Tag: work

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We have worked hard to get safe spaces

I care because women matter. We have worked hard to get safe spaces, to protect us from male violence, to have the right to single sex spaces. I have a daughter and I don’t want her sharing intimate settings with someone with male tendencies. Plus if a man wishes to present differently than society expects then good for him. Why should we insist on how women or men look or present. But that does not mean they change sex. They remain a man dressing as he pleases.

I share on social media. I’ve spoken to other women.

My voice has been quiet as I am afraid to speak out.

Steph, Mum of 2, mid forties

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Every single one expressed concern and also fear /reluctance about speaking out

It feels like a step backwards in the fight for women’s rights. We need safe spaces. We are harassed from a young age. We are oppressed from a young age. We have to constantly work to get what men have easily. To open up access to womens rights to anyone declaring themselves as women, is to redefine the meaning of women and to dismiss and undermine our oppression, our needs, our history

I’ve spoken to women in my family ages 15 to 85 to find their thoughts. Every single one expressed concern and also fear /reluctance about speaking out.

I’ve raised the issue in local political party and with close colleagues.

I’ve posted on social media  – initially to defend transexual women, then to enquire about this new definition of trans and then to speak out strongly against it.

I’ve been called a bigot, right wing, terf and added to block lists on social media.

I’ve had my photograph taken at a demo by a man I do not know who did not introduce himself or request the photo. The photo was one of several posted on social media with comments calling women in it terfs and bigots.

c, Woman from Glasgow

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Private sector

I’m no longer welcome in most LGBTQ circles/groups

This matters to me because I’m a lesbian who thinks males literally can’t be lesbians so I’m no longer welcome in most LGBTQ circles/groups. I care because sex being superseded by gender is harmful to women in too many ways to go into in this short paragraph! Women’s sport, vulnerable women’s safety, data collection and adequate provision of services, and women being able to speak the truth about their reality are all negatively affected by gender identity dogma and ‘trans women are women.’

I have not done as much as I should have done! So far it’s just been conversations with friends and acquaintances trying to raise awareness, online discussions, and writing to politicians. I’d hoped to attend a rally in March but didn’t go because of Covid19.

I have experienced very few negative consequences, comparatively. It has made some friendships very difficult, but as yet not ended them. My work is thankfully unaffected, as I work in a tiny forestry co-operative with a small number of sympathetic men. The main negative personally is my alienation from the LGBT community and organisations who will brook no dissent, and alienation from Labour/Green circles.

Helen

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Private sector

No dissent is allowed especially in corporate workplaces

I care because as a lesbian I fear that young lesbians are being pushed down the path of trans rather than being encouraged to be happy in their own bodies. I feel this ideology has been pushed through with no debate and no dissent is allowed especially in corporate workplaces.

I tried to make point on my work internal social media platform but was shot down.

Discowings, working class lesbian living in South London

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Private sector

I have also read, and read, and learned and learned

Being female is a material reality in this world and women and girls across the world are disadvantaged (at best) and murdered (at worst) because of it. We as people, and our organisations and governments must not be allowed to lose sight of this truth.

I have joined a local feminist group (gathered via Mumsnet). I have written to and have visited my MP. I have written to newspapers, attended WPUK and other meetings, donated to crowdfunders. I discuss this in depth (and completely uncompromisingly) on another small forum where facts can be stated quite openly.

I have also read, and read, and learned and learned.

I am a freelance IT worker mainly for companies too small for Stonewall to bother with, but did once have a conversation with a (junior) member of staff at a client about my list of browser bookmarks in a screenshot I had sent. It was in one sense entirely unproblematic – the person in question agrees with me and that was partly how he had recognised the bookmarks list (!) – but we agreed I had better move them to a more discreet location in a separate folder as not everyone in the company would be OK with it.

Jenny S, Adult human female

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We had a great conversation and hope to repeat it

This matters to me because I can not stand by while men lie about their intentions and their hijacking of the trans rights movement to allow male-bodied people into female-only spaces. They have no concern or regard for our safety and use gaslighting and emotional arguments to present themselves as victims and those who disagree as aggressors who threaten their lives.

I have written blog posts on the subject and engaged with TRAs on Twitter, trying to get a handle on their side of the story, which basically is “Accept us at our word you evil TERF, and stop whining about your safety and dignity.”

I have also spoken to the mother of a trans child on a Zoom call, working to build bridges between GC and TRAs. She shares my fears for women’s dignity and safety while wanting to create a world where her child won’t be shut out and rejected for not being a “real” woman. We had a great conversation and hope to repeat it. Her honesty makes it worthwhile.

I have been unfollowed, and some prominent people have tried to “correct” me. I’ve been able to stand up to them, though.

Wendy Cockcroft, Asker of awkward questions, lover of objective reality and truth

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I want all trans people to be protected from male violence, but not at the cost of women

I am concerned about fairness. I am concerned about how easily and quickly women’s rights have been handed over. I want all trans people to be protected from male violence, but not at the cost of women. We need to find a solution that works for all of us. I am also increasingly concerned about the nature of ‘no debate’ and the ideological nature of this discussion. or lack of discussion. Very reminiscent of Catholic upbringing, the idea of not being able to question something, even when it impacts me.

I have spoken to a couple of family members about this. I have been written off ‘having gone right wing.’ I have liked a couple of tweets when I felt brave.

Feeling so unable to speak about something so unfair feels awful. I have never known anything like it. I feel gagged.

My sister in law thinks I have been brainwashed by the American right. I cannot understand how. I am so left wing, so liberal! I just daren’t speak with my friends about this. I am scared that it will end my friendships.

Hannah

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Parent

Men didn’t want to be women when women had nothing for themselves

This matters to me because it feels like only yesterday to me that some of the freedoms we enjoyed for a while were won. I don’t think it right that hard won rights are being taken away by men. Men didn’t want to be women when women had nothing for themselves. It is just misogyny plain and simple and it makes me very angry.

I have written to my MP, with no success at all. Just got the TWAW (transwomen are women) reply. I speak up at work and have not been reprimanded yet. I speak up at home but my daughter is very woke and we disagree on this. She is very much TWAW, her only wobble was learning about Yaniv and she went off self I-d for a while, but after more training at work she is back on the TWAW bandwagon.

I have had arguments with my daughter. My sister also believes TWAW. They both work in education and have had the training. At work there have been no consequences up to now. But I always stay respectful and everyone knows I am a fair person.

I support LFC (and Maya), It feels like the erasure of something so obvious, so based in fact and science, that I am concerned we as a people are being gaslighted.

I write on twitter.

Janice V, Feminist and gender critic

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Parent

Sex matters

I have an elderly mother, a teenage daughter & I’m in my 40s. We are all impacted by the loss of single sex protections for different, but entirely biologically female reasons, and sex remains the common factor in the ways we are impacted in the same and differing ways. Loss of privacy, dignity, safety, recovery from trauma and the right to participate in public life – we all have reasons for the need of female only provisions across many aspects of our lives.

Sex matters, and continues to impact all of us in the various ways we navigate through day to day life.

I’ve organised, researched, spoken up, contacted elected representatives, local authorities, and in most official capacities, I have been ignored, or dismissed without adequate justification or explanation.

I’ve lost a good friend, I worry about the impact on my job if my online identity was confirmed.  Not because I have ever been abusive or harassed anyone, or engaged in ‘bigotry’ but because I believe my right to recognise sex as a material reality is important. Surveys at work no longer address sex, instead they ask for gender identity, something that I do not believe in.

Bones123, Adult Human Female

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Private sector

I wear my Woman = Adult Human Female hoodie and people have stopped their cars to say “Well Done!”

I am outraged that women are being erased in our Rights stolen, our voices silenced and our needs disregarded. I fight for my daughters, their lives matter more than mine.

I have challenged a number of County Councils over the trans tool kit that blatantly misrepresented the EA2010 Law.

Shropshire, Doncaster, Barnsley, Leicester City, Merthyr Tydfil, Denbighshire and Essex have listened. Not stopping there and more to follow.

I have written to my MP and I have attended another MP’s open meeting and spoke to a crowd of councillors and political activists. (Most frightening thing ever!) I have been part of the ManFriday group (still in touch) and done activities to raise awareness publicly. Currently active on twitter collating links and volunteers and working with Baroness Nicholson and behind the scenes with 4 other groups via Trello and facebook. I took part in the ReSister tee shirt campaign and a trip to Manchester to support teeshirt campaign.

Apart from regular bans on Twitter (BBB to the rescue) and the insults, abuse and threats on there (no longer bother me and I mute most) not really. I wear my Woman = Adult Human Female hoodie and people have stopped their cars to say “Well Done!”

Wendy Johnson, Sister in Action