I-dentity (aka trans) politics is fundamentally LIBERTARIAN. It is ahistorical and acontextual. It essentializes sex stereotypes by renaming them consensual “gender identities.” It invisibilizes power structures that give rise to female oppression. It is anti-feminist.
By UP
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You think I just don't understand, but I don't believe you. 
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Spot on definition…….needs to be repeated time and time again…just to make sure the detractors ‘get it’…….
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(Trans politics) essentializes sex stereotypes by renaming them consensual “gender identities.”
(Trans politics) essentializes sex stereotypes by renaming them consensual “gender identities.”
(Trans politics) essentializes sex stereotypes by renaming them consensual “gender identities.”
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What
Oh dear.
Trans isn’t ahistorical, its just that like homosexuality before it, it was hidden and papered over. It isnt acontextual as it exists throughout many, many cultures.
I do think that there are problems with the current discourses withing trans* activism, but IMHO, thats because of patriarchy working to ensure that those who are trans* dont upset the gender binary that rigidly assigns female-sexed humans to a female gender role.
So transwomen in particular are pressurised to become more feminine than the female in order to prove their trans* identity, encouraged to have surgery to look like bio-sexed women and sexualised in porn to confirm them as part of the sex-class of women.
Transwomen are the misunderstood sisters of feminists.
No.
Bullshit.
You can’t respond to a thought out arguament with ‘no’. By not providing a counter arguament, and yet continuing to opose that arguament, you only succeed in making yourself seem irational in your beliefs.
Get your dick out of your ass and justify some of your oppinions- if you can’t you don’t deserve to have them.
“get your dick out of your ass”? Really?
Sir, this blog has lots of responses to that nice liberal girl. Go read them.
por vous, chippy http://radicalfeministmemes.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/76/
Thank you for the considered and thoughtful response which demonstrates how carefully you have researched the issue.
Hi – You are an idiot. You could bother to read this blog, or any number of places where I have written on this, but noooooooooooooooooo. You are lazy. I will see you protesting in London, I am sure. Buy me a beer and I will be happy to tell you in person what I think.
mhairi your argument was perfectly written. I applaud you. It’s sad that brennan seems to want to stick with bullheaded ignorance..
Yes, sad for the trans women that Females are hip to penis = male. Boo hoo.
That is some radfem cisscum BS.
Oh? Do tell.
Mhhh no. Do go eat a dick.
This has been a message from your neighborhood trans* ally/queer/feminism.
Yeah, this is why females want our own space, away from “dick.”
What do you mean have our own space? The entire feminist movement is our space because of radscum like you.
Um, no. http://transfemmergence.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/violent-threats-misogyny-anti-lesbianism-must-stop/
Um, no. http://transfemmergence.wordpress.com/2012/06/11/violent-threats-misogyny-anti-lesbianism-must-stop/
Also, are you female? Interesting.
Wow I’m impressed. You found an article that completely derailed what I was talking about to instead criticize how I choose to insult you and that also painted the lesbian community as the victim in of all this. Bravo. Look, if you think that me telling you to go eat a dick is more problematic then your exclusion of transwomen from the feminist movement then my statement still stands. Go eat a dick.
So you believe that females don’t have a right to organize as females. Correct?
You do know that a decent amount of transwomen do identify as females right? I think you mean cis-women.
Trans women are male. Female is not an identity.
Ugh gross. You just said transwomen are males. That means we’re done here. Forever and always go eat a dick.
ED. NOTE: THIS IS THIS COMMENTER http://hineko1123.deviantart.com/
No, I am a lesbian. I don’t want to interact with males sexually. Enjoy your trans women!
I think it’s sad that you define who you are gender wise simply by your genitalia. The way you choose to persecute transgender people is no different then the way in which ignorant people may choose to persecute the homosexual community.
Trans ideology persecutes women. Also, I’m guessing you’re not a homosexual.
also no I’m personally not a homosexual but that does not mean that I cannot see when my friends who are homosexual have been persecuted… it looks an awful lot like the disgusting abuse you are hurling at trans gender people…. you’re a bully end of. There is a difference between believing that trans gender people are not the sex they claim they are and then outing trans people online and posting their personal details online so others can send abuse. If you are not mature enough to debate these issues without becoming an abusive human being then don’t debate them at all. You seem only to see a persons sex rather then the person whom they truly are, the entire male sex is not out to get the female sex.
You are an anti-woman, anti-lesbian bigot, ma’am.
me believing that all humans are equal whatever their sex, gender, sexual orientation, race etc makes me anti-woman, anti-lesbian and bigoted how exactly?
Try reading some books. There are resources at the links at the top of this blog’s home page.
And good luck with your support of male supremacy, straight lady.
However rife with logical fallacies your arguments are, they still do not adress the way you attack a group of people with an undeniable identity the same way women were also devalued in their opinions and opressed in that same unceremonious fashion.
To be so exclusive in a movement calling for equality is damning for everyone and is more divisive and ”individualistic” than what you profess is the mental identity and chemophysical composition (endocrine system) of those you persecute. You cannot simply judge someone by their physical appearances and, should their choice be to transition, you have as little say in the matter as men (or other women) do for women who seek abortion.
Should you not be fighting for the right to all people of the sexual spectrum to the right of their own person?
To the right to their own sexuality and their safety?
To make their own choices for their lives and not have to be persecuted for it?
Roles are what you make of them, if you just clearly define the world in terms of male and female what happens to all those who are physically in the grey area? They do exist and yet everyday, parents choose a path for their babies who may grow up and identify as the other. Identity is a personal matter of the mind and their choice is no one’s to dictate.
Females can decide what we fight for: http://radicalhub.com/2012/05/25/ovaries-before-brovaries/
It is a very sad day for all Women the day you make choices for anyone of us. Your blind bigotry, ignorance of the history of Women and your embracing of the gender binary to support your discrimination. Who are you to decide and pass judgement on anyone??? You have contributed nothing to Women. As an actress I have raised funds for Women’s shelters, tens of thousands in fact. I have raised healthy girls, I have brought some back from suicide attempts, drugs alcohol and prostitution. What have you really done. you have some ability’s use them. Stop trying to hurt those who are the most harmed in our society today Trans gender people.
Hello Cathy Brennan. Until today I had never heard of you but I’ve spent the morning looking over things you have written and the responses you have received to try and get a good idea of what you are all about. Now i have what i think is a good idea of your aims and to a lesser extent motives. I would like to introduce myself to you. I understand you must be a busy woman but i hope you can take the time to read it.
My name is Catherine, I am a 23 year old woman and I am a technical sales adviser by trade. I currently live with my loving parents and younger brother in the English countryside. My political beliefs tend towards socialism and libertarianism and my religious beliefs conform to the idea of the Agnostic Atheist ( I don’t think there is a god, but i cant know for sure). I am a feminist, I support equal rights for all people, I believe every able man and woman has a responsibility to act decently to all other people on this earth. I have quite a good life, I have an amazing family and great friends and im lucky enough to enjoy the company of my colleagues.
There are downsides to every life of course, I suffer from Auto-immune Hepatitis, a genetic disorder that means my immune system attacks my liver as if it were a foreign body. Having this disease has been difficult (I was diagnosed at 14 when i nearly died from Liver failure) but it is being managed by medication at this time. The biggest downer on my life however is that I suffer from (and have been diagnosed with) Gender Dysphoria. What this means is that i was unlucky enough to be one of a small percentage of women born with a body that does not match my internal gender. It took me a long time to come to terms with this. I always knew I wasn’t quite the same as the other kids at school and eventually i managed to put a name “gender dysphoria” to my condition and researched ways to help myself deal with the problems it caused. I figured there would be two ways to stop this inconvenient birth defect from negatively impacting on my life, either to make my brain male or my body female. First i decided to try to make my brain male. This consisted of trying to act more masculine and fit the male role. I had a good role-model for this in my father, he is a manly hands-on man who likes woodwork, steam engines and motor racing. Sadly however the attempt to change my internal gender failed (I would have loved to succeed and be able to live as a “normal man”). The act of constantly going against the grain caused me much psychological anguish and eventually led to suicidal depression and for a short time drug use. One day I decided enough was enough and that I was going to try to other route, to be true to myself and start living as a woman. I had just turned 21 at the time and i was terrified of how people would react, my friends and family are very important to me so the thought of loosing them was distressing indeed. Luckily I was accepted unconditionally, my family barely battered an eyelid nor did my friends, a lot of people actually told me that they weren’t surprised and even the ones that were went to great effort to make me feel accepted. Over the last couple of years I have worked tirelessly to learn all the skills i missed out on learning as a child and teenager and can now a lot of people dont realize that I have transitioned genders. As i have not had any surgery or hormones yet I believe in a few years i may be able to fit in seamlessly (which would be nice). However I don’t think i will ever try to hide the fact i am a transsexual, it is a much maligned and little-understood affliction and i think being upfront and transparent about this sort of thing can only lead to a more inclusive society.
Ive been very lucky in my transition. I have received very little abuse for who I am. People are very understanding about the whole thing and it has made me so happy to be accepted for who I am. The people who have been mean to me about it have literally all been either from moving vehicles or from people on the internet. I know i am lucky for this because in a lot of places transgendered people are subjected to a lot of hassle for just trying to live a fulfilling life and that’s not fair.
Ive noticed that you seem to see Trans women as a threat to your goals of equality and safety for all women (correct me if i am wrong) and I for one would like to assure you that I support the same ideas of total equality for women and the right to safety. I hope reading this introduction has helped you see that not all people who fly the trans flag are fetishistic types who like to wear adult sized versions of small girls clothing ( like you i would not let Reed Barrow in my house although what he does in his house is no concern of mine). Many trans people are just normal people with a birth defect. You may have noticed I haven’t attacked you for your views, I haven’t cursed or been abusive. I think its terrible that people are willing to let their humanity slide to attack someone whose views are opposed to their own. I think we could find some common ground despite the fact that some of our views are not aligned.
I have hesitated in sending you this message as I worried I may receive abuse for it however I think its important that you are given examples of normal rational trans people who have no desire to hurt you. No matter how much you hurt some of us.
There is a lot of wrong here. I’ll leave you to your wrong.
” First i decided to try to make my brain male. This consisted of trying to act more masculine and fit the male role.”
What on earth possessed you to post this hideous sexism on a feminist blog?
” Sadly however the attempt to change my internal gender failed (I would have loved to succeed and be able to live as a “normal man”). The act of constantly going against the grain caused me much psychological anguish ..”
You come to a lesbian blog published by a gender-nonconforming female to whine about how intolerable you found it as a man to “go against the grain”? Fuck you. Really. Just fuck you. What an insensitive entitled male fuck you are.
” No matter how much you hurt some of us..”
Females don’t “hurt” you by rejecting your sexism you longwinded entitled male prick.
This is exactly the sort of abuse i thought i might receive. I am interested in starting a dialogue with people with differing view to myself. Obviously a sensible discussion without swearing is beyond you. I would agree that gender roles are partially a social construction but i would also argue that it isnt necessarily a bad thing. Men and women are different, for example women tend to have more developed linguistic centers whereas men tend to have a more developed visual spacial sketchpad (if you dont believe me, the research is widely available). It becomes a problem when people use these differences to back up acts of discrimination such as pay inequality.
You might have noticed (if you had actually read what i wrote instead of picking out key words and spitting venom) that I myself am a feminist and believe in equal rights and protections for everyone regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation.
It makes me laugh that you are so afraid of views that dont match your own that you explode into a vitriolic rant in which you undermine your own moral high ground by swearing and denying my gender identity (which the international medical community has validated). Just goes to show how ridiculous your prejudice is if it isnt presented opposite a scary transvestite who calls you the C word.
At the end of the day the evidence is on my side. It is looking more and more likely that there is a physical cause behind transexualism and that it is not a purely mental, I know on the face of things this appears to undermine your goals and beliefs but it actually doesn’t. Just because there are documented differences between the genders doesnt mean we cant have an equal society and tear down the patriarchy.
Gender doesn’t exist EXCEPT to ensure women are subordinate to men. Sorry about your penis. Be well.
I was expecting a more robust rebuttal. Please tell me where my recollection of my own life is flawed and what insights you hold?
No im afraid you have it all backwards. Gender isnt an artificial construct to ensure the continuation of patriarchy . Gender differences are a natural occurrence (look at every other species in nature if you dont believe me e.g. Lionesses doing the majority of hunting etc) that have resulted in a patriarchy. My own theory is that the patriarchy evolved through the higher levels of testosterone (and with testosterone aggressive behavior, much like your own (have you ever been checked for a hormonal imbalance?)) allowing men to aggressively marginalize women. I agree the patriarchy is a fundamentally bad thing that women need to fight by doing a similar thing to you and breaking societal norms however your marginalization of trans people has rendered your own struggle morally reprehensible in the same way as those who consciously prop up the patriarchy.
Thank you for being sorry about my penis. I am too!
Sorry about your flawed logic and cherry-picked historical, social and biological knowledge. Be well.
1. GENDER IS THE FOUNDATION OF MALE DOMINATION
2. GENDER IS A WAR – A WAR AGAINST WOMEN
3. GENDER IS PERFORMANCE THAT PROVIDES THE FOUNDATION OF MALE DOMINATION OVER FEMALES
4. GENDER NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED IF WE SEEK TO OVERTHROW PATRIARCHY
5. TRANS WOMEN ARE MALE AND TRANS MEN ARE FEMALE
6. WOMEN-ONLY ORGANIZING AND THE ABILITY TO ESTABLISH A BOUNDARY BASED ON SEX IS A KEY COMPONENT OF REJECTING RAPE CULTURE.
7. RAD FEMS WANT TO ABOLISH GENDER, TRANS WANT TO KEEP GENDER BECAUSE TRANS CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT GENDER. THIS IS A HEAD ON CONFLICT IN THE FUTURE OF FEMINISM
People are people, gender exists, get over it. Gender should only have real meaning to the individual not to society at large. I will not be judged by man or Women based on what I “identify” as. I fully support the un-importance of gender in day to day life. But I know I am a Woman and anyone who disagrees can kiss my hairy vagina
Gross.
If you want to destroy gender, then why do you affirm gender by using gendered pronouns, and gendering people’s bodies, and promoting the segregation of people based on your gendering of their bodies?
Female is a sex. Sorry about your dick.
No, “female” is not a sex- it’s a subjective, gendered, designation that is applied to people who are assumed to have ova producing anatomy. When an infant is born, whether they are designated as “male” or “female” is based on the doctor’s subjective interpretation of the infant’s body, not necassarily their actual biological sex. For example, someone with AIS might be assigned “female” even though their anatomy is what you would consider “male” based on the gametes they produce (even though you previously stated that you consider people with AIS female on the basis that they are assigned/socialized that way, thus not only contradicting yourself, but you’re also enabling the gendering of people’s bodies).
Sex is not subjective. The fact that variations exist does not negate the reality that the species is sexually dimorphic.
What you perceive as a contradiction is not one – if you are assigned female at birth, you are socialized as a female.
Hmm, flawed logic not working? Try capslock and bulletpoints?
No, just copypaste, sir.
Stop inferring that you speak for all women, you are a single ignorant individual regardless of your sex, gender or sexual orientation
I’m sorry you care more about men’s feelings than women’s reality. I only hope you grow out of it. Radical feminist analysis speaks for all women. That’s the point.
And yet I would say that you categorically do not speak for all women and I’m sure many women would agree with me in that matter. I in no way care about men’s feelings more than women’s I care about human being’s feelings; that’s the point we are equal!