feminism or transphobia?

[giraffezoo]

Long time lurker of this forum, first time poster.

I have read through many of the threads on here and I have to say there are lots of views that I find quite shocking.

There almost seems to be two sides of the ‘gender critical’ movement on here that I can see.

The first seems quite reasonable. They wish to have protections in place for women and their rights. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree (e.g. trans folk in toilets, transgender prisoners etc) they are stating a view based on safety and women’s rights.

The second bunch are the ones who I find myself disagreeing with, and who post things that I personally consider as transphobic. Some examples of this would be: refusing to use someone’s pronouns or citing being transgender as a mental illness which needs to be cured.

I feel that the first group are genuinely feminists who are concerned with women’s rights, and feel as though they need to speak out on their own concerns. The second group are masquerading under the pretence of feminism to say hateful or controversial things.

I am interested to hear other views on this point (and I’m sure there will be a lot here who don’t agree with me!)

https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/what-is-feminism

I would use someone's preferred pronouns to be polite but it can be problematic. My 16 year old daughter sees a physiotherapist for an issue with her hip and pelvis. She said she would feel more comfortable with a female physio so I have organised that. However, if we turned up and it was with a trans woman, that would be really uncomfortable. I don't think my teenage daughter should have to go along with that.

They are trans.

what they are not is he sex they wish to transition to.

They can dress as they please and express themselves through whichever gender they choose to. They just can not change sex.

Way to miss the point and try and slide by by not quoting me properly 👏

you are 100% convinced that you can spot a trans woman or man?
what would you do if you saw a trans woman in the toilets?
if you think you can or all people can 100% say who is (in your words as you object to cis) biologically male or female by a quick glance you are deluded

@giraffezooCan you please respond to @Taztoy

You can claim there is no harm in this, but I disagree. I find it very offensive that a man with a sexual fetish demands to be called a woman, and I am somehow unreasonable for not going along with it.

I liken it to a religious belief: people are free to hold their own beliefs, however absurd, but I should not be compelled or shamed into going along with them. That doesn’t make me hateful.

Where is your sympathy for women who don’t want this? Or is all your focus just on the poor men?

Im not sure what your point is? Gender dysphoria isn’t a problem and doesn’t need resolving in any way? What point are you making?

It’s not vitriol, to be fair, it’s frustration and speaking out.

@giraffezoo could you please answer me. Thanks

I won't use these special pronouns, I use names instead because I'm not going along with the delusion . He or she, him or her because in reality that's all there is, if someone demands I use pronouns that's the end of conversation from my point of view. If you give yourself a non binary tag then you're actually reducing yourself to an unimportant nothing. It's all very silly.

@giraffezoo Newsflash: Feminists aren't all the same.

Feminism is a concept that has many different definitions and ideas attached to it.

Your feminism is clearly not the same as mine and that's okay with me.

Apparently me having a different view to you is a problem for you - you expect everyone to agree with you and if they don't you consider that 'shocking'.

Gender ideology is a belief system, an idea that some people agree with and some don't.

I don't agree with it, I don't believe in its tenets and I will not be compelled to parrot its ideas - this includes the idea that pronouns are something you choose rather than being a function of language.

I don't use its words - 'trans' means crossing to me - transatlantic for instance. I find the suggestion that anyone can cross sexes ridiculous and I am not going to pretend to others that it's really happening - not even to be polite.

Politeness has its limits - and forcing your belief system onto another person is far from polite.

Isn’t there.

I thought it was F for Fairy.

That your basis that it is a mental health issue is based on the fact the nhs has treated it as one

No, that it was classed as a mental health issue and that trans people experience gender distress and all the depression and suicidal thoughts that come with it. What is your point?

giraffezoo · Today 16:04

Just to add in response to quite a few comments, rather than replying individually, I am by no means saying transgender people don’t need support for their mental health. It has been shown many times that trans people often do have poor mental health and this absolutely should be supported. What I don’t think we should be doing is telling these people that they aren’t trans and that this is the cause of their issue

Nobody's telling them they're not trans. Trans = person who wants to be the opposite sex. Therefore yes, if course they're trans. What people are telling then is that they are not and never will be a member of the opposite sex, which is perfectly true.

A male person who stongly identifies with personality traits and behaviours that have historically been classified as feminine is not the same thing as a female person and to say that it is is hateful towards women and anti-feminist, reducing womanhood to a state of conforming to stereotypes.

A male person who has had gonads removed is not the same thing as a female person and to say that it is is hateful towards women and anti-feminist, reducing womanhood to a state being a damaged and incomplete version of a man.

Needing everyone around you to pretend that your delusions are real and valid in order that you can cope with your life is very much within any sensible definition of mental illness. People cannot change sex.

none of these statements are hateful. People who consider themselves trans have 100% human rights to live their life in the world according to their own choices if they are harming no one else. They are fully entitled to participate in society in full and do not need to hide who they are. Anyone is fully at liberty to adopt any gender they choose, regardless of their sex.

The tiny and very very easy to grant requirement that we have as women is that it must be acknowledged that male people are not female people, ever. That does not stop any transwoman from doing anything within the same human rights that everyone else has. There is no "human right" to force other people to believe what you believe. There is no "human right" to take what does not belong to you, or command that reality must be other than it is. Trans rights are human rights and trans people already have full human rights, they do not get extra additional rights to dominate and enforce their worldview on others, reducing other people to subhumans whose needs are less important. When services and opportunities are provided differently for male people and female people the reason for that difference is because of the differences between male and female people. It is on the basis of sex. The female option is for female people. Trying to make it be for female people plus male people who stongly identify with personality traits and behaviours that have historically been classified as feminine, or female people plus male people who have had their gonads removed, does directly harm women and so does not come into the category of living their life in the world according to their own choices if they are harming no one else

This.

Dear god when will the Easter holidays be over

I wouldn't tell someone 'you're not trans' - in the same way I wouldn't tell someone who believed in God 'God doesn't exist' - but I wouldn't agree with either concept either or allow them to bully me into agreeing with their beliefs either.

Thank you so much for coming on to this board to point us in the direction of what feminism is. At last!

As the wonderful barrister Naomi Cunningham has written in a recent Legal Feminist post, ‘The reason it has been so determinedly made taboo to refer to trans-identifying men by masculine pronouns is that feminine pronouns serve as a compelling method of reinforcing the lie with every utterance about such a person, and of co-opting bystanders (and often even dissenters) into active collusion in their own brainwashing.

‘I believe this is most if not the whole of the reason why pronouns are such a bitterly fought-over frontier in the gender wars. Language compliance is one of the most powerful methods by which the lie is propagated. Defying the pronoun taboo serves as an intolerable drum-beat of resistance, and of insistence that the emperor has no clothes. It undermines the lie.

‘This is men’s rights activism dressed up as legal analysis.’

https://www.legalfeminist.org.uk/2026/03/25/podcasting-and-partisanship/

It could well be that most women here on this board have given this issue a lot of thought and reflection over many years and have come to the conclusion that the truth of 'Sex' is very important, and not somethig light and inconsequential. The deeper ramifications of trans ideology give rise to profound impacts ....and that lines have to be drawn and integrity upheld..not just at an individual level, but at a wider societal level.

For the sake of clarity, I define Ideology as:

A totalising system of belief and way of framing a very particular narrative about the world and human society.

Ideologies tend to have buzz words and a 'bible' of terminology which are particular to them. A sort of language along with a set of specific words, phrases and tools with which to discuss and name reality according to that system. Pronouns are part of trans ideology in that they pay respect to the concept of a 'gender identity' and the idea that one's 'real self' is totally separate from the body. that males can be women, and the females can be men, or that some people don't have a sex at all.

I wouldn't call 'Sex Realism' an ideology because it is rooted in observable and measurable material reality which is recognised the world over and in every culture.

Do they 'want to be the opposite sex' or are they just lying? What is the differential diagnosis for 'trans'? Do we think all the men who weirdly 'want to be the opposite sex' upon arrest are really 'trans'? What even is 'trans'?

Trans is made up. It is all lies. When you say 'nobody says', well many people do say. Because it is all nonsense.

Never say 'cis'

You dont even understand your own link. Even if it is in garbled genderwang.