Here's to the Mumsnet Terven - Roll of Honour

[TheHereticalOne]

I've only just made it to Mumsnet after the decision this morning and wanted to congratulate to the marvellous Mumsnet Terven.

This has been years in the making and every one of you has resisted, in her own small or large way, the relentless gaslighting, bullying and Kafkaesque bureaucracy that tried to bully you out of saying or believing what you knew to be true and just.

I've seen Magdelen Berns rightly name-checked on X but I wanted as well to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the wonderful, clear-sighted, stiff-spined women on here who have tirelessly and patiently contributed to these boards over many years. Some are on the tip of my tongue (below) but I wonder if people would share the usernames that have stuck with them over the years. It seems like a good moment to reflect.

I'll begin with two stand-outs for me: Datun, RandomMess, LangCleg:

You have been a light for me (and I'm sure many others) in dark times when I would otherwise have felt shipwrecked alone on an island of sanity. Your logic and clarity have been a bulwark against a sea of insanity that I sometimes thought would lead me into madness.

And thanks to Mumsnet who steered a tricky course, especially in the early days of this when we had to behave like the bloody French resistance to avoid being sued to oblivion. Moderation was frustrating and we didn't always agree about the parameters but you doggedly kept the lines of communication open between us all here and I am so grateful.

Thank you.

Giant gins all round.

Do you remember the gist?

I remember when I was first on here seeing a thread about maybe compromising on 'sharing' the word "woman" on the basis that we could always use "female" to distinguish between us and TIMs. One poster set out calmly, but at length, the fact that the whole point of this bloody movement was to prevent women having the language to distinguish themselves at all as a separate class of human beings or to be able to name and object to what was happening. They said once they had the word "woman" they would come for the word "female" too.

And so it proved, years and years later.

I'm not sure who the poster was, though.

Thanks for being courageous enough to say this. I wasn't brave enough to say it first, but I totally agree. Such important voices have been banished for speaking a truth that is now, finally, legally acknowledged as such. I would love to see them get an apology, even if they don't want to come back.

Completely agree. They might not want to return, but the gesture would be nice.

AngryAttackKittens took me apart when I arrived and I nearly ran away, but here I am still, because bruised as I felt, I recognized she was right.

So many of us have been hurt by this and my heart goes out to all the mothers who are still in pain. I hope that this ruling will be the beginning of this mess being sorted out in the UK and that other countries round the world will see and find their own way back to sanity.

Love to everyone who has posted here and helped me understand, for all the lightbulb moments and the laughs. For the campaigns that were born here and to all the gardeners who contribute.

This is a day to celebrate and to rest. Then we will regather and work out where to go next, because now we know what the law is, we have to root out and shine a light on all those who are abusing it.

Here’s to us!

🥂

I don't think MN have anything to apologise for, and those that reported them will never apologise.

I would like to see those posters back, but do understand why MN had to tread a line, they were sacrificed to allow the conversation to continue.

I've had help on here drafting letters, signposting me to policies etc- without which my sphere would have been captured. MN and the wonderful women on it allowed me to be ahead of the game every time a boundary was pushed.

Another lurker/liker/donator/MP pesterer here - thank you all for the information, encouragement and rallying, and of course for JKR, LGB Alliance, Maya F, all the lawyers and campaigners who’s names escape me but who’ve been strong and brave enough to stand in the headlights and take this fight on personally. There will be books for girls and women written about this movement and you will all feature as the noble warriors you are. Thankyou for making the world safer and fairer for all girls and women 🫡

Too many to mention and most mentioned already, but from the older days-
LangCleg
Datun
R0wantrees
FloralBunting
AngryAttackkittens
pencilsinspace

Plus all of the regulars today. There has been a lot to digest and analyse.

I came here after the assault on Maria McLachlan, outraged and desperate for information. I found everything I needed and more, and have been on this board every day since, reading and learning.

I have learned from so many of you and am deeply grateful to you all. In the early days I truly began to understand what is going on thanks to the invaluable insight of Langcleg, Bewilderness, Barracker, Dittany, Datun and so many more. Together, we are so much more than the sum of our parts

It has probably already been said but @BoiledBeetle and her wonderful DD who has given me some of the best laughs I have had with her takedown of Dylan Mulvaney

Oh and YY to @ArabellaScott. Whenever I see a comment I profoundly agree with and which is invariably articulated more concisely than I ever could it is usually her.

It was dittany who articulated for me what my gut was intuiting and from there I lurked and lurked but it gave me the confidence to speak to my friends and family and husband and DD and hold my position and educate them with the information I got from here.

I am so grateful to the wise and brave women who put themselves out there every day risking a great deal.

Thank you.

I can’t remember names and am a lurker but thank you all for being a space where I can feel less alone. Work is totally captured as is my teen DS - ‘I bet you and all the terfs are happy today mum!’
I do remember Dittany when I first joined MN and there are countless others who have really helped open my eyes.

Why, yes we are, Mini weebarra. Well spotted!

Eh, he can thank you later when he grows up (and maybe even has daughters).

I’d like to add my thanks as well to all the brave women who stood up for what we know to be the truth.
Thanks also to Mumsnet for allowing the discussion to be kept alive in the threat of litigation.

AH HOPE YOUS ARE ALL PROUD O YERSELS

I’ve had to quietly celebrate in my house, (semi-captured teens), but I had a happy cry when I read the headline, and thought of this board and it’s unflagging posters.

You all peaked me about ten years ago, along with Glinner, and I’m so happy you did, despite the rage I’ve felt.

🥂 Vipers 🎉

Firstly, my heart-felt thanks to l those mentioned and more. I'd just like to add Glinner to the list. Secondly I must be think cos I don't understood this?

Another lurker saying thank you to all the women who kept the fight alive

Today, I m wearing my adult human female hoodie with a spring in my step

I fell in here in the Yaniv days. I was so shocked, I stayed and lapped up the info. Without it I could have blindly uttered the ‘be kind’ mantra. My thanks to every person who has contributed to the rich well of knowledge here.

I am another long time lurker saying thank you. I was on the Spartacus thread but didn't ever post much but crucially you all gave me the courage and the arguments to speak about this in real life and I am proud to say I peaked many in ordinary conversation. I am very grateful.

I really cried when I saw the film of the singing.

Yes i missed some of them

larklane

Oh yes and how could I forget Glinner!

The very Mighty Glinner.

My (terfy) autistic 14 year old boy who adores the IT crowd (and introduced me to it) gets thrilled whenever I say I am on a thread along with Glinner. Most reliable way ever to raise me in his estimation from boring old Mum to Super Mum.

It looks like a heatmap showing the location of people engaging with the topic of yesterday's judgment (on X?). The more engagement, the bigger and brighter the relevant colour.

Terf Island glowing proudly like a beacon in the night!

The screenshot is from 2021 so it's unlikely! Probably making a similar point though

I send big to Lisa Muggeridge whose hard-nosed work on safeguarding, which was shared on MN early on, peaked many of us working with children and young people. She was a very lonely voice at a time when many allied professions couldn't see what was coming, and the backlash was chilling. She showed us what courage in desperate times looks like. Thank you for that, Lisa.