Twitter is renowned as a chamber of hate, and for sure, some people can only take the self-imposed stress for short periods. Many good folks, with the best of intentions, are driven from it altogether – more recently Munroe Bergdorf.
Compared to most, I probably deal with hate better than most – but one issue is sure to rile me more than any other. That is being indirectly accused of being a predator, sex offender or abuser of women. I usually dont “bite” but within 48 hours two of my gender-critical followers, (I would argue much more reasonable and decent than most) posted images of trans sex offenders, and quite understandably I am upset by it.
I know lots of trans folks want to retaliate by posting images of Myria Hindley et al – because for sure there are lots of cis-gender sex offenders as well, both male and female.
The last stats I looked at stated there were 13,359 sex offenders in England and Wales and just 60 were trans. In percentage terms that is only 0.45% – and as trans folk are believed to be about 1% of the population, we offend less than cis-gendered people.
However, stats (which happen to be a strong point of mine) can always be “manipulated to work an advantage” – there is invariably an opening somewhere to provide a counter-argument. Indeed Fair Play for Women did precisely that – using the fact that overall trans offending is incredibly low, they could argue (mathematically correctly) that trans women convicted of sex offences – in terms of percentage against other crimes, was high.
When used in this way, as a percentage, women are quite naturally horrified. Fair Play for Women (who should be renamed Unfair) decided to “forget” the 13,299 cis-gendered sex offending prisoners, some of whom are the worst abusers, rapists and murderers on the planet. The actual stats that I have are these, regarding trans women :
How could “we” change the sex offender percentage?
Crazily either offending more in relation to committing non-sexual offences or much more preferably – not committing any sex offences at all.
Notice the “we” is in speech marks though, I like all other decent citizens abhor crime of any sort, and trans folk who commit crime do not do it in my name. Indeed, I disown every one, though I do accept many have mental health issues and should accordingly be treated and given as much help as possible.
And here is the crux of why I get stressed on Twitter – seeing a constant stream of images of “sex offending trans women” I have no relation to at all.
I am being “smeared.”
The gender-critical do not have to post these images.
It serves no purpose other than to alienate law-abiding trans folk. And more to the point – WE DONT DO IT TO THEM.
