Lily, a message to you,if you're on here, and I suspect you may be due to your raging narcissism.
It must be really difficult at the moment for you, knowing that you, as well as some other trans-identifiying men, are responsible for sending many of us 'natal' (hate that term) women over the edge from 'nurturing, trying to see your point of view and not hurt your feelings' types of people into 'no, just no, stop it now' types of people.
You may be feeling attacked, and experiencing dissonance right now - some people put you on a pedestal, and now there's a growing swell of people questioning your motives.
I appreciate you may have had difficulties in expressing your desire to appropriate the stereotypes that people associate with 'woman', your desire to wear 'female' stereotypical clothes and mannerisms, and that must be harsh at times - though many people around you seem to affirm and celebrate it, and launch you onto platforms, so maybe not that harsh?
But despite those around you who affirm your'women' and 'woke' status,a growing voice elsewhere is contradicting the narrative you and others have built for very good and important reasons. (aka womens' rights)
You're not the main reason, but your constant niggling in my background consciousness has helped to wake me up (not to be 'woke' but truly, woken me up from my previously feminism-lite position to one of a proud, female standing back up for my rights that so many other natal women fought for me to have).
Yet again, you centre 'transwomen' in your narrative in this article and position yourself as the ultimate victim. If you truly believed you were a woman, why would you want to centre this narrative towards trans all of the time? You represent women in your own CLP. Where are non-trans womens' issues? As a woman who's always known they were a woman, and experienced all that 'woman' means, surely you would be fighting for all the common issues that we face?
Yet instead, you shout 'TERF' at me, without a hesitation, without knowing who I am and my life experience. You have no desire to learn, to listen, to question, even if it strengthens your viewpoint. You just shut me down, not for talking to you, not for interacting with others, simply for listening to someone who you disagree with.
That is not politics. That is a parallel world. One of no debate, no discussion.
If you truly were a 'woman' why would you not know that all of this hate, misogyny, struggle is just part of being a woman, not a 'transwoman'?
Why would you ignore constantly the issues that women in your constituency face each and every day? To instead focus on your sole issue - trans.
The more you centre yourself as the victim in this, the more you raise me up to be the woman who roars.
In a strange way Lily, I want to thank you. Thank you for getting me back on my feet to fight for womens' rights.
And that's womens' rights. Not men who 'feel' like women.