Not Just Equality
By Harvey Jeni @GappyTales on Twitter
A statement so breathtaking in its falsity I find managing my anger hard. Let's talk about political powerlessness.
It has taken centuries of feminism for women to achieve an even nominal equality with men. In reality we are still underrepresented in every area of power, paid less, and perform the vast majority of the unpaid and under valued labour. Up until 26 years ago it was still perfectly legal for a man to rape a woman, so long as he was married to her.
In contrast, the idea that gender identity is the new definition of biological sex, i.e. an adult with a beard and a penis is a woman if they say so, has been in the public consciousness 2 - 5 years at most. In that time we have seen things change at an unprecedented speed. New legislation has been proposed or enacted all over the Western world with very little consultation or debate. Clinics offering sterilizing and life upending drugs to children and young people have sprung up everywhere, and male bodied rapists are being sent to women's prisons. Everyone who speaks up to question this is demonized, hounded, often no-platformed, and threatened with violence. Politically powerless my arse. This is the most politically powerFUL movement I have seen in my lifetime.
As for equality, what does that even mean? Equal to whom? True equal rights would simply mean not being discriminated against on the basis of being transgender. I know of nobody who would not be behind this. But a demand to access female only spaces at will, to prevent natal women's right to free association and assembly, to compete in women's sports, and to demand that all change their language and understanding of basic science and biology simply because you have decided that subjective internal feelings now override material reality is not a call for "equality", it is a call for domination. It is a call for women's total submission to seeing the rights they have fought for for centuries trashed, and our ability to define ourselves, our bodies, and to organize against our ongoing oppression denied.
But more and more women are now waking up to the reality of what an end to biological sex definitions and boundaries might mean for them. They see the violent misogyny underpinning this powerFUL movement. And we're not going to give up our rights. You've tried to smear us as fascists, you've tried to ostracize us from our feminist communities and more liberal friends. You've tried to get us sacked from our jobs. You've threatened us with rape and murder. You've even attacked a 60 year old woman in the street. But still, we're organizing. We're fighting back. We're not going to give up our rights. *I'm* not going to give up my rights.
A statement so breathtaking in its falsity I find managing my anger hard. Let's talk about political powerlessness.
It has taken centuries of feminism for women to achieve an even nominal equality with men. In reality we are still underrepresented in every area of power, paid less, and perform the vast majority of the unpaid and under valued labour. Up until 26 years ago it was still perfectly legal for a man to rape a woman, so long as he was married to her.
In contrast, the idea that gender identity is the new definition of biological sex, i.e. an adult with a beard and a penis is a woman if they say so, has been in the public consciousness 2 - 5 years at most. In that time we have seen things change at an unprecedented speed. New legislation has been proposed or enacted all over the Western world with very little consultation or debate. Clinics offering sterilizing and life upending drugs to children and young people have sprung up everywhere, and male bodied rapists are being sent to women's prisons. Everyone who speaks up to question this is demonized, hounded, often no-platformed, and threatened with violence. Politically powerless my arse. This is the most politically powerFUL movement I have seen in my lifetime.
As for equality, what does that even mean? Equal to whom? True equal rights would simply mean not being discriminated against on the basis of being transgender. I know of nobody who would not be behind this. But a demand to access female only spaces at will, to prevent natal women's right to free association and assembly, to compete in women's sports, and to demand that all change their language and understanding of basic science and biology simply because you have decided that subjective internal feelings now override material reality is not a call for "equality", it is a call for domination. It is a call for women's total submission to seeing the rights they have fought for for centuries trashed, and our ability to define ourselves, our bodies, and to organize against our ongoing oppression denied.
But more and more women are now waking up to the reality of what an end to biological sex definitions and boundaries might mean for them. They see the violent misogyny underpinning this powerFUL movement. And we're not going to give up our rights. You've tried to smear us as fascists, you've tried to ostracize us from our feminist communities and more liberal friends. You've tried to get us sacked from our jobs. You've threatened us with rape and murder. You've even attacked a 60 year old woman in the street. But still, we're organizing. We're fighting back. We're not going to give up our rights. *I'm* not going to give up my rights.