A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet

[IwantToRetire]

By Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics

It has been suggested that the forum-style parenting website Mumsnet is a hub for ‘gender-critical’ feminism, which directly opposes transgender rights, to be practised with little moderation (Livingston, 2018). This presentation reports on the initial stages of a project aiming to investigate that the potential intensification of linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet may lead to further marginalisation of transgender people offline (Powys Maurice, 2021). Though studies of non-linguistic transphobic rhetoric on Mumsnet (e.g., Pedersen, 2022; Mackenzie, 2019), and discourse analyses of other radical online communities (e.g., Krendel, 2020) have both occurred, this project is the first to analyse linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet. It also contributes to existing literature surrounding UK-based ‘gender-critical’ feminism; linguistic transphobia; and radical online community discourses.

The presentation explores the rise of potentially ‘gender-critical’ linguistic transphobia on Mumsnet over time through the corpus linguistic (CL) analysis of the ‘Feminism: Sex & Gender Discussions’ board, using three corpora comprising a fifteen-year timeframe: 2008-2013; 2013-2018; and 2018-2023. As the project is still ongoing, preliminary findings will be presented, namely a comparative overview of trends yielded in frequency analyses. Overall, this presentation provides insights into the growing commonality of potentially ‘gender-critical’ feminist rhetoric on Mumsnet and its effect on increasing transphobic discourse on the site.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-corpus-assisted-discourse-analysis-of-linguistic-transphobia-on-mumsnet-tickets-880795271367?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

(I had just finished my favourite tea time treat of catching up on FWR and was going to get back to the grindstone when this popped up on my feed. So have come back as it is too good not to be shared. Enjoy!)

As for whether Aston should be storing or using the dataset at all... well at this stage who knows. Unlinking it is only the first step, a reasonable first response to the query from MNHQ. We'll just have to see what happens next. Universities move slowly.

Unless they are prodded by bad publicity.

Yup. And we know that many journalists keep an eye on this board.

Another issue that occurred to me in relation to the academic having access to police interviews with women who've been raped is whether this includes children? Can a child give consent to their video being shared with random strangers working in a university? And what are the implications of a child's interview being stored on the servers at a Uni to be viewed by who????

I think @RealFeminist said that children were considered too vulnerable and were excluded.

I note some data was discarded as the victims were children and therefore considered vulnerable, and I find it a bit surprising that the understanding that any woman reporting a rape is vulnerable was not made.

Hahaha quite. I guess it's the gifs? Can you do a phd in gifs these days? Christ-on-a-bike.

I'm surprised that there's no interim note up on their home page.

We couldn't use gifs back then (2008). iirc, it was MN's limited set of emoticons and posters sometimes used other ones that may or may not have been successful in display.

I think a number of us are waiting for a report back on what non-linguistic transphobic rhetoric is.

Y’know, I was thinking about this and I concluded that it’s probably a staffing/department thing?

The FoLD is run by academics and the associated IT is provided by a mixture of academics, students working in that area plus couple of paid technicians (so the sorts of people who can respond to a colleague’s text on a Friday afternoon and do a crude shut off of a link within 30 mins or so).
Whereas the main website will likely be run by the shiny PR part of the university staff (who went home on Friday and aren’t back until tomorrow) and any statements will likely have to go through legal vetting, which probably involves people who bill A LOT MORE outside of office hours.

Perhaps by lunchtime Monday we’ll be able to see something change on the main part of the website or the Eventbrite page, I don’t think I would expect anything any earlier than that, possibly not even til midweek.

Hopefully Justine will have MN’s legal team in motion - I have high expectations that this won’t be swept under any rugs. When a TRA used the courts to demand a MNetter’s sign up data, Justine fought it to the last minute, even though the name and email address that the anon member had used were very obviously a spoof, so in the end the TRA gained nothing but a serious case of cat’s bum face!

Obvs a U.K. website can be compelled to comply with law enforcement data requests but as far as I’m aware, ever since the disastrous Emma-the-Intern (lo-fi) leak MN have been much more clued up re: ensuring users remain unidentifiable without a court order.

I do like that MN retained some of their OG shit emoticons in the recent site updates, despite almost everyone having an emoji keyboard nowadays.

will forever be superior to 😁as far as I’m concerned.

Currently we’ve even got Easter bunny themed biscuits

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mumsnet-ordered-reveal-identity-user-14275484

if I recall correctly the anon user ‘ALittleHelp18’ had registered under the name ‘Stephanie Hayden’, so all the Trans Stephanie Hayden got from the court order was the name ‘Stephanie Hayden’ and a throwaway email adddress.

It’s since been objectively proved that ALittleHelp18/The Poster Registered as Stephanie Hayden did not defame the Trans Stephanie Hayden, as the information shared on Mumsnet later came up in evidence at a totally unrelated court case that also involved the Trans Stephanie Hayden.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6912343/amp/Transgender-activist-claims-information-given-Mumsnet-misleading.html

I do like that MN retained some of their OG shit emoticons in the recent site updates, despite almost everyone having an emoji keyboard nowadays.

Me too. I still use them in preference here unless the iOS one better expresses what I want to say.

wtf is this?

Discoball, innit.

I'm more concerned by this one.

Redtoothbrush, wtf is that?

I was going to suggest the first one was the moon!

Which reminded me that many moons ago, MN had the phases of the moon at the top of the talk boards. I have no idea why or when they disappeared but it was quite helpful for knowing what phase the moon was in.

Nfi.

Pp mentioned Christ on a Bike. I want that as an emoji please mumsnet! Would be very useful.

It is possible that at the time of interview women were asked if they'd be happy to have the contents of their interviews used.for future research, I suppose. I hope that was the case.

I would contest that any woman is able to consent to the contents of her interview being used for future research at the point at which she is being interviewed by the police regarding her rape.

I'd give a one-off donation for an emoticon of Jesus in a Cabbage Van. I think of him around Easter time.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnetclassics/1442108-Only-with-Ocado

Maybe FWR S&G needs its own set of emoticons. Perhaps Eden will give us hints and tips.

Airgapped should mean no network access.

It's for "The Archers" afficionados. We have our own long-running series of threads and got our own emoticon when we reached a significant milestone.

The Archers is set in Ambridge, a fictional village thatnbears more than a passing resemblance to Brigadoon, and the village pub is The Bull. The emoticon is a pub sign with a bull's head emblazoned thereon. I admit it looks more like a representation of ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus until you examine it closely.

Is it a reference to Disney theme parks as being some kind of Mickey Mouse Third Reich?

ETA Ah, just seen the post above after posting this and then looking at the alt text for the icon.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/sitestuff/4544404-emoji-gone

I’m torn between the Son of God on a bicycle or the Son of God depicted on a cracker.

Perhaps the biscuit connection favours the second option? Or perhaps splitting the difference and going for the Ocado van is best.

A whole new set of Christ emoticons may be asking too much at the moment, what with everyone being busy with putting Aston University on the Naughty Step.

When we have some confirmed facts we should probably consider making a summary post elsewhere on site, not just for the feminism &!consent aspect but also because a lot of parents use Mumsnet as a resource when their 6th formers are looking at university applications/young adult children are exploring post graduate study.

Imagine the horror of paying UK higher education fees (or accruing the debts for said fees) only to find out that a dataset supplied by a university is legally dubious throwing several years of study into question over a single weekend?

A thread like this, unfolding in real time is a bit bewildering when you find it a year or two later!

Anyway, here’s a funnier-but-still-problematic product of (potentially unlawful, legal cases ongoing) data scraping, a Midjourney interpretation of Christ on a Cracker.

Wow, clearly The Archers are cryptofascists!