Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

True to myself but..........

38 replies

quietbutdetermined · 13/10/2018 20:09

I am feeling quite bereft - I feel ostracised by my family as I have made my beliefs about womens' rights known and have been asked to keep my opinion to myself. I have fought for my daughters throughout their lifetimes and it has been for nothing.

OP posts:
ContentiousOne · 14/10/2018 00:07

I think over-reactions to a Mum talking about legal issues - like disgust - absolutely indicate internal cognitive dissonance.

I'd suggest keeping calm - sorry you feel that way hon - and moving on.

I've also been on a quest to dig out all the best movies/tv shows that show gay men and lesbian women dealing with homophobia by changing society and not their bodies. Nanette was brilliant to watch with both my 21 yr old and my 14 yr old; we also really enjoyed Pride (the movie).

I've also been wondering if another approach isn't to present women's issues without reference to trans. For example, the plight of women in prison, the need for single sex facilities in other countries (hard to justify not needing them here without being racist), the impact of austerity on girls and women.

My kids are also attend mandatory 'look at 80's singers, see how they were androgynous/played with gender presentation while still understanding their sex' sessions, which they roll their eyes at but probably get something from, esp the youngest.

ContentiousOne · 14/10/2018 00:14

I don't mean to say it isn't hard.

Dd told me she thought she was really male in a psych hospital, where the doctors wouldn't let her go home till she disclosed, and I reacted honestly but badly. I was angry, called her a traitor to the cause (not in so many words but that was the gist) and basically displayed my complete lack of belief that female children whose vulva's I observed myself over years of bathing and nappy changing are actually male. I refused to use a male name; I try when I remember to do neutral terms like 'sibling' but often forget.

And you know, she was pretty hysterical on hearing all this. But we managed that outpouring of emotion from both sides.

She knows I am utterly supportive of her being gay, and gender non comforming. I buy her clothes from the men's section. I give her money to get her buzzcuts. She accepts that I will always see her as female, and that I have no problem with females being butch. I think real life acceptance of these things goes a long way to mitigating disgust.

I wonder if refusing to enact cognitive dissonance myself is in fact a point of security for her. I don't know. For all I know she's hanging out to leave home, get hormones, chop her boobs off. But I think we'll be Ok either way, and I didn't have to lie for it to be OK.

So I hope, OP, that I didn't give you the idea it's easy to be GC with teen girls. It's not. It's a tightrope. I more wanted to give you optimism that being honest doesn't have to shut down the relationship.

Coyoacan · 14/10/2018 00:18

I think if your daughters are lucky enough never to have been raped or traumatised by a man, it is exciting and counterculture to see no problem with men in women's spaces. I know that was how I felt when I was young.

NarcolepticOuchMouse · 14/10/2018 00:24

I had something similar just today. My dad, whom I admire greatly, started saying about how wonderful it was that kids have the freedom to be trans now...I was speechless, all I could muster was a "are you serious?" look. He's an incredibly intelligent and well travelled man. I really wasn't expecting it and he obviously couldn't answer the obvious questions. It seems he's gotten caught up in the PC hype.

QuentinWinters · 14/10/2018 00:31

contentious you sound amazing Flowers
I would hate if one of my children wanted to radically change their bodies, they are so perfect. I don't understand a movement that wants to do unnecessary surgery on physically healthy humans.it just doesn't sit right

ContentiousOne · 14/10/2018 00:37

Thanks Quentin. Actually not amazing at all. Just muddling along.

I do hate the idea of radical body change; I am realistic though, and my goal was always to get dd to a point in time where she was better able to assess risk (into her twenties) without it, and without hormones. Job done.

Anyway, I am off the point. The point being that yes, defensive responses from our children usually indicate cog diss they don't want to look at, and softly, softly but persistently, and with an equal focus on truth and relationship can work out OK.

AbsintheFriends · 14/10/2018 00:46

Contentious I appreciate you sharing your story. The point about refusing to go along with the fiction being a point of security is a very interesting one. This evening's argument here began when my daughter told me that one of her friends had just had the double mastectomy and I replied by saying 'that's sad' or something - without thinking. (Just the idea of a young person in hospital recovering from that operation seems distressing) Dd got angry and upset, and said that reaction showed my transphobia, because to a trans person that surgery is a wonderful thing. And on we went from there.

Oldstyle thanks for your kindness. Feeling very teary tonight and your encouragement meant a lot. Especially on my shameless thread hijack! (sorry OP)

IAmNotInvisible that's such a good point. It's for women whose voices aren't heard that we need to raise our own.

ContentiousOne · 14/10/2018 01:04

I think just reacting in that situation with ' I don't agree' and moving on is enough.

Good on you for expressing your truth. It is sad to see young women who are likely not thinking of things like fertility, breastfeeding, or even the sexual pleasure their breasts can bring, having double mastectomies. I wish elective mastectomies for reasons other than family history of b/c were illegal under 25.

FlowerpotFairyHouse · 14/10/2018 10:06

My brother and sister in law have been opposed to me on the start on this. Not because they believe women can have penises, but because they thought I'd bought into some anti man/trans propaganda and the whole thing was such obvious nonsense that it could not realistically happen.

We haven't spoken about it for months but I've messaged them links and articles not even knowing if they were reading them.

Yesterday, he told me they are completing the consultation in favour of women.

buckeejit · 14/10/2018 11:49

@FlowerpotFairyHouse that's great news!

Budgieinaberet · 14/10/2018 12:36

I agree with the pp that said this is more about being a teenager than about trans.
I was a teenager in the 70's.
No one batted an eyelid about men wearing makeup,
I would have been totally woke.
But I'd have changed my mind pretty damn quick if a man had come into the showers.

Budgieinaberet · 14/10/2018 12:38

Sorry I also meant to say that it's normal that teens think the opposite of their parents.

AspieAndProud · 14/10/2018 12:41

With men, asking if they'd sleep with a TW helps too

And with gay men asking them if they’d sleep with a transman.

Ideology be damned, the penis wants what the penis wants.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page