Should we dispense with the word gender critical and just call ourselves biological realists?

Should we dispense with the word gender critical and just call ourselves biological realists?

For me, I just call myself a feminist.

The version of feminism I espouse, teach & try to live, is one which recognises the distinction between sex and gender, seeing gender as an historically & culturally constructed system which coercively requires certain characteristics, roles, behaviours of individuals, based on their sex. And these gender roles are hierarchically valued, and oppressive of women and girls.

Feminist analysis gets into that gap between sex and gender, to argue that just because women are biologically programmed (large gametes) to conceive, gestate, and feed infant humans, doesn't mean we can't do anything else, or that we are incapacitated or lesser in all other aspects of being fully human.

So that position recognises sexual difference but avoids the biological essentialism that the women's movement of the 1970s (second wave, if you like) found so troubling.

I actually quite like Pro-Reality for the 2nd name (the one for the general public to use). It does the trick of being something positive about us, while implying something negative about the opposition, and it is inoffensive to all potential supporters, as almost no one consciously defines themselves as being anti-reality.

Pro-reality 😄

Some 'anti' labels are fine though.

Anti racist.
Anti fascist (pity they don't all seem to know what 'fascism' actually is, but still).
Anti sexist is still ok afaik.

Good point about the two terms.

'Pro-science' gets us closer. I think it is also better to be for something. It also makes it clearer what TRAs are arguing - that they are anti-women's rights and anti-science.

I am not keen on 'realism'

Apologies - we already have a flag, of course
www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collections/collections-suffragettes/flag/

Nothing wrong with

Feminist
Woman

Our position hasn't changed so I don't see why the description should.

It'll be 'let's choose a flag' next.

Don't get sucked into the madness. Remain resolute and steadfast.

Science positive
Pro-Science
Anti-stereotype
Pro-DNA

Doesn't KJK use 'femalism' for her kind of feminism?

Exulansic uses the term 'gender atheist'. I could happily term myself a 'Women's Rights Activist' who is also a gender atheist.

Female-centered feminism.

Should be a tautology. The fact it isn't highlights the absurdity we are in.

I think the word reality is important here as I suspect, with the rise of virtual worlds and increase in things like surrogacy, extreme cosmetic surgery, bio-hacking and interest in trans humanism, this won't be the only time we have to remind the government that reality exists and that it matters. Particularly to women, given our bodies produce and nurture babies, and to those babies.

It sounds to me like we're looking for two labels here. Let's be clear about this

1. A name for those women who are fighting gender ideology as part of our feminism. So, we're looking for something like "women's rights activist" here.

1. A name that sums up a belief in evidence-based biology and the lack of belief in gender woo. So, something like "biological realist" but without negative connotations. This isn't to do with feminism at all, but a wider term that anyone in society could use to show they don't believe in gender nonsense. We need a word here that the general public feel comfortable using.

Finding a word for the second one would be immensely useful IMO.

Pro-life / pro-choice is a good example. We are pro-choice as part of our feminism, but people can use the word pro-choice to express their stance on abortion without having to subscribe to any wider belief system or framework. (Although I agree in PR terms it could be a better term).

We need a term that gets across that the TRAs are essentially flat-earthers and we're reality / evidence based.

Oh, God, yes! Let me be a 'SEX-CENTRED FEMINIST'! It's the role I've been looking for all my life!

They do know they are not the same as the person arrested for being a pedophile who sexually abused a dog, whose ‘pronoun’ is ‘she’ and who is presenting as a woman.

Errol
“Anything related to 'gender' is by definition socially constructed. It's just the (relatively few) things related to sex which aren't. Reproductive role is sex; parenting roles being allocated to mum vs dad are gender. Women not being allowed to play football was gender; women needing women only teams is sex.”

Yes, of course you are right.
But humans in the end are social beings who will tend to construct things; and they are animal beings who signal their sex; and the elements that are entirely physical are entwined with what is social in away that is not easy to disentangle always.

What I am saying is that, pragmatically, not all women are going to see themselves and their lives as the being the result of a social construction. They never heard of GC before and don’t know what it means.

They do know they are not the same as the person arrested for being a pedophile who sexually abused a dog.

Part of what we are campaigning for is correct use of language to describe sex. We can't do that is we join in the obfuscation of it. We also know that any word used to describe women as a separate sex is claimed or disallowed so we get nowhere trying to find alternative words.

Women. Adult human female. Female is the sex class that produces large immobile gametes. We are campaigning for our right to describe ourselve as this and for men to be excluded from this regardless of how they identify.

I think 'Biology Believers' sounds great! After all that's what we're saying - people can't change their biological sex.
That biology is real and not a feeling.

“DNA believers”?

If the term woman is disputed then you can't use it for clarity

LovelyRicePudding, I crossed posts with you and had not seen you suggested ‘Women’s Rights’ and being very clear.

It does sound clear, but would it get conflated with ‘trans women’s rights’?

who may not agree that all things related to gender are entirely ‘socially constructed’.

Anything related to 'gender' is by definition socially constructed. It's just the (relatively few) things related to sex which aren't. Reproductive role is sex; parenting roles being allocated to mum vs dad are gender. Women not being allowed to play football was gender; women needing women only teams is sex.