Why does MN feminism focus on trans?

[Bestwestpest]

Just that really. I'm admittedly not sold on the whole trans agenda. But aren't there bigger issues? I fear there are greater risks to women from men than from trans 'women'.

Yes there are lots of bigger issues.

But few which are under consideration right now for specific legislation which changes the definition of who a woman is, and which can be affected by public campaigning. That's why.

What is bigger than the ethic cleansing of women?

The risk isn't necessarily from transwomen. The risk is from society accepting a belief system that says women don't exist as a material reality, rooted in our biology. If we can't define what a woman is, how can we fight for our rights?

When we can't define the word "woman" as adult human female, we can't discuss about the oppression women face, the oppression women have always faced, which is due to their biological, reproductive role.

Transactivism - the very erasure of the word "woman" - to mean "anyone who says they are a woman" denies us the language we need to express ourselves. Ti define ourselves. We are not bleeders or non-men - we are women.

This ideology is the most dangerous threat to women's rights in 100 years. 100 years ago women demanding the vote weren't having the word "woman" taken away from them.

What problem could "women" have if no one dare say what a woman is?

The definition of the word "woman" is pretty central to feminism - how can you fight for women if you don't know who women are?

Haha, or what everyone else said!

The transgenderism thing is where rights our female ancestors fought long and hard for are being eroded and we must stand our ground or lose what we already started to take for granted.

The only other right being currently under threat is the right to safe abortions, but I do believe we can multitask.

(Also, the genderism nonsense means we can't even argue anymore that anti-choice laws are misogynist because according to it, unwanted pregnancy can happen to men, too)

Well, at least the only other right I know of - might be different in other countries. Anyway, as has been said, we can't fight for any women's rights if "woman" means nothing.

What is bigger than the ethnic cleansing of women?

This.

Not that long ago I started a thread stating I didn’t want to talk about trans issues any more, but it wasn’t that I didn’t/don’t think it’s important. It’s quite the opposite - it’s one of the biggest challenges facing born women in our lifetime.

My point was that *they’ve demanded so much and we have no choice but to try to counteract these assaults on our rights, at the seeming exclusion of all else.

It’s infuriating. I don’t fucking WANT TO TALK ABOUT TRANS ISSUES - But. We really have little choice right now.

I wish that we could just all ignore them and they’d go away but that’s not going to happen.

*Please note. When I say ‘they’, ‘them’ etc., I mean the transactivists who are trying to erode the rights and experiences of born women. I don’t mean every transgender person.

But aren't there bigger issues?

Please start threads about these. Please post on the Cyntoia Brown threads and make a difference. Please be an activist for women leaving DV relationships, campaign against rape myths, talk about period poverty and better education for girls and women. Healthcare and pain being ignored, power not being shared, and the pay gap.

Unless it's about telling women off for not right-thinking, rather than actually doing something. In which case, carry on. Good job.

It’s infuriating. I don’t fucking WANT TO TALK ABOUT TRANS ISSUES - But. We really have little choice right now.

This. I'd really like to advance women's rights instead of having to defend things that have been considered common sense for decades if not centuries, like sex segregated prisons.

But we are in a castle under siege. If we do not win this battle, we have nowhere to go, nothing we can do, feminism as we knew it would be dead.

It’s infuriating. I don’t fucking WANT TO TALK ABOUT TRANS ISSUES - But. We really have little choice right now.

Damn right. Stop with this gender ideology bullshit, stop trying to push self-ID into legislation, stop trying to change our language beyond all meaningful recognition - and I daresay we'll shut up about it.

Also this is one of the few places that will host the discussion, hence the number of related threads.
It's like asking why people are all smoking in a smoking shelter - it's because they can't anywhere else.

The trans issue intersects with another issue that is close to me: autism.

A hugely disproportionate number of those being put on puberty blockers are on the spectrum.

I don’t think there’s a bigger autism issue at the moment than the sterilisation of autistic children.

It's like asking why people are all smoking in a smoking shelter - it's because they can't anywhere else.

This. Absolutely this.

It’s infuriating. I don’t fucking WANT TO TALK ABOUT TRANS ISSUES - But. We really have little choice right now.

This. Absolutely this. With bells on. It is rage inducing that rather than talking about WOMEN, actual bloody women, inordinate amounts of effort and energy have to be expended defending the fact that humans can't change sex and if you're born with a penis you ain't a woman and you never can be. Get over it. Can't we all just move on? Honestly, I am so pissed off with how frequently I have to say or type the word 'penis'.

So yes, there are really important issues facing WOMEN that I would love to focus my time on, but instead I have to defend the very definition of the word WOMAN.

People who don't understand why this is of such fundamental importance either haven't considered it fully or are idiots.

Well this is the biggest femenist issue in British politics at the moment. Two years ago MN feminists had little interest in trans issues as a femenist issue. But since the trans rights movement in Britain has been taken over by incel style trans women who have taken to physically attacking feminists who congregate and exposing their lady penisis in sex segregated space for women and organisations promoting the use of puberty blockers and the inclusion of cross dressers and fetishists under the trans umbrella have become increasingly politically powerful many mumsnetters have percieved this as a threat to women in general (trans women included), to feminists who are politically active and, to children and organisations and individuals who serve the interests of children. The interest on the mn femenist board isn’t about trans rights and it’s not about being trans exclusionary. The interest has arisen as a result of acts of violence and political momentum of aggressive and misogynistic factions of the trans rights movement that have cropped up in the past two years.

@aspieandproud thanks for articulating that. What a terrifying thought.

You want to focus on the risks that men pose to women, but in order to do that you must first have some idea of who the men are and who the women are. Trans/queer theory, taken to its logical conclusions, makes the categories of 'men' and 'women' entirely subjective and thus meaningless. You can't focus on the risks that men pose to women if these categories cease to exist.

I know of:
One young Muslim woman whose father will no longer allow her out without a male escort thanks to widening spread of gender neutral toilets. She has been forced to drop out of university.
Several survivors of sexual abuse whose freedom of public movement has been restricted because the presence of unknown men in a small toilet space/performing medical examination despite requesting a female practitioner (including a dentist) has triggered them. This is what peaked one woman who formally identified as NB with they/them pronouns.
A transwoman who transitioned many years ago being hounded for stating that she does not agree with the current agenda. She lost her job with a local authority following a campaign of harassment. She was recently sectioned as a result of said harassment. Someone on Facebook mocked her saying that it would be ironic if she helped inflate the suicide statistics therefore aiding them in her last act. Such compassion.
Several women who are afraid to speak out any more, whose employers have received emails against them.
Many pro-trans liberal feminists who privately disclose to me their fears but are afraid to speak out themselves. Instead they tow the line and join the pile ons.

I also know several people who began transition in their teens and now in their early 20s are unhappy with the lack of support given to them beforehand. Some of them are leading complicated lives with confused legal documentation and health complications from hormones based on a decision they made as young teens with tumblr accounts.

That is why.

All the above OP.

Due to blatant, unfair and widespread discrimination, women managed to make sex a protected characteristic under equality law.

But if anyone can be any sex, it's rendered meaningless.

Normal women pointing this out were subjected to such fury and organised harassment that their questioning turned to outrage and now real fear.

Women's rights - all of them, disappear if men can legally be women. Including fair political representation - the only means to effect change for women.

Many transactivists blatantly assert their goal of true sex equality by promoting 50% men and 50% as our political representatives.

We are going back in time at a rate of knots.

50% transwomen - sorry missed a word out.

I fear there are greater risks to women from men than from trans 'women'.

We fear there are few greater risks to girls and to women from men than from transwomen, and none of those risks is promoted by all major political parties

Or any political parties?