Ovarit

{{Gender}}
<!-- I'm secretly hoping that this article ends up being the first result for Ovarit when someone attempts to search it up on a search engine, in order to deter them from falling into their claws. A similar example would be FeministWiki, whose 2nd relevant result on DuckDuckGo is us calling 'em out. Hehe. And also, trans rights are human rights! - the first author of this article -->

'''Ovarit''' was an invitation-only,<ref name="4w">M. K. Fain, [https://4w.pub/new-feminist-site-ovarit-fills-the-gap-left-by-r-gendercritical/ New Feminist Site, Ovarit, Fills the Gap Left by r/GenderCritical]. 4w.pub, 25 August 2020.</ref> self-described 
link aggregator
 "feminist" [[echo chamber]] dedicated to hating [[transgender|trans]] people, especially [[transmisogyny|trans women]].<ref name="clare">[https://clareflourish.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/ovarit-transphobia/ Ovarit and transphobia]. clareflourish.wordpress.com, 30 December 2020.</ref> It serves as a refuge for the [[TERF]] movement, as well as other [[transphobia|transphobic discourse]]. Despite it being a self-described "platform for women-centered communities", transphobia remains its primary export, and actual women-centered communities are non-existent.

Unsurprisingly, Ovarit was founded by former moderators of [[Reddit#The mass grave of banned and closed subs aka "WTF took you so long?!"|/r/GenderCritical on Reddit]], which was banned in June 2020 for its virulent transphobic discourse.<ref name="4w"/> Fun fact: its GenderCritical forum is ''the'' most popular one on the website, for [[common sense|obvious reasons]].

The name "Ovarit" directly references ovaries, the anatomical female gonads; the use of this name implies an exclusion (what a surprise!) of, in addition to trans women, any woman who may have had an oophorectomy or who was born without ovaries. It also includes trans men and [[non-binary]] people who have ovaries. It was shut down on April 27, 2025 due to owner burnout.<ref>[https://substack.ovarit.com/p/ovarit-is-closing Ovarit is Closing]</ref>

__TOC__

==History==
Ovarit's history began on July 29, 2020, exactly one month following /r/GenderCritical being banished from [[Reddit]].<ref name="gcbanned">[https://www.reddit.com/r/GenderCynical/comments/hi3rax/gendercritical_has_been_banned/ GenderCritical has been banned]. Reddit, 2020.</ref> Some of its users flocked to alternative Reddit-like "free speech" platforms, such as Saidit (a [[QAnon]] hub), following its ban. However, some other users felt that a "true feminist" alternative to Reddit was necessary; as such, former GenderCritical Reddit users, with the "help" of "feminist" developers from [[Spinster.xyz]] and the hate group [[Women's Declaration International]] (formerly WHRC), created Ovarit.<ref>[https://terfiles.medium.com/anti-trans-group-wants-to-eliminate-trans-people-a32d90ba3db8 Anti-trans hate group Women’s Human Rights Campaign wants to eliminate trans people]. terfiles.medium.com, 16 February 2021.</ref><ref name="whrc">Vic Parsons, [https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/01/27/womens-human-rights-campaign-gender-recognition-act-inquiry-trans-transphobia/ MPs urged by anti-trans ‘women’s rights’ group to eliminate ‘transgenderism’ and scrap Gender Recognition Act]. pinknews.co.uk, 27 January 2021.</ref><ref name="bogachanboran">[https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Womens-Human-Rights-Campaign-a-transphobic-group Is the "Women's Human Rights Campaign" a transphobic group?] Quora, 2021.</ref> A little organization on Discord also took place during this process, unsurprisingly enough.<ref name="atlantic">Kaitlyn Tiffany, [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/12/reddit-ovarit-the-donald/617320/ The Secret Internet of TERFs: After they were banned from Reddit, trans-exclusionary radical feminists became the latest of many toxic communities to simply build their own platform.] ''The Atlantic'', 8 December 2020.</ref> 

Ovarit's original mandate was to create a "safe space" not only to "protect" themselves and "carry on as before," but "to become even bigger."<ref name="atlantic"/> Some former Ovarit users claim the site instead has "dishonest power tripping mods and admins" who "allow 'gender critical' men to join" as users, and turn a blind eye to [[homophobia]] while promoting [[political lesbianism]].<ref>(April 2024). [https://archive.ph/hZJW2 "Ovarit"]. ''Reddit''.</ref>

==The platform==
Ovarit was a link aggregator and ran a forked<ref>[https://gitlab.com/feminist-conspiracy/throat feminist-conspiracy/throat] on GitLab</ref> instance of Throat<ref>[https://github.com/phuks/throat phuks/throat] on GitHub</ref> (a clone of the now-defunct Reddit clone Voat<ref name="atlantic"/>). Its individual forums, named "circles", all generally revolved around trans-exclusionary ideologies in some way. Examples included:
* "Activism", for activism… against trans women
* "Cancelled", which attempted to denounce attempts made by [[rational]] persons to [[cancel culture|criticize ("silence")]] transphobes
* "GenderCritical", because why not?
* "Radfemmery", which was for [[meme]]s that ridicule trans women
* "TransLogic", which attempted to baselessly criticize what trans activists (or as they call them, [[TERF glossary|TRAs]]) do
* "Women", presumably for advocating for women's [[Wrong|somehow-sex-based]] rights

Ovarit put up some rules to "limit" transphobia, as in forbidding the slurs "tranny" and "troon", but still permitted common [[TERF vocabulary|TERF lingo]], such as "TRA" for trans activists and "TIM" ("trans-identified male") for trans women.<ref name="clare"/>

===Invite code system===

Ovarit, being a closed forum, required the use of ''invite codes'' in order to register and participate on its website; non-registered users were still able to read through Ovarit's blatant lies, but were unable to participate, similarly to Reddit. These codes were spread by its established members and Ovarit's administrators themselves, effectively creating a referral system limiting anyone's ability to join, with the sole exception of people who shared its anti-trans worldview. Codes were shared both in external TERF forums and websites, Ovarit's external social media channels, as well as in an /r/Ovarit_Codes community on Reddit (now banned). Ovarit's forums have been described as "insular and defensive" and as an echo chamber, since unlike Reddit's /r/GenderCritical, its gatekeeping allowed only the "[[Bigotry|
good humans
]]" (bigots) in.<ref name="atlantic/> Fortunately, this invite code system means that its forums were of a significantly smaller size than Reddit, limiting its outreach and keeping it confined to ''that'' corner of the Internet.

==Transphobia==
Ovarit's transphobia could only be described as extremist, and as absolutely virulent. Its /r/GenderCritical forum was filled with people ranging from [[J.K. Rowling]] defenders to "kill all transgenders" terrorists. Many of its posts attempted to justify instances of transphobia which have been reported in the media, and celebrate "victories" obtained by transphobes attempting to justify and/or legalize transphobia. Lots of complaints on "censorship" against anti-trans views were also present on various forums.

Enbyphobia was also present on its forums, as well as transmisandry, but both were significantly less common than transmisogyny, simply because trans men and non-binary people do not exist in the TERF mindset. Well, unless a given TERF falls into the [[Abigail Shrier]] camp of transphobes.

Ovarit's breed of transphobia seemed to not be of the [[religious right]]'s "[[family values]]" kind at first glance, but a clear undertone of religious bigotry was present within some of its members. This put it in line with other transphobic organizations, which aren't religious themselves but often collaborate with the religious right for extra points.

== Pissed at us ==
{{main|Pissed at us}}
Unsurprisingly, just like other hate forums and in a similar line to FeministWiki, Ovarit hated us.

{{cquote|The entire page (and website) is crying about the poor TIMs<ref group="note">"TIM", short for "trans-identified male", is a term used exclusively by TERFs and other transphobes to misgender trans women while denying their transness (by using the turned-into-dogwhistle "identify as" expression). Read [[TERF glossary]] for more information on TERF lingo, e.g. what "TIMs" and "TIFs" mean.</ref> that they almost forgot to paperclip the token females in their group. The "transmisandry" is pretty funny, because they love to tell TIFs to shut up, as they are "strait white men" now, and bringing up sexism is transphobic because that would admit that biological sex and sex based oppression exists.|||MenHaveItEasy on Ovarit, referring to RationalWiki<ref name=pissed>[https://archive.is/433YC Oh, look what I found about us on “Rational”Wiki 🙄😒 (rationalwiki.org)]. Archived from ovarit.com, 16 August 2021.</ref>}}

{{cquote|Lmfao at them using a doctored screenshot to demonstrate our “insanity.” Also, where are the receipts for the “kill all transgenders terrorists” and the “clear undertone of religious bigotry in some of its members?” Oh right, there are none because the page just makes shit up and passes it off as fact. And since people are stupid and incurious online, they’ll read it and believe it without any fact checking involved. Also, the usual phony right wing accusations are being leveled at us once again. Yawn. Boring. Predictable.|||Coffiefiend on Ovarit, referring to the Ovarit article<ref name=pissed />}}

{{cquote|Men cant resist the urge to take credit for everything. Its likely that the TIM who wrote his name in the snow, so to speak, also wrote that fetishistic period blood line (why would a real woman, menstruating or not, need or want this?), because TIMs are the epitome of toxic masculinity and grossness.|||MenHaveItEasy on Ovarit<ref name=pissed />}}

===Response===
====On avoiding hoaxes====
Some self-criticism is in order. [[RationalWiki]], [https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Ovarit&type=revision&diff=2352270&oldid=2349347 beginning — but not ending! — with one anonymous contributor], did fall for a [[hoax]] perpetuated by a [[Twitter]] troll. As [[skeptic]]s, we can't go around knowingly perpetuating hoaxes, but we are only human and so this went unaddressed for an unfortunate length of time. A lesson, in short: screenshots do not generally make for good citations, in and of themselves; avoid [[truthiness]], pursue [[Help:References|verifiability]].{{efn|A bonus lesson: most TERFs are not [[Dianic Wicca]] practitioners.}} The original thread was quite different from the [[Image manipulation|doctored screenshot]]. Perhaps speaking to the site's overwhelmingly transphobic nature, though, the poor OP received few actual responses to her request for [[vegan]] sausage recipes.<ref>mathwitch (March 22, 2021). [https://archive.ph/XRrnS "Any good vegan sausage recipes?" (archived)]. /o/Vegan. Ovarit. [https://ovarit.com/o/Vegan/24227/any-good-vegan-sausage-recipes (Original)].</ref> 

Ovarit was actually susceptible to this type of hoax itself. The [[Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white|"/o/TerfIsASlur/"]] section of the site, for example, predominantly consisted of [[Nutpicking|nutpick]]ed social media screenshots that lack URL citations.<ref>[https://archive.ph/6kLjf /o/TerfIsASlur/ in 2021]. Ovarit, via archive.today</ref><ref>[https://archive.ph/gBezp /o/TerfIsASlur/ in 2023]. Ovarit, via archive.today. The "uploads" subdomain for Ovarit marks the submissions that consist of a screenshot.</ref>

====Violent rhetoric====
Several Ovarit users in the thread discussing their RationalWiki entry believed that TERFs don't tend to call for violence against transgender people. An Ovarit thread just three months later failed to reach such a pacifistic consensus. After a viciously transphobic screed by Lily Cade that called for trans women to be "[[lynched]]", many users on the forum defended, downplayed, or even outright praised Cade's remarks.<ref name="CadeComments">crodish (November 2, 2021). [https://web.archive.org/web/20211103160842/https://ovarit.com/o/GenderCritical/47719/anti-transgender-activist-lily-cade-quoted-by-bbc-calls-for-trans-women-to-be-ly "Anti-Transgender Activist (Lily Cade) Quoted by BBC Calls For Trans Women to Be 'Lynched'"]. /o/GenderCritical. Ovarit. Hosted at the Wayback Machine; comments can be partly expanded in the archive and the blur effect can be clicked through as well. [https://ovarit.com/o/GenderCritical/47719/deleted Original (OP deleted; comments remain visible)]. [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/pX2p4 (Ghostarchive capture)]. [https://archive.is/IHTyv (Archive.today capture)].</ref>

Others simply bargained that Cade was not representative of TERFs. The fact stands that [[BBC#Trans issues|the BBC felt she was a good enough representative]] of transphobic lesbians (of which there are not so many),<ref>Amy Ashenden (March 31, 2023). [https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/originals/lesbians-are-not-anti-trans/ "'Lesbians being anti-trans is a lesbophobic trope']. ''Gay Times''.</ref> alongside "Get the L Out". Cade is not the only example, as some users appeared to think; ''The TERFs'', for instance, has a dedicated section listing examples of real-world violence motivated by TERF ideology.<ref>[http://theterfs.com/ The TERFs]</ref> In one utterly priceless attempt at defending Cade, some try to explain her call for violence as a mere [[metaphor]].<ref name="CadeComments"/>

{{cquote|She is [[Valerie Solanas]] for our age. I feel like feminism is back.|||BlackCirce on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

{{cquote|I just love her righteous fury, I can feel it burning through every word she writes.|||NoThankYou on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

{{cquote|I bet Newsweek went looking for one [[troll]] to represent all TERFs because they're scared of all the sex abuse incidents in the news lately caused by [[TERF glossary#TIM / TIF (Trans Identified Male/Female)|TIMs]]. I'll go far enough to say that most of them arent even horrified by her words, because most of them are violent themselves. They're just happy to have one case that proves their [[strawman]] right. [[DARVO|Dont even bother with condemnation, because you'll be on the defense]] trying to explain that most radfems arent like this, when [[Special pleading|the argument should be about the actual cases]] of grooming, violence, threats, sexual harassment, and erosion of women's sex based rights caused by transgender activism.|||MenHaveItEasy on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

{{cquote|[[I'm not prejudiced, but...|I obviously don't condone the call to violence, but]] there is so much anger in that post, and the problem is I kind of get why someone would be that angry. She's talking about [[TERF glossary#Autogynephilia_.28.22AGP.22.29|autogynephile]]s and pedophiles and other rapists.|||NoThankYou on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

{{cquote|Lily Cade is [[based]] as fuck. All these nicefems think being nice will win us [[Culture war|this war]] against violent, dangerous men. She survived [[TERF glossary#TIM / TIF (Trans Identified Male/Female)|TIM]] sexual assault, why can't she rant about them?|||Ash94 on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

{{cquote|[[Psychological projection|Guilt by associatiation is all what they have.]]|||BiologyIsReal on Ovarit<ref name="CadeComments"/>}}

==See also==
* [[FeministWiki]]
* [[LGB Alliance]]
* [[Reddit]]
* [[Patriots.win]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|80%}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Internet hate sites]]
[[Category:Fascism]]
[[Category:Pissed at us]]
[[Category:SWERFs]]
[[Category:TERFs]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:Webshites]]

Categories: Internet hate sites, Fascism, Pissed at us, SWERFs, TERFs, Transphobia, Webshites