Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is also Spartacus

[IamalsoSpartacus]

She's just been interviewed on C4 news and has said essentially the same as Jenni Murray.

I think she's great. I've not heard of her before. All power to her.

Here is her FB post this morning:

'Of course trans women are part of feminism.

I do not believe that the experience of a trans woman is the same as that of a person born female. I do not believe that, say, a person who has lived in the world as a man for 30 years experiences gender in the same way as a person female since birth.

Gender matters because of socialization. And our socialization shapes how we occupy our space in the world.

To say this is not to exclude trans women from Feminism or to suggest that trans issues are not feminist issues or to diminish the violence they experience - a violence that is pure misogyny.

But simply to say that acknowledging differences and being supportive are not mutually exclusive. And that there is space in feminism for different experiences.'

Lots of annoyed responses on her page, but I completely agree.

Her book 'Purple Hibiscus' is a great allegory of male oppression and fascism, very relevant right now. Great writer.

I'm glad she hasn't back peddled.
Of course our experiences are different. I'm unable to experience what it is like to grow up as a man, a trans woman, a lesbian, a gay man, a black person, a Muslim and not all of those are biological categories and pure facts of birth.
If trans activists are going to hammer home that women have no right to have an opinion on trans issues then surely that reinforces the point that there ARE differences?

Why can't they understand that differences are as important as similarities?

Of course transwomen experience discrimination and it isn't fair - I don't want anyone to be discriminated in any way. However women are discriminated against too but for different reasons. It is valid that we say our fight is different. We can support each other (as humans against shitty behaviour) but notice differences. Why lay this "my sexism is worse than your sexism" bullshit at our feet and make us deal with it? Why does feminism now need to encompass everything? Why do women always have to deal with other people's issues before their own? When do we get a go at fighting for our own issues without being told we are wrong?
I can never understand what it is like to be trans and deal with what must be some horrible issues but equally they can never understand what it is like to be born female and face the burden that goes with it.

This whole situation is a bit like being in a relationship and one party saying well "we have a bit in common but not really enough for it to be beneficial to stay together. I still want to be friends and help you out and support your career but I don't want to live together and be equal partners." But the other saying "no, we are in a relationship , you saying we are not a couple is not true, we are one, there is no denying it. Your struggles in your life and career are exactly the same as mine even though we come from different backgrounds and have different political view points. We ARE one. You saying we are not a couple even though I hate you and everything you experience and live through is violence."

Bloody glad to see it. Some of the comments are utterly dispiriting though. America will never reach 'peak trans', vast numbers of kind, caring liberals truly believe that transwomen are women. The only voice opposing it is the Christian right.

I find it incredible that there are so many mainly young white men who think Chimamanda a highly educated woman needs schooling and doesn't understand her own opinion.

Kids born post 96' really believe they have a firmer grasp of the topic than she does, I have also seen someone refer to her starting her university education in Nigeria as a possible reasons why she doesn't "get it". I am tired. Because of course women in Nigeria don't have their own strong feminist tradition and literature

Gender indentity is antithetical to intersectional feminism.

Great points Eatspam

How could anyone reasonably disagree with what she says in that FB post? She is a brilliant woman.

*I am revising previous post it appears that men of all ages are pilling on to attempt to discredit her. Brilliant

Is there a link to her FB?

Because of course women in Nigeria don't have their own strong feminist tradition and literature
African feminism now has so much to teach the west. Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leon have great female representation and power at the moment.

Quentin what about WERT?
(Women Exclusionary Radical Transperson)

woman12345 I was being sarcastic. I know that there is a strong feminist tradition with supporting literature in Nigerian and across the continent as a whole.

I read the comments about Nigeria as conflating Nigeria's regressive stance regarding homosexuality with trans rights.
Totally ignoring the fact that a countries politics is not necessarily shared by the people living in the country. And also a totally false equivalence between homosexuality and trans gender

no worries TheXxxxx
We could do with more African sisters over here doing some feminist missionary work to help us out!

juniper I might go for VELT (vagina excluding liberal transactivist)

The amount of people reminding CNG that trans women have always been socialised as women and have always experienced misogyny is shocking and remarkably like mansplaining.
What's even more uncomfortable is the amount of people who say "I agree, what she really meant is trans lobby rhetoric!!! Sorry your message got lost in translation!"

All of which are really obvious ways of silencing women!

If little boys who later become trans women grew up experiencing misogyny, then so did gay men and all men who don't conform to the gender stereotypes. Then it completely erases the meaning of misogyny.

Well done Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

More of this please.

I have 'Liked' her FB page so saw it that way - not sure I can just link.

(oh and I love her books)

All of which are really obvious ways of silencing women

I agree! Fauchelevent

If men in dresses want to be affiliate members of the women's union, they could start by campaigning against paying tax on tampons, campaigning to stop 2 women a week being killed by men in Britain and respecting and listening to women.

Here's the link, i think

Love the first comment "as an aside [to all these people kicking off and you inevitably being exiled to terf territory] great book cover"

Oh i forgot to post it whoops

www.facebook.com/chimamandaadichie/posts/10154887462650944:0

Brilliant, Chimamanda!
I'm off to buy the rest of her books (already own Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus). I figure putting some cash in her pocket is a good way to support her for sticking her neck out on this issue.

Quentin it's precisely because homophobia is a endemic that many feel forced to become transgender. Similar dynamics at play in Iran.

I was talking with a Ghanaian colleague of mine (we are both gender critical radical feminists) we were discussing bobriskyy a Nigerian openly gay and what would be considered effeminate man. He has a large following he posted on his Snapchat that he no longer felt he need to "transgend". These conversations are happening all over the continent, it's precisely because Nigeria has such draconian laws surrounding homosexuality (something she has spoken out against) that she is more acutely aware than most.