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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Institute of Race Relations article says gender critical feminists are just a tool of right wing fundamentalism because of arguing for the reality of biological sex

35 replies

stumbledin · 08/06/2021 00:37

Sorry, bit late to be trying to say anything coherant about this article but I can see this being picked up (as it already has by Pink News) by trans activists that anyone who doesn't accept you can change sex is either a right wing fundamentalist, or so dim they will become a tool of right wing fundamentalists.

Enjoy!

irr.org.uk/article/feminism-biological-fundamentalism-attack-on-trans-rights/

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NiceGerbil · 08/06/2021 02:02

Ok the first whole bit is about how far right/ orthodox religious ideologies and governments are shit for. Well the author says trans people. Oh and gay people. Erm and women as well.

They are actually shit for everyone. In the end. But also are popular because comfort, enforcement of conformity, those who are different are bad let's not think about it.

Yep. Ok. I would dispute that trans people are more under attack than women, gay men, lesbians, those who do not conform whether through politics, art, personality. Etc etc.

But ok. Yes they're fuckers.

Moving on.

NiceGerbil · 08/06/2021 01:56

Reading the piece now.

The lack of anything to do with experiences of women and girls is a bit mind boggling on their site.

I mean that's a massive miss. I bet they think they're intersectional too Hmm

The education bit doesn't mention girls at all. Boys yes about low attainment of afro Carribbean boys.

Also knife crime.

Both of these topics are important obviously but they are more MN male issues.

What is happening with the girls? I didn't read the whole site but if they can do poverty FSM etc without mentioning women then I'm not convinced it's there.

Ironically most of the experts they quote seem to be women. Who I bet had an eye to the girls and women.

But rightho.

Not saying these things aren't important. But why no focus on the experiences of male Vs female?

FrankensteinIsTheMonster · 08/06/2021 01:56

"believing sex is real and it matters is bad, because racism exists"

I mean what

NiceGerbil · 08/06/2021 01:45

irr.org.uk/research/statistics/poverty/

Search the word women.

How they can do stats about poverty, free school meals, income etc and NOT mention women until a bit near the end is... Genuinely pretty weird.

NiceGerbil · 08/06/2021 01:42

Heard of them a bit. A think tank.

Having a browse.

Can anyone spot the axis of oppression missing in their statement about research here...?!

'Research
The IRR’s reputation is built on its investigations and analyses into pressing issues of contemporary British racism. These investigations have covered such areas as racism and the press, police racism, exclusions from school, deaths in custody, the plight of asylum seekers, anti-Muslim racism, the impact of anti-terrorist legislation and attacks on multiculturalism. The IRR also conducts research on racism in other European countries, examining the rise of racial violence and extreme-Right parties, asylum and immigration policies, human rights violations, policing and security policies and the ‘integration debate’.'

Britvic55 · 08/06/2021 01:39

Ah, yes, it's all clear now: the mean people in Hungary are trying not to allow gay couples to adopt, so we in Britain should let trans people do what they like and ride roughshod over women's rights to show we're not like them.

It's written in such complicated language (Gunning Fog readability score 18.72) that most people would need a degree to figure out what she's saying anyway.

This is the paragraph that has me most incensed:

Just as scientific racism centred on supposed biological differences to classify humans in a rigid racial hierarchy, ‘gender critical’ feminists are propelling biological arguments that essentialise sex and its relation to gender identity, contending that sex is purely biological depending on what reproductive organs you have.[3] Their arguments amount to a fundamentalist approach to biology, that labels anyone who doesn’t conform to a normative view of ‘womanhood’ or ‘manhood’ as abnormal, which ultimately increases the vulnerability of an already vulnerable group of people by segregating them as ‘other’.

Did she just tell us to "Be Nice"?

An interesting footnote: In response to the notion that trans rights are a threat to single-sex spaces, the charity Mermaids UK state there is ‘no evidence we’re aware of, from the police, local authorities, shops, refuges or anywhere else besides, that predators have used the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to gain access to women’s spaces.’ Presumably they haven't heard of Karen White, then.

SmokedDuck · 08/06/2021 01:38

It's the worst sort of identity drivel.

DeRigueurMortis · 08/06/2021 01:12

Meh 🙄

What a load of drivel.

FrankensteinIsTheMonster · 08/06/2021 00:43

What a load of non-sequiturious mimble.

stumbledin · 08/06/2021 00:38

Written by: Sophia Siddiqui
Deputy Editor of Race & Class.

As well as editing and managing the production of Race & Class, Sophia is researching and writing on anti-racist feminism in the UK, and also coordinates IRR News. She has a BA in English Literature, and her articles on racism and feminism can be found on gal-dem.

irr.org.uk/author/?sophia-siddiqui

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