Because, well I know I’m no expert, but I think I must know orders of magnitude more than some people who claim authority on the matter, at least considering the wrongness they appear to spew as fact.
I spent a good part of this afternoon sitting in a pub trying (and failing) to avoid some of the excesses that TERF¹s spew over the internet. Believe me it was tough. If you know me, you’ll know that I know (and in many cases am friends with) a fair number of London’s trans community. So it hurts me when my friends are being abused on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. I’m not going to post names here, nor any screen caps, (which is not to say I don’t make screen caps, but why tell everyone exactly what weapons you can bring to bear?) So there we are, reading the tweets over lunch. They can be very bio-essentialist you know, which is another thing I find rather odd since we’re all biological, aren’t we? Even the cyborgs to some extent…
Over the last few days I’ve read that:
- Trans women’s’ vaginas smell of decay
Are we sure here, I mean I’ve never noticed. Anyone here, male or female who’s dated a trans woman care to comment? Keep it nice though. - All women have vaginas, monthly periods and can give birth
Though I’m sure that there are women here, perhaps post menopause or who’ve (for any reason) needed a hysterectomy might disagree. - Men are defined by their penis
Now, I know a lot of men, both cis and trans who I could not say that about, perhaps I’m wrong but maybe a reader has more experience? I mean I know, some men are dicks, to steal a put-down, but surely not all.
It really seems to me that these TERF¹s much like their allies the MRA²s, will stop at nothing to put down women, and though they seem to concentrate on trans women, allies and anyone who stands up for trans women will also enter their firing line. This in my opinion, does not a feminist make. You see I thought that feminism was about women’s rights, and not about causing fractures and infighting among women. This sort of thing weakens us and makes a mockery of women’s issues. It makes me angry!
They seem to be making claims that women are men, and men are men, and only women who could spontaneously eject a baby (and who in fact can be seen to do so) can be accepted as women. This is wrong. I’d like to include something here about intersectionality and the additional struggles that women of colour have to go through, but I’m white, and relatively privileged, so I’ll leave it there and let someone with more experience take up that point.
Now I know people here are going to disagree with me on this, but if people are prepared to disavow people’s identity, and dehumanise people based on what they are suspected to have between their legs (because their assumptions are what matter, not medical references), then I say that is is they who are inhuman. They are the real monsters, and they should be treated as such.
And UKIP, come on people? If the extreme weather is caused by The Gay, then please explain how even though I’m as depressed as a big depressed thing most of the time, I can still cause localised flooding in my girlfriend’s underwear?
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¹ Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists – who have about as much to do with feminism as Jeremy Clarkson (with apologies to Jeremy, who’s probably not nearly that bad in real life)
² Mens Rights Activists – because men have no rights in our world, you know.