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

Yes I gave up with the queer trans disabled lesbian woman.

I'm struggling slightly with all of the comments on this thread saying 'Anna is so obviously a man in a dress and wig'. Why does how much Anna looks like a woman matter? Clearly transwomen end up somewhere on a spectrum from 'crikey, you'd never have guessed' to 'nope, you just don't look like a woman' and where they fall depends on things in their control and outside it.

If Anna did look more plausibly like a woman, it shouldn't change the debate. Either you think a women's officer shouldn't be a transwoman or you're ok with it, irrespective of how they scrub up.

Which leaves it a bit of a personal attack, commenting on Anna not looking much like a woman.

I think pico that Anna's appearance just highlights the cognitive dissociation we need to apply to accept this situation

I agree with you though. I would find it no more acceptable, if Anna looked more female

I would have less of a problem with a decent, feminist-identifying man with decent, pro-woman policies as Women's Officer than a transwoman (or any woman really) whose platform was as anti-woman as Anna's.

A Women's Officer whose platform is openly anti-woman is a disgrace.

Ah but bathtime it's only anti Terfy feminist women and they're nasty so don't deserve representation

Well that's a good point.

Only women who are happy to move aside to make way for NuWomen deserve a say.

Yes, it's difficult not to be snipey when faced with Anna but it makes me anxious that someone who sees themselves as a woman when not a woman from birth feels that she should run as woman's officer. Why doesn't she run as man's officer or just an officer with no attachment to a particularly sex's needs. Is there a man's officer, if not why not, why do they need a woman's officer? If it is because of sexism, and to give more support for women in a man's world, then Anna is not the person, if it is because of transgenderism than Anna is the person.

Most students ime don't give a monkey's about who is in office (a bit like them not being involved in uk politics). So this is what is going to happen.

If Anna looked more like a woman and less like a transitioning man then I might feel that yes as they walk down the street they may be subject to some of the experience I have as I walk down a street. However it is very obvious both from Anna's appearance and the agenda in the manifesto that Anna and I have very different experiences. That is a visual reminder of what is overwhelming the case - that Anna cannot speak for me because my experience as born a woman, living a woman is a world away from theirs.

I find it horrifying that this can be seen as a milepost in the womens movement. It's a dreadful step backwards.

How many candidates will vote for Anna because they don't want to be labelled transphobic?

I understand what you are getting at Pico I would feel no differently as i stated earlier if Anna did look less like a man in a wig and dress

But it is absolutely fucking ridiculous that women are expected to accept that any man who puts on a few women's cloths, a bit of make up and a wig should be able to make a stand as a women it's an insult and how can this be taken seriously

But it is taken seriously and that is what is so worrying

Transwomen are not women never have been and never will be indulging them in this way only undermines ourselves

I believe he's only been 'living as a woman' ie, wearing wigs and dresses cos that's what wimmin do, for a few months.

WHY does he want to run for women's officer? Well, I believe it's all about control over women. He's doing it because he can. To show that he's better than us.
He wants to do it so he bloody well will. Take that, women.

It's just male privilege. His blatantly anti-women stance is surely proof of that?

Yes it's male privilege

No doubt we shall soon be told that transwomen do not carry male privilege as they have always been female in a male body and then back to telling women what to accept

It makes me so mad that being a woman has been reduced to wearing a (bad) wig and (ugly) dress. It's so fucking insulting.

FFS.

Can't believe that the NUS is taking this seriously. Are they blind? I don't mean because Anna doesn't pass, but that they can't see that Anna's goal is to validate their own identity by blatantly fucking stealing a job from a woman. Of course they wouldn't stand for any other office, what would be the fun in that? What validation would there be in being the LGBT officer?

And women are supposed to not just accept this shit, but applaud it?

No.

Also, Anna looks on the far side of 40 to me, so not sure how a middle aged man in a wig could be representative of the average female student in any way.

(I am on the far side of 40 too, so not being ageist, but I wouldn't have a blinking clue what the issues were for young students today).

Anna's hair is clearly a wig
There are posts on the gender neutral sex ed post on there that indicate that what they mean is inclusive sex ed that doesn't only address piv sex. Admirable, but not gender neutral.

There are so many posts on here that express the issues far better than I can! OMG, sorry to those transgender people who have been through a lot but I don't have any common ground with their issue whatsoever I'm afraid. Its beyond a joke.

I mean, if a trans woman wants to live their life as if they were a woman, fine, they can do as they like as far as I'm concerned. But I can't and won't accept that doing that means they actually are a woman. Yup I agree!

Sorry and all that but that's just a bloke in areallybad wig and a frock. (Ducks). Yy - I've got my hard-hat at the ready as well! I'm very politically incorrect.

Every time I read Anna Lee I think Anally.

not very helpful

The more I think about this the more I wonder about Dozial (sp) who posed as a black woman, the left went nuts to condemn her. She was afforded no sympathy. But Anna is "brave" and is doing exactly the same. She can try to live as a woman if she wishes but she'll be a transwoman at best. To then think she can speak for women and represent us is so fucking insulting.

That's exactly what I said at the beginning of the thread, the reason people were up in arms is that Rachel Dolezal said that she can campaign for black people as if she is one, and make herself as visually similar as she can. Anna can't count herself as one of us, just like us. Or even worse, change our name to "cis women" ffs. We are women. No man can come and change that description. Surely that's mansplaining in the extreme?

Can you imagine loads of white people trying to pass as trans black, becoming "black person of the year!"

It wouldn't happen.

Can you be a transwoman who looks and dresses like a man?