Author: bomp123

Categories
Academics and researchers Healthcare

Denying the reality of sex will make fighting against exploitation and discrimination impossible

I care about the rights of women, down to the fundamental right of self-determination. I care because I know women are still exploited and discriminated against on the basis of sex, and denying the reality of sex will make fighting against exploitation and discrimination impossible. I care about our right to knowledge and intellectual freedom and I see it being curtailed. I care about children being medicated and operated on. I care about the right of lesbian to their own sexual orientation.

I have been vocal on social media. Written to charities and organisations to remind them of their duties under the EA. Submitted many FoI requests and complained to the Charity Commission about Stonewall. Written an academic article. Written articles for Uncommon Ground. Written to newspapers. Spoken to friends.

I have been suspended from Twitter (overturned by Better Business Bureau).

I have received threats of death and rape on social media.

I have been blocked by academic colleagues, and by my own alma mater, the University of Glasgow on Twitter.

Mermaids contacted my university in Germany to have me fired.

The School of Law in Glasgow rescinded my associate position (though I cannot prove this is the reason).

I have been told by the HR department in my university that they are often contacted by academics and members of the public either by email or through Twitter, to complain about my ideas.

Alessandra Asteriti, Junior Professor of International Economics, Germany

Categories
Academics and researchers Healthcare

I am a human being who can’t bear to see women and children lied to and harmed

I care because I am a human being who can’t bear to see women and children lied to and harmed mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. I care because I believe language is important and I am concerned that it is being twisted. I care because I try to notice sexual inequality and sexual stereotypes and I dislike them and I dislike homophobia.

I had discussions with individuals  at work until the climate at work made it unsafe to do so. I have contacted women’s rights groups and attended meetings. I have talked to close friends and my partner and my children.

I have left the Labour Party. I am less active in my union role and have resigned a union post. I have been made to feel uncomfortable at work and if I spoke my beliefs I would lose my job. I have been shouted at by a male colleague for objecting to the term Cis.

Me, Frightened

Categories
Academics and researchers Healthcare

I want to use language I chose not what is chosen for me

I care because I want children, girls especially, to be safe. Because of destransitioners, because of those making £ shouldn’t get away with it. Because schools should educate and not indoctrinate children. Because ‘woman’ is not a feeling or a costume or a fetish.

And because I want someone to vote for. I want to use language I chose not what is chosen for me. It could take a while to get to the very bitter end but I will never give up.

I have spoken about this a lot in real life, from my hairdresser to my libfem friends. I support and volunteer with organisations that are doing great things. I complain and write letters to the BBC, to my MP…

and I participate in online groups which aim to hear both sides. It’s usually a waste of time but I try to engage and find common ground. It’s exhausting.

I have been accused of bigotry and transphobia, I have been told to “be careful” at work. I have argued with my partner and lost a friend of 20+ years. I have been scared of attending events but so far have not had any physical attacks, only verbal.

Lexi , It’s not radical to centre women in feminism , Left Twitter after I got blocked and  before I got banned

Categories
Academics and researchers Healthcare

I have watched the equalities structures within my organisation become distorted to the point of total ineffectiveness

I work with students, and see them deeply affected and often damaged by their experience of gender dogma, with no neutral sources of help and advice to turn to. I work with colleagues who have been bullied, disparaged and left without support because they have raised safeguarding concerns.

I have watched the equalities structures within my organisation become distorted to the point of total ineffectiveness because of the inability of key officers to handle language, concepts, and legal duties with any clarity.

I have watched my workplace union disintegrate and lose any ability to hold on to the concept of solidarity as it rushed to scapegoat women who questioned its transactivist positioning.

I have children who I wish to protect, and weep for those, not mine, who have not been protected.

I have helped to organise events at my workplace and seconded and spoken to motions in my union. I have tried to bring problems and misconceptions in workplace policy documentation to the attention of the Equalities officer, with no positive result. I have attempted to build alliances with colleagues in order to strengthen our hand. I have spoken to friends, but only when I felt there was room to do so.

I have lost friends, and been warned off the subject by others; I have been forced into painfully uncomfortable workplace dynamics; I have lost work opportunities and chances for advancement because I was unable to comply with the gender ideology of others.   

Katie, Academic in Scotland

Categories
Academics and researchers

I’ve submitted evidence to official inquiries, lobbied politicians, talked to journalists

I care about this because the policies being pushed will have a damaging effect on the dignity, privacy and safety of my daughter, my elderly mother, me and all other women, including our ability to refuse without penalty to be seen undressed or intimately touched by a male, and will displace women from activities (eg sport, shortlists) designed specifically to overcome disadvantages based on sex, and also involve the forced denial of reality and the forced expression of  beliefs I don’t hold.

I’ve submitted evidence to official inquiries, lobbied politicians,  talked to journalists, written and appeared in the media, met officials, written academic articles.  Mostly national level inervention – some cautious local representation to school and guides.

I (as part of a group of writers or speakers related to particular events or publications, not as an individual) have been written about in extremely derogatory ways as hateful/unsafe/anti-trans, on university-hosted websites, blogs and social media, and in communications to the Scottish parliament, and subject to appalling treatment by one organisation I won’t describe here because we are still thinking how best to make it better known.

Lucy Hunter Blackburn, Researcher and policy analyst

Categories
Academics and researchers

I am a woman and I owe it to my daughter to keep the sex-based protections and rights which I inherited safe for her

This matters to me because if we become disengaged from the fundamental, structural reality of biological sex difference I believe we are in terrible danger of losing all grasp on the real world and the scientific method.

It also matters because I am a woman and I owe it to my daughter to keep the sex-based protections and rights which I inherited safe for her.

I have spoken at public events, organised behind the scenes, attended conferences, formed local groups, handed out leaflets, spoken to friends and been vocal on social media. I have lost friends, some of whom I have known for decades. Some of them have been viciously insulting about my supposed bigotry. I have been shouted and sworn at in public.

Fox, Mother and writer

Categories
Academics and researchers

I know in confidence a lot of my colleagues are critical of what is happening

Because as a feminist I care about women’s safety, political representation, voice…

As a scientist I care about truth being grounded in material reality & empirical observations.

As a socialist I believe class analysis is the most powerful tool to reveal the power dynamics at play in the world and I understand that denying that women are a class prevents the analysis of our millennia long subordination and our liberation.

I have spoken up for free speech and debate about gender and sex in my union (UCU). I have written letters, articles (including scientific article), threads on Twitter in order to raise awareness and offer a feminist perspective on the issue. I have signed letters in newspaper. I have campaigned with women’s groups, I have distributed flyers, I have emailed my MPs.

I have been defamed by my union, humiliated during general meetings, called a bigot, laughed at… I can not speak freely at work even though I know in confidence a lot of my colleagues are critical of what is happening. Management is refusing to listen and treats me as an inconvenient voice that needs to be silenced.

L Harris, Scientist and feminist

Categories
Trans rights activists

I myself have in the last few years come to identify as nonbinary so I want all those good things for myself

When I went to college, I met people who were trans and realized that was a normal part of human experience and diversity. I love my trans friends and want them to have safety and dignity and equal treatment. In addition, I myself have in the last few years come to identify as nonbinary so I want all those good things for myself. In fact I even want liberation from the gender binary and gender essentialism for cis people! Even ones who are fighting this kicking and screaming and seem to want to live in the black and white section of the movie Pleasantville.

I have come out as nonbinary to my coworkers, friends, and some (but not all) family members. I have spoken up when I hear transphobic comments or jokes. I have taught the psychotherapists I train about gender diversity.

I am filling out this survey, which seems like it has been created entirely in good faith and which I trust will include dissenting voices when published.

I would say that, comparatively, I’ve had it pretty easy. I have experienced very little overt abuse since coming out as non binary. Nonetheless, it is awkward, dispiriting, and hurtful when people ignore what I have shared about how I wish to be spoken to/about and treated.

It’s also very upsetting to see regressive, cruel, narrow minded discourse claiming the mantle of feminism and trying to reduce people to their genitals in the same way that right-wing Christian forced birthers do. 🙂

Jane, Psychotherapist who knows that gender is over if you want it, USA

Categories
Education Healthcare

I could not be complicit in socially transitioning a very young child at my school

This matters to me as a parent, educator and former mental health professional.

I don’t want children who don’t conform to rigid stereotypes of dress or personality to feel they don’t fit in and are therefore ‘trans’. I could not be complicit in socially transitioning a very young child at my school (after a trans charity trained senior staff).

I think that much better attention should be paid to children’s social adjustment and mental health, and to tackling bullying and gender stereotypes,  before taking such radical steps, based on what I consider to be a belief system. I don’t understand how Safeguarding can be so easily discarded.

I have written to newspapers and contributed to BTL comments, donated to crowdfunders, campaign groups and signed petitions, communicated with my MP and members of the House of Lords. I have attended meetings and a court case. I have become a feminist because, in middle age, I hadn’t fully understood how a concept so dismissive of women (the idea of innate gender identity; the idea that being a woman is a nebulous ‘concept’ that is up for grabs) could have gained so much traction.

The negative consequence has been that I resigned from my job – a job I had loved and been effective in. It’s had a chillling effect on my sense of security and justice to feel that something so unproven and potentially damaging to the rights and wellbeing of women and children has had so little scrutiny.

I have become aware that certain people feel themselves to have an unviolable sense of having the ‘correct’ views, based on the way they vote, and how unwilling they are to listen once they have placed a label (bigot) on others.

Gemma, Adult human female

Categories
Healthcare

The trans movement is a men’s rights movement

I care about this issue because I am a feminist and have spent much of my working life supporting girls and women in empowerment.

I was a social worker latterly and also fostered girls so am fully aware of the damage that had been done to them, emotionally, physically and sexually. 

I feel that the trans movement is a men’s rights movement. More importantly I believe that it is covering up for paedophilia. It is dangerous.

I have raised awareness of the harm the trans movement does to girls and women. This is to my family, friends, groups I belong to and to my MP. I have written to the safeguarding leads in every school in my local town and the surrounding villages raising safeguarding concerns. I have attended events regarding women’s sex based rights. I have completed consultations on self ID and have written to English and Scottish MP’s to either raise awareness or to thank them for their intervention. I have leafletted a local school to inform them of the threat to children. I regularly share relevant stories or information on Facebook. 

Lastly I have donated to crowdfunding ( including your own) and have signed countless petitions. I am lucky as I no longer work so have not had to deal with any issues in a workplace. However I have found that some people have either not believed what I am telling them or have stated that  they do not want to know. Family sometimes ask me not to talk about it at social events.

 Sara S, Retired Social Worker