There are lots of problems with how most of society treats transgendered people. Trying to sort out how best to rectify this has lead to many unproductive clashes. A major disagreement centres around whether biologically male transgendered people are actually women. My question to the BioMaleTrans is this: Why do you think you’re a woman?
I commonly see two answers to this question. The first of which is ‘I identify as a woman’. This doesn’t actually provide any information and is, therefore, not actually an answer. It is merely restating the original position that was being questioned in the first place. In this case, “I think I am” is perfectly synonymous to “I identify as”.
The second common answer is pretty much the same: ‘I feel like I’m a woman’. Still no new information, still synonymous with the original. Still not an answer.
So let’s get specific. Let’s do away with the vague, the obscure, and the etherial. Let’s dispose of brevity and confusion. Let’s look at some possible detailed answers as to why you think you are / feel you are / identify as a woman.
Do you like to wear skirts, dresses, and/or lingerie?
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who don’t like to wear any of those thing, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who do like to wear some or all of those things, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you like having long hair and/or wearing make up.
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who don’t like either of those things, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who do like both of those things, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you speak with what today’s society might consider a “feminine” lilt?
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who don’t speak with such a lilt, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who do speak so, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you like the colour pink, romantic comedies, stuffed toys, spa days, looking at attractive men and/or any other thing that fits some version of the “feminine” stereotype?
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who don’t like any of these things, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who do like many of these things, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you more easily connect with women than you do with men?
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who get along better with men, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who get along better with women, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you express emotions in what much of our culture would call a “feminine” manner?
Well, that may be common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are women who express their emotions in non “feminine” ways, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who express themselves in all kinds of “feminine” ways, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Do you constantly get bullied, ostracized, and/or mistreated by entitled fuckwit men?
Well, that may be extremely common in women, but it is in no way tied to them being women.
There are a few women who aren’t consistently mistreated, but that does not mean they are somehow not women.
There are non-women who do suffer unimaginably because of these bastards, but that does not magically turn them into women.
Any reason, or combination of reasons, a BioMaleTrans could possibly give for ‘being a woman’ would necessarily be tied to a gender stereotype. That is, any claim of actually being a woman is inextricably rooted in harmful bullshit gender roles. There is only one valid claim to womanhood, and it is one that a BioMaleTrans is inherently excluded from: biology.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
5 comments
February 8, 2018 at 3:20 am
Meg
Oh Arb, there’s just so much to be said about this topic. I myself wrote three whole pages before deleting it and starting all over again. Instead, I want to address the elephant in the room nobody is talking about: the fact that nobody actually believes that transwomen are women. Nobody. I can guarantee you that. And as much as people are arguing otherwise, I can assure you that they don’t even believe it themselves.
Examples:
If this were not true, then feminists wouldn’t be centering everything around transwomen to the exclusion of butch lesbians and transmen.
If this were not true, then women wouldn’t be expected to put our own interests and issues aside in favor of transwomen, similar to how women are expected to put aside our own interests and issues in favor of disadvantaged men.
If this were not true, then nonconforming women who are viewed as ugly, hairy, or masculine would be included, as they too break gender rules and are punished for it.
If this were not true, then transwomen would not have the privilege to assume that their issues are more important than women’s issues the same way men assume their problems as more important than women’s problems.
If this were not true, there would be no need to shout down women or treat women’s issues as diametrically opposed to trans issues. Only a male identified male would assume that his issues are somehow separate from women’s.
These are but a few of many examples of all the ways people prove through their behavior that they don’t actually believe what they’re saying. They just don’t. They can say they believe “transwomen are women” but they don’t treat transwomen as actual women. Don’t you see? If transwomen were actually women, then the problems of transwomen would be treated with the same hum-drum response as any other woman’s issue. It wouldn’t be forced in everyone’s face, demanding the highest visibility and everyone’s immediate attention. No, that’s how men’s issues are treated. That’s how disadvantaged men are treated. That’s how men are prioritized over women, each and every time.
So sure, you can sit around and argue with them until you’re both blue in the face, but remember who you’re arguing with. You’re not arguing with people who actually believe their own assertions. You’re arguing with people who are baffling you with bullshit, even if they aren’t consciously aware that’s what they’re doing.
This is why I don’t bother to comment about trans issues at all. There’s just no point because arguing IS the point. Arguing is the end goal, because it’s an easy distraction to keep women from thinking about ourselves and addressing our own need and interests. I’ve seen perfectly decent feminist blogs run into the ground because they got sucked into debating trans on everything, and they don’t even blog about women’s issues anymore. Well sure, they bring up women’s biology but only in context of what transactivists are saying about it. So the transactivists have won, in a sense. They wanted everything to be about them and now it is.
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February 8, 2018 at 3:32 am
Meg
@Mystro, sorry I didn’t see you were the author!
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February 8, 2018 at 9:23 am
Mystro
@Meg
Not to worry. If I write something well enough to be confused with Arb, I’m pretty happy with myself.
Your points are kind of why this post only looks at the ‘why’ of their position. Focus on the root of the issue instead of any resulting fallout.
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February 9, 2018 at 1:49 pm
lovetruthcourage
Bravo to Mystro and Meg! Nailed it! You said it as well as it can be said.
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February 15, 2018 at 6:28 am
The DWR Feminist Quote/Rant of the Day – If Transwomen were actually Women… | Dead Wild Roses
[…] so very lucky to have such a sharp feminist commentariate here at DWR (thanks for leaving this comment, Meg). Along with the informative nuanced discussion, gems like this crop up and are too good not […]
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