A quizzical look
As a trans woman working in academia, one of the questions I regularly get asked is how I get along with feminist colleagues. When I invariably answer “incredibly well”, I’m often met with a quizzical look.
…
Trans and feminism have certainly had a wobbly relationship over the years, but trans writers have energetically drawn on and contributed to feminist theory, while trans politics has been positively embraced by many feminists. The story here is not one of political conflict, it’s of mutual recognition.
So what’s all this about Rowling then? Not a story of political conflict? Not a conflict between trans ideology and feminism?
It is little wonder that my own daughters, both young feminists themselves, unreservedly see trans as ally, not enemy. The reasons for this are not hard to fathom. After all, a fundamental tenet of feminism is to end forms of oppression; and the same rule must apply for a trans and gender-diverse minority.
No. The fundamental tenet of feminism is that women are not inferior or subordinate to men. It’s not about all “forms of oppression,” it’s about the specific form of oppression that oppresses women. Not men who say they are women, but women.
What’s more, much contemporary feminism rejects the pathologising dogmatism of “gender critical” and “sex-based rights” advocacy that paints trans and gender diversity as effectively delusional.
Ah yes that pesky dogmatism that thinks sex-based rights take precedence over fantasy-based rights. How dare we.
As both feminist and transfeminist writers have long pointed out, we are not immutably tethered to an innate experience of womanhood or manhood simply by being designated an F or an M at birth.
What does that mean? Pretty much nothing. In fact we do, just as a matter of definition, have an experience of being either a woman or a man, depending on which we in fact are. There’s no need to call it “innate,” much less to generalize about it as “an innate experience of womanhood”; it’s just an experience of being a girl and then a woman. Just one. Each of us is just one. We don’t experience all of womanhood, we just experience our own lives as female people. That’s all. It’s not grandiose or complicated, it’s just the reality. We don’t experience our lives as tigers or buildings or chestnuts, because we’re not any of those things. We are what we are.
Many of us are increasingly less excited about being told we have that in common with men who say they are women.
Any true feminists still left in academia know full well what will happen to them if they upset a man in womanface, so I am sure this TIM is correct in saying he finds it “incredibly well” that his truly female coworkers defer to his every wish.
Wait, I remember very clearly being told that there is an innate experience of womanhood, and that is what the transwomen feel. Innate. Woman. Experience. All of those words. All together. In a single sentence. Woman’s brain, the whole thing.
I suppose asking trans to be consistent is transphobic?
Well, I guess you can read it that way, with a little contortion. “As both feminist and transfeminist writers have long pointed out, we are not immutably tethered to an innate experience of womanhood or manhood simply by being designated an F or an M at birth – no no, we’re immutably tethered to an innate experience of womanhood or manhood by a glorious act of will. That’s why trans people are best.”
I get along fine with feminists. Why would you ask. All the feminists like me. And there are so few of those freaky pathological evil people around who think women are a sex and deserve to be protected and well-treated on the basis of that sex. Thank God for that!
I’m so sick of this notion. It’s clearly not feminist. In fact …
Does this shit seem as anti-feminist to other people as it does to me? Women and girls are socialized to be excessively accommodating, to subordinate themselves and serve others, to self-effacing in all things. So how could anyone have the gall to say that feminism should demand women do exactly those things?
I think if women made coffee for transwomen it would serve the movement best.
Nullius – oh hell yes. The naughty UK terfs have been saying that for years. Saying it very well.
Nullius @5, it’s a man’s idea of what feminism is all about.
Is a “Transfeminist” someone who claims to be a feminist even if it’s obvious they are not? Or does the prefix work differently when it’s stuck on a word other than “man” or “woman”?
Catwhisperer #9
Remember that this is Genderspeak where every word is a homonym. Assuming that gender critical feminists and TRAs are talking about the same thing just because they’re using the same words is like assuming that a chiropterologist and a baseball player are talking about the same thing when using the word “bat”.
I get along incredibly well with those of my colleagues who are vegans. I only have a problem with that crazy radical subset of vegans who oppose eating meat.
And I have always had a terrific relationship with my atheist colleagues, except, off course, those atheists on the lunatic fringe who don’t believe in God.
My relationship with my pacifist colleagues couldn’t be better, unless, off course, they’re the kind of pacifists who oppose violence in any shape or form.
My homosexual colleagues and I have always enjoyed a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship. Except, that is, from those few “rotten apples” among them that are attracted to the same sex.
And as for those who disagree with me…
And don’t get me started about the fringe segment among teetotalers who don’t drink alcohol.
(Not to mention the ones who don’t know the difference between “off” and “of” :-/)
Women’s Lives Matter.
Is an analogy that blatant going to get through to these people?
“After all, a fundamental tenet of police reform is to end forms of oppression…”
“After all, a fundamental tenet of secularism is to end forms of oppression…”
“After all, a fundamental tenet of anti-racism is to end forms of oppression…”
And so on. Sure, these things are all about ending a form of oppression, but the key is that they are aimed a form of oppression; one, singular. That’s why we have different words for them – to indicate which thing the movement is tackling.
Funny thing though, I’ve yet to see anyone lecture the other social movements that they need to also champion the trans cause. Obviously feminism is the natural target for these types, as by being feminists, one needs to recognise that sex is a thing, and that it leads to different experiences in life… and it is this notion that TRAs need to overcome.
Plus also feminism is about women, and let’s face it, we all hate women.