colonising the concept of 'woman'

I'm worried that women's general tendancy and beliefs in caring for marinalized peoples, and in fighting for their own rights as the marginalized sex under patriarchy, is being turned in part against them since transwomens' rights are being pushed for full acceptance under law.

It's as if women are perceived as being uncaring, or worse still, as selfish and exclusionary female terriority defenders, if they have any legitimate worries, questions or concerns whatsoever about transwomens' rights impacting on their own rights, spaces or personhood in negative ways. How ironic.

If a man self-identifies as a woman, are biologically born females automatically supposed to accept this as part of what is generally understood as the shared experience of womanhood?

Why are transwomens' rights now also about women having to incorporate, or about women being pressured and forced to incorporate, the womanly identity belief of a man as if that belief were equated exactly with BEING a woman? I find transwomen's insistence that "they ARE women" horrifyingly aggressive and imposing, not simply a simple statement or assertition of self-identity.

There is concerted pressure on women by transgender activists and supporters to accept the belief that 'transwomen ARE women', to accept it as a reality and to do it as a gesture of womanly inclusiveness and care (i.e. our caring attributes being double-binded against us) as if to do so, it is assumed by ethics of inclusion, could have no possible negative impact on women. We are being pressured to accept, without objection, that some men are really women, as if that pressure couldn't possibly be an aggressive colonising assertion by a man toward women.

#concepts #woman #idenitfyingintowomanhood #colonisingwoman

being a lesbian means no penises thanks

I am a lesbian that is no longer welcome in most gay communities because I dared to determine who I was willing to have a relationship with, and strangely enough, as a lesbian, that included no one with a penis. After daring to make my preferences known, I was bombarded with horrendous messages, threats of rape by their "girl dick" and other verbal violence. Like most women, I have been conditioned to be kind, polite and understandng of others' feelings, so I used to support transwomen, I just didn't want to sleep with one. Now after what I have experienced, and have become aware of so many other women being put in danger and harmed by this movement, I have well and truly peaked and spend a ridiculous amount of time both researching and educating others about the assault on women that is currently taking place.

#australia #victoria #lesbians #lesbiandating #nopenises #verbalassault #pileon #samesexattracted

mansplaining sexism in academia

I have a true story about how endeavors aimed at offsetting the injustice and discrimination faced by women in the workplace are used to reinforce them and put women back in their subordinate place with the help of gender identity ideology.

A few years ago, a non-academic member of staff at my uni transitioned to become a "woman" (in their own words, not a transwoman, but a woman). They -- let's call them R -- were about 50 years old, heterosexual, married, male-presenting for all these years: an average straight white man by all aspects who never encountered sexism, sexual harassment, objectification, or the pay gap after child birth...

On the day they announced they were now a "woman" (dress and make up were all it took) everyone, including me, cheered and congratulated them, used preferred pronouns, new name, never deadnamed ...

Two years later, the university paid for R to participate in a "female leaders in academia" workshop. This workshop is both expensive and difficult to get into (few places, applications are judged based on merit). But R, who was not even an academic, got sent to this workshop, amongst amazing female professors and researchers in male-dominated areas.

Just picture this:

A non academic male with no particular achievement, who has NEVER been subjected to sexism and misogyny, taking the place of a female academic who had struggled all her life against a sexist culture in STEM, less promoted, less paid, less trusted, less listened to, less celebrated because she is female, maybe encouraged to work part-time after the birth of her child.... Experiences R would never know as a straight, white male for 50 years.

What on earth could R have shared, of the hardship, experience and frustration of these women? What on earth could they have contributed to in this workshop?

But it gets worse: R was sent back to this workshop the following year, as a mentor!

And as a mentor, R got to tell brilliant, intelligent, successful (but not as much as they would have been if they were born male) women what sexism in the work place looks like and how it can be overcome.

By the magic of gender, a mediocre male got to dominate a "female leaders in STEM" workshop and tell brilliant women what it is like to be a woman in a male-dominated world.

#unitedkingdom #academia #university #womeninleadership #womeninacademia #leaders