pragueskies

[pragueskies]

way too many people say “gender is fluid” when they mean to say “people are allowed to dress and act outside of their prescribed sex roles”

[pragueskies]

[pragueskies]

we desperately need to stop dismissing any voice of concern about medical transition options as either pushing a “trans agenda” or a “terf agenda”. people’s lives are at stake. these are complex topics and they need thinking about. the fact that detransitioned women are disproportionately autistic and/or traumatised HAS to be considered because this isn’t being screened in assessments (in my experience, in my country). but the fact that people are literally suicidal because they can’t access treatment also cannot be ignored. i don’t know if dysphoria should be treated with hrt before other things are ruled out – i lean towards “no” but i also do not want people dying over discourse. similarly, i don’t want others like me to deal with the things i am dealing with because altering my body was literally more accessible than therapy that addresses my complex trauma.

we need open conversations. we need for people of all experiences to be HEARD, and not dismissed because of the stance they take (usually informed by personal experiences, not theory). politics is very much about people, i understand that. but there comes a point where you have to de-politicise human experience in order for any progress to be made.

[pragueskies]

“Fire Sword Custom” x “Entwined Dragon Sword”.

[pragueskies]

how come you're so against trans women? if they identify as women doesn't that make them women? shouldn't us feminists defend all woman no matter age, race, ethnicity, etc.? I just genuinely want to understand the logic behind your way of thinking.

Okay, since you so genuinely want to understand… Sit down. Let’s talk. 

Why do you think “woman” is something that one can “identify” into? Do you understand what the word “woman” means? Do you understand what it means to be a woman?

I’m gonna guess you haven’t been living under a rock for the last few years so… Have you heard about the statistics for female infanticide? (x) What about female genital mutilation? (x) Have you heard of child brides? (x)(x) And breast ironing? (x) This list could go on and on. These are all acts of violence which harm females exclusively.

These girls are hurt not because they “identify” as women… Some of them are fucking unborn… But because they are women, or they will grow into women… Either way they are female. 

This isn’t a coincidence, it’s not like “oh five of them…uh… kinda??? maybe??? could??? be women??? I guess????” NO. These are 100% female individuals. They are killed, violated, mutilated, raped… Because they are female.

That is not an identity to be had. That is a biological reality. They are born with XX chromosomes, and they have uteruses, and they have vaginas, vulvas.. They are undoubtedly, biologically female.

The examples I’ve cited are all about children/underage individuals, because I wanted to point out: let’s pretend for a hot second that “woman”  or “girl” is an identity. Then how come these children are being oppressed and marginalized? Are they “genderless”, since they’re not old enough to even have an identity? Do we have some sort of “genderless” genocide going on? No. We do not. These girls are in third world countries, countries where “gender theory” is but a whisper which only the privileged have even heard about. 

Since we see all this violence against females, what about males? What does that make them?

It makes them oppressors. It makes them privileged. Males are either oppressing women/females or they are benefiting from their oppression. Either way, males come out winning, women come out losing, losing very badly.

From birth to death, females live in fear. Even in “pretty chill”, developed societies, women are scared of walking around at night, scared of going places alone, scared. Only females can understand the fear of a rape which might get you pregnant. The fear of being obliged to live with your rapist’s baby inside you, otherwise you’ll be cast aside, even arrested. Rape is just one of the things, though, then there’s acid throwing (x), forced pregnancy (x)…

So what happens? How do women react? How can they protect themselves? Well, women create shelters. They start women-only spaces, female-only spaces, where women can be free from their oppressors. Spaces where only we can be in, where there’s no threat hanging in the air…

And what do men do? Well they change their names to “Suzie-Lou”, and force their way in. At first, sure. A lot of transwomen were homosexual males, so they had no interest in scaring and intimidating women. But then the tables turned. The heteros caught on, they realized homosexual transwomen were being welcomed, so they decided they should be welcomed too. 

And before your can cry “oh but the poor transwomen! they don’t wanna get into your dirty terf pants! they don’t wanna have anything to do with lesbians they just wanna be happy!!! terfs started this, they spread hate for no reason” I strongly recommend you check out [t][h][e][s][e].

Okay, so now you understand female oppression, and you understand where these transwomen males are coming from… So where do they overlap, why do I care so much? Why can’t I “admit” they’re women, leave them alone?

A woman is an adult human female. A girl is a female child. We need to make these definitions clear as feminists, because as feminists the oppression of female children and adult human females is what we fight against. 

Bear with me for a second, and pretend you’re a dentist. Someone taught you that “a cavity is the decayed part of a tooth. It’s a little hole.” But then when you ask them “Okay, what’s a tooth, then? How do I find and fix the cavities?” they just answer: “a tooth is anything that identifies as a tooth”.

And you wanna seem smart, a good dentist, so you go in, see your first patient. But you still don’t really know what is a tooth. But then you look inside a human mouth, you see these white things, they’re all have similar characteristics. And they have dark spots, little holes. 

Are you gonna drill into your patients gums, because that might be a tooth? Are you gonna pinch their tongue? None of those have holes, what would you fix? But those white things, which you know have cavities… Why would you keep calling them “white things”? Why not define them as something? Why not give them a name, and call them teeth? It would be pretty dumb, right? Pretty useless?

So let’s change things up, you’re not a dentist, you’re a feminist. You know that there is such a thing as misogyny, sexism. You know that non-vagina-humans oppress vagina-humans. In order to fix the problem, solve that issue, you need to have a clear line between who oppresses and who is oppressed. And you know you’re gonna be talking about humans a lot, so wouldn’t it be  easier if you had a proper word for those humans?

Why not call the men and women? Now you know, misogyny is a thing that affects women. Okay, then we need a clear definition of what misogyny is. Misogyny is ingrained prejudice against women. Okay, then what are women? Anything that identifies as such? But then can a cat be a woman? Can a dog be a woman? Can a five year old boy be a woman? Because he identifies as such? No. In order for the definition of misogyny to have any value, then the definition of woman must have value. It must mean a fixed thing. You cannot define a word with itself. You cannot say “a woman is anyone who says they’re a woman”. That makes for blurred lines, confused statements. 

This is why people came together and made language a thing that exists. This is why we have dictionaries. We can’t ignore the meaning of important words just “because”. We only change the meaning of words when a significant part of society uses it in a certain way for a significant amount of time. But woman has meant adult human female for a very very very long time. So why would we change it? What would that achieve?

The one thing that comes from the denial of sex, the denial of male and female as absolute biological realities, is that feminism’s fight becomes useless. If we don’t know what a woman is, and what a man is, then there is no one being oppressed, and there is no one oppressing them, because nothing has meaning.

But that’s not the world we live in. Women are oppressed, they are marginalized, killed, abused. Why would us, the feminists, the ones who have vouched from the start that we would fight for female liberation, turn our back on that? Why would we deny reality? For males??? But aren’t males the ones to blame? Aren’t they the fucking oppressors? (hint: they are).

So yes, feminism is for all ages, ethnicity, classes… Of females. Feminism is for females. Feminism is for women. Women born women, the only true women to ever exist. We must fight for female liberation, because our oppression has not gone anywhere, and it will not go anywhere, unless we address it, loud and clear, with the right goddamn words!!!!

To deny that women are females is to deny our oppression. We are oppressed because of our bodies, because society despises our very biology, not because we identify as women. To say so would mean every woman to have ever lived has chosen her own oppression. 

And I will not have that. 

So, TL;DR: “if they identify as women, doesn’t that make them women?” No. It doesn’t. XX chromosomes are the only thing that makes anyone a woman; I will not say otherwise, because to deny this is to deny female oppression, and therefore to render feminism completely useless. 

[pragueskies]

“The non-binary declaration is a slap in the face to all women, who, if they haven’t come out as ‘genderqueer,’ presumably possess an internal essence perfectly in-line with the misogynistic parody of womanhood created by patriarchy.” There’s a twisted, neoliberal cruelty in arguing that the primary problem with gender is its impact on the chosen identities of individuals, and not the way it operates systemically, under patriarchy, to normalize and encourage male violence and female subordination.”

—

http://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/07/26/white-feminism-thing-gender-identity-ideology-epitomizes/

Raquel Rosario Sanchez .

(via medusasheart)

[pragueskies]

“I had two desires: desire to be safe and desire to feel.”

Poems 1962-2012: Vita Nova, ‘Aubade’ by Louise Glück

[pragueskies]

[pragueskies]

I think there’s a really unfortunate trend in people’s thinking that like, belonging to a marginalized or oppressed group makes you an ethically better person (either generally or individually) and like that sort of moralism is really unhelpful to any discussion and also doesn’t track into reality. It also results in like, someone’s status as an oppressed person being revoked by their individual moral failings, which obviously makes no actual sense

[pragueskies]

“Gulabi Gang” is a gang of women in India who track down and beat abusive husbands with brooms.

[pragueskies]

So yes… there were women and small children using the restroom and this man was walking around knowing no one would say anything.  So here I am…writing this blog, because honestly I need answers. We can’t leave this situation ambiguous any more. The gender debate needs to be addressed… and quickly. There have to be guidelines. It can’t just be a feeling. I’m sorry. I wish it could, but it can’t. I’m fine going by “if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck…it’s a duck.“ Even if that means he/she put on a beak and glued feathers…I get it, you’re trying to be a duck so you’re cool. But this notion that we’re shamed into silence b/c we might offend someone, has gone too far. There was a man in the bathroom. Not transgender. There was a man who felt entitled to be in the woman restroom, because he knew no one would say anything. There were 20-25 people by the time I left, who were scared and uncomfortable by his ominous presence. And the only thing stopping us, was our fear of political correctness and that the media has told us we don’t know what gender is anymore. I never want to be in the position again. Im not asking for permission to tell transgender people to get out my bathroom. I need to know it’s ok to tell a man, who looks like a man, to get the fuck out. Gender just can’t be a feeling. There has to be science to it. DNA, genitals, amount of Sephora make up on your face, pick your poison, but as a very progressive woman…I’m sorry it can’t just be a feeling when theres but a mere suggestion of a door with a peep hole separating your eyes from my vagina or my children’s genitals.

[pragueskies]

anonymous message: hey, what‘s a TERF? i’m in high school so instead of forming my own thoughts, i would like your take.

23 year old adult female running a discourse blog with xe xir pronouns in the bio: gee whiz! howdly doodly guys gals and nonbinary pals. everybody listen up!!!! here is blatant misinformation that, after struggling to rub your two brain cells together, illuminates the fact that i don‘t know what i‘m talking about; i‘m just repeating almost verbatim what another maladjusted 20 something said to ME when i asked them the same question, instead of adjusting my behavior in order to process the sex based oppression women face!

[pragueskies]

Women’s reproductive capabilities put women at unique risk for harm that men cannot and will not ever experience. If someone merely pointing this out enrages you you are a misogynist. If you don’t think this should ever be said you are a misogynist.

[pragueskies]

[pragueskies]

Every woman who is unfeminine still experiences misogyny because misogyny is not hating femininity.

[pragueskies]

“I’ve always had this funny feeling about reality. It just seems very feeble to me sometimes. It doesn’t seem to have the substantiality that it’s suppose to have.”

— Philip K. Dick, 1978 (via oldschoolsciencefiction)

[pragueskies]

do people really not see the irony of habitually telling women to choke and die, then turning around and calling them violent just because they want to have a space where they don’t have to interact with the people who are regularly telling them to choke and die?