I worked at the New Zealand Educational Institute, a large union for teachers and support staff.
I was investigated twice for making gender critical statements on social media and for organising with Speak Up for Women NZ. Because I cited the NZ Bill of Rights Act, in defence of my rights to political opinions and expression I was not able to be sacked. Instead my team was reviewed shortly after the second investigation and I was made redundant. The (straight, male) National Secretary decided without consulting any LGBT staff that the Institute would adopt the NZ Standards Association's standard for Rainbow Friendly workplaces. I protested and said that staff who are actually gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans should have a say in that. We were invited to make submissions on the standard. In my submission I pointed out that while the Glossary had a number of definitions of gender and trans terms there was no definition of "sex" or "lesbian". The standard is heavily influenced by gender ideology. I said I could not agree to be bound by a policy based on the standard, but that I would like to be involved in the group deciding the institutes LGBT policies. I reiterated that LGBT staff should be the ones to decide what our policies should be. I was told by the straight woman in charge of implementing the policy that I could not be part of the group. The group ended up having a lesbian who was pro gender identity, and a couple of other straight people on it including a straight man. My comments were put in moderation in 2 New Zealand Trade Union Facebook groups, along with any other gender critical people who tried to discuss gender ideology in those groups As a member and branch secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party, I was told I could not join the Rainbow Labour organising group because it was "inclusive" and I would make some members unsafe.because I had gender critical views. At a Rainbow Labour Wellington Branch meeting I attended, a transwoman announced that there had been a "TERF"problem at another branch, but it had "been fixed", and "she" had not had any further problems with that branch. At the same meeting Grant Robertson, the Deputy Prime Minister, and an out gay man, referred to a Member of Parliament as making "TERF comments" in Parliament, referring to ex-MP Sarah Dowie, a member of the opposition National Party, who asked the Minister of Statistics if his department would still collect statistics about sex in the Census. I am not a union member any more as I am now unemployed, but I am still a branch secretary in the Labour Party. 2/26/2021 if we cannot stand by our lesbian sisters then we cannot call ourselves feministsRead Now I have been Labour member and trade unionist for 20 years from a long line of socialist women. I took part in marches in support of my lesbian sisters and am clinging in by my fingernails having become increasingly conerned by the treatment of Rosie Duffield and the abject failure of the party leadership to stand up for women's sex based rights. This is especially important in a world where online pornography is freely available and frankly, the cotton ceiling arguments, is the most dreadful male entitlement I have seen for a long time.I worry for young autistic and lesbian women caught up in fashionable medicalisation of complex issues as Tennessee Williams' sister was lobotimised during another era when problem women were subjected to irreversible treatments. I have found Keira Bell inspiring and Dr Jane Clare Jones' analysis insightful. Above all, if we cannot stand by our lesbian sisters then we cannot call ourselves feminists - I choose Julie Bindel, Beverly Jackson and many others holding the line against this new homphobia.
I am a millennial writing from the US. Ever since I turned 18 and gained the right to vote, I have voted as a Democrat. I have also supported Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, my university’s union, and a number of causes associated with the left. I have been a proud feminist ever since discovering feminism as a teenager. In fact, much of my artwork is focused on themes of biology, the female form, and life and decay. For years now, I have been observing the erasure of females in feminist circles in the name of “inclusivity” toward men “identifying as women” or “identifying as gender minorities”. For example, I have witnessed feminist artists being pressured to depict penises in their art, and women being told “not all women get periods” when merely describing their own experiences. I have been increasingly troubled to see the intrusion of gender ideology beyond feminist circles, into areas such as politics, universities, and workplaces.
The first time I expressed my concerns about women’s bathrooms being unsafe due to self-ID policies, I was accused of spouting Fox News, right-wing myths and dismissed by a young male at work. This was stunning to me, as a feminist and Democrat who has personally experienced street harassment. It seems like common sense to me that if I am harassed in broad daylight in public by strange males, then obviously they will continue their harassment in the bathroom once they discover it’s a “free-for-all”. After this incident, I stayed quiet for a few years but became upset once more when I was referred to as a “person with a cervix” when receiving a pap smear at a doctor’s office. I was previously diagnosed with HPV, so it was upsetting to be suggested as “less than a woman” while receiving such a sensitive exam and worrying about cervical cancer. Meanwhile, I was on a diversity committee at the university and asked for “sex” to be included with the listed categories; a male student identifying as a “genderqueer non-male” asked me, “Why would sex matter?” Finally, I expressed my opposition to a law that would allow any male prisoner to self-ID as a woman and be transferred to a women’s prison. I clarified that my opposition was to the self-ID aspect of the law, but I would support vetted transfers, creation of third prisons or wings, etc. The female friend of the same “genderqueer non-male” started interrogating me about this, and I finally stepped down from the diversity committee, fearing for my university position. In the past year or so, I have been sending detailed letters and phone calls to my Democratic representatives expressing my opposition to laws that push extreme gender ideology. My communications have been ignored. For the first time in 2020, I changed my voter registration to Independent and voted for third-party candidates. I have also stopped donating to ACLU and Planned Parenthood. I have stopped participating in the university union. I never intended to be a “single issue” voter or person, but I cannot in good conscience contribute to a party or organization that is stripping away the hard-earned rights of half the population. How many women must object, before leftists will listen? How many women and girls will be harmed, before leftists will admit there are conflicts of rights? I had always assumed women’s rights would improve in my lifetime, but I am saddened to discover that my daughter may be born into a world with less freedoms than what I enjoyed as a girl. My only consolation is that females are incredibly strong. We have weathered tremendous hardships in the past and will survive them in the future. |
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