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Two people can look at the adult human female flag being&see something different.
One can see the definition of woman fluttering in the breeze,over the city.
The other sees a transphobic dog whistle
Partly because of who created the flag. Partly because of what it represents.
One can see the definition of woman fluttering in the breeze,over the city.
The other sees a transphobic dog whistle
Partly because of who created the flag. Partly because of what it represents.
It represents a refusal from women to ideologically agree with the idea that what we are is an identity.
But women as a whole have never agreed that we want the meaning of the word to describe us changed to something so ethereal. You really should have asked us.
But women as a whole have never agreed that we want the meaning of the word to describe us changed to something so ethereal. You really should have asked us.
And if you want to go around redefining marginalised groups without their permission, and even against their will then they don’t have to accept it.
If a woman becomes an identity, I’m no longer a woman because I don’t *identify* as one at all.
If a woman becomes an identity, I’m no longer a woman because I don’t *identify* as one at all.
The utility of the word for me is describing the body I have and what that means in the world we live in. Literally nothing else.
I need a word to describe existing in an adult human female body for my healthcare, for my safety, for clarity and for most social aspects of my life
I need a word to describe existing in an adult human female body for my healthcare, for my safety, for clarity and for most social aspects of my life
If you want to take the word away from me that describes my material reality, I am allowed to feel something about that.
And it was honestly quite a shock to me to wake up, a few years ago, and discover that people do want to take it away.
And it was honestly quite a shock to me to wake up, a few years ago, and discover that people do want to take it away.
Transwomen identifying with women&calling themselves women was fine with me.
Them asking for she/her pronouns was no bother.
I thought it was about wanting to be like us&be with us, not to rewrite us entirely.
So I felt I was being accommodating, not giving up my own space
Them asking for she/her pronouns was no bother.
I thought it was about wanting to be like us&be with us, not to rewrite us entirely.
So I felt I was being accommodating, not giving up my own space
The shift to a situation where I have to change how I describe myself, what I believe about myself, how I’m referred to, what words I can use to describe my own body and what resources I can expect for people who exist in adult human female bodies like myself is astonishing.
There’s no solidarity or affinity in that. There’s no understanding of what it’s like to grow up female and be female in this world.
There’s no respect of the differences between us and how we both deserve decency around those.
There’s no respect of the differences between us and how we both deserve decency around those.
It’s like I was misled into a much more serious game of musical chairs&here I am with the music stopped&nowhere left to sit. I have to read articles about women raped in prison&girls cheated out of sports titles,&see rape victims lambasted for needing female only spaces to heal.
I get messages from lesbians who are frightened to tell their own communities they only want to date adult human females&I listen to detransitioner friends describe sexual violence they’ve been subjected to,regardless of how they identified,&I have to swallow these bitter truths
&then I get called names when I try to talk about it. I get told to “drink bleach”, to “die”, I see ppl I loved talk about my murder as being some sort of justice.I get to carry the weight of shaming, like a dark shawl, through places I was once happy b/c I’ve dared to say “wait”
Being female, first as a girl and now a woman, has not been incidental to my life. It has been fundmental. It’s my physical experience, it’s how I have been treated socially and why, and it’s why I’ve been seriously ill for 20 years with no real options for treatment.
If you want as much kindness as I can muster, you will always have it, because you are a human being but if you want my respect you have to listen when women say “there is a problem here”. You have to not wish ill on us for not conceding to you all the time.
We live in a world that penalises adult human females in specific ways.
Passing TW experience some of these ways b/c their bodies are perceived as adult human female bodies,too.
Let’s change that world.That won’t be done by insisting women pretend their bodies aren’t important.
Passing TW experience some of these ways b/c their bodies are perceived as adult human female bodies,too.
Let’s change that world.That won’t be done by insisting women pretend their bodies aren’t important.
One of the worst things is that all of this suddenly started to look&feel a lot like male entitlement and women recognise that because we’ve lived with it our whole lives. Once we saw it as that there was always going to be animosity b/c we deal with enough of that already.
So,when I see the flag taken down,I don’t think “they don’t like the person who made it”.I know a lot of the rage towards that flag is that it represents a boundary line over what a woman is&that we might dare to continue to place it there.That we might continue to hold that line
Well,that’s where many of us do place the line&think it needs to be for women to be able to coherently describe female experiences,our social oppression&the specific impact of male violence on our Sex.
Our identities are diverse but our Sex is a constant point of information
Our identities are diverse but our Sex is a constant point of information
I respect whoever you may be as an individual,whether we like each other or not,&I make reasonable accommodations for people I encounter but I won’t give up my space. Women have such a small amount of space already.
We need to be allowed to exist, exactly as we are, for our own sake¬ anyone elses. We require words that describe us accurately&resources that protect us and address our needs and we need this without constantly being told we are raging bigots for asking for such simple things
