All women
Yes but how do they know? How do they ever know? It’s never ever explained. If we don’t know how we know, and we can’t figure out how we can know because the rules don’t add up, then…how do we know what we’re supposed to do, and not do? If the rules contradict each other, how do we avoid thoughtcrime? Where is the island we can stand on, safe from sharks and strong currents?
The Women’s Institute is not the Women’s Institute now, it’s the Women’s and Men Who Say They Are Women’s Institute.
But let’s not go crazy here. There are rules. It’s just that they make no sense.
That bonkers instruction is in this two-page Transgender WI membership policy statement.
This policy has been written to provide guidance for members who have questions relating to transgender WI members. Transgender is an inclusive, umbrella term used to describe the diversity of gender identity and expression for all people who do not conform to common ideas of gender roles. Anyone who is living as a woman is welcome to join the WI and to participate in any WI activities in the same way as any other woman.
That’s all you need: Living Azza Woman. But what does that mean? Shut up.
What does gender reassignment involve?
It might involve surgery, hormone treatment or simply a permanent decision to live and dress as a member of the opposite sex.
Live and dress as – that’s quite funny. The airy unexplained vastness of “live as” coupled with the absurd tiny literalness of “dress as.” “Live as” could mean anything or nothing, so I guess for safety they added “and dress as”…but does that mean a man in jeans and a frilly blouse will be asked to explain himself at the door to the WI?
Is there a legal difference regarding whether someone has had gender reassignment surgery?
No and it is very unhelpful to think about anyone in those terms. Some transgender people may never have any kind of gender reassignment surgery but everyone is entitled to be treated in the same way, in the gender in which they identify.
Why? Why is everyone entitled to that? And why did “live as” get changed to “in which they identify”? They’re not the same thing, after all.
Can male to female transgender people join a WI and attend WI events?
Yes – anyone living as a woman is welcome to join the WI and take part in all WI activities. They should be treated in exactly the same way as all women who are part of your WI.
What about anyone identifying as a woman?
And then it ends with the bit Maya quoted.
Can crossdressers join the WI?
No – only those living as women can join the WI and take part in all WI activities.
And how in hell do you know which is which?
Can we ask for written evidence to prove that someone is a transgendered individual?
No – this could be very offensive and hurtful.
So then how do you know? How do you know who is a crossdresser and thus not entitled to join the WI and take part in all WI activities? How do you know anything about any of this?
It’s such an insult, not just to our intelligence, but to our ability to think, to reason, to question, to try to figure out where we are and who these people are and how we should behave around them. It orders us, with menaces, to stop knowing what we have known from earliest childhood, and to enter a world of arbitrary assertions and self-contradicting rules. I won’t fucking do it.
About this “living and dressing as the opposite sex” — where does that put the transgender women who are gender nonconforming? The butch lesbians, the NASCAR-loving, plaid-shirt-and-jeans wearing, bearded trans women who experience masculinity the way a woman would, and not like a man at all? I would hope the Women’sPlace would be able to accommodate their reality, too.
I was a member of the Women’s Institute for five years. I joined at a time when my husband was undergoing serious treatment for cancer. I found not just support but stimulation,,interest and a real sense of community.
The sense of community was essentially based on the value and support offered between women, dating from its foundation when women were legally and actually discriminated against, barred from many places of higher education and the professions. This sense of community however then extended outwards: both locally into many acts of charity and support ( who does the teas when the Tour de France comes through the village ? Yes , and who clears up afterwards?) , and towards the wider community of women.
This dictat is an abnegation of every principle that the WI was set up to foster and expound. Lesbianism, no problem, that is an expression of feminine sexuality which is and should be accepted by women ( accepted but not forced!) . To pervert the original charter and statutes of the organisation by announcing that basically anyone who puts on a dress ( presumably the jeans worn by many members won’t do) and calls themselves Sarah should be able to participate is a sad betrayal of the many decades of campaigning, education and empowerment of the women by their own organisation.
I am not renewing my membership, but I mourn it
Yes, it’s horribly sad. The US doesn’t have anything like the WI, and we’re the poorer for it.
I am a stay at home parent. I have primary child care responsibilities. I cook dinner every night. I take care of the house. Does this mean I am “living as a woman?”
Congratulations to all the long-haired gentlemen, the women who drive trucks, the men who prefer cats to dogs, the girls who don’t daydream about their eventual weddings, the fellas who like ballet, the females who like boxing, cowboy boot–wearing gals, male vegans, kindergarten teachers, and nurses, and everyone else who doesn’t “conform to common ideas of gender roles.” I guess you’re all trans now!
Or… I mean, I guess we’re all trans now.
“Transgender is an inclusive, umbrella term used to describe the diversity of gender identity and expression for all people who do not conform to common ideas of gender roles.”
So, including crossdressers, then.
“… only those living as women…”
So, the transwomen who acknowledge that they are men are not welcome, but those who insist they are actually women are welcome. The transmen who recognize their sex is still female, are they welcome or not?
And where does this leave women who identify as non-binary? They would deny that they are living as women. If they have a need for services and show up at the WI, are they denied? They are not “living as women”.
I am the main breadwinner in my household. I am a scientist. I wear slacks to work (with pockets!) and do not watch soap operas (or much TV at all). I am the one who changes the tires when necessary. I am the one who fixes the computer (but my husband is the one who operates the remote, because he watches more TV, mostly sports). My husband selects the artwork, does half the cooking and dishwashing, and is hopeless with tools of any kind.
Which of us qualifies as living “as a woman”?
Well, hubby has been growing his hair during lockdown, so one point towards becoming a woman. Having grown a beard, too, doesn’t count (Because Reasons). He’s my carer; another +1. He does ALL the housework (+ how many?) whilst I lie around in my (men’s, because comfy) undies all day, playing computer games and chatting to people on the internet.
Which of us is entitled to WI membership?
Just drop the last word and you have a universal TRA slogan.