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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

FFS Mermaids acting like amateurs again

37 replies

Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 09:36

This petition just popped up on my FB feed. Full of emotive phrases, MM sound (imo) hysterical. I also think the petition is misrepresenting reality, and serves to increase anxiety for parents and children who think they are trans.

MM are not coming across as a serious charity with the interests of children at heart. The petition wording makes them sound unhinged. Increasingly desperate.

actions.mermaidsuk.org.uk/a/conversion-therapy?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=c1aA2&fbclid=IwAR22m1eTvO1et9gumkUl1UQvtElzHC1BCvm8EJm1TV4Xlq0l-U6UYJI3fsE

FFS Mermaids acting like amateurs again
OP posts:
FOJN · 13/10/2022 09:40

Instilling fear in "gender questioning"children is child abuse. Mermaids are a fucking disgrace.

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 13/10/2022 09:45

Good gods! Is this a last throw of the dice? They are, surely, sinking fast!

TheClogLady · 13/10/2022 09:50

Archive: archive.ph/3YLjb

OldCrone · 13/10/2022 09:50

They use the phrase 'LGBTQIA+ children'.

What is a 'LGBTQIA+ child'?

What makes a child 'T'? Is it playing with the 'wrong' toys or wanting to wear the 'wrong' clothes for their sex?

What makes a child 'Q'? Queer children? Really?

'I' is intersex. Why are they talking about children with DSDs in connection with conversion therapy?

'A' is asexual. Isn't this the normal state for children? The only people who think children should be sexually active are paedophiles.

ErrolTheDragon · 13/10/2022 09:51

Well, most of that is fairly accurate except they've missed out that they are encouraged to go on to get physical scars. Mermaids should stop inflicting this abuse. It's them who aren't letting children just be themselves. It's them who are inflicting the 'conversions'.

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 13/10/2022 09:51

Fucks sake. If nothing else, this hyperbolic rhetoric sounds like something a GCSE student would put together for a persuasive writing exam task. Guilt, guilt, guilt, emotive language, hyperbole. Amateur hour indeed.

Datun · 13/10/2022 09:55

What's the date of that? Because it looks absolutely desperate. Is it recent as a result of the exposures?

Trans people are twice as likely to be subjected to or offered conversion practices than their cisgender counterparts.

What does this mean?? I know what they mean by conversion therapy, we all do, and it isn't, obviously. But what do they mean by conversion therapy for cis gender counterparts? What's that supposed to be?

FrancescaContini · 13/10/2022 09:56

Torture? WTF?

Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 10:05

@Datun I have no idea of the date, sorry.

I even signed the petition, hoping to see info about the date etc but it doesn't take you anywhere helpful. It does link through to the main MM site, so it is definitely from them.

It's so bad, I should be shocked. But I'm not.

I'm not sure 6k signatories indicates it's been up for ages or is more recent? It's certainly the first time I've come across it.

OP posts:
Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 10:07

OldCrone · 13/10/2022 09:50

They use the phrase 'LGBTQIA+ children'.

What is a 'LGBTQIA+ child'?

What makes a child 'T'? Is it playing with the 'wrong' toys or wanting to wear the 'wrong' clothes for their sex?

What makes a child 'Q'? Queer children? Really?

'I' is intersex. Why are they talking about children with DSDs in connection with conversion therapy?

'A' is asexual. Isn't this the normal state for children? The only people who think children should be sexually active are paedophiles.

Quite!

OP posts:
ShrinkingVioIet · 13/10/2022 10:08

Are we sure that's legitimate? No header or footer on the page. Why isn't it on one of the official Change.Org Petition forms?

Could be just a data collection. When you click on the privacy policy link it takes you to Mermaids website not a direct link to privacy policy.

The language is bizarre. Not even Mermaids is that stupid surely?

Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 10:12

ShrinkingVioIet · 13/10/2022 10:08

Are we sure that's legitimate? No header or footer on the page. Why isn't it on one of the official Change.Org Petition forms?

Could be just a data collection. When you click on the privacy policy link it takes you to Mermaids website not a direct link to privacy policy.

The language is bizarre. Not even Mermaids is that stupid surely?

I do think it is MM, but you are right that the petition doesn't seem to be on one of the official petition websites. It seems to be hosted on the MM website?

I signed the petition and haven't had any acknowledgement/response to that email address yet. I'll let you know when the requests for money start rolling in!

OP posts:
ArabellaScott · 13/10/2022 10:13

Here it is on Mermaids' site.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/ban-conversiontherapy/

Talks about Truss, so fairly recent.

HelenaHandcart · 13/10/2022 10:16

What is transition, but conversion therapy?

Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 10:16

ArabellaScott · 13/10/2022 10:13

Here it is on Mermaids' site.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/ban-conversiontherapy/

Talks about Truss, so fairly recent.

The link there uses similar wording, but isn't quite the same as the one I posted. Plus it is a means of contacting MPs, which the first petition didn't mention.

All very odd.

OP posts:
DameMaud · 13/10/2022 10:17

Bloody hell! That is utterly coercive

ArabellaScott · 13/10/2022 10:18

Nonsensss · 13/10/2022 10:16

The link there uses similar wording, but isn't quite the same as the one I posted. Plus it is a means of contacting MPs, which the first petition didn't mention.

All very odd.

Yes, but seems to have the same # of sigs? Really odd. They can't be putting people's names to a new wording, surely?

Helleofabore · 13/10/2022 10:22

I have been getting Mermaids and Stonewall petition ads on my Facebook for weeks now.

Yes, super hyperbolic language.

OldCrone · 13/10/2022 10:27

HelenaHandcart · 13/10/2022 10:16

What is transition, but conversion therapy?

This story of conversion therapy on their site reads very much like a lesbian being subjected to conversion therapy by her church and ending up as a transman.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/conversion-therapy-louies-story/

Louie didn't have conversion therapy because Louie was trans, but because Louie was in a same-sex relationship before transition.

Live4weekend · 13/10/2022 10:37

What decent person is going to support 'conversion' therapy for any child.

It sounds absolutely horrific.

Although what you and I would think if 'conversion' therapy is not really what is happening when parents seek help and counselling for their children who have mental health issues.

It is complete hyperbole. I don't think any of us would support any cruel treatment against children or anyone else for that matter.

But therapy in the UK is not like that at all. It is not torture to try and explore why a child thinks they are trans and ensure that transitioning is right for them and not masking other issues.

I won't sign anything that charity does. These children need help and there needs to be charities that support them. This charity is not it. Safeguarding is the most important thing a children's charity can do.

GeriSignfeld · 13/10/2022 10:59

These people provide zero data to back up their claims & this emotive, hyperbolic language is a smokescreen.

If they are labelling these kids as LGBTQIA+etc then what percentage of the youth who seek treatment go on the T train?

Would think if all these kids of different groups who fall under this acronym are going to Mermaids, then only a fraction of these kids should, in theory end up being diagnosed as transgender?

KatMcBundleFace · 13/10/2022 11:05

We must always remember Mermaids themselves advocated watchful waiting c.2011.
There is an archive of their website.

Did they "torture" children ten years ago?

PermanentTemporary · 13/10/2022 13:12

That is a misuse of the very interesting National LGBTQ+ survey data they link to.

Reading that data, respondents had to be 16 or over. 6% of respondents were trans (I'm sorry, I'm simply not counting NB respondents in this as the phenomenon is so recent). The older age group were much more likely to have experienced conversion therapy. So things are getting better. There's also a strong link with religion, particularly Islam but also Christianity, and a strong link as you'd therefore expect with some ethnic minorities. I'd imagine there is conversion therapy in Judaism too but numbers in the UK may be too small to show up much. All fits exactly with Louie's story above - a troubled young adult who found a 'family' in extreme religion became vulnerable to organised religious homophobia. We know, unfortunately, that pressures from homophobic groups in the Anglican communion has meant the Archbishop of Canterbury has jumped to reiterating that homosexuality is wrong, so those risks to gay young people remain.

There is a surely deliberate lack of detail on what conversion therapy on trans people of different ages looks like now. A recent very moving article about ECT/aversion therapy in the Guardian written by a trans woman turned out to be about the early 60s. Are there really trans conversion camps out there, separate from homophobic ones? Who runs them? Who goes or gets sent on them?

Runningintolife · 13/10/2022 13:25

Nuance and complexity gets lost in these arguments. There has been and probably remains an issue of abhorrent conversion therapy practices in the UK for trans people. That doesn't mean that its widespread, caused by gender critical beliefs or that affirmative care is the only way or necessarily a reasonable way forward.

PanicAtTheDisco2000 · 13/10/2022 13:34

Like minded friends have all commented on the proliferation of Mermaids and Stonewall sponsored content in recent weeks. We are all happy to be on the receiving end with an eye roll and moving on, rather than it going somewhere else.

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