I'm glad you clarified this, Julie, there's little room for nuance on twitter and people tend to pounce on things without engaging their brains. I agree with all you've written here, by focusing on one issue we lose sight of the bigger picture.
I totally agree. Twitter gender critical feminists were saying Kemi Badenoch would be best choice purely on her stance against TWAW. I had to point out that her small state vision would be disastrous for women. Removing vital state services for poor or vulnerable, more privatisation, good services for those who can pay and an inadequate safety net for rest (just as has happened to dentistry). And many women will lose jobs in cut backs to state or be outsourced with poorer pay
I completely agree with you. There isn't one of them (PM candidates) that I feel has any real understanding of the issues facing women, especially women of colour, lesbian women, working class, abused and trafficked women, let alone giving a damn about how to address them.
"I am getting really concerned that a number of women, none of whom were feminists before the ‘gender wars’, have focussed on trans, and nothing but the trans."
I take issue with this comment. I'm a woman who was subjected to sexual assault many times over (once at knifepoint). I grew up in the Bronx, in the 80s and 90s. I most certainly understand what the patriarchy is. However it wasn't until I moved to England, had a daughter, and started campaigning for labour that I discovered the current trans rights movement and also subsequently, the women's movement. You don't have to be concerned about us women who lived under various men's boots but never felt the bravery to commit to a women's movement until this recent threat. Just embrace us, welcome us to the fight. I agree with much of what you said, but some of it hints at this hierarchy.
As for the wider issue. I said this to you on Twitter, so apologies but I think it still needs saying. The conservatives in this country aren't like the US republicans. Not at all. Take it from an American who has lived on both sides of the Atlantic. Yes of course there will be anti-abortion misogynists in their group, but they are far closer politically to the US Democrats than the Republicans. The US doesn't have a true left movement, it's center-right and far-right only. If you think we can negotiate with Biden, then we can negotiate with the Tories. Personally, as a lifelong socialist, I think the left is lost to me. Their men are just as misogynistic as the men on the right. So I don't sign up to this idea that we need to stick to labour. Sorry for the wordy comment. I hope that all makes sense. Take care. Jennifer
I'm American. The US is not comprised of only center-right and far-right. There are leftists here, many Democrats would for into the center, left of center category and many still are leftists/ progressives.
I am an American. We have a few leftists. But there is no left. No left organization. It is disastrous here. None of the pols care about violence toward women. None of them care about motherhood. I can vote for the ones who regard women as property (R) but won’t transition children or the ones who do not recognize women and will transition children (D). I never voted Republican. Probably will this year. Amerika.
Kresge, you expressed so well the conundrum that so many of us are faced with in the US right now. We are truly stuck between the rock and the hard place; how do we choose between worse and worser?
Sure, of course. I was one of them. I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about the two party system. The Dems and the Republicans. The Dems are not a left wing party, at least not in the same sense as left wing in most of Europe. In many of these countries the Dems are politically centrist or center right.
Absolutely agree. Twitter especially has a lots of ‘gender critical’ tweeters that appear to just be ferociously, hatefully, anti-trans. This is not the same as feminism.
I work therapeutically with young people who ID as trans, and I’m ~enormously~ concerned about this issue - but it’s not the one single problem facing women and girls.
It’s easy to have awful politics and also recognise biological sex is real.
Made me think, Julie. Thanks for pointing this out and clarifying my thoughts. Totally agree btw. You mention women's prisons. I don't agree with women being sent to prison at all, unless extreme cases (eg Myra Hindley). As for pregnant women ..... No child should be born in prison and no pregnant woman should be sent to prison. Pretty sure you would agree. Brilliant interview, which I hadn't heard before. You should be on tv (maybe Free Speech Nation) unless I missed that too!! Thanks for excellent article and excellent interview.
For most Scots like me it matter not one jot who is PM or leader of any party in England. we have enough problems with our own FM! Who I believed was captured by #Metoo & GRA as she thought Scotland could beat England to this reform shit. Then the tories cancelled it & sat back watching opposition parties fall all over themselves to be the fist to make UK more Trans friendly! Or whatever it is they think they are doing! It is distracting form the other big issues..on purpose! Be better ask each one the price of a loaf of bread to see how 'tunes in'they are!
I agree with you. I am American, not gender critical but dislike some of the misogyny in the TRA movement. I would NEVER have voted for Trump. He has done more to set back women's rights than any other American politician in my lifetime. Also, many republicans ARE bigoted against trans people. Why would I support that?
The 2 parties no longer involving voting for what or who you support. Which one scares you less? The Democrats will accelerate the transitioning of girls. How can I support that?
It is wrong to medically alter children when it will cause consequences that they are too young to understand. Forcing teen girls to have babies is also wrong and forever life changing. Limiting support for struggling single moms, also wrong. Limiting healthcare, wrong.
Medically transitioning children is terrible, but it's hard to fight when so many parents are on board. This pendulum will eventually swing back to reason, after many children grow up to realize what has happened to them. We are seeing the onset of this but there is so much more to come. It's awful, terrible, but I will not side with Republicans because of this one issue. There's a lot of suffering to go around.
If a candidate does not think a woman is an adult human female then they subscribe to a reality that is hostile to women. When males can present as women and receive accolades meant for us women then we are being pushed out of our own spaces. I'm certainly tired of it and will be pursuing my own legal battle against misogyny.
Yes, totally agree. And loved Helen Joyce's pithy comment on Matt Walsh's film that she just posted from her interview on Skeptic: https://youtu.be/PnzvGSEbRZM
This sentence sums up the entirety of the Trans discussion: "Feminists do not dislike individual trans people because they identify as trans. That is a prejudicial and bigoted view to take. We dislike gender ideology and the creeping capture of our institutions that favour gender over sex based legal rights."
A bit late to this one, but thank you Julie for articulating this so clearly. Being american I don't understand the nuances of UK politics. Here in the US, especially on the west coast, the trans issue is so deviously entwined with so many other alarming community and woman devastating liberal policies at this point; that the gender rights issue has indeed become THE issue for me. It appears to be one of the larger leading heads of the multi-hydra of mysogyny--pedophelia, child pornography, invading women's spaces, justifying attacks on women etc. The trans rights activists in my neck of the words are militant and scary and have physically assaulted several elder women recently at protest. One fellow was wearing the trans rights equality flag with a machine gun superimposed over the flag. Antifa has become the new face of misogyny, anti-seminsim and racism in this country. At least around here. I am far more alarmed by them than by the white supremists at this point because Antifa appears to be directly supported and cheered on by the liberals. (or at the very least they are pretending antifa does not exist or is just a 'peaceful' group'). Meanwhile the real scary nazi groups are not being cheered on and welcomed by the conservatives in general. I am linking the news report on this recent old women attack in a nearby community below. It also appears that the mayor of this community has been involved in supporting 'right' to child pornography , etc, which explains why the city police did not interfere with those assaults on the women until a reporter begged them to. I have to agree with Kresge, also american, who posted below. We are basically being made to choose between worse and worser. The liberals have become so insanely 'inclusive' that they are now including the pedophiles in the pride shit. I am not kidding. I am sure Julie knows this, but in case others do not; that is what MAPS pride folks are. Minor Attracted Persons = pedophiles. This is ALL being normalized here under the incredibly amorphous umbrella of gender equality, non-discrimination, inclusion, ant-racism etc. It all sounds good and righteous on paper, yet just under the surface it is incredibly toxic and dangerous to women and girls especially. This has become a fucking free for all and it is fucking scary. Especially as a an elder woman who is handicapped; I have become even more leery of public facilities and events. How do you fight this shit when the police will not even protect old women from physical assault who are peacefully and legally protesting thier right to pee and shower without a male present? As usual we are being made afraid to speak up.
Yes abortion rights and other issues are important; however we can educate young girls about birth control; but we cannot seemingly protect them from biological males who identify as women invading their private spaces, denigrating them in sports, taking over women's shelters etc. Because the rights for men to do this were already codified a decade ago in liberal states long before the rest of us really understand what it meant The only states that are currently legally protecting women and girls from this kind of invasion and assault are the conservative republican red states. If I had a young daughter, I would have already moved to one of those red states when they started preaching gender fluidity in the schools here. Because I feel I could protect her from conservative indocrination, but at this point I don't think I could protect her against liberal indocrination as it has become completely interwoven with every single institution here.
This sentence sums up the entirety of the Trans discussion: "Feminists do not dislike individual trans people because they identify as trans. That is a prejudicial and bigoted view to take. We dislike gender ideology and the creeping capture of our institutions that favour gender over sex based legal rights."
I'm glad you clarified this, Julie, there's little room for nuance on twitter and people tend to pounce on things without engaging their brains. I agree with all you've written here, by focusing on one issue we lose sight of the bigger picture.
I totally agree. Twitter gender critical feminists were saying Kemi Badenoch would be best choice purely on her stance against TWAW. I had to point out that her small state vision would be disastrous for women. Removing vital state services for poor or vulnerable, more privatisation, good services for those who can pay and an inadequate safety net for rest (just as has happened to dentistry). And many women will lose jobs in cut backs to state or be outsourced with poorer pay
I completely agree with you. There isn't one of them (PM candidates) that I feel has any real understanding of the issues facing women, especially women of colour, lesbian women, working class, abused and trafficked women, let alone giving a damn about how to address them.
"I am getting really concerned that a number of women, none of whom were feminists before the ‘gender wars’, have focussed on trans, and nothing but the trans."
I take issue with this comment. I'm a woman who was subjected to sexual assault many times over (once at knifepoint). I grew up in the Bronx, in the 80s and 90s. I most certainly understand what the patriarchy is. However it wasn't until I moved to England, had a daughter, and started campaigning for labour that I discovered the current trans rights movement and also subsequently, the women's movement. You don't have to be concerned about us women who lived under various men's boots but never felt the bravery to commit to a women's movement until this recent threat. Just embrace us, welcome us to the fight. I agree with much of what you said, but some of it hints at this hierarchy.
As for the wider issue. I said this to you on Twitter, so apologies but I think it still needs saying. The conservatives in this country aren't like the US republicans. Not at all. Take it from an American who has lived on both sides of the Atlantic. Yes of course there will be anti-abortion misogynists in their group, but they are far closer politically to the US Democrats than the Republicans. The US doesn't have a true left movement, it's center-right and far-right only. If you think we can negotiate with Biden, then we can negotiate with the Tories. Personally, as a lifelong socialist, I think the left is lost to me. Their men are just as misogynistic as the men on the right. So I don't sign up to this idea that we need to stick to labour. Sorry for the wordy comment. I hope that all makes sense. Take care. Jennifer
I'm American. The US is not comprised of only center-right and far-right. There are leftists here, many Democrats would for into the center, left of center category and many still are leftists/ progressives.
I am an American. We have a few leftists. But there is no left. No left organization. It is disastrous here. None of the pols care about violence toward women. None of them care about motherhood. I can vote for the ones who regard women as property (R) but won’t transition children or the ones who do not recognize women and will transition children (D). I never voted Republican. Probably will this year. Amerika.
Kresge, you expressed so well the conundrum that so many of us are faced with in the US right now. We are truly stuck between the rock and the hard place; how do we choose between worse and worser?
Sure, of course. I was one of them. I'm not talking about individuals. I'm talking about the two party system. The Dems and the Republicans. The Dems are not a left wing party, at least not in the same sense as left wing in most of Europe. In many of these countries the Dems are politically centrist or center right.
I couldn’t agree more, Julie. The number of ‘feminists’ who don’t see that is disappointing, Mind-blowing and angersine.
Absolutely agree. Twitter especially has a lots of ‘gender critical’ tweeters that appear to just be ferociously, hatefully, anti-trans. This is not the same as feminism.
I work therapeutically with young people who ID as trans, and I’m ~enormously~ concerned about this issue - but it’s not the one single problem facing women and girls.
It’s easy to have awful politics and also recognise biological sex is real.
Made me think, Julie. Thanks for pointing this out and clarifying my thoughts. Totally agree btw. You mention women's prisons. I don't agree with women being sent to prison at all, unless extreme cases (eg Myra Hindley). As for pregnant women ..... No child should be born in prison and no pregnant woman should be sent to prison. Pretty sure you would agree. Brilliant interview, which I hadn't heard before. You should be on tv (maybe Free Speech Nation) unless I missed that too!! Thanks for excellent article and excellent interview.
For most Scots like me it matter not one jot who is PM or leader of any party in England. we have enough problems with our own FM! Who I believed was captured by #Metoo & GRA as she thought Scotland could beat England to this reform shit. Then the tories cancelled it & sat back watching opposition parties fall all over themselves to be the fist to make UK more Trans friendly! Or whatever it is they think they are doing! It is distracting form the other big issues..on purpose! Be better ask each one the price of a loaf of bread to see how 'tunes in'they are!
I agree with you. I am American, not gender critical but dislike some of the misogyny in the TRA movement. I would NEVER have voted for Trump. He has done more to set back women's rights than any other American politician in my lifetime. Also, many republicans ARE bigoted against trans people. Why would I support that?
The 2 parties no longer involving voting for what or who you support. Which one scares you less? The Democrats will accelerate the transitioning of girls. How can I support that?
It is wrong to medically alter children when it will cause consequences that they are too young to understand. Forcing teen girls to have babies is also wrong and forever life changing. Limiting support for struggling single moms, also wrong. Limiting healthcare, wrong.
Medically transitioning children is terrible, but it's hard to fight when so many parents are on board. This pendulum will eventually swing back to reason, after many children grow up to realize what has happened to them. We are seeing the onset of this but there is so much more to come. It's awful, terrible, but I will not side with Republicans because of this one issue. There's a lot of suffering to go around.
If a candidate does not think a woman is an adult human female then they subscribe to a reality that is hostile to women. When males can present as women and receive accolades meant for us women then we are being pushed out of our own spaces. I'm certainly tired of it and will be pursuing my own legal battle against misogyny.
Yes Julie.Absolutely spot on.
Yes, totally agree. And loved Helen Joyce's pithy comment on Matt Walsh's film that she just posted from her interview on Skeptic: https://youtu.be/PnzvGSEbRZM
This sentence sums up the entirety of the Trans discussion: "Feminists do not dislike individual trans people because they identify as trans. That is a prejudicial and bigoted view to take. We dislike gender ideology and the creeping capture of our institutions that favour gender over sex based legal rights."
Brilliant!
Fantastic.
A bit late to this one, but thank you Julie for articulating this so clearly. Being american I don't understand the nuances of UK politics. Here in the US, especially on the west coast, the trans issue is so deviously entwined with so many other alarming community and woman devastating liberal policies at this point; that the gender rights issue has indeed become THE issue for me. It appears to be one of the larger leading heads of the multi-hydra of mysogyny--pedophelia, child pornography, invading women's spaces, justifying attacks on women etc. The trans rights activists in my neck of the words are militant and scary and have physically assaulted several elder women recently at protest. One fellow was wearing the trans rights equality flag with a machine gun superimposed over the flag. Antifa has become the new face of misogyny, anti-seminsim and racism in this country. At least around here. I am far more alarmed by them than by the white supremists at this point because Antifa appears to be directly supported and cheered on by the liberals. (or at the very least they are pretending antifa does not exist or is just a 'peaceful' group'). Meanwhile the real scary nazi groups are not being cheered on and welcomed by the conservatives in general. I am linking the news report on this recent old women attack in a nearby community below. It also appears that the mayor of this community has been involved in supporting 'right' to child pornography , etc, which explains why the city police did not interfere with those assaults on the women until a reporter begged them to. I have to agree with Kresge, also american, who posted below. We are basically being made to choose between worse and worser. The liberals have become so insanely 'inclusive' that they are now including the pedophiles in the pride shit. I am not kidding. I am sure Julie knows this, but in case others do not; that is what MAPS pride folks are. Minor Attracted Persons = pedophiles. This is ALL being normalized here under the incredibly amorphous umbrella of gender equality, non-discrimination, inclusion, ant-racism etc. It all sounds good and righteous on paper, yet just under the surface it is incredibly toxic and dangerous to women and girls especially. This has become a fucking free for all and it is fucking scary. Especially as a an elder woman who is handicapped; I have become even more leery of public facilities and events. How do you fight this shit when the police will not even protect old women from physical assault who are peacefully and legally protesting thier right to pee and shower without a male present? As usual we are being made afraid to speak up.
Yes abortion rights and other issues are important; however we can educate young girls about birth control; but we cannot seemingly protect them from biological males who identify as women invading their private spaces, denigrating them in sports, taking over women's shelters etc. Because the rights for men to do this were already codified a decade ago in liberal states long before the rest of us really understand what it meant The only states that are currently legally protecting women and girls from this kind of invasion and assault are the conservative republican red states. If I had a young daughter, I would have already moved to one of those red states when they started preaching gender fluidity in the schools here. Because I feel I could protect her from conservative indocrination, but at this point I don't think I could protect her against liberal indocrination as it has become completely interwoven with every single institution here.
https://www.porttownsendfreepress.com/2022/08/16/women-seeking-civil-rights-stand-up-to-mob-hatred-and-intimidation-in-port-townsend/
https://mynorthwest.com/3600903/something-stinks-really-bad-in-port-townsend-columnist-claims-after-mayors-sexual-tweets/
This sentence sums up the entirety of the Trans discussion: "Feminists do not dislike individual trans people because they identify as trans. That is a prejudicial and bigoted view to take. We dislike gender ideology and the creeping capture of our institutions that favour gender over sex based legal rights."
Brilliant!