Nothing short of erasure
Uh oh, another pesky woman tears up the memo.
There’s an African proverb that states: “If you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you are going?” Some of the most powerful black people known for their political analysis, social commentary, activism and legacy during the civil-rights, gay-rights and feminist movements were black lesbians. Oops! Did I just say “lesbian”, that dirty seven-letter word that has the GBTQI community scrambling to apologise for or afraid to associate itself with? Lesbianism is as ancient as the cosmos, yet it is a threat to patriarchy because it does not centre males, nor does it seek male wisdom, power or validation. Instead of finding solace within our community against the threat of misogyny and homophobia, lesbian identity is being written out.
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Whether it be in feminist studies, gender studies or the history of gay pride, black lesbians often go without their names or sexual orientation being mentioned. The trend towards claiming that “all sexuality is fluid” and to brand everyone and everything queer and transgender, means black lesbians are rendered invisible. A queer identity embraces sexual and intimate relationships with males, females, and intersex people who identify as transgender, gender-queer, trans masculine or gay, just to name a few. My, we are a diverse crowd.
In this current wave of “free to me” gender politics, any man with a penis can claim to be a female and expect entrance into female-segregated spaces, such as locker rooms, sports teams or colleges, without question. But don’t twist it; the generosity does not flow in both directions. Just ask the women who crashed the party at the male lido in Hampstead Heath in London in May: they were promptly escorted out by the police. Lesbian identity is now being dubbed as exclusionary or transphobic. You’re damn right it’s exclusive: lesbians have a right to say no to the phallus, no matter how it’s concealed or revealed. Imagine if white folks ran around claiming they were black or demanded access to our affinity spaces. They would be called deluded racist fools!
But when men do it to women? It’s the latest best most woke thing.
Come on, people, it’s time to have a “Come to Jesus” moment, where we tell the truth and shame the devil. If you aren’t hip to the historical racism, sexism and homophobia that the black American lesbian has faced and continues to battle, try picking up a book like “This Bridge Called My Back”, “Sister Outsider” or “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism” and you’ll get the picture. Patriarchy and sex-based oppression are real, and they remain the driving force behind the invisibility of black lesbians. The gender-identity movement’s attempt to rebrand the lesbian as queer, and the pronouncement that “anyone can be a lesbian”, are nothing short of erasure.
Oh well, it’s only women.
I’m not a lesbian, and have met very few lesbians (I have some amongst my online friends that I haven’t met – yet) and yet I have no problem with seeing that lesbian erasure is the worst part of the new trans activism, which is wholly a misogynistic movement. Yes, all women are threatened by the attempted male take-over of all female space; but lesbians are the women whose actual bodies are being threatened. And, as usual, it is the women of colour who are losing the most. We need to stand in solidarity with our lesbian sisters and call out the trans movement for what it is – not merely the attempt to remove rights from all women, but to erase lesbianism altogether.
Here I am, a typical white, straight, 65 year old male, about to weigh in on issues that do not affect me in my day to day life.
Oh, hang on, they do. I have a step-daughter who is a Lesbian.
8 weeks ago she married her girlfriend in a civil ceremony, followed by a party at a pub. I was on edge at first, because if anyone tried to rain on her parade, I would have pissed on theirs. The staff at the pub were fantastic, even when her rainbow wedding cake was produced. Other patrons either just did their own thing, or looked on with a bemused admiration, probably given the tough working class environment where not that long ago “poofs” would have been bashed and “Lesos” raped.
It intrigues me that the only ones who are trying to erase women are those men who have become women, never women who transition to male. Is male to female transition just a shape shifting new misogyny? Are they a fifth column?
Jesusonapogostick, I used to be one of the “anti-gay” brigade, until I figured out it was the hang over of religion and societal conditioning, and that the only rational reason to be anti-gay was simply bigotry informed by lack of empathy. Take that away and I found all the colours of the rainbow to be beautiful.
I marched for abortion rights before I marched for gay rights.
Women (yes, there’s that word again) have achieved so much in my short lifetime, but there is a massive amount of work to be done before women are truly emancipated.