Is anyone else finding being gender critical has affected their mental health?

[BluebellBlueballs]

Maybe I need to take a step back but that feels like capitulation.
I just feel I am being persecuted for my beliefs.
Two people in my life one a sibling one a friend, both men, have washed their hands of me completely after finding out I joined women's gender critical networks.

Told I'm in a hate group etc.

I used to be quite open about being GC because I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. I guess I thought of it as like joining extinction rebellion or something, OK some people don't want it forced down their throats but no need to lie or hide my activities. But it's not like that at all.

I've had a sort of mh crisis over being cut off by people close to me, and others not so close to me, for having what I see as a difference of an opinion over TWAW. But I'm being made to feel like I've joined the ku klux klan.

Sometimes I wonder if its worth it any more but that's how this movement seems to operate, by shaming the heretics into silence.

Can anyone relate?

Tbh she is odd, we fell out because once I didn't think Richard Dawkins was the be all and all of truth.

Oh dear, I wonder what she thinks about Dawkins now.

Not me, but I'm fortunate to have a circle of friends who are equally GC. DH is even more GC than me so that helps.

I am self employed so no issues at work. One organisation I work with knows my views but won't say anything because they know I would abandon them and nobody else knows how to do the work. I have firmly declined all rainbow trinkets.

I'm sorry to those who are struggling with this. Being of a post-menopause "don't give a shit" age helps enormously.

Yes - it’s made me very angry. Biological male sought out by an ITV news team to represent struggling mothers. WTF. And he’s on £52k plus. Yeah really representative of struggling women.

Believe what you want! You've associated yourself with a movement whose figureheads regularly call for the eradication of a particular minority group from public life; who actively push to remove legal protections from some of the most vulnerable people in society; who have known links to and funding from shadowy far-right organisations with a well known hate-filled agenda.

The problem is that what the gender identity ideology demands is the erasure of a vast demographic group (female people) from all language and, ultimately, from laws.

This will remove protections from some of the most vulnerable, such as raped/abused women and girls in shelters, make addressing sexism and misogyny almost impossibly complicated and less effective, harm women's sports, feminist history (due to posthumous transitioning of famous women in history), and, in general, will benefit what some call patriarchy.

In that sense it is the gender identity ideology which is closer to far-right organisations.

Both also see gender norms, rules, roles and sexist stereotypes as innate, though the former de-link the rigid boxes from sex and the latter do not.

But neither view is going to help women who are oppressed on the basis of sex where that oppression is maintained via the imposition of strict gender norms and roles (say, in Afghanistan).

@nepeta 👏🏼🔥🎯

This interests me, because in Scandinavia women did not do the tea/coffee. They formed comittees (spelling?) and wrote radical, feminist, cross-party-political policies including subsidised childcare for all children over 1 years old, extended maternity leave, equal pay, even more subsidised childcare for students, family friendly policies enabling a good work-life balanced and much more.

Afaik France and Germany did too.

This is missing in the UK and USA. It is vital for women’s ability to participate fully in working life (if they so wish).
In Norway, in the 2000, they also launched cash-support for those who wanted to stat at home with their under 2’s and 3’s. Often frowned on by the «left» but Fantastic for those of us who want to/have to stay home with the babies a bit longer. I can’t recall the sum exactly. Equivalent of ca £400 a month I think.
Which gives freedom of choice and honours the fact that bringing up small humans is quite a job!

Which brings us back to topic of thread. Absolutely most people KNOW that there are 2 sexes and you are one or the other.
That is NOT a New or radical viewpoint. And doubly offensive (to me) to try to tie Gender Ideology to feminism, because feminism has fought for equal rights between the sexes. Rights women did not have because of our biology, and rights we do need because of our biology.

Why are women's rights always touted as 'trans hostile'?

The rights of women are being taken away. We have a right to defend them for ourselves.

Yes, agreed, Norway are doing a fantastic job for women and always feature near the very top of the global gender gap index (Number 2 in the world, below Iceland)

https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/

They have also done this:

The Gender Recognition Act (Norwegian: Lov om endring av juridisk kjønn) was adopted by the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, on 6 June 2016, was promulgated by the King-in-Council on 17 June and took effect on 1 July 2016.[1][2] Under the act citizens may change their legal gender by notification to the National Population Register. The act was proposed by the Conservative-led government of Erna Solberg and received multi-partisan support from over 85% of all voting MPs representing parties ranging from the conservatives to the left-socialists. It was welcomed by the LGBTIQ+ organizations, the feminist movement and human rights experts as a milestone for LGBTIQ+ rights, bringing Norway in line with international best practice in this area under international human rights law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Recognition_Act_(Norway)

totally get you OP

about 5 years ago I was totally “be kind/it’s not hurting anyone”. I can’t believe I didn’t see how the definition of women being changed to include ‘men with lady feels’ would mean in practice the complete erasure of single sex services/opportunity nor did I realise just how much men regard women as support humans not actual fully human

The sheer gall of men waving their dicks around lesbian spaces insisting they’re women - and the lesbians who object being the ones told to leave. Through the fucking looking glass

You are being criticised by 2 men for defending women's rights.

It is pretty clear who is in the wrong here!

"The good news is I am making new friends through the networks."

So what's happening here is you are losing connections with your family members and old friends to become "gender critical", and replacing them with gender critical friends.

IMO This is how radicalisation begins. Your "gender critical" beliefs will become even more set as your new gender critical friends will be in agreement. Then you will lose even more people from the past and the cycle repeats.

That's so silly. It's not radicalisation to know that children shouldn't be gaslit into believing their bodies are wrong and need fixing with untested drugs that render them sterile. it's not radicalisation to know that women don't have penises and men are not mothers. It's not radicalisation to expose male bullying and intimidation, not just of women but of anyone in society challenging a dubious ideology.

That's fundamental knowledge about human beings and society which the vast majority of the population agree with - no matter how many tantrums are thrown demanding otherwise.

Oh my goodness, what a sad, unhappy post.

@MerlinsLostMarbles

I say a woman is an adult human female. It has nothing to do with a feeling in my head, or how many gender roles associated with my sex I take on. It simply means that I was born female and have reached adulthood.

Am I radicalised?

What's your definition of woman? I genuinely want to know your answer.

It hasn’t affected my mental health, but it makes me angry. I recently saw an article about ovarian cancer and the first sentence was: Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer in people assigned female at birth.

I have not read a single article where men were referred to as ‘assigned male at birth’. In fact, I read an article on webmd re. prostate issues which states: All men are at risk for prostate problems. That's because all men have a prostate.

So men remain men, and women are now ‘people assigned female at birth’, ‘people with a uterus’, ‘people who menstruate’, ‘people who get pregnant’, etc. Just NO!!

What's 'radical' about understanding that humans are all either male or female and that they can't change sex?

That's not new. It's pretty essential to survival of the human race.

Nothing at all, and I don't think anyone has ever been estranged from family or friends just for saying that.

It's all the accusations of grooming, the stalking, the hate, threats etc that gives the gender critical movement a rather bad name.

Well you'd be wrong there @MerlinsLostMarbles because simply stating that humans are all either male or female and that they can't change sex is seen as hate and threatening, etc. and is the reason that people shut down discussion and relationships.

That's the problem. That's what this thread is about.

er, no.

They did pass that law, and people are now starting to understand what path that may set us on and are not chuffed. Not at all.

Now they also want to end sex segregation in refuges (from domestic violence). That is hopefully not going to happen.

What is good is that the debate is more Open and less polarised, by and large.
The woman who was fired for stating biological sex is real won her courtcase for unfair dismissal.
The state media is lost, but mainstream media is debating with both/all sides represented. There are articles and tv programmes about detransitioners out.

It hasn’t affected my mental health. But it has clearly affected many young people’s mental health to the point they are harming themselves significantly.
What it does is make me angry that the «helpers» of this ideology push along legislation to «be kind» without thinking it through.
I am sure trans identifying women and men find me hateful because I say you cannot actually change your biological sex. But I cannot help what they think or feel.
They may feel it until they are Blue in the face, it is still impossible.

Then all the fucking stupid shenanigans to «prove» that men are women and vice versa, it is just one huge safeguarding fail and does not put the trans movement in a good light at all.

I worry about the mental health of anyone who believes in this gender fluid bollocks.

We GC people are the sane ones.

I've kinda gathered that everyone always says your entitled to your opinion and it's good to have a healthy debate... until it's not theirs 😂

This is very true

I’ve been thinking for days about what that NHS psychotherapist was saying to me about the importance of ‘acceptance’, before she dismissed me from her care.

Acceptance of what, precisely?

Acceptance that others have different beliefs, fine. But acceptance of the hegemony of one particular belief over my own thoughts, my body, my life? No thanks.

And that’s the trouble with the NHS touting ‘acceptance’. They need to specify what it is that women and girls are being forced to accept. (Spoiler: it’s usually something involving a safeguarding failure.)

@NegevNights that NHS bod needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. When they've done that they should look through a dictionary at words like hypocrit and bigotry. If they've got time, perhaps then check out any book on biology, and how sex always comes in two types and that it is impossible for mammals to change sex.

They'll have had a busy day but perhaps they could find then a few moments to write you a frank and fulsome apology.

I sleep like a baby. I haven't become radicalised by mumsnet or anywhere. My views haven't changed because reality hasn't changed. Men cannot become women, however much they might wish to, however sad it makes them, however much surgery they have, however many wrong sex hormones they take, however they tilt their heads. Joining in their delusion will not change that.