Genderwocky

There are no gatekeepers because there are no gates. We cannot get out and men cannot get in.

Femina is Latin for woman

Feminine is Latin for womanly

Femininity is a Latinised word for womanliness

Ouch, that's very sharp!

👏👏👏

@Croneofakind thank you. At some point in the coming months volume 2 will exist!

@WarriorN 😘 I did feel inn my water it was the sort of thread that would reveal a hidden treasure. It's my version of going metal detecting!

The more poems by other people the less times I have to sock puppet my own thread with poems!

I'd be delighted! Not been published in decades x

Excellent!

On a serious note, (as unless it's on the main poem thread i daren't assume) and feel free to say no, do you mind if it ends up in a book of poems (all profit to charity) written by mumsnetters?

I'll roll it up, seal it with wax and tie it with a ribbon for you darling x

Please do. I see her as a peacock, but in pink and red. I intended bird in the old fashioned sexist sense, but I like your interpretation better

I have an overwhelming urge to put @Croneofakind poem in my pocket and exit stage left.

IME, most gender critical feminists (OG variety) would consider femininity to refer to gender stereotypes / roles / expectations only. What we “gatekeep”, if anything, is femaleness.

I now have the overwhelming urge to draw PP as a beautiful bird - Perhaps Hunger Games style, what have you done?!😂

I'll be back at some point I imagine😭

Anyone who claims that terves believe women should be feminine and that femininity to be reserved for women is either

a) lying

or

b) not paying enough attention to recognise the lies being told by the people in category a.

I can’t think of a single public-terf who is gender conforming?
Even the ones who like the aesthetics of femininity are either too gobby or too razor minded to be properly lady-like in the eyes of the patriarchy and/or they exaggerate up their feminine presentation to the point where it becomes quite intimidating to men (more man-eating than man-pleasing!)

Not a mimsy borogrove amongst them

"bird" singular, flipping auto correct

My bandersnatch hasn't been frumious for years.
A poetic offering, with thanks to some pps

Twas brillig and the slithy turves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
Mumsnet was their borogrove
It made trans women rage

"Beware the gender criticals son
Their words will bite, their truth will catch
Beware that posie parker birds, and shun
The frumious Rowling witch!"

I made one for my car a couple of years ago.

Most beamish. All of it. Come to my arms.

(5) Mary Harrington on Twitter: "@Docstockk And as they bickered about the law The Genderwock, with loins aflame Took selfies in the changing room And grunted as it came" / Twitter

the screenshot is the tweet for those who can't see it

I think that the person writing it means relating to gendered expectations rather than relating to being female. I am just saying that because (less commonly) the word feminity means relating to being female (sex) some GC people might agree with the statement because they read it that way, i.e. most GC people do want to "gatekeep" feminity in that sense, and restrict the use of feminine words and concepts that relate to females (eg breastfeeding) to females only. Anyway, clearly I am not making much sense and it doesn't change the basic fact that this is, indeed, genderwocky!

More like “through the looking glass” given how backwards Emma has got it. The male gaze created and gatekeeps femininity, not the other way round as they state. Also “mere sexualisation” like the sexualisation isn’t the absolute crux of it all?

@PaleBlueMoonlight Does it make the statement technically true though?

Perhaps I've gotten the wrong end of the stick, but I feel like for the statement "TERF's gatekeep femininity" to be true, then terf's would also have to have major issues with any effeminate man, like James Charles or Jeffree Star for example, no?
(putting their respective controversies aside for one moment and talking exclusively about stereotypes).

Maybe I've just not seen it, but I don't see anyone in this sphere having issues with men being more stereotypically feminine? There are masculine and feminine men and women and there always have been, homophobia is separate to gatekeeping imo and it comes across that to make that argument, you HAVE to conflate them.

I'd also guess that the person making the argument that "TERF's gatekeep femininity" probably views femininity (as in stereotypes) and literally physically being a woman as the same thing for some bizarre reason.

I will never be able to wrap my slithy toves around this uffish nonsense😅

Sits in corner rocking

The posts on this thread make no sense.

Waaaaaah!

Definitely burbling.

She is such a mimsy borogrove it's hard to know where to start.

We have a dual meaning problem, in that feminity/feminine can be used to mean relating to being female (e.g. feminine hygiene products) as well as to refer to archetypes of, and stereotypes applied to, women. The second meaning is more commonly understood and allows statements like this to be technically true, but with an utterly false implication.