Seb

I first met Grace @MalleyNotagain in 2018 (from memory!). I was taking one of my long twitter breaks due to a health issue. Just before I went on this break I donated money to a woman’s PayPal. She was one of the first to give me a sad story and ask for cash, claiming she didn’t even have a bed to sleep on. At the same time, @Glinner was being sued and a young woman started a crowdfunder to help with his costs. I liked Glinner and wanted to support him, but I messaged the young woman to say it might not be in the best taste to ask women to donate to a wealthy man, when several women in this fight were at that time homeless (some with children) and could do with some help. So I recommended that these women receive funds if Glinner doesn’t need them, and went on my break. Then Grace emailed me. She was sharp and forthright. She told me the no mattress woman was a known grifter and that she fleeced several women for quite a bit of cash and then vanished. She asked if I recommended her for a recipient and I said yes but that I had no idea she was not genuine. Grace told me that she encountered her before, and that she comes back periodically with sob stories, and cons women out of money. Ever since then, I watched Grace sniff out grifters and trolls, centre women and defend them, and not take any nonsense from anyone. She is always sharp but she is also fair. She is one of the friendliest, kindest, women who looks after other women like a mama bear. She’s not a glory hound or an attention seeker. She doesn’t rub her education or successes in anyone’s face. She is intelligent, accomplished and she is here and has been for a long time. She is often denigrated and misrepresented by people who have no idea just how knowledgeable she is, people who take her straight-taking no nonsense honesty and dedication to saving women from being exploited while they fight for their rights and child safeguarding, and wrongly believe that she is someone they can relegate to a “lower” status and then abuse her. Most of all, and for obvious reasons, she is maligned by the very grifters and narcissists she exposes. So those of you who keep piling on Grace, either because you haven’t been around for long or because you chose to side with the glory seeking crowd simply because you perceive them as “more worthy” than an anonymous woman (anonymous to you but not anonymous to her friends), should ask yourself: why are you piling on a woman who noticed irregularities and when she asked questions, instead of getting cogent answers we all deserve (because god knows we’ve all been fleeced enough over the years, both in the name of legitimate causes and those that were not) she got a barrage of abuse from big accounts who are well known for disrespecting feminists and backing grifters (knowingly or unknowingly). Nobody likes to misjudge a character, or to be fooled, I get that. But this is bullying the messenger at best, and settling personal vendettas at worst. Either way, as I watch the GC community fracture along the grifting and compromising lines, I will continue to count Grace as a friend, and a woman that can be trusted.