I thought I’d try and clarify some points made on this thread.
Whether I spoke or not, I was caught between a rock and a hard place; to have remained quiet would have signalled tacit agreement to something I disagreed with, and of course my speaking up meant imposition.
I think one can define ‘transwoman’ in a way that is consistent and reflects reality, and that’s certainly something that seemed to offer compromise some time ago, but of course it wasn’t ever enough. Anyway, I don’t think trans identified males can claim ‘woman’ in any form, as this makes the word ‘woman’ meaningless.
I do not speak ‘as a feminist’ or ‘as a feminist ally’. I’m an ally only to those who accept me as such, and as I’m often reminding people on Twitter, I speak for myself. I certainly do not speak ‘for’ women, nor do I need the validation of women to take my political positions: this is based on classic liberalism and socialist/Marxist analysis. I always acknowledge women’s words when I use them in any context, for example I always underscore the contribution Harriet Taylor made to JS Mill’s works ‘on liberty’ and ‘the Subjection of women’. Taylor is arguably this country’s greatest unknown philosopher.
Regarding pronouns and labels, to be clear, I have never considered TIMs female, as my earliest writings show. The corollary is TIMs being men, I have never shied away from this. I discretely stopped actively using that description I think in 2015, that said I’ve ised it politically a couple of times since and I’ve never demanded anyone call me ‘she’ or ‘her’.
I wrote a blog post last year disavowing ‘woman’ in any form being used for males, as my position had evolved over time and I felt it necessary to clarify.
My audience is not women, I am trying to reposition the trans movement. I write and say what I do to counter the lies and misinformation used by transgender activists which are being used to instrumentalise children in the trans battle and make the concept of a child’s personality determining their ‘brain sex’ culturally acceptable. This is a fight I think we all need to focus upon, as ghastly organisations like GIRES, Gendered Intelligence and Mermaids are getting the moral and financial support to push their homophobic, misogynistic message thus normalise this in schools etc., without there being debate or tolerance of counter-arguments. This is the real battleground now, and whatever else these men are doing pales into insignificance compared to what they are doing with children.
I think the transgender movement now has gone beyond any viable compromise. Much of the noise is newly-hatched recent ‘transitioners’ who exit the closed Facebook groups and other fora to bring forth their wrath and Male entitlement. These men are some of the most abusive men I’ve encountered in my life, and are cheered on by such malignant woman-haters as Roz Kaveney and Sarah Brown.
The transactivists are playing a long game, and they’ve had control of the centre for so much time they’ve been able to redefine it. This really is an all-out political war.