Women have a huge privilege compared to trans women

[IDanielRadcliffe]

www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/transgender-diary-women-have-huge-privilege-compared-transwomen/

I think DT manages to be both racist and sexist this week.

What they are too vain or oblivious to seem to realise is that they are unlikely to experience street harassment as they're too old to be of interest to men.

What they are too vain or oblivious to seem to realise is that they are unlikely to experience street harassment as they're too old to be of interest to men

I think what they see in the mirror is a 25 year old, max 30 babe . They would never look at a woman of the same age group as them and see anything in common.

The likelihood is that any harassment TW get will be from other men, primarily because they won't pass as women. That harassment would be transphobic, by their standards. I think the reason TW consider women to be privileged is that we will never suffer transphobic harassment.

Though I'm not convinced that such harassment is necessarily transphobic. I think it is mocking gender-non-conformity, which is an attribute that ought to be protected.

(And I'm not convinced a TW would consider wolf whistles and sexist innuendo 'harassment' - more likely 'affirmation'.)

Any unwanted attention is harassment. I think there are plenty of trans people who do not want any attention or harassment, they just want to live in peace.

crazy. What is that privilege?

Yes. I can see that column has its uses, but it was also what put me off getting a subscription to the Telegraph. I’ll stick with the Times.

And I'm not convinced a TW would consider wolf whistles and sexist innuendo 'harassment' - more likely 'affirmation'

Yup. AGP.

Didn’t Paris Lees rave on about the joys of being catcalled? I wonder if these people would ever see rape as “affirming”?

They have no idea.

And what is particularly concerning is that this weird version of femininity completely erases the experience of growing up as a girl.

I think the reason TW consider women to be privileged is that we will never suffer transphobic harassment.

I suppose that’s because we’re women, not Transwomen.

But then street harassment of women isn’t even classed as a crime.

I never, ever entirely lose the awareness and anxiety that comes with confronting a world that I know can be very hostile indeed.

TransWomen face sky-high rates of harassment, abuse and violence. It has happened to me and most women I know. But it only has to happen once The possibility is always there, and part of my mind is permanently engaged in the job of trying to avoid it by disappearing normal, feminine and unthreatening

There fixed that

"The likelihood is that any harassment TW get will be from other men, primarily because they won't pass as women."

People don't like being manipulated. It's annoying for anyone to be expected to believe the blatant lie that a man is a woman.

"One of the discoveries one makes when transitioning is not how much changes, but how little."

Yep, we could have told you that.

Yeah the privilege to not be educated in some parts of the world.
To be consistently underpaid.
To be the victim of primarily male violence.
Jog on mate.

Transwomen face sky-high rates of harassment, abuse and violence. It hasn’t happened to me yet. But it only has to happen once, the possibility is always there, and part of my mind is permanently engaged in the job of trying to avoid it by appearing normal, feminine and unthreatening.

Funny that, cause it was happening to me on the regular by the time I was 10. Does this person actually know any woman, and do they ever speak to said women without sticking their fingers in their ears and going "oopsie, can't hear you"?

The article is just offensive nonsense. Why bring up race at all. The author quickly lost me. I wonder who the target audience is? Are they sitting, reading and nodding along??

Transwomen face sky-high rates of harassment, abuse and violence. It hasn’t happened to me yet. But it only has to happen once, the possibility is always there, and part of my mind is permanently engaged in the job of trying to avoid it by appearing normal, feminine and unthreatening.

as a biological female, it's happened to me lots. Like the other large percentage of women it's happened to we also are always aware that it could happen (again) at any moment. Not sure a point is actually being made here? It certainly doesn't demonstrate biological female privelige. If Diana ever walked down the street feeling safe then that's privelige and it's an arrogant smack in the face not to realise that biological females never have been as safe as Diana used to be. Ever.

And I'm not convinced a TW would consider wolf whistles and sexist innuendo 'harassment' - more likely 'affirmation'.)

In the kinds of groups my ex was in they all raved about it and saw it as some kind of fucking initiation or coming of womanhood.

The older ones have very unrealistic expectations compared to my younger trans friends.

I constantly had to remind my ex that the groups were unhealthy. He would look at these pictures and I'd be like "but that's not realistic for ANYONE over the age of 40... a 40 year old woman isnt gonna look like a 20 year old woman"... so how the fuck anyone else is expecting to achieve it I dont know.

Ah, the tired old privilege card. Am getting sick of hearing about privilege these days. All these opressed whiny people can take a hike.

@Mrskeats

Yeah the privilege to not be educated in some parts of the world. To be consistently underpaid. To be the victim of primarily male violence. Jog on mate.

Exactly.

@Onestepup

"as a trans woman, even one with nice clothes, a great surgeon and fancy hair"

Female is a sex, not an obligation to be an airhead.

yes, why is it these types always seem to transition to the barbie doil type of women? I have yet to see a MTF transition to a lady wearing jeans, glasses and low heeled shoes who rides a motorbike.

I do wonder what The Telegraph's goal is here. Are they deliberately playing it dumb? There's no way their readers will be swallowing this rubbish.

I despair.

They have never been harrassed or abused for being trans or appearing to be female. But the prospect terrifies them so much that they are supposedly in competition with women as to who has it the worst.

Surely there is an element of if you genuinely believe you are a woman, you deal with the shit women deal with EVERY DAY and stop fucking whinging about it?

• Now, you may be wondering where I’m going with this, and thinking, ‘Oh Lord, she’s not going to claim that being trans means she can understand what it means to be black, is she?’

No, I wouldn’t dream of being so offensively presumptuous.*

But happy to be presumptuous and claim to be a woman. Obvs. because unlike black football players, women have no proper selves worthy of respect. No experience of their own biology worth a second thought. We’re just inferior shadow-selves of men, our identity so vague it can be inhabited any time a deviant male wants it.

Women have a huge privilege compared to trans women

But but but... I thought transwomen are women? So they have the same huge privilege surely?

And I'm not suggesting for a second that women stop 'whinging', I'm just saying that trans women are 'just' dealing with the stuff everyone else has dealt with for years. Regardless of where you fall on the the TWAW debate, the fact is that a lot of the issues that trans women complain about are simply issues that their chosen gender have been dealing with for years