Tag: Lesbians

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Healthcare Media and Arts

Something is very very wrong

Women been oppressed as a class throughout time and across the globe because of our biological sex. The hard won rights that have been fought for by generations of women are at serious risk of being completely eroded overnight by manipulating reality through language.

I care about this because I care about all women and I also care about all the young gay boys and lesbians who feel transitioning is a way out of homosexuality. I care about the young women who hate their bodies and are being encouraged to mutilate them.

I care about all the children who are now being told that they have some magical essence of gender that exists on a spectrum between GI Joe and Barbie. Will my nephews be told they might be girls if they wear pink??

I cannot and do not talk about this issue with anyone other than those closest too me, namely my mum and sister. I do not engage online as I would lose my job I am certain. Maybe not overnight, but it would happen eventually.

4 years ago I moved from London to a small rural town where I run a community arts and entertainment venue

This issue is so contentious and comes from such a conservative starting point but is masked as liberalism that I know my view would be considered hateful, improper and bigoted despite everything else I hold dear and am active and vocal about demonstrating the opposite.

It’s just incredibly dangerous and in a world where I’m setting up an anonymous twitter account and shaking doing it simply to state that biological sex is real and to ‘like’ a tweet without fear of losing my job, something is very very wrong!

I dare not speak out.  But, things are changing in my work and I fear that soon I will have to and I genuinely don’t know what will happen then.

Woman

Categories
Voluntary sector

I’m dismayed that decent people who think they’re being liberal and welcoming are unaware of the cost to women.

This matters to me for many reasons. Because women are being erased and redefined, reduced to their bodily functions, recategorised as a sub section of their own classification, having their rights removed and their ability to stand up for and protect themselves reduced. Because I worry for especially young women who are learning who they are and taking drastic actions which they live to regret. Because I’m seeing an increase in homophobia. Because there are troubling safeguarding issues for my daughters.

Because the males who are impinging on women’s protected spaces are affecting vulnerable women and certain religions and because asking why there’s a male in your safe space isn’t protecting women it could get you arrested for a hate crime. Because I’m dismayed that decent people who think they’re being liberal and welcoming are unaware of the cost to women. Because I see so much aggression and vile comments aimed at level-headed women just trying to raise awareness of the issue.

I’ve not done much. Discussed it some with family. Chat in private groups of like-minded women. I was sharing stuff on Twitter but I’ve dialled back on that because I’m freelance and I’m working currently with a third sector organisation and they are notoriously ‘woke’.

A year ago I was right there on the Trans Women are Women side of the fence, but then I started to see how simply raising legitimate concerns and questions about how we could accommodate male bodied people into women’s and girls’ safe spaces got you instantly labelled as a TERF.

And I started to see male bodied people using their self ID to access and beat women out of female specific awards and sports and scholarships that were there to redress the male focused opportunity and privilege, and then I started to see rape crisis centres have their funding cut for trying to protect traumatised women from sharing a safe space with a male bodied (ergo more physically powerful) person, and Jessica Yaniv and male bodied people who self ID abusing vulnerable women in prison. (Obv, not all Trans people.) And again when women tried to raise legitimate concerns about these things – whilst still trying to find a way to support trans people and help them to find a way to live their lives as they want to, safely and free from abuse and incorporated and welcomed – still being shouted at and labelled transphobic. And then I saw lesbians being called bigots for being same sex attracted. And then I saw people trying to pretend that actual biology ergo science was not a tested, provable thing which is a very dangerous route to take. Then I’m afraid my position shifted somewhat.

I started out just asking simple questions about safeguarding and was called transphobic and a TERF very quickly. I saw the same pattern repeated again and again with pleasant, caring women who showed concern for trans women and wanted them to live safe happy lives but not at the expense of women feeling safe and secure because of opportunistic men taking advantage of self ID, being threatened and called bigots and then I realised there was something very wrong with the TRA movement.

Shiv, Woman, mother, freelancer, feminist

Categories
Education

If I were just 5 years younger I would now be either a very unhappy trans man or a detransitioner

I am a woman. I am a feminist (any feminism involves a critique of “gender” or it’s not feminism). I’m also a lesbian lady who shaves her head and occasionally wear ties and I have the unsettling feeling if I were just 5 years younger I would now be either a very unhappy trans man or a detransitioner. I wouldn’t experience the joy I feel at singing really high notes (crappy amateur soprano here). And of course, I care about freedom of speech. I won’t be compelled to see others exactly as they see themselves. As Dr. Jane Clare Jones say, that’s a form of ontological totalitarianism.

I’ve spoken to friends and family and all over social media (with my name). I am currently unemployed and lockdown has been quite restrictive over here up until quite recently. But I plan on meeting with other feminists in my home town.

I lost “a friend” because she tried to shame me for being a lesbian in its archaic “terfy” definition. That was the last straw in a wider pattern in our relationship, since it’s not the first time she is emotionally manipulative.

Estela, Language teacher, studying to become a civil servant, Spain

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Lesbians Students

I fear that a lot of young lesbians will be growing up confused

I have a lot of reasons but this matters to me because I feel like I am 12 again, in the closet, afraid to come out as a lesbian out of fear. This is the exact same thing, now I fear I would lose more friends and that I’ll be labeled transphobic by just saying that as a lesbian I don’t want anything to do with men and their body parts. That’s the gist of it.

The “other side” keeps telling me that penises can be female, that transwomen can be lesbians. It’s not as bad as conversion therapy but it’s pretty close. I fear that a lot of young lesbians will be growing up confused because they don’t find trans identified boys attractive as they are pressured to confirm to the new norm. Some of them might be pressured into thinking they are men, butch lesbians face this problem because they don’t confirm to society’s stereotypes of what it means to be a woman.

This matters to me because women’s voices are being snuffed, we are told to shut up and conform to the new ideology. I have always been anti organized religion, the left also holds this view apparently yet it’s puzzling to me how the cult-like similarity between these dogmas aren’t distinguished.

TWAW is a dogma, a chant repeated over and over again and anyone who disagrees is considered an undesirable.

I’ve already lived through this as a teenager, struggling with the ever so present homophobia within my society and surroundings. Living in fear of being discovered or outed as a lesbian, not speaking up whenever people proudly displayed their homophobic views.

I found my “tribe” then, my refuge was in the LGBT community. Now that same community is targeting me and other people like me who speak out.

The same community whose principals are being run-over by this new dogma.

I tried to write about it on social media and I got shut down pretty fast after that I began having panic attacks. I made anonymous accounts to voice my opinion.

I have been called transphobic, terf, bigot.

J, Studies philosophy, Montenegro

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Lesbians Students

The LGBT community is following gender theory in a very dogmatic manner

I care because I believe that the LGBT community is following gender theory in a very dogmatic manner, without even stopping to consider alternatives or thinking critically about it.

As a lesbian, who is becoming aware of how this potentially damage young people and women, I’d like my community to have a more rational and open debate about this issue.

A.L, Italy

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Lesbians Students

As a lesbian I’ve seen the negative effects all around me

I care because I’m worried for the safety for woman. Especially as a lesbian I’ve seen the negative effects all around me. When I was a teenager I was involved in queer trans activist discussions online and those spaces pushed me into wanting to transition.

I’m lucky that I found gender critical thoughts before I voiced that wish and instead learned to deal with my internalised homophobia and accept that my reasoning was not genuine body dysphoria but rather my internalised homophobia and issues with the sexist society we live in and how that affected me growing up.

I have talked extensively about it on social media and will talk about these issues with any friend or family member willing to listen. I’ve also met some radical feminists in my town and have become more active there.

I have been very lucky that there haven’t been many negative consequences and I don’t have to worry about them either. I’m a university student still living with my parents. Even if I where to lose my job, it wouldn’t have much bearing on my life. Despite being a lesbian I do avoid Lgbt spaces, since those tend to be extremely pro trans.

Vanessa, Germany

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Lesbians Students

I don’t have an ounce of hate in my heart

I’m a disabled homosexual woman. Those aspects of myself contribute to my oppression and it hurts me personally to ignore these aspects.

I have started blogs and social media accounts, reached out to local radfem groups, and I have discussed it with people in my personal life

I have lost many friends and loved ones. I have been called hateful when I don’t have an ounce of hate in my heart. I have been isolated and vilified for speaking up about my issues as a female.

Genevieve, 18 yr old disabled lesbian feminist,Canada

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Lesbians Students

I’m tired of being told to sleep with men and accept “girldick”

I care because I’ve watched my mentally ill friends be neutered and abused by a system that does not care for them. I care because as a lesbian, I’m tired of being told to sleep with men and accept “girldick” and being called a bigot for refusing. I care because the sex responsible for 98% of sexual assaults and violent crimes does not belong in private spaces with women and because the imperative should not be on women to figure out if they’re even allowed to be worried for their safety for fear of being harassed or silenced.

I’ve written emails to larger companies who use terms such as “uterus haver” and “people with periods”. I’ve also raised awareness in my personal life and drawn other women’s attention to how close we are to losing our sex based protections.

I’ve lost friends.

Liz, College-aged lesbian and radical feminist, USA

Categories
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

Categories
Students

As a woman and lesbian sex is important

As 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