Read on Twitter
I feel compelled to respond to the points that Laura makes here, because her thread has gotten a lot of attention and there seems to be some confusion about what gender critical people believe.
So here we go.
1/ https://twitter.com/DiscordianKitty/status/1391313778483113984">https://twitter.com/Discordia...
So here we go.
1/ https://twitter.com/DiscordianKitty/status/1391313778483113984">https://twitter.com/Discordia...
Laura& #39;s first point is that GCs & #39;reinforce gender stereotypes and pressure cis women to conform to those stereotypes& #39;.
Gender critical people are, by definition, critical of gender, which they see as consisting of regressive stereotypes of masculinity & femininity.
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Gender critical people are, by definition, critical of gender, which they see as consisting of regressive stereotypes of masculinity & femininity.
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Since most GC people see "gender" as something harmful (it punishes gender non-conforming people), they would not want to reinforce gender stereotypes. Their mission is exactly the opposite - they want to get rid of & #39;gender& #39; which, for them, consists of stereotypes.
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Perhaps people exist who claim to be GC but, in fact, police gender in a way that does not align with a GC stance. But & #39;gender criticals& #39; do not insist that people act in accordance with sex-based stereotypes. In fact, GC people usually celebrate gender non-conformity.
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Many GC people are gender non-conforming, and there are many gay and lesbian people in the GC community; homosexual people are gender non-conforming anyway, as heterosexual behaviour is a stereotypical element of masculinity and femininity.
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Laura claims that GCs & #39;have a list of rules about "real" women and physical features that makes them real.& #39;
If GCs had such a list, it would consist of only one feature:
Being female.
Which brings us on to the next point.
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If GCs had such a list, it would consist of only one feature:
Being female.
Which brings us on to the next point.
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Laura& #39;s second point is that & #39;GCs reduce women to our reproductive organs and reinforce the harmful idea that the most important feature, purpose, and role a woman has is to be someone else& #39;s mother.& #39;
This is actually two points, so I& #39;ll address them separately.
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This is actually two points, so I& #39;ll address them separately.
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Laura& #39;s point that GCs & #39;reduce women to their reproductive organs& #39; only makes sense if GC people make the claim that women are nothing but walking reproductive organs, or that women have no value outside of reproductive function. I have never seen any GC make such claims.
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GC insist that women are & #39;adult human females,& #39; which means that someone must be biologically female to be a woman.
If I say that a horse has four hooves, I am not saying that a horse is reducible to that specific feature, but that all horses have this feature in common.
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If I say that a horse has four hooves, I am not saying that a horse is reducible to that specific feature, but that all horses have this feature in common.
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If a GC person says that a woman has a female biology, they are claiming that a female biology is something that all women have in common, not that women are & #39;reducible& #39; to their biology.
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Laura says that GCs & #39;reinforce the harmful idea that the most important feature, purpose, and role a woman has is to be someone else& #39;s mother& #39;.
This is not a feature of a GC position, which states that women are biological females and that gender is a set of stereotypes.
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This is not a feature of a GC position, which states that women are biological females and that gender is a set of stereotypes.
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It may be the case that a GC could think that being a mother is the most important role for a woman, but GCs are less likely to believe this than others, because much of the & #39;women as maternal& #39; narrative is part of the regressive stereotypes that GC associate with gender.
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Laura associates GCs with "vagina feminism" that & #39;makes bread from your own vaginal yeast and writes epic poems painted in period blood& #39;.
I believe that there are likely a few reasons why GC people might embrace this kind of & #39;vagina feminism& #39;.
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I believe that there are likely a few reasons why GC people might embrace this kind of & #39;vagina feminism& #39;.
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Firstly, since GC people believe that the only necessary condition for being a woman is being female, the category of women will be hugely diverse, with women who range from hyper-masculine to hyper-feminine.
The only thing that they& #39;ll have in common is a female biology.
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The only thing that they& #39;ll have in common is a female biology.
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This lends itself to a celebration of female biology.
Secondly, many GCs recognise that women have been exploited, abused, and shamed based on their biology, so it& #39;s understandable that they& #39;d want to turn that around and celebrate the female body.
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Secondly, many GCs recognise that women have been exploited, abused, and shamed based on their biology, so it& #39;s understandable that they& #39;d want to turn that around and celebrate the female body.
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Laura claims that & #39;GCs say things like a trans woman will never be a woman because she& #39;ll never experience the pain of childbirth& #39;.
If someone said this, it might be the case that they meant that male people cannot understand childbirth in the way that female people can.
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If someone said this, it might be the case that they meant that male people cannot understand childbirth in the way that female people can.
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If someone literally said & #39;trans women can& #39;t be women because they can& #39;t give birth,& #39; then that doesn& #39;t make sense. There are female people who cannot give birth.
People tend to generalise (e.g. "women have periods") and it& #39;s not always true in each individual case.
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People tend to generalise (e.g. "women have periods") and it& #39;s not always true in each individual case.
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Laura asks if her friends, who are sterilised or cannot carry to term, are not women.
From a GC perspective, there& #39;s only one relevant question. Are they biologically female?
If yes, then they are women, regardless of their fertility.
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From a GC perspective, there& #39;s only one relevant question. Are they biologically female?
If yes, then they are women, regardless of their fertility.
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Laura tweets: & #39;"Saying people who menstruate erases women just say women" they screech while they cheerfully completely erase me, a cis woman who does not menstruate.& #39;
GC would consider any female person to be a woman, whether she menstruates or not. So Laura is not erased.
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GC would consider any female person to be a woman, whether she menstruates or not. So Laura is not erased.
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Laura& #39;s last point is that & #39;GCs regularly harass, attack, and try to silence [her], a cis woman who inconveniently disagrees with them.& #39;
Harassing, attacking, or trying to silence people is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, GCs also experience this.
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Harassing, attacking, or trying to silence people is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, GCs also experience this.
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