Back in the 1970s, when I was having babies, the view of the Medical Defence Union was that once a woman had set foot over the threshold of a maternity unit she had given implicit consent to anything and everything that was done to her, no explicit consent needed. Then there were protests, and now explicit consent is required.
But in Canada, at least, now we’re “pregnant people” or “birthing people”, and presumably we’re “menstruating people” as well, which makes me a “menopausal person” I guess.
It feels like being in one of those horrible nightmares where we’re trying to scream but no sound emerges. Why on earth is the straightforward term “woman” disappearing for the sake of a few biological males who wish to live a different kind of life. All those women’s rights, that were fought for so hard, seem to be evaporating. Was it all a case of “Man giveth, and Man taketh away”?
Now there’s a woman who has, since childhood, had the benefit of two testosterone factories, that have given her broader shoulders, narrower hips, bigger muscles, longer limbs, greater stamina, better pelvic floor muscles. She’s never had the biological disadvantages of being biologically female, but she’s a woman because that’s how she regards herself. Which is fine – mostly. Except that in this particular case, the right of a biological woman to be admired for achieving that First, showing that she can meet the physiological and psychological challenge (without the benefit of a testosterone factory) of being an Infantry soldier, is no longer there; it has been taken away from her.
This is another example of biological women’s wishes, hopes, desires, ambitions, achievements being undermined or dismissed.
I’m old. I had thought (foolishly?) the future was getting better for women. And yet, even here on Mumsnet, where discussion of women’s rights should be a priority, we have to be careful of what we say. And seemingly there are posters here who see discussions about transwomen as transphobic, or even boring.
I have learned, from reading many threads, that there are many transwomen who have made that significant change into a different life, including many in the armed forces. They’ve done that through probably very difficult times, and undoubtedly with support from their organisation, family and friends. Those would be very heartwarming stories, except we don’t hear about those (quite rightly, for privacy reasons). We don’t hear the quiet music of people of all labels, going quietly about their lives, we only hear the victorious trumpets.