Don’t do that. Don’t ever do that. Do.not.ever.do.that.
GUARDSMAN Chloe Allen has become the British Army’s first female frontline soldier — after being born a boy called Ben.
The 24-year-old joined up four years ago as a man, but changed her name officially last month.
Then that doesn’t count as the British Army’s first female frontline soldier. Just stop.
She will be the first woman allowed to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
Chloe, from Cumbria, has now started hormone therapy.
Stop stop stop that.
The caption reads:
Chloe makes history as the first female infantry soldier since the Army began in 1660
No Chloe does not. Stop doing that.
Comments
8 responses to “Pull the other one”
If Chloe gets a sex change, will you count Chloe as a woman then?
The issue isn’t counting Chloe as a woman or not.
Whether or not Chloe counts as female, she almost certainly won’t be the *first* female infantry soldier in the British Army, either pre- or post-Cromwell. Women have always fought.
What is the issue then, I don’t understand? Sorry.
@ ^
Chloe has not had to overcome the cultural prejudice against women or the perception that they are physically weaker anatomically — the things that would make “first woman” significant.
In a crasser way:
Yay for you, you got to do something that you could have done anyways having had the good fortune to be born with the preferred set of genitals. This somehow breaks a barrier for the largest marginalized class.
The issue is that women are still barred from fighting in the front line. Chloe is an exception only because she is anatomically male. If she’s only just changed her name, my guess is that she isn’t very far into transition.
This is a milestone for trans rights but presenting Chloe as the first women to be a front line soldier makes it sound as though the rules are changed when actually it is the person who has changed.
I’ve just read the article. Apparently the rules have changed this year and they are prepared to begin admitting women, that is why Chloe is allowed to stay.
This kind of situation highlights one of the problems with unreservedly declaring trans women as women. The first woman to do various things is a trans woman. Sometimes she did whatever it was before transition. I don’t think it’s bigoted to highlight this as a problem, especially when gender identity is declared to be a state of mind not requiring any physical alterations.