And so it begins: Transwoman is running for women's officer of NUS

[PosieReturningParker]

Some of her aims:

Gender neutral sex ed
Women in leadership making room for transwomen (because you know how many women are in leadership roles)
BUS accepting transwomen to compete as women in sports

You have to be a member of the NUS to either vote or make a complaint about a candidate. The sad thing I find is that women in nus positions have tweeted her congratulations and support with utter glee. Why would you be that happy that your representation had been taken away from you? The hysteria is akin to the emperor's new clothes.

Would it be awful to start a petition asking Anna to stand down??

I'm in the nus, but at a different uni. So not sure if I can do anything?

The problem IS any complaints will be viewed as trans hatred and ignored.

And many young students want to be seen as liberal and progressive and will therefore vote for Anna without any deeper thought.

I expect that not everyone is supportive of Anna, but knows they are not allowed to say so.

The current Women's rep (susuana) seems really switched on. I can't imagine the implications of Anna running/winning, have passed her by

Of course a TW or a man can advocate for women's issues, but WHY WOULD THEY?? They don't have firsthand experience OF the issues which effect us. They are intelligent articulate women WITH first hand experience in abundance

Not one but two pro-transgender pieces in the Guardian G2 today - definitely stacking their weight behind that position -

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/21/public-toilets-battleground-for-bigots-legislate-trans-people-out-of-existence-south-Dakota

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/feb/21/kate-bornstein-interview-caitlyn-jenner-i-am-cait

To be honest I think that the only solution is that the law is altered so that people no longer have any legal right to change their gender (whatever that means but it appears to be being interpreted as sex).

The problem IS any complaints will be viewed as trans hatred and ignored

Do any of these trans allies actually bother to read and engage with the specific concerns raised about the new trans orthodoxy?

Such as the fact that ANY man can now declare himself to be a woman and access female only spaces regardless of whether he's had any hormone treatment or surgery or whether he makes any attempt to present himself physically as female?

Or that transwomen are now allowed to compete against biological women in the Olympics?

It seems like they don't even bother to acknowledge these points when they dismiss any trans critical comment as bigotry.

It's like the very fact that you've said something critical or questioning of trans politics means that your views can be dismissed instantly as transphobic without any need to consider their validity before disagreeing with them.

The whole issue of self idenitification seems insane to me, but there is a push for this now- you could "identify" as a woman on your own say-so, with no surgery necessary, no hormones, you could be a man like any other, and yet would have the rights of a woman too. I can imagine that this would be very appealing to certain men. Including abusive ones.

MY COMMENT WAS DELETED. GOOD JOB I'D SAVED IT TO POST AGAIN. More promotion of male privilege in the Guardian.

I think most reasonable people are happy for anyone to self identify as whatever they wish, except Rachel Dolezal she wasn't allowed to identify as a black person. She certainly wasn't allowed to occupy black space as her white space is more privileged and this was something that was generally agreed on. However men are allowed to "become" women and occupy our space, the transwoman's rights trump womens rights. In short it's hugely misogynistic and a result of male privilege. . I don't want to share a bathroom with someone who has a penis, I don't want my daughter to miss out on a sports award because transwomen who still have penises and have only self identified for a year can compete against her, at ALL LEVELS including the Olympics. I don't want the NUS women's officer to be a person who has been trans for a short time, with a trans agenda that includes mixed sex ed for kids, ensuring women's leadership reserves space for trans women..... Why would anyone identifying as a woman for such a short time think they can represent all women?

I don't want pregnant women to have to be called pregnant people because we have to be aware of offending transmen who have children, to be told that menstruation is not a women's issue, that women's health isn;t a womens issue.

The group oppressing transwomen is MEN, they are the ones in power not feminists who are still fighting for equality for women. Not because transwomen are women, but because they do not fit in with men's idea of what man is.

The TA movement doesn't represent most transwomen who just want to live their lives in peace without taking rights, like privacy, away from women.

Most people who blindly shout transphobe as soon as alternatives to rolling over and allowing a reduction of women's rights usually have very little idea of what it means. Do they want their daughter to change at a swimming pool where a person with a penis has a right to change in the same space???

It seems, I think, the problem is because Anna/trans activists have very small ideas which they themselves think are revolutionary. And then, that they take themselves so seriously

It really boils down to a handful of men who want to present in a feminine way...wow! So what. What about all the actual issues that need addressing

Why do they think wearing a frock makes them able to represent women?

and why are we pandering to it?

And what can we do about it?
The idea of self identification somes in part from the fashionable lie that young people can "be whoever they want". Of course that is rubbish, and leads to all those deluded people on the x-factor who huff and strop when they are told that actually, they aren't very good. All of us have limitations, of talent, of intelligence, of temperment, of physiology and of gender. Facing those limitations, laughing at them, understanding that they make us as much as our strengths and being realistic is part of growing up and accepting oneself. A man cannot become a woman. The best he can hope for is that he can appear as a woman-like person, with a surgeon's impression of a vagina, and sillicone breasts. This man will have hormonal and health issues that are entirely different from those of women. You cannot change your biology.

Posie did you post that on the guardian?

I can't quite get my head around this censorship and how extreme it is. Why can't they leave a post like that up so that people can disagree with it if they want to? How can what you said be so offensive that it mustn't even be seen by anyone?

I did spot a deleted comment from "PosieParker" and thought that name sounded familiar. I am utterly cheesed off with the Graun right now.

I've posted it again! Yes, the Guardian

On which article? The Kate one has 3 deleted comments from you right at the top.

The Guardian is a stinking pile of middle class wank

What would happen if we ever needed national conscription again? Could men just "identify" as women and avoid it?!

First Guardian link didn't work for me
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/21/public-toilets-battleground-for-bigots-legislate-trans-people-out-of-existence-south-Dakota

Oh it doesn't work again,
But it's there if you search for the guardian battleground for bigots - or similar.

I can't even bear to click on those Guardian links because it's all so depressing.

I can't even bear to click on those Guardian links because it's all so depressing.

Why does a tiny minority trump the rights of women? This whole thing is infuriating.

Its actually excellent news
South Dakota rule you should use facilities according to your SEX.
Hurray!! Some goddamn sense in all the lunacy
We have never segregated based on gender