Women’s Rights Network Scotland has imploded

[rogue2025]

Hearing all sorts about things kicking off at WRNS.

Women being accused of ‘security breeches’.

Scores of activist women chucked out with no warning or right to reply.

It seems that the Scotland admins don’t want women talking to each other without permission.

So much for being a ‘membership’ organisation.

Why do so many feminist organisations end up in power trips like this?

The gender fight is hard enough without ‘mean girls’ turning on other women.

Power really does corrupt.

I am starting to think so 😂😂 I am just saying what my unfortunate experience was of this group. Within a day, I saw a poor woman being bullied out the group after being targeted by two members on the group chat. That was red flag number one after being told they are open to different opinions. This woman was even subjected to name calling.
The chat then turned to late abortion and a woman who had a late abortion was targeted by a Trump supporter (one of the two who bullied the first woman). This Trump supporter gets to stay in the group. Second red flag.
They use Twitter as resources of information and spread nasty propaganda about trans community. They didn't like it when I pointed out how much fake information is on twitter and it's not classed as research. Third red flag.
I ask for info on surrogacy and try to discuss the two sides with information detailing the pros and cons of surrogacy. They don't realise that there are two sides to the argument. I get berated and then get nasty private messages.
Last red flag and I apparently took the huff and left. No I left this toxic environment.

I’m so sick of people in this movement ready to create drama by bitching about others. Sigh. It’s a waste of time and energy we could be putting to better use.

100% agree. It's bad.

I'm sorry to hear that some women have had unhappy experiences. My personal experience of WRN has been very positive as has that of women from other groups whom I have met in RL.

If anyone feels they have been bullied or witnessed other members being bullied, then please put in a complaint so that the situation can be investigated. There are systems for doing this.

If women just leave because they are unhappy with the way things are run, then there isn't an opportunity for anyone to try and remedy the situation.

A couple of posters have queried why WRN is a Ltd company and there's generally a very good reason for being an incorporated organisation which is limited liability.

Members of an unincorporated association have unlimited liability for the debts of that association. The liability of Members of a company limited by guarantee is limited to their guarantee which I think for WRN is £1 each.

If you are an organisation that might come under attack from TRAs or subject to legal actions then it is in your best interest to limit your Members exposure to liabilities.

I'm not connected with WRN and don't know their reason for being a Ltd company but I would guess that one factor was the limited liability.

I wonder if I've been getting WRN and Scottish Feminist Network confused - or even possibly some completely different group. I'm not in any group and it was a while ago but I do remember women being frozen out of a women's group in Scotland.

It's a company limited by guarantee, which is not-for-profit and directors are not paid. They make money through merch sales and donations from members. Members are not told what the income is spent on as we are not sent an annual report.

I've been a member since 2003, but have only interacted online - living in a remote part of Yorkshire, there are no members near me and WRN doesn't organise get-togethers, but I'm happy to amplify its messages - they do some brilliant work. I'm happy with my online WRN groups - we certainly don't have the issues that they're having in Scotland!

To be honest, just reading this thread gives an excellent example of why an organisation may limit chat across different topics. If you are a single issue campaign group - protecting the definition of ‘woman’ and therefore women’s spaces- you can’t afford to talk about anything else.

Clearly surrogacy and abortion are off limits.

I can see the desire to keep it very focused and controlled.

WRN started off during the covid lockdowns as groups of women who wanted to travel to Scotland to support the women there who were fighting the Scottish government's anti-women, gender woo policies. So it started off as very much a single issue organisation, defending women's single sex spaces.

But it's started to widen its remit as it has grown eg there is a WRN campaign in support of Afghan Women and Girls. One of the guest speakers in the weekly zooms has been from an anti-surrogacy group.

I think it's fine for wider issues affecting women and girls to be discussed and debated in WRN whatsapp groups. You just need to make sure that women respect each other and that the group is well moderated (with admins not censoring debate, just ensuring that disagreements don't become personal).

Yeah some of the homophobia was quite bad within the chats.

It was me who had the late abortion, no one bullied me and I'm still there.
You left around half an hour in to the surrogacy conversation, you didn't even stay it out, though of course no feminist would agree with it.
Even then, that was a rare occurrence they there's a disagreement, you couldn't cope with it.
Nowhere in life will everyone agree, adults discuss it.

Women's rights include allowing women to make their own decisions about abortion and to highlight the harms to them and their babies if they opt to be a surrogate; both of these have been discussed in my WRN group and we've certainly had robust conversations.

I don't agree that a group that describes itself as 'grassroots' can say anything is off limits. Asking questions and discussing difficult topics is essential for us all to be able to learn more.

I am all for single sex spaces but some of the anti-trans crap they would post was shocking. A lot of it from Twitter and this was apparently "research". One was a blatant fake story but they took it as gospel as it fed their agenda.
You can surely support sex based rights without constant daily anti-trans material being posted on your group chat? Well not to them..

I'm sorry, but I was also in the chat and I did not see any homophobia. Cynicism of the progress pride flag, yes, similar to threads on here, but not homophobia. Many of the women in the chat were lesbians and also many (like me) have gay and lesbian friends. I find that upsetting that you would say that and tar everyone with that slur. I think the problem is a lot of the women on the chat had been hardened by threats from tras over a number of years, some had been assaulted, some had experience in police, public sector and various organisations shutting them up and bullying them. So they were not prepared to tolerate the constant pushing of things that had an impact on women's rights.

You were getting bullied dear - I have eyes. Don't be gaslighted. I seem to remember the surrogacy conversation going on for several hours and I left when I got a private message with abuse. I wanted a good debate but couldn't as some couldn't open their eyes to the opposite side - ignorance at its finest. Who in their right kind would stay with nasty b@stards who treat people like that? You are welcome to them.
I knew eventually the organisation would implode the way it has - Rotten fruit falls on its own. Bye 😂😂

You're patronising a woman who is clearly capable of speaking for herself, plus making a lot of serious allegations.

Lol

One used the word f@ggot when believing that dumb fake video from Twitter. Plus, not the only one who has mentioned homophobia being noted in the organisation.

Just out of interest how different is it having discussion on a private network group, than for instance having a discussion on FWR.

Is it because everyone is using their own names that somehow it is more valid?

Yes, they are serious "allegations". Not allegations as it actually happened. They are transphobic and homophobic bullies.

Well, that's your take. Others are saying differently.

I was speaking for myself here but that didn't stop her patronising me. I got bullied out of that group, like others, but according to her I went in a huff - is that not patronising?

Were you there? No didn't think so. I know what happened, they do too.

You seem to forget about that Trump supporter putting up comments and material the day after you advised her about your late term abortion. If anyone is wondering, she was making anti late abortion comments and putting up links to this anti abortion crap. But according to John, she wasn't bullied at all. I had to send a message to the lead about it, yes that seems to be forgotten.

Oh my lord, it seems that one of the admins is not happy either and has changed WRNS X profile.