A male’s wish is his, and our, command
A thread by Alessandra Asteriti:
Short thread on Forstater case. I am not going to examine the law, I leave that to experts of equality law. I’ll focus on the language used by the judge, as revealing of male supremacy and incapacity to adopt the female point of view, or empathise with it.
In para 92, the judge states as follows
What is he saying here? He is saying that saying ‘transwomen are women’ is not harassment of women, but saying ‘transwomen are men’ is harassment of transwomen. He is saying what men want always takes precedence over what women want, or even need. He is saying men are offended if women point out that they are not women, even if biologically they are not, so women are only telling the truth. But women cannot be offended if men tell them woman is just a word invented by men and that can be modified by men.
Women’s lived reality means nothing, and any man can erase it by getting a certificate, or even by self-declaring that he is now also a woman. We cannot be offended by a man reducing all our lives to a wish in his head, but men can be offended if we remind him that his wishes (even ‘enshrined’ in law) do not change material reality. Especially because women’s reality is a reality of oppression. TW do not want to partake of the oppression and do nothing to minimise it. They tell us they are women because they ‘present as women’. We are women because we are women.
We are women in the world, because we were girls, and if we survived selective abortion, female infanticide, lack of care, FGM, period huts, childbirth deaths, rapes, dowry deaths, we become adults. In one simple sentence, the judge ignored the reality of women’s existence and elevated the wish of a subsection of men to demand we submit to their vision of who they are, thereby negating our very existence. If any male can declare himself a woman, what is a woman? Who am I, and how am I different from the men who abused me, belittled me, discriminated against me, scared me, pursued me, cursed me? The judge does not care, a male’s wish is his, and our, command.
Very crisply put, I think.
I guess we missed our opportunity. When Trans Activists first started claiming that trans women really are women, we all should have run, shuddering and sobbing, to nearby males for protection. “That … that really hurts us! It makes us feel like we’re not real (sniff.) But who will help us?”
What is, and isn’t, harassment, has rules.
Except some of them don’t ‘present as women’. They retain every trace of being a male, maybe change their name, and we are expected to except a large, possibly bearded, male-presenting person as a female. And we are told by TRAs that this is what we must accept; no matter how the TW chooses to present, if they say they are a female, they are. And if we look at some large, bearded, male-presenting TW we have never met, do not know “feels like” a woman, and goes by female pronouns; and if we call him Mr. or “he” or any other masculine term, we are subject to violent retaliation because we had no way of knowing he is being “she” (and maybe he was “he” yesterday, and will be tomorrow, but we are required to know that “he” is “she” today).
What I have been finding curious (among other things) about this great and disgraceful kerfuffle is that we never seem to hear either from or about trans-men. It is as if they, and their problems, do not exist. It is only trans-women who seem to kick up a violent fuss. I suppose I could try to come up with one or two reasons why this is the case, but should like to hear opinions from others who probably know more about these matters than I do.
I would share my opinions on the subject but I think I already have shared a few & don’t want to be otiose.
Tim Harris @3 – which I find interesting, because the only trans people I know are FtM – and all teenagers.
Yes, and the only trans people I have met have been males – one was a student of mine, gifted musically, and was perfectly sweet, sat with the girls and had close friends among them, and got on with everybody. I cannot imagine such a person ever behaving in the way that these internet twitterers behave.
I should add that the student hadn’t transitioned, but dressed as a woman; the other much older person had fully transitioned, and was also a very nice person.
There’s a horizon point where the assumed validity of self-declaration isn’t at odds with the reality of Karen White/Jessica Yaniv.
There was an ugly moment when NAMBLA demanded inclusion in gay rights groups. It didn’t take long for that scheme to fail, but we need to remember it.
Obviously, there are trans women who are unquestionably…trans women. Who are not deranged misogynist nut cases. Just as ‘real’ gay men don’t have to spend their entire effort distancing themselves from pedophiles.