Tag: school

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Academics and researchers

I carry out small acts of resistance

I care about women’s rights and am also very concerned that we’re carrying out medical experiments on vulnerable kids. The post-truth/thought control side of this is very disturbing to me as someone with a background in 20th-century totalitarian movements.

I applied to graduate school to research the issues of gender transition and kids (starting fall 2020); I am writing online and speaking to people one-on-one in my real life — colleagues, friends, strangers! — about 50-60 such people; and I carry out small acts of resistance like reshelving “gender handbooks” that tell kids that if they’re uncomfortable with gender stereotypes they might be born in the wrong body and moving them to the highest reaches of the Adult Fantasy section, where they belong.

I have lost friends who are gender activists.

Eliza, USA

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Academics and researchers Healthcare Parent survivor

I am concerned that my gender non-conforming son will grow to hate his beautiful healthy body

I, like too many women, have experienced grooming, rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence and am fearful of allowing men into women’s spaces.

I am concerned that my gender non-conforming son will grow to hate his beautiful healthy body because of the narrative that gender trumps sex.

I have created anonymous social media accounts to voice my concerns and engage in discussion. I have discussed with my children their right to retain their own spaces and their right to express themselves (i.e. their gender) in any way they choose without this altering their sex. I have contacted my children’s schools to discuss their policy re self identifying students.

I felt compelled to step down from an important task force at work re women in STEM when headed by self-ID trans woman and no opportunity or environment for objection.

I have lost friends and been ostracised from left wing, feminist, and social justice groups of which I was previously an active member. I have had to develop new and anonymous social media accounts because changes in work policy have made clear that I will lose my job for refusing to share women’s only spaces i.e. toilets with trans women.

L C, PhD in STEM (medical sciences)

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Academics and researchers

I’m a 22 year old going into the tech industry, I can’t speak, the vitriol is suffocating and terrifying

I’m a woman in computer science. In school I was bullied for taking maths subjects and had to suffer silently as teachers and pupils alike bullied me. I now see women who faced these same experiences, lose female centred opportunities to people who got to experience this as male, and therefore faced none of it.

The trans movement damages the reputation of women in spaces where we’re already desperately trying to quash stereotypes by suggesting that all it takes to be a woman is to wear a dress and makeup, which is NOT what makes me female.

Please help me, please help us, the trans movement is terrifying, I’m terrified. I’m sorry for not speaking out, but you see the backlash.

I don’t know what I can do without risking my career. I’m watching the rights of women be eradicated by identity politics.

I can see Olympics in the future with only trans or male athletes, the misogynistic structures of the past awarding women’s awards to men who don’t know what it’s like to fight for your place in society your whole life, but just get to put on a dress and then claim the whole lived experience of a woman.

It’s not acceptable for white people to identify as black, and then claim the lived experiences of people of color. For all the same reasons men cannot become women and then truly know what it is to grow up and live as a woman.

Please, for my daughters in the future, who currently have no future, fight this to the end.

I’m sorry, I’m a 22 year old going into the tech industry, I can’t speak, the vitriol is suffocating and terrifying. But I know my silence is a problem and I’m sorry, I’m just too scared of losing my entire future.

E

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Academics and researchers

I saw a TRA threaten a 15 year old girl with rape & choking her with his ‘girl-dick’ because she said girls don’t have a penis

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

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

I have an abhorrence of totalitarian belief systems and dogma

Because I am a feminist and have an abhorrence of totalitarian belief systems and dogma.  I felt I could not stand by in silence while other women were bullied and persecuted simply for stating facts and for refusing to sign up to an ideological system. I am also deeply troubled by the developmental harms and confusion being caused to children, especially gender non-conforming children, by the way this ideology has infiltrated schools and other educational spaces.   

I have been a signatory to several letters in the mainstream press. I have taken motions to my union at local and national level. I have organized a major feminist conference at my university. I have co-authored a blog on an educational website. I have written to my MP. I have submitted responses to government consultations. I have written letters to university vice-chancellors, editors and other senior academics to protest the treatment of feminist scholars within their institutions. 

I have spoken to the staff and headteacher at the school where I am a governor about their PSHE resources. I have attended several demonstrations and events by WPUK. I  was a founding signatory of the Labour Women’s Declaration. I have shared resources, material and opinions with women in my academic and social networks. I have written to the organizers of an event where a feminist was attacked for distributing material.  I have co-authored pieces in the press. I have used feminist materials in my teaching.  I have joined a local activists’ network …..   

I have been asked to step down from an international editorial board because of my feminist views (after publishing a piece on academic freedom on sex and gender).

SeveraI people in my academic network, some of whom were close friends, no longer speak to me.   I am no longer welcome in some of these network events.

I have had student activists post my name on lists of dangerous “TERFS”, calling on all trans students to avoid my classes because they are unsafe.  I have had defamatory posters, showing my photo and calling me a fascist, displayed on the walls of my workplace. I have been referred to on social media as a bigot and a transphobe – although I am not even on social media myself (partly because I do not have the stomach for all the bullying).   I have been named in defamatory articles by student journalists.   I have been insulted by fellow activists in my union branch.

J, University lecturer

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Academics and researchers

It feels as if all of my struggles for equality have been thrown in the bin

I have been a feminist for forty years. I have had to share a work bathroom with a trans person who is a stereotype of femininity and gets lauded by colleagues for their stiletto shoes and fishnet tights and mini skirt. It feels as if all of my struggles for equality have been thrown in the bin. I care about the safety of women and girls in sport, prison, school, the toilets . . .

I have engaged lightly on social media, I have spoken fully with friends and have attended women’s meetings behind closed doors.

I know one of my colleagues (a ‘trans-ally’) is aware of my views and I’m sure has been responsible for tearing down flyers I have put up outside my office (from Women’s groups such as WPUK) and replacing them with trans flag flyers.

TREA, Lecturer

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

I see children in my city being encouraged to take life altering decisions at too young an age

I care because firstly I can’t lie and collude with the idea that sex can be changed, either medically or by declaration. I care because gender ideology reinforces rather than challenges the concept of sex-appropriate behaviour and I’ve personally fought against this my whole life.

I care because I see children in my city being encouraged to take life altering decisions at too young an age (thanks Allsorts…) and this is cruel. I care because until 6 I thought you could choose to change sex at 10 yrs old, I was a tomboy and feel these days I’d be at risk of being transed or forced to over-think it. It’s cruel.

I also object to the obliteration of the  understanding that being female is a material reality that carries with it the baggage of a history of discrimination. Being female is an axis of oppression that’s nonsensical to ignore.

I care lastly because I have daughters, aunts, a mother, cousins and friends who have all experienced both subtle and profound discrimination on the basis of their female sex. Sex matters.

I have tentatively broached with a sympathetic friend. When I first was aware of the Hyde Park Corner incident I mentioned it in the pub assuming people would see it as nonsense. The people there were self-declared ex-Terfs who told me how they’d seen the light. It was surprising and put me on the back foot.

I have spoken up at work about using sex rather than gender in our surveys – small act, but I work in Higher Education where gender ideology is being forced into every part of the organisation.

I have engaged on social media (including with my MP Caroline Lucas), as an anonymous, attended conferences, donated to crowdfunders. I haven’t done enough. My daughter is very scared of me raising any issue with the school, or speaking out. She is gender critical but also scared of speaking out. The school still have sexist practices that reinforce sex-based stereotypes,  but does nothing about these, while pushing gender ideology.

I have had no negative consequences but that’s because I’m careful to maintain anonymity. I also haven’t spoken out enough.

Maggie, Woman in the street

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

Denying the reality of sex will make fighting against exploitation and discrimination impossible

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

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Academics and researchers Healthcare

I want to use language I chose not what is chosen for me

I care because I want children, girls especially, to be safe. Because of destransitioners, because of those making £ shouldn’t get away with it. Because schools should educate and not indoctrinate children. Because ‘woman’ is not a feeling or a costume or a fetish.

And because I want someone to vote for. I want to use language I chose not what is chosen for me. It could take a while to get to the very bitter end but I will never give up.

I have spoken about this a lot in real life, from my hairdresser to my libfem friends. I support and volunteer with organisations that are doing great things. I complain and write letters to the BBC, to my MP…

and I participate in online groups which aim to hear both sides. It’s usually a waste of time but I try to engage and find common ground. It’s exhausting.

I have been accused of bigotry and transphobia, I have been told to “be careful” at work. I have argued with my partner and lost a friend of 20+ years. I have been scared of attending events but so far have not had any physical attacks, only verbal.

Lexi , It’s not radical to centre women in feminism , Left Twitter after I got blocked and  before I got banned

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Education Parent

The topic comes up scarily regularly for an infants school

I care because I want my daughter to have a safer life than I have had. I want her to be able to be confident in raising her safety concerns and not worried about being declared a bigot because she is fearful

I have spoken to friends. I regularly voice my concerns at work as the topic comes up scarily regularly for an infants school.

I have been reprimanded at work for stepping out of my role to complain that they had changed the protected characteristics in the schools equality policy.

I escalated to governors and they eventually agreed the law had not ‘changed yet’ – my work is now more heavily scrutinised and one of my colleagues no longer speaks to me.  I have lost friends and a fb account. I use twitter anonymously. I am fearful of making connections with anyone as I can’t afford to be ‘outed’ and lose my career.

Phyliss