I used to count myself a trans ally. I'm left leaning politically. Very (very !) pro-gay rights. Feminist obviously.

Until it started being all "trans women are women!" everywhere. 1/

No they are not. Different lived experiences pre-transition. Different concerns (unwanted pregnancy, no endometriosis, no ptsd after childbirth, no menopause etc). They have other issues for sure! Not denying that! Just different. Due to being male. 2/

So why the insistence on shouting TWAW from the rooftops? I educated myself. Gender id, lady brains, born in wrong body etc. Concluded it was all a) a load of tosh b) clearly at odds with everything I've ever considered feminist. 3/

Thought it through. Discovered it means subjecting children to experimental treatments and irreversible surgery. And women in shelters and prisons to rape. All for ideology.

No amount of respect for trans people's feelings is worth that amount of physical harm and violence. 4/

Do I like being called a menstruator? Obviously not. But the real reason I stand with @MForstater and @jk_rowling is purely intellectual honesty and compassion. We cannot maintain a polite fiction out of good manners when it does obvious, visible, demonstrable harm. 5/

So there we are. This is how I became more outspoken as gender critical.

The real surprise was the level of vitriol, abuse and frankly lack of critical thought this made me encounter. Misogyny is alive and well. 6/

But the more adversity I've encountered, the more I've questioned my reasoning and conclusions, the stronger my conclusions have appeared.

So here we are. Humans are not clownfish. We cannot change our sex. Sad, perhaps, but true.

/end