Otherwise intelligent

Oh good lord.

At Pink News one Josh Jackman explains what women are.

There seems to be an epidemic of otherwise intelligent, respectful, feminist people suddenly blurting out that trans women “aren’t real women.”

*grits teeth*

One, he mentions two people (and things Germaine Greer said years ago); two is not an epidemic. Two, it’s neither stupid nor disrespectful nor unfeminist to say that trans women are not women in every sense of the word. Three, nobody “blurted out” anything; two women made reasoned arguments.

After that, Josh Jackman (I don’t dare say “he” lest I be accused of misgendering…them) gets down to the hard work of explaining why it’s wrong to say that trans women are not women in every sense of the word.

It’s really very simple.

No-one switches gender.

Being misgendered and living in the wrong body is not a privilege.

Trans women are women. Trans women are women.

That’s it. That’s the substance, from start to finish. All that’s left is a smartass list of things that aren’t women, illustrated with photos. A can of paint, a guitar, Corsica – hahaha laydeez, do you feel stupid enough yet?

And in conclusion, and in big letters:

Also, anyone who self-defines as a woman. Got it?

No, I don’t got it, because I consider it bullshit. I consider it magical thinking and eyes-tight-shut denial. It doesn’t apply across the board, so why should it apply to “a woman”? It’s not true that anyone who self-defines as a crocodile is a crocodile. It’s not true that anyone who self-defines as a Russian is a Russian. It’s not true that anyone who self-defines as Shakespeare is Shakespeare. Making a simple-minded simplistic crude claim like that a matter of mandatory belief on pain of noisy social media bullying and shunning is a ridiculous way to carry on. It shouldn’t be treated as a crime to say that starting out male makes a difference and that there are some differences between the experiences of trans women and those of women. There shouldn’t be a mandatory dogma on the subject.

Glosswitch as always summed it up beautifully:

https://twitter.com/glosswitch/status/841365727181459456

https://twitter.com/glosswitch/status/841365934342320128

https://twitter.com/glosswitch/status/841366249829474304

Stop ignoring the conscripts.

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