Hugs, tears and cheers as we have voted to disappear ourselves
Oh good god. The BC NDP Women’s Rights Committe proudly announces its own suicide:
Hugs, tears and cheers as — after many passionate conversations — we have voted to approve a historical name and constitutional change today! We’ll now be known as the Women’s and Gendered Rights Committee. Changing our constitution to welcome in two-spirit, non binary and gender nonconforming folks.
#intersectionalfeminism #biggertents
Yaaaaaay hooray hooray hooray yet another thing women don’t get to have for themselves but have to share with men who call themselves “two-spirit” or non binary or gender nonconforming – which basically means all men, because anyone can simply say “I’m gender nonconforming.” So haha yay women don’t get to organize as women any more, so go home bitches!
There are, as you might expect, many critical comments, which the committee replied to with more infuriating bullshit:
We are proud to continue to do good work supporting women. Our resolutions this year included asks that covered everything from Period Promise to abortion rights and safety to increasing access to legal aid. We have proudly, for years, included space for trans women. Because they are women. And we were proud this weekend to make a few more people feel welcome.
We will continue to make safe space for women. It will continue to be a space free of those who use the him/his pronouns. We are proud to be inclusive of other folks for whom gender has been cause of their discrimination and lack of safety. And we will continue to support those in our community who need it most and advocate on the issues that affect people.
So what are they going to do, confirm all members’ use of pronouns? How would they even go about that? They won’t, will they – it will just be a matter of self-declaration. Anyway even if Joe with the beard and the habit of talking over women does use eccentric pronouns, what’s that got to do with women’s need to organize and meet as women?
Not one god damn thing.
Gay men often suffer discrimination and violence because they don’t conform to gender norms, which, among other things, would include “men go with women, not other men.” Gender, then, is the cause of discrimination. Are men who identify as homosexual men now also included in the Women’s and Gendered Rights Committee? They would qualify as “gender non-conforming folk.”
I also question the whole it will “continue to be a space free of those who use the him/his pronouns.” They’re admitting the non-binary. From what I can tell the pronoun rules for the non-binary are pretty idiosyncratic. Use him/his, she/her, they/them, ze/zir, him/her, she/his, make something up, or alternate according to schedule or whim. Basic idea being “ain’t nobody gonna tell me what to do.” The intersectional Rights folks are tellin the non-binary folks what to do. Uh oh.
Of course, I could be misinterpreting the pronoun ban. Maybe they meant that women who refer to trans women using “him/his” pronouns aren’t welcome. Which they aren’t, of course, but the concern here is whether the non-binary are being made to feel unwelcome in their own organization.
Oh well thank goodness THAT’S settled. Whatchoo worried about, Ophelia?
What Sastra said, and also: notice how the cause of discrimination against women is gender (whom else could “other” be referring to here?) Gender, not sex; to speak of “sex discrimination” would be to insult all those folkses who are non-men with penises.
Free of those who use the he/him pronouns, not free of those for whom he/him pronouns should be used.
Gee, I hope a sexual predator doesn’t take advantage of this hopelessly flimsy rule… Also, what happens to trans men who need services tailored to the female body? Nah, I’m worrying over useless minutia. Sexual predators would never stoop to calling themselves a woman just to have access to women, and trans men will surely never need abortions, tampons or shelter from abusive men despite being female.*
On that note, now that organisations are declaring that womanhood no longer tracks with the female sex, does that mean prejudicial treatment and disempowerment also no longer track with the female sex? I sure hope it works that way.
*That said, the explanation to this is likely to be something like ‘yeah well maybe men’s advocacy groups should begin offering them!’