At our May 15, 2024, monthly WoLF Sister Social, a dozen Sisters discussed many ways to quietly fight gender ideology if we are hesitant to go public. 

Note that ALL activities carry some inherent risk. Each of us individually must evaluate the level of risk with which we are comfortable. Some Sisters, because of professional and safety concerns, are not able to take a strong publicly visible stance. Can I potentially lose my friends? My social groups? My job? Only you can decide. Fortunately, we Sisters have many ways to fight the good fight unobtrusively. 

An easy activity is writing for WoLF Tracks. WoLF will publish your work anonymously or pseudonymously. So please keep your articles coming! If you would like to submit a piece, please email it to sisters@womensliberationfront.org .

Another easy activity is donating money to pro-women organizations like WoLF.

One lower-risk activity is meeting with our legislators. Please note that your communications could be made public in the event of a FOIA request or if the lawmaker references you. Many legislators will now meet constituents both in-person and virtually. Going together in a small group can be more effective than going alone. Legislators often require that everyone in your group be a constituent. It’s helpful if you can find something your legislator has done positively that you can tie together with what you’re presenting. For example, if they supported gun control legislation, you could suggest that this indicates they care about the safety of children and the community. Invite them to extend that care to the concerns you are raising. Personal stories can also be more influential than facts. Be sure you prepare thoroughly in advance.¹

We can also track legislation and current events in our states and cities. Legiscan.com is one of a few free methods to do this. Just register an account (pseudonymously if you want) and you’re good to go. You can search for various keywords (“transgender,” “abortion,” “sexual content aimed at minors,” e.g.) and Legiscan will find bills containing your keywords. You can then add these bills to a watchlist and Legiscan will email you when their status changes. You can then use this info to contact your legislators and ask your friends to do the same.

Many Sisters use multiple, disposable, pseudonymous email addresses. Proton, an encrypted email service, allows users to have multiple addresses. If one address gets too hot for your comfort, delete it and use another. Some of us use multiple email names and addresses simultaneously for different purposes. A VPN may be useful, too. DuckDuckGo is a web browser that doesn’t track users’ activity, unlike most others, and makes your browsing more secure.

Another lower-risk activity is writing op-eds and letters to the editor (LTE) pseudonymously. Check your publications’ policies on using pseudonyms; some don’t allow this. Some publications also do not accept submissions from non-subscribers or readers outside their coverage area. You have a much greater chance of being published in a local or regional medium than in national ones like The New York Times.²

If your local newspaper does not publish your LTE or op-eds, ask them to explain their decision. Remain reasonable, not angry. You might want to emphasize that gender ideology is a major threat to women’s rights and their women readers deserve to know more. Inform the paper if you have a personal connection to gender ideology and how it has damaged you or your loved ones; for example, your daughter’s school has transed her without your knowledge, or as a lesbian you have been erased from the LGB rights movement. Tell them if you have been a lifelong liberal, and liberals are not monolithic. Emphasize that you are pro-woman, not anti-anything. Finally, remind them that newspapers must remain objective and unbiased, and presenting opposing views is their journalistic obligation.³

Sometimes, sadly, their final answer will still be no. Then, you simply need to move on.

WoLF’s Executive Director suggested the following: Establish your credibility with your local publications by submitting LTE on other, much-less contentious issues first. Once you’ve been published once or twice, you now have a reputation as a good LTE writer. Now you can up the ante by submitting LTE on a more divisive issue, such as boys on girls’ athletic teams or age-verification to view pornography. These issues can be winners with parents (and some legislators.) Always remain reasonable, never inflammatory. Avoid the word “trans;” use the correct words “men” and “boys.”  If you’ve been published about one contentious issue, you have gained more credibility and can progress to other, even more controversial issues within gender ideology.          

Sisters have reported some success in having one-on-one conversations with people they know (or even strangers). Your approach to these conversations would be unique to you, but one idea is to simply ask questions. For example, some of us have initiated conversations with our medical providers, especially ones who display trans kitsch in their offices or say they are “affirming.” You might gently ask them why they have the kitsch, especially if you’ve never seen it there before, and their reply will determine your next query. Ask them if they know what it all means, its impacts on women and girls, its denial of biology and medicine (except “gender medicine”), and proceed from there. Many medical professionals are on our side and have just followed along uncritically.

We can also bring local issues to national attention. One WoLF Sister discovered that a local organization was selling Pride merchandise and directing the proceeds towards genital surgeries on minors. She submitted it to Libs of TikTok and the blog carried it nationally. You can submit similar situations, especially involving kids and schools, to groups like Do No Harm, Gays Against Groomers, Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG), Women’s Declaration International (WDI), and others. Of course, you can always continue to send them to WoLF.

Lastly, one Sister advised us to go old-school. Before technology and social media, feminists maintained physical connections with each other. Learn from our elders, and think outside the box.

Here are some additional lower-risk actions to consider that were not mentioned in the Social.

As with the ideas outlined above, lower-risk does not mean no risk. We advise you to do your own research and carefully weigh the risks for any action you choose to take.

Send news tips to publications, especially ones local to you.

Provide support for protestors. This could include filming, taking pictures, printing signs, providing food and shelter, being on standby in case of an emergency, or even contributing mail money.

Request that your library stock specific books related to women's rights, or at least request that they be available via interlibrary loan.

Post flyers and/or stickers on public bulletin boards.

Report ideological book reviews of gender-critical books on sites like Goodreads and Barnes & Noble. Many sites have strict reviewing guidelines that require you to have read the book. Reporting reviews that say things like “I didn’t read the book but the author is a TERF” often leads to their removal.

Engage in other woman-centered activities such as volunteering at a woman’s shelter. Unfortunately, some shelters have succumbed to gender ideology.⁴ Resist this from the inside as much as you feel comfortable. You might initiate conversations with shelter staff the same way you would with individuals you know.

Complain to publications, both in print and online, about their use of woman-erasing and dehumanizing language.

Volunteer with WoLF, especially if you have legal or political expertise.

This Social was a brainstorm session of ways to be a quiet, pro-woman activist.

In the words of Stevie Nicks, it all comes down to you.⁵ We all need to honestly evaluate our own comfort levels. There is no one-size-fits-most approach. In some Sisters’ experience, cancellers tend to be in your own local area. Evaluate the degree to which gender ideologues will dig deep to find you. Most of them seem impulsive rather than thoughtful, and seem less likely to do the work to reveal you. Conversely, the more visible you are, the more likely you are to attract ideologues’ attention.

Remember, no activity is completely risk-free. Only you can decide what level of risk is worth it to you.

All women’s human-rights issues – gender ideology, reproductive autonomy, economic exploitation, child marriage, and male violence – are all parts of the same hideous whole – patriarchy. By fighting one, we are fighting the whole. When we all act, we will eradicate patriarchy step by step.

Endnotes

1. At this writing, WoLF may host a lobbying training soon.

2. WoLF has published op-eds and LTE on its website.

3. WoLF recently held an op-ed/LTE training that explores these ideas in much more detail.

4. GFB’s shelter is one such.

5. From her single “Gypsy” on the 1982 Fleetwood Mac album Mirage.

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