@NoWireHangersEver
I've been thinking about this for a little while anyway, but thought I might take it here - after seeing what Butler had to say about us 'never reading any gender studies'.
We should all start systematically reading gender studies, and start 'listening to trans women'! See exactly what the best and brightest of them have to say, so we can refute it exactly as it's written and argue on their level. We need to know the enemy! Every GC feminist should start getting very familiar with the foundational arguments and literature of contemporary trans ideology.
I'm going through Serano's Whipping Girl right now (very important book, whose arguments are constantly reused online) and seeing so much that's just ridiculously easy to refute. Also reading Andrea Long Chu's Females with a friend. Is there any scope for starting a thread on this forum where we can read, pick apart and discuss notable books by the opposition?
This is why we'll probably win tbh - they don't read books we write, but we read books that they write. Even though their ideology falls apart in a long-form book format.
FWIW, I agree with you, and my method has long been, as I suspect it has been for many here, to read genderist arguments to try and make sense of them. That's what being open minded is all about, that's why genderists get asked the same questions when they plop here - most of us are interested in how someone comes to be convinced of these ideas.
It's a basic debate technique - not in a tricksy gotcha way, but in the sense that there is no point arguing against a position your opponent does not hold (the 'straw man'), so you must learn their argument so well you could convince a neutral person with it if asked. Because then you can see the actual flaws in the argument and produce a genuine counterpoint.
To be perfectly honest, this is how actual progress and consensus works as well. If you've got any sense at all, you know that the way you strengthen your case, so that you can persuade others to share your views on things you think matter, is to subject it to argument with those who disagree with you. Only then do you see if your logic and conclusions make sense.
Only talking to people who agree with you won't do this, which is why, as much as the 'echo chamber' accusation gets flung at us here, it's nonsense, because most of the perspectives here have been refined by interacting with Genderists directly, or through their writing.
So yes, read it, challenge it with questions. Engage.
And if you're a genderist reading this, then post, discuss, ask us questions and be prepared to answer ours. So, so many of us were broadly in agreement with some of your views until we interrogated those views and found our questions unanswered or deemed heretical.