Magdalen Berns is back!

Personally I believe souls don't have sex or gender. Everything is energy and oneness...

But I can see the difference between me, who grew up thinking that boys were better than girls to the extent that I wore boys clothes and liked being mistaken for a boy but turned out to be happy in my female body; and someone that is desperately unhappy in their body and believes they need to change it.

I'm scared that kids like I was might think that they're trans and do irreversible damage to themselves before they've accepted who they are. The umbrella is widening far too much to scoop up those with normal adolescent confusion or internalised homophobia. I'm very concerned about that.

But I do believe that there are people for whom their dysphoria is a very real and valid condition that they cannot just snap out of. Whatever the psychological or biological drivers are for that condition, it exists.

Queer theory?

They already know

I meant to say lol!

They already know

Trans people exist. Trans as in 'born in the wrong body' not only doesn't exist, it logically can't, unless you are a person of faith that believes in souls which have sexes.

I don't think the dysphoria argument rings true though loops because Ash has been given permission to wear suits and is choosing not to, after 4 years of conformity. If it was really causing intense distress, not sure you'd choose to continue.

I don't know anything about Ash. This is my first encounter but one of my bug bears is the amount of projection and assumption that happens - particularly from older trans identified people towards young people. I just don't like to see similar going back the other way. The only sentence that really jarred with me was trans doesn't exist. I just don't think that's actually true.

It's a shame you feel that Queer Theory turns brains to mush, I'm sure the Professors and academics who research and teach it would be so disappointed to hear that you think that. Guess their doctorates are worthless, did you want to write to the universities and tell them?

They already know.

Loops, I was a union organizer in the US for a lot of years and the kindest thing I can say to you about labor law in the US is that you are mistaken when you say American employment laws don't allow for the kind of collective and lasting change you would want.

Fruit tea is so generally boring and a waste of time and money. Currently (rather than currant-ly, boom boom!!) I feel that the whole industry is somewhat up its own fundament.

You guess right.

They all know that men aren't women. But hey, queer theory 🙄

loops, you do realise this system of self-assessment of struggles may be open to being gamed? What checks and balances do you propose?

hipster what queue? You can though, doesn't bother me, it's not a competition.

Nobody seems to have said anything about the fact that American employment laws don't allow for the kind of collective and lasting change you would want. Just seems pretty crucial if you're arguing about why an American did or did not try to get that change.

I guess I am perfectly happy acknowledging my own privilege compared to other people, and also my lack of it compared to them too.

It's not a competition, it's a way of giving others the boost they need to have a fair shot.

It's not about people being more or less important, just about them having more or less struggles based on a variety of factors, and helping everyone to get to a point of equality.

It's a shame you feel that Queer Theory turns brains to mush, I'm sure the Professors and academics who research and teach it would be so disappointed to hear that you think that. Guess their doctorates are worthless, did you want to write to the universities and tell them?

Most fruit teas seem to be decaffeinated They lack any active substance; and you can tell straight off that they appear unconvincing (weird colour etc), and the aroma is misleading and leading to wrong.

Oh my goodness, someone offered me fresh nettle (of the stinging persuasion!) tea, once!

I feel oppressed all day long. Like, really oppressed. May I go to the front of the queue?

Angry not 'special' people, just not everyone. I have a lot of friends who are women and are not trans (cis women is technically how we describe ourselves but you don't approve of that term on the boards).

Some of my friends would absolutely feel oppressed by a dress code forcing them to wear skirts/dresses or heels. They'd probably be incredibly uncomfortable and even feel anxious or depressed because of it. Some wouldn't really care either way. Some would choose to follow the dress-code even without the dress-code in place, so for them it's not an oppressive thing.

I don't think something can oppress you, if you don't feel oppressed by it, but obviously it can oppress other people.

Living in the UK, I'd back any collective campaign to stop sexist dress-codes, or anything else that helped dismantle oppression.

If I lived in the US I'd be reluctant to put my job in jeopardy unless it was becoming impossible for me personally to work under those conditions. There just aren't enough safeguards there to protect workers, and there isn't enough social security to enable people to live without a job.

Tea is definitely more fun than trying to explain the concept that no, actually, some people aren't inherently more important than others.

Tea (caffeine having kind) makes you feel alert and aware. Queer theory turns your brain into mush.

Why would I know better than someone else how they feel? It is up to me to put forward a compelling case for my suffering being greater if I believe it is, and then whoever decides on policies has to judge that.

That sounds like tons of workplace fun.

Are we doing that tea thing?

Angry I absolutely agree that collective action is the way to make changes happen at a root level. But again, in America, many workplaces don't allow unionisation or any form of collective action. Until that changes (and I don't know how it will without collective action) it's individuals having to make the best of things in their jobs.

Saying Ash should have tried to change the inherent sexism is great, and I'm sure she wishes she could do that, but it ignores all the barriers within employment in America that would enable that to even slightly happen.

So Ash did what she had to do to enable herself to continue working. Then she made a video with a 'how to' for anyone in a similar situation.

And my "I like wearing dresses" example is to show that not everything is going to oppress everyone, and so not everyone is going to have their mental health negatively impacted by that thing. This obviously doesn't mean women as a class are not oppressed by sexist dress-codes or that oppression doesn't negatively impact mental health.

I have one that has all kinds of berries including elderberries plus hibiscus that's delicious (and will stain anything you spill it on).

I'm mostly rolling my eyes at the idea that sexist dress codes only cause harm to certain special people. "Cis" women shouldn't mind, right?

Rhubarb... now that's a tea to be reckoned with.

A woman working with Ash who felt the sexist uniform policy was causing her stress or hardship could go through the exact same process as Ash did and could get the same allowances as Ash did.

As if.

I think Ash has been the beneficiary of trans privilege in this case.

I object! Some fruit tea is lovely, it just needs to be brewed strong.

Why would I know better than someone else how they feel? It is up to me to put forward a compelling case for my suffering being greater if I believe it is, and then whoever decides on policies has to judge that.

Why do you think it is a competition to keep the others down while you get relief?

Light And I would agree with you, unless it's peach iced tea which I find oddly refreshing.

A woman claiming sexism was causing her hardship would have been told to deal with it or get a new job, which is no doubt the reason that Ash took the trans angle instead.

If you don't agree with the feminist approach to dealing with sexism (collective action, acknowledgement that sexism inherently causes hardship to women as a group) then it's unlikely that anything I say will convince you, but surely you must be aware that taking that tack on a board called "women's rights" is likely to result in feminists disagreeing with you.

"Well I like wearing dresses" as a response to that is just more of the same self focused, lacking in class analysis blather.