Tartle
I see women on mumsnet being so wonderfully supportive of other women. In abusive relationships, regarding their children, work, etc.
I see them being incisive, analytical, bloody funny, rude, clever, experienced, wise and vulnerable.
And then some of the exact same women come on the trans threads and say fuck off you hateful bigots. And bog off shaking their heads in a veritable storm of ruffled feathers.
It occurred to me that that just couldn't be right.
I know feminists aren't bigots. Of all people. Who can think that? They support every minority going!
And yet the disconnect keeps happening.
People who go on the baby threads talking about girls' toys and boys' toys, determined not to impose gender roles on their children, will come on the trans threads, not realising they're doing just that.
Women (people) are mostly kind and considerate. I get it.
So I'm more than prepared to talk about the trans issue, from both the erosion of women's rights point of view, the gender reinforcement point of view, the scandalous way children are being scrutinised for signs, etc. The mangling of language to accommodate the trans issue. All of which is only benefiting men, at the moment.
If someone is prepared to listen, they can then make up their own mind.
Because there is a very definite line drawn between men and women in this debate.
Transmen (women), aren't getting a look in. They're not changing men's language (because they can't), they're not challenging men's spaces (men don't care), they're not insisting that the word prostate is exclusionary (no one would listen), they're not perving on men, and they are not telling men that gender roles are harmful to them (as gender roles reinforce chauvinism not dismantle it, so men don't care).
They're not going on men's clothing websites and copping off at the thought of wearing a pair of pinstripes.
Think of the sexual harassment in our kids' schools, the ever prevalent porn, the tinder sites for youngsters (Yellow?), the way our girls are constantly asked to 'send nudes', etc. The constant objectification of young girls, from the media, TV shows and online. It's little wonder to me that girls transition to escape this. They see it as a form of Teflon coating. 'If I'm a boy, I can avoid all this'. Especially if they're gay. Which statistically, they will be.
Giving a girl the idea that the only way she can survive is by becoming a boy, is a complete failure of our society. Breast binders and shoving a fake penis in your pants cannot, must not be the answer. (They make fake penises for girls as young as four).
Trans is a rejection of your gender role in order to go straight ahead and vehemently adopt another one. And yet it doesn't work, because you still can't change sex.
You can't identify out of biology.
And they don't. Men don't, they still come across as wholly male (some far more than others). And women don't, they can't escape.