Are you a feminist, if yes, what does it mean to you?

[YouAreNotBatman]

YANBU = I’m am
YABU = I am not

Well said.

Weaponising the experience of intersex people, people who aren't white and women who have suffered with infertility or a hysterectomy (I've seen that one used lots) as a gotcha is so distasteful and offensive.

Feminism combats sex specific issues faced by women.

Trans activism should combat specific issues faced by trans women and trans men. It shouldn't require women to roll up their sleeves even further and welcome in male bodied people who have not experienced the specific oppression girls and women face on a systemic level.

I don't resent all men - just the misogynistic ones.

I have lots of other concerns - some of which are more important to me than my feminism. Such as biodiversity losses, habitat losses, climate change, global fresh water shortages, global top soil losses, fuel shortages, wealth inequality, just for starters.

Why am I even dignifying you with an answer?
More fool me.

Supporting and advocating for myself and other women. Expecting and striving for equal rights for women. Not listening to mn nonsense about transgender women.

@UxbridgeVoteBJOut

For those who are feminist, does any issue matter to your other than resenting men?

Goodness, are we only allowed to have one issue that matters to us at a time?

That's us told.

For me, the issues raised in Invisible Women are key - serious problem not to have proper fitting bullet proof vests for example

Also things like women's health - lied to about painful invasive tests and told to put up with pain when there are ways to sort it, to name just a couple

The way women are treated in allegations of rape and sexual assault

I did feel quite an outsider for a long time though, as so much of feminism seemed to be about parenting and I am childfree. Twenty years ago, I didn't know about a lot of the problems I know about now and it's good that women like Caroline CP have brought attention to these things.

I would have always said absolutely, unequivocally yes I'm a feminist.

But I'm not sure I am in the mumsnet sense of the word. It seems now that feminism has to be synonymous with being a transphobe.

So with a heavy heart, I'd have to say, no, I'm not a feminist.

Believing that women need to centre themselves occasionally isn't "transphobia".

Hence why I think female athletes with higher levels of testosterone are still women.

But they are not female athletes! They are male.

I am not sure how many more times it can be pointed out. They are excluded from some 'female' sports events on the basis that they are male. The regulations are very patchy and unclear due to politics, however it is likely that soon they will excluded from all female athletics and from some other sports. Because they are males with male pubertal advantages.

I look forward to you providing a list of the female athletes later when you are at home that have been banned from sports for having high testosterone. Because this then should be something that we are fighting against. And it is important to know historical examples of this discrimination at work.

I also hope that you can qualify the range of female testosterone that you are referring to as high that you used as an example in your thesis. Because that is also important to know also.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think infertile women are a bit like trans women in the same way that I’d say any other women are a bit like trans women and I’m really sorry that you’ve experienced that. What I am saying is defining women solely based on their ability to reproduce can be dangerous. I don’t know the ways that trans women are like every other woman. I actually think most women have unique experiences of their womanhood and it’s hard to pinpoint one definition. I’m not an expert on the matter and I didn’t mean for the thread to be derailed like this. I don’t want the advancement of trans rights at the detriment of women’s rights, and we must at all costs protect and advance women’s rights. I do however think that it’s not a race to the bottom and we don’t need to start doing “well I’m more of a woman than this person because…”. Every woman has unique experiences and defines their womanhood differently. I’m in my 20s and most of the women I know use a definition based more around gender than sex, because they don’t think (other in terms of reproducing) a lot of the differences between men and women are sex based, and believe they’re a woman because they are treated as one. I think that we are perceived to be a certain way because we are women, but they are not biologically inherent. I’m a feminist because I believe that women are subjugated based on the way they are perceived to be.I know my arguments have been flawed and I really have not meant to cause offence to anyone - this is a debate worth having. Trans people exist and are probably here to stay - we need to have these conversations.

I'm glad you realise that what happens on MN is feminism though, Holly.

@Holly60 Centring women in your feminism does not make you a transphobe. If you mean you want to include men in your feminism then I'd have to agree. No, you're not a feminist.

13 pages in and we have yet-another-trans-thread.

I would dearly have loved a serious discussion of this post - Thanks FOJN.

What is female liberation and how does it differ from equality of the sexes? Why does this distinction matter?
Totally agree that patriarchy does not serve men well. But if we had true sex equality how could it still be a patriarchy?
For me, equality means including necessary adjustments for biological needs - if women only have life-long equal pay so long as they are not mothers then it is not equality.

No it's just all you go on about

Not sure anything really 'happens' on mumsnet. I flit through mumsnet when I am actively avoiding anything 'happening' 😂

No I'm literally saying I don't want to be a part of this feminism, thank you.

well I’m more of a woman than this person because…”.

I'm not more of a woman than any other female person. I am more of a woman than all males. That's not a criticism or a value judgement, it's just that woman is simply the name for an adult human female person. No more, no less.

Sorry. That should be a large proportion of these are male. I will await to see which female athletes have been 'banned'.

Opinion doesn't come into it. It's biological reality. Simple as that. Despite endless gaslighting that it's something else.

@autienotnaughty

How do you know that feminism is 'all I go on about'?

Or all any other women posting on here 'go on about'?

What an odd thing to say.

Apologies, I meant to say it's all the mn posters who regularly post on the feminism and gender board go on about. Not you specifically.

I know my argument is somewhat flawed and has holes in it,
Finally something we can agree on! Seriously though you can't pick and choose who is considered a woman if you truly believe TWAW. You have to include all the bearded middle-aged men who have had a lifetime of male privilege before declaring themselves. Do you really believe they are just as much a woman as your mum, for example?

As explained earlier, I don’t have a “list”. If you are genuinely interested, please read Fausto-Sterling (2000) Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality & Erikainen (2000) Gender verification and the making of the female body in sport.

Unfortunately the first reply brought in men.

@autienotnaughty

Apologies, I meant to say it's all the mn posters who regularly post on the feminism and gender board go on about. Not you specifically.

I do post there regularly regularly.

Any yet it's not 'all I go on about' because you don't know me as an individual, or anyone else on those boards...

So regular I named it twice!