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What is a woman at the Tate

52 replies

Melroses · 25/02/2022 22:14

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/25/tate-modern-trans-rights-row-female-artists-protest-screening/

"Tate Modern in trans rights row as female artists protest screening of ‘one-sided’ film
But the gallery insists that short film What is a Woman? reflects multiple viewpoints, including the views of gender-critical people
The gallery screened What is a Woman? by Norwegian director Marin Håskjold on Friday evening as part of an evening focused on female artists.
In it, a trans woman is drawn into an argument in a women's changing room over whether she should be there."

twitter.com/ArtXPropaganda/status/1497324356912902146

OP posts:
IcakethereforeIam · 26/02/2022 13:43

Or have a transman in a men's changing room. Once again stressing I've not seen it, it could be ripe for parody; ducks and chickens, cats and dogs...

Ereshkigalangcleg · 26/02/2022 13:31

I won't name any of the examples I'd like them to have used but I'm sure we can all picture some.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 26/02/2022 13:30

That's exactly what I think. Propaganda like this only ever shows feminine transwomen who pass very well. If they really believe what they’re saying then they should use transwomen who look less convincing.

Yes, they should.

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 13:14

@IcakethereforeIam

It would be interesting for is to be reshot with a less feminine passing tw, or with any other blend of sexes and/or genders. However, I've only seen the trailer, so apologies if this is inappropriate.
That's exactly what I think. Propaganda like this only ever shows feminine transwomen who pass very well. If they really believe what they’re saying then they should use transwomen who look less convincing.
IcakethereforeIam · 26/02/2022 13:12

It would be interesting for is to be reshot with a less feminine passing tw, or with any other blend of sexes and/or genders. However, I've only seen the trailer, so apologies if this is inappropriate.

IdentifyingAsAPrincess · 26/02/2022 12:34

I was reminded this morning of one of the best bits, TERF says to TW, something like "Can I be black?"
TW "Are you black?",
TERF "Well I feel black"
Then the white male TW says something like "if you like" and Lib Fem says "See, she's nice" Hmm.
Brilliant, what nice lady sharing out all of the protected characteristics.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 26/02/2022 12:11

"Even after watching the whole film!" Grin yes maybe it wasn't enough to convince them that males should be in women's changing rooms

SunniDelite · 26/02/2022 12:07

Well, you p*ssed off Kaitie on Letterboxd ( Profile "yah I ~study film~
which basically means I don’t know what Im talking about
Enjoy!") so well done! :)

What is a woman at the Tate
WeeBisom · 26/02/2022 11:25

Has anyone else noticed this trope where there is ALWAYS a liberal feminist there ready to defend the honour of the poor, set upon transwoman? And the transwoman is much more passive, and just stands meekly by while two women fight it out?

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 11:25

We had no issue with the Tate showing it. Just that they needed to balance it.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 26/02/2022 11:20

The camera work was awful - it looks like a student film.

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 11:16

The only short haired character in the film was non binary. Because obviously only feminine looking people can be women Hmm.

Whatsnewpussyhat · 26/02/2022 11:08

The whole changing room scenario is so people see bra + long hair = woman.

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 11:01

The trans character is the one with long blonde hair wearing the bra. It’s hard to tell from the pictures - as I said, not realistic! The one in the black shirt is the ‘terf’ and the other is the libfem.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 26/02/2022 10:59

It ended with the question ‘What is a woman?’ As the lights came up we stood up, faced the audience and held up our banners, shouting “An adult human female!”

Fabulous 👏 Thanks

YetAnotherSpartacus · 26/02/2022 10:50

Or maybe I have this wrong - it was actually quite hard to see who was talking...

YetAnotherSpartacus · 26/02/2022 10:48

What struck me was the way that women's bodies were on display - the woman with the bra (and a very conventionally attractive woman too) and in the back left there were other partly clothed women getting changed - lots of underwear on display. In other words, women's bodies were being used as props in the kinds of ways they usually are but the character who was trans was allowed the dignity of remaining clothed.

The usual suspect of sexism in other words.

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 10:44

The transwoman was also the only character to spend the whole film in a bra & trousers. The film might have gone very differently if they’d used an actor who was less stereotypically feminine.

moderationinWumbsnet · 26/02/2022 10:28
Sad
IdentifyingAsAPrincess · 26/02/2022 10:26

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

WarriorN · 26/02/2022 10:25

Bravo EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn ! 👏

This is the trailer

Whatsnewpussyhat · 26/02/2022 10:18

Sick of them trying to shoehorn men into our sex class. It's bullshit.

No male can be a woman. Ever.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 26/02/2022 10:12

How was the transwoman portrayed and did the individual have a penis?

Or was it all effectively 'airbrushed' to hide the existence of sex?

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 26/02/2022 09:55

We were in the front few rows, hiding our cloth banners & AHF T-shirts. We sat quietly through the film because we didn’t want to disrupt it. We had no objection to the Tate showing it. What we wanted was for them to show a film from our side too for balance.

It ended with the question ‘What is a woman?’ As the lights came up we stood up, faced the audience and held up our banners, shouting “An adult human female!”

Most of us left at that point to meet the Telegraph photographer. A few stayed inside. Lily Maynard is writing a blog about it with quotes from a lot of the women about how it was and why they did it.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 26/02/2022 08:33

As I can't read the article Empress as paywalled, how did the protest go? What happened?