How many gender critical feminists are actually 'out'

[PurpleBugz]

I've been gender critical ever since I learned what is was. But I've not been able to come 'out' on my social media until the posts this weekend and in preceding weeks showed me I really must. I have a now or never feeling about it.

I have the privilege of knowing I can't loose my home or my job by speaking up. If either could be threatened I'd never be able to out myself. As it is I fear what will be said of me as a parent for holding these views. I'm sure I'm about to loose many friends and family.

How many of you strong women are out as gender critical? What's your experience of it?

@wombridgewalkabout
So essentially trans "women" shouldn't be classed a women, for the various reasons you mentioned.
What do GC people think they should be classed as?
I'm not making a judgement just trying to understand as this is a new term for me.

@ElmTree22 I'm going to provide an answer on that that is likely to differ from others:
I think transwomen should be classed as transwomen.

There will be many more people on here who are likely to say that they should be classed as men. I'm personally comfortable with transwomen being separate from both men and women.

For the purposes of the Equality Act, I would still like clarity that sex means biological sex. I do not have a gender identity (transwoman is a gender identity as far as I understand it) but I'm aware that others do. However, woman means biological woman.. or "adult human female" as some might say. Perhaps transwoman could mean "adult human male who identifies as a woman" by that definition. I don't have an opinion on how transwomen describe themselves. My opinion is that biological sex is the meaningful segregation in law and policy.

Actually, that's a little overly simplistic for my opinion on how transwomen describe themselves. There are some cases where it's important as a description as well as in law/policies, such as for trans widows, where their husbands have declared themselves to be women and wish to impose this on the sexual orientation of their wives (should they now be lesbians?) and their children ("Dad" can't become "Mum" without causing significant distress all round, for example.

I believe, and people can correct me, that initially it was used by a group of feminists that used the term to refer to the fact they were 'critical of gender' as in 'gender stereotypes'. Those stereotypes which have been used by male people who don't feel like they are 'men', so feel that what they must be is a 'woman'. Those are like (a very crude example)

Feminist: The dishes need washing, anyone can wash those dishes.

Importantly, all these 'man' and 'woman' identities are only ever the perception of what that person believes a 'man', 'woman', 'girl' or 'boy' feel. It is only what they want those words to mean. It may be somewhat close to material reality, but it really is not close and is based on gender stereotypes. Because what is this 'feeling' ? It is feeling like they are not the sex they are, it is only logical that they can only then assume they 'feel' like the other sex. Despite it being only ever their own construct of that sex.

To use the above as an example they might say:

Extreme trans activist: I washed the dishes, I must be a woman

Currently, due to extreme trans activists efforts to discredit feminists, the term 'Gender Critical' has been expanded by those activists (again, happy to be corrected on this) to include 'everyone who disagrees that people can change sex'.

This is a problem. Because those extreme activists have used this expansion to silence and shame women / feminists by forcing an alignment on a 'universal belief'. It is proven science that people cannot change sex. Ever. It is therefore a universal belief and is held by the majority of the world's population. Including far right people, sometimes religious conservative people, who actually embrace gender stereotypes.

Therefore , this forced expansion now includes people who AREN'T critical of gender at all. They still hold the universal belief. They just have very different motivations for speaking out against law and policy changes that they feel prioritises 'gender' over 'sex'.

Those now in the 'gender critical' group but are not actually critical of gender might say:

Embracing gender: I am a woman, I will do the dishes

Either way, now many people do not accept the label 'gender critical', while still many still do. But it is like the word 'woman' and 'tolerant' and many other terms, it now includes the 'opposite' of its intention in its definition by some groups in society.

To be frank, I don't care what noun those male people choose, as long as it is not forcibly redefining any other word that has an established meaning needed by the group who already use it. It should be a word that they create and it is not for us to force one on them, just as it was never right for them to forcibly use our words for ourselves.

Women were never asked. It has caused legal harm to women and girls. And perhaps they should have created a word that was unique for themselves. Instead they have forced the use of the words for women and girls because that meant they were forcing people to believe the mantras that those male people were 'just the same as women and girls'.

I'm hiding in an anonymous closet in work as a GC woman. Through genuinely anon channels I feedback their disregard for the law and women's rights under the Equality Act. They keep asking to 'reach out' to me, but not a fucking chance am I exposing myself to be harried out of my job.

In my personal life most people who know me know that I think gender is a social construct and basically bollocks. They also know that I think active transitioning of teenagers amounts to child abuse, but that I think trans people in general are being badly let down by medical professional and activists alike.

Affirmation only is such a dangerous practice, people really should have to take time to work through why they think they need to transition. It's a permanent process, there should be gatekeepers who rigorously assess if a person should pass through each gate, but also to make sure they have all the support they need. It's nuts that it would be easier for my daughter to assert she's a boy and be sterilised than it is for me to assert that as a woman I'm done with carrying babies and be sterilised.

However, MN is the only place online where I exercise my voice around this because I can't risk being 'outed' at work. I've far to much shit in my life to be dealing with without needing to add fighting for my job because I don't think Derek should be in the women's toilets.

I’m pretty out i.e have commented on a few posts on social media but not started my own ones. I like women’s network posts on FB and feminist posts on Twitter. I speak freely to my friends about it and they are pretty much in agreement. Had a fiery conversation with my SIL who thinks I’m homophobic now! Although luckily my brother is also GC and explained it all to her! I am a teacher in Scotland though so I just keep my head down at work although I’ve spoken to several colleagues who were also (quietly) gender critical. Luckily in my role I don’t need to teach any PHSE. I do teach some non binary pupils and just avoid pronouns.

I see poster underneath is happy with trans woman ( TW). I used to be as well. But I am not now. Because, thanks to gender ideology activists, it no longer means ‘ men with gender dysphoria who are trying to genuinely ‘pass’ as women to manage that dysphoria’ Instead it now includes a whole load of very male looking, and sometimes entirely male presenting, people, whom no- one is allowed to challenge in female spaces. It now includes males without gender dysphoria.
And the term TW, as well as enforced use of pronouns, is used to make the presence of males in women’s spaces seem more acceptable. ‘ should TW be in women’s prisons’ sounds so much more anodyne than ‘ should men be in women’s prisons’ or even ‘ should male rapists be in women’s prisons’.
It also makes it harder for women, especially those who have experienced male violence, to object to the presence of males in female spaces, or explain their fear, if they cannot describe the males the are scared or triggered by. as a man. But instead have to refer to them as a trans woman and she/her. That makes a mockery of female experiences and our ability to describe them and our ability to effectively advocate for our own safety. Kristi Hannah is a female survivor of rape. In Vancouver she was in an addiction recovery Centre for women. She was forced to share her small bedroom with a male who identified as a woman, a very visibly male with stubble, who openly spoke of his sexual attraction to women. Their beds just feet apart. When she complained to a civil rights/ law group she referred to this person as he. The law group told her that they would not represent her but would represent the male who identified as a woman if they complained about her for misgendering. And that is why I no longer pretend in my language that people are not the sex that they are. How else could Kristi Hannah explain how her trauma was triggered without referring to that person as male?

If gender ideologues had not created this ridiculous, limitless expansion of the term TW and insisted it means literally woman in all and every circumstance, I would still use the term TW.

But that is not where we are thanks to them. So now I use the term Trans identified male.

@wombridgewalkabout that is absolutely shocking to read, makes me livid. Canada has crossed to the dark side.

@ElmTree22

I think within gender critical thinking you will find a variety of opinions. As you can see here some are ok with saying TW other's strongly feel the word is men. Again there will be variations in opinions on which if any of female spaces TW can enter. Personally I think as a pp said many start 'mild' and get more 'extreme' as they see/learn more.

Some GC don't believe in gender identity. Some do. Some see gender as a social construct.

Essentially to be gender critical and the thing that unites us means to believe men cannot become women and women can not become men. A belief biological sex is immutable. In particular we are concerned with the word women in law currently

Completely out in life, at work and on social media.

my boss is supportive so I’m lucky. Most people at work are like minded - it’s a very down to earth company!

I have FB friends who disagree but haven’t fallen out with me.

I have one person I’ve cut out because he’s so toxic on the topic and has revealed himself to be misogynistic and homophobic.

I’m semi out. I have a group of GC women at work, but I work in a very left wing organisation and would lose friends and possibly my job. It would certainly make my job untenable.

I'm out and always have been, I still expect at some point to get the jail...

I don't do social media for my day to day life. However, I am out as GC in my rl. Pretty much everyone knows my views and luckily most share the same or similar views. I've also had reasonable discussions with the "be kind" brigade and some of them have teens, relatives or friends who are trans identifying. These conversations tend to be on a one-to-one basis - I find these work best for me.

I was talking to a work associate today, someone who I suspect is in the Be Kind club. I pointed out how a certain policy was only kind to transgirls but unkind to others such as Muslim girls.

She had a real light bulb moment, apologised for not thinking it through and said she would go and do some reading.

Yay.