Thread by @GayGenderPirate

🧵1 / “No TERFs! No JK Rowling!” These words are part of a pre-recorded ‘welcome’ message played during the show GROOVE, funded by The Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund

Why are @ace_london and @TNLComFund supporting misogyny in theatre?

2 / The exclusionary message is explicitly aimed at women who defend their rights on the basis of being members of the female sex. It is staged as a celebratory moment to garner cheers and applause from the audience. You OK with this @ace_london and @TNLComFund?

3 / This thread will (1) look at wider context of this misogynistic messaging, and (2) give an account of MrMenno, a gay man, protesting this language during the Saturday matinee performance on 01.10.22

4 / Wider context: women increasingly face hostility for defending their rights as members of the female sex, or for simply acknowledging that being sexed female is a thing, despite sex being a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010

5 / Lesbians are facing abuse, assaults and exclusion when they assert being same-sex attracted (i.e. females exclusively attracted to females), even though sexual orientation (based on sex) is also a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010

6 / Women have even had to go to court to defend the right not to be discriminated at work for raising issues around their sex-based rights *in personal capacity outside of their work environment*

peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/179239…

thetimes.co.uk/article/barris…

7 / These women are called bigots, transphobes or TERFs. TERF in particular is a gendered term and recognised as such by @TwitGov during a hearing at @HumanRightsCtte. It violates Twitter’s policies

https://twitter.com/hogotheforsaken/status/1158355051934560257

8 / In 2019 a judge in a UK court of law recognised that TERF is a derogatory term for women

https://twitter.com/hogotheforsaken/status/1158355055898255360

9 / Also in 2019 the Standards Commission for Scotland suspended a Dundee councillor for using TERF, ruling it breached the Councillor’s Code of Conduct

https://twitter.com/hogotheforsaken/status/1158355054337937410

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…

10 / TERF is often used when issuing rape and death threats against women fighting for their rights as female people

terfisaslur.com

11 / A T-shirt with the text ‘Punch a TERF’ and fake blood ended up being exhibited at the San Francisco Public Library – not as an example of misogyny, but as a celebration of ‘queer activism’

feministcurrent.com/2018/05/01/tra…

12 / ‘Kill a terf’ T shirts are for sale online, some proudly wear this on the street, while others these messages on their body in public, or write it on the windows of a rape shelter

13 / It is within this climate of hatred against women who stand up for themselves as female people that GROOVE uses the term TERF to garner a ‘positive’ response from the audience #everydaymisogyny

14 / Within this increasingly hostile environment for women who have the temerity to state that their sex matters, @jk_rowling has emerged as a leading figure advocating for the importance of the female sex being recognised in language, policy and law

@jk_rowling 15 / She has become the target of an ongoing, deeply misogynistic smear campaign for doing so. This smear campaign has led to people taking to the streets with anti-JK Rowling signs, numerous rape and death threats, even protests outside her home

https://twitter.com/dataracer117/status/1409091717471473666

@jk_rowling 16 / By taking aim at JKRowling in the announcement, GROOVE is part of the relentless vilification she is being subjected to. The deliberate staging to win cheers and applause suggests GROOVE is proud to legitimise this… in a show supposedly about love and belonging! #ironic

17 / If @jk_rowling was to pay a visit to @ace_london, @TNLComFund, @ShoreditchTH (who co-presented the show) or @OxfordHse (who provided the venue), how would they justify this to her? Or would they have a sign on the door “No JK Rowling”?

18 / The announcement is both deeply misogynistic and lesbophobic; it clearly states that women who stand up for their rights as females, and lesbians who defend their sexual orientation as based on sex, are not welcome. By implication, neither are their allies

19 / Imagine if there was a show with an announcement saying “No trans people!” (but used another word that is considered derogatory) – would you @ace_london and @TNLComFund have funded that? If not, why not? How is a slur for women different?

20 / One lesbian who watched GROOVE in full was abhorred by it. She also noted the show has homophobic undertones, and took to Twitter to express her dismay

Is this how you want lesbians to feel? @ace_london and @TNLComFund

https://mobile.twitter.com/teepstweets/status/1575605710347542543?cxt=HHwWnoC99fXC1t0rAAAA

21 / Question for @ace_london and @London_cf : You initially awarded funds to @AllianceLGB to make a film about older gay men’s experiences, but later asked for the funds to be returned. Yet you fund a show that is openly misogynistic and arguably has homophobic undertones. Why?

@Ace_London @London_cf @ALLIANCELGB 22 / Question for the venue @OxfordHse: men have a choice of their own dedicated toilets or the ‘all gender’ toilet, while women looking for a single-sex facility have none. Why do men get their own space, but women don’t? #uniraryleash

23 / What follows now is MrMenno’s account of what happened when he went to see the Saturday matinee performance of GROOVE. “I wanted to know if the ‘No TERFs’ and ‘No JK Rowling’ message was an intended part of the show or maybe just an ad lib by a performer”

24 / “If it was a scripted part of the show I think it’s important to call it out for the misogyny and lesbophobia that it is, especially as a gay man – we cannot let this run riot in our so-called ‘community’. It’s vile.”

25 / “I saw online that the audience is encouraged to move around and make noise. It also describes the dance floor as a place for protest, so thought I might as well put that into practice.”

26 / “I went with 4 friends, our group was made up of 2 lesbians, 2 bisexual women and myself. As soon as we arrived alarm bells started ringing. I picked up a leaflet and it talked about the ‘queer’ dance floor and what it means ‘to be queer’.”

27 “‘Queer’ to many lesbians and gay men is a slur but now we’re supposed to accept it as our default label. The show also prides itself on being intergenerational, but what of the older generation to whom the word ‘queer’ is most painful?” #queerwashing

28 / “The cast & crew info read like a pronoun party. This wasn’t really a show about LGBTQ+ people as it claimed, but just about the TQ+ who’ll have us believe that lesbians can have penises and gay men vaginas. That’s deeply homophobic to me – it denies what homosexuality is.”

29 / On the way to the auditorium sticker were handed out saying ‘This is a queer space’ and ‘Trans Ally’. “There were no stickers about being gay or lesbian. We didn’t have to chant the TWAW mantra but it’s yet more subtle pressure to pledge allegiance to gender ideology”

30 / There are about 30 people in the audience, some in their 20s and 30s but mostly older. The show starts with slow pulsating, dreamy music. Coloured lights flash and the cast members come onto stage. There are 4 males and 2 females

31 / For 6 and half minutes some dance on their own, one caresses a weave, one gazes into a handheld mirror, they strike poses as a group, then Sky addresses the audience:

32 / “We come to the club to get fucked up, to kiss strangers and to forget that sometimes the outside world hates us.” No sooner has Sky exited than the stage is set for the “No terfs! No JK Rowling” announcement.

33 / “They’d put a lot of thought into it,” says MrMenno, “It was pre-recorded and staged for maximum effect, like some grand proclamation of Groove’s values. It would’ve been scripted, rehearsed, recorded – they knew exactly what they were doing.”

34 / One of the performers, Kim, appears upstage and adopts a dramatic pose, sequin dress shimmering under a spotlight. As the announcement plays, Kim mimes along while other performers dance near the front.

35 / “Good evening! Welcome to Groove tonight! Experience the love, the joy, the pain, the pleasure and ecstasy! Everybody is welcome to this house tonight! Except… conservatives, TERFs, religious bigots, Karens and JK Rowling.”

36 / “I couldn’t really believe my eyes and ears,” says MrMenno. “To be that blatant about it, try to make it look fabulous. They might as well have said. “Hey ladies, don’t you DARE acknowledge your sex in here and PLEASE leave your sex-based rights at the door!”

37 / “It wasn’t lost on me that this was delivered by someone who ‘identifies as a woman’ but was born male,” says MrMenno. “So you’ve basically got a male saying women who stand up for their rights as female people can F off. Sums it all up, really. I had to say something.”

38 / “I got up and said “Excuse me? What’s going on here?” The music stopped and the cast members swiftly left the stage. Staff members came up to me and motioned me to leave. “This is hate speech,” I said.”

39 / “No TERFs” – that is hate speech against women!” A staff member said “Can you take yourself outside?” and that I could ask for a refund. “I will ask for a refund, I said, “I’m an out and proud gay man and I stand with TERFs every single step of the way”

40 / “I’m not having this woman hatred, and not having this… what are you going to tell me next, that lesbians have penises? That gay men have vaginas?” By this point the 3 members of staff were right up in my face as I moved backwards towards the door”

41 / “Two audience members started jeering “Go, go!” / “Down the toilet with you.” Last thing I said was something like “I’m going, this is not the kind of groove I’m into.” My friends then followed, one said something like “Well I’m a TERF actually so I’m leaving too.”

42 / Once outside the auditorium MrMenno had a 10 min chat with staff member + manager, aired his grievances and get details re refund and who to contact to make a complaint. The manager explained that Oxford House simply provided the space for the show as a ‘pop up’.

43 / He was told it “Wasn’t very nice to disrupt the show” and “Disruption isn’t what we go for. This is meant to be a safe space.” “But it isn’t,” said MrMenno, “Not for women, lesbians, or gay men like me.”

44 / What was MrMenno hoping to achieve? “I think these people live in an echo chamber and they need to know that there are lesbians, gay men and bisexuals who won’t stand for it – the way they try to erase the reality of sex, the reality of same-sex attraction...

45 / ...and particularly how they try to intimidate and silence women. It’s so important for gay men to stand with women and lesbians as they’ve been getting it in the neck for ages and have been ringing the alarm for years. We can’t let them down.”

46 / GROOVE will next be performed at @ContactMcr in Manchester from 5-7 Oct, no doubt trying to get more whoops and cheers for their blatant misogyny and probably sticking an ‘all gender bathroom’ sign on the door of the ladies (if they even have one) #notgroovy

47 / PS here are the stickers they gave out

48 / Now you can listen to it 🔊😉

https://twitter.com/JocastaMoney/status/1577624304254357504?s=20&t=9ovbsZ_bUZNX38lO8ngy_Q