I read recently, "In the past, anonymous was a women. In the future, women will be anonymous."
Thank you for not being silent or anonymous now. As a college-aged woman who has seen enormous social change just in the time it took me to move from my freshman to my senior year, this means the world for me.
Thank you for standing up for commonsense predicated on science. I have also been speaking up more with friends on Facebook who post things that they believe to be progressive that are in fact anti-female. I've been called a TERF & a transphobe, but I do not care what names they call me during their ad hominem attacks & strawman arguments. I'm not the one who is brainwashed into denying the basic biology that we all understood a few years ago.
I'm a trans man and I've been called a TERF and a transphobe for saying the same things as you... by people who know I am trans. Apparently, also, discovering I was trans in Nov 2018 means the almost 44 years before that are retconned to some people, despite being a mom and giving a very feminine presentation.
You are obviously a brave woman but among the many tragedies here is that your view should NOT be considered “brave” or heroic. It is so eminently normal and rationale. The real tragedy is the magnitude of cowardice of the people who reflexively seem to punish you.
You are a hero and I am following you and your work closely and cheering you on. As a mother of a 5 year older daughter and proud life long feminist I thank you for your courage and voice. I just finished Irreversible Damage and I’m passing it around to all of my friends. Keep up the good work.
I would not have a kid in public school in the US if this EQ passes. Rob Hoogland's daughter was taken out and given puberty blockers during school hours under Canada's "Infants Act" (which was supposed to be about vaccinations) and her name was changed, even in the yearbook, months before he even found out. He has now lost parental rights to his daughter, and sits in jail without bail facing 5 years for breaking the gag order on his case. This is twice the typical sentence for committing rape.
A "known affiliation with white supremacy..." It would almost be funny how they try to paint anyone who dissents in the colors of their opponent. I have been accused of being a white supremacist too - I'm black. I've also been accused of being part of the alt right - I'm a leftist. Liberals need to wake up and realize that just because someone doesn't agree with them on every detail, does not a conservative/white supremacist make. The sooner they realize there is plenty of dissent WITHIN the party, the better.
Thank you for standing up for women. I had to make sure I saw you speak that day and was thankfully able to watch. While a lot of the testimony was virtue signaling and people who SEEM to be educated but reveal themselves as missing the most basic of facts - referencing the 1st amendment, for one... :) - your testimony was clear, concise, and contained all the most important facts and concerns. So glad you were there to speak for us.
I talked about my story on Medium, but It was taken down. If you have the time, please read the updated, marked up version of VAWA. This is important.
I will partially out myself now, and state that I had direct communication with Tammy Baldwin regarding the reinstatement of VAWA. And I mean the original form. I saw a video or two online of people talking about what was wrong with it. I felt sick to my stomach because I shared my own trauma story with Tammy Baldwin, as I am the lead witness in a jury trial. I was the first woman to come forward where charges were filed who was sexually assaulted in a clinic in 2019. Women had come forward before me and the district attorney never filed. After my story made the news, other women came forward, and charges were filed for them, and charges were filed against this attacker for the women who came forward before me.
What happened after that is the stuff of nightmares. After the initial assault on my person, the female HR rep at the very known company in which I worked as a specialist, where I was a coordinator and project manager, refused to give me time off of work and told me to just forget about it. At the same time the police were worried about my safety because this guy knew where I lived. He has previous restraining orders on him which we found out about in which he threatened to kill women. But for some reason in the United States, this state I live in allowed him to keep getting licensed!!
A detective in the case would direct me to file a complaint against his license because she said no one was going to do it for me. Not the judge. Not the police.
Can you imagine this?
Multiple women are sexually assaulted and no one does anything to stop this man from continuing to practice and to just keep assaulting.
So I think to myself, wouldn't an out lesbian senator to be someone to contact? So I emailed Senator Baldwin everything that happened including what I'm about to tell you now.
In the middle of the pandemic all jury trials for things of this nature have been stalled out not just in the state I live in but all over the United States. Sex offenders are walking free all over the place. Pandemic is the least of your worries.
But before, right before we were about to find out we were entering a pandemic, the district attorney offers this guy a plea deal. Guess what plea deal a man is offered who continues to sexually assault women, has multiple charges against him, and for threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend which is on file?? They tell him, that as long as he admits to committing these crimes, he will face no jail, no fine, no probation, no sex offender registry, no NOTHING!!!!
Thankfully he turns it down.
Then, in the middle of the pandemic, in the Spring of 2020, do you know what this guy does? He moves from 40 minutes away, to being my neighbor.
Even though there are protective orders on me, and the other women, the district's attorney says they can't get him out.
So without any choice I move out of the area and I leave everything including my daughter behind.
And then this week I'm watching everything in the news in a city that I hate where there are many racist and sexist people here because it is so backwards, I see what you did and I thank you Abigail.
But then I see Republican reps talking and I'm not a Republican. I've never voted Republican. I've seen Bernie Sanders speak twice and once I was within feet of him. That was the first time I ever believed a politician's words.
And I shared this story with senator Baldwin who all along was throwing us under the bus and I'm sick.
I'm actually medically sick right now with a very rare disorder I can't mention because then I'll really out myself. I'm being treated by doctors several hours away.
I see these Republicans making these ridiculous statements about the violence against women act.
And as with someone with a few degrees myself that are of science, I think I've got to go read this thing for myself. And I go straight to the amendments and there they are.
Everything in the violence against women act has been bastardized. It's not a violence against women act anymore!!!!
And senator Baldwin tells me she's taking my story with her to use as a reason to push this through.
It's 4:00 in the morning right now and I'm crying and I can't sleep and I can't believe it.
I don't know how much more disgusted I could be in this moment. I don't know if I'm disgusted that a lesbian has buried women?
As someone who went to school also for a psychology degree, I always have to remind myself that ABC does not equal XYZ and this is a classic case.
I put my trust in the devil.
Thanks again for your time and to anyone reading, I'm not looking for sympathy. But the violence against women act is just ridiculous. Now men are in it. And the specifics in the 40 amendments, are bad just like the Republicans said they are. I'm just floored.
I must admit I'm not familiar with the names here and therefore apologize in advance if I missed something, but I must say from what it sounds like, I'm so sorry that senator Baldwin took your words and twisted them. It seems quite clear this senator knew what you meant and where you were coming from and then to offer such a response to you is so disturbing. I'm sorry.
I am very sorry to hear that Senator Baldwin has betrayed you. That is sickening. I am so sorry for the damage to your life, and your health, due to this stalker. I will keep you in my prayers. Many hugs.
Thank you! I am safe right now. I am serious about everything.
A rambling:
I know the risk I take posting any of this. I am not in a fear mode any longer, I am in a take action mode. If I knew a way to testify at the Senate hearing for VAWA, I would. I read the amendments to VAWA and I am shocked.
I was talking to the Sherriff yesterday who came to my door (yes, this happened), and he mentioned that eviction and collection court dates are happening, but those for sex offenses, stalking, and worse are postponed.
I had to wrap my brain around that. We talked about how many men are walking the streets right now--perps, not in jail, who should be.
The sheriff told me assaults, especially on women, even in the small town I am camping out in, have escalated. The running trails are not even safe during the day. Women are getting attacked, in broad daylight on sidewalks.
This is in small town America.
Now, if I told you that on the local campus people are not allowed to use the word "women" where I am, would that even be more shocking?
Would it be less?
I will not say where I am at, or what I am doing, but someone said "pregnant women" and they were corrected and told, "pregnant people".
In addition, paraphilias are now gender identities. DSM V and ICD sexual disorders, are now, gender identities.
I fear pedophilia is on deck (as a recognized, protected class). If other paraphilias can be gender identities, protected under the law, what is to stop pedophilia.
Autogynephilia is a sexual disorder. It is a sexual disorder!
Having body dysphoria is NOT the same as autogynephilia. And philias cluster. I am not a layman on theses things.
I do not understand why this is not being talked about.
what I also do not understand, is now psychology programs i the US are teaching about paraphilias, and yet, the therapists are saying "hearts not parts" and refusing to accept anything as a paraphilia, and are treating it as a gender disorder.
I am so inspired and grateful for you willingness and courage to stand up for females and children. Thank you! I have bought 18 copies of Irreversible Damage, I have handed out 13 copies to friends, your book is one of the most important books of our time. Thank you for writing it. My niece is transitioning with a group of 5 friends. Please keep talking, please keep writing. We must never be silent.
THANK GOD FOR YOUR VOICE IN THIS MATTER. I an amazed at our society that we the people have developed to what we are. No youth has the right to have their body changed. Should be a law you must be 21 to have that surgery done if you decide then you must. I am so sad that young women can be talked into this so easily. I am 100 percent a woman. 67 years old. But growing up ALWAYS a tom boy. Loved playing sports. On girls basketball ball team. Been in construction 30 years. I bet back then if allowed I would of been told I am a boy in a woman body because of my likes. Could of been talked into that because of my immaturity and others options. Wow this world is on a course of destruction.
Thank you for inspiring so many to voice their concerns, to talk about their children and to have the courage to resist these flawed laws popping up all over the world. Your courage and persistence have a much greater impact than you might know. Thank you, Ms Shrier. Keep speaking up!
I read recently, "In the past, anonymous was a women. In the future, women will be anonymous."
Thank you for not being silent or anonymous now. As a college-aged woman who has seen enormous social change just in the time it took me to move from my freshman to my senior year, this means the world for me.
Thank you for standing up for commonsense predicated on science. I have also been speaking up more with friends on Facebook who post things that they believe to be progressive that are in fact anti-female. I've been called a TERF & a transphobe, but I do not care what names they call me during their ad hominem attacks & strawman arguments. I'm not the one who is brainwashed into denying the basic biology that we all understood a few years ago.
I'm a trans man and I've been called a TERF and a transphobe for saying the same things as you... by people who know I am trans. Apparently, also, discovering I was trans in Nov 2018 means the almost 44 years before that are retconned to some people, despite being a mom and giving a very feminine presentation.
You are obviously a brave woman but among the many tragedies here is that your view should NOT be considered “brave” or heroic. It is so eminently normal and rationale. The real tragedy is the magnitude of cowardice of the people who reflexively seem to punish you.
You are a hero and I am following you and your work closely and cheering you on. As a mother of a 5 year older daughter and proud life long feminist I thank you for your courage and voice. I just finished Irreversible Damage and I’m passing it around to all of my friends. Keep up the good work.
I would not have a kid in public school in the US if this EQ passes. Rob Hoogland's daughter was taken out and given puberty blockers during school hours under Canada's "Infants Act" (which was supposed to be about vaccinations) and her name was changed, even in the yearbook, months before he even found out. He has now lost parental rights to his daughter, and sits in jail without bail facing 5 years for breaking the gag order on his case. This is twice the typical sentence for committing rape.
A "known affiliation with white supremacy..." It would almost be funny how they try to paint anyone who dissents in the colors of their opponent. I have been accused of being a white supremacist too - I'm black. I've also been accused of being part of the alt right - I'm a leftist. Liberals need to wake up and realize that just because someone doesn't agree with them on every detail, does not a conservative/white supremacist make. The sooner they realize there is plenty of dissent WITHIN the party, the better.
Thank you for standing up for women. I had to make sure I saw you speak that day and was thankfully able to watch. While a lot of the testimony was virtue signaling and people who SEEM to be educated but reveal themselves as missing the most basic of facts - referencing the 1st amendment, for one... :) - your testimony was clear, concise, and contained all the most important facts and concerns. So glad you were there to speak for us.
Thank you for everything you're doing. People need to wake up.
Thank you for your book and for testifying.
I am the lead witness in a jury trial.
I talked about my story on Medium, but It was taken down. If you have the time, please read the updated, marked up version of VAWA. This is important.
I will partially out myself now, and state that I had direct communication with Tammy Baldwin regarding the reinstatement of VAWA. And I mean the original form. I saw a video or two online of people talking about what was wrong with it. I felt sick to my stomach because I shared my own trauma story with Tammy Baldwin, as I am the lead witness in a jury trial. I was the first woman to come forward where charges were filed who was sexually assaulted in a clinic in 2019. Women had come forward before me and the district attorney never filed. After my story made the news, other women came forward, and charges were filed for them, and charges were filed against this attacker for the women who came forward before me.
What happened after that is the stuff of nightmares. After the initial assault on my person, the female HR rep at the very known company in which I worked as a specialist, where I was a coordinator and project manager, refused to give me time off of work and told me to just forget about it. At the same time the police were worried about my safety because this guy knew where I lived. He has previous restraining orders on him which we found out about in which he threatened to kill women. But for some reason in the United States, this state I live in allowed him to keep getting licensed!!
A detective in the case would direct me to file a complaint against his license because she said no one was going to do it for me. Not the judge. Not the police.
Can you imagine this?
Multiple women are sexually assaulted and no one does anything to stop this man from continuing to practice and to just keep assaulting.
So I think to myself, wouldn't an out lesbian senator to be someone to contact? So I emailed Senator Baldwin everything that happened including what I'm about to tell you now.
In the middle of the pandemic all jury trials for things of this nature have been stalled out not just in the state I live in but all over the United States. Sex offenders are walking free all over the place. Pandemic is the least of your worries.
But before, right before we were about to find out we were entering a pandemic, the district attorney offers this guy a plea deal. Guess what plea deal a man is offered who continues to sexually assault women, has multiple charges against him, and for threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend which is on file?? They tell him, that as long as he admits to committing these crimes, he will face no jail, no fine, no probation, no sex offender registry, no NOTHING!!!!
Thankfully he turns it down.
Then, in the middle of the pandemic, in the Spring of 2020, do you know what this guy does? He moves from 40 minutes away, to being my neighbor.
Even though there are protective orders on me, and the other women, the district's attorney says they can't get him out.
So without any choice I move out of the area and I leave everything including my daughter behind.
And then this week I'm watching everything in the news in a city that I hate where there are many racist and sexist people here because it is so backwards, I see what you did and I thank you Abigail.
But then I see Republican reps talking and I'm not a Republican. I've never voted Republican. I've seen Bernie Sanders speak twice and once I was within feet of him. That was the first time I ever believed a politician's words.
And I shared this story with senator Baldwin who all along was throwing us under the bus and I'm sick.
I'm actually medically sick right now with a very rare disorder I can't mention because then I'll really out myself. I'm being treated by doctors several hours away.
I see these Republicans making these ridiculous statements about the violence against women act.
And as with someone with a few degrees myself that are of science, I think I've got to go read this thing for myself. And I go straight to the amendments and there they are.
Everything in the violence against women act has been bastardized. It's not a violence against women act anymore!!!!
And senator Baldwin tells me she's taking my story with her to use as a reason to push this through.
It's 4:00 in the morning right now and I'm crying and I can't sleep and I can't believe it.
I don't know how much more disgusted I could be in this moment. I don't know if I'm disgusted that a lesbian has buried women?
As someone who went to school also for a psychology degree, I always have to remind myself that ABC does not equal XYZ and this is a classic case.
I put my trust in the devil.
Thanks again for your time and to anyone reading, I'm not looking for sympathy. But the violence against women act is just ridiculous. Now men are in it. And the specifics in the 40 amendments, are bad just like the Republicans said they are. I'm just floored.
I must admit I'm not familiar with the names here and therefore apologize in advance if I missed something, but I must say from what it sounds like, I'm so sorry that senator Baldwin took your words and twisted them. It seems quite clear this senator knew what you meant and where you were coming from and then to offer such a response to you is so disturbing. I'm sorry.
Thank you!
I want to testify at the Senate hearing if there is one for VAWA. I also have a formal education, and my degrees are pertinent in this matter.
Does one know how to contact someone to become involved? Do I write the commissioner?
I am very sorry to hear that Senator Baldwin has betrayed you. That is sickening. I am so sorry for the damage to your life, and your health, due to this stalker. I will keep you in my prayers. Many hugs.
Thank you! I am safe right now. I am serious about everything.
A rambling:
I know the risk I take posting any of this. I am not in a fear mode any longer, I am in a take action mode. If I knew a way to testify at the Senate hearing for VAWA, I would. I read the amendments to VAWA and I am shocked.
I was talking to the Sherriff yesterday who came to my door (yes, this happened), and he mentioned that eviction and collection court dates are happening, but those for sex offenses, stalking, and worse are postponed.
I had to wrap my brain around that. We talked about how many men are walking the streets right now--perps, not in jail, who should be.
The sheriff told me assaults, especially on women, even in the small town I am camping out in, have escalated. The running trails are not even safe during the day. Women are getting attacked, in broad daylight on sidewalks.
This is in small town America.
Now, if I told you that on the local campus people are not allowed to use the word "women" where I am, would that even be more shocking?
Would it be less?
I will not say where I am at, or what I am doing, but someone said "pregnant women" and they were corrected and told, "pregnant people".
In addition, paraphilias are now gender identities. DSM V and ICD sexual disorders, are now, gender identities.
I fear pedophilia is on deck (as a recognized, protected class). If other paraphilias can be gender identities, protected under the law, what is to stop pedophilia.
Autogynephilia is a sexual disorder. It is a sexual disorder!
Having body dysphoria is NOT the same as autogynephilia. And philias cluster. I am not a layman on theses things.
I do not understand why this is not being talked about.
what I also do not understand, is now psychology programs i the US are teaching about paraphilias, and yet, the therapists are saying "hearts not parts" and refusing to accept anything as a paraphilia, and are treating it as a gender disorder.
I am living in 1984 wit the rest of you!
Help!
I weep for the future.
Be safe!
(hugs back).
You were brilliant.
Thank you so much for taking a stand. I can assure you that you will be on the right side of history even though it may not feel that way now.
Thank you for standing up for women and girls!
I am so inspired and grateful for you willingness and courage to stand up for females and children. Thank you! I have bought 18 copies of Irreversible Damage, I have handed out 13 copies to friends, your book is one of the most important books of our time. Thank you for writing it. My niece is transitioning with a group of 5 friends. Please keep talking, please keep writing. We must never be silent.
THANK GOD FOR YOUR VOICE IN THIS MATTER. I an amazed at our society that we the people have developed to what we are. No youth has the right to have their body changed. Should be a law you must be 21 to have that surgery done if you decide then you must. I am so sad that young women can be talked into this so easily. I am 100 percent a woman. 67 years old. But growing up ALWAYS a tom boy. Loved playing sports. On girls basketball ball team. Been in construction 30 years. I bet back then if allowed I would of been told I am a boy in a woman body because of my likes. Could of been talked into that because of my immaturity and others options. Wow this world is on a course of destruction.
Thank you for inspiring so many to voice their concerns, to talk about their children and to have the courage to resist these flawed laws popping up all over the world. Your courage and persistence have a much greater impact than you might know. Thank you, Ms Shrier. Keep speaking up!
Thank you. I hope they listened.