I just had a comment removed from the ‘Tell Us Your Controversial Opinion’ thread…

[BlueEyedBogWitch]

…for ‘breaking talk guidelines.’

The controversial opinion?

“Women don’t have penises. Ever.”

Apparently, that’s such a controversial opinion it breaks MN talk guidelines, despite the Supreme Court ruling.

What the fuck?

99.9% of TRAs also know that women don't have penises so it's not really about that. It's about a drive to change the meaning of the word woman so that women no longer have a word for the class of human that they are.

I'm really relieved that @MNHQ are no longer allowing themselves to be coerced into joining in with this uber patriarchal bullshit.

Thank you for reinstating my post, MNHQ.

Great news that it’s been reinstated OP. I hope they haven’t got any TRA interns for the holidays!

Maybe they considered you were wrong in saying it is an opinion, because it is an irrefutable fact? 😏

(Seriously, though, MN is full of blue fringe crazies lately: I've never seen so many TRA threads before).

It occurred to me this morning that the very prolific posters who spend more energy starting threads than replying to them may be trying to get a load of aggressively transphobic or misleading thread titles on the Active or FWR screen so they can screenshot as "proof" of MN being a <checks notes> "transphobic hate site" that they can then leverage with ISPs, Cloudflare, regulators etc. Maybe even try to invoke the Online Harms act to stop women talking to other women about being women in ways that are not available to men 😡.

I'm wondering about suggesting MN includes the thread starter's username in the thread list. Would be a bit clunky but removes one way for bad faith posters to create problems for MN as a whole.

Just logged in to find your post and add to the agrees - although it's fact, not an opinion.

It’s not even controversial anymore! Maybe that’s why 🤣

Glad it got sorted, but how strange that it was removed in the first place.

A number of posters on that thread said pretty much the same thing - were they all accidentally removed as well?

True, it shouldn't be an 'opinion' - any more than the 'opinion' that grass is green; but an awful lot of people seem to hold the contrary 'opinion'.

It’s controversial to the same extent as evolution. Glad MNHQ has corrected and apologised for the error in a timely manner.

Yes, we should never underestimate the determination and deviousness of these TRAs.

Just added my agree. I'm wondering why it was removed though.

agree! How many are we up to now?

Thanks MNHQ for apologising and reinstating the comment.
This board has been relentlessly targeted by some very intense men furious at being forced to comply with the law and I'm sure they've taken up endless hours of mod time moaning about what women say on here.

You’re stating a biological fact. Women don’t have penises.

Indeed. Just imagine- it was not that long ago that if someone on MN posted 'Women don't have penises. Fact' the replies would be mostly a head tilt and 'You okay, hun?'

What an extraordinary world we live in that this is now controversial and people have been cancelled and lost livelihoods because of it.

Me too!

There have been a number of obsessive TRA posters on our boards recently. Could we please refuse to engage with their nonsense as they are clearly looking for screenshots.
We all know who they are.

Online harms?

If they want to go down that route, it'd be interesting to see the forums telling CHILDREN to go and take drugs they've bought online from dodgy illegal sites, go behind their parents backs and alienate from parents...

So, I'm not particularly worried about screen shots because the thresholds required would raise some very interesting debates in public.

It's a bit weird that in all the dross that's been posted on that thread that yours was the comment to be deleted.

Hmm.

We could have a standard reply. I'll start

• No one thinks ‘trans people’ don’t exist
• Biological determinism doesn’t mean what you think it means
• Transwomen shouldn’t be in female-only spaces because they are male, nothing to do with being trans
• Many posters know trans and/or non-binary people
• Many posters have trans identifying relatives, including children
• We have already educated ourselves

I agree. I think they should just be ignored.

Trouble with ignoring is that it looks like we can't refute their statements. Every time an FWR thread hits Active or shows up in someone's search it may mean someone who has not thought much about the topic sees it. So for me it is not so much that the bad faith ploppers don't deserve our time as that the lurkers do. They deserve not to be presented with bad info that is left unchallenged.

A standard response that also links to some relevant well argued existing threads would be my suggestion.

Working ATM but happy to get involved / facilitate a summary thread of refutation to recurring TRA arguments as a counterpart to the Break It Down thread.

Every TRA plopper is an opportunity to spread sunshine 🌞 so from now on I think I'm going to call them sunbeams :)

And yet, as we know, women do not have penises.

We already do this!

With a sense of humour.

Honestly I don't think we need to stress.

Keep doing what we are already doing.

Why are we worried about screen shots?

WE ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG.

Stop trying to accomodate behaviour and getting stuck in this mindset that we have to somehow moderate our language and behaviour and our tone etc etc.

WE DO NOT.

Our argument should be sufficient on its own. As long as we are not personally attacking, its tough titty. If they don't like the disagreement, then thats not our problem to solve.

If you come up with a ridiculous argument, then dismantling it as a ridiculous argument is par for the course in my book. It is not hate.

Pandering to that bollocks, only serves to stop us actually talking and being honest. We spend the entire time fannying around trying to be nice, when we are never going to win an argument like that - for many the ENTIRE POINT is about controlling our behaviour and making us comply and conform. If you don't it breaks the hold they have. And thats the thing that drives them potty - because suddenly women are saying no. And they just haven't come across it before and its a shock. A much needed shock too.

We are not here to be nice. We are here for the debate, to get points across and to show how dumb some of the things we are supposed to be swallowing is.

The levels of agism, sexism, racism and homophobia that come with the scolders is worth highlighting. Again and again and again.

Respect is a two way streak. I'm not bothered about trying to win 'moral high ground'. Its a pointless exercise. I'm here to point out the lunacy and incoherent cultish nonsense.

I'm never going to change the mind of the brainwashed anyway. So why are we trying? It needs a firm 'No'. And yes a sense of humour. Cos its laughable.