I am humbly asking all my friends, comrades and readers of my blog to please do something for me. I am one of the many people, mostly women, who have been slandered, abused and disadvantaged in the last few years, for calling out those who have been promoting an ideology we believe is a profound danger to women and girls.
When the notion of sex self-ID came on the scene in the form of #NoDebate, many of the women I knew who did think debate was required, began to step out of, or get pushed out of, party political and trade union work. When that happened, we re-grouped around organizations that stayed true to the tenets of feminism.
Over those years, observing the attackers, and those women who spoke up (publicly or privately) and those who just didn't "get it", I joked that the issue, by then re-named "trans rights", appeared to be an intelligence test but to be fair, there are still many people who've been told so many lies about this campaign that I can't blame them if they just don't know what to think.
But now, I would like them - I would like you, please, to make the time to understand fully. Even if you have got your head around the main issues, please listen to the women in this film, and find out why so many women -- and a few men -- came together to shout out about this issue, and to understand what it cost them.
Please think about the fact that the "trans rights" campaigners have been given access to tell their side of the story in schools, in trade unions, in political and religious conferences, in company and service training -- everywhere, thanks to Stonewall, and please think about the fact that all the time they were spreading their lies and slanders, they were doing their level best to block your understanding of these women. Please could you redress the balance by taking some time to watch this film, and really listen to some of our women telling our side of the story?
Click here to watch the film
Some say this is a class issue, calling "gender ideology" a luxury belief, or a middle-class neurosis. Others say it's just an excuse to put down courageous women. Nowadays, I think both those things are true, but the key point is that selling the idea that you can "change sex" is a very effective strategy for certain kinds of males and above all, certain kinds of "health care" profiteers.
The class element is one of the things Film maker Deirdre O'Neil is particularly well-placed to understand and to illuminate. Please watch this film and, if you can afford it, please drop a few pounds in via their donations link. Although it was admirably low-budget (women tend to be good at that) the team do need to recoup their costs on it and, quite frankly, they deserve enough on top of that to actually get paid well (women tend not to be so lucky at that.)
Click here to watch the film
The only way the women who've been slandered, insulted and pushed out of their jobs or political roles can be compensated is if the people we respect take the trouble to really understand what's happened. I get that it's not easy -- the "trans rights" movement has been a mess of smoke and mirrors -- but here is the antidote. This film is the best way I've seen yet of clearing away the smoke and seeing what's really going on. If you still need persuading, here are a few examples:
You will see Joan talking about the editor of a much-respected publication who has come to believe that if "trans rights" campaigners have promoted a lie, it is "perjorative" to tell the truth – even if it's a truth that ought to put vulnerable people's minds at rest. You should know that the managers who hold the keys to so many people's careers still believe that, and will punish their subordinates for telling the truth.
You will also see former UCU rep Shereen Benjamin, explaining how the academic world has established a find-the-lady trick, switching the ideas of "trans rights" and "gender-identity theory" in such a way that now, anyone who critiques the theory is accused of cruelly damaging trans people. And you will see Jane Clare Jones demonstrating why "transwomen are women" is neither a meaningful nor a useful thing to say, for anyone's sakes.
[By the by, it was mainly Stonewall UK who did this to us -- if you'd like to understand what they did, and how, Simon Edge wrote a brilliant, and very funny novel which is (I'd say) a pretty accurate analogy of what Stonewall did. Click here for more about that.]
Click here to watch the film
When I look at these women (and Simon) – for example, Jane Clare Jones, who I met at lunch in a pub function room in King's Cross during a women's strategy meeting; Lucy Masoud, who I first encountered when organizing a Woman's Place UK meeting for my town; Mandy Clare, formerly on the Labour Party Women's Committee, who I invited to come to FiLiA this year because I wanted some speakers on sex, race and class in socialism; Shereen Benjamin, who I first met at a trade union conference, I look at them all and think about how five years ago, they were everywoman (and Simon) and those of them I know personally, I know because like me, they were meeting through trade union or socialist society or Labour Party activity – because many of these notorious "terfs" you hear about were and are socialist activists. I look at them and realize that now, they are famous amongst all kinds of women. Now, they are the heroes of our generation.
I know some will scoff at that idea, saying "huh, they're just troublemakers."
And I realize I am seeing history in the making. I realize that in every era, the people we now know as the heroes of their age would have been seen as "trouble", as "controversial" by their contemporaries, and those who wanted to "be someone" would say they were best avoided. I always suspected wanting to "be someone" was a bad idea.
Well done to Deirdre O'Neil and her team, for recognizing and recording history in the making.
Click here to watch the film
If you haven't watched this film yet, please do so, and please share it, or share this blog post, to encourage others to watch. It's a film designed to make a difference, which is why the gender-ideology gangs have already started trying to supress it. We can and must fix that, by publicizing it ourselves. Also, why would you want to miss this chance know the stories of some of the women (and Simon) who are going to go down in history as the heroes of our generation? Go watch the film!
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Dear Reader,
Times are hard, and the articles on this site are freely available but if you are able to support my work by making a donation, I am very grateful.
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Cheers,
Kay
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