Neti Neti
Neti Neti
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

To take your points in order as I see them: first, intersex is certainly a disorder. The sex organs by design should result in a functional male or female reproductive system. To acknowledge that intersex is a disorder, the same way that colorblindness or deafness or congenital hypothyroidism is a disorder, is not to denigrate those with the disorder. We all have some kind of disorder at some point. Those deaf from birth often find themselves in a vibrant community of other deaf people and couldn’t imagine their lives any other way; that doesn’t mean that congenital deafness is not a disorder. The existence of a congenital disorder doesn’t undermine and redefine everything we know about the undisordered state of a healthy human body.

I can see why you maintain there is cultural consensus that transgenderism is innate and biological. It’s everywhere right now. And yet what you may not see is the vigorous, continuous, active suppression of all dissenting views. Anyone who dares to question the narrative that it is in fact possible to be “born in the wrong body,” or to suggest it might be safer to take time to explore underlying mental health issues before rushing to medical transition for young teenagers who suddenly come out as trans, will be the focus of a concerted attack by the trans lobby. Many have lost their jobs. Articles are pulled. Concerned professionals meet in secret and use pseudonyms online. Dissent is not tolerated. And I can tell you there is NOT consensus.

I agree with you that patriarchy is the problem. And the reason that I am focused on the issue of transwomen taking resources from actual women is that that is the movement of patriarchy. Transwomen are male, and as such, their needs, actual or perceived, are treated as inviolable. Their feelings must be accommodated! The needs of women, not so much. Transmen are equally hurt by patriarchy as any other females. You ask me why I don’t “support” transmen’s visibility, and I guess the answer is I don’t see transitioning as a healthy, viable option for escaping the crushing oppression of patriarchy, so I don’t really want to see that catch on any more than it has. But as females they certainly have my support as a feminist.

Patriarchy as you say “winks” at female homosexuality, in that “hot girl on girl action” is always good for a thrill. But real lesbians who just want to live their lives without any interaction with men are harassed, erased, sexually assaulted, and told that they really just need a good man. This assault has gained a whole new front with the onslaught of transwomen who claim to be lesbians, who have no intention of having their original equipment removed. Now young lesbians are called “transphobes” if they dare to stand up for their right not to have sex with bepenised people.

With regard to brain scans, the sex of mammals is not determined by any aspect of neuroanatomy and the sex of a human can not be predicted with any accuracy by looking at brain scans. If the brain is in the body of a male, it is a male brain. There are all kinds of interesting variations between people’s brains that may correlate to one degree or another with other mental or physical characteristics; however that does not mean that we then use the brain scan as the defining feature for that condition. Even if there were 100% ability to predict from a brain scan alone which people were transgender, that would not mean that a transwoman is actually a female. It is just one possible variation of male experience (and perhaps biology) for a male to be convinced he is female. Certainly such people face challenges and have needs and wants. They obviously deserve respect, compassion, and civil rights. That does not make them women.

I have a few questions that I’d really like to hear your answer to. Do you believe that women are an oppressed group? If so, on what basis are women oppressed? As an oppressed group, should women have the right to define themselves and their boundaries? Why is it acceptable for Bruce Jenner, an exceptionally privileged, wealthy white man, to decide in his 6th decade of life that he is actually a woman and insist that we as women accept him as one of us, but the Black community is under no obligation to accept Rachel Dolezal as one of their own given her strong psychological need to be accepted in that way? I honestly don’t understand what the difference is and that’s why I engaged with you. The psychological need of the interloper doesn’t trump the actual needs of the marginalized community in any other situation that I can think of. Why are women the only ones expected to forever put the needs of others above their own?

    Neti Neti

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    Neti Neti