Institute of Race Relations article says gender critical feminists are just a tool of right wing fundamentalism because of arguing for the reality of biological sex

[stumbledin]

Sorry, bit late to be trying to say anything coherant about this article but I can see this being picked up (as it already has by Pink News) by trans activists that anyone who doesn't accept you can change sex is either a right wing fundamentalist, or so dim they will become a tool of right wing fundamentalists.

Enjoy!

irr.org.uk/article/feminism-biological-fundamentalism-attack-on-trans-rights/

Written by: Sophia Siddiqui
Deputy Editor of Race & Class.

As well as editing and managing the production of Race & Class, Sophia is researching and writing on anti-racist feminism in the UK, and also coordinates IRR News. She has a BA in English Literature, and her articles on racism and feminism can be found on gal-dem.

irr.org.uk/author/?sophia-siddiqui

What a load of non-sequiturious mimble.

Meh 🙄

What a load of drivel.

It's the worst sort of identity drivel.

Ah, yes, it's all clear now: the mean people in Hungary are trying not to allow gay couples to adopt, so we in Britain should let trans people do what they like and ride roughshod over women's rights to show we're not like them.

It's written in such complicated language (Gunning Fog readability score 18.72) that most people would need a degree to figure out what she's saying anyway.

This is the paragraph that has me most incensed:

Just as scientific racism centred on supposed biological differences to classify humans in a rigid racial hierarchy, ‘gender critical’ feminists are propelling biological arguments that essentialise sex and its relation to gender identity, contending that sex is purely biological depending on what reproductive organs you have.[3] Their arguments amount to a fundamentalist approach to biology, that labels anyone who doesn’t conform to a normative view of ‘womanhood’ or ‘manhood’ as abnormal, which ultimately increases the vulnerability of an already vulnerable group of people by segregating them as ‘other’.

Did she just tell us to "Be Nice"?

An interesting footnote: In response to the notion that trans rights are a threat to single-sex spaces, the charity Mermaids UK state there is ‘no evidence we’re aware of, from the police, local authorities, shops, refuges or anywhere else besides, that predators have used the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to gain access to women’s spaces.’ Presumably they haven't heard of Karen White, then.

Heard of them a bit. A think tank.

Having a browse.

Can anyone spot the axis of oppression missing in their statement about research here...?!

'Research
The IRR’s reputation is built on its investigations and analyses into pressing issues of contemporary British racism. These investigations have covered such areas as racism and the press, police racism, exclusions from school, deaths in custody, the plight of asylum seekers, anti-Muslim racism, the impact of anti-terrorist legislation and attacks on multiculturalism. The IRR also conducts research on racism in other European countries, examining the rise of racial violence and extreme-Right parties, asylum and immigration policies, human rights violations, policing and security policies and the ‘integration debate’.'

irr.org.uk/research/statistics/poverty/

Search the word women.

How they can do stats about poverty, free school meals, income etc and NOT mention women until a bit near the end is... Genuinely pretty weird.

"believing sex is real and it matters is bad, because racism exists"

I mean what

Reading the piece now.

The lack of anything to do with experiences of women and girls is a bit mind boggling on their site.

I mean that's a massive miss. I bet they think they're intersectional too

The education bit doesn't mention girls at all. Boys yes about low attainment of afro Carribbean boys.

Also knife crime.

Both of these topics are important obviously but they are more MN male issues.

What is happening with the girls? I didn't read the whole site but if they can do poverty FSM etc without mentioning women then I'm not convinced it's there.

Ironically most of the experts they quote seem to be women. Who I bet had an eye to the girls and women.

But rightho.

Not saying these things aren't important. But why no focus on the experiences of male Vs female?

Ok the first whole bit is about how far right/ orthodox religious ideologies and governments are shit for. Well the author says trans people. Oh and gay people. Erm and women as well.

They are actually shit for everyone. In the end. But also are popular because comfort, enforcement of conformity, those who are different are bad let's not think about it.

Yep. Ok. I would dispute that trans people are more under attack than women, gay men, lesbians, those who do not conform whether through politics, art, personality. Etc etc.

But ok. Yes they're fuckers.

Moving on.

And here it goes tits up

'The past few months have seen a backlash against trans rights in the UK, led by ‘gender critical’ feminists who contend that sex is immutable and cannot be changed.[1] Those rallying around ‘sex based rights’ almost exclusively use this argument to justify the exclusion and separation of trans people from gendered spaces and from the wider feminist and LGBT movement. What should be of concern to those advocating for a strong civil rights framework that protects all minorities from discrimination, is how ‘gender critical’ feminists play into the hands of far-right street forces and extreme-right electoral parties which would like to abolish anti-discrimination protections altogether. Time and time again, they use the same biological arguments that a ‘man is a man, a woman is a woman’, to debase the rights of trans, intersex and non-binary people – often in the name of ‘women’s rights’. Alarmingly, these ideas are fast gaining political traction, which could have a damaging effect on global feminist and LGBT movements by reinforcing conservative ideas about gender and sexuality.'

Sex and gender role conflated. I mean. Come on.

Oppressive heteronornative gender roles, sex based oppression and that. Yes it's bad.

Biological sex however just IS. and is why the oppressive heteronornative gender roles, sex based oppression EXIST.

Good grief.

Also. Women who know that sex exists are dim patsies in the growing religious and social intolerance.

Not Nigel farage types or the blokes in various European cities who go marching around with swastikas etc.

Nope.

It's dim middle aged women. BOO!

'What happens to trans rights today will have ramifications for anyone who lives outside of gender norms'

Erm. Like why many Feminists are feminists? Because they couldn't adhere to restrictive gender norms?

???

Hahaha

'It is cause for concern that some of the most vocal attacks on trans rights come from within the queer and feminist community,'

Yes. Have a little think about that why don't you?

I mean. Yikes.

The education bit doesn't mention girls at all. Boys yes about low attainment of afro Carribbean boys.

Bit ironic, considering she went to an all girls' school...

Sorry for multiple posts.

My main take away from this thread is that the think tank that I've heard of-

The IRR-

Has no interest in women or girls in the groups they claim to care about.

So that's important info.

@NiceGerbil

Sorry for multiple posts.

My main take away from this thread is that the think tank that I've heard of-

The IRR-

Has no interest in women or girls in the groups they claim to care about.

So that's important info.

You've got far more patience than I have .

It's skim read it and dismissed as a load of old cobblers (as my dear departed grandmother would have said).

I noted on another thread it was said how some posters who align themselves to TR ideology are constantly demanding "we" as women "prove" our assertions and that's just really a continuum of "the mental load" and "woman's work".

Shit like this gets published and women on FWR feel the need to spend significant time diligently taking every "argument" apart (mostly after we've spent ages trying to decipher the deliberately obfuscating word salad).

In return we get "TWAW" and #nodebate etc utterly ridiculous sentiments that offer zero effort wrt a considered response to the points we raise.

It's so damn frustrating.

I just want to flip the narrative and actually say stop wasting my time. I know what a woman is. I am one.

It's my brave, stunning and authentic experience.

I don't have to debate that with you or chase around the internet to validate my biological reality.

You want to erase the language and meaning of my womanhood and denigrate it by suggesting it's all about lipstick and clothing.

So fuck off - you start doing the running and prove why I'm wrong.

Start by providing evidence of the following:

• that male pattern violence decreases as a result of transition

• that the percentage of TW prisoners charged with sexual offence is an "anomaly"

• that unisex toilets are as safe for women as single sex facilities

• that puberty blockers for children are safe and beneficial

• that TW are statically likely more likely to be murdered than women

Etc etc.....

I'm sick and tired of being expected to do the leg work - so yes, my official MO to crap like this is Meh 🙄.

Please don't interpret this as a dig at you Gerbil. It's absolutely not.

Without the contribution of yourself and so many women on FWR we would be fucked .

I'm just ridiculously angry that we are being put in the position that we have to waste our time on crap like this.

I find it really interesting that that piece is a massive outlier in the rest of the content. In mentioning women, feminism etc

Have a look. How can they talk about children in poverty and not mention women??!;

But yes you're right.

The fact we are now being told to prove that biological sex is a thing in human mammals. And that it makes a difference.

Is proof of how privileged men still are.

It's a shock tbh.

But no one I know subscribes to it.

Even, and especially. The very blokey blokes I know.

@NiceGerbil

I find it really interesting that that piece is a massive outlier in the rest of the content. In mentioning women, feminism etc

Have a look. How can they talk about children in poverty and not mention women??!;

Because they don't care.

Seriously. Not one shiny shit given.

It's all smoke and mirrors.

This is an org who have clout though, I think.

I'm sure I've heard of them and seen people from there in newsnight etc. But could be getting mixed up.

If they care about race then why are they ignoring women/ girls experiences? That's proper shit.

@NiceGerbil

This is an org who have clout though, I think.

I'm sure I've heard of them and seen people from there in newsnight etc. But could be getting mixed up.

If they care about race then why are they ignoring women/ girls experiences? That's proper shit.

Because girls/women don't matter.

Simple as that.

IME most female TRA allies come from
a position of privilege.

They are not likely to find themselves in prison, or think they'll ever need the services of refuge.

They don't worry about single sex spaces because when the only bathroom you access is usually at a "naice" restaurant it's not an issue.

They haven't spent years training at a sport only to be pipped at the post by a man whose been mediocre at best for n their own sex classification.

They think women's right are an old fashioned concept and that we've "won" because they've never had to fight for them - rather than understand they are enjoying the benefits of a previous generations struggle whilst simultaneously pissing all over their accomplishments.

Sorry - I'm quite angry/ranty tonight but I'm absolutely sick to death of the fact that we are even in this position at all.

Look, there are people who claim that non-white men can't be sexist because they can be oppressed by white women. Caring about race does not mean you have a paradigm of reality about anything else or even a paradigm of reality about race. Queer theory comes from the same well as critical race theory so of course as supporters of the one they embrace the other.

Well, that's a lot more wording than they'd normally use to frame us as bigots.

As always with articles like this, change the content to trans-race instead and see the authors do a 180 so fast on their 'be kind' stance it will make your head spin.

That article is not even coherent never mind accurate.

It's basically boils down to trans rights are under threat, they're coming for everyone else next and it's all feminists fault. It's a way of extorting support from the wider LGB population.

In reality in the UK, trans rights are not under threat, trans people have all the same rights as they rest of us, as they should, but TRA's are having a tantrum because they are being denied special privileges. What's the end goal?

How the fuck do you argue feminists are bioessentialists when you are peddling gender woo.