Category: Students

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Students

I lost a few of my teenage years to identifying as a man

I lost a few of my teenage years to identifying as a man because I did not want to be seen as or be treated like a woman. It’s more common in UK schools than you would think; I can count several other girls who also secretly identified or socially transitioned to a boy in secondary school before going back to living as a woman.

I still feel the urge to go back now- in a way, it would be easier for me to live my life as a man (after passing) than struggle as a gender nonconforming woman.

The appeal is there and it doesn’t help that I hate my body. I hope this is an adequate answer. I am currently 18 and remember first wanting to be a boy when I was about 12-13 until I was 16.

I have tried discussing it with friends and it’s actually quite common for lots of girls to recognise that nonbinary identities are deeply rooted in misogyny and that we are losing a whole generation of tomboys. I haven’t really spoken up about it much as I’ve only recently started looking into gender critical spaces but hope to possibly do more in the future.

I got thrown out of a group chat for discussing my anti-porn stance (I know this isn’t related to gender identity but the opinions are prevalent in gender critical spaces). I am on a discord server where everyone is biologically female but more than half of them do not identify as women. If any of them even knew a sliver of my views I would be metaphorically burned alive. It’s a shame since they are all decent enough people.

Grace, 18 year old West London

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Students

We are in a dystopian, totalitarian scenario

If we can’t defend something as basic and obvious as sex then we are in a dystopian, totalitarian scenario.

I was horrified because I knew, deep down, that I agreed with the uppity feminists, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find any evidence that they were wrong.

So eventually I accepted myself as one of the difficult women. I want women to be able to name ourselves. I want us to centre ourselves in our own movement. I want us protected in our own spaces. I want language to have meaning and for scientific concepts to stay coherent & reflect reality.

I started by working up the courage to send something to my MP. Then post on Mumsnet. I then wrote longer think-pieces. Talked to my friends & family in real life.

My friends have taken it negatively. I don’t think they see me in the same way. They don’t understand, so we don’t talk about it anymore.

S

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Students

I’m much more on fence on this issue and am only 18

As I take this survey, I will let you know I don’t think I’m the right demographic. I’m much more on fence on this issue and am only 18, so there is a lot of time for me to grow and change I hope. But I’ve heard from people who have met you that you are a very nice, reasonable person and so I thought I’d fill this in. Sorry if it isn’t what you are looking for.

I care about this issue because I feel frightened by the way debate is being shut down. This issue is hugely nuanced and complicated, but…

…many trans advocates seem to think that if you don’t accept every part of their beliefs and if you even question them, you are transphobic. I simply cannot accept that, yet I see JK Rowling bringing up legitimate concerns only to be called ‘scum’, ‘transphobic’ and a horrible person.

I even felt scared to ask my 5 active twitter followers to give the blog a read in case it hurt my job chances in the future. And I’m very undecided on this issue. I didn’t even entirely agree with Rowling. The state of the debate is frightening and that is why I care about this issue.

I shared Rowling’s blog and have tried challenging a few people on Twitter to stop dehumanising Rowling and the other side of the debate. To try and empathise with their legitimate concerns. I have also discussed this issue extensively with my friends. One of whom agrees more strongly with JK Rowling than me and the rest who hate what she said and don’t think it is really worth considering. However we opened up dialogue there. My focus is not on convincing people to change their opinions, because I don’t know the right answer myself, but to be more empathetic to the other side and to try and understand their grievances.

I am certainly careful about what I say because I am in a very liberal bubble. The fact I feel worried even to say Rowling isn’t an awful person tells me how much worse it is for people going against the mainstream opinion on this issue. I hope we can further open up the debate and I am going to read more about this issue and educate myself further.

Sitting on the fence is also an uncomfortable position because I am transphobic on one side and sexist on the other. But this issue is far too complex for me to form an opinion lightly. I don’t think most people on the internet arguing so adamantly know what they are talking about and I don’t want to be that person.

Elspeth, 18 year old student

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Students survivor trans familiy

Now I’m going to try and be as strong again

My ex had autogynophilic tendencies and used this as part of decades of domestic abuse including sexual.   After being told that he was most likely a malignant narcissist with psychopathic tendencies i started to see parallels with  TRA attacks that I’d started to see happen.

He had enforced language changed etc from very early on in the relationship. and I was loving and accommodating and realised how easy it would have been for me.to be a trans widow.

Additionally I saw 2 young women transition after   bullying/sexual assault and they seemed like classic ROGD  and the thought of them probaby desisting after being blithely transed and irreparably altered  horrified me.

I have  spoken to.people irl (in real life) ,  started speaking up online,  gone to a demo, started being more active in feminist circles.

I’ve been considered hateful.  I’ve feared being too visible as I am still.a cptsd sufferer dealing with years of traumatic sexual and other abuse but I’ve  been more  brave since jk Rowling’s first tweets.  I’ve started liking things. and today I have been retweeting and liking loads of things.  Before the abuse I was a whistle blower and stood up for others and now I’m going to try and be as strong again.

Marina, I stand with JK Rowling

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Students

This gender ideology seems profoundly irrational and unscientific to me

This gender ideology seems profoundly irrational and unscientific to me, it feels like part of a wider effort to roll back women’s freedoms and ability to participate in society at a time when misogyny is on the rise.

I’ve talked to friends about this, I’ve been more active on twitter.

Eleanor, mother, angry

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Lesbians Students

I am seeing the existence of my sexuality be denied

I care because as a woman I am seeing all of the hard-earned rights feminists have worked tirelessly for be diminished before our eyes. I care because as a lesbian, I am seeing the existence of my sexuality be denied and the definition of it “extended” to include males by people from within the LGBT community.

I care because I have read the statistics and seen first hand the amount of young girls go through social/medical transition due to homophobia, misogyny and peer pressure.

As a student I witnessed struggling young bisexual and lesbian girls change their name and pronouns to fit in with the “queer” crowd.

I care because I’ve been called vanilla for not wanting to partake in BDSM. I’ve been called a prude for criticizing the porn and sex industries. I care because I care about the rights of lesbians and the rights of all women!

I try to speak up about the injustices I’m seeing as much as possible, online and in real life. Unfortunately I live in an area with no radical feminist groups, and a huge queer community so I only know a small close circle of radfems.

I have been shunned from the LGBT community. People I don’t even know know me and by name and it’s worrying. When I am out and about and I see someone look at me funny I wonder if it’s because they know I am  a “TERF”. Socialising in gay venues has become anxiety-inducing, but I still go because I have every right to be there as a homosexual female. I have been excluded from university groups and people are warned about me.

Rosie, 21 year old lesbian and student

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Students

We are experiencing the biggest witch hunt in history, and no one is blinking an eye at it

This matters to me because my future as a woman, and that of my female friends and family is starting to look too dark. In the past few decades of pornified culture, women have shifted from being private property to being products for men to consume. As a woman in my early 20s, I recently discovered that the world sees me as a piece of meat. But this is all hidden under the “women’s empowerment” label.

Society has fooled us into believing that we no longer serve men, and that if we do, it is by choice and is empowering. Women have been sexualised to the point of no return and are now seen as a costume to wear, again for the purpose of feeding men’s sexual fantasies.

Our rights are being quietly taken away, our privacy, our freedom of speech, our scholarships, and we are not allowed to say a word, because we become bigots, cunts and TERFs.

We are experiencing the biggest witch hunt in history, and no one is blinking an eye at it.

I have discussed and debated this with friends and anonymously posted on Twitter and reddit. However, even when hiding behind fake usernames, I still receive threats.

I have been called words. I have received threats.

TN, A woman trying to survive

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Students

I do not want to see the voices of young women being drowned out

It matters to me because I do not want to see the voices of young women being drowned out. Having seen school girls protesting after boys were allowed access to their spaces, I realised how uncomfortable that would have made me. Furthermore, I believe everyone has a right to voice their view on this matter without fear or repercussions of job loss or harassment.

I have begun following gender critical discourse online, I have discussed my views with my mother, and several of my friends, and have discovered that we all share similar views. I have slowly been posting more and more on my private social media, and I have been routinely discussing the reality of biological sex from my position of being educated in anatomy and cell biology.

I have fallen out with my brother who is the complete opposite of me, and thinks self ID and other gender ideological ideas are good. I have lost not-so-close friends after they discovered that I was following and taking part in gender critical discourse.

Cat, BSc anatomical sciences and pharmacy advisor

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Students

Women are born, not worn

Because as a woman, I want to keep my dignity and safety and having to share locker rooms, hostel rooms, sports etc. with biological men and having to call a biological man she/her even if that biological man rapes me and then decides he feels like a woman, takes away my safety and dignity and humanity.

I have been tweeting, sending letters of complaints to businesses who have come out as anti-women and I have designed stickers in support of JK Rowling that can be bought on redbubble https://www.redbubble.com/people/RadFemmeDesign

Stella, Women are born, not worn

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Students

The trans movement are causing people like me to persistently self-censor every single day

I care because free speech is incredibly important, and the trans movement are causing people like me to persistently self-censor every single day – not to shift the narrative to myself when there is real oppression out there, but surely the impact on mental health more broadly as a result of this constant self-silencing can’t be positive.

I have a graduate scheme lined up, but I am afraid I will lose both my friends and my jobs if I dare voice an opinion which doesn’t conform to the majority. I am afraid, and I am silent.

Luckily, I have a few friends who share my opinions and my voice is limited only to one friendship circle in which I feel that we all have the mutual respect and maturity to listen to one another and debate civilly.

I have been berated by my friends and labelled a ‘TERF’ simply for refusing to condemn J.K Rowling.

Oscar, A