I am a woman because I say so

[Darrowisred]

Bought Grazia not realising it was a special gender issue.

Paris Lees has three pages of editorial.

Gems include;

'I don't need permission to use the label 'woman', I'm a woman because I say so'.

And

'Womankind is a broad church, and it's time to celebrate our wonderfully diverse congregation'.

And

'When my win (as female comment writer of the year) was announced, it unleashed a barrage of transphobic abuse. 'What a farce, Lees is a man' wrote one'.

Finally

'I love being a woman'.

Aaaargh.

[wickedlazy]

Ooh sorry I thought it had been written by Paris Lees. It makes much more sense now. I still think there is something in what Grayson Perry said "I’m saying you’ve got to look forward, mate. Women are always looking forward." Why can't a man wear a dress, make up and heels, and still be considered a man?

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

Yes you have muddled them up. Grayson Perry likes to wear outrageous frocks occasionally in public but is very happy to state he is a heterosexual man.

[MrsJoeyMaynard]

I think one of the things that annoys me about all this is the notion spouted that transgender is "challenging gender norms"

I don't know if I'm missing something here, but - How is it challenging gender norms to suggest that a biological male who is drawn to stereotypically girly things like pretty dresses and make up and so on is actually a woman? Or that a biological female who is drawn to stereotypically boyish things is actually a man? It looks a damn sight more like reinforcing gender stereotypes to me.

Why does it seem like there so few men out there challenging gender stereotypes by saying "I like wearing dresses and make up and high heels and I'm a man"?
I'd be more than happy to support men's rights to wear whatever they like and still call themselves men.

[MrsJoeyMaynard]

Incidentally, DS2 insisted today that he was not a boy. He said that he was a diggy tractor with forks (for hay bales and suchlike), and got very upset when contradicted by DS1.

Perhaps surprisingly, this claim has not turned him, even temporarily, into anything that anyone else might mistake as a diggy tractor. He has remained a human boy in every measurable way.

[Darrowisred]

I'll email Grazia too. Been a reader since their first issue. No more.

[AyeAmarok]

I'm a cat.

There's a lot a really like about being a human, but one thing that I like about cats is they can lie pressed against the radiator when it's warm. So I think I'm going to keep all my human privileges and also be a cat.

Now, I just need to find another woman to be my servant.

[blinkyoullmissit]

A lot of men still wear dresses out on makeup and call themselves men. These people are gender fluid.

[CoteDAzur]

Are they now.

I wear trousers and have no makeup on most of the time. But sometimes I like to put on a dress, heels, and makeup.

Am I gender fluid, too? Or is that a name for only male snowflakes?

[glenthebattleostrich]

No blink. They are men who like wearing dresses and make up. Just like women who wear trousers and no make up are just that.

No need for rediculous labels to make special snow flakes feel warm and fuzzy.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

What if they don't identify as gender fluid? Do you apply the label coercively?

[sooperdooper]

MrsJoeyMaynard yes!! That's exactly my thinking - they aren't challenging gender stereotypes at all, they're just reinforcing boring outdated stereotypes!

Why can't men who want to wear make up, dresses, high heels or whatever just do that, as a man - that challenges gender stereotypes. And why is a child who wants to do similar branded trans, why can't we accept that a male child can play with a doll or a pink pony or have long hair in braids without having to be declared transgender.

The more I hear of the trans ideas the more I think they're pushing gender stereotypes backwards, not forwards at all

[sooperdooper]

Gender fluid my arse, I've got short hair no make up on today and I'm dressed in jeans and a tshirt, am I gender fluid today? If I put a skirt on later and some lippy am I not?

Why can't men have the courage to do/wear what they want without needing a label for it? I don't need a label

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Grazia also have a nice box explaining this all woman malarkey.
Starts with Cis and so on...

I picked it up for the train today, there's also nice make up tips to make you even more a woman.

Helpful.

[timelytess]

I too have reached the rage point, with individuals like Lees and the utter fuckwit women who mindlessly defend them and advance their cause, shitting all over women in the process

If someone says they are a woman. They are a woman.If someone says they are a man. They are a man./Don't be daft

Yes.

[timelytess]

Don't be daft
Corrected for emphasis.

[IfTheCapFitsWearIt]

This is a very good article from greyson Perry. It's not about transgender but i think it's very a very good read that makes you think more about social constructs, and why labeling anything that isn't default man has occurred.

I look forward to seeing his program on masculinity.

www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/10/grayson-perry-rise-and-fall-default-man

[WriteforFun1]

how did we end up here?

I feel like it happened almost overnight.

I'm a radish btw.

[shinynewusername]

how did we end up here? I feel like it happened almost overnight

Agree. Two big factors have been the media's uncritical peddling of the transactivist line and the fact that this is about men suppressing women, so it is consistent with how society works. You will note the absence of FTM trans people demanding that men stop calling themselves men or avoid talking about prostate cancer.

Women's rights aren't sexy or trendy like anti-racism or LBG rights - both of which I fully support, I just note the difference in how society and the media discuss them.

[Akire]

I think it lessens the message for those who really are trans and going whole hog. Why bother with hormones and operations when all you need is confidence to say I'm woman.

There was BBC local news report few weeks ago and the voice over said Mrs X having problems over whatever. Then suspiously in a way they don't normally kept saying Her flat, Her MP, her feeling She showed me this but the person in film was a man. Looked like a man , dressed like a man, sounded like a man. At first I thought there was some editing problem and they got it mixed up but no it was repeated later. You know 99.9% of people watching are going at very best that's not a woman. If they had revered to him by his first any gender name and missed any her/she references no one would have been any the wiser.

Surely if there's doubts over how you look sound you would not to draw attention to fact that you are not what you say you are. Even if you can be who you like with your family and friends. Funnily enough never seen a woman who looks like a woman dresses like a woman sounds like a woman insist she is a man and is treated as such.

[WriteforFun1]

Akire " Why bother with hormones and operations when all you need is confidence to say I'm woman. "

this is where I got lost. I have 100% sympathy with someone who feels strongly enough to obtain medical treatment. I appreciate if, for some reason, you can't have any medical treatment, you may still feel you are a different sex than your biological one.

but we seem to have gone from that point to "I'm a woman because I wear dresses and makeup". Even more bizarre for me because I do neither.

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

I think I've read most of grazia now.

The make up story is photographed on Valentijne, who started life as a boy and underwent surgery later.
There is question about going barefaced, so Valentijne says she wants to abound the feminine trap of having to look prima and proper all the time , so she allows herself to be vulnerable and doesn't wear make up all the time.
What utter drivel.

It also strikes me that in every article make up and looks figure large, we are given descriptions of the often model like looks and make up preferences of them.
it seems this is what Grazia reduces women to, looks.

[LazySusan11]

I am a unicorn because I say I am

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Not abound, abandon
It's what happen when you type on the tube.

[LunaLoveg00d]

I am a mermaid.

Anyone who says I'm not because I don't have a tail is mermaidphobic and discriminating against me.

[WriteforFun1]

Chardonnay "it seems this is what Grazia reduces women to, looks."

this is what I feel those mags do generally tbh!