Your peaktrans moment for today! Top this if you can.

[Ritzsaltedcrackers]

A woman was thrown out of a FB feminist group for challenging the idea that transwomen get periods.

apparently they DO get periods just without the small aspect of bleeding.

She was told that she was minimising transwomen's periods.

www.facebook.com/beth.rep/posts/10216741083464856

What is biological essentialism and how is it transphobic?

As is usual with transactivism, biological essentialism is used in a sense that is precisely opposite to its actual meaning. Never ask for definitions - it only ever leads to yet another Looking Glass journey!

Also: one person's misgendering is another person's mis-sexing. Neither is violence. Depending on context, both are sometimes rude. Nobody can live an entire life attempting to mandate that nobody is ever rude to them - or they can, but they will be unsuccessful, trans or otherwise.

I'm an atheist but I respect people who believe in God so I don't go rub my beliefs in their faces.

But can I assume you believe in gender identities aka souls? Because that is a religious belief. I'm surprised to see it in atheist.

Lang

I always thought it meant that women and men suited their gender roles because they were biologically programmed to be that way. Like men are hunter gatherers crap.

Not, women have periods.

Why should you be compelled to pretend that you do? Respect for other humans.

Yeah, I don't respect that person, though. Nor what they are saying.
I have no respect for them whatsoever. Quite the opposite. I have nothing but contempt for what they are saying and doing to that woman.

MissTeri

I don't understand what faer means

There was a comment on a thread, (which I now can't find) which looked at the word Faye or Fae. As it is used as a surname by quite a few transactivists.

It meant something, apparently.

I can't recall exactly, but it might have had something to do with ejaculation? It was something sexual, in any event.

Hi TransAuthor I can't speak for anyone else on here but I can give you my perspective.

I have always used peoples preferred pronouns when speaking to them or about them. Or if I wasn't sure I would use "they". It really didn't matter to me and it obviously did to them. Until very recently.

But the more I read (especially on twitter) about some transactivists' view of me, about the names they call me and (on one memorable occasion) the ACTUAL violence I was threatened with merely for stating that biology is a reality has shocked me out of both my politeness and my passivity.

The threat to me was from an individual who assured me that he knew where I lived and that he would track me down and cave my head in. Because I asked him in what way his biology was the same as mine. Apparently that was transphobic.

FYI I am a woman. Under the current trend I suspect that I would identify as GNC or agender as I don't subscribe to feminine stereotypes at all and don't "identify" as female. I'm a woman because of biology and that was what I said. Apparently he is a better woman than me because he shaves his legs, has better make-up skills and can walk in heels. None of which matter to me or affect me in any way. But the fact that even without those things I am still a woman in a way he can never be seems to have enraged him so much he threatened me with actual violence. You know, the sort that hurts, or can kill you.

So for me now it's not all out war but my views are changing. Not because of here (I see some stuff on here that I don't agree with too but nobody has threatened to hurt me for saying so) but because it seems that there is no mutual respect for me from the TRA community.

Not, I need to add, from trans people per se. I still have friends who are trans, I will continue to cherish them and respect them the same as I always have.

But I won't be bullied into saying that somebody who isn't female is a woman just because he says so and them watch him trample all over MY rights and feelings. I've had enough.

I fully support trans rights to live as they choose with no prejudice or intimidation. But not at the cost of womens' rights. Not any more.

So now apparently I am transphobic because I will argue that transwomen are not women, and transmen are not men. I will argue that they are in a set of their own and need a 3rd space to protect them. I'll happily stand alongside them and fight for them to have that space. But I won't budge up. Not any more.

Quite a derail and a bit of DARVO.

The period thing is like fantasy play.

Teacup - you have it right!

Gender is really a philosophy these days. You can’t agree or disagree with it. People should be able to identify themselves as they wish. However, I will not partake in delusions such as “trans women have periods”. Identify as you wish, I will call you by your preferred pronoun and treat you as your chosen gender- just don’t deny you bilological origins nor vilify me for my femininity.

Aka, I would be very, very, offended if someone reduced me to a mere “mensturator” while they should be refering to me as a woman. I’m also irritated by being called a “cis-woman”. Call me a woman because that’s what I am and no one has the right to take that away- just because other groups of people are fighting to be called a women.

Feminine hygiene products should be called just that as menstruating originates from womanhood and is typically a female function around certain ages.

but but but but

But that’s what the trans activists say!!!

It’s literally the opposite of what we are saying.

@Ardant - yes, I'm uncomfortable about this thread. Yes, the assertion that a person with a man's body can have periods, etc. is quite wrong, and anyone should be allowed to say so. Obvs. But I feel uncomfortable about holding up an individual or small group saying or doing something bonkers and ridiculing them as an exemplar of a wider group. "Transphobic" is such an over-used term that I hate to use it, but I do think that implying that "all trans people think trans women have periods" is a bit dogwhistley.

but I do think that implying that "all trans people think trans women have periods" is a bit dogwhistley.

I'm pretty certain no one is implying that. It would be illogical and patently not true.

But it's irrefutable that there is a significant cohort of men under the trans umbrella who fetishise womanhood and pretend they menstuate, can get pregnant, breastfeed, etc.

Autogynephilia isn't at all niche. And fetishising women's actual biology is part of it.

I’ve passed clots the size of fucking hamsters before. Good luck appropriating those.

HoneyDragon
What is actually rude or disrespectful is someone appropriating womanhood to the point of saying they have periods or that a phantom pregnancy and miscarriage is the same as an actual pregnancy loss.
I’ve lost a baby, due to my female biology and pregnancy complications. And it’s thanks to the same female biology that I can’t have any more children. To compare my experience and the experiences of quite literally millions of other women over time and throughout the world to some delusion is so unbelievably disrespectful I can’t find words strong enough to express how I feel. And then you tell us it’s rude and violent not to use someone’ s preferred pronouns? You really have no idea.

Aka, I would be very, very, offended if someone reduced me to a mere “mensturator”

It’s a really unpleasant and quite disturbing turn of phrase. At the risk of tripping the Godwin Alarm, it’s reminiscent of the Nazi ‘breeders’ and ‘eaters’ and just feels so dehumanising.

We have to be able to use the correct medical language for both sexes. It’s not discriminatory to imply that only born males might need a prostate check, or that only born females can need Pap smears.

I have periods of not understanding what the he'll is going on. But haven't menstruated for ages.

HoneyDragon

Poppyred85, I'm sorry for your loss.

In my opinion the transgender advocates insistence that women use female pronouns for males is simple Orwellian obedience training as blatant and obvious as 2+2=5

4th rule of misogyny: Women's opinions are violence against men thus male violence against women is justified.

6th rule of misogyny: Women who go around being female AT men by menstruating and breast feeding babies deserve punishment.

11th rule of misogyny: whatever women suffer from, it is worse when it happens to men.

If that poor soul is having such bad periods, maybe they should get checked out for endometriosis. 🤔 Gosh I hope they don’t have to go through what I did and need a total hysterectomy. 😒

It really does peak me a bit more when I see that phrase "not using my pronouns is actual violence" when women grow up learning to be used to words referring to their biology being used as swear words, being verbally abused for either having sexual relationships or not having them, notwithstanding actual violence towards them or anyone, male, female or trans.

I use pronouns out of respect but it doesn't half make me think about not doing so when such sentences are used. Especially, as happened with JB, when accompanied with lots of swearing and anger.

What an absolute joke! Do these people really think they get monthly cyclical physical symptoms associated with ovulating and the build up and release of the lining of the womb when they have neither a womb nor ovaries? I mean really, that is just delusion of the highest order, or else a serious lack of education about human reproductive systems. Even if they are taking oestrogen, that might cause muscle cramping or something, but there is absolutely no way that that could be cyclical or monthly.

I never thought I would live to see some men want to pretend to have periods, I mean why? I dont want pretend prostate cancer or pretend twisted testicles. Why on earth?

This gives me the absolute rage - I can’t imagine being much more angry about something.

My periods have destroyed my life since the first one. I have endometriosis and the pain is crippling, but the bleeding.... a small aspect?

My periods are so heavy that pads can’t absorb the blood quickly enough and within 24 hours my skin starts to break down. By day 8 or 9 of my period, where I am right now, I have open sores. I can’t sit down because it’s like sitting in acid. Then I get a few weeks off and start all over again.

SMALL FUCKING ASPECT? How dare you? I can also tell you that the adenomyosis in the wall of my uterus, and the resulting powerful uterine contractions, are no small aspect either. Nor are the bands of scar tissue gluing my organs together, or the sensation of being jabbed up the arse with a hot poker.

But sure, APART FROM ALL THAT, I’m sure it’s exactly the fucking same.

I am in a feminist group online that I know would respond just like this if a trans woman minimised actual periods and then accused a woman of minimising their suffering. I wish I could share these screenshots and ask what they think of them, but I know exactly how that would go.

It's almost like those people who fein cancer and get lots of sympathy and cash.

I don't doubt that the hormones cause side effects such as bloating, migraines etc, possibly as some of the contraceptive pills might, but that's just the medicine not their biology or uterus. Entirely different and a uniquely trans women's experience.

Yes I’m absolutely sure the physical toll of transitioning is immense and I’m sure there are awful side effects... so let’s talk about those, I’m happy to talk about them and empathise and offer support. Just stop appropriating women’s suffering and minimising their pain to validate yourself.

Deathgrip, that sounds absolutely horrendous I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with utterly miserable periods, while listening to some total muppet fetishizing the whole process and boo hooing about their pretend periods. It's really sick

I was only remembering this morning about a guy who likened having to shave with women having periods. This was 30 years ago. Stuck with me ever since. Talk about not having a fucking clue. Funnily enough he has a beard now.