Does anyone else feel disheartened?

[ItsCoolForCats]

I was so elated at the ruling and the implications for women's sex-based protections.

And I am happy that certain media outlets have realised (begrudgingly in some cases) that refusing to air the concerns of women over the last decade has lead to a very one-sided debate. It's great to see orgs such as Sex Matters being quoted so extensively now.

However, I'm really disheartened by the sheer scale of the push back and by the fact that so many women don't support the ruling. I mean, why would anyone think that women don't deserve fair and safe sporting opportunities, for example? Why is it always women that are expected to forgo their rights?

The Supreme Court ruling should be definitive, but it doesn't feel like the end. There is the judge bringing the case to the ECHR (I know some legal experts have dismissed any chances of success), but I think activists are going to pile a lot of pressure on the government to make concessions and look at amending the law. The disquiet about the ruling amongst so many Labour MPs about the ruling is concerning me.

Is anyone else feeling a bit dejected?

I know what you mean. The SC ruling should have been an end to the madness but it really hasn't turned out that way. I've been surprised, maybe naively, by the extent of the backlash

On the other hand, 3 major sporting organisations have announced today that they will be adhering to the ruling and keeping men out of women's sports, so there are definitely reasons to be hopeful

Not dejected, but not elated either. The SC ruling wasn't the end; more like the end of the beginning. There will be many more court cases and employment tribunals, many of which will be heard in private, but each one held in public is another step towards the end. It's going to take decades to un-fuck this mess, and I think we've all just got to chip away at it. I'm definitely not celebrating, but I'm thinking about what I can do in practical terms to help to restore sanity to our society.

I know what you mean OP, but it was never going to go down well. A lot of people are very convinced by gender ideology. It isn't the end but it's an important step along the way of turning the juggernaut round and pointing it in the right direction. All we can do is keep reiterating our views with integrity and honesty, as much as possible.

I was a bit disheartened by the push back but there have been some fantastic wins. And even the demonstrations allowed the trans activists to show just how aggressive and misogynistic they are from the signs calling for terfs to be hanged to the massive male unit in a dress saying he's going to carry on using women's toilets. It's all sunlight.

No, I feel like it's a tsunami gathering momentum.

I feel disheartened, because gender critical voices are still ignored. We get lumped in with Trump and his loonies.

I also feel disheartened, because conservationism is on the rise, even on this forum. I keep seeing thread after thread where women are admonished for not providing more care, for being critical of shitty men or not accepting all the shit that gets shoveled in their direction, for not wanting to have sex with men, for trying to make men take care of their own children, for putting boundaries in place, for saying no, for not being a gracious host to rude and ungrateful guests, for not accepting a cheating husband, for not willing to a SAHM mom and a full-time employee at the same time, etc, etc. I think some of you know the threads I am referring to.

I am once again so glad I decided early on never to have children or a husband. It may be isolating, especially now, but it's the best a woman can hope for. I feel like we're living through the 1830s, where women suddenly lost a lot of rights too.

Yes, disheartened; especially as the temporary elation caused by the ruling of the UK Supreme Court was quickly snuffed out by remembering that I live in Ireland, where we don't even have the toe-hold of the word 'sex' in our equality legislation, just 'gender', so we couldn't have an equivalent court case on the legal meaning of the word 'woman'.

And we've had a procession of politicians and other commentators reassuring the trans community that things are different here and they are still going to be disproportionately cossetted.🙄

That makes us a target destination for transfolx fleeing the brutal oppressive transphobic hell of Terf Island😟

The swift reversal policy by the FA etc are heartening, and maybe just maybe the turn of the tide in the UK will strengthen the grass roots in Ireland, who I am convinced never bought into genderwoo at all.

I am happy about FA etc changing their policies. But it feels like they are doing it so reluctantly. And all the discussion has been about the fact there are only twenty-something transwomen at grassroots level and all their team mates have been so supportive so it's such a travesty blah blah. No consideration given to the opposition teams that played them and that the women on those teams were probably not expecting to be playing against a male player.

It does feel like we still have a long road ahead. I just wish more people would recognise that women have rights too.

Agree that it has finally brought so many things out in to the open that weren't allowed to be said before.

Ireland does seem a long way behind on this issue 🙁 (I am Irish but living in England and still follow Irish media). RTE are pathetic. But maybe this will result in sunlight there too and will force more discussion on the issue.

I know what you mean, OP, but I also feel completely vindicated because the pushback perfectly demonstrates exactly why women’s sex-based protections were enshrined in law in the first place.

A large chunk of society hates women, and it hates anyone who attempts to protect women from men.

The reaction to the ruling proves beyond a doubt that “can’t we all just be kind?” will never work when it comes to women’s rights.

The way I see it, none of the people who have come out denouncing women’s rights felt any different about us before the SC ruling - they were just getting their way with de facto self-ID so they didn’t need to bully us quite so vehemently. They always felt like this about us, but now it’s crystal clear that the law needs to protect us from that shit.

It’s like when you say no to an abuser. That’s the way I see it. Women have said no and the TRA are ramping up the volume. Or another analogy is like toddlers having a strop cos parents said no. They’ll wear themselves out eventually and go for a nice nap.

I don't feel happy or sad. Just a sense of relief that this was the judgement.
I think there's a bit of a way to go yet to this ruling trickling down to the places it needs to go.
A reminder also to not be complacent, ever, about women's rights.

Yes. I think the thing that has upset and surprised me is that people (including women!!!) have - almost wilfully in some cases - ignored what the FWS case was actually about. It wasn’t about toilets. It was about establishing that the protections agains sex discrimination and sexual harassment that we have had for only 50 years remain in place. It wasn’t to do with trans people. It was to do with protecting women from discrimination (including the type of discrimination that flows from the imposition of gender stereotypes and assumptions).

This.
Trans ideology has been enforced using bullying, coercive control, intimidation and threats, including violence. Abusive men and their enablers don't stop. It takes ages to retake control and get them out of our lives.

I wonder, are you gen x? Many of us gen x women grew up in the vehemently ‘girl power’ era, and we took rights like abortion and birth control for granted. We also took relatively consequence free sex for granted. We took rape laws for granted, and were encouraged to leave abusive partners rather than stay. we took lesbian rights and visibility for granted. We were taught that girls could do anything etc etc.

I think this trans thing has come as a particularly stark shock to us because it forced us to reckon with our vulnerability as women. It has brought us into dialogue with older women, many of whom recognised the misogyny in TRA far more easily than we did. Older women who experienced the changes above in their lifetimes, particularly during their formative years, so were far more aware of what is at stake.
Looking at this from outside the UK, please take heart. The UK is showing that the resistance to TRA can come from the centre and centre Left. That matters enormously for women’s rights as a whole. You are showing that women’s rights are not to be bartered by political parties -as in - we’ll give you sport if you give us abortion etc . TRA and the resistance movement has been very positive for waking Gen X and beyond from our complacent slumbers as women. Ultimately, when these remaining TRA skirmishes are settled, there will be a lot of other positives that women and girls will be left with from this in terms of our collective understanding of our worth and our power.

59% of voters support the decison

18% disgaree

be ecstatic!!

it’s the gender morons who got into DEI positions and other nonsensical jobs in a huff

Not real people.

During WW2, the Allies lost every battle for the first 3 years and then won every battle for the next 3 years until final victory. The TRAs have won every battle for the first 13 years but, since the Maya EAT, have not won a single battle. So it may take another 11 years but it is only going one way.

The pushback is frustrating.

But it's expected, and it's in many ways helpful. It's keeping it in the news and forcing public discussion.

Media outlets that tried to ignore the ruling on the day have been dragged increasingly into the coverage as it goes on and the ripples spread. The piss protests, vandalism and violent signs are showing people who the TRAs are - and more are now starting to believe the things we have been saying for years.

The BBC 10 o'clock news covered today's FA decision by interviewing Sharon Davis - they'd not have dreamed of giving her the airtime a few weeks ago. And the 'balance' interview with a trans player was an adult with a lovely baritone voice, not a cherry-picked child with years of puberty blockers. They may have said 'only 30 players' but were clear about who those players are.

And I've not seen a 'gratuitous drag queen' news story for days.

I'm angry. It's clear that for many years women have been discriminated against yet all everyone seems to be worried about is how sad they feel for the men that have been discriminating against us. 🤬🤬

It's the extremists that are getting publicity but people irl aren't fooled. Look at the pushback on any post on SM.

The men have lost their "euphoria boners" now its clear they are not seen as women and they are throwing their toys out the pram. A few useful idiots like Maggie "the brain cell" Chapman are predictably standing up for men's sexual rights but the vast majority of people, especially women agree with the SC ruling. Many will be not directly involved in this fight but they know men are not women and don't belong in their spaces. They are quietly happy at this ruling and heaving a huge sigh of relief.

I don't think I've spoken to a single woman across all age groups over the past few years who see men as women and is in favour of allowing these men into our spaces.

These men are online making up stories about how all the women's accounts with "terf" beliefs are actually fake russian bots or right wing incels because all the women they know love them and accept them as "One of the girls". They cannot cope with the reality that most women see them for exactly what they are creepy, perverted men.

Yes yes yes. Exactly how I feel, I grew up in the era perfectly described in your first paragraph, I’m by inclination v left wing, brought up by parents who were hippies in the 60s and 70s, mum was a dungaree wearing short haired no make up feminist with a CND badge, went on many a protest march as a child, was raised to understand that racism was bad and should be challenged, gay rights were important and should be fought for, girls are equal to boys and they can wear what they want, have whatever job they want etc etc. I took the rights that the women who had gone before me had won for granted and felt that - to use a 1997 reference- things could only get better.

The trans thing passed me by a bit apart from a general feeling that as a minority they should be protected, until about 2020 when I started to think hang on given all the TWAW stuff I’m seeing what does being trans actually mean? I read JKR’s essay and thought well that makes complete sense and I fully expected that the vast majority of the leftie people I followed on Twitter and the comedians I liked and the papers I read would obviously agree. And then they didn’t. I just didn’t get it and then not only did they not all agree there was this huge backlash where the journalists and comedians, musicians and actors I followed made statements denouncing her (not even engaging with what she had said but just saying she was wrong). Then Kathleen Stock then Alison Bailey, then Lia Thomas, then Isla Bryson and I just kept thinking oh come on it’s so so obvious that this movement harms women but no one I knew or followed or read seemed to care. I tried so hard to see the other side because I kept thinking I must be missing something.

Over the last few years I’ve realised how naive I was and how easy it has been to roll back the rights that us gen x girls thought were ours to keep but then if you take a step back you realise that has always been the case throughout history- women make progress and then it’s rolled back again.

It is utterly depressing to see this latest iteration of putting women back in their subservient place being celebrated by those who call themselves left wing liberal feminists and cast anyone who objects as disgusting right wing bigots.

The glass is three quarters full. Politicians now have cover and those who have always thought it bonkers can now get behind women. The nutters are on the fringe now. The crazies running Scotland and Wales are going to get roasted in their forthcoming elections. And crucially the no debate era is over. They can't sneak this all through Dentons style on the sly.