Read on Twitter
I've been researching historical radfem as it intersects with the queer community, and what Amy says here is true & so important for people to understand. RadFems™ did not start, and did not finish, with hating trans ppl. They're hostile towards the entire community. https://twitter.com/AmyDyess/status/1330197099506438153
It is SO important to understand the history of RadFem™ Lesbianism™. As early as the 1960s, lesbianism was being defined as a choice, as a political position, to dedicate yourself to women and embrace RadFem™, as a means to destroy the patriarchy.
This philosophy is multi-layered, but lesbians were asked and expected to get onboard with it to show their 'commitment to women'. This resulted in a lot of demonisation of bi women, of butch identities, etc. as retaining some sort of link to men, masculinity or heterosexuality
There was an awful lot of talk about how bisexual women were energy parasites 'stealing energy' from the women's movement, delivering it to men somehow, and betraying the RadFem™ Lesbian™ movement. And later, many
RadFems™ turned their hostility turned towards trans women
RadFems™ turned their hostility turned towards trans women
..falsely perceiving them as men intent on 'sneaking' into women's spaces and somehow stealing energy and harming women that way. And later, 'queer' was a boogeyman for bringing lesbian, bi and trans women under a common umbrella, with men, and embracing gender/queer theory.
When you throw this all together, you end up with this movement, this philosophy, that says only cis lesbian women, who 'do lesbianism properly' are to be cared about. Everyone else is out to trick them, to harm them, deceive them, or in some way threaten them.
@AmyDyess was involved in the mix of all this at one time. Amy was inside the movement, came to understand what they were involved with and why it was harmful, including why it was so harmful to lesbians, then got the heck out, and is now speaking out to warn others.
RadFems™ claim to be Standing Up For Lesbians™ but nothing could be further from the truth. They seek to make lesbians feel vulnerable and to isolate them from everyone else in the community. This is why they are so active in exclusionary discourse of all kinds.
Amy Dyess once described it as being like a cult, and quite honestly, the analogy fits. You first make people scared of everyone else, make them distance from everyone else, and then you form a quasi-religious movement with a strict value system that members must adhere to.
Women should be able to be part of the queer/LGBT+ community & mainstream (non-transphobic) feminism. If they want to have relationships with men, they should. If they want to do produce/consume porn, they should. Kink shouldn't be off-limits;neither should exploration of gender
Lesbian™ RadFems™ proscribe that all of this is 'unfeminist' somehow. It's not. Feminism is about empowering people of all genders, including women and marginalized genders, to be free to engage in any consensual activities that they wish to engage in - not proscribing limits.
