Denise Brogan-Kator sent me a note entitled Rad Fems and Trans* women that she compiled.
And as you probably guessed, I had an opinion about the laughable radfem charge that trans women are 'violently attacking them'
in a Julian Vigo post and another one at that cesspool of transphobia Gender Trender that I refuse to link to.
What I said
in this June 1 post is apropos here:
|
But here's Denise's Facebook note with my comments
***
A few weeks ago I got an email from my friend and former law professor,
Catharine MacKinnon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharine_MacKinnon).
She was reaching out to me for my reactions because others had reached
out to her about one or more incidents of violence and/or hate speech
between the communities of transgender people and radical feminists.
This
“problem” has been nagging at me as I’ve continued to read each side’s
“position” and its complaints about the other side. This writing will
attempt to describe my personal conclusions and thoughts on these
issues, which I suspect will, forever, be a work in process.
I
would like to state unequivocally that I am opposed to ALL forms of
violence, for whatever reason. The incident in question occurred at a
recent “Law & Disorder Conference” held in Portland.
[1] I am told that there have been other incidents of violence, but I’ve not seen any specific references.
Caveats:
I do not hold myself out as, nor believe myself to be, a leading
thinker or researcher with respect to sex and gender. I do not have an
advanced degree in queer theory or feminism and I do not have an
advanced degree in neurobiology. What I do have are core beliefs,
through which I shape my actions and which are subject to change with
new information and evidence.
I believe:
That
gender and the entire system of gender is a social construct that has
worked to keep women in a subordinate role and, as aconsequence, has
retarded humanity’s positive growth toward an ideal society where men
AND women can accurately be said to be created equal.
That
violence, short of defense, has no place in our world and that it not
only fails to advance the cause of feminism and social development, but
also actually reverses it. I believe that violence of any kind
reinforces the patriarchy and diminishes us all.
That patriarchy is real and pernicious. It is the common enemy of all fair-minded feminists of any sex and gender.
That
sex and gender are not the same. I believe that sex has its basis in
biology and that gender and its attendant roles is the exclusive domain
of socialization.
I do not know, but I doubt, that sex
is anything more than the size of the gamete produced by the body. In
other words, I do not know but I doubt that our brains are different in
any way that matters.
That said, I do believe there IS a
biological difference between men and women – and that biology,
especially the effects of sex hormones, do influence behavior (to a
greater or lesser degree that is unknown in individuals). HOWEVER, the
suggestion that such a difference leads to an inherent male dominance is
absurd and destructive. We need not deny the physical differences
between men and women to condemn the destructive effects of patriarchy.
Difference should never be used as an excuse to dominate.
I believe:
That
trans-women such as myself, despite an outward appearance which
arguably reinforces the system of gender actually help, in every real
sense, toward the deconstruction of gender.
That gender
is made not born and, because gender is performative, I also believe,
as Catharine put it to me, that there are many ways of becoming a woman
including, sadly, sexual assault.
Although I have
survived multiple sexual assaults, I believe that I will never fully
know the fear that many, if not most, girls and women are all too
familiar with. I was 17 before I experienced my first sexual assault.
Until that point, I never had a concern about being alone with a man,
walking after dark, or in a parking garage. I grew up with many forms of
privilege, but this privilege is often overlooked.
That
radical feminists’ attempts to deny transgender people our expression
of gender – no matter how based in stereotype such expressions may
appear to be – operates from a form of essentialism that contradicts
their analysis and diminishes our joint efforts.
That
in order to change the system of male dominance we must both allow and
honor individual expressions of gender (even when, as with myself, that
expression of gender is borne of male privilege) and engage in
collective social activism.
That the increasing
animosity and hostility between the radical feminist movement and the
transgender movement is destructive to our mutual goal of the liberation
of women from male dominance.
That Julian Vigo is
right to observe that “[i]f gender is inherently detrimental as the
radical feminists maintain and if trans identification occurs in part
because gender is rigidly interpreted and represented through normative
modalities of behaving, then there will be unceasing dissonance between
these two groups.”
[2]
Nevertheless,
I do not think that the two groups have to be at war with one another.
We need not trade verbal barbs and comments that denigrate the other.
And, most of all, we need not inflict violence upon each other.
I
wish we could find a way to lift up one another. I think that the
system of gender has hurt us all for so long. I do not want the voices
of radical feminists silenced. I just wish they would focus on the very
real threats to women (and, in this, I agree that a physical assault is
of course a real threat!) and not turn their anger at this hateful
system against trans persons. On the flip side of that coin, I wish my
brothers and sisters in the transgender community could either find a
way to lift up the voices of radical feminists in areas where we so
obviously agree, or at a minimum, ignore the arguments and words with
which we may disagree.
Let us commit to working,
together, for common values like the true liberation of women, the
advancement of women in this society and around the world. The real
problem here isn’t whether or not trans-women get to claim womanhood.
It’s about the number of women on the bench, in Congress, on boards of
directors, in the CEO chair of Fortune 500 companies, and being paid
less than men. It’s about the ongoing problem of a rape culture and the
struggle it took to pass the Violence Against Women Act and the
subsequent striking down of its key civil remedy provision. It’s about
the mass murder and mutilation of women around the world. Please, let’s
put our priorities in the right place.
****
And my response to it.
I'm
tired of people trying to ignore the fact that transwomen didn't start
the war between radfems and trans women. Radfems did in the 1970s. It
is radfems who went after trans women, viciously outed them in GL and
feminist circles, wrote papers to the
federal government in the early 80's that led to medical exclusions on
trans medical care in insurance polices and Medicare and Medicaid and
keep instigating and pushing the poisonous rhetoric that has led to far
too many non-white transwomen dying.. And now you're trying to expand
that poisonous anti-trans radfem BS internationally
You're
not victims and it's laughable to me as a trans person of color a bunch
of predominately white women are trying to claim they are being
'attacked, silenced and oppressed'; when this a natural reaction to what
has been done to transpeople by predominately white radfems gleefully
exercising their white female cis privilege since the 70's.
And
yes radfems, you are the oppressors. Passive-aggressive oppressors
with four decades of blood on your hands. I don't see radfems getting shot at, stabbed, involved in videotaped beatdowns or brutally killed year after depressing year or facing crushing unemployment or
underemployment because of radfems embedded in GL organizations fighting
the inclusion of gender identity in human rights legislation.
Oppressed
people get tired of being fracked with and eventually will strike back
against their oppressors. That's a historical fact. If you don't like
being called 'oppressors', 'radphlegms', 'white radfem womym gone wild',
et cetera, then stop the nekulturny four decade old oppressive behavior
that pisses trans women off or do you part to call out and stop the
people in your ranks who are gleefully engaged in it.
And
when I see radfems doing 40 years of good to HELP the trans community
in its just human rights struggle, maybe I'll change my opinion about
radical feminism and feminism in general.
