Early on when I was a newby to being openly trans, I used to try to field every question I received on Twitter and give an honest answer. Then as I became better known the volume of questions coming just kept growing and often it was the same questions and similarly worded put downs that gradually turned into abuse as I kept my responses civil. Then I had a period of waking up and my timeline being filled with abusive or semi abusive messages. After my name was mentioned in a national publication I had to resort to TERF block bots. Even now I get a trickle of abuse from various quarters: religious, MRAs and US conservatives, and UK extreme right wingers, as well as TERFs.
Oddly one of the first lot of harassment I got online was a group of self identified 'anarchists' who'd found some old pictures of me online and were mocking them on their social media. It was a really odd period. I met a couple who knew these people, knocked around with them for a bit, they got the others to stop attacking me. I thought they were nice people. Then I noticed the guy was getting a lot of flack from pro trans feminists. Soon after he turned on me, so did his wife. Thinking back this lot could well have been linked to the current group of anti trans campaigners. I'm not going to use any identifiers here because the guy sent some seriously nasty threats my way and I took them very seriously.
And at the same time I had no less than Cathy Brennan attacking me and setting her minions on me. None of this was about having a discussion, it was just heckling, calling me names, some abusive, some not.
And I'm a nobody in trans activism. I've seen others actually go into hiding over what they've received, just by trying to help other trans people, or try to challenge the shit storm of crap that fills the media on an almost daily basis.
Yeah, definitely not both sides are the same. We are not as a rule as obsessed with them as they are with us. Most of us would rather be doing other stuff. I wasnt even standing for trans rights in 2015 when I stood, I was standing on a few key policies that were relevant to my area, including housing, transport, pollution, NHS, protecting open spaces and was the only woman who took part in a local hustings about women's rights, and was by far the most feminist person in that room. And yet, I was still undermined and attacked by TERFs just for taking part in the political process as a woman which is my right, effectively helping UKIP and other far right groups who were competing for votes along side me. Makes you wonder what their true motivations are doesn't it?
ETA - I met a good friend of mine last year from Seattle over here visiting, in a pub. She was with a group of her friends. 6 months later she tells me that the woman who got punched at Hyde Park was a friend of hers and I was actually sitting next to her husband at the pub. Small fucking world!!
Also - more synchronicity - the person we'd gone to see giving a talk in the pub was a trans woman.
Anyway she's no longer friends with those people!
