Stylist magazine deleted my comment on IG

The point is that there no single way! Women are not just their reproductive systems, we are all unique

Discrimination begins the moment we present as women, so appearance cannot be disconnected from it. I don't understand how anyone supposedly arguing for equality can then be perpetuating inequality against trans people?

Are we talking about the magazine that is distributed in supermarkets? There is always a huge pile of them - it's such rubbish that they can't even give it away for free!

This.

Men and women have the same sets of emotions! You’ll just find more men at one and of the scale and more women at the other end. Eg. There will be more women at the agreeable end of the scale and more men at the disagreeable end, but of course there are disagreeable women and agreeable men.

Please tell us about the complexity, behaviours, feelings of womanhood.

Beyond her reproductive system yes.

But you are talking about a woman being a bundle of emotions and behaviours with any reproductive system.

Very different things.

Do you believe women can have any reproductive system?

I'm not asking whether women can have any variation, functional or not, on the female reproductive system. I'm asking whether your definition of womanhood includes the male reproductive system.

Give me a break. Utter nonsense.

Feminists have always known a woman is more than her reproductive potential, how does validating men who embrace then adornments of feminity help? It sounds more like reinforcement of oppressive stereotypes to me.

Perhaps you think that women can't demonstrate the breadth of their potential without men setting the standard for womanhood?

No, you lose the argument by not being able to make a logical and coherent case for your position.

Ad hominem statements do not win an argument because they do not meet the above. That means if all you have is ad hominem statements then indeed you cannot win the argument. However an ad hominem statement does not preclude also having a logical and coherent case. It's not an automatic failure.

I suspect by "win the argument" what you really mean is "capture people's support by appealing to their emotions". That is a fair point but it's a different thing.

It is noticeable that TRAs have gone entirely for the latter approach. It doesn't take much critical thinking to realise that this is because, unlike people who are realistic about sex, emotional manipulation is all they have.

😂The 'idea' of being a woman is pretty broad already! Think of all the amazing women throughout history who have done everything from motherhood to rocket science! Women are fully capable human beings with a wide range of emotions, skills and experiences. What we have in common is our biology. I'm not sure we need to broaden womanhood further by including 'people with a penis '!

As long as even. Don’t know who Linda Is 😀

Err…. @Lilyedem no one believes a woman is just a reproductive system unless they’re a misogynistic twunt. So does your idea of broadening what a woman is include encouraging girls to see they can be and do whatever they like, or does your idea of broadening what a woman is involve including males in womanhood as Linda’s they subscribe to the rigid stereotypes of being a woman that we are trying to get girls to ignore?

Reproductive class does not define your personality.
Or your intelligence.
Or your interests.
It should not define your life choices.
It does however define your sex.

Yes but no one is proposing to ignore them, it's about broadening and idea of what a woman is and what she is capable of beyond just her reproductive system

How can men experience life as a woman?

😂

Absolutely this.

I suppose the fundermental difference in stance here is that a welcome anyone who feels like their experience or the way they go through life is as a woman. I think being a woman is about emotions and behaviours and experiences as much as it is about vaginas, so we'll never agree and that's ok.

so how does one go through life as a woman? Just asking for clarity in case I’m doing it wrong? So what experiences emotions and behaviours do women have that men do not? Do you know how sexist you sound?

Feminism means centring women in your politics, and supporting women generally. It does not mean agreeing with women who choose to centre men. How could it?

Women's brains are capable of just as much as men's and thus we should be getting the same education, and most jobs and hobbies should be open to us. However, our bodies are different in several important ways - reproductive system, physical strength, for example. It's just as stupid to ignore these as to believe our different body types make us inferior to men. Different doesn't mean one is better and one is worse.

not have to be subject to harassment and violence based on our sex (which is also very much the case for trans women)

No, this is the opposite of the truth. Transwomen, being by definition male, do not suffer harassment and violence based on [their] sex. They enjoy the physical and social advantages of their sex.

Can you give some evidence of the violence we are constantly being told that they suffer? Relevant evidence from the UK rather than from South America (source of most stats on violence against transwomen), where women too suffer very much more violence?

That is an unfeminist approach to other women and you will lose the argument by being deliberately alienating and offensive.

I suppose the fundermental difference in stance here is that a welcome anyone who feels like their experience or the way they go through life is as a woman. I think being a woman is about emotions and behaviours and experiences as much as it is about vaginas, so we'll never agree and that's ok.

I find reducing womanhood to "emotions and behaviour" incredibly insulting. Not because I think my biology is some mysterious wonderful feminine essence, but because an "emotions and behaviour" construct denies the real.world consequences of being female in a sexist society.

But my own feelings aside, let's explore this 'emotions and behaviours" concept of sex.

If the difference between men and women is merely "emotions and behaviour", why is it necessary to collect bundles of emotions and behaviour together and call them Womanhood or Manhood in the first place? Why should "emotions and behaviour" be considered useful way to classify humans for the purposes of nudity, or sport, or political representation, or educational or career opportunities and disadvantages?

Why should "emotions and behaviour" be cnsidered significant, while sex, which manifestly does impact on all these things, is not?

This is not to say that "emotions and behaviour" have no significance to women's oppression. In a mostly civil society such as ours, we understand that women are disadvantaged by their own and others' socialised behaviour as well as by their reproductive role and by outright acts of violence against their bodies. But the root of those emotional and behavioural differences is the different expectations society places on men and women because of their bodies. The emotional and behavioural differences are a function of society's constructions around sex differences in a sexist environment.

Sorry, but I think that’s the most accurate way to describe women who center men at the expense of women’s safety and rights. They are absolute traitors to their own sex.

I do not think the way some women are approaching the trans "issue" is good for biological women's progress either.

I'm struggling to understand how you think promoting a man's right to wear womanhood as a costume will advance the rights of women. Women are discriminated against because of their biology not their fashion choices. The difference between the sexes are a material objective reality, feminists do not think that should limit a woman's choices in life.

It's amazing how Iranian police know who to kill for not wearing the hijab and how the men now in power in Afghanistan know who to deny an education.