Why does MN feminism focus on trans?

You've got the question backwards.

Currently, there's a gender studies prof on twitter right now tweeting about how feminism shouldn't be about women (won't link, but it's a meme other folks keep trying to bring up --- feminism would be oh so nice if it were only about us, and not those cis scum types).

The question is, why are trans folks and their collaborators colonizing feminism?

Answer that questions, and you'll see why it keeps coming up here.

Nice response OP. It's terrifying isn't it when you start to look beneath the 'let's be kind and inclusive' banner and realise that the very identity of woman is being removed from us.

It is ridiculous enough that I am forced to use the word ‚female‘ because ‚woman‘ doesn‘t mean shit any more these days. Then basically calling me transphobic for it is really adding insult to injury.

That's the point. You found a way to not comply and will be punished.

Personally, I have never understood the way the words women and female seem to have different value attached to them. They mean the same thing to me.

I guess tranactivists think that appropriating the word female is a bridge too far, even for them. (It won't be). But to me, it's no different than the word woman.

It is ridiculous enough that I am forced to use the word ‚female‘ because ‚woman‘ doesn‘t mean shit any more these days. Then basically calling me transphobic for it is really adding insult to injury.

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/business/third-bosses-avoid-hiring-women-could-have-children-soon/

This is an article from earlier this year and the comments beneath it are frightening. I have two DC. Coincidentally so does my DH. Nobody makes any assumptions about his commitment to his job as a result of this but they would about mine. The negative stereotypes women live with every day are rooted in assumptions made because of our biology. This is happening to people right now from all classes, races, religions and sexual orientations. If you create ambiguity when it comes to defining the word woman, you create a loophole for people with dishonest intentions to continue doing things like this. Stonewall and other charities refuse to acknowledge that sex discrimination is even a thing and I find that beyond comprehension.

Being against self-ID is not an attack on trans people. I don’t presume every trans woman is a sex offender nor that they do not deserve the right to live their life however they like. I do however want my rights preserved so that when I or anyone else faces discrimination, we have the means to fight it.

It's a shame Prof Sally Hines didn't explain that the word female is transphobic on Woman's Hour. I think that would have clarified matters for every single listener who wasn't already peaked.

It was the need to protect autistic girls and particularly my own autistic dd from the trans genderist ideology that brought me here but it has reawakened and sharpened my feminism in 100 different ways as a result, ways that help me support women in real life. Genderist ideology is the latest front of the battle but in fighting it we sharpen our swords, skills and understanding for every other battle.

I think words are very important - should I have a rethink?

I agree that words are very important, so too context!

I’d speculate that for Feminists : how can you Centre women, when the very definition woman is being trashed
For women that don’t consider themselves feminists: were comfortable that enough progress regarding things like sport, STEM and safeguarding had been made and that self-Id will trash that.

Using female= anti-trans

Thank you ROwantrees.

The trouble is that I've also heard that using the word females instead of the word women is dehumanising as it could refer to cats and dogs!

Since then whenever I hear (usually men) use the word females instead of women it so often is one of the bad guys. It seems to be the word of choice used by woman-haters of one kind or another.

I have told my children it is bad form to refer to women as females.

I think words are very important - should I have a rethink?

Us pesky women can think of more than one thing at once. Something to do with the brain..........

For the same reasons that politics is focused on Brexit. It’s current, it affects us all and it’s potentially very very damaging.

When there’s a need to write articles like this, something’s gone wrong somewhere

DO WOMEN EXIST? – THE SCIENCE OF SEX, THE POLITICS OF GENDER, AND THE MATERIALIST AND DIALECTICAL THINKING NEEDED TO DISTINGUISH THE TWO

convincingreasons.wordpress.com/2018/12/10/do-women-exist-the-science-of-sex-the-politics-of-gender-and-the-materialist-and-dialectical-thinking-needed-to-distinguish-the-two/

I don’t think there’s a bigger autism issue at the moment than the sterilisation of autistic children

This. I’m the mother of two aspie kids and I don’t want them (and others like them ) sterilised and mutilated, with little or no capacity to enjoy a sexual relationship as an adult.

I don’t want them thinking that their bodies are faulty and that they need surgery and hormones to make them normal. They ARE normal, they are just not NT. They are perfect just the way they are.

What other issues should I be more concerned about OP?

Can someone explain? It sounds interesting.

Using female= anti-trans

Good people (trans allies) use woman, which can include both sexes and those who don't recognise they are of a sex. (see also womxn)

Bad people (according to trans-ideology & activists)= those women who think sex matters = transphobic = should be shamed, smeared and/or silenced.

I'd bloody love to see mermaids in court...

I'd donate to that legal fund.

I also know several people who began transition in their teens and now in their early 20s are unhappy with the lack of support given to them beforehand...

Would it be possible for them to take legal action and maybe sue those that gave wrong advice, I wonder?

I'd bloody love to see mermaids in court...

The definition of the word "woman" is pretty central to feminism - how can you fight for women if you don't know who women are?

This. And all the other responses pointing out that if we don't fight for this issue, we will have lost the entire battle for women's rights.

I think that until this all kicked off, I hadn't really understood how marginalised women are. It's thrown into sharp relief just how much some men (and we're talking 'nice', 'smart' men here, doctors, MPs, people in the media), really dislike women.

the joyful jumping on a bandwagon that harms women and girls is very telling.

'i think that might be why this caught my attention so much

"No one without an anti trans agenda says female anymore. People say woman"

It's early, I've just got up and I can't untangle all the double negs.

Can someone explain? It sounds interesting..

Apparently if you use the word female you are anti trans/transphobic.

Using the word male does not though. I wonder why?

This thread is a great articulate start to a Sunday morning!

*The trans issue intersects with another issue that is close to me: autism.

A hugely disproportionate number of those being put on puberty blockers are on the spectrum.

I don’t think there’s a bigger autism issue at the moment than the sterilisation of autistic children.*

Yes yes. Sterilisation and desexing of autistic young people, or the systematic removal of the language women use to define themselves and their lived experience and the completely definition change of what "woman" even means.