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!)

He was out by 40 years but I have just put another jumper on.

sarcasm
satire
irony
ah feck lets do them all
linguistic guerrilla tactics
or i may sometimes spell it guerilla or gorilla just for fun
an underground resistance movement for our times
very
big
grinn

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/forensic-linguistics-and-artificial-intelligence-in-person-tickets-855866318197

Free half day symposium featuring 3 talks including one by the two male academics who scraped mumsnet, followed by a panel discussion, anyone?

online only tickets available via direct email, apparently.

'This presentation will explore the application of Large Language Models (LLMs) in researching some of the key issues in forensic authorship analysis...We will also discuss ethical considerations, limitations, and future directions in leveraging LLMs for research in forensic authorship analysis.'

To be fair, it's not clear that this PhD is going to defame or doxx individuals. However this project, and indeed the institute as a whole, is doing research that could in future be applied by individuals to defame or doxx others, a well as supporting state and commercial surveillance. Some of which we would all consider very worthwhile, such as identifying paedophiles or terrorists. Others, not so much. Such as identifying political dissidents.

Couple of pages behind but an interesting comparison with using linguistics to identify people could be DNA databases created by the likes Ancestry and My Heritage:

Ethical, legal and safeguarding considerations
legality and necessity of police use of genetic genealogy in the UK would need to be clearly established, with reference to Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act 1998.
The approach should only be used if it can be shown to be based on clear evidence, verified by an independent body, that the established methods already in use for these law enforcement purposes are no longer adequate or effective.
Otherwise, the use of any such novel processes would not meet the tests of necessity and proportionality. This would make the legality of using such novel processes highly suspect.
The legality of using informed consent as the sole appropriate legal basis to obtain highly sensitive data is doubtful, in view of the Data Protection Act 2018 (Part 3), the EU Law Enforcement Directive, and well-established Article 8 ECHR case law.
Avoidance of the unnecessary invasion of an individual’s privacy and data security should be paramount and so guidance should be provided to limit direct and indirect activity in investigating potential distant relatives.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-genetic-genealogy-techniques-to-assist-with-solving-crimes/should-we-be-making-use-of-genetic-genealogy-to-assist-in-solving-crime-a-report-on-the-feasibility-of-such-methods-in-the-uk-accessible-version

Could we invent a new language, "Mumsnet Polari"? I mean we've got a few bits that come up occasionally, like "malaga airport".

On a slightly different point; queer theory sets to break down social norms. This would make ethics the antithesis of queer theory. This might explain why there seems to be such a disregard for ethics (or law) here.

I’m all for queering Aston’s datasets.

First time I’ve ever thought the queering of evidence is a good idea!

Could we invent a new language, "Mumsnet Polari"? I mean we've got a few bits that come up occasionally, like "malaga airport".

It would fall down because we'd have to discuss and explain the terms on the boards and they would know the code. If they filter for Malaga Airport they'll get a load of posts from Holidays and a load of posts from FWR

Yeah not great for newcomers, but kind of fun all the same!

I wonder what the AI came up with WRT Tunnocks Teacakes 😂

To be fair I was simplifying. I do like a good strong epithet and probably have a tendency to use some fairly consistently. I suspect my writing style is also consistently across platforms, as I can't bear to write in text speak or cool speak.... Which means that patterns can be drawn.

Plus my phone is a complete prick and likes to autocorrect lots of things which I often miss.

It's more about warning people to be wary rather than panicky but seems to suggest we could indeed be tracked and potentially outed.

I work in an arena where patterns are very important to things I look at, and whilst social media is a rare dataset I see, I can absolutely understand how it can be used against you....

Ah feck I might have to start using punctuation
gorilla guerilllar garillor
prick prik

I love that book, never thought I'd experience it

Looking at the thread in Site Stuff, this does feel intimidating.

I can’t believe the Aston University’s main justification for all this will be based on an old Vice opinion piece whose main ‘mumsnet is transphobic’ argument was quoting from a transactivist.

I expect my use of ‘Cock Off’ is fairly uncommon but it’s just a quote from Tank Girl.

(semi relevant comic panel enclosed!)

KellieJaysLapdog · Today 11:34

The more I read the more I think Prof Grant is so high on his own success he’s forgotten that most people aren’t actually criminals…

Amusingly, he's probably been involved in a criminal act now.

For anyone not following the thread Site Stuff, LilyMumsnet has commented to say they don’t have any answers for us as yet.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/site_stuff/5057903-mumsnet-corpus?reply=134725248

Im learning from your posts
an adult human female artificial intelligence learning machine all by myself
i spotted that capital A and capital I
AI
and that gorilla is almost an anagram of alligory
only my spelling was right but the y was wrong
why wai wye...
see i saw that ellipsis too
i think we might be generating poetry together
ah feck

Looking forward to the explanation of that in the final paper! Wonder if it will flag as used a lot and if so what meaning they attribute to it?

I'm really enjoying the idea of the humourless bods at Aston trying to make sense of terms like Malaga Airport, Bunbury, garden-digging etc, not to mention the various references to Tunnocks and Weetabix. Good luck turning that into a coherent PhD thesis.

I wonder if Eden will classify us into types of Transphobe? I’ve got some ideas for subtypes!

Transphobic parents of trans children
Transphobic ex wives of late life transitioners
Transphobic lesbians who have lived through the Transbian Takeover
Transphobic gay men who don’t want to associate with vulva-havers in a men-only bathhouse
Transphobic Second Wavers who just won’t accept that The New Intersectional Feminism includes PenisWomen
Transphobic professionals who observe that Queer Theory is destroying their profession
Transphobic rape survivors who need women only rape crisis centres to be for women only
Transphobic teachers who can see the social contagion of trans identity in their own classrooms
Transphobic Free Speech campaigners
Transphobic normies who stubbornly refuse to say things that aren’t true or use words to mean the opposite
Transphobic grandparents who wrote a nice comment about their grandaughter on FB who subsequently untagged they/themself because grandad is clearly a bigot now
Transphobic academics who can’t quite believe that their once-respected institution has gone right down the unreality pan
Transphobic people who won’t put their pronouns in their email signature
Transphobic adherents to conservative/orthodox religions that require separation of sexes for some aspects of religious worship/cultural life
Transphobic disabled and/or elderly people who want their intimate care needs provided by someone of the same sex
Transphobic public health workers who prioritise clear communication for those with EAL and/or learning difficulties over people with hurty feels
Transphobic detransitioners
General Transphobes

Have I missed anyone?

New name, ready to go for thread 2!

I see I am going to have to change my user name and always run my posts through spell checker before posting. I could be outed in seconds.

@KellieJaysLapdog how does the system work for overlapping subtypes? Maybe that's a(nother) problem for the project.