I have been smeared and my views have been misrepresented

I care about this issue because it’s an assault on women’s rights. The longer I have been involved in reading, researching and writing about it the more it becomes clear that women’s rights are in a perilous position. Nobody at the top level is keeping an eye on enforcing legislation which protects women and girls. It has been far too easy for lobby groups to make inroads into women’s public safety with no challenge.

It has been an eye-opener to see how little women and girls are respected or even acknowledged by the people who we elect to represent us. It feels like there is no democracy for women who don’t agree that men are women too.

The reasons women need single-sex protections hasn’t gone away but we are having to have the arguments for them all over again.

I have written a personal blog about many of the aspects of trans ideology which impact on women and girls in various different areas of life. I’ve also blogged on Medium, contributed to other publications and written articles for the local press.

I’ve (unsuccessfully) pitched to the national press. I have written a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment of the Allsorts trans toolkit and sent it out to MPs and local councillors. I have contributed to consultations, written to my MP and others, attended my MP’s surgery, provided evidence for inquiries, attended meetings and demonstrations, joined campaigns and spoken at meetings. I’ve done a few tweets.

I have been smeared and my views have been misrepresented. I have been attacked as a person on social media, sometimes with such vitriol I’ve had to take a step back for a while to recover, before joining the fray again. I have suffered a more physical type of threat at  meetings I have attended, and during campaign activities like leafletting. I have lost friends, especially in the early days of speaking up (although overall I have subsequently gained more so I can’t complain…) I have sometimes felt completely stressed out because the whole thing is a head fuck but the responsibility to keep going can feel overwhelming.

Helen Saxby, Writer, blogger, campaigner, helensaxby11/notthenewsinbriefs.wordpress.com