The clown posse is still dangerous
While adults refuse to enter the room, women are still at risk
Obviously, we’re hoping that December 19th will become, in time, something of a celebration for people who believe that sex is real. At the moment the concept of a ‘coming-out’ day is subject to the arguments which are a feature of this/our/your movement. But again, troubling though these flare-ups are, and a miserable experience for anyone at the centre of them, they do at least remind us that we are not our opponents.
Look at the privileged clowns who tormented Kathleen Stock. Clowns walking in lockstep. Clown clones.
It’s embarrassing. Just like Nancy Kelly or Ben Cohen, none of them understands the religion they’re pushing. They’re just endlessly winging it and bluffing, and they think it gives them the moral authority to destroy lives.
If only we could just laugh at them, but as recently as this week, they claimed another victim.
It’s still not safe to express perfectly commonplace opinions that are in line with those of the vast majority of people. But it’s worse for women. The brilliant @LabelFreeBrands showed the starkly different responses to the ‘coming out’ of JK Rowling (left) and Richard Dawkins (right). Sorry it’s so blurry, but to cut a long story short, Dawkins is found ‘disappointing’, while Rowling is a “whore” , a ‘Karen’, a ‘tart’, a ‘slag’ and is ordered several times to “choke on a dick”
When Jenny Kimmel bravely described her experiences of being married to an abusive AGP male, she immediately became a target for the same activists in Ireland. When Helen Watts spoke up at Girlguiding about the safeguarding red flags that led to the ongoing Monica Sulley situation (he’s still on their website!), she was expelled.
And this is what happens when a woman, Rosie Duffield, who overturns a huge Tory majority to become the first ever Labour MP in Kent, speaks about a woman’s right to be safe. She has to watch as unknown MPs rise to prominence because her boss is too much of a coward to stand up to the bullies in the party.
It’s a good idea to keep this inequity in mind when deciding whether or not to come out as GC. It’s hazardous either way, but marginally safer for men. If the decision is truly a close one, you might want to push forward if you’re a man, and hold back if you’re a woman. As the previous examples show, and notwithstanding the experience of Andy Healy, James Esses and others, the risks are usually far greater for women.
But do remember, there are many ways to take part in the day. You can stay anonymous on Twitter, and come out on Facebook, or come out on Facebook and stay anonymous on Twitter. You can sign the Declaration on Women’s Sex-Based Rights, you can write to your MP, or your school’s headmaster, or the GP who’s trying to trans your kid. You can speak to a friend at the school gates, or you can question the pronouns you’ve been forced to add to your email signature at work.
Do whatever feels right for you. The aim is to make it easier next year and the year after that. Perhaps we’ll see men coming out first, to make it safer for women to do so. Whatever works. The ultimate aim is to defang these ridiculous bullies. Their day is nearly done. Let’s move it forward.
Hi Graham, while everything that you've said is true about the misogynist abuse gender critical women get being generally worse than what is dished out to men, you've taken more than your share for standing up to this nonsense and it's appreciated.
I think it is true that men are treated differently by trolls mainly because those trolls are men who hate and resent women plus of course those sad women who want to be on their side. However men don’t usually step forward in large numbers to support other men the way the sisterhood does. This last year has been a revelation to me as I’ve stood at protests for the first time in decades alongside women of all ages and types and some men. The sheer scale of the attacks on women from Marion Millar through those persecuted in universities of all places and prisons and rape centres cannot be ignored. I am so proud of the fight back. For every label of hateful bigot I would hail 100 brave women who can take that on the chin and move onwards and upwards. We are winning this - us, the little people of Terf Island - we’ll send support and courage to those struggling in the US, Canada, Ireland , Spain and the rest.