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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

TW who supports the SC ruling - AMA

407 replies

VanishingVision · 16/05/2025 22:55

Hello! I was thinking of doing this post for a little while now as the previous posts doing this by the rather wonderful trans men here were really interesting but I didnt want to take up too much space here or take any attention away from much more important things here than what I have to say.

But I figured to just go for it before I have a big old break from the Internet for a while.

So like the title says, I'm a transwoman who accepts the SC ruling: ask me anything if you'd like to and I'll do my best to answer.

OP posts:
BlueJeansAndMoonbeams · 03/06/2025 11:22

BonfireLady · 03/06/2025 10:43

It sounds like you and your child have found a way to work through this together, which is fantastic.

He was using the men's before but can now see it's not ok.

This is interesting and shows the importance of different viewpoints coming together to figure this stuff out at a societal level. The law gives clarity on single-sex spaces which is a useful starting point. I do feel sympathy for transmen, given the "limbo" that some will feel in situations where they "pass" well enough that the law specifically allows for their exclusion from women's spaces too. Yes, they made their choice to look as much like a male as possible but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to live with the consequences of those choices. Obviously there are some transwomen who "pass" too. The third spaces discussion has been suppressed by TRAs but hopefully some of the more reasonable trans voices will start to break through, just as we're seeing on this thread.

I see it a bit like going through the five stages of grief, I've been through them all but have got to a reasonable acceptance, more for my own peace of mind than anything. I can't keep stressing about this forever.

Personally, I would not be able to use opposite-sex (or non-binary) pronouns for my daughter if she ever decided she wanted to transition as an adult.

When I started this my journey to understand gender identity and support my (then actively) gender-questioning daughter, I felt open to the idea that I may need to do so in the future. That I might need to reframe my thinking and accept "him" as my "son". At that time I was prepared to do this if it was the right thing for her and I focused my time on researching what the whole thing was all about - including here on MN.

I do still accept that as an adult she may transition - and yes, I would feel grief (hopefully through to acceptance) because of the significant health risks she would face if she took any medicalised steps. However, I am no longer prepared to alter my own reality if my daughter chooses a path which differs from it. She will always my daughter - in law, biology and objective fact - and I'm not going to say otherwise.

If I shared her belief that gender identity exists (I used to believe this) I would accommodate her belief by using the "correct" pronouns which relate to it - but I don't. However, I would like to hope that even in that scenario I would never have accommodated her expecting others to bend their own reality, either as an overt demand or through emotional blackmail. I'll never know either way because during my learning journey I realised I didn't believe we all have a gender identity. Even prior to this discovery about myself I would never have supported anyone enforcing their belief on someone else. There are many people who hold different beliefs who find a way to co-exist within society.

If this hypothetical situation becomes reality in the future, my concession would be that I'd a) refer to her as "my child" or "my daughter who identifies as a man", without judgement or affirmation b) stop using pronouns to describe her altogether - no she, they or he. I'd go through the mental gymnastics of complete pronoun removal when describing her (I appreciate this isn't easy - as per Rapid's comments - and I may find I can't do it because my brain gets muddled) c) I would accept other people using my child's preferred pronouns if that's what they wanted to do.

If those accommodations weren't good enough - there's a poster on page 6/7 of this thread saying that the only way to be a good parent is to actively use preferred pronouns - I'd reluctantly find a way to grieve and accept my child's decision to pull away from me. Right now though, I'm fighting as hard as I can to avoid such a scenario because the idea of it breaks my heart and keeps me awake at night. But what I won't do is bend my reality just to avoid it.

We all have different lines on this as parents and children. No one family's way is better or worse than another's if they can maintain a way to communicate with each other when there are differences of opinion on an (adult) child's transition.

I think saying ' my daughter who identifies as a man' is a really good way of putting it. If that should occur in the future you are acknowledging how she feels about herself without having to say things that you just cannot agree with.

BlueJeansAndMoonbeams · 03/06/2025 19:34

With regard to my earlier post about the majority of trans people being decent etc, just been listening to The Witch Trials and J K Rowling says ' I believe the majority of trans identified people pose zero threat to others' and goes on to say they are vulnerable to abuse and murder in the same way women are. So maybe I wasn't entirely wrong in my feeling.

Helleofabore · 03/06/2025 19:54

BlueJeansAndMoonbeams · 03/06/2025 19:34

With regard to my earlier post about the majority of trans people being decent etc, just been listening to The Witch Trials and J K Rowling says ' I believe the majority of trans identified people pose zero threat to others' and goes on to say they are vulnerable to abuse and murder in the same way women are. So maybe I wasn't entirely wrong in my feeling.

There is a difference between not being a threat and being well meaning and not causing trouble for others.

But it depends on your perspective.

illinivich · 03/06/2025 20:00

JKR can only state her opinion, and all you are doing is agreeing with her, not proving the majority are doing no harm.

I think the vast majority of trans people dont intend to threaten anyone. But intention isnt always the consequences of our actions.

BlueJeansAndMoonbeams · 03/06/2025 20:10

Ach well

colourmystic · 06/06/2025 04:22

SheilaFentiman · 30/05/2025 08:46

If ... .... you might have found some women who cared about finding 'neutral gender care pathways'
I've found plenty of women who care about finding neutral care pathways, including (but by no means exclusively) parents whose children are actively or remain at risk of becoming gender questioning. Mostly here on MN.

Agree with this. Even if your focus is primarily women and girls, paths that enable young women to explore options that might mean they avoid irreversible damage to their fertility that they could later regret can only be a good thing, surely?

If 'care pathways' describes non-medicalised, non-surgical care, I.e. therapy with a therapist who is not forced or paid to push vulnerable children towards transitioning, then yes, we need those. That includes 'social transitioning', which is not a neutral act but which has been shown to effectively corral kids into medical and / or surgical harm virtually all the time.

FatCyclist · 06/06/2025 12:48

VanishingVision · 16/05/2025 22:55

Hello! I was thinking of doing this post for a little while now as the previous posts doing this by the rather wonderful trans men here were really interesting but I didnt want to take up too much space here or take any attention away from much more important things here than what I have to say.

But I figured to just go for it before I have a big old break from the Internet for a while.

So like the title says, I'm a transwoman who accepts the SC ruling: ask me anything if you'd like to and I'll do my best to answer.

Thank you so much for this thread @VanishingVision

Many of us have been badly scarred by the TRAs who hounded us out of our workplaces, political parties, trade unions, etc because we voiced concerns over the erosion of women’s rights. It has been very healing to be reminded that there are decent TW out there who respect our rights and our spaces. I so wish we could hear more from people like you, rather than the aggressive TRAs who are the only trans voices we hear in the mainstream media.

Please do write to your MP to express your support for the SC ruling, and please encourage likeminded TW like yourself to do so too. Please also respond to the EHRC online consultation on the new guidance: your perspective as a TW who is happy to use male toilets will be an incredibly important contribution.

Major respect and thank you to you and the other TW who have contributed to this very thoughtful and useful discussion.

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