Transfeminism and TERFS: A Clash Between Biology and Ideology
The advocacy surrounding the definitions of gender, sex, and the rights afforded to us all is taking a dark turn.
There is an intense clash happening, mostly between members of the transgender community and some feminists, lesbians, and midwives.
In 2018 the word and category, “women”, started to disappear from public places. Women found themselves in the peculiar position of being called “menstruators”, “cervix-or uterus-havers” and “pregnant individuals” by newspapers and official institutions. Some in England’s Green Party refer to women as “non-men” in order to be more inclusive, although the category “men” remains unchanged.
In a truly stunning development, across the Western World the word woman, defined in Webster’s Dictionary as an “adult, female person,” has become synonymous with hate speech and is becoming an increasingly unmentionable word.
And yet, many people haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
A new ideology, which is fueled by a small fraction of trans activists and their allies, supported by third-wave feminists, postmodernists and progressives, have decided to center feminism around the needs and rights of transgender people, rather than marginalized women and girls.
The debate involves the question of whether transgender women are women and, as such, should have full access to all things women.
While it is a difficult and complex issue and there are no easy answers, I think we need new approaches on how to solve this to the benefit of all concerned.
In the trans-feminist manifesto by Emi Koyama, they make many important points with which I agree. However, the manifesto also states:
“Transfeminism holds that sex and gender are both socially constructed.”
This is where I disagree. While I do believe that gender is a social construct I do not believe that sex is. In my opinion, biology does define the physical reality of being a woman. This is not a sexist statement, but the felt experience that women have the world over. Women are (mostly) discriminated against or raped because of their biology. This stance may fail to address the reality of trans experiences in which biological sex feels imposed, artificial and changeable than a person’s inner sense of self. I acknowledge this, but think the reality of biology is, nevertheless, true for most women.
That said I don’t believe that the biological reality of being female is the only reality that counts in making one a woman. There are people, who, for many reasons, do not easily fit into categories. We need to support anyone’s right to do whatever it takes to be happy (as long as it doesn’t hurt others). Full bodily autonomy such as transitioning from male to female, or vice versa; making alterations to your body in any way shape or form; and choosing an abortion are important rights of people in a free society. We also urgently need to create more protections, spaces, and healthcare for transgender and gender fluid people. However, there are some alarming developments in this particular rights issue that too few are paying attention to.
In democracy, free speech and the ability to respectfully agree to disagree must be taken seriously. But the advocacy surrounding the definitions of gender, sex, and the rights afforded to us all is taking a dark turn. We find ourselves in a situation where discussion around this issue, especially in public places, has become impossible. People, mostly women, have been attacked, intimidated, fired from their jobs, silenced, de-platformed and threatened with rape and death for disagreeing. Almost any person, who differs in opinion with proponents of the trans-feminism manifesto, or the ideas therein, is immediately cast into TERF’s (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) territory and is called transphobic. So-called TERFs are compared to Nazis and there are websites and social media pages devoted to hating them .
While the transgender activists who are behind this trend may be a small minority they are nevertheless very loud, well funded and have essentially hijacked the conversation, influencing policies at universities, schools, academia, psychology and the tech world. Any objection is aggressively quelled by labeling it hate speech. The ideology has branded itself as a civil rights movement, which makes any discussion about it almost impossible.
This particular civil rights movement is led by an oppressed minority of people who are trying to take over the identity of another oppressed group of people. Women have been trying for hundreds of years to establish their own worth in relationship to the dominating class of males — not as the same in attributes, but as equal in worth. Now women are being demonized for identifying as such and demanding rights in the category of being women.
Transgender women are transgender women, just as the name suggests. We cannot just absorb transgender women into the category of biological women, when they clearly are not the same. While there may be many similarities and some overlapping issues, there are also many differences, especially around biology and health. I think it would be wise to create a new category, the transgender category, which transgender people can claim all the way for themselves.
Women have worked incredibly hard for decades to ensure certain rights. Right now, new rules are being installed the world over, which may weaken protections of women and children. This discussion should not be silenced nor considered “hate speech”. Here are some of the rules and discussions that will endanger or erode some of these hard fought rights:
1) Changes to the Recognition Act of 2004, in order to adopt sex self-identification
I am concerned that a law that allows any male-bodied person to declare they are a woman, without a history of identifying as a woman, poses an imminent danger to women and girls. The potential for abuse of this policy is high.
Amendments to to this law eliminated the two-year-rule where men who express the wish to transition don’t have to live as a female for a period of time anymore to prove they are serious about being a woman. They can simply declare they are a woman and it is so.
There are some transgender women who believe that the self-identification policy should get tougher, not weaker. They fear eventual backlash will be swift and severe.
Here I want to insert: I believe that most men are good people. Of course they are — look around and you will see them everywhere. That said, we all know that there are pedophiles and predators waiting for an opportunity to gain access to vulnerable women and children. It is not realistic to expect that they would not take advantage of a wide open door to do so.
2) Language centering on the biological reality of a woman is starting to be banned in schools, universities and even midwife associations.
For example, the Midwives Association of North America and the British Medical Association have rewritten their manifestos to suggest the erasure of all mention of motherhood or pregnant women. In a very short time, trans activists have managed to rewrite the language that is used to discuss birth and in essence erase women from it. We now have “birthing people”, “people with uteruses” and “chest feeding”.
It is woman-exclusionary to say “birthing individual”. Forty-nine percent of the human population is female, the overwhelming majority have the capacity to give birth and breastfeed — whether they choose to or not. According to statistics on trans-people, around 0.6 percent of the population in the United States is trans. Let’s assume that around half of those have the capacity to give birth (only trans men can potentially give birth). Proclaiming that the use of biological, scientific words is bigoted and exclusionary, actually, is bigoted and exclusionary. Nevertheless, I applaud these institutions’ efforts to become more inclusionary, and would welcome something like “pregnant women and birthing people” (which would include trans men and non-binary folks).
3) There is a trend of dropping plays, such as the Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, in schools and universities.
Again, I would welcome the addition of plays and monologues that center or include transgender issues, instead of just dropping the Vagina Monologues. It doesn’t feel inclusive to me when there is a large segment of the population that has vaginas.
4) I’d like to have more discussion (and actual scientific studies) about transgender women competing in the women’s category in sports.
I can’t help but feel that it is unfair to let trans women compete with biological women. It is not that long ago where women did not even have their own category, which was finally created, recognizing the difference between male and female physical abilities. There are only a few trans women competing in women’s categories today. But what is remarkable is that they are winning and taking home the trophy across disciplines, clearly showing their very visible physical advantage.
One woman trans supporter suggested to me that I might be secretly jealous, because trans women may simply be superior to female born women. The underlying misogyny of this statement left me speechless. I wish that trans activists could see women who are pointing out some of these early indications of emerging problems as allies, instead of labeling them as TERFs and transphobic, so we can find mutually satisfying solutions.
5) And lastly, I am very concerned about the push in favor of transitioning children.
As far as I’m concerned, a child should be whatever they want to be, which I think is perfectly natural. In German language, for example, children are an “it”, which itself points to the inherent ambiguity during the time of childhood.
It is true that the rigid reinforcement of stereotypical gender (blue for boys, pink for girls as an example) is hurting children who should be able to explore their identity freely. Indeed, the stereotypical beliefs about gender should be questioned frequently.
I would have been considered at transgender child. For more than 10 years I wanted nothing to do with being a girl. Luckily enough, nobody thought it strange that I was running around with my male cousins and their friends, and pretended to be a boy for most of my childhood. Despite this, I eventually embraced my biology as a woman, wholeheartedly, and am happy I did.
I have concerns about putting children on hormones, which may interfere with the healthy development of their bodies, or permanent surgical alterations before they have a chance to find out who they really are.
I wish we could go back in time and learn more from the native peoples who had a different way of living with gender fluidity. Some of their wisdom is alive today. The term “two spirit” was coined in the 1990s by queer Native American scholars who were tired of using the derogatory European words and descriptions of the gender fluid people used in accounts of first encounters with Native American tribes. There are historical accounts from over 150 tribes including these types of people, living as “normal” people amongst them. Some of them had celebrated or special roles as gate and wisdom keepers, some didn’t. Each tribe had their own word for gender fluid people, many of which have been lost. It was an accepted way of life.
I hope that at some point we will create a world where the spectrum of gender fluidity is recognized, where everyone is invited to express themselves on the gender spectrum however they want, without fear of discrimination.
But when ideologies seek to enforce rules blindly, and put laws in place without examination of the potential consequences they may unintentionally (or intentionally) have on others, they become tyrannical in nature. The fractioning of the human rights community could not come at a worse moment in time when we want to present a unified front against patriarchy and ideologies that pose a threat to women and all marginalized communities.
I am asking everyone to join the conversation now. Don’t wait until things escalate any more.
Have it and remind each other that we are all fighting for the same things — human rights, dignity, safety, expression, and freedom. Encourage each other to really listen with respect. Respect is the foundation for Love. Love thrives on respect. I believe that only love can solve this problem.
Let us start with respect and find solutions that benefit us all.
Here are some resources to become more informed:
A lesbian’s account at the Dyke March in SF
Open letter from top Brazilian athlete Ana Paula Henkel
Piece by transgender woman Miranda Yardley
Feminist writer Jane Clare Jones
Another piece from Jane Clare Jones
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