News about Sarah Summers and Phoenix Publications

[ProfJoPhoenix]

Dear all

It gives me ENORMOUS pleasure to let you know that early in 2027, Phoenix Publications will be publishing Sarah Summers memoir (called Being a girl and other dangerous things).

@iamsarah has had an extraordinary life and write beautifully.

Please spread the word far and wide and please visit Phoenix Publications Ltd website for updates and news of how to pre-order.

The book is a blinder!

Best
Jo Phoenix

Look, I’m not saying I haven’t made some massive errors of judgment. I’ve made some really huge mistakes in my life which are in the memoir.

The thing is about being a survivor of sexual violence is it can make women particularly vulnerable to the captures of gender ideology.

In my case the abuse started young so there isn’t really a version of me that hasn’t been tricked or manipulated by a groomer. I’ve been conditioned from the age of 9 to put a man’s needs before my own.

The grooming, manipulation, boundary erosion and fawning trauma responses makes CSA and rape survivors an irresistible target for TRAs (See Mridul Wadwha). JK Rowling gets it and explains it much better than me in her latest essay.

Women who use rape crisis services are the ultimate validation tool for predatory men which is why I feel strongly about sharing my story, including the parts that are very embarrassing and exposing.

So yes I used to be captured by gender ideology and I posted some stupid things on this board. I apologise for that.

If it wasn’t for the encouragement of posters on here I wouldn’t have realised how captured I was and I wouldn’t have had taken a rape crisis centre to court. Mumsnet was a big part of the journey and I acknowledge that in the book.

Thank you for the well wishes.

Sending you love and support Sarah ❤️

JP is right Sarah - you write beautifully and I’m signed up for notification of publication!

So that’s a no then.

Anonymity is incompatible with writing a memoir (I know a bit about maintaining anonymity) , and running two or more personas, one highly antagonistic and one asking for support for a crowd fund crosses the line into dishonesty IMO.

Who amongst us hasn’t shifted positions to some extent in this ‘be kind’ era of madness? Until directly exposed many have ( and still do) ignore the MRAs! Even people in the fray still tried to ‘be kind’ to some extent (e.g. DocStock, Naomi Cunningham etc) but hey let’s always blame the victims! I like to remind myself every day that nobody’s perfect (and unfortunately that includes me!).

Sorry I should have said running two or more personas at the same time, one highly antagonistic and one asking for money for a crowd fund, crossed the line into dishonesty.

Very candid and brave response here. Everyone is allowed to change surely (?) looking forward to reading it!

I always feel annoyed when TRAs invade and am impressed by the patience of many posters who simply set the arguments out time and again saying that it’s for the lurkers or that maybe the TRA will engage in good faith. We now have a fair few people on here who came to tell us off and ended up listening. Sarah has joined the struggle and has sacrificed for it. She has certainly made living amends. I am more than happy to extend a golden bridge to her.

For me, it isnt that she had a change of mind, as Tinsel said, she had different personalities here at the same time.

Also it wasn't just words on a screen, she attending meetings, then lied. Something about claiming women spat at her because she was a TRA?

I understand that trans rights seems a worthy cause right up the point it impacts on your life. And people can have a change of perceptive. But vulnerable people can hurt others, too.

I think Sarah's issues cannot be solved by constant demands for attention.

It was a WPUK meeting.

What do you actually want from me Tinsel? Do you want me to share my previous username and we can all analyse the embarrassing posts I wrote more than 5 years ago?

Because we can and it will be hideously embarrassing for me and make me really ashamed if that will serve you somehow?

I do actually think you have mixed me up with another poster though as I changed my username to IamSarah in 2021 and while I may have posted a few things using different usernames since then these were mainly on the relationships board and trying to make sense of some of the sexual violence from my past. Why don’t you contact MNHQ and have them check if you are really concerned about my honesty?

I am sure I haven’t posted any TRA content on here since encountering a man in a women’s rape crisis meeting in 2021. I just wouldn’t have.

Antagonistic and awful are subjective. If there is something you think I’ve posted on another thread that is antagonistic or awful why don’t we address it on that thread and not this one?

Did you report any women on here Sarah and are they still banned as a result?

I’ve said clearly on the thread what I think is appropriate in the light of your memoir writing, and yes you didn’t post TRA content after a certain point, rather you switched to berating anyone who wasn’t aligned with the Brighton soc fem viewpoint.

I'm definitely not getting mixed up, but telling me that I am is a very familiar tactic to me.

Literally no one here would have any issue with your posts in Relationships about past sexual violence, and you know that @IamSarah

Absolutely not.

I know. That is why genuinely I think Tinsel has me mixed up with someone else because I hold my hands up and apologise for my stupid, annoying posts before I realised that women’s rape crisis services had been captured by trans activists.

I definitely haven’t, and as I said being told I’m mixed up about something factual is a tactic which is very familiar to me.

Tinsel I recall we have a different opinion about the feminists in Brighton (they get a mention in the book too) but I’m still struggling to see why our differences in opinion means I shouldn’t write a memoir?

I’ve apologised for my previous posting but this doesn’t seem to be enough so I’m really not sure what I’ve done to upset you so much - genuinely - unless you have me confused with another poster.

The memoir is about being a survivor of sexual violence and all the complexities surrounding that, particularly when the perpetrator is someone you know. It’s not about having online battles on Mumsnet.

I haven’t said you shouldn’t write a memoir. I asked if you would be coming clean in it about your history on MN.

I’ve also said that I think you running one antagonistic persona on MN (first as a TRA then as a scolding Brighton soc fem) whilst simultaneously having a different persona asking for crowd fund donations is dishonest. I have, as I’m sure you remember challenged you robustly throughout.

I find it surprising you can risk writing a memoir given the attacks you have described from TRA. I certainly couldn’t do so, but obviously you must make your own judgements on that.

I don’t think I can be any clearer.

I really don’t think anyone would want to buy a memoir about my Mumsnet posting history 😂

But yes it does include my initial ‘Just be kind’ attitude towards trans women. Actually the memoir was initially going to be called ‘being kind and other dangerous things’.

The memoir is being published under a pseudonym and names and identifying details have been changed to protect my family.

The TRAs in Brighton are awful but the Supreme Court judgment and EHRC guidance has weakened their position and the memoir shows how damaging trans activism can be.

Were you running two accounts at the same time, one attacking the people who were supporting you elsewhere? As that's how I'm reading it and that is awful. I can see you apologised for saying some things, but if those two were running in parallel, I can't see an apology for that.

I obviously wasn’t suggesting the memoir be about your mumsnet posting history, but as you are advertising here, it seems fair to be up front with the women here so they can make an informed choice on how to spend their money.

I’m surprised to hear the Brighton TRA are now less of a threat. Particularly given Bash Back have been active there.

Definitely not! That is why I think Tinsel has me confused with someone else.

I would never attack anyone who supported my campaign to secure single sex rape crisis therapy. I wouldn’t attack anyone full stop.

I will always be eternally grateful to everyone who supported me and helped with the legal fees, even if we disagree politically.

Single sex rape crisis therapy is for all women, not just the ones I agree with.

I think what I struggle with isn't just that you were pretty awful to many posters here and also about women involved in the various "GC" groups, but that when you changed your mind, you didn't own it under your previous persona, you just developed a new one. And when you created your new persona, you invited women you had previously denigrated (sometimes in quite unpleasant ways) to support you.

I'm glad you changed your mind. However, I think it's unfortunate that you failed to recognise the stories of other women who had been excluded from, or were avoiding, services and provisions that included trans identifying men in their definitions of women, and only shifted position when it directly affected you. Prior to that, you did not care about other women's experiences, but after shifting position you expected other women to care about yours, to the extend that you fundraised and elicited support from the very women you had dismissed as evil transphobes.