To those of you who pay attention to blog sites like Tumblr in the feminism communities, you may have noticed a change in the last few months. Blogs that promote ideas against trans women as women have been making a resurgence over the internet. Radfems say they don't have anything against trans women joining their organizations, they just have issues with them calling themselves women. If joining your organization means being treated as a male, it's the same thing is barring them. There aren't any trans women that would put up with that. Radfems claim that men use trans women as proxies within feminist organizations to control them, stop their goals, and sabotage their progress. Sorry, ladies, but there isn't a conspiracy. No, I'm not a spy for patriarchy. Demonizing me isn't going to suddenly make what you're saying a reality. They even go so far as to say that trans women can't be feminists because they haven't experienced any persecution based on their gender. Excuse me? I think that you're living proof that we have. Transgender people are among the most persecuted minority groups in this country and you're making that bold claim? Did trans women experience male privilege? Yes, they did when they were presenting as men, but that doesn't mean they ever were men. Some of us could just play the part really well, but we were always women. Some of us, including myself, didn't really understand until we started living as women what male privilege really was. This is important because it proves that it's real and that feminists aren't making this stuff up. Trans women have experienced what it's like to lose male privilege. We're the smoking gun they have been waiting for, but they turn us away. They claim we still have male privilege, but given how most men treat us: no, we don't. It doesn't end there. They attack our very womanhood. Literally attacking us below the belt because apparently radfems enjoy cheap shots. They think that because we don't have uteri, that means we're against women's physical rights to their own bodies. No, we're not--at least I'm not. Where this idea comes from is that some trans women were against some gender protection laws. They don't say why these women were against it, though. Why were they? These laws were co-authored by radfems who thought it was necessary to add in clauses that stated that it was okay for women to act with physical violence against trans women in female facilities. They agreed with everything else, but these laws would make physical oppression of trans women perfectly legal. Trans women who were only trying to relieve themselves could be beaten and dragged from their stalls just because of being assigned as male at birth. The truth is that these radfem organizations create a hostile environment for trans women. These two groups have been butting heads since the 70s and it still continues to this day. Radfem groups don't think there's anything wrong with being openly hostile toward an oppressed group of women. Obviously, they're the ones who have forgotten what it's like to be women in a patriarchal society. They're the ones have changed into the thing they once despised.
They don't ALL do it, there are some nice radfems; but it's the loud ones that scare me. A couple have taken it upon themselves to out trans people to their families and friends. They'd dig up whatever they could over the internet about a trans person and post it where people close to them would see it. Which often lead to the person being kicked out of their home or worse. It's when crap like this happens that it stops being free speech and it becomes something much worse in my opinion.
Damn... I'd never even heard of stuff like this... That's ridiculous, like you say, and goes totally against what feminist groups were founded upon!
It's stuff like that which make me feel ashamed of being a cis woman Eesh. There are the good feminists and the bad feminists, and like the bad of every other organization out there, they ruin the image of the whole group. That really is scary. People who do that don't deserve to call themselves feminists. Actually, people who go after trans women at all don't deserve to call themselves feminists.
That's not all of radical feminists. Just lesbian separatists. Just like the queer community is not one big happy family, neither are the feminists. But it is very evil, and I oppose their kind of feminism. Sorry about the hurtful things they say. My very favorite offensive comment to win them all was a quip saying that a transwoman is a rapist merely by existing.
Yes, I forgot to point out that this isn't all feminists or even all radical feminists, it's a specific group. They're very vocal, though. I consider myself a feminist, so I obviously don't think that these opinions are what they all believe.
Yeah, I've had run-ins with those feminists on Tumblr, and they've gone after some of my Tumblr acquaintances. They piss me off because they're all about ~fighting the patriarchy~, but they mainly go after other women just because they don't fit their definition of womanhood.
they dont call it 'radical' femnisem for nothing. basically, it is a bunch of sexist women who shouldnt be calling themselves feminist, because feminisem was about the pursuit of equality between the genders, and a breaking down of stereotypes that in the past limited women in the eyes of an unjust society. These people, on the other hand, are just chuvanist with vaginas instead of penises.
That was pretty unfair. bell hooks is a radical feminist writer, but she criticizes kyriarchal behavior amongst women... The only radical feminists that I am aware of who behave this way are lesbian separatists.
Unfortunately, radical feminism has become defined almost exclusively in terms of transphobia, sex-negativity, and a strong dislike of men. In roughly that order.
We have a rad feminist at my school who went on a tirade on our lgbt groups facebook message board about how there is no such thing as cis-gender privlidge. And on my ex's facebook she was even arguing that trans people didn't exist and that every male or women was socialised one way or the other and that's all they will ever be.
I agree that is very wrong. However, I don't know why you would want to join any radical feminist groups. They are incredibly derogatory and demean men whenever they get a chance. While we're at it, I don't know what "male privileges" are either.
Male privilege is the set of advantages society provides to men on the basis of their being men. You can read a male privilege checklist here. As a term, "privilege" is a poor choice, "incidental advantage" would be better. Male privilege isn't something you can choose not to participate in, nor does it mean that your life won't be difficult based on race, nationality, sexual orientation, age, or income status. It just means that, relative to a woman of comparable demographics, a man is better off.
I just dont understand people who think like this and i dont think i want to. I am a feminist, i was raised as a feminist and im damn proud to be a feminist. My gut reactions to reading some of the posts written by EC's transgender community has been variations of 'cool' 'fair play' 'that takes guts, i wish i was that strong' and 'welcome to the sisterhood!'. I just cant comprehend why a group of people who claim to support womens rights would want to use that as an excuse to attack women who have had to walk a far more difficult path than many cis-women can even comprehend! They deserve to be praised for their mental strength, courage and sheer determination! They deserve a tonload of bloody big hugs! Its just continuing a circle of bullying, violence and segregation. Its pathetic.
I read through that list and I finder to be mostly false and outdated. Yes, there aRe privileges to being a male. Guess what though? There are also many privileges to being female. You're not going to automatically easier being a male in western society. Somewhere like Saudi Arabia, I can take the point, sexism against women is horrific there. But in modern western society? I don't think men are better off. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
I've always said that I am queer, but I'm not a lesbian. Why? Because I do not feel like I belong to the lesbian community. I have NOTHING in common with most lesbians, and I'm shun because I'm bisexual.. lesbians hate bisexuals, and because I happen to be feminine, a lot of lesbians look down on lipstick lesbians. I'm not a feminist either, and there's like an unwritten rule that you HAVE to be a feminist if you're a gay woman. I'm sick of it. I'm me.. I refuse to change who I am, or my values, just because I happen to like women. The only thing I have in common with lesbians is that I like women. I also cannot stand the "we hate men!!!! men are awful!!!" culture that lesbians display. Umm.. fine, like women all you want, but please also respect gay men! My policy has always been that the LGBT community is stronger if we all stand together and support each other. We do not need to build up walls between the different groups.. we're all queer. Radical feminists like these scare me. They really do. How come they think they are more worthy of being called a woman than anyone else? MTF trans people are women. These feminists should just get with it, and stop with the transphobia. It's sickening.
Being a feminist doesn't mean hating men. That is a horrible stereotype. I'm a feminist and a lesbian and I don't hate men at all. Being a feminist just means that you wish to have equality between the genders. That's it. It doesn't mean you think that women are superior. I think the higher employment rates for men, the fact that men get paid more for doing the same job as women, and the fact that men are offered promotions more often than women paint a different picture. Also, women still face issues within the military like going up in ranks and just being taken seriously as a soldier. Also, when's the last time you felt afraid of walking in a dark parking lot at night? When's the last time you felt afraid of setting down a drink at a party? Have you ever felt afraid of being alone in a room with a strange woman? I'm not saying that men can't be raped, mugged, or over-powered, but being a woman makes it a lot more likely that it will happen to you. The truth is that male privilege is alive and well in western civilization. It may not be as blatant, but it's still there. It's like saying that racism no longer exists, but it does. Just the fact that you're a man and you're telling me, a woman, that you know better about my experiences as a woman than I do is proof that male privilege is alive.
That is not true at all. I have read so many hateful comments from feminists, many lesbians, who clearly think all men are evil, and that all women are so much better than men, and that being a woman is the better gender or whatever. It's sickening. I refuse to be labeled a feminist, as I really do not support what feminists say about men. I do not think any gender is better than the other, but too many feminists clearly seem to think that women is better than men, and that it's ok to look down upon men, and make hateful comments. No thanks, I'd rather not be labeled a feminist, because I strongly disagree with these views.
I don't know what feminists you are reading, because I am used to feminists--particularly radical ones--who are quite affirmative of men. I am aware of some people who are totally off the deep end, and as I have mentioned they are lesbian separatists (people who take being a lesbian to be a political act). So sure, they exist, but it's a minority view among radical feminists, just as radical feminism is a minority view amongst the feminisms. I don't mind feminism, and I like to consider myself a feminist. Whether I am understanding and living by feminist values I will leave for others to judge...
I agree with Prez. Most of the feminists I encounter online are very affirming of men, not patriarchy or male privilege, but they don't have a beef with men individually. I have only found a handful of feminists who hated men. They're a very small minority.
