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I finished this book today and can not recommend it enough.

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trans rights activists vs feminists

when you are just hanging out

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Feminism: the original conspiracy theory.

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I wish she was with us today.

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I love how these people defend “trans people” to the extent of literally denying reality and their own bodies, but don’t give a shit about the women and girls who are the victims of all of this. Trans ideology destroys the lives of women and girls in many ways, especially the lives of those women and girls who deny their own sex and go through the brutal process of mimicking the sex characteristics of male bodies. 

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Raymond is the same woman who wrote accurate analysis from a feminist perspective about transsexuality before you were fucking born. She also wrote accurately about sex based oppression, which affects women SPECIFICALLY and which this book is about. Try reading a fucking book instead of policing women on the internet.

“Trans women” are men. And women like Raymond don’t have the POWER to “mandate” anyone “out of existence.” In fact, did you know that reality is a TERF? Its almost like you’re working to maintain men’s sexual access to women and girls and working to destroy our sex based rights, which women like Janice Raymond (a more intelligent person than you will ever be) fight to preserve.

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You can go fuck yourself, honey. Transgender ideology is woman hating misogyny and you are a misogynist for supporting it. Trans IDENTIFIED is accurate, because no one can change their biological sex, and it is an ideology which people IDENTIFY with due to various reasons, homophobia, lesbophobia, and autogynephilia topping the list. Trauma, rape, and other issues for the women who deny their sex are also very prevalent, and sex specific. Gender is the tool of patriarchy, and if you support it, you are anti feminist.

And I will use whatever phrasing I want. REAL FEMINISTS DO NOT SUPPORT GENDER IDEOLOGY.

How woke of you to attack veganism too! I mean, I didn’t say anything like I want everyone to be vegan, nor did I exhibit ignorance regarding what you are describing, but definitely paint me with the brush of it.

This.

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No, there really isn’t. Dysphoria is caused by the concept of gender, which is the oppressive tool of patriarchy. It doesn’t make someone magically born in the wrong body. People who suffer from it need therapy, and self acceptance, not drugs and a bunch of cult members telling them they’re not actually who they are.

I believe that the trans movement started as well-meaning and good, but that misogynistic men with feminisation fetishes discovered it and are now using it as a way to prey on girls, get into female safe-spaces and silence women without being arrested or shunned. They’re taking advantage of the hard work of REAL trans women and trans men and twisting it into a way for them to live out their sick fantasies without guilt.

The trans movement isn’t bad in and of itself. I think it’s wonderful that trans people are more accepted in society. It’s just entitled men who are taking advantage of it, and I believe we should be more aware of that fact. Be critical, but not to the point where you hate trans people simply for existing

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Instead of reading this idiot’s redefinition of what radical feminism is, try reading the works of the women he’s cited. Feminism is about SEX BASED OPPRESSION. Trans ideology DID NOT EXIST in the way it does now back when women like Andrea Dworkin were describing the shared experiences of WOMEN (adult human females) and fighting for our SEX BASED RIGHTS. Andrea Dworkin would never have allowed a man posing as a woman into a woman’s only space and all of you people who wrote this absolute trash should be ashamed of yourselves.

What's the difference between radical feminism and liberal or intersectional feminism? I'm confused ^.^"

What is the difference between liberal, radical and intersectional feminism, and what does this mean for transgender people?

Any attempt at reducing feminism to distinct, neat, types or categories will ultimately fail, as there is much diversity and feminism is in constant development. That being said, here is a very simplified presentation of various types of feminism, as they are often understood in an American and North European context. 

Note that these categories are overlapping, both in space and time.

FIRST WAVE -> Liberal Feminism

There has been a female liberation movement going as far back as the 18th century, but in the Anglo-Saxon context the first wave is considered the one that started in the 19th century with the suffragettes and the women’s right to vote movement.

Suffragettes, London.

Many of the ideas of first wave feminism is found in what these days is  referred to as liberal feminism. The idea is that you may gradually change the system from within, making people see that women are in no way inferior to men, and that they deserve the same rights as men, both as regards property, work, education, political influence and pay.

Liberal feminism does not challenge liberal, capitalist, democracy as such. These feminists want to improve it. They share the individualism of liberal democracy, and fight for women’s right to personal autonomy and freedom. 

In many ways this approach has been a success, as is seen in the increasing participation of women in working life, culture and politics.

The limitation of this kind of feminism is, as I see it, that these feminists tend to think of the social system as a rational system. The point is to make people understand that the current system is unfair and oppressive. When people do understand, they will change their behavior. 

As we have seen with the recent traditionalist backlash, many people – both men and women – do not care so much about facts or rational discussions. They see traditional gender roles as a part of their identity, reality be damned, and feel threatened by anything that may weaken their fragile view of the world.

These days most liberal feminists support the rights of transgender women. However, it should be pointed out that there was a time when  liberal feminists argued that even lesbians should be excluded, as their presence might undermine the legitimacy of the feminist movement. Betty Friedan did not want to allow what she called “the lavender menace” into the US National Organization for Women back in 1969. 

I have no idea what she thought about trans women at the time, but you will sometimes see the same kind of embarrassment among some liberal feminists today as regards the presence of trans women.

SECOND WAVE -> Radical Feminism

The second wave appeared in the 1960s. Radical feminists believe that the system that oppresses women, by them referred to as “The Patriarchy”, is a system created by men to control and exploit women. You cannot achieve victory within this system, they argue, as it permeates everything around us: laws, language, mythologies, art, entertainment. 

The Ladies’ Home Journal sit-in 1970

The system makes it hard to think differently, as the oppression is integrated within social institutions like marriage, the traditional nuclear family, and the health care system, as well as in the words we used (”woman” understood, for instance, as someone who is assigned female on the basis of genitalia). 

In the Patriarchy, being a man is the default. Women are “the Other”. The goal of radical feminism is a society where your genitals no longer define your role and influence in society. 

Radical feminists see pornography and prostitution both as signs of, and tools for, the oppression of women. Some lesbian radical feminists even see heterosexual sex as a tool of oppression. Lesbians have freed themselves from male domination by not having sex with men, they say.

Radical feminists have criticized the liberal feminists for wanting to become like men. The point is not to gain the right to do what men do, they argue, because that leads women to devalue what women do.

Influential radical feminists like Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin, John Stoltenberg and Monique Wittig, recognize  trans women as women, which makes sense in a movement who is based in the idea that genitals should not define your worth, your role or your status.  

Radical feminist author Andrea Dworkin viewed surgery as a right for transgender people.

There is another strand of radical feminism, however, known as trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERF), people who argue that trans women are men in disguise, and that they  perpetuate the ideals of the Patriarchy. The trans women want to take over “womyn’s spaces”, they say. 

In order to prove that trans women are men, the TERFs point to the fact that some trans women are sexually attractive (thus living up to the sexism of the Patriarchy). At the same time they use stories and photos of those that are not living up to the aesthetic standards of the fashion industry to prove that all trans women are men. 

The fact that many cis women try equally hard to please the male gaze is ignored. The diversity of transgender women is ignored. Nor do the TERFs consider that trans women who have been raised as men have been harrassed and bullied for their female identities and feminine expressions throughout their lives. In other words: That they are also victims of the Patriarchy. 

Recently much of the transphobic radical feminism has degenerated into biological determinism, as in “genitals or chromosomes determine whether you are a man or a woman”. Many of these “radical feminists” also deny the existence of gender, as in the cultural definition and expression of gender roles and gender identities. This is the exact opposite of what radical feminism was meant to be. These “gender critical” activists are, as I see it, not true radical feminists.

Among the transphobic radical feminists we find people like Germaine Greer, Janice Raymond,  Sheila Jeffreys, Julie Bindel, and Robert Jensen. They have very little support in the US, but have managed to gain some influence in the UK. The Norwegian organization for radical feminists, Kvinnefronten, welcomes transgender women.

THIRD WAVE -> Intersectional Feminism

The third wave of feminism began in the early 1990s (although you will find its roots back in the 1970s). It embraces individualism and diversity.

Both the first and the second waves of feminism have been dominated by white, cis, middle and upper class women from “Western” countries. Many of them are academics. They are not representative of women in general. 

Because of this they have  been criticised for generalizing about the female life experience on the basis of their own lives, ignoring the unique experiences of – for instance – women of color, women in developing countries and trans, nonbinary and queer women.

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw.

The term intersectionality was introduced by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989, and it was soon adopted by third wave feminists. Intersectionality reflects  postmodern insights into the way the current social and cultural systems creates  hierarchies of oppression. 

This oppression is not only about men oppressing women (or the upper class exploiting the working class). In a world dominated by privileged white, straight, and “masculine” men, everyone who does not live up to their ideals are oppressed, whether their “otherness” is caused by sex, skin color, sexual orientation, homeland, religion or gender identity. 

The third wave has also been strongly be influenced by queer theory and gender theory, which look at  the social and cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity, sexualities and gender.

The third wave is often seen as sex positive. There are “girly”, “lipstick”, feminists who embrace feminine gender expressions and female sexuality and who argue that noone, not even feminists, have the right to to define or control how they should dress, act, or express themselves.

Needless to say you won’t find many transphobes among third wave feminists.

Some have also coined a fourth wave of feminism. It seems to me to be a continuation of third wave, intersectional, feminism, with a strong focus on the use of modern media. Some TERFs have tried to appropriate the term, joining right wing extremists in their attacks against queer gender theory, but do not be fooled by this. They are, at best, to be considered an offshoot of the second wave. They do not represent women. They do not represent feminists. They do not represent radical feminism.

Top illustration: iStock 

See also:

On lesbians,transgender people and feminism.

Transadvocate on transgender feminism.

The rise of anti-trans “radical” feminists, explained

Idol Worship: Julia Serano Talks To Autostraddle About Fixing Feminism

Andrea Dworkin Was a Trans Ally

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Children should not be allowed internet access. 

not to sound like a boomer but i am so afraid for so many minors online in this day and age

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There is no such thing as a “real” “trans person.” Transgender is not real, it is an ideological and political belief which one decides to accept or reject. There is biological sex, and the sexist stereotypes enforced on women, which is called “gender.”

I believe that the trans movement started as well-meaning and good, but that misogynistic men with feminisation fetishes discovered it and are now using it as a way to prey on girls, get into female safe-spaces and silence women without being arrested or shunned. They’re taking advantage of the hard work of REAL trans women and trans men and twisting it into a way for them to live out their sick fantasies without guilt.

The trans movement isn’t bad in and of itself. I think it’s wonderful that trans people are more accepted in society. It’s just entitled men who are taking advantage of it, and I believe we should be more aware of that fact. Be critical, but not to the point where you hate trans people simply for existing

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the humanity of the AIDS crisis: the ward by gideon mendel

colorized by me

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Except

Trans isn’t real and feminism is

Trans isn’t real and veganism is

Trans identified people get offended at everything

Real feminists are analytical critical women who work to end sex based violence

Veganism as an ethos works to end species based violence

Trans identified people get pissed when people don’t cater to their narcissistic demands

Feminism and veganism are based in a similar wish to end hierarchical oppression against the vulnerable

Trans is based in misogyny which perpetuates hierarchical oppression

This.