Journalist Dawn Foster threatened with rape simply for being a trans ally, showing how vile transphobes truly are
Journalist Dawn Foster was sent a vile email by a transphobe, graphically describing her being raped. (Intelligence Squared/ YouTube)
Journalist and trans ally Dawn Foster revealed a vile email she received from a transphobe, in which the sender said they “looked forward” her “corrective rape”.
Warning: This story, and the tweet embedded below, contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.
The email was sent from an encrypted email address, and Foster, a columnist for The Guardian, posted a screen shot on Twitter.
The email began: “Congratulations on your performative tweets and displays to appeal and attempt to ingratiate yourself with the trans cult.”
The anonymous transphobe then threatened that Foster would “learn the error of her ways” by “proudly using a unisex toilet and getting deservedly raped by a man in a dress with a beard”.
They horrifically detailed what they hoped to happen to her, and added: “A few more corrective rapes and you might question your beliefs.”
What the hell is wrong with these people# pic.twitter.com/0knnzzsJsb
— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 4, 2020
Dawn Foster: Abuse from transphobe was ‘coordinated and planned online’.
Dawn Foster told PinkNews she received several transphobic emails on the same day after simply “retweeting a few pro-trans tweets”.
She continued: “At first I was shocked. Then I thought more and more about how uneasy I felt that someone had spent so long fantasising about violent scenes of rape that people ‘deserve’ while claiming to care about women’s rights. They simply don’t.”
The despicable threats directed at Foster are just a sample of the abuse that trans people are targeted with every day, both on and offline.
Foster said: “The way trans people are targeted is disgusting. It’s been awful to see the rhetoric around trans issues dragged back to the 80s by a handful of obsessive, middle-class newspaper columnists, the bloke who wrote Father Ted and then failed to be funny ever again, cheered on by internet-obsessed women on Mumsnet.
“To combat it, I think the government need to publish the results of the Gender Recognition Act consultation and implement it.
“The police need to be far more responsive to hate incidents. And the media need to stop commissioning and publishing transphobic articles.
“It’s as though these middle-aged obsessives have kept their homophobia trapped in their stomachs and now they’re vomiting out transphobia onto newspaper pages.”
She added: “I’ve heard some disgusting things shouted at trans friends and have no idea how brave you have to be to go out and about.
“The number of transphobes is small, but they’re middle-class, they’re loud and convinced of their own success. But they can be beaten.”
Another Guardian journalist, Owen Jones, has also been targeted with encrypted emails for supporting trans rights.
In January he received an email from a transphobe pretending to be his father, who died from cancer two years ago.
That’s particularly chilling – so either the same person or they’ve been sharing tactics— Dawn Foster (@DawnHFoster) March 4, 2020
Foster suspects that the emails may be “coordinated” attacks on trans people and allies.
She said: “Clearly it’s coordinated abuse, planned online and discussed. I hope they find a wholesome hobby, and stop being sociopaths.”
