Susanna Rustin in the Guardian

[Botsy]

Couldn't see this posted but feels like a step forward

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/30/feminists-anti-trans-idea-sex-gender-oppression

Oh wow! Hadn’t seen this but will get sharing - thank you for pointing it out!

Hurrah!

That's great. I didn't think the Guardian did feminism anymore! Pleased to see it.

too late for me.

Can you imagine the scene in the Guardian's US office at this moment?

I'm almost looking forward to hearing how "disappointed" they are.

Wow! In the Guardian? seems odd

Susanna is quite senior at the Guardian, though she's a bit of a lone voice. She's been tweeting gender-critical stuff for a while. I don't know whether she had to work hard to persuade them to publish this piece, or whether it's simply that she's had to work up the courage to write it. I'm glad she's done it, though I think it is a little bit cerebral.

Great article.

Probably not a lone voice but one of the few with seniority to dare to write it. Deserves imo

Wow. This is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

A decent article at long last. No doubt it will cause a toddler melt down in some quarters. This attempt at balance is a start but not nearly enough. They need a full scale realignment to the GC side where they should have been all along instead of leading the misogynistic shit show.

“The body being the instrument of our grasp upon the world, the world is bound to seem a very different thing when apprehended in one manner or another,” she [de Beauvoir] wrote.

This seems so self-evident, I struggle to grasp how the Other Side so completely fail to recognise it.

Bloody astounded to see this in the Graun.

@RoyalCorgi

Susanna is quite senior at the Guardian, though she's a bit of a lone voice. She's been tweeting gender-critical stuff for a while. I don't know whether she had to work hard to persuade them to publish this piece, or whether it's simply that she's had to work up the courage to write it. I'm glad she's done it, though I think it is a little bit cerebral.

I think it's good that it's cerebral. The mantra post the Butler interview was that GC feminism is 'vacuous', 'lazy', 'small minded men etc etc on repeat.

Not sure where the 'men' came from in that precious post

This is needed as it will drag the Overton window in our direction, to counteract the new thing I have seen on Twitter that women are oppressed due to femininity and not sex.

Susanna is brilliant. She normally writes the Guardian View in which is not published under her own name but a lot of their better editorials (such as the one on the scandal around women’s health) are by her.

I am pleased she has been able to write it. The tide is turning.

That's just such a measured, thoughtful and well-reasoned piece. So grateful to her for writing it - and astonished that the Guardian agreed to publish it, too.

@HecatesHat

Not sure where the 'men' came from in that precious post

They creep in everywhere!

That is a brilliant article. And fantastic to have an article that focuses on theory as well as the lived reality of women’s experiences. I will also get sharing!

One of the frustrating things to me about this “debate” is that so much of feminist theory is grounded in a history of careful, clever and provocative academic thought. I’m sure I’m not the only person here whose views have been shaped by exploring this (albeit, in my case, only in the course of one paper at university). The idea that this academic thought should be thrown out is something I find incredibly depressing, particularly when it is replaced by fuzzy, illogical “gender feels”.

Was just popping on to FWR to post the same link.

Excellent article, I just don't see how this can be (rationally) argued against.

Brilliant article

None of this means “GC” feminists are in favour of bigotry, or don’t care about the obstacles and prejudices faced by transgender people, or that we deny the existence of people with differences in sex development. What it does mean is that we think rejecting sex as a way of thinking about ourselves would be a terrible error. And that we urgently want to be able to discuss this, in a respectful way, with those who disagree

Ooh, if the guardian are coming round to civil discussion, maybe the Labour Party will manage it next.

Mostly positive stuff on Twitter and she’s posted that she’s GC. Waiting for the meltdown in 3....2....

Holy wow.

'if “sex” ceases to be talked and thought about, how will we recognise and tackle sex-based oppression ... ?'

Thank you, Susanna Rustin.

It's sad, but I could almost weep seeing these rational, intelligent, articulate arguments laid out clearly in the Guardian.