How the trans row will end in compromise

[Igneococcus]

Sorry, I can't do a sharetoken at the moment, but this is a comment by Kenny Farquharson in the Times. I don' think he understands the issue.

And surely that claim below is wrong, or is that a different judgment where some judge claimed that sex didn't necessarily mean biological sex?

"Dorrian upheld an earlier judgment that trans women should be treated the same way as biological women under legislation to improve gender balance on the boards of public agencies. She rejected the argument that this was incompatible with the Equality Act in which, she accepted, “sex” meant biological sex."

How the trans row will end in compromise (thetimes.co.uk)

Oh phew, thank the goddess an auld white man has turned up to tell me what to think! I thought I might have to do some concluding all by my wee self...

Honest to god. Welcome to the old misogyny, same as the new misogyny. Mind you, Farquharson was probably part of the old misogyny too.

which I pose as a question: surely womanhood in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate and perhaps even to welcome a small number of people who did not start life’s journey as women?

He's trying to reframe 'being a woman' into being some sort of club.

Its patronising and offensive, too. Lets be honest 'diverse' means, you let in masculine women so why not feminine men?

He seems to know enough about what a woman is to have fathered some children.

which I pose as a question: surely straight manhood, including me, in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate and perhaps even to fuck a small number of people who did not start life’s journey as women?
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Just for the shits and giggles, give that one a go Ken.

He knows the usual excuses - men can change sex, sex isnt real, brain sex, are all rubbish, so has moved to the idea that woman is a social club. And it would just be bad manners to exclude men.

Because if women don't shut up and be kind, men might be MADE SAD! And that would never do!

So Kenny is bravely becoming the eleventh billionth man to tell us wims which of our rights we can keep, and which need to be handed to the penis people who wish they were laydees.

8th rule of misogyny: Men are whatever men say they are and women are whatever men say they are.

Hmm. From an academic perspective.

Having accepted this, I am still entitled to a circumscribed view, which I pose as a question: surely womanhood in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate and perhaps even to welcome a small number of people who did not start life’s journey as women?

NO! is a complete sentence!

Followed by why the fuck should we accept men into womanhood? Fuck that for a game of soldiers.

Plus ça change again, huh

I think many women began with what Kenny is advocating there and found that 'accommodating' and 'welcoming' often meant being then taken over.

I saw that in a few feminist organisations in the past, where fairly rapidly nobody was allowed to talk about periods or pregnancies or giving birth or menopause as women's issues, because that was not 'inclusive.'

If we use the club metaphor, the club 'women' suddenly got new admission rules, new goals, and a new rigid language which all had to follow. So it turned into a trans women's club where allies also could participate as long as they were 'accommodating'.

I also wonder about the arrogance of someone whose sex is not expected to make any compromises or to bear any of the negative consequences of trans activists' demands to then come and give this benevolent patriarchy sermon.

AU version:

Surely childhood in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate deranged men in clown makeup and frilly skirts who actually did start life as children and know what being a child is like so shouldn't they be allowed to identify as six year old girls if they want to? Are children really so mean and unkind these days? What is the world coming to? When I was a kid we were taught to respect our elders (cont'd pg. 94)

Why, I wonder is manhood not capacious and generous enough to accommodate men who think they're women? Why is it always women who have to budge up?

The whole column is creepy.

Like, Ladies, ladies, let me triangulate this for you! In years to come you’ll see how right I was about this, a subject I have only passing understanding of.

It's just so, so, so condescending and creepy. If I did think womanhood was a club, I would absolutely NOT want to be in the same club as AGPs, thanks very much, so he can fuck right off with that kind inclusive generous guilt trip shit. If womanhood was a club, I'd be painting "NO MEN ALLOWED, YES THAT MEANS YOU. ESPECIALLY YOU." on the door.

This is the reason for enbies - they have been brainwashed/"educated" into thinking womanhood is a club like this guy thinks - or pretends to think, he's a bit long in the tooth to actually believe it - and they don't want to belong to the same club as the AGPs.

which I pose as a question: surely womanhood in all its glory is capacious enough, generous enough, diverse enough, to accommodate and perhaps even to welcome a small number of people who did not start life’s journey as women?

No, it isn't. Hope that helps.

womanhood in all its glory

FFS. I thought we'd grown past this.

No, womanhood isn't glorious, or mysterious, or fascinating, or strength, or any of the other "othering" bollocks men project onto it from the outside because it symbolises something to them in their own, male, not-women minds.

Womanhood is just the state of being an adult human female, with all the physical, social and cultural implications that brings.

It's very boring, it's very prosaic, it's the state of half of the human population. The fact that something so everyday and universal and varied can be used to symbolise anything just shows how much of society's culture has been dominated by just one half of humanity.

Well said.

It can also be dangerous and painful, but a man in a dress wouldn't know anything about that and refuse to acknowledge it. It's so disrespectful to the struggles actual women face.

What a twat, his feeble thinking compromise is not a compromise is it - it's letting pornsick men win everything at everyone else's expense.
I honestly think that the stakes are so high that it will be the end of society as we have known it if we don't win this. The future for women, children and LGB people is bleak and the old patriarchy this bloke represents is too late, too stupid, unable and unwilling to understand.

I was framing something like this in my head, but you've put it beautifully, so I don't need to try. This bollocks about how glorious womanhood is feels like something out of the nineteenth century when they were trying to find ways to stop women having the vote.

I declare women, children and LGBs must compromise yourselves and all your rights!

He's blocked me on Twitter so I can't reply to him.

NO Kenny. We are saying no.

Even if they hold a genuine deep held belief that they are a woman, they are very clearly not. So why should we be bending to the whims of males?

Look at the behaviour of the loudest element. They pose with swords and bats, they're obsessed with porn. The stats show that the rates of sex offending are thousands of times those of actual females.

And you what is to let these males in spaces where our daughters are undressing?!

Not a fucking chance. NO.

Seriously?
ODFOD.
Sick of this shit.

If you’re a man who wants to be a woman, that can only mean you want female biology. You want a uterus, ovaries, XX chromosomes, the works. You can’t have that if you weren’t born with it. Yes, you can take hormones and have surgery to create artificial breasts and a neo-vagina - but you’ll never be a woman because your biology remains male, in every cell of your body. A woman is an adult human female.

Female biology is the only thing that makes a woman a woman. Not the clothes she wears or how she behaves. You can’t identify into female biology if you weren’t born with it. So if you’re male and calling yourself a woman, you are actually merely adopting behaviours and dress styles that may be associated with feminine gender stereotypes.

Gender stereotypes are harmful and restrictive and belong in the bin so we can all live our best lives regardless of our sex.

*And surely that claim below is wrong, or is that a different judgment where some judge claimed that sex didn't necessarily mean biological sex?’

"Dorrian upheld an earlier judgment that trans women should be treated the same way as biological women under legislation to improve gender balance on the boards of public agencies. She rejected the argument that this was incompatible with the Equality Act in which, she accepted, “sex” meant biological sex."**

ONLY if they have a GRC, men without one are still men.