to a child playing with the ‘wrong’ toys is to lie to them that they’re a member of the opposite sex, and to enable them to take physically harmful measures like breast crushing without telling their parents

they also campaign for unrestricted access for children to drugs that damage IQ and bone density

the clues have been there all along

it’s hard to see how anyone with a modicum of self insight could think that any of the above is ok

EndlessTea · 13/10/2022 09:24

What I find really concerning is that an organisation with extremely poor vetting and safeguarding processes and procedures could recruit and train volunteers to speak one to one with vulnerable children.

Who are these volunteers?

How sure are Mermaids that they understand and abide by child safeguarding?

How sure are Mermaids that they do not have suspicious motives to volunteer?

How sure are Mermaids that their procedures are robust enough to safeguard children against such suspicious volunteers?

RedToothBrush · 13/10/2022 09:34

What you mean? They have volunteers left to answer the telephone who don't have a really dubious personal life splattered all over the Internet or are still willing to associate themselves with paedo apologists and cock collages?

How can they get abuse if there is no one left to switch the lights out in the building never mind answer the phone apart from Susie Green?

Sorry they are the boy who cried wolf a few too many times and ignored warnings that they were liable to attract wrong 'uns with their total lack of interest in safeguarding.

Abuse to them is parents ringing up and saying "has my child been in contact with that green tasched penis bloke?" or "what steps have you taken to vet other volunteers and is this restricted just to dbs checks? " or "are you responsible for sending my daughter the binder I found in her room when I explicitly had banned her from having one?"

I don't believe them.

They see legitimate concerns and accountability as hateful.

Their response about dbs being anxiety producing for trans people is nuts. Why? This is a charity known to be sympathetic to trans people. They know if someone is trans they have a previous identity but beyond a name why is that an issue likely to be talked about in that environment? Why is having a dbs anxiety producing if you have a clean background? Ditto doing a search history of previous name? Everyone else gets vetted for their whole life in other fields? Why is the special status needed.

Its still missing the point of why its fucked up so badly and scandals keep following it around like a bad smell.

Its not learnt anything even now.

The line needed shutting down. It was peddling harmful shit to minors. It was giving out binders and encouraging minors to use discord (which has an over 17s rating and a warning issued over the amount that its used to groom children)

I hope it doesn't reopen.

AlisonDonut · 13/10/2022 09:34

Just remember that just yesterday, after the paedo Trustee, after the Digital Engagement officer and his anus and penis art on twitter, after the safeguarding and binder issues they STILL are recruiting with 'trans friendly DBS' procedures.

I doubt they have any hint of safeguarding or have even considered that kids need any.

After all if kids, at age 3, can be 'trans' why should adults do anything to prevent any harm as 3 year olds have enough agency for themselves.

The whole thing needs shutting down immediately. And all adjacent and similar groups need to be investigated.

ArabellaScott · 13/10/2022 09:35

Sparklybutold · 12/10/2022 23:53

So... Mermaids closes chat lines owing to abusive phone calls. I can't help but think this is awful behaviour from those ringing.

We've said for a while on here that the 'boy crying wolf' aspect of all the 'non-crime hate incidents' and accusations of 'transphobia' would lead to people just not believing it any more when people say they're being abused/hate crimed.

teawamutu · 13/10/2022 09:38

BernardBlacksMolluscs · 13/10/2022 09:17

I’m trying to figure out why Mermaids have proven to be quite so spectacularly shit at, well, everything

lack of self reflection maybe?

they are after all a bunch of people who think that the answer to a child playing with the ‘wrong’ toys is to lie to them that they’re a member of the opposite sex, and to enable them to take physically harmful measures like breast crushing without telling their parents

they also campaign for unrestricted access for children to drugs that damage IQ and bone density

the clues have been there all along

it’s hard to see how anyone with a modicum of self insight could think that any of the above is ok

As Andrew Gilligan once tweeted, in response to Mermaids' latest demand for no-questions-asked medical transition for children:

Your regular reminder: Susie Green is an IT consultant.