@Mackmacking this is from one of your links above
“TERFs claim that because trans women were not socialized as women since birth, have not suffered direct misogyny (and can never suffer it having not been born a woman), they can never claim to be a woman. To TERFs, womanhood is defined by suffering, by pain. There is no joy in a TERF's womanhood. It makes me pity them, or as much as I can pity them given the harm TERFs cause to the transgender community.”
You can’t claim to be a woman if you aren’t one. You can’t be a woman if you have male hormones and reproductive organs. That doesn’t deny anybody’s right to dress or present themselves in anyway they choose but it also doesn’t mean they have extra rights that diminish anyone else’s.
there is an almost universally “painful” or “distressing” experience of womanhood alluded to above which natal males within the trans community do not experience. Mostly related to biological functions; giving birth, female puberty, decades of menstruation, PMS, contraception, abortion, fertility issues, gynaecological problems, miscarriages, pregnancy, traumatic births, endometriosis, post-menopausal issues like osteoporosis etc sadly this list is by no means exhaustive.
So yes, it often is painful to be a woman. I think the majority of biological women would opt out every single bit of that pain if they possibly could. That would bring me joy in abundance.
But sadly we can’t. Even if we say we are men, we just aren’t.
if I could keep my biological capacity and simply dispense with the inconveniences of the female reproductive system, experiences of endemic, direct and indirect misogyny as well as the disadvantages of my female socialisation, I would be fucking overjoyed. Where do I sign up?! It’s an absolute wonder why the majority of women aren’t just choosing to be men because it sure would be a helluva easier life. But sadly, the reality most of us understand is that we can’t just choose to be men, our biology doesn’t permit us, no matter how hard we might try.