I've just seen that Julie Bindel has posted to make it clear that she sees these women's stories as a hammer to attack trans allies and frankly she can eat shit in hell at a trough alongside Neil Gaiman.
Weaponizing a survivor's story is not much different from disbelieving it.
I understand why some people are waiting for more sources. There was a lot of discourse on here about whisper networks I saw yesterday that I didn't understand at the time but I think the upshot is, there are people who've corroborated this was an open secret in some circles?
I'm not a moral authority or someone confident speaking as an expert on basically anything now. I don't have any advice on how to process this. I would just like for people to remember that multiple things can be true and life does not reduce neatly to sides.
This post is disgusting. Bindel has an agenda of hurting specific women and specific subsets of women, which may be shared by those involved in presenting the story. Those things can be true, but the truth of them is not an argument against the credibility of the women telling their stories.
If you're not ready to settle your heart and mind without knowing more... that's fine. Justice, safety, and peace for someone else does not depend on everybody quickly arriving at The Correct Opinion.
Just, please reject Bindel's framing of this being about transphobia as a team sport.
Nothing would make Bindel happier (even happier than she is already about this, which is clearly *extremely*) than to see people form ranks to protect the rich white man against TERFs. That's the result she expects, wants to see, and is actively trying to make happen.
That's what those two women are good for, to her: getting a bunch of trans women and trans-inclusive cis feminists to pick a fight with her and her allies, in the name of protecting a wealthy and influential male predator, while also helping her link this cis guy in people's minds with trans women.
I didn't know anything about the outlet that broke the story when I saw it yesterday. Might have before, didn't now. Still don't, really.
That made it easier for me to read what I could read of the women's accounts and his reactions without considering the outlet.
I'm not saying my own mind is made up forever. I think my memory is much better than a few months ago and I assume it's still getting better and will continue, but I'm accepting I might see his name on something three months or a year from now and go, "Oh, hey, new Neil Gaiman."
I can't even follow her logic here. Neil Gaiman did bad things, so his friends who think trans women are women should be...ashamed? Even for Bindel this logic feels abstruse. Can someone please connect the dots for me?
She's dividing women into two sides that consist of trans women with our cis allies, and TERFs like her. Her point is that the other team, the bad one, is comfortable with an abusive male sexual predator on their side, and the conclusion is supposed to be "Well, duh. Trans women are that, too."
Taking women’s trauma and using it to attack other women is so fucking disgusting.
Presupposing that his trans fans are inclined to deny the allegations is also gross. I love Sandman and also believe that he did this. Not hard to hold two beliefs.
This shit should be regarded with the same derision as "goblins!" and "they're turning the frogs gay!"
It's just as stupid and conspiratorial, but because it's trans women people are primed to be uncritical.
Yeah, I'm way more concerned about how many cis allies might find it easier to take their cues from her look or listen to us. She says, "If you're such a trans ally, are you ally enough to attack these women for a rich cis white celebrity?" and... I'd love to believe no one will fall for that
Hopefully only the loud nasty minority pay any attention to Bindel 😒
What will be interesting to see is David Tennant’s response. He and Gaiman seem fairly tight, no? and he’s been much more the outspoken trans ally.
