"Women do not decide at some point in adulthood that they would like other people to understand them to be women, because being a woman is not an ‘identity.’ Women’s experience does not resemble that of men who adopt the ‘gender identity’ of being female or being women in any respect. The idea of ‘gender identity’ disappears biology and all the experiences that those with female biology have of being reared in a caste system based on sex." - Sheila Jeffreys, Gender HurtsI've used the term because I can't think of a better short and memorable way of describing an opposition to trans ideology and the doctrine of gender identity, what I think of as the Big Trans Lie. It's use to describe this opposition seems to be spreading.
I want to look at what being Gender Critical means to me, at why I am opposed to The Big Trans Lie.
The Big Lie Threatens Kids Well-being Especially My Daughter.
Most obviously is that it threatens the well being of my daughter. The BBC, the NHS, schools most of the internet, journalism and her peers have all bought the Big Trans Lie. Instead of telling her that she is wonderful as she is and that the hurt she feels from the constraints of gender is because those constraints are unfair, unrealistic and artificial.
The big Lie tells her that she is what is wrong, It tells her that she is not a valid woman if she does not want to be what is considered feminine. It tells her she is not a valid woman if she desires other women. It tells her that she is not a valid woman if she enjoys the freedom of functional comfortable clothing. It tells her she is not a valid woman if she is repulsed by the roles offered by porn sex, of submission, degradation, violence and playing to the male gaze. It tells her she is not a valid woman if she seeks relationships that are based on something more than roles plays, of sex that is more than
The Big Lie tells her that because she is not a valid woman, she should wear a binder. It tells her that she should have a mastectomy. It tells her that she should take drugs for the rest of her life, that will permanently and irreversibly alter her body. Drugs that have not been tested on young women. Drugs that will lead to her sterilization with in a few years. It tells her that she should have her genitials mutilated.
If she transitions, the Big Lie tells her that the rest of the world has to pretend to believe the Big Lie, to believe that she is really a man, to use the correct names and pronouns, to deny biology, to deny the evidence of their eyes and ears, to constantly and unquestioningly see her as a man. If the rest of the world fails to support the Big Lie it is an attack on her, it is equivalent to violence, it is oppression to which the only valid response is to attack the non believers or to commit suicide and become a trans martyr.
If she baulks at all or any of this, the Big Lie tells that she is still not a valid woman but that she is non binary or any of the every expanding cloud of new genders. She will then depend on the rest of the world accepting whatever variety she identifies as, to remember the correct pronouns, to appreciate the unique and multifaceted mosaic of genders that she identifies as. Again if the world fails in this task, it is attacking her.
The Big Lie tells her that the only problem in her life is her gender and the failure of the rest of the world to believe. It tells her not to examine the possibility that her unhappiness is rooted in her own ways of thinking, in other peoples attitudes to women and lesbians, in societies oppression of women or in the failures of her parents in anything other than their refusal to believe the big lie. It tells her that any such examination is conversion therapy or transphobic.
The Big Lie will leave her dependant on a denial of reality, dependant on others constantly echoing that denial back to her. It cuts her off from anyone who will not join in with the denial of reality. It warps her judgement, fills her head with doublethink and limits her expression to newspeak. It leaves her open to manipulation and abuse by anyone who claims to represent trans as she is trained to ignore her own instinct and critical faculties.
For my daughters safety and in the hope of her recovery I have to oppose the Big Lie.
The Transitioning of Kids is Child Abuse.
The big lie replaces the infinite variety of human potential with two roles of gender. It has evolved to capture any thought of nonconformity and warp it to a variety of novel new genders. It tells kids that by transitioning or becoming one of the variety of novel new genders, that it is liberating them. It's not. It's just recasting any nonconformity into a position on a line.
All kids have the potential to form themselves, to become a point in the multidimensional space of human attributes and choices. In everything they are, everything they do, every choice they make they should be free from the restrictions of gender. They can be a florist who plays rugby as a prop forward, a fire fighter who loves musicals or a whatever unique combination of the multiple facets of human diversity the choices end up with.
The Big Lie denies these possibilities, everything has to be viewed on a scale of gender, applied to only three or four dimensions
from http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2012/01/the-genderbread-person/
The no room for a boy who like flower arranging and a rugby scrum, no room for a fire fighter into Les Mis. You have to pick your spot and stay in it.
The Big Lie Steals Our Sex and Sells Us Bullshit.
Our sex is the biology of being an animal with a dichotomous sex system as explained at the beginning of this vid Sex, Gender and Brain. A Problem of Conceptualization" by Daphna Joel, Vienna 2012
Our sex is ours, it's free, it cannot be taken from us and needs no performance or spending. Whatever we do we remain men or women. It's not a scale it's a dichotomy, you cannot be more male or less female.
Gender identity has to be constantly performed, if we don't perform it well enough we have failed. Gender identity depends on other peoples perceptions for validation. When gender identity replaces sex there is no room for "can't be arsed" or "to knackered from looking after kids" or "have more important things to do". You have to choose your point on the lines and consume the right stuff to let show everyone else where you are.
Humans, like most sexually dichotomous animals have evolved to be very good at perceiving peoples sex. We feel comfortable when everyone knows everyone else's sex, it's lets us know where we stand. We feel uncomfortable if some gets our sex wrong, or if we are uncertain of someones sex.
This does not make us bigoted or sexist, it's just part of being a sexually dichotomous animal.
Drag queens and kings are funny because they disturb this comfortable sex perception, but in a safe environment. From that disturbed sense they can poke fun at our
Some people make choices in how they dress, their haircuts, their use of make-up such as Butch Lesbians or flamboyant gay men, that might otherwise confound peoples sense of sex perception. They will often use a very visible signifier of their sex, You have the right to dress how you want, who you desire is your own business, but if you hide your sex or lie about it people will be uncomfortable.
I'm lucky. I'm tall, hairy and built like a (slightly wobbly) brick shit house. No one is ever going to doubt my sex. Not everyone is as lucky, so we have a subtle set of clues that we use, especially in childhood or later life that let everyone know our sex. When gender identity replaces sex, none of this can be depended on. To keep our sex we have to be constantly aware of how we express our gender, we have to compete to be male or female enough to be a valid man or woman.
The Big Lie Denies Us Our Own Desire and Replaces It With a Scorecard.
Our desires belong to us. We desire who we desire. We may be amazed or confused by where our desire takes us. The big lie tells us that we do not desire poeple, their minds and their bodies, we have to desire a gender. We can't say that we want to sleep with men or women, people with un-mutilated genitals that match with what we desire. To do so is transphobic.
This is what I'm talking about! No one is willing to admit that being a "man" or a "woman" these days is defined by stereotypes and not biology. I have short hair, hairy legs, don't wear makeup, and like beer, so this must mean I'm a man, nevermind my uterus that sheds it's lining ever 28 days. That has NOTHING to do with me being a woman.
ReplyDeleteIt's so frustrating and infuriating to see society jumping back at least 50 years! So many of these transtrenders have been led to believe they're the opposite sex, simply because of stereotypes. It's pretty insulting to both sexes to define what a real man or woman is by a collection of sexist stereotypes, or claim someone who refuses to be locked into one box of stereotypes is one of the 700+ Tumblr genders.
ReplyDelete