Now the term FGM is cissexist? WTAF?

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

elegantgatheringofwhitesnows.com/?p=2069

By the very brilliant Louise Pennington.

How can they try to erase the lived experience of violence against women by banning a discriptive term for what is actually happening?

"It is not “cissexist” to talk about the biological reality of women’s bodies and the damage done to them within a capitalist-patriarchy. Frankly, even the suggestion that it is “cissexist” demonstrates a fundamental inability to actually understand the reality of lives of women and girls in our world."

[ZombiePuffinsAreREAL]

And, the day that CCP published her blog post on anxiety and depression, she has quit Twitter.

It's not enough to label her and other women TERF. They are now labeling her a racist.

[Boysclothes]

FUCK these transactivists. Seriously. They're making me sick now.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

No! Do you mean that louise has quit twitter?

[ZombiePuffinsAreREAL]

No, Louise is still there, but Caroline Criado-Perez has gone. She has been under attack all day on there and she had had enough.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

FFS that's utterly ridiculous.

FMG isn't any kind of ....ist. It's just evil.

[Shallishanti]

racist??? huh??
really this just all confirms my conclusion that this talk of 'cis' is just a load of rubbish
if these people had any idea at all of the harm done to girls and women and their babies through FGM they'd have better things to do than insult those trying to make things better for real people in the real world.

[mrsruffallo]

You know what? Young girls have enough shit thrown at them without these pathetic transactivists joining in.

[AyMamita]

Careful guys... someone very close to me got banned from MN with no warning for saying that they were tired of transactivists pushing their agenda on here.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

This is just cementing my objection to the cis thing. How can it be cissexist to talk about things that happen to female bodies. I am not anti trans*, and respect any individuals choice to 'to do what they want to do', as the song says. I will respect an individual's choice of pronown and all that. But that includes other people NOT shutting down discussion of a real problem.

[ZombiePuffinsAreREAL]

Thanks for the heads up AyMamita, it wasn't on here, it was on Twitter. I've not actually seen any TAs on here.

I'm all for everyone having whatever opinion they like. I don't care what people want to call themselves, how they want to label themselves. What I really care a stupid amount about is people co-opting women and girls' pain in order to promote an unrelated political agenda. It, quite simply, disgusts me.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

I have emailed MN for reassurance that I am allowed to discuss this. If the answer is no, then I will be gobsmacked and disappointed.

[CheeseEqualsHappiness]

I hadn't even heard of cissexism until 20 minutes ago, and have been reading some interesting arguments on other pages. So am I right in thinking that there is a push for the recognition that some people who identify as female have penises, therefore the definition of FGM being descriptive of vulva mutilation and not including foreskin removal is cissexist?

[LineRunner]

So they would use, what, 'vulval genital mutilation' and 'penile genital mutilation'?

Why don't they just do that, then. No-one's stopping them.

[CheeseEqualsHappiness]

Yes, this is what I think they are looking for, or just genital mutilation to encompass it all without recognition or a separate phrase for the awful reality that is FGM.

And it seems that many posters in what I have read are unsure of what FGM even is

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

Well the other thing for me Is that FGM covers a few different set of procedures. I won't detail them here but it is pretty grim

Here is a link if you want to know

www.dofeve.org/types-of-fgm.html

It seems that the Twitter user just wants us to reclassify the removal of the clitoris as not FGM? What about the other forms?

[Thumbscrewswitch]

I came on here to ask wtf "cissexist" is but I think I've got it - it's women born as women being sexist against trans-women, is that it?

And if so, then really? They want to ban discussion of FGM because it couldn't have happened to them because they didn't have the relevant parts at birth? Jeez-us. That's hitting the "inhumane" button quite strongly for me - children are being mutilated and a tiny subsection of the population objects to the words used because it couldn't have happened to them? Fuck.

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

Yes TW.

I have heard of (but not witnessed) objection to speaking about menstruation, smear tests, or childbirth as being trans-excluding as well.

I will try to look for one of the links...

[LineRunner]

Oh well fuck em

[LineRunner]

Discuss.

Obviously.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

thumbs you sum it up perfectly.

Apart from anything else FMG is just vague enough you can use it in senior school assemblies, and allow the DCs to research it themselves in an age appropriate way.

I

[NormaStanleyFletcher]

Take this one for instance

feministing.com/2011/04/11/why-i-wont-be-talking-about-abortion-as-a-womens-issue-anymore/

I mean really. Women's reproduction and bodily autonomy is not a women's issue.

[CheeseEqualsHappiness]

I just don't understand how talking about menstruation and childbirth are trans excluding. Many discussions are very specific and exclude some people. They are valid experiences though and how can we not talk about these as women.