A hot take on TERFs.
I realise that, as a man, I probably am not going to get all the nuances of feminism. I have been told that feminism is primarily about equality -- equal rights and equal treatment -- and that's something I can easily get behind. I am all for treating people fairly. To my mind, fairplay is the hallmark of being a gentleman, which implies that a gentleman is, at the very least, sympathetic to feminist issues.
So ... transsexualism.
I admit to being a little uncomfortable with the idea in principle, yet I find myself much more comfortable than I thought I would be with those friends of mine who have come out as trans and who have transitioned. I'm not prepared to debate this one way or another, but one thing I do know: regardless of whether this is right or wrong, whether a transman is properly a man or a woman, everybody deserves the freedom to live their lives in peace. the spirit of fairplay demands it.
Which brings me now to the subject of Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, or TERFs.
And I have to wonder: what exactly are the TERFs trying to exclude transpeople from? If feminism is about ensuring fair treatment between the sexes, then are they saying that transpeople (transwomen in particular) do not deserve that same fair treatment? Sure, a transwoman may have enjoyed the privileges that come with growing up male, but by transitioning and presenting as female, the only male privilege they retain is the self-assurance that comes with growing up dominant -- in all other respects, they are treated as they are perceived: as women. What does their past matter, or their likely level of self-assurance, if your movement is concerned with fair treatment in the here and now? To my mind, in a world where the sexes really are given equal opportunities and equal treatment in all things, whether someone was born a man or a woman should matter roughly about as much as whether they were born in June or July.
So, my hot take on TERFs is that ... they're not really interested in fair treatment of the sexes. Perhaps they really are, as the male chauvinists fear, actually interested in the promotion of their own supremacy. After all, the intention to exclude a group does seem to rather imply an end goal in which the barriers are raised rather than lowered. And if feminism is about lowering the barriers, that in turn implies that TERFs are working at cross-purposes with other feminists.
Though I'm sure none of them see it that way. The specific angle I'm picking at seems nuanced enough, and the distance between action and meaning is usually great enough, that someone that deep inside -- someone sincere about the egalitarian cause -- might not notice the deviation. Or perhaps, like the fabled frog in the slowly boiling pot, they think the difference too small to matter.
I don't know. I'm not a woman and I'm not trans. This is not a discussion that affects me personally. All I can offer is the observation of an outsider, and this outsider thinks that a TERF might be more feminazi than feminist. Not a judgement -- just a suspicion.
(A note on the "privilege of growing up dominant": as an ethnic minority who grew up as an ethnic majority, I seem to have a greater confidence in my place in the world than my peers who have grown up here and who thus have only ever known a world where they were the minority, the exception to the norm. Things bother me less. The subject actually came up on its own accord once with an old school friend, and I found I was not alone in noticing this. I assume the same may be said for anyone else who crosses the line of privilege from more to less.)
So ... transsexualism.
I admit to being a little uncomfortable with the idea in principle, yet I find myself much more comfortable than I thought I would be with those friends of mine who have come out as trans and who have transitioned. I'm not prepared to debate this one way or another, but one thing I do know: regardless of whether this is right or wrong, whether a transman is properly a man or a woman, everybody deserves the freedom to live their lives in peace. the spirit of fairplay demands it.
Which brings me now to the subject of Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, or TERFs.
And I have to wonder: what exactly are the TERFs trying to exclude transpeople from? If feminism is about ensuring fair treatment between the sexes, then are they saying that transpeople (transwomen in particular) do not deserve that same fair treatment? Sure, a transwoman may have enjoyed the privileges that come with growing up male, but by transitioning and presenting as female, the only male privilege they retain is the self-assurance that comes with growing up dominant -- in all other respects, they are treated as they are perceived: as women. What does their past matter, or their likely level of self-assurance, if your movement is concerned with fair treatment in the here and now? To my mind, in a world where the sexes really are given equal opportunities and equal treatment in all things, whether someone was born a man or a woman should matter roughly about as much as whether they were born in June or July.
So, my hot take on TERFs is that ... they're not really interested in fair treatment of the sexes. Perhaps they really are, as the male chauvinists fear, actually interested in the promotion of their own supremacy. After all, the intention to exclude a group does seem to rather imply an end goal in which the barriers are raised rather than lowered. And if feminism is about lowering the barriers, that in turn implies that TERFs are working at cross-purposes with other feminists.
Though I'm sure none of them see it that way. The specific angle I'm picking at seems nuanced enough, and the distance between action and meaning is usually great enough, that someone that deep inside -- someone sincere about the egalitarian cause -- might not notice the deviation. Or perhaps, like the fabled frog in the slowly boiling pot, they think the difference too small to matter.
I don't know. I'm not a woman and I'm not trans. This is not a discussion that affects me personally. All I can offer is the observation of an outsider, and this outsider thinks that a TERF might be more feminazi than feminist. Not a judgement -- just a suspicion.
(A note on the "privilege of growing up dominant": as an ethnic minority who grew up as an ethnic majority, I seem to have a greater confidence in my place in the world than my peers who have grown up here and who thus have only ever known a world where they were the minority, the exception to the norm. Things bother me less. The subject actually came up on its own accord once with an old school friend, and I found I was not alone in noticing this. I assume the same may be said for anyone else who crosses the line of privilege from more to less.)