Tag: misogyny

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Healthcare

Women’s rights were hard won. They shouldn’t be dismantled as though granting them was a favour

Women’s rights were hard won. They shouldn’t be dismantled as though granting them was a favour. I’m sick of black women being used as evidence that black people are not really people. I’m personally insulted at the racist, homophobic and misogyny of most trans narrative.

How have women’s rights and needs advanced incrementally by millimetres, but trans issues are now forefront of public and private policy?

I have shared schools guidance with friends worried about the school decision to turn toilets into mixed sex areas with no consultation.

I have challenged at work (raising safeguarding implications), discussed with family and friends, donated to crowdfunding and amplified the voices of those doing the hard work on social media.

I have been warned off for flagging implications for other protected characteristics. I’ve also been accused of attacking a trans person in a private and left-politics Facebook group for providing alternative information to challenge the statement that trans people started Pride and Stonewall.

Barbarara, Sister, not Cister

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Healthcare

This matters to me because I am a woman and the word has been redefined in law to include males

This matters to me because I am a woman and the word has been redefined in law to include males. I care because of lived experience including abuse and misogyny.

I can’t raise my voice for fear of losing my career in the NHS. 

I have tweeted in support of Maya and JK Rowling and engaged in learning and reading including the excellent feminist board on Mumsnet

I have not experienced negative consequences because my personal online accounts are not connected to my work accounts.

C, Scottish 48yo female NHS physiotherapist

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Healthcare

I was subject to sexual abuse because I was a girl, it’s that simple

As a victim of male domestic violence and misogyny in the workplace it is essential to me in personal and public life that sex based rights are not diminished.

I was subject to sexual abuse because I was a girl, it’s that simple.

I’ve supported others who have spoken out, shared info on social media etc.

I’ve experienced negative reaction from family members and friends

C, Feminist without a voice

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Healthcare Others

Men are still telling women what to think

As a woman I care about this because women’s hard won rights are being eroded.  We need single sex spaces and sports to ensure safety, dignity and equality.  I’m worried that children are being pushed into irreversible medical procedures without the knowledge or maturity to make a wise decision.  Men are still telling women what to think, in fact what we are, it’s the same old misogyny as ever.

I have attended Woman’s Place UK meetings.  I submitted evidence to the GRA consultation.  I’ve written to my MP about my concerns.  I’ve spoken to friends and family about the issue.

I’ve been very careful about who I speak to and what I say so I haven’t personally experienced negative consequences. 

As a 63 year old woman I have a lot of older friends, all the women I know in this age bracket are very concerned about this issue, especially about children being pushed into irreversible medical procedures. 

I’ve heard a lot of stories from other women about the abuse they’ve experienced in the past which makes them particularly anxious to maintain single sex spaces for girls and women as an urgent issue.

Maggie, Woman

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Healthcare

My instincts are to welcome gender non conforming ideas and folk because the world needs more kindness and less constraining gender roles

I’m a woman and a feminist. I have studied social science and social theory. I have personal experience of misogyny, sexual harassment, rape, miscarriage, abortion, childhood abuse, mental ill health, IVF and infertility. Those experiences have been embodied.

My instincts are to welcome gender non conforming ideas and folk because the world needs more kindness and less constraining gender roles.

That said, I have experienced being told that using the words woman and mother at a breastfeeding support group is transphobic and I find this ludicrous and offensive.

Non binary and trans folk are of course entitled to use words such as chestfeeding parent etc but the idea that talking about breastfeeding and mothers is transphobic when these are experiences that women (not all women of course) have had forever is ludicrous. Social constructionism in meaningful as a critique but we cannot disembody ourselves even if our dysphoria makes this an attractive option.

I’ve talked to friends. I don’t talk much on social media about this.

Kittycat

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children of trans parents Healthcare survivor

My biggest struggle has been explaining to my 3-year old daughter where grandad has gone and why she had to become gran

I care because human rights are important for everyone. It has become very personal as I now have a daughter, my dad recently identified as trans, I work in mental health which includes young people who identify as trans and females who have been victims of male violence. All of these people have rights – how do we balance them and not sacrifice one excessively for the sake of another group?

I care because I am part of the me too generation. Because I was so socialised to gender roles I allowed my ex to convince me it wasn’t rape. This socialising started before I even recognised my own gender. There has to be a space to think about this – but that space seems to be disappearing. Trans women do experience misogyny but do they have the same internalised misogyny from early childhood? This is not to diminish the massive internalised stigma and dysphoria that they experience – but these are different experiences.

I have discussed with people I trust. I have tried to educate myself – understanding all sides of the argument.

My biggest struggle has been explaining to my 3-year old daughter where grandad has gone and why she had to become gran. All books written for that age group on the topic refer to boys not liking pink (or similar) which goes against everything I try to teach her!

I have occasionally made attempts to discuss aspects at work.

I have been aggressively challenged when reflecting on my feelings about my personal situation (apparently it is not ok for me to have any difficult feelings about my dad identifying as trans – I am 41). I have been accused of misgendering by referring to her as “dad” (this was something I discussed with her and agreed I would do.

I feel this is a hugely important topic but do not dare raise it as the trans lobby is so powerful I worry I would be putting my professional registration at risk. One trans person raising concerns could be all it would take. Even though my experience would suggest most trans people would not share the view that my attempts to balance all needs are transphobic.

D.R., Mental health worker

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Healthcare

In my youth I went on gay rights marches every year. I marched with trans people

I  first became aware of the misogyny in trans ideology in 2015. I was doing an MA in Social Work and the subject was ‘the value of feminist theory for social work practice in domestic violence. I was 50 at the time and although I have always been a feminist I joined the NorthWest feminist and anti capitalist group to get some up to date theory.

A colleague of mine was doing her dissertation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act. I hadn’t thought much about this until then. Her dissertation was pro reforming it to allow people to instantly self ID. I then read an article by Miranda Yardley in the Morning Star questioning the effects of any proposed reforms of the GRA on womens rights.This was the first time I had heard of Miranda Yardly.

It was a brilliant thought provoking article and I posted it on website of said feminist group and asked that we discuss it. The very next day I was piled on by three transwomen who called me a TERF, said I was transphobic, mocked me and kicked me out of the group.

I was in shock! I was so upset. In my youth I went on gay rights marches every year. I marched with trans people.

I have raised awareness on Twitter, Facebook and supported others in doing so. I have spoken to friends and family.

Apart from getting kicked out of feminist group (described above)  I am treading a fine line in friendship with a friend of mine who is a lesbian but is totally pro trans and wont hear a word against them. She unfriended me for a while on FB. She said she knows I am not transphobic but is worried other people will think that I am. I am not.

CB, The truth matters

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Healthcare Parent

Policy makers have embraced the trans doctrine without any thought

There are so many reasons I care about this.

I hate to see the erasure of our sex and the language associated with it – women, breastfeeding, pregnant women etc., just to satisfy the narcissism of a few entitled men.

I loath the self righteousness of woke commentators who couldn’t care less about vulnerable girls and women.

I worry about children being brainwashed into thinking they’re born in the wrong body and encouraged to be mutilated and medicated, all under a false guise of compassion and progressivism. I also worry about how this  ideology is promoting misogyny and homophobia and how it will affect vulnerable girls and young women and their rights to protection, privacy and to fair competition.

And finally, it frustrates me to see how policy makers have embraced the trans doctrine without any thought to how it will impact on women.

I haven’t done much other than debate on my twitter account and to discuss with friends and family, most of whom agree with me anyway.

Any consequences? Other than some insults on social media, no.

Barbara R, Switzerland

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Healthcare Parent

I loathe the anti-science being broadcast

This really matters to me – I am a mother, with a post-graduate degree level education in biology, and I do some work, plus volunteering, in schools. And I have friends who are major activists & champions for trans-rights, who I see actively misleading us all, and actually being disingenuous to some perfectly lovely local trans-folk.

I am genuinely fearful of being shouted down, labelled a ‘bigot’ or ‘transphobic’, being removed from friendship groups, being excluded & misrepresented.

I fear that in I speaking up, my views will jeopardise my work, and trash my other community activities.

As someone who lives life as ‘evidence-based’, I loathe the anti-science being broadcast.

I dislike the cherry-picking of poor quality data. I hate the deliberate confusion of sex and gender everywhere. 

I am deeply concerned at nonsensical concepts being integrated into my children’s life, school & social groups (e.g. Woodcraft Folk).

I have re-tweeted lots of informative articles to friends, and personally discussed lots of issues with a larger group, on- and off-line. I have challenged & discussed the sex-gender & ‘born in the wrong body’ concept with medical professionals (who seem to agree with me!). I am planning to write a personal, in-depth and explanatory letter to several friends to explain ‘the other side of the story’. Some friends are politically active, but just state ‘transwomen are women, no debate’ without seemingly understanding that they are hurting their own lefty, feminist supporters.

I have felt silenced. I have had to tolerate misogynistic nonsense on my social media and can’t remove or challenge it (yet). In real life I’ve had upsetting arguments and felt belittled or misrepresented. I await more serious consequences as my anger grows, compelling the need to speak.

Scared woman., Gender-rejecting, not-cis, large-gametes

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Parent

It feels dehumanising and mysogynistic

I care about these issues as a woman, and mother of a daughter. Female only spaces, protections and boundaries should be preserved – and it should be based on biological sex rather than gender identity.

I believe my daughter and I have the right to change in an area accessible to natal females only, use female only toilets, and be on a female only hospital ward.

She should not have to give up her space on a girls sports team, girls school or any other space reserved for females, to a male. And this goes for all women and girls.

I have discussed anonymously on social media, and with (trusted) friends and family in real life. I do fear speaking out in my own name, as I have witnessed the unbelievable abuse that numerous other women have been subjected to after speaking out.

Some abuse on social media – which even when posting anonymously is distressing. I’ve been called a “TERF,” a nazi, a cunt, amongst other things… I’ve been told I want trans people “to die” – just by speaking up and saying biological women matter.

I was sent private messages: “Liar Liar, cunts on fire” – It feels dehumanising and misogynistic.

Sabrina, Woman, daughter, mother