#gender critical transsexual

[butch-reidentified]

I notice articles of Radfems' teaming up with conservatives to curb trans activists. I thought radfems are left-leaning. Why do radfems team up with the right wingers if that's the case?

This is going to be long but contain a lot of very important information people need to understand about the radfem perspective on gender compared to both the conservative one and the genderist one.

I don't personally know any radfem who would ever do this so the simple answer is I can't tell you why someone would bc I've never even witnessed it, let alone gotten to ask their reasoning. People who call themselves gender critical and get called TERF aren't necessarily radfems. Radical feminism is by definition a left wing ideology. If you were active on radblr, you would see frequent posts calling out conservative women who try to act all buddy-buddy with radfems re: trans stuff. We on radblr do not tolerate that or their presence - at least not in the corner of radblr where I exist. I block right wing blogs on sight.

Contrary to popular trans belief, we don't agree with conservatives on trans matters either. Where conservatives want to reinforce gender, maintain the existence of gender, and are bioessentialist (a term genderists use incorrectly btw*) by nature of their predominantly Christian beliefs, radfems are gender atheists and abolitionists.

*Bioessentialism doesn't mean "vagina = woman, penis = man." It refers to the belief that women (aka female humans) are genetically/inherently nurturing, caregivers, emotional, sensitive, intuitive, quiet, physically weak, like pink and princesses and flowery dresses, etc., and that men are genetically/inherently strong, resilient, tough, outdoorsy, aggressive/violent, stoic, rational, leaders, like trucks and mud and red meat, etc.

While bioessentialism is the belief that all these stereotypes are innate, these stereotypes themselves are what make up gender. "Gender stereotypes" and "Gender roles" are redundant phrases. Gender *is* just stereotypes based on sex. Male aka "amab" people are expected to adhere to the truck-loving, tough, aggressive, stereotypes mentioned above. Those stereotypes are placed based on their physical body - the male body - not placed on them because of their INTERNAL "gender identity." For proof, look no further than the baby gifts an expecting mother receives after finding out the sex of her unborn child: they are not random, gender-neutral gifts, they're blue pajamas with dinosaurs on them because boy.

Radfems want to eliminate gender. We view sex as a neutral biological fact, like your height, foot width, or hair or eye color.

Imagine if, before a baby is born, doctors tested its future hair color, and that information was believed to determine everything about the child. Oh, it's a brunette! So it will be opinionated, love playing with building blocks, enjoy science, and its favorite color will be green! Oh, a blond? Well, better get it yellow EVERYTHING covered in butterflies, and order some craft supplies (blonds are just naturally more creative than brunettes, of course). Be prepared... blonds are soft and sensitive and moody. They're very artistic but struggle to keep up in math and science classes, and are so indecisive!

This is what gender is. A massive, all-encompassing set of traits that are assigned to one sex or the other, designed explicitly by patriarchy to maintain the oppression of the female sex. It defines everything, starting with how people treat you before you're even born, including who you will be expected to be all your life forever, up to what jobs you're likely to get and how much you'll be paid. Society has decided that which type of gametes your body is designed to produce (whether or not you successfully produce them is utterly irrelevant to what your body is DESIGNED genetically to do) determines every last thing about your life. There's a stronger argument for astrology than gender.

So conservatives want to perpetuate gender, keep males doing all those things I listed (which we call "masculinity") and females doing all those things I listed (often called "femininity"). Radfems want gender gone. We want your sex to be no more relevant to your life than your height or hair color. We believe that regardless of whether your body is structured to produce large gametes or small ones says absolutely fucking nothing about who you are, what you are capable of, your likes or dislikes, your intelligence, or anything else.

So, no. I would sooner die than team up with conservatives. We have nothing in common. You are by definition NOT radical feminist if you support gender and will team up with those who do, just to ~own the trains~. That isn't a no true Scotsman, it's just how definitions work.

I am not against trans people. I am 100% in favor of safety and protection for trans people. I simply don't view gender the same way many trans people (specifically those we call genderists or TRAs) do. I don't believe in an internal gender identity any more than I believe in an internal hair color identity. I do, however, believe in EVERY human's fundamental rights to bodily autonomy, healthcare, self-expression, non-discrimination, etc. I believe clothes and toys and hobbies and occupations and likes and dislikes and skills and weaknesses all have zero to do with your sex.

This is my struggle with gender identity ideology: nobody has been able to answer the most fundamental defining question I have about it. If, as many trans activists claim, their gender identity has nothing to do with clothing, nothing to do with haircut, nothing to do with being hairy vs shaven, nothing to do with personality traits, nothing to do with likes and dislikes, nothing to do with whether you prefer dolls or hotwheels, nothing to do with all those stereotypes I mentioned... but it's also not simply a descriptor for one's sex, what is left? What remains to give gender meaning? What is a boy/man or girl/woman? Without referencing any sex stereotypes or sexed body parts, how do you know which one you are?

If anyone could give me a genuine, logical answer to this, an explanation for gender identity that has nothing to do with sex stereotypes and makes concrete sense, on God I would become the biggest TRA on earth.

Because I don't believe that gender is anything more than sexist stereotypes, the idea of gender identity is incompatible with my values. Because I view sex as a simple biological fact which should be as neutral as hair color, I don't think it makes sense to believe one can fully and truly change sex. If you dye your hair blond, the roots will still grow in the original brown color determined by your genetics. You may be able to appear as a blond and convince some people you are naturally blond, but it doesn't *actually* change the reality.

I believe there are people with physical sex dysphoria, like myself and my best friend, for whom medical transition is in many cases beneficial (it was for me) in alleviating those odd "phantom sex characteristic," very neurological-seeming symptoms. But while having a double mastectomy did help the sensations, it didn't turn me into a male human (man), and I have certainly never wanted to be one. My best friend lives a life where everyone perceives her to be female, though she was born male, simply because the medical process she went through to alleviate those neurological sensations resulted in people perceiving her as female (passing). Her "social transition" was not intentional or gender related, just an incidental byproduct of the medical one. It was simply easier, and probably safer, to assimilate into social womanhood than to tell everyone she's actually male despite appearing female, though she still does not have a gender identity, does not wear makeup or skirts or perform femininity, and couldn't care less about pronouns - I use "she" because that's how my brain naturally perceives her. Outside of this concrete, material, neurologically plausible view of sex dysphoria (which still has nothing inherently related to *gender* about it), I don't understand what it means to be trans.

Radfems want both sexes to be utterly free to be whoever they are, without being influenced/socialized into gendered (aka sex-stereotypical) behaviors and preferences. We want males comfortable & safe wearing flowery sundresses and crying often and being homemakers if they wish, and females under zero societal pressure to shave, wear makeup, etc., and totally free to speak their minds and wear cargo shorts without so much as a sideways glance. Conservatives want males to be "masculine" and females to be "feminine," whereas we want "masculine" and "feminine" to be as absurd concepts as "blondian" and "brunettian" sound. Fundamentally, radfems & conservatives exist in opposition.

Anyone who has an issue with trans people, and for whom that issue is so important they'll team up with conservatives just to fight the trans movement, has utterly lost sight of the goal of feminism (if they were feminist to begin with), which is female liberation. Radfems believe gender abolition is a crucial step toward female liberation; working with people who want to enforce gender such as conservatives would be working against our own interests.

I've been on radblr a few years and never seen anyone team up with conservatives. Whoever you've heard about in the news, idk who they are, but I fully condemn cooperation with the right wing and assure you that is not something your standard radfem will tolerate. Much like how most trans people feel about Caitlyn Jenner.

[justdavina]

Oh .... Such a sexy transgender woman! I can't take my eyes off of her! Those amazing boobies are just hypnotizing! All I want to do is hold her and kiss those amazing breasts for hours. And those sexy glasses ...Don't take those off... Sorry, I'm a pig. Please don't hate me....

[butch-reidentified]

fwiw, the males i know with lifelong sex dysphoria don't watch porn & are easily as disgusted by this shit as I am (and active in my group chat where we make fun of it) -- and as I've said many times, are a huge part of why I distanced myself from gender identity ideology in the first place. they were the first ones to point out the total insanity and how much worse it was getting. so, freaks in the notes, sorry for listening to the people with the actual original medical condition AND listening to the pornbrained woman-identifiers and making an informed choice about where I stand. lmao.

what were the signs that you were a trans woman, part I

How did they know?

Maybe a deep sense of solidarity with women? Caring about women's issues? Maybe gender dysphoria?

thats porn. you dressed up as someone you saw in porn. and you got hard.

oh yeah, i would really love to have these people at my lesbian conventions! they all seem so well adjusted!

[queerism1969]

This was never about protecting women

[dykeiism]

i feel inclined to differentiate between "reasonable rights and accommodations that should be given to trans people" and "blatant attacks on women's rights." i'll go as far as to say that most radical feminists will agree with me on most of these points, so if you want to learn about what radfems actually believe, this is your chance.

reasonable rights and accommodations for trans people:

equal opportunities for employment and housing

access to affordable and high-quality healthcare

transparent, unbiased, and publicly accessible research & meta-analysis done on the short- and long- term risks and benefits of gender affirming care

outlaw all forms of conversion therapy. outlaw gender exploratory therapy unless the patient is able to give informed consent. enforce strict science-based regulations on the therapeutic methods used

freedom of expression (i.e. the ability to dress however you like, and to use a preferred name)

widespread implementation of co-ed and trans-only spaces

legal protection against harassment and assault

these are all things that i, and many other radical feminists, wholeheartedly support. we also believe that trans people, like everyone else, deserve dignity, respect, sensitivity, and kindness from the people around them. what i'm seeing more and more of in recent years, though, is that the trans movement is no longer focusing on the aforementioned human rights. instead, i see an overwhelming about of trans activists making unreasonable demands that infringe on the rights of women. the demands are as follows:

the right to enter women-only spaces based solely on gender identity or expression (this includes shelters, prisons, locker rooms, and sports teams)

the ability to access medical transition as a minor under any circumstances, or as an adult unless other treatments have proven unsuccessful beforehand

widespread use of language that destabilizes women and female people as coherent groups that are also in need of rights

deplatforming anyone who criticizes the movement, no matter how polite, respectful, good-faith, or reasonable the criticisms are

i support the trans movement that advocates for the human rights of trans individuals. however, i cannot support a movement that allows males into women's spaces, that is medically irresponsible, that makes it impossible to discuss women's rights, or that opposes intellectual freedom. i don't think any feminist can support this in good conscience.

[butch-reidentified]

I've said it so many times, but bless vocal gender critical transsexuals 💕 as much shit as we get for being radfems, at least we have a community of some kind. GCTS often end up extremely isolated as a result of standing up for reality and women & I just think it's neat when they keep at it anyway

and today on "the transgender community is eating itself alive":

transman artist caspar_grey on insta gets attacked by trans womanartist grlofswords for disagreeing with cambridge dictionary's recent conflation of sex and gender and including transwomen in the definition of women

caspar's response is literally the only sane thing ive heard a trans person say lately im so glad some people are still defending sex. it just sucks to see those who do defend it get ate up by hate online-- especially from trans people??? imagine being a fully grown adult yelling at someone to detransition for disagreeing with you lmfao... and i thought radfems were supposedly the ones doing that

[neuropoppins]

Neurodivergence isn't just a tool for your shitty agenda. You're not welcome on this site.

No. Womanhood isn't just a tool for your fetish agenda. Men aren't welcome in women's spaces.

- ahh, much better! 😁

[fishgirls-blog]

found him in the mtf subreddit

thats a MAN

[womenvoices]

Dear Trans Women,

You are not a woman. You will never be a woman. You are either born a woman or not. No matter how much you look like a woman, you are not a woman. You make real women uncomfortable. You selfishly put your own feelings over our safety and privacy. You will never be accepted into our community as a woman. We do not want you in our sports, our prisons, our locker rooms, our bathrooms, our shelters, or any of our spaces. You are human, and we respect that. But you are not female humans. Please respect us.

Sincerely,

Real Women

[butch-reidentified]

No, cus thats infringing on someone else's bodily autonomy.

But males entering female spaces against our will is NOT infringing on our autonomy? Interesting 🤔

This is batshit.

I mean, of course you can say it, and you clearly are, but it's a shitty thing to say and do, and there might be consequences, such as people will think you're transphobic and not like you anymore.

This has not been my experience. Consistently, I invite new friends over and at some point, it becomes contextually relevant and I raise a gender critical/radfem critique of gender ideology. Sometimes I make a joke, other times a serious remark. But sooner or later, I always end up playfully saying, "This is a transphobic household!" And you know what's interesting? The responses I get from these friends I've just barely gotten to know have so far only been relief and gratitude. "I love that I can feel safe to talk about this here." It's mostly women, who have been playing along as allies because they feel they have no choice. But there are a couple men in my friend group as well, and even a couple of transitioned or transitioning people who feel the same way, who don't play the gender game and who genuinely support women's rights, and who have been living in isolation because gender ideology is a cult with no room for dissent.

So far, I have not had a single negative reaction, and that's to me playing UP the "transphobia" a bit when, as my followers know, my takes are actually pretty damn nuanced.

So no, I don't buy the threats of ostracization as a consequence for transphobia lol

Hey radfems, i got a thinker for you.

You know about the concept of bodily autonomy right?

Very important in feminist discussions - around abortion, fgm, forced prostitution, etc.

The concept that it's your body, and only you should get a say in what to do with it.

Now the difficult question:

Does this concept apply to trans people?

as in, can you accept that trans people should have ultimate control over their own bodies, and get to do whatever they want with it?

does your concept of bodily autonomy stretch that far, or are you already finding a million reasons why bodily autonomy for pregnant women is immutable and important, but bodily autonomy for trans people is evil, going to lead to the downfall of civilisation, and should be taken away?

do you believe in bodily autonomy?

or do you believe in bodily autonomy only in cases where you approve of the choices being made? do you believe in bodily autonomy for cis women only?

do you believe that trans people are so brainwashed or deluded that they don't, shouldn't get to have bodily autonomy?

and how would you feel if someone said the same thing about you? you've been brainwashed by the radfem cult and therefore others should be allowed to make decisions about what you do with your body? wouldn't you be mad about all the assumptions being made - including that you are too stupid to recognise you're in a cult, that the cult wants the downfall of society, and needs to be prosecuted? wouldn't you feel patronised and scared for your community?

why is it different when you talk about trans people?

do you believe in bodily autonomy or not?

(if you think you should have bodily autonomy but trans people should not, you may just hate trans ppl..........js)

[butch-reidentified]

One of my best friends is a gender critical, intensely radfem-aligned, mtf transsexual. I've talked about this friend several times before on here, but I think it's time I devote a stand-alone post. As with most of my posts, it will be long in signature JC fashion, but I think the topic warrants it: my friend is a wonderful person first and foremost, but is a truly fascinating and unique example of transsexuality as well.

First, a note: I've said this before, but for anyone new to my discussions of my gc mtf friend, she has never and would never expect or ask me to use she pronouns, but it's just how my brain perceives her despite rationally knowing she's male. I have no interest in forcing myself to use sex-accurate pronouns when it doesn't come naturally, because I don't believe it really matters in this context. It matters when it comes to things like news media reporting violent crime by transwomen as committed by women, but interpersonally or in a tumblr post, I don't feel a need to firmly stick to sex-accurate pronouns when my brain naturally goes to cross-sex ones for someone.

Here's a slightly amended quote from one of my early posts about her:

These are the same type of people who drove the transwomen I love from their own spaces by shaming them for having actual sex dysphoria and not "embracing the girl dick" or whatever. Literally what happened to my best friend, and she doesn't deserve that. She's so deeply passionate about women's liberation, believes firmly in female only spaces and sports, in honoring all of women's boundaries, in the definition of homosexuality, regularly argues with our other friends that eliminating all males would objectively result in a better world (with sources lol), calls herself a transwoman only - specifically as one word, for which she has a particular definition predicated on being male - not a woman, and most interestingly, comes across as very much female socialized. And not in a remotely intentional or performative way: it negatively impacts her the same way it does me or any actual woman I know. It's wild.

This is something I'd be interested in proper research on, because according to all her lifelong friends and neighbors, she's always been this way (and has been on an anti-porn crusade since the THIRD fuckin grade). She never internalized male socialization, like at all, and somehow seems to have internalized at least the majority of female socialization. Interacting with her feels exactly like interacting with any woman, no matter the context. I've known her for 6 years or so now and that's been consistently very true. I would NEVER have guessed she wasn't raised female. She completely "passes" but doesn't wear makeup or remove body hair, wears normal clothes like just pants and a shirt, etc. She seems like such a regular woman in every way, but she's not a woman (and she won't call herself one or demand you use she pronouns... I just do because nothing else feels right tbh). Several times, friends have straight up not believed she's transsexual at first.

When I talk about her seeming female-socialized in ways that are negatively impactful, I mean things like struggling to feel like you can say no, being prone to imposter syndrome, feeling like everyone else's needs come before your own, not feeling allowed to take up space, devoting endless emotional labor to those around you even when it's 3am on a work night before a crucial 9am meeting, giving of yourself well beyond what you should... those types of things (which are only a few examples of course) are her to a T, and are things she is working to unlearn for her own wellbeing alongside other women in our friend group.

She experiences sex dysphoria the same way I've described in myself - as a seemingly neurological, very physical sensation (in the same way pain or itchiness are physical sensations), somewhat akin to Phantom Limb. I've described her "social transition" before as "an incidental byproduct of medical transition," which I still think is accurate. She transitioned medically as a last resort measure to treat physical/neurological sex dysphoria, and ended up being perceived as female. It eventually just made logistical sense to assimilate socially. She couldn't care less how others perceive her "gender" or what pronouns they use or any of that, and shares the radfem view on the definition of gender and on gender ideology.

She's in the camp of "transactivism behaves like a cult and is explicitly a men's rights movement." I remember once a couple friends asked her why she was so passionate and outraged about female erasure and lesbian erasure, and she said very simply that "the trans cult has already erased, redefined, rewritten actual transsexual people," so she understands to a small degree the feeling of it, and sees them doing the same to women and homosexuals and can't tolerate it.

Her childhood friends (nearly all female) have said they have pretty much always innately interacted with her like they would with a female friend, and never understood why. I've never had to explain anything about the female experience to her, nor known of anyone else doing so. More often, my other friends and I find ourselves explaining to her that other males absolutely don't know the things she does (regarding both the biological and social aspects) or have the awareness she does, all these things she observed as a little kid, many of which upset her deeply on behalf of her female peers.

She did go through CSA, domestic violence, a trafficking attempt, and other major traumas throughout her childhood and into young adulthood, but the people who've known her her entire life say she was already the way she is in terms of all this stuff before that.

The adults she talks about looking up to as a kid, the ones she latched onto as mentors and who shaped her, are all badass, gnc, and/or feminist women. Her number one role model as a kid was her female karate instructor who had won major competitions all over the country and was very gnc both physically and personality-wise. The memories involving these mentors that she talks about most and remembers most vividly are almost all regarding misogyny and the injustices and cruelty women and girls face.

One other interesting fact is that she's XXY and had gynecomastia and slightly more feminine than normal features such as fat distribution before transition, and her body feminized more from HRT (she only had genital surgery due to extreme intractable dysphoria; she is opposed to any other surgeries like FFS or BA since they're entirely cosmetic to her) than any transwoman I've ever met or even seen pictures of. Most TW I've known barely fit a training bra - she's a D cup. It's so odd to me that she has the seemingly-neurological sex dysphoria AND the weird femsoc thing AND her body responded much more dramatically to estradiol than any other transwoman. I'm at a loss. It drives my little scientist brain crazy.

I have my theories, but ultimately I really don't know how to explain her. I've known a whole lot of trans people, and a whole lot of transwomen in particular, and while I have certainly met a few that don't come across like Gamestop Maam/average AGP vibes, they typically seem more like gay men rather than female-socialized. Even with those who do show some femsoc-like traits, it's not remotely to the degree I see in my friend, and oftentimes it's something they clearly trained themselves into to blend in.

I know there are other gender critical transsexuals out there, but idk if there is anyone else like her. I want to know, tbh, I am really super curious about it and about how/why she is the way she is (as is she lol).

I wanted to share this more concisely since I've mentioned her in multiple reblogs and posts and answers to asks over the years, but haven't really made a post specifically about her. Feel free to ask questions! She's given me full permission to discuss her experiences and whatnot here.

[marblecakemix]

How can some women look at a 6-foot-tall man in a miniskirt in public and say he's a woman without missing a bit? There's nothing women about that pervert.

[redditreceipts]

"I think it is okay to be a lesbian but you shouldn't talk about it, because it makes me, a man, sad. Also, when they get harassed after turning down a trans woman, it was probably their fault anyways because they were being transphobic (in that situation only the transwoman could see it but it was definitely there)."

"Also, instead of us adjusting our behaviour to not harass people, they should stop talking about how we're harassing them. As anyone knows, if a man harasses a woman and she then talks about it and the man gets a bad reputation, it is the woman's fault because she could have just shut up. And I wonder why these posts always get so much attention and lesbians are so adamant about not wanting to date men? It's really kinda weird that they talk about it so much about how they're harassed by straight men who think they're lesbians🧐 as if this happens to a lot of lesbians🧐🧐 and they also get a lot of comments from other lesbians 🧐🧐🧐 Must be that they're too sensitive"

"if anyone does not want to have sex with me, that's actually a sign that they hate me and are transphobic"

"yes, exactly. a man who does not want to suck dick is also homophobic. also, have you ever thought about just not having sex ever again??? so you could be with someone you are not attracted to? so you don't hurt the feelings of straight men (the most oppressed group in the world"

[dykeulous]

thinking a transmed is about to actually talk about how debilitating & painful dysphoria as a condition is for once, just for them to hit you with the, “you’re not actually trans because you see yourself as female and because your dysphoria has nothing to do with superficial gender roles”. sigh

[whereserpentswalk]

Interacting with terfs has convinced me that gendered restrooms are themselves a bad idea. Like, for the same reason why you can't have racially segregated bathrooms and changing rooms because it's inherently racist, you shouldn't be allowed to have gender segregated bathrooms and changing rooms because it's inherently cissexist.

[queerism1969]