Please help me understand the transgender issue

[Flippetydip]

I fully admit that I don't understand this issue fully at all. I consider myself fairly liberal but I do not feel that this is fair. It seems to be the Emperor's new clothes. The fact that the comments towards JKR on Twitter are so full of vitriol does not persuade me towards the thinking of those shouting them.

So my questions:

Emma Watson saying on Twitter
"Transwomen are who they say they are"
If I say I am a size 8, intellectually brilliant woman, does that make me so? (Currently size 12, edging towards a 14 and intellectually fairly mediocre).

What is the difference between appropriation of sex and appropriation of race?
If I say I am black and I'm not, why is that so horrific, and yet if I am a man and say I'm a woman, that is OK?

Why is JKR wrong to say that women menstruate? Surely that is just biological fact.

You look like you understand it to me, in fact you look like you've nailed it.

Well for one, not all woman menstruate.

But I imagine this is a goady post...

It doesnt feel goady to me. It feels like the OP is trying to understand. Quite frankly I'm pleased that someone has stood up and asked for help understanding.

@LochJessMonster. Not goady at all, I'm hoping that someone is going to come along and debate it rationally with me so that I can understand another point of view.

I don't think I (or JKR) said that all women menstruate. Just that women menstruate. Like "people talk" or "men pee standing up" - not all people take and presumably not all men pee standing up but that doesn't negate the statements.

The woke people are not so awake...in fact they don't want to be trolled either or maybe the believe it? - if so, it just brings me around to the point that they are not so awake.

Mumsnet is a bad place to find genuine responses to these queries OP - it has a very strong anti-trans rights slant. If you’re just being goady you won’t care about that, but if you’re being genuine and want to read a range of sources from both sides of the debate (which means hearing from trans people as well as from people like JKR) then you would be better off googling and looking for articles and reports from reputable sources.

Everyone with common sense is distancing themselves from Rowling. It's as simple as that.

She's wrong to say 'women' menstruate because trans woman don't and trans men do...it's pretty clear why not only women menstruate. Also, not all cis women menstruate...does that mean they're not cis women? Are they now men...or some alien species?

Yes, I think you’ve understood it quite well.

LochJess no one has said all women menstruate but its fact that all who do menstruate are absolutly biological women.

You understand the situation perfectly OP.

Don’t overthink it. You’ve got it plain as day.

@zscaler - there is also a lot of pro-trans people on here as well. I was hoping that they are going to come and answer my questions in a reasoned manner or that someone will come and point me to reasoned articles.

The pro-trans lobby that I see on the internet in general make me terrified to ask questions as I will automatically be labelled "anti-trans" and a TERF (I had to look that one up....).

I am still to find a woke person who can explain, with clarity, why it's ok for men to appropriate women, but racial appropriation is so awful (which it is).

Everyone with common sense is distancing themselves from Rowling.
And I'm an aardvark.
Both of these statements are true.
Because I said so.

There is no cis subtype by the way. Just the usual woman and man.

@SweetPetrichor - could you answer the other questions though please?

And what does cis women mean? Why is there now another label?

She's wrong to say 'women' menstruate because trans woman don't and trans men do...it's pretty clear why not only women menstruate. Also, not all cis women menstruate...does that mean they're not cis women? Are they now men...or some alien species?

Or maybe trans men are biologically women and trans women are biologically men. Men don’t menstruate. Women and girls menstruate. Not every single one, obviously, for reasons that are pretty easy to understand.

There we are - nice and straightforward.

@Hollyhead

I am still to find a woke person who can explain, with clarity, why it's ok for men to appropriate women, but racial appropriation is so awful (which it is).

I’d like to see this explained as well.

you would be better off googling and looking for articles and reports from reputable sources.

Could you post some suggestions? FWR is full of reputable resources. It would be good to have some reputable resources that show the opposing view.
Thanks!

I feel old so I'm a pensioner. No more work for me, just my pension.

You understand the situation quite well I think. The great and mighty are falling over themselves to declare that the emperor ' s clothes are beautiful, more beautiful than any that have been produced before and if anyone dare disagree with that- off with their heads!!

Well for one, not all woman menstruate

JK Rowling didn't say that.

@LochJessMonster

Well for one, not all woman menstruate.

But I imagine this is a goady post...

Not all women menstruate, but only women and girls do, no matter how they identify.

@titchy - what is FWR?

Just as a request for someone new to the discussion, could acronyms be explained. I've just about got TW and TWAW but other than that I get lost. Cis for example - what is that and where does it come from?

FWR = feminism and womens rights