Worrying Increase in Transphobia

[PorcelinaV]

https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/09/09/transphobia-uk-press-media-negative-coverage/

An increase in transphobic sentiment among the British public has been fuelled by hostile coverage of trans people from the right-wing press, argues data journalist Ell Folan....

Unfortunately, newspapers still have a great deal of influence on the public and political agenda in Britain, and nowhere is this more obvious than in how perceptions of trans rights have changed.

As recently as Feburary 2021, an absolute majority of British voters (51 per cent) agreed with the statement “a transgender woman is a woman”, including 6 in 10 women. Just 34 per cent disagreed. But after years of negative coverage from the press, those numbers have changed.

In April this year, only 33 per cent of voters agreed that trans women are women, with 47 per cent disagreeing....

It is clear that the media plays an important role in shaping public perceptions, and unless their negative coverage is corrected and refuted, public opinion will continue to worsen.

@Anniessong I think you haven't thought things through and are still in the #bekind mindset.

Yes it is a subset of men that are a threat. TW may be no more of a threat than other men, but there is no evidence they are less of a threat.

So we gatekeep TW the same as we gatekeep men.

The reason TW get all the 'press' is that men as a whole aren't asking for access to women's toilets, prisons, sports, rape support. The group that is asking is the subset that are TW. So TW get the press when women loudly shout NO.

This

@IrresponsiblyCertainAboutSexualDimorphism I didn’t make the comment you put in quotation marks. That must have been another poster

Anniessong, what makes you so sure that TW are not also a threat to women and children (in addition to common or garden men I mean)? My understanding is that the prison stats show 50% of TW in prison are sex offenders. Most still have their make genitalia.

Nah it's trans activists that make trans people look bad. They imply that trans people are incapable of following laws and cultural norms. That it would be impossible to ask them to do sports with people of their own sex or use changing rooms for their own sex without heavy policing and intrusive checking. They imply that trans people are out of control and that ignoring other people's boundaries is inherent to the experience of being trans.

Personally I have known about trans people for a very long time and don't believe every single trans person is like this, however there certainly have been some dangerous misogynist chancers attracted to the movement since modern day trans activism got going. This is hardly surprising when trans ideology claims that normal safeguarding is personally offensive to trans people.

You'll be fascinated to know that it was fawning so-called left wing press which alerted me to the current problem with trans rights ideology. Reading a Guardian article about how terrible it was that a transwomen didn't have access to hair straighteners in jail, conveniently ignoring he was a sex offender with a teenage victim. Something clicked, I did some research, and was horrified by what I found.

@Anniessong , you might think this is 'only' anecdotal, but I have dealt with two trans women who were among the most violent people I have ever dealt with. I didn't want to be in an interview room with them at work because I had actual evidence of their violent behaviour. I had the option to keep myself safe at work, out in the big,wide world it was a different matter. They both carried on as entitled men, despite telling everyone that they were female and just wanted to live their best lives. They were still men , nothing about them had changed, which is why I think the way i do.

I don’t believe in Islam. That doesn’t mean I think Muslims don’t exist, it means I think they are wrong.

Are you ok with males in female spaces and sports?

I know a trans woman. They have recently changed pronouns from they to she and wear a dress all the time. No surgery but they take oestrogen that they obtain illegally.
They fetishise women’s clothes and wear bondage type tops and leather skirts with a stuffed bra. I do accept they exist, I can see it with my own eyes. Just like I can see that they are a man in a dress with my own eyes. I don’t think this person is trans, I think they are vulnerable (ASD, suicide attempts) and I think they have been seduced by an outraged and militant camaraderie of misfits who claim a to be trans and born ‘in the wrong body’. The only worrying increase I see are of people like them who are being groomed.

I used to believe in the "live and let live" philosophy but less inclined to that now. The insistence that if you disagree you must be a phobic or a biggot shows that they have no tolerance and are quite extreme - the invasion of women's privacy and entitlement to use women's changing rooms and toilets, the pushing of this agenda to young people etc etc. Now, I think "live and let live" in your own space but not in public spaces or where you are sharing space with others.

Not only that, the census showed they transwomen were five times more likely to be in prison for sex offences at the time of the last census than other men.

A very sensible comment. Some trans people have been pretty vile to anyone who dares to raise a question about them. It’s no wonder there’s a backlash.

I am very sorry to read this @Anniessong.

Keeping single space sexes when women are undressed is important to protect other women from experiencing harm. Men who want access to women at these times are actually really usefully advertising their willingness to trample women's boundaries.

What I don’t understand is why blackface is (rightly) criticised at all levels but womanface is fine.

If sex and gender are two different things, can you explain why gender is relevant to which toilets you should be using or which sporting categories you should be competing in, or even name a single situation in which gender is relevant to anything?

And you believe that humans with a male body but who claim to have a “feminine” identity should be ousted from the male facilities, because males with a masculine identity should not be expected to be in a state of undress with males with a feminine identity?

And that facilities which are separated by biological sex to protect the privacy and dignity of females and males when in a state of undress should instead be separated on the basis of whether the humans using them like things which society has decided to code as “feminine” or like things which society has decided to code as “masculine”?

So, under your belief system - which prioritises “gender” over biological sex - you believe (as the logical consequence of what you’ve said) that women who wear trousers, flat shoes, a fleece and carry a backpack should go and use the “masculine” changing room, whilst women women who wear skirts, heels, a lacy blouse and carry a handbag should use the “feminine” changing room?

Because if you believe that “feminine” males should not be expected to use the same changing room as “masculine” males, then that should apply equally to “masculine” females not being expected to use the same changing room as “feminine” females. If not, your position (of excluding them from the male facility) would be discrimination against the ‘feminine males’, compared to the ‘masculine females’.

I know a trans woman. They have recently changed pronouns from they to she and wear a dress all the time

You mean, he has recently started demanding other people change how they use their language to refer to him, insisting that they deny the reality of their eyes and follow his belief system.

Transwomen are male, so they present the same threat as any other male. It’s males in female spaces that I object to. I have absolutely no issue with men breaking gender stereotypes. Bring on the skirts, sparkles, long hair and nail polish. Bring on the nurturing dads, and yes, healthcare professionals (many men men prefer same-sex care too). The fetishists can also crack on, as long as the participation of others is consensual.

100% this the trans community have done this to themselves.

I think people have woken up to the repercussions of saying yes. They saw this in similar terms to supporting gay rights and so a couple of years ago thought nothing of saying yes and it wasn't properly debated

Many are not comfortable with seeing transwomen on sports podiums. They are not comfortable with men in women's prisons (especially when some have been convicted of rape). They are horrified by stories of confused teens transitioning and then detransitioning. So yes, the media has swayed us but I am glad they finally have the confidence to print the other side of the debate. Because let's remember what has happened to individuals who did try to point out to us the uncomfortable truths.

People are seeing what happens when you allow people to determine their own gender.

Quite apart from all the issues other people have raised such as the male rapists in women's prisons, why should the fact that someone feels feminine trump the rights of people who are actually female to have their own single sex spaces and sports for reasons of safety, dignity and fairness?

What has their feeling feminine got to do with the rest of society and why do we need to prioritise their feelings over our own?

@Anniessong transwomen retain male patterns and rates of criminal offending post transition (if they do in fact do anything to transition) and furthermore amongst the prison population the percentage of prisoners identifying as trans who have a conviction for sexual crimes is significantly higher than in the general male population and higher again than the female population.

Does this mean we should fear all people with a trans identity? Of course not. But should we, as women, show the same caution to transwomen as we do other men? Absolutely.

Transwomen are male, so they present the same threat as any other male.

This is not true, the census showed Transwomen are more of a threat than other males - five times more likely to be sex offenders. We also see they are a threat to women’s privacy and dignity by ignoring women’s right to boundaries and single sex spaces.

"Violent men have always pretended to be something they’re not to win women’s trust then attack them"

Yes, but in the majority of cases there isn't a whole movement dedicated to trying to get those men access to women's spaces, is there? Women need protecting from violent men, however they present.

It actually wouldn't surprise me. A large proportion of my female friends and colleagues would, at one point, have answered the same as they thought it was the "correct" answer. Those who held opposing views tended to keep quiet for fear of being branded transphobic.

I genuinely believe that the Forstater and Bailey cases have given those with gender critical views the ability to speak about their opinions without fear of reprisal.

I know I am more confident in speaking out in the workplace so now if a female colleague says TWAW I ask them to stop and think about what that means. Most of them just haven't thought about it in much detail and once they realise the implications of agreeing with that ideology for themselves, their daughters and women in general they quickly reverse their thinking.

OP it is not transphobic to disagree that TWAW and no one is denying a trans persons existence.