Experiences of a Trans Person

[invalide]

I think it might be healthy to document here the experiences of someone from the other side, and for you to pay it some mind.

I'm an early-twenties STEM student working in renewable energies, and outside of my course I'm a photographer and musician. I've travelled a fair amount and adore my home country of Scotland. Living in Glasgow, I have found a queer community of beautiful people who create a joy to everyday life I treasure.

At the beginning of this month there was a 'Let Women Speak' rally held here that some of you here attended; I have seldom felt more unwelcome and stripped of dignity than while in your crowd, carrying out my photojournalistic duties (images 1&2). While capturing Kellie-Jay Keen pathologising my friends as subhuman perverts and members of the crowd flaunting their homophobia and their use of dogwhistles (subliminal far-right messaging) I was being brazenly looked up and down, receiving steely gazes and pursed lips and hushed whispers behind my back. While photographing the first speaker after Keen, who began her piece portraying autistic people as children devoid of agency, I was approached by one of you who made it clear I looked too queer for their liking and was squaring up for assault. I made my way out at this point (captured at 8:42 here and 9:09 here).
The atmosphere your movement brought to George Square was one I've only before experienced while documenting far-right rallies in Eastern Europe, where I have been hounded through the streets and beaten up for the same reason. I assure you, your ideology would feel very much at home there.

At the other side of the square things couldn't have been more different, you were bathed in colour and music and hugs and laughter, the place is full of friends dancing and dressed resplendent in whatever camp pretty things they felt like (images 2&3).

Ours was a crowd of locals; I strained to hear a Glasgow accent in yours.

Ours is a city that at short notice manages to fill the top of Buchanan Street (image 5) in solidarity with the queer community - the last time I saw it like this was during COP26. It's one that fills George Square in a candlelit vigil for Brianna Ghey.

Your movement has meant I'm called a pervert and a groomer while going about my average daily life. Our morally vacuous, increasingly fascist political class (thinking also of Magnus Hirschfeld and of Martin Niemöller's famous poem) is picking up what you've started and they're running with it. You may not call yourself a homophobe, a white nationalist or an antisemite, but you're sitting awfully comfortably considering that those that do find your movement incredibly attractive.

Not sure if the pictures were posted on the original thread, here they are again.

This entire board is full of the experiences of multiple female people. How about you pay them some mind? With this board being for and about female people.

It isn't far right to want to preserve the rights of women and girls.

Funny how that 'protection' has only been leading to violence against the queer community

When did being a women's rights campaigner turn into far right speak? Boggles.

There's nothing remotely right wing, homophobic or anything else about the basic message - protecting women and girls.

This is all about protecting women and girls, and reclaiming our language.

How about you pay this some mind eh?

One's sex is not determined by one's company.

Sex is permanent, that's all. Being of the female sex comes with certain disadvantages and needs, including, sometimes, the need for an absence of male people.

I take it you are male? Then I think you need to listen to what being a woman actually means, and respect that, rather than asking us to understand that the male view of women is more important.

I don't think you will find the statistics bear that out....quite the reverse, in fact

So go back to those thousands of other threads calling me and the people I love perverted degenerates, if it makes you feel good. I'm putting this here into your echo chamber to let you know what this moment in time is like for the other side.

I think it might be healthy to document here the experiences of someone from the other side.

@invalide Trans people are not 'the other side'. Plenty of trans people oppose self-ID and lots of us have trans family and friends.

It's crucial not to confuse a political position with a point of view. Trans people are no more responsible for the actions of Genderists than Jews are for the actions of the Israeli state (in both cases the answer is: not at all).

Was this the 'decapitate TERFs' event?

Cool story,

Meanwhile I'm going to keep standing up for women and ensure it's safe for my daughter to go to the toilet, get changed in a changing room and everything else she should be able to do without the risk of a bloke coming in.

Woman squared up to assault you... I hope you reported that to the police. Considering the speed at which women are arrested for saying no to male rights movements I'm sure her feet didn't touch the ground. (Was this the same rally where a woman was hurt by an activist? As in actual contact and violence as opposed to the death and rape threats everywhere? Happens a lot, I lose track of which event is which.)

Homophobia? I'm lesbian. The worst homophobia I have ever encountered in my life (and I was around at work in the section 28 days, I marched for it) has come exclusively from the trans activist movement. They believe I should be correctively raped and battered to death for saying I'm homosexual and exclusively attracted to biological females and will not ever be sexually interested in any male no matter how that male identifies.

The hugs and love and laughter and rainbows - that lovely, sweet group of people who believe that it's fine that women are being raped in prison, staying in life threatening relationships because they cant go into mixed sex prisons, that homosexuals should convert or die, that non compliant women should be beheaded? I'm sorry, it doesn't matter how many sparkly butterflies you put on a death threat, it doesn't get any nicer. Is that the loving, sweet movement you think we should be joining?

Women need equality of access and rights. That some male people don't want them to have this cuts no ice. The world does not revolve around male people.

what @Tubofroses said.
Kindly a person in their early 20s - no matter how well travelled - know very little about life and have far less life experience that those of us in our 40s and 50s.
If you really look about what are children are being encourage to think and believe in many schools - including destroying their fertility and removing perfectly healthy body parts - should give you second thoughts. It’s easy to dress in bright colors, smile, laugh and dance. It’s much more serious when you have your own children. Life is more serious from the moment they are born.

No one is calling you or all trans people perverts. You'd know that if you'd actually read the thousands of threads.

What women are saying is that sometimes being female means needing space away from male bodied people. To reduce risk, for privacy, dignity, and so on. This recognises the harm done by male bodied people (regardless of gender identity) towards female people, now and historically.

Ah c'mon.
Women and girls wanting safe spaces which do not allow men inside is hardly far right.

Couple of questions.
1.Do you think women should be able to protect their sex based rights?
2 What do you think about transactivists threatening women who disagree with them?

I'm not certain why you expect me to care about your needs and feelings when you have absolutely no intention of any reciprocation?

Females are not service units.

Our morally vacuous, increasingly fascist political class

It really is deeply silly to equate conservatives with fascists. I've lived under a BNP controlled council and seen what it's like when they are confident enough to harass brown people on the street.

1 2 3 and I could go on.

It's funny, because the only violence or threat thereof I see is TRAs against women. Women being assaulted while masked activists dressed in black "defend" a statue, women being assaulted at rallies, calls to "decapitate" so-called TERFs.

I don't see women's rights activists doing the same so perhaps you define "violence" as hearing an opinion you don't like or being told that you can't do exactly as you want? Because neither of those things are "violence", literal or otherwise.

And as for your bandying around of the term "fascist", well I suggest you go and look at what the term means. (Hint, it's not a by-word for "something I don't like".)

Have you even understood, or tried to understand what Standing for Women is all about?

I'm guessing you are a man. And don't have a daughter.

OP. A few questions for you:

1. Do you think rapists like Karen White should be housed in the female estate?
2. Do you think athletes like Lia Thomas should compete against women?
3. Do you think women should be entitled to female only services where they feel vulnerable such as DV refuges?

Personally I didn't care one way or another about trans people, live and let live was my motto, until transwomen started trying to take over women's single sex spaces.

I see you have no qualms about coming onto a feminist chat board and writing a v long post

Not got time to engage with it all.

Gist I got was you're trying to shame women who don't believe in gendered souls? Do you think shame will make us convert to your beliefs or do you just hope to use the existing system of patriarchy to suppress our voices? I suspect the latter. History tells me you'll be quite successful, so well done! Slap on the back for the guys!

I know you know the far right accusation is BS (otherwise it's hardly be an effective insult). But I bet you don't know that you have as much in common with far right thinking as anyone else?

deadwildroses.com/2019/10/07/handy-venn-diagrams-the-radical-feminist-position-on-gender/

Atheism exists. It shouldn't matter to you that we all don't believe your neo religion. The world is better when we're tolerant of different beliefs but base our policies on reality.

This moment in time for females is one of a hell of loss of language, words, identity, loss of equality of access, exclusion, threats, violence, sexual violence, rape, assault, non stop assault on rights and a hell of a lot of abuse, hyperbole and dramatic misrepresentation by a political movement you seem to think is a lovely one women should be being lovely to.

What are you on?