The Gender Dissidents SurveyAs a woman and lesbian sex is important.
I have engaged in online activities primarily. I have also distributed information in person (leaflets, stickers and chats)
I have been shunned and ignored. I have been silenced by simply knowing there will be negative consequences. This is due to wholescale institutional capture in my field.
Jane, A worried scientist
I care because children and young people are being lied to by being told they can change sex. I care that female victims of abuse in refuges and prisons are being further abused by men claiming they are women. I care because I am a lesbian and object to being told that same-sex attraction is no longer “valid” and is transphobic. I care because young lesbians are being told they are really boys. I care because of the tragic stories of young detransitioners.
I use my real name on Twitter to publicise the issue and history of transgender politics. I have attended meetings and demonstrations. I have supported crowdfunders. I have demonstrated with other lesbians at Prides. I have, with others, organised the 2019 Lesbian Strength march in Leeds. I have talked to friends who knew nothing about the issue. I responded to both the Westminster and Scottish governments’ GRA consultations.
I was suspended from Twitter for asking a question about DNA at a crime scene.
I have lost friends.
I have been asked not to discuss the issue at family gatherings.
I avoid talking about the issue on my Facebook which is mainly family and old friends and restrict my discussion of this to private groups.
Dr Lesley “Ancient Dyke” Semmens , Radical Feminist, Retired Academic
I am a lesbian. If I had been born 10 years later, I would have been told to transition instead of accepting my sexuality.
I have tried educating people on the subject.
I have been featured in hate lists simply for being friends with women that were more vocal than I am. I have lost friendships for suggesting lesbians should be able to reject males sexually, even if they’ve got make up on.
Julia, Lesbian teacher, Canada
I care because I was born in a very small town, where nobody taught me that it was okay for me not to identify with dresses and dolls, and that in my adolescence it was okay to like girls. not being attracted to penis.
I also care because I am a psychologist and I realize that, at the university and in the clinic, queer theory has dominated the spaces, and the only voices heard are of gay men.
I have tried to speak about this in my Instagram and small groups, also I study a lot to feel more secure about my opinion. I have been afraid to talk about it at the university, afraid of being taxed as a transphobic.
I failed a master’s test because I wanted to talk about radical feminism and lesbian women, criticizing psychoanalysis.
It was very sad, and since then I have been trying to find some space where my writing will be welcome.
Dreamer, lesbian born in a small town, trying to gain space at the university, Brasil
As a lesbian, I’ve always been a gender nonconforming woman. There is a great push today to get rid of “GNC woman” (gender non-conforming) as a category at all and to replace it with “nonbinary” or “trans man.”
I’ve been called “they” and “them” over and over in LGBT circles, no matter how many times I tell people I’m a woman, and I am sick of seeing the consequences of this on young gay people (especially considering the health effects of puberty-blocking drugs and hormones).
I have a blog, but it is mostly anonymous due to concerns about my social safety. I don’t fear for my life but I think I would lose friends and even academic and career opportunities over it, if I spoke out.
I have received online harassment, and I have been told by friends that I “worry them” sometimes with my opinions. I have to self-censor frequently.
Emily
I care because my daughter is a butch lesbian & I saw a TRA (trans rights activist) threaten a 15 year old girl with rape & choking her with his ‘girl-dick’ because she said girls don’t have a penis. I don’t want my daughter, that 15 year old or any other woman or girl to be forced or coerced to accept penis or be threatened with rape.
I care also as the victim of rape, both as a child and adult. I know abusive men when I see them & they want easy access to women & girls.
I started to tweet under my own name & was quietly warned by a friend at work to be careful. I was all of a sudden required to attend diversity training in person, not the usual online kind.
I questioned why sex was absent from the protected characteristics & stated why it was important. The equality lead assured us sex & gender were the same thing and they ‘just want to pee.’
I opened an anonymous twitter account and shut my own down so I can continue to tweet but I have to be careful still. I attended WPUK (Woman’s Place UK) Conference in London & heard you (among others) speak. I completed the GRA (Gender Recognition Act) consultation response. I speak 1-2-1 with other women at work about the issues to sow the seeds & raise awareness. I cross out any survey ‘gender option and hand-write SEX-FEMALE. I financially supported your claim (and will continue to) FairCop, Safe Schools Alliance (thank God for them!) and others.
I had to close my professional account. I was made to attend two equality training sessions within a few weeks, probably because I spoke out at the first & this was followed by an online diversity module 80% of which related to trans issues & which couldn’t be passed unless you answered with gender ID language (calling a trans identified man a woman for example.)
My workload & responsibilities have been doubled, making research & writing impossible & most of my targets also impossible without working a 60-80 week. I know they want me out & I’m looking but its almost impossible with this workload.
Students have nominated me for awards but these were not even put forward for consideration until a savvy student noticed & complained.
Needless to say, only that nomination went through. It is now untenable & I’m so grateful we are working remotely.
Anonymous Academic
I care about this because I am both a woman and a scientist and care deeply against the spread of misinformation. I am also against the normalisation of bodily mutilation of primarily young lesbians. This is gross medical negligence and should not be celebrated as ‘progressive’.
I have a Twitter account.
I brought this issue up with a few individuals in my day to day life (mainly men) and I am immediately met with the parroted transactivist script from people I wouldn’t even consider to be in the cult. The main negative is unstabilized relationships because they are not even able to debate the topic without just resorting to calling me a bigot or a TERF.
AW, Scientist with common sense, I wish I could provide this but I fear backlash
I care because the pro-gender lobby is hugely sexist, and aims to trample women’s rights – our rights to safe, female-only spaces, our rights to self-definition and even discussion of female reality and biology. I care because of the huge safeguarding concerns for women in vulnerable situations e.g. prison and hospital, and also the danger to children’s health and wellbeing.
It is cruel that gay, autistic, gnc etc children are being taught they are in “the wrong body” and must undergo a lifetime of medical alterations by adults who seem to gave forgotten their own childhood. I care because this movement has truly shown that women are at the bottom of the pile, considered less important than male feelings.
I have spoken with family about this, who said they wouldn’t have been aware otherwise. I have posted gender critical (but fairly mainstream, approachable) articles on social media for friends and coworkers to see (and had a few surprise “likes”).
I responded to the Scottish GRA. I researched gender ideology and the many areas of concern, and wrote a well-sourced email to my MP (Labour MP Cat “3 homes” Smith – useless, says transwomen are women, believes I am wrong and didn’t care about any of the quoted articles or stats in my letter).
I also wrote to Labour leadership and deputy candidates (apparently Kier’s team had nothing to say about women’s rights or protecting Equality Act 2010, but promise to protect non-binary people in whatever that means). I wrote to Tory women’s minister and got a better response from the GEO (that the Equality Act 2010 was safe, women’s rights matter).
I donate regularly to causes such as lawsuits, campaign groups. I vocally opposed my employer (a uni) changing ladies and gents toilets to unisex by virtue of simply changing the sign.
Our male union rep (Unite) said he wasn’t fussed and it was more important that non-binary and trans people don’t feel like “the odd one out” by using the other, single uni unisex toilet already available in the same corridor. Women’s safety didnt matter.
Thankfully more powerful women than me pushed back and the sign was quietly changed back.
I have had very uncomfortable arguments with colleagues and union reps and received very dismissive replies from politicians. Mostly it is just stressful because I have anxiety anyway. I am afraid of speaking out and losing my job at a uni that works closely with Stonewall and Gendered Intelligence. I am more afraid, however, of not standing up to bullies.
G
This is the most important issue to me because it is the biggest threat to women’s rights we have ever seen. It will remove our legal definition and protection in one foul swoop forcing many women into self exclusion from public places. We are losing a generation of lesbian and gay children and enabling paedophilia to cloak under the rainbow.
I have written to my MP, I have attended meetings in the House of Lords, I have attended women’s meetings, I write regularly bringing the primary sources to quick access for people. Indeed I have spent hours of my life and written thousands of words on the topic. I have demonstrated, I have placed stickers, I have spoken to all women I know and every woman I meet. I wear slogan t-shirts out to start conversations.
I lost any prospect of work within my university, I lost close friends, I was attacked online by supposed allies to women resulting in a week with police interviews and therapy. I have been doxxed, no-platformed, lost a book deal.
Dr Em, academic, radical feminist, campaigner
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
The Gender Dissidents Survey