After more almost 2 weeks of silence, Brannan has responded this morning. According to her, she’s emailed me all along, I made up my initial story, I spoofed her email account to the MRAs, I lied, I’ve defamed her, I’m a creep and a hack.

I’m posting the exchange here so that folks can make up their own mind based on the evidence I have available to me. The bottom line is that Brennan claims that she emailed me (though I don’t have her replies), that she would never contact the MRAs and that the MRA site should publish the header info for the email they received (which would be a good move on their part).

Here’s the exchange:

Cathy Brennan Liars lie: http://petticoat-rule.tumblr.com/post/51563686348/cristan-williams-is-a-liar-what-a-shock

Cristan Williams When I search for your email, this is the result:

http://www.cristanwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/CB-email1.png

Cathy Brennan Cristan, I emailed you back numerous times, and I offered numerous times for you to call me. You didn’t call me back. I had a feeling you were trolling me. I was right. Shame on you.

Cathy Brennan And you must surely know I would never email a MRA site, and yet you believe MRAs over me. And then you wonder why Women don’t trust you. Shame on you.

Cathy Brennan I called and left you ANOTHER voice mail. i invite me to call you back and you are free to record our conversation. You have demonstrated that you are willing to lie to advance your agenda. i am not.

Cristan Williams Part of me distrusts you so much that I kinda believe that your post is BS. If it truly isn’t, I owe you an apology for not receiving your email. After we emailed back and forth, I can see no reason that your emails would just suddenly stop coming to me.

Cathy Brennan Cristan, you have defamed me on your blog, which is legally actionable. You call yourself a reporter, when it is abundantly clear that you are a hack. i could give two shits if we speak. Just don’t lie.

Cathy Brennan looks like you have an email problem. 

On May 17, 2013, at 04:08 PM, Catherine Brennan <bugbrennan@XXXXXX.XXX> wrote:

Cathy Brennan
XXX-XXX-XXXX

On 17 May 2013, at 06:54 PM, Cristan Williams <cristan@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:

Cathy –

I just got your voicemail. I’m happy to use email or, if at some future point in time, contact you with regards to questions concerning a story. 

I do have some questions I’d love to have a chance to ask and since we’ve not been able to connect on the phone, I’ll take this opportunity and ask them of you here. 

The first set of questions I have is about you as a person. I (and I’m betting that many) know you primarily via reputation and know next to nothing about who you are as a real person. 
When did you first meet a trans-identified person? What was the experience like for you?

1991. It was uneventful.
You’re an out and proud lesbian. What was your coming out process like? 
Long story, Irish Catholic, years of Exodus pamphlets, sent to shrink to de-gay me as a teenager. 

Professionally, you’re a lawyer. Why law? Also, have you found that your status as either/both lesbian and female affected your ability to pursue your profession? 
Why not law? 

I’ll think more on this, the answer is yes in the past but not at the moment.

You’re an outspoken activist. Was there an event that motivated you to become an activist? 
Male sexism and violence.

The second set of questions is about your experience as an activist. 
What are your thoughts about the “TERF” label?

I think it’s redundant and reflects a male understanding of the world that I don’t share.
What are your thoughts about the “RadFem” label?

I don’t think about that.
Internet trolls aside, where do you feel the trans movement shares some common ground with the aims/goals of radical feminism?

Male violence. What your movement is doing in this area is woefully inadequate.
If someone were to ask you what your reputation is in RadFem circles, what would you say? 
I don’t know, I’m not doing this to make myself look good.

If someone were to ask you what your reputation is in trans circles, what would you say?
Same.

I’ve noticed that you’ve had some (publicly) contentious activist relationships with other RadFems. Why do you feel that it came to that level of public contention? 

No idea.
What is your proudest/happiest/most fulfilling moment as an activist?
The enactment of the Dream act in Maryland, 2001 anti discrimination act, plaintiff in the sodomy lawsuit in Maryland, there’s more.

What was your hardest moment as an activist?
Watching people lose their integrity.

As you understand it, what happened to radfemhub.com? 
I don’t know.

Julie Bindel was highly critical of the type of rhetoric that went on at the radfemhub. She said, “I hereby denounce Rad Fem Hub for being rabid maniacs.” Do you feel that people who denounce places like radfemhub are, by their rejection, supporting the patriarchy?

I don’t pay attention to Julie Bindel.
The last set of questions have to do with ideology/theory.
If someone were to assert patriarchy isn’t real, what would you point to as being evidence of the existence of patriarchy? 
Rape every day and male violence.

What have you heard trans people point to as being evidence of a set of privileges people accrue by virtue of not being trans? 
Oh god, I’ve seen trans ppl say women are privileged for being born female.

I’ve heard some RadFems use the term rape in various ways. When you talk about the act of rape, what action are you referring to? Do you believe that a transwoman can be raped? 
Rape is PIV. Sexual assault is everything else.

Do you believe that people can have a subjective experience their body outside of the context of culture? 
No.
The FBI defines gender identity as “A person’s internal sense of being male, female, or a combination of both; that internal sense of a person’s gender may be different from the person’s gender as assigned at birth.” When you say gender identity what do you mean? 
Gender is a socially constructed set of ideas about a person based on their sex, a hierarchy with women on the bottom. I’ll have more on this.
The FBI defines a hate group as “An organization whose primary purpose is to promote animosity, hostility, and malice against persons of or with a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity which differs from that of the members or the organization.” Some would argue that the decades-long behavior and rhetoric of TERF leadership qualifies the TERF movement as a hate group. As a leader, in what ways do you work to not promote “… animosity, hostility, and malice against persons of or with a… gender identity which differs from that of the members…” of the TERF movement? 
This is an absurd question.

I’ve had internet death threats, faced doc dropping, internet bullying, targeting of my friends and family, etc. I know that you’re dealt with a lot of this type of crap as well. It seems that this experience of hate-filled push-back is fairly common in the era of internet activism. How have you personally dealt with it? Would you have advice for other activists on how to deal with it?

Document and call the police.
Thanks for taking the time to review these questions. My thought was to publish your responses on TA so that you have the opportunity to deal with the ideas involved with much of the TERF/Trans controversy in your own voice and in a way that’s accessible to an audience that tends to be put off by RadFems. 

No thanks.

If you have questions for me, I’d likewise be happy to respond. 

Cristan

Cathy Brennan Tomorrow works.

Cathy Brennan
XXX-XXX-XXXX

On 15 May 2013, at 12:40 PM, Cristan Williams <cristan@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:

Cathy –

Would you like to schedule a time for a call tomorrow? It seems that without an appointment, we’re not going to be able to connect on the phone. I have meetings all afternoon today and you indicated that you’re not available in the evenings. 

Alternatively, since you’ve indicated that you’re open to me emailing you, I’d be happy to converse via email as well. Please let me know which is most convenient for you. 

Thanks!

Cristan

Cathy Brennan 11 am eastern.

Cathy Brennan
XXX-XXX-XXXX

On 15 May 2013, at 04:10 PM, Cristan Williams <cristan@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:

I have a presentation between 2 and 3 tomorrow.

Cathy Brennan I guess this didn’t work?

Cathy Brennan
XXX-XXX-XXXX

On 15 May 2013, at 05:22 PM, Catherine Brennan <bugbrennan@XXXXXX.XXX> wrote:

11 am eastern.

Cathy Brennan
XXX-XXX-XXXX

On 15 May 2013, at 04:10 PM, Cristan Williams <cristan@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:

I have a presentation between 2 and 3 tomorrow.

Cathy Brennan And I called you back EVERY TIME you called me, and I gave you SPECIFIC TIMES to call me. Indeed, I told you to call me back immediately after you called one time, but you decided to be paternalistic, and say ‘oh noes you are driving,” and then you called me back at night, which was not appropriate. Again, shame on you.

Cristan Williams I’ve reported the facts as they exist based on the evidence I have available to me. I’ve not created false evidence and I’ve represented the facts clearly. 

No, I don’t know that you wouldn’t try to reach out to an MRA blog to fan the flames of transphobia. The language used in the MRA email seemed very much like the way you write and the email address is the same one you wrote me from. 

With your permission, I’ll add your image and this exchange to the story so that readers will have access to every bit of evidence I have access to.

Cathy Brennan No, you haven’t “reported” anything. You’ve engaged in massive bullshit.

Cathy Brennan Ha, why seek my “permission” now? You’re a liar and a creep.

Cathy Brennan I think YOU spoofed my email address.

Cathy Brennan And no, it’s not “very much like” how I write, and I didn’t write it. But it suits your agenda, so fuck facts!

Cathy Brennan If you wanted to do “reporting,” ask AVAM to publish the header info, which would reveal the IP that sent it:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4933

All I can say is that I’ve no idea why Brennan’s emails would suddenly stop coming to me. I don’t know why her public profiles would go dark during the same time that someone happens to both have and spoof Brennan’s email in an apparent attempt to inspire MRAs to take up transphobic views.

Could these things have happened by chance? Of course. Is there some sort of universal law which states that all of these things must be related? Of course not. However, I would find such a confluence of mishaps strange.

There’s a huge trust gap which exists between TERFs and trans folk. In the digital age, there’s been a lot of adolescent behavior coming from both sides of the fence. A big part of me thinks that this is all a BS front to save face. Another part of me that is perhaps naive wants to believe that something really did go wonky with her emails to me, that she wouldn’t try to make MRAs view trans people with hate and that she wouldn’t be so crass as to make up a bunch of BS to publicly cover her ass. I suppose all of that is possible. If that’s truly what happened and Brennan is some sort of victim of circumstance, then it seems that a comedy of errors has, unfortunately, conspired to inflame distrust between TERFs and trans folk just that much more. I think part of me wants to believe that some strange error happened because that’s fixable with new evidence, understanding and, if necessary, a simple apology. Such things are fixable but such bold-faced ass covering isn’t. I like to hope that folks on the other side of the fence aren’t that far gone.

In any event, I am glad to have my original questions (somewhat) addressed even if the answers are mostly short quips instead of thoughtful/in-depth responses. I would like to see the MRAs publish the header info for the email they have.