Represent

Jo Bartosch asks one of those questions we’re not supposed to ask: Why did trans women lead the Women’s March?

If the ‘transracial’ Rachel Dolezal were to give a keynote speech at a Black Lives Matter event there would rightly be an outcry. And yet this year the ‘Women’s March’ in London was fronted by someone who has identified as a woman for less time than I’ve had the shoes I’m wearing. Munroe Bergdorf is a transgender model who was chosen to speak by the London chapter of the global Women’s March. In a baffling address Bergdorf offered insights into Brexit, austerity and womanhood. The crowd cheered as Bergdorf explained that laws preventing brothel-keeping were bad for women and that the British media is transphobic. There was an irony in Bergdorf’s amplified and male-sounding voice proclaiming that ‘all women must have a voice’.

“All women must have a voice, including men.” Way to prevent women from having a voice: start giving men who “identify as” women a voice instead of women. Do that enough and pretty soon there won’t be any women’s voices left.

The response of course is “Wull trans women are women. It’s only because you think trans women are men that you see this as a problem.” It gets tedious after a few years trying to explain why that is such a crock, but the fact remains that words don’t magically change material reality, and men don’t turn into women by uttering the mystic phrase “I identify as.” Yes, we “think” trans women are men, because they are, by definition.

One of the most insidious battles women face is against the social pressure to be ‘nice’. We police each other and are judged far more harshly if we put ourselves and our interests first. It is clear that the organisers of the Women’s March have broken under this burden. They have published an incoherent list of ‘Values and Principles’ comprised of 1,479 inclusive-sounding words that mean nothing. Far from being about the liberation of women from patriarchy, it seems the Women’s March wants to tackle everything from the economy to police brutality. As it has long been noted, women are the only group who are not allowed to centre themselves in their own liberation.

And why is that? Partly the above-mentioned social pressure to be nice, partly the social belief that women are “nice” and thus easy to push around, partly the deeply ingrained habit of pushing women around, partly the belief that it’s women’s job to take care of everyone else, partly misogyny, partly because it’s so easy…and so on. It’s a big package, the package of rules about women, and it takes too long to list them all. But make no mistake: that’s what is going on here. Trans “activism” has become a gift for men who love to bully and threaten and shun and try to destroy women and for women who feel compelled to help them do it. (How to explain those women I don’t know. The same thing but inverted? I don’t know.)

Interestingly, transgender men have not achieved the same prominence as trans women. There have been no transgender ‘men of the year’, trans-men members of the Savile gentlemen’s club in Mayfair, or complaints that the Cerne Abbas Giant is exclusionary. A cynic might suggest that this is because, regardless of how someone identifies, how they are brought up, as either boys or girls during childhood, shapes their behaviour as adults. As the ‘wokewash’ Gillette advert made clear, aggression and dominance in men and boys is encouraged and these gendered cultural norms run deep.

Plus everybody knows that trans men are just boring dreary ol’ women and who cares about them?

16 Responses to “Represent”