Activism - what works and what doesn't

'Activism' to either maintain or destroy the status quo has a long and varied pedigree. I examine what's been effective for the 'Gender Critical' movement so far and where we go from here.

On Thursday 7th September 2023 I held my second Twitter ‘space’ to discuss what was effective and what was not in GC activism. I hope to gather people’s stories for volume 2 of ‘Transpositions’. I will also be speaking at this year’s ‘Battle of Ideas’ - How Far Should Protest Go? which asks the fundamental question

How far is too far when it comes to protests? Does an honest belief that we live in an ‘emergency’ situation justify widespread disruption? Who decides what is acceptable or not?

What do I mean by activism?

Any act - speaking, marching, destruction of property, stickers, meetings, writing articles - which is done to either maintain a status quo or destroy it. It comes from the Latin ‘actus’ - a ‘doing’ or a ‘driving’. The different types of ‘activism’ are many and varied. At the extreme end is violent protest, which offers as direct consequence the destruction of property or even lives. That slides easily into terrorism. I do not support this kind of ‘activism’. Gandhi rejected violence, not merely in activism but in all areas of his life; believing it a crude tactic which is ultimately ineffective:

“I seek entirely to blunt the edge of the tyrant’s sword, not by putting up against it a sharper edged weapon, but by disappointing his expectation that I would be offering physical resistance. The resistance of the soul that I should offer instead would elude him. It would at first dazzle him and at last compel recognition from him, which recognition would not humiliate him but would uplift him.”

‘Gender critical’ activism does not tend to embrace violence towards people or property, unlike the popular tactics of the gender ideologues which focus on active threats and physical assault. The highest level of criminality of the gender critical seems to be flyposting or criminal damage, such as stickering or the recent graffiti on a bridge that caused Northumbria Police to set up a dedicated help line for those distraught over such offensive statements of material reality such as ‘u can’t change sex’. Reports suggested that some of the graffiti urged people to jump off the bridge but interestingly, none of those images were published. If true, this would seem unusual for gender critical activism which often uses humour and mockery to make its points.

In recent years, GC activism has been undertaken by a variety of individuals and organisations, that have offered ‘LawFare’, political campaigning, education and direct assistance to people unfairly impacted by gender identity, such as Sex Matters, Legal Feminists, Transgender Trend, The Women’s Rights Network, The Free Speech Union, the LGB Alliance, Fair Cop, Keep Prisons Single Sex, Fair Play for Women, Women’s Place UK, For Women Scotland and the Safe Schools Alliance. Some have grown to charitable status and paid employees, others are more rough and ready.

Some have expertise in political lobbying and sober academic analysis, whereas organisations such as Standing For Women specialise in taking to public places to speak openly and face down the masked male counter protest. Harry Miller has engaged directly with the police and been arrested (then to be awarded damages for unlawful arrest). Many others blog, tweet, sticker, complain and engage with friends and families.

The Space discussions.

I asked the question - what did people find had been effective activism? What didn’t work and why? And where do we go from here?

My awakening as an activist came in June 2019 with the NSPCC employee who filmed himself masturbating in a rubber suit and unfortunately managed to make the video available via his LinkedIn profile. I remembered the NSPCC response to those who complained - that they were homophobes and would be ‘reported’. I thought this was outrageous and emailed to say so, and if they did not respond I would report them to the Charity Commission. They did not respond, so I did report them and was informed by a mole at the NSPCC that this resulted in some high level meetings. What good this actually did to change hearts and minds at the NSPCC is not clear - but it certainly helped elevate my profile as an activist, give courage to others who were similarly disturbed, and lead to an invitation to join Fair Cop which I accepted with enthusiasm.

The first speaker discussed her own transition - from supporter of gender identity ideology to scepticism, and that her path was made easier by those who had the grace to be gracious with her; to offer her time and space to take on board their arguments, and change her mind, rather than expose her to rants or polemics. There followed a discussion about ‘cult mindsets’ in general and how greater familiarity with the tactics of cults would make ground level activism more effective. We all needed a healthy curiosity and willingness to avoid echo chambers.

Where would be the best place to put our energies? There was serious concern about how many political parties had been captured. A key worry was schools and what misinformation/guidance was being promoted there.

I spoke about my support for LawFare but recognised its limitations - the Big Three of Miller, Forstater and Bell had not had the immediate impact I had hoped, and it was clear that gender identity ideology remained embedded in many key organisations, not least the police. LawFare was very expensive and emotionally draining and while I thought it had been an excellent way of re-affirming existing rights that were being ignored or denied, it was a cumbersome and ineffective way of trying to create changes to law and policy.

Another speaker highlighted concerns that ‘LawFare’ offered too narrow a focus - akin to worrying how the petrol was put in the car, rather than where the car was going. This brought it back to concerns about schools and how the whole notion of ‘gender identity’ was being scaffolded in society at large. The space agreed that gender identity ideology was so embedded that every current form of activism was needed and valued.

But amid the pessimism at the slow pace of change, let us take this moment just to savour what our activism has achieved in just a few years; Article 10 re-affirmed, perception based recording of non crime hate incidents destroyed, our belief in the immutable material reality of sex recognised as worthy of respect in a democratic society and the terrible consequences of medical transition laid bare. This was not achieved by a handful of ‘big names’ or by violent resistance, but every individual who contributed to the crowdfunders or who had the courage to speak out on social media or directly to friends/families. This in turn has created the space for those journalists politicians and commentators who were silent for so long, to find their voice and start speaking up.

We are all part of this, and we have all played our part.

Please send me your personal stories about your ‘gender activism’ to sarahvphillimore@gmail.com to collect in Transpositions 2 for inspiration for future generations. Any profits go to Mole for his design work and then to gender critical and female friendly charities.