Re-redefinition of "female" word salad

[Flippettyflip]

I've just been sent an email invitation inviting me to a networking group for women in my professional area from my old uni.

It's for all "female* alumnae".

And the starred bit says "*This group is open to anyone who identifies with the experience of living as a woman".

So now being female to them doesn't mean you have to live as a woman (whatever that means) or have experience of living as a woman (whatever that means) but you should identify with the experience!

I'm struggling to see where they'll go next. Female = "has heard of the word 'woman'"?

FFS.

Well that's just Haddocks Eyes use-mention nonsense.

This group is open to anyone - There, fixed it for them

"I'm struggling to see where they'll go next. Female = "has heard of the word 'woman'"?"

Made me laugh out loud--and then think, that's probably bloody exactly right.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

what was the subject? if it was STEM you can fire back that sure, women have a completely different experience of that.

What they are trying to say is 'women'.

But because they'd ge ta gazillion questions if they said that they have to say something else.

I'd probably ask them what that phrase means exactly to see if you fit because it is very confusing.

This group is open to anyone who identifies with the experience of living as a woman

What in Glod's name does that even mean? Somebody came up with that sentence, and thought it was good enough to circulate widely 🤦🏻‍♀️

And presumably 'woman' in their definition doesn't mean female, so it's anyone who identifies with the experience of living as either sex with some feminine aspects to their behaviour/soul/preferences/personality/appearance.

Even the most masculine male could 'identify with that experience'!

What they are trying to say is 'women'

I read it as the other way round - females that could be male if they identified right.

Def needs clarification

That could be interpreted to include everyone except really masculine men and actual women who have never identified with the experience of living as a woman because they just get on with it.

Yeah, it's total bollocks desperately trying to avoid any hurt feelingz I guess. Just means any menz who feel like it can rock up and take the opportunity to mansplain to everyone else how hard it is to be "female" in a male dominated profession.

@Brefugee it's economics. Not STEM but still male dominated. Including possibly in its networks for women, it seems!

Yeah, no.

I was prepared to listen and be a bit flexible with the whole 'woman' thing, but fuck this.

Female is a biological fact, not a feeling. Male people aren't female. Up isn't down. Fish aren't horses. Male people struggling with this and those pandering to them need to get a grip now, because being kind and going on pretending in the face of this endless escalation is no longer an option.

These people are sexist and insufferable.

Yes exactly - what does living as a woman mean? What are experiences of living as a woman? The usual questions we cannot get an answer to. (I know what my answer is, but as it is tied firmly to biology, it doesn't count.)

"identifies with the experiences of living as a woman" is nonsense. Abject nonsense.

Imagine organising an event for blind and visually impaired people and saying it's for anyone who identifies with the experiences of living as a blind or visually impaired person. It's not possible to know what it is like to live like them unless you are part of that group.

I wear glasses. Without them, I couldn't drive, cross the road safely or communicate in the normal way, because I can't make out facial expressions (or even features) from just a few feet away.

And yet, I do not know what it is like to live as blind and visually impaired people do, because my glasses, that wonderful, life-changing little construction of frame and lenses, correct my vision to 20/20. I don't know what it is like to navigate the world as them because my experience of sight is different.

How could I ever claim to identify with the "experiences of living as" a blind and visually impaired person if that is not what I am?

How can any man identify with the experiences of living as a woman and attend a STEM event (presumably put on to address the disadvantages and discrimination women face in these fields because of their sex) and have anything at all to contribute other than taking up space and time that belong to a woman who may be facing these issues?