Victoria Smith asks 'What is a man?'

[ArabellaScott]

thecritic.co.uk/what-is-a-man/

Good article looking at an issue that has been unaccountably neglected:

'Put simply, one cannot self-identify into manhood because unlike womanhood, manhood is not defined by submission and availability, but by control.'

...

'Male entitlements are not like female protections. The dominant class can identify into taking possession of the resources of the subjugated. Such is the nature of dominance. Meanwhile, the subjugated class cannot identify out of subjugation.'

...

'This, then, has been the resolution to masculinity in crisis: cis men are the people who dominate, who get to steal all the resources, who can’t possibly be expected to change. Trans women are the people who get all the stuff cis men rule themselves out of getting by being the dominators: the victim status, the need for protection, that privileged vulnerability that female people have spent all those millennia hogging to themselves.'

Ooh that's good stuff.

There are some dazzling polemicists among the TERFs. I've never seen any TRA writers come close. They're so whiny.

Outstanding piece. Always enjoy VS, but this piece connects the dots in the most impressive way.

An excellent, thought provoking read. Thank you @ArabellaScott

Thanks for the link op!

Lots of little lightbulbs lit up reading that! Thanks so much for posting.

What do TRA writers even write? Usually it's shit about the gender spectrum that is making stuff up that fits their clothing aesthetic that day.
There's a lot of words like "queer bodies" and a bit of academic "looking, being seen, gendered, experience." And then something about inserting objects into themselves, getting beaten up by men and enjoying it, lipstick, staining things and toilet experiences.

Oh and identifying as little girls.

Thanks. This is superb.

👏