Murray Edwards College Cambridge

[TheWeeWitch]

The statement from the Women-only college, who are now to allow both women and women with penises to join their ranks, reads as per the typical inane trans-enamoured response to such things:

“In order that we remain true to our mission of being open to all outstanding young women we recognise that it is right for anyone who identifies as female, regardless of their born gender, to be able to apply to study with us."

Luckily, Germaine is on the case:

“If [Murray Edwards] really don’t believe that gender is binary, then they really shouldn’t be a single sex college. Their position is ridiculous. The only sane thing for them to do is to cease discriminating on the basis of assigned gender of any kind... There are plenty of women who have served their time in women’s colleges, who are pretty whiskery, but nobody did a DNA test on them. But they had to live women’s lives - with all the disabilities that that entails.”

Link here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/10/03/women-only-cambridge-college-allow-students-simply-identify/amp/

They say this: Many of us within the college have sympathy with the idea that gender is not binary, and have concerns that narrow gender identities and the expectations associated with them are damaging both to individuals and to wider society.

Which I agree with. Gender is imposed on us from a young age (if not birth). It is damaging to individuals and to society and "narrow gender identities" not only limit us all but in my opinion lead to some starting to believe if they don't identify with the gender deemed to be for your sex then they must be the wrong sex...which decisions like this perpetuate in saying anyone can define as a particular sex.

TAs don't seem able to grasp that, on the one hand they believe gender is not binary, yet what they are doing is reinforcing gender stereotypes and beliefs. Doh. All stemming from the fact that they are unable to tell the difference between gender and sex.

Exactly so whoputthecatout. Whilst some have managed to see their line as being progressive when it's the opposite, cementing gender stereotypes and suggesting most accept gender.

The President of Murray Edwards has replied to criticism, saying

www.ft.com/content/547fcf02-712d-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9

"
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www.ft.com/content/547fcf02-712d-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9

While there remains gender inequality in the world, there is a need for an institution such as ours that can focus on women’s confidence, learning and skills — to meet the challenges of education and those of the workplace. I also believe that transgender women can be our allies in this mission. They are able to spot the inequalities women face very quickly, because they have experienced something different as a man.

"

They are able to spot the inequalities women face very quickly, because they have experienced something different as a man.

I think we can do that very efficiently for ourselves, thanks all the same President.

They are able to spot the inequalities women face very quickly, because they have experienced something different as a man.

What does that even mean? Because they want to be women, they can spot the inequalities between men and women, despite reinforcing them every step of the way???

While there remains gender inequality in the world, there is a need for an institution such as ours that can focus on women’s confidence, learning and skills — to meet the challenges of education and those of the workplace.

How can they even. What kind of idiotic brain freeze does it take to agree that there is inequality in the power dynamic between men and women, and then include men in your quotas to negate it.

< fights yet another uncontrollable urge to shake somebody>

They are able to spot the inequalities women face very quickly, because they have experienced something different as a man.

Ooh, rather TERF-y comment, there. Saying that 'transwomen' have been men and experienced male socialisation/privilege. I thought transwomen were women, had always been women and had (somehow) never experienced male privilege or male socialisation, even when they've lived as a man for several decades and reached positions of power than women can only dream of.

Rumandraisin1

My baser self can only hope that they get picked up on that. Counter-productive though it is for TRAs to show themselves up, that outcome never seems to occur to them.

If they are true to form, they will spot that glaring bit of terfery and demand a written apology, in triplicate, signed with blood and notarised by the Queen.

So now we don't just have men telling us what it means to be a woman but they're also teling us that they can do it better?

YY Rum and Datun. Suspect the transactivists won't like that.

Rumandraisin - yes, she doesn't seem to have bought the full TRA dogma. Which may be good though it seems surprising that she sounds naively unaware of it.
*
' they have experienced something different as a man.' ...

'they've lived as a man for several decades and reached positions of power than women can only dream of.' *

in this particular case the people in question are 17/18 yo undergrad applicants so 'man' seems a bit wide of the mark either way!

The reality of this is likely to be that they now might take an occasional dysphoric transgirl who would otherwise have gone to a mixed college, and that a girl who had applied to a mixed college but was pooled will be offered a place at a mixed college rather than at ME.

in this particular case the people in question are 17/18 yo undergrad applicants so 'man' seems a bit wide of the mark either way!

Perhaps they'll let people identify as different ages too. So they'll let 52 year old male CEOs join?