Tag: safeguarding

Categories
Healthcare

As a woman our rights and language are being erased and we are being dehumanised

I care because I read about the children being medicalised at an astonishing rate,  the cotton ceiling, Maria Maclachlan and Helen the Guides leader.

As a woman our rights and language are being erased and we are being dehumanised. Also the implications for safeguarding children either through being medicalised, manipulatiin or women and children only spaces. The creeping “emancipation” of children’s bodies and educational indoctrination of children’s minds is terrifying. There is only one logical outcome to this – distancing children from parental control in order to lower the age of consent.

I don’t have a large social group of friends and I wouldn’t dare say anything at work. You’d get sacked. I specifically joined Twitter to find further info and people with similar views to myself.

AC, Middle age public sector worker

Categories
Healthcare

I am a social worker and I know that people have lost their registration from saying what I think

Any issue where debate is stifled is frightening. This one in particular feels so cultural and of its time and yet it has real long term consequences for the lives of women and men. I’m also deeply uncomfortable with the medicalisation and (invasive) treatment of something that feels like it is more about social factors -trauma, inequality, mental distress.

Such a lot of campaigning effort and big money is being put into protecting the gender identities of a sub group of vulnerable people – but I suspect that the reason many of these people adopt these identities is because they suffer wider deprivations/exclusions.

When my trans friends ask me to call them by their preferred pronouns I do it to protect them from a reality which is hurting them, not because I believe that this is their actual gender.

It feels like a society-wide avoidant strategy which obscures the real issues of poverty, inequality, social disconnection and mental distress by landing on one coping strategy of many and fetishising it. Which hides the pain, and devalues the suffering of countless others.

I am a social worker and I know that people have lost their registration from saying what I think. Fortunately for me, when I worked in children’s social care I did not have any cases where there was a safeguarding concern related to gender identity, otherwise I would have been forced to be more vocal, but at that point I would have sought professional support before doing so.

M, Social worker

Categories
Education Healthcare

A woman is a material reality

I know that women are punished for being women, not for pretending to be women. A woman is a material reality. Our oppression is sex-based and we need to be able to speak about it. I’m also extremely worried about the loss of single sex spaces and how that endangers women. I am disgusted that female sports are being overtaken by men and I worry a LOT about gender non-conforming children being told they’re in the wrong bodies. That is the very opposite of safeguarding. I have been terrified at the way women have been harassed, threatened, doxxed, taken to court, sacked, slandered and physically attacked for believing in the reality of biological sex, and that prevents me from saying more.

I have very occasionally tweeted about it and I have ‘liked’ tweets by others who have spoken out.

I have been roasted by acquaintances on social media. I’ve had to leave online groups. I’ve received abuse on Twitter from lots of people including a man holding a baseball bat who boasted he liked to kill TERFs.

Kath, Teacher

Categories
Education Healthcare

This goes against all the safeguarding I have ever been taught

I care because I am a teacher, parent and Girlguiding leader and this goes against all the safe guarding I have ever been taught. This matters to me because the safeguarding and single sex spaces exist for a reason and they are trying to be removed with no proper debate. From single sex toilet, changing and sleeping provision to irreversible medical intervention to women and girls being pushed out of sport, I care and I object to women and children and lesbians and gay people being overridden like this.

I have written to my MP and MSPs. I have taken part in the Gender Recognition Act consultations in Scotland and the wider UK and shared them with friends. I have discussed this with friends. I came to it from the idea that it was like gay rights and we should all just be nice but then I read and learnt more and was horrified. Some people I really respect still post things like “Trans Women are Women” and I can only assume they haven’t yet educated themselves properly about it because I know they are not homophobic nor anti women and children’s rights. But it is very hard to persuade them.

Some I have persuaded, others we’ve agreed to disagree for now and some have stopped being friends on social media (those I knew least). As they have been told I am a bigot for thinking like this, it makes opening the conversation harder than it ought to be. There are also many people I have not dared discuss it with (I am a teacher and Girlguiding leader) as if I openly disagree with Girlguiding, I will be removed as a leader. I admire the courage of those who have stood up to them.

As a teacher I try to keep the pupils’ minds open if it comes up (it rarely does with my subject).

Saying “I think all gender stereotypes are bad” caused some discussion though and I thought that was a safe statement. I do not think young people should do anything irreversible and hormones and “puberty blockers” are just that.

We need far more support with mental health and the wider difficulties of being a teenager in general. It’s a hard age to be.

Only a couple have stopped following me on social media. As I have a protected account I have been limited use and had limited harm.

If I were to speak out within Girlguiding, I would have to stop volunteering.

I admire those who have spoken out but haven’t done it myself as I’m scared for the consequences.

EB, Teacher, parent, Girlguiding leader

Categories
Healthcare

I try to speak up because I know what it is like, when as a child you are unable to speak up for yourself

This matters to me as someone who was subjected to years of sexual abuse as a girl, as well as a lot of sexual harassment since my teens, and who has subsequently relied on single-sex spaces to get through life. I want to protect female-only spaces for all the girls and women who need and want them for whatever reason and I try to speak up  because I know what it is like, when as a child you are unable to speak up for yourself.

I think that it is deeply wrong of organisations to disregard the needs of vulnerable, previously abused girls by making them choose between the trauma of sharing spaces such as changing rooms or bedrooms with males or facing the consequences of speaking up when they do not feel able or ready to.

Girls’ trust in others’ ability to safeguard them will be diminished.

I have campaigned by handing out leaflets. I requested to speak to a long-established women’s group who then invited me to present the issue. Following my presentation the group expressed deep concerns about the situation. I have written to my MP and then met and discussed it with him twice – he was fairly dismissive of my concerns of the first visit and chose to centre the needs of one group over the needs of others. On our second meeting he was very rude to my friend who had come to support me. I have helped with women’s groups and with children’s safeguarding groups who have been campaigning. A photo of me, but not my name, has appeared in a main stream newspaper and also appeared in a less main stream media outlet.

I have had a very small amount of verbal aggression in public and have also been shouted at when attending meetings. When an organisation that I was involved with held a meeting, the Grade 1 listed building was graffitied with the words ‘T*RFS F*CK OFF’ which was designed to intimidate attendees. A photo of me appeared in a non-mainstream media outlet where the position of safeguarding group I support was inaccurately linked alongside far-right groups. I have not yet had any issues with my work but this is mainly because I have been very careful about keeping my work life, as a hospital-based nurse (RGN) separate from my campaigning. I have no doubt that if they were linked then someone would try to have me removed.

C

Categories
Education Healthcare survivor

I would be halfway through my transition by now

This issue is deeply important to me for many reasons.

I learned about Self ID and was panic stricken as I have been made a victim of sexual violence by men repeatedly, and single sex spaces are vital to my ability to access public services.

I like with chronic pain and C-PTSD as a result of the abuse I have suffered, and single sex spaces help me in managing my physical and mental health when out in public.  I also am a lesbian woman, and was horrified to learn about the new ‘Woke Homophobia’, whereby gender ideology and trans activists insist that men can be lesbians, and that lesbians are same ‘gender’ attracted not same sex attracted. This erases homosexuality, and makes the discrimination lesbians face impossible to address. I am also concerned as a primary school teacher, that child psychology and development is being ignored in favour of lobby groups who have their own aims and dismiss developmental psychology and basic child safeguarding.  And finally, due to sexual violence, I had a period of time where I experienced gender dysphoria and I understand how horrid it feels to feel trapped in your own body, but I know that this condition can be managed and recovered from, and I know that the basis for my dysphoria was sexual violence and my wish to not be a woman and escape sexual violence. Were I 15 years younger, I would be half way through my transition by now and it would have been a catastrophic mistake. I am deeply concerned for young lesbians and children who are being sent down an experimental and physically and psychologically dangerous path, as guinea pigs.

I have led direct action protests, I have spoken to friends and family, I have written to my MP, I have been vocal on social media, I have written an article, I have even shared information with dates!

I have had a Twitter ban, for a tweet that explains queer theory, which was bizarre. I have also had difficult conversations with friends who misunderstand the issues, many however, now support me due to their own observations. The most negative consequences have been during direct action protests where I have been intimidated, spat at, screamed at in my face by trans activists. I was also followed by a trans identified male, and was very unsettled. I am mostly concerned about being harassed by previous abusers, and by male trans activists. I feel frightened attending talks, in case someone is intimidated or violent.

Sofia, lesbian radical feminist activist

Categories
Parent

I thankfully held off in case he just needed time to work out who he was

I care because I am concerned about the safeguarding of young girls, because I know vulnerable autistic young girls and because my own son thought he was Trans when he was confused about his feelings towards other boys, and people suggested Mermaids to me. I thankfully held off in case he just needed time to work out who he was.

I have had quiet conversations with friends with autistic daughters to warn them to be ultra aware of what they are up to online and what they are hearing at school. I have had frank conversations with my own kids. I have spoken with likeminded friends online privately and on a couple of occasions posted publicly.

S, Mum of teenager

Categories
Education Healthcare

A bullying group has turned truth into lies

Sex is real. sex defines humans and mammals. it is the way laws and protections are established and maintained in our society.

Seeing these meaningful definitions being eradicated by the Trans lobby, behaving like a dictatorship, is scary.

it’s threatens and undermines our protections and freedoms. Anyone who speaks out as “concerned“ is vilified as hateful, by a bullying group that has turned truths into lies, implying they are victims when they are actually the perpetrators.

There are many dangers, allowing such a lobby, that relies on lying about the most important aspect of our lives SEX, to attack women and gain access to us and our children.

I have been emailing organisations like safeguarding hub that criticises breast binding in Africa meanwhile lottery funding is given to breast binding businesses in the UK. I have written to M&S about changing rooms. I have written to Baroness Nicholson, Liz Truss, to members of the civil service about the LGBTQ champion who is head of the Department for Education, he also has a child who is “trans”, a huge conflict of interest.

I have questioned a Labour Councillor through labour complaints for her hate speech towards women on Twitter. Labour threatened me with further action if I discussed my complaint on social media, they deemed she was not guilty of inappropriate behaviour using swearing & slurs.

I’ve had my mental health questioned. I have been called a *unt by a labour man on social media. when I complained & resigned my labour membership I was reprimanded for using bad  language when relating the names I’d been called!

I advised a group of women who were “friends” & childminders, that drag queens in Brixton library was wrong for under 5’s, & that they need parental permission as it’s political, they verbally attacked me & I had to block them from my life. These are just a few instances. My anxiety has been bad due to my fears of retaliation. I have had to ensure my name can’t be traced to my home.

AM

Categories
Education Healthcare Lesbians Parent

I have been reported to my college for being ‘transphobic

I am a lesbian mother of daughters. I work with children.

I knew a trans-identified female when I was younger and I saw the damage she had done to herself and the relief she felt when she detransitioned.

Denial of material reality threatens the safeguarding of women and children.

I have attended marches and demonstrations. I have contributed to government consultations and online discussions on social media. I have talked to family and friends. I have an anonymised social media presence and an associated podcast.

I have lost friends and acquaintances. I have been reported to my college for being “transphobic”. I have had my social media profile reported.

Ellie Ellis , Adult Human Female podcast,

Categories
Healthcare Parent

I worry so much about the climate for girls growing up

It matters as it should matter to all women, and indeed anyone who cares about women and children. It’s personal to me because I worry so much about the climate for girls growing up. I have a ten year old daughter and I have spent time trying to instil her right to boundaries, and establishments that should know better are undermining that.

I’m horrified to think we had it better when I was her age, 30 years ago, and that safeguarding is actually deteriorating based mainly on this issue.

I have been vocal on twitter but I’m basically anon there. Fb here and there but am still nervous of it. I have however been in to school, explained my objections to gender leaning sex Ed in primary schools. I’ve spoken to the other parents. I have liaised with the muslim parents at our school many of whom were not aware and are now with me in the fight to get the curriculum changed for our school. Oh and sent links and info from SSA etc, emailed the head and local MP. I’ve complained in writing to my local labour MP, although he was removed because guess what, he’s not safe around young women. I wear my Adult Human Female t shirts and have talked to a lot of trusted friends and family. It’s still not enough.

I have been messaged on Twitter a few times, was verbally abused on Facebook quite publically when I raised concerns about Time Out making such a positive spin on drag queen shows for kids, but nothing personally too threatening, no. Mainly because of not going public on twitter with my real details.

Kerri