Am I GC?

[GCornotGCthatisthequestion]

I have been looking into the trans issue for a few months now, looking at sources from both "sides" to try and understand the issues properly and form a view. I think I have come to a position that would get me called a terf in some spaces but also falls short of the view that most on on this forum hold. I would be interested to hear if you would consider me gender critical.

I don't believe that people can change sex, however, I do think that for some people, taking hormones and having surgery to resemble the opposite sex is the right thing for them.

I don't think that women should be forced to compete against transwomen in sports, particularly when prize money is involved or in sports like boxing where the risk of injury is high. I don't think it is reasonable to expect volunteer-run events like Park Run to be able to police whether or not someone who registers as a woman is a transwomen or not. While I understand the frustrations around women being beaten by transwomen in this race I can't see how they could stop this.

I have a close friend from childhood who identifies as non-binary, takes testosterone and has had their breasts removed. While I don't understand their decision I can see with my own eyes how much happier their life is now and I believe that this was the right decision for them. I care about them deeply and I am happy that they were able to make these changes and live a happier life.

I think children who have distress about their sex should receive exploratory therapy to try and understand what they are feeling and why. I don't think they should be given puberty blockers or any kind of hormone therapy until they are adults. I do, however, think most older teens have the capacity to decide how they dress and what name they want to be referred to as.

I will generally use the pronouns that someone asks me to about them. I don't look down on or sneer at people who add pronouns to email signatures. I don't agree with companies mandating that people have it add them.

I think people should be able to ask for a female doctor for intimate medical care and it mean biologically female rather than a transwoman.

I have felt uncomfortable with some of the content on this forum. The "tranvestigation" threads that seem to target black female athletes because they don't fit European standards of what a woman is meant to be. The overlooking of terrible behaviour from people because "at least they know what a woman is".

Would you say I was GC?

Do you think that gender stereotypes are a good thing or a bad thing?
For example, do you think that girls should learn sewing while boys learn engineering?

If you think that gender stereotypes are bad - ie, you are critical of them - then you are 'gender critical'.

By black female athletes do you mean men like Caster Semanya, Barbara Banda and Imane Khelif?

Yes.

I don't think anyone knows what 'most on this forum' think. There are people who post more than others. A lot of the issues I cared about as a GC woman have in fact been significantly altered now (statistics, medicalised pathways for young adolescents, acknowledgment that being female is an independent legal and factual reality separate from male existence, prisons, womens sport). I've not got much interest in posting the same things over and over again without any acknowledgement that things have changed.

I'm more interested in things like what this country can do about persistent and violent homophobic attacks, including on men living lives that violent homophobes consider unacceptable. And i suppose still what women can do in environmental politics to fight for important causes without having to swallow the whole package of nonsense.

In terms of individuals- I'll never 'challenge' a trans person I think is in the 'wrong' place from the point of view of their sex unless I think there's a significant risk to someone (including them). I'll use preferred pronouns bevause I simply don't understand how anyone can be with someone they care about and deliberately hurt them. I consider myself GC.

Khelif and Semenya are male, if that's who you're referring to.

Other than that your views are pretty much mainstream.

Would you qualify as GC? Depends on the definition the person is using, but I tend to use it as an umbrella term for believing that sex matters so I'd say so.

Good question.

Someone who is gender critical (so critical of gender stereotypes) would not think that any woman needs to conform to any beauty standards from any part of the world.

Saying you don’t believe people can change sex makes you a realist and someone who is acquainted with facts
if that makes you GC or a TERF so be it
I feel horrified about your friend who has removed her healthy breasts
Would you be supportive if they removed any other body part so they could live “authentically” whatever that means?
No man should be in women only spaces whether that’s on the sports field, changing room etc

Quoting myself as I ran out of time to edit.

However, to be a woman, a person needs to be an adult, human female.

Gender Critical Feminism is only tangentially associated with the interaction between women and trans identifying men. To be gender critical is to believe that gender is a social construct that assigns roles, responsibilities, behaviours and presentations to people based purely on gender stereotypes and that these stereotypes act intentionally or accidentally against the interests of women and girls. Basically, sex is immutable and gender is something invented by society to fuck women over.

This belief interacts with transgenderism only inasmuch as transgenderism holds that gender is innate and sex is irrelevant and that you demonstrate your gender by performing some or all of the activities associated with your chosen gender.

Being a Trans Exclusive Radical Feminist (TERF) doesn't mean that you are GC. It means that whether gender exists or not, you believe that men should be excluded from women's spaces, services and activities and that gender affirmative activities are harmful to children.

No, I mean female athletes.

I think they a bad thing but gender critical is used to describe a stance on the trans issue these days rather than just that.

Another example of stealing our language and twisting it for non-feminist purposes.

Would you be supportive if they removed any other body part so they could live “authentically” whatever that mean

If it had the same profound positive impact on their mental health maybe I would.

I was a bit horrified when they told me their plan but I respected their right to make choices about their own body that horrify me. The improvement to their life because of this choice is undeniable.

Just to be clear, I'm not intending to steal language. I'm pretty sure lots of people here use gender critical to describe their own views on the trans issue.

I’m not aware of any natal females, black, brown or white, who have been banned or even discouraged from participating in female sporting events because of their appearance. Can you give any examples?

Ask yourself... do you think women and children should be used as unsuspecting props in a man's sex life? As a masturbatory aid, to give men a great sexual thrill?
Should children be able to come across exposed penises in the ladies toilets and changing rooms?
Should children be made to conform to sterotypes by medication and surgery?
Should women give up all the words that apply to them and agree to be called names like 'inseminated persons' or 'menstruators'?
Should men be helped to breastfeed?

No, I mean female athletes.

Which actual female athletes have women on FWR said were men then? You're going to need to back this up or people will assume you're not posting in good faith.

I don't think OP asked for a critique on her beliefs; she asked for opinions as to whether her beliefs align with what's usually understood as the 'gender critical' position.

Would you respect other peoples rights to do things that horrify you? Would you respect someone's right to use hard drugs? What if in the short term if made them feel much better and helped them deal with their mental health issues?

I don't know how old your friend is but what if in 10 years time they wanted to have a child and BF that child and really regret the choices they made because they were so uncomfortable being a woman for whatever reason? Wouldn't it have been better if they could have had therapy and support to work out why they felt the way they did and learn to accept and love their body?

I think it's really sad that someone would hate a part of their body so much that they would want it completely removed - and i can't understand anyone who would think that could be anything other than a serious mental health issue. Would we let people cut off an arm or a leg because of a mental health issue? I just don't understand how it is legal tbh and I really worry about the teenage autistic girls I work with who hate their changing bodies.

Can you give some examples?

I also know someone who had their breasts cut off to be non-binary. (And no, I dont understand how looking more male means you are non-binary). I am interested in how long ago your friend had this done because from what I have seen, the positive results are not necessarily long-lasting. I also think getting healthy body parts removed is a mental health issue and should be treated as such in the first instance.

People who do that misunderstand what Gender Critical actually means. They usually are also coming from a point of view that being Gender Critical is a 'bad thing'.

Of course it is impossible to be Gender Critical and also believe that adhering to the gender stereotypes of the opposite sex makes you the opposite sex.

Edited for clarity.

Please give an example, preferably with a link to the thread. I've never seen that, but I have only been here for the last two and a half years and could have missed it.

I lurk on this board a lot and I can't say I've come across any female athletes under any scrutiny.

Noone has been barred that I know of. I didn't say they had.

It wss a few months ago but there were a threads about black female athletes. If you don't remember that's fine but I do and it wasn't very nice.