But if you ARE deluded…

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

More eccentric claims from Maya’s appeal.

I don’t see how that can be slander. I think people who believe in a god are deluded; is that slander? They think people like me are deluded because we don’t believe in a god; is that slander? I don’t think so. Discussions can get rude, sure, but just thinking a belief is deluded isn’t slander.

What? How can someone’s saying something deny someone else a right to do anything, including transition?

And not believing that men can be women is not an existential threat to men who say they can. It doesn’t make them disappear and it doesn’t make them any less women than they already are.

It’s bullying, this constant inflation of the “dangers” and “threat” of women who don’t believe that men can be women. It’s bullying via emotional blackmail and even legal jeopardy. It’s behavior rooted in male entitlement, thus ironically making it all the less convincing that the men doing it are women.

Comments

4 responses to “But if you ARE deluded…”

  1. Dave Ricks Avatar
    Dave Ricks

    She described the phrase “transwomen are women” as a “literal delusion.”

    Assuming that was an accurate and fair representation of something Forstater wrote, calling TWAW a delusion is a claim about the phrase TWAW.

    I considered TWAW for a few years. People use it to affirm transwomen are women without any qualifications, implying every way imaginable. I concluded there is no definition of “women” to make that true.

    I see TWAW like “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” (Chomsky, 1957) that has no meaning. And if TWAW has no meaning, then 1) TWAW has nothing to say about anything, and therefore 2) Calling TWAW a delusion does not say whether transwomen exist or not.

  2. Me Avatar
    Me

    I hope they’ll define “woman” so that they can figure out what “TWAW” means.

    (Then again, a legally-binding definition of “woman” that is utter nonsense is a dangerous possibility. So forget I said anything.)

  3. latsot Avatar
    latsot

    This denies someone’s right to transition under the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

    So they’re saying that transitioning is only real if we all pretend it is?

    Then we agree.

  4. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    It is submitted that her belief is an existential threat to trans people …

    I like Dr. Emma Hilton’s response:

    Emma Hilton@FondOfBeetles

    Existential threats to trans people:

    Climate change

    Nuclear war

    Collision with an asteroid the size of Texas

    Humanity being harvested by aliens

    Not existential threats to trans people:

    My understanding of biological sex

    https://mobile.twitter.com/FondOfBeetles/status/1387707967181660161

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