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

I will be turning 30 in a couple of years. I guess that makes me old and out of touch.

JAPAB-Arguments about the validity of biological sex are such nonsense. Look at the world as a whole, rather than just the West. Women the world over do not have the luxury of deciding whether they "identify" as male or female, as well before puberty they are getting abused, raped, having their genitals mutilated to make them more marriagable, their schooling cut short, if it even existed, and being bought and sold like cows. Tell those women that their womanhood is a choice.

I love being lectured about intersectionality :)

Signed a poor, undereducated, physically and mentally disabled, ND, bisexual, female, non "gender" conforming feminist

cool Beyond Bootcamps Again, I'm specifically bisexual. Do you need a detailed history of my dating and sexual experiences to validate my identity?

Oo, thank you - i'd love one!

I want more women in leadership
No argument here.

If anyone can actually address Anna's manifesto and their issues with it, that would be brilliant! Rather than questioning my sexual preferences!

Slug, that's the thing. To me, Anna is a woman, so I'm perfectly happy to see her as Women's Officer. She isn't sidelining me as a woman - because she is one, too!

Now if her entire platform was just about trans women, I might ask some questions, but her manifesto speaks to all women and fights for all women. So why would I fight against someone who wants to fight for me?

This is a genuine question - what the difference between lesbian and queer? I don't understand how a lesbian's experience is different from a queer woman's (in a general sense, of course).

Fight the male dominated leadership of NUS

I'm curious how someone who is male (this is indisputable fact - one which in many circumstances Anna would confirm eg. medical situations), feels that taking a women's post fights the male dominated leadership of the NUS?

Anna could fight it more effectively by stepping down.

Of course I'm not allowed to ask that, or receive what could quite possibly be an excellent reply for all I know if Anna would actually answer questions or give any thought out answers more than calling us names and trying to exclude us from feminism.

4thwavedespair if you think Anna is a woman, what do you think a woman is? Just trying to understand where you're coming from.

Sorry, to clarify, my everyday feminist bingo card was in response to...

"The idea that there isn’t a feminist standing for this positition is laughable. I don’t know Anna but from a cursory reading of her manifesto and track record, she seems like a brilliant intersectional feminist and Hareem is brilliant too. She also fights for intersectionality and has helped co-ordinate events which centre trans voices"

"I’m glad the next generation of feminists is leaving your bigotry behind and I am proud to be one of them"

4th but Anna isn't a woman. She's a transwoman. They are not the same. Both humans and both equally deserving of an equal place in society. But not the same. Different biology. Different socialisation from day 1. Etc. If Anna were to stand as trains officer I'm sure she'd do an admirable job. But transactivism, particularly that undertaken by TWs, is eroding women's rights, and so it is essential that the women's officer be an actual women.

RiverTam, well I'm currently dating a cis man so when I walk down the street holding his hand, I'm much less likely to get verbal or physical abuse, for like the most basic one. If I stay with this man and want kids, it's easier in the biological way but if we do have fertility issues, my access to adoption would be easier than a lesbian womans. Obviously, if I was with a female partner this would change and my experience would more closely align to theirs but it wouldn't undo my other experiences. Does that make sense?

SOrry I'm trying to do this and write an essay (yep, student of the NUS voting type here) and reply to these qs. (God, Mumsnet moves quick.)

4thwave, I have to go and get my children, but please do not dismiss the older generation so lightly.

I do not know how old you are, but universities tend - for students - to be places of equality. Have you sat, yet, in a room full of male colleagues, where you are as educated and employed on the same level, and had your comments ignored and five minutes later, the same thing said by a male colleague and listened to?

This point has nothing to do with Anna or trans*, but it is a point which the vast majority of women in the workplace, beyond university years, who are older than 30 or maybe 35, will recognise.

That is, for the most part, how the real world operates. And women without children are discriminated against too, as they are not perceived as maternal too.

So maybe you don't understand why some women are scared of being silenced - it is because it happens already on so many levels. You don't have to agree, but if you want an intergenerational discussion, then stay around and talk.

PS I'm not questioning your preferences, prefer who you want! I'm sorry if you read it that way. Some of us are just a bit baffled at what 'queer' means in this context. I thought you might be able to help, as you used it as a self-descriptor :)

RomiRoo I have sat in uni classrooms with only 3 men and still been talked over and shouted at and dismissed! I'm a loud feminist presence on my campus - ofc I've been silenced by men! I've also worked, part-time and full time in between illnesses at university and been denigrated by male collegues and had my opinions repeated by men and then lauded! I work in theatre - one of those "progressive" spaces that's just as bad as anywhere else. Also, my Mum is a "career woman" and I've watched her struggle with men at work and a home for my entire life.

Like, I'm not arguing the patriarchy isn't terrible!! I'm with you there!! I feel it, I see it, I experience it. But so does Anna? The patriarchy punishes her as a woman and as a trans woman. So I know she gets it, she wants to dismantle it as much as I want to?

I don't think we can come to an agreement because you see Anna as a man taking up a woman's space and I will never feel like that because Anna is a woman to me. (trying to work on a repsonse to you, WilLiAmHerschel, but it's a big question!)

But yeah, lol, younger women live in feminist utopia's in university and have never experienced sexism. That sounds right.

If Anna was a cis man, I would feel differently about her candidacy - but she isn't, she's a woman so I'm totally happy with her being eligible to run. Then her policies and politics make her not just eligible but an exciting candidate who I'd be happy to represent me.

4thwave - I'm happy to debate the Annafesto - I'll start with a few of the examples you gave.

Anna wants to demand a review of abortion law and make sure that the uk isn't complacent in ensuring free access to all women.
What experiences does Anna have, over and above that of a man, that qualifies her to do this? I would argue that a woman in the role has more direct experience of the possession of fertility that can lead to unwanted pregnancy.

Anna wants to push The Wonderful Girl Can programme to encourage all women to participate in sports.
Fabulous. And how is that programme going to overcome the inherent inequality between biological women and trans-women in competition?

Fight the tampon tax and ensure that student unions sell tampons etc at fair prices.
Great. How does Anna know what a fair price is for a product she has no use for?

Fight the male dominated leadership of the NUS.
Ok, but it can't be ignored that her choice to transition from male to female has already had a positive impact on the proportion of women represented in STEM without any additional biological women entering the field. Does she want more women to join the leadership, or does she want the existing men in the leadership to transition to women?