Stronger Together

Via NightCrow, a collection of some of the stupidest arglebargle in a very crowded field: from the YWCA in June 2021:

Trans or Cis, Women Are Stronger Together

Men or Women, Women Are Stronger Together

Bosses or Workers, Workers Are Stronger Together

Rich or Poor, The Poor Are Stronger Together

Be stronger together by no longer being together.

YWCA has always been at the forefront of the women’s rights movement, empowering women since our inception over 160 years ago. For this reason, we remain committed to centering the experiences of BIPOC communities, LGBTQIA+ folks, survivors of gender-based violence, people with disabilities, and immigrant, low income, and unhoused people in our work to eliminate racism and empower women.

“For this reason,” they say, “we remain committed to changing the subject.”

“For this reason, we acknowledge going forward that women don’t matter enough so we’ve added everyone else.”

Moving forward, we will continue to work to ensure that our platform centers ALL voices.

Women are stronger together so we’ll separate them by adding EVERYONE.

Also, if you center ALL voices you’re not centering any voices. You can’t center everyone, because there is no center without a periphery.

It’s dimwitted in the extreme to begin by patting the YWCA on the back for having always been at the forefront of the women’s rights movement and then immediately throw that overboard by adding everyone else. Just like no center without a non-center, no fight for women’s rights if it’s a fight for everyone’s rights. Everyone should have rights, and fighting for universal rights is good, but it’s not fighting for specifically women’s rights. Feminism is for women.

Especially the voices of Black women, trans women, and other women of color who are often diminished in the conversations about our collective truth. 

Trans women are men.

During pride month and year-round, it is critical for us to be allies to our trans sisters, taking on the responsibility of using our privilege and platform to promote education, camaraderie, and to rebuild trust across the spectrum of womanhood and sisterhood. Our collective liberation demands cooperation. Together, with common goals of gender equity and collective liberation, we can transition from general awareness to actions for mutual empowerment.

No, it isn’t. It isn’t critical at all. Men who claim to be trans have more allies than they know what to do with, and a marked hostility toward non-supine women. Women get to focus on women.

Accept that every woman has the right to define her own womanhood.

Sure, if you mean women. No, if you mean men. Men don’t get to “define” their own “womanhood” because they’re not women. It’s not a “right” for men to force the world to pretend they’re women.

All women experience life in different but overlapping ways. Our collective struggle has the potential to unify our mission and bolster our calls to action because they are one in the same. Our voices are amplified as we stand together against a common enemy: misogyny, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

No.

Trans women, especially trans women of color, often experience a dangerous cocktail of misogyny, sexism, and homophobia, which puts them at high risk of harm but also arms them with a unique intersectional experience. This experience allows them to understand the myriad ways that all marginalized are affected by persecution, providing them with unique insight into how our movements can be inclusive to all people and centers them as pioneers at the forefront of civil rights, gay liberation, and women’s movements. By embracing trans women and listening to their experiences, our collective work can change the world!

Look around you. How’s that going?

Uplift trans voices and center trans women, especially trans women of color, in women’s movements.

Not enough to include them, we have to center them. We have to sit in an obedient circle around the men in dresses telling us how things are and what we have to do.

Have you lost your damn minds?

9 Responses to “Stronger Together”