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Cont: Trans Women are not Women 4

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You're kidding, right?
https://www.rachelmckinnon.com/

I guess she's Veronica Ivy now.
https://veronicaivy.com/

Right, but what does that have to do with the original point? Is this trans woman someone of prominence that takes the position that lesbian women who won't date or have sex with trans women are bigots?

I see references that she has had some sparring online with TERFs, and on several occasions devolved to bickering. This is not what I asked about.

Trying to get EC to defend any of her positions is futility. I asked for examples of prominent trans activists, those that might enjoy support to indicate they speak for a significant portion of trans people, that take the fringe view that lesbian women must date trans women or be labeled bigots. In response, EC name drops this person with no explanation. I can't find anything from this person on the matter, and EC sure as hell didn't provide any context.

Seems like another attempt by EC to escape being called out on her hyperbolic, baseless comments by trying to change the subject to trans athletes or twitter bickering or whatever.
 
Is there actually an "anti-trans community?"
I'm not being facetious, here. What I mostly see are individuals who disagree to various degrees with various assertions that come from trans-activists. I suppose there are some groups who have platforms that you could classify as anti-trans.

I suspect a lot of those groups arose, not due to animosity to trans-people, but because they perceived the priorities of their previous groups to be shifting towards trans-activism.

If I were a supporter/member of the National Heart Association, I want them to put their resources towards education, outreach, and research regarding heart disease. If they decided to focus a significant portion of their efforts towards researching liver disease, I might be unhappy and perhaps form another group that is specifically for heart disease and not liver disease. And I might resent the liver disease people for successfully hijacking the platform of the NHA.

So I ask you, is it OK to have a group that focuses exclusively on the concerns of biological women? Is it ok to have a group that only focuses on sexuality (lg or lgb) issues? If not, why is it unacceptable for an organization to have a narrow focus?

These organizations aren't simply focused on the issues of women and silent on the matter of trans rights, they are explicitly opposed to trans rights.

Most take the position that trans existence is illegitimate. They treat every trans woman as a male pervert trying to invade their female spaces, and every trans man is misguided, mutilated woman bowing to the patriarchy.

I can't see any way in which these trans-exclusionary groups won't be in direct conflict with trans-inclusive LGBT and feminist activism. There's simply too much overlap in areas of operation and irreconcilable differences in desired outcomes.

So...the bigots on one side are insignificant and the things they say should be ignored, but the bigots on the other side are significant and meaningful?

What you seem to not understand is that it's a matter of perspective. It doesn't matter what the issue is, one always considers the fringe nutjobs near their own side to be harmless cranks and not worth discussing, while at the same time thinking that the fringe nutjobs on the other side are problematic and the other side needs to address/disavow/ or do...something...about them.

You don't watch YouTube much do you? There are a lot of channels devoted to this issue on YouTube, and they are very influential in influencing people's opinions. Unfortunately reasonable people don't draw hits. Novelty does. Outrageousness does. It's a world defined by shock jocks. Rational people are boring. (This is true for both sides.)

Even the mainstream media is tabloid media. Jessica Yaniv is a crank who gets attention because she's over the top outrageous. She's another sort of fringe in the trans community. The things she does make her visible and that visibility affects peoples opinions of the trans community (negatively).

My point is that loud voices, fringe or not, get heard and have influence. You can't really dismiss them without addressing them.

Ok. But only if the reverse is also true.

If people who push back on some points of trans-activism must disavow their fringe, then those who argue for the trans positions should also have to make it clear that the bigots on their side are unwelcome allies as well.

I mean, you wouldn't want to ally or make common cause with anti-lesbian bigots, would you?

And animus against lesbians who do not want to have sex with women with penises should also be a dealbreaker.

If one side must ostracize its bigots, then so must the other.

Is there any evidence that the broader trans community is making common cause with trolls like Yaniv? There's plenty of evidence of the trans community explicitly disavowing people like Yaniv. Numerous complaints about how her actions are making it more difficult for the broader public to take trans issues seriously and that she has had a deleterious impact on their activism. What more do you want from these people? It's not in their power to stop her, she's a pro se, frivolous litigant.

Yaniv is an interesting example because it shows exactly how reactionary, anti-trans people nutpick in order to advocate opposition to trans rights. Take the discourse over Canada passing C-16, which codified gender identity as a protected class into Canadian civil rights law.

Reactionaries like Peterson would claim, baselessly and often in clear bad faith, that such a law would result in criminalizing misgendering and the thought police would be at every doorstep rounding up those that refuse to cowtow to the SJWs. And the law passed. And the sky did not fall.

Then comes Yaniv and her frivolous lawsuits. Which failed, even though gender identity had been made a protected class. She was even ordered to pay recompense to those she dragged through the process (that impressed me because we have very little recourse against meritless lawsuits in the US). She absolutely did harm to the victims of her frivolous complaint, but, again, the doomsaying of the reactionary, anti-trans types was again proven false. She did lose her lawsuit, and while she can still continue to go on doing frivolous litigation, there's no indication that future legal stunts will be any more successful.

And yet these old tropes are still bandied about as if they haven't explicitly been debunked. C-16 is passed into law and trans people are being protected. The woke police never arrested Peterson. Yaniv couldn't force some salon worker to shave her balls. the sky is firmly above us still, and trans people have their civil rights protected. There has been no acknowledgement from the reactionaries when their wildly hyperbolic predictions never came to pass.




Emily has, in the course of these threads, made the observation that men and women are treated differently when they question some of the trans positions. I haven't been keeping score, so I can't say if she's right or wrong. But I recall she and I making essentially the same argument at one point where my point was addressed and hers dismissed. So I see where her viewpoint comes from.

The mistake you are making here is that you hear "women's opinions are dismissed," think it's absurd and dismiss it when you should be asking "Why does she feel that way?" That doesn't mean you have to agree with her points, but it does mean you should give them the respect of addressing them.

EmilyCat believes I am dismissive of her opinions because she is a woman, while I contend I am dismissive of her opinions because they are clearly rooted in animus and are not worthy of respect.

EC has repeatedly in this thread attempted to conflate the positions taken by these trans-exclusionary organizations as those taken by women more broadly. I have repeatedly pointed out that these TERF groups are in fact extremist groups, and that the majority of lesbian women are not threatened by the existence of trans people. In the split between LGBT groups and trans-exclusionary types, the latter is by all indications the smaller.

I am not dismissive of TERF positions because they are voiced by women, I am dismissive of TERF opinions because I reject the bastardized version of feminism they are rooted in. And so do the majority of feminsts and the queer community, who make up the most vocal opposition to these TERF viewpoints.
 
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Right, but what does that have to do with the original point? Is this trans woman someone of prominence that takes the position that lesbian women who won't date or have sex with trans women are bigots?

I see references that she has had some sparring online with TERFs, and on several occasions devolved to bickering. This is not what I asked about.

Trying to get EC to defend any of her positions is futility. I asked for examples of prominent trans activists, those that might enjoy support to indicate they speak for a significant portion of trans people, that take the fringe view that lesbian women must date trans women or be labeled bigots. In response, EC name drops this person with no explanation. I can't find anything from this person on the matter, and EC sure as hell didn't provide any context.

Seems like another attempt by EC to escape being called out on her hyperbolic, baseless comments by trying to change the subject to trans athletes or twitter bickering or whatever.

Rachel McKinnon (now Veronica Ivy) IS a prominent trans activist!

I also note once again, that you provide a civil response to TomB... while simultaneously insulting me and dismissing me out of hand.
 
Rachel McKinnon (now Veronica Ivy) IS a prominent trans activist!

I also note once again, that you provide a civil response to TomB... while simultaneously insulting me and dismissing me out of hand.

Indeed I have. The reason is not misogyny.
 
An article discussing the specific issue of why transphobic feminism and transphobic liberalism is unusually prevalent in the UK. It's a few years old, but as far as I can assess, it holds up. The Skeptics movement even gets a nod.

Graham Linehan, still on the warpath and not yet relegated to the internet backwaters, is mentioned, and so is the reactionary hellhole that is Mumsnet, where Linehan still haunts today.

Before long, though, certain members of the platform developed an obsession: that trans women aren’t actually women, and instead violent men intent on gaining access to women’s bathrooms, prisons, and domestic violence shelters to harm them, and the idea that gender self-identification is ripe for abuse by cis men who claim to be trans.

So it has been, so it shall always be. Pages and pages of trans panic on this forum going back years. Just retreading the same worn out trans-panic screeds forever.

I'm not sure I am convinced by this article's conclusion about why the UK is such a bastion of TERFdom, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

The articles point about the skeptic movement's near deification of STEM and vilification of the Humanities leading to massive blind spots on social issues is spot on.


https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic
 
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These organizations aren't simply focused on the issues of women and silent on the matter of trans rights, they are explicitly opposed to trans rights.

Most take the position that trans existence is illegitimate. They treat every trans woman as a male pervert trying to invade their female spaces, and every trans man is misguided, mutilated woman bowing to the patriarchy.

I can't see any way in which these trans-exclusionary groups won't be in direct conflict with trans-inclusive LGBT and feminist activism. There's simply too much overlap in areas of operation and irreconcilable differences in desired outcomes.
Do you have some links showing that this is the platform of those vaguely referenced organizations? And do you think that the females in this thread who have some concerns about the asks of TRAs are part of those specific organizations? Please provide some support for your claims.


Is there any evidence that the broader trans community is making common cause with trolls like Yaniv? There's plenty of evidence of the trans community explicitly disavowing people like Yaniv. ...

And yet these old tropes are still bandied about as if they haven't explicitly been debunked.
What point do you think Yaniv gets referenced for? It's clear that Yaniv is not representative of all trans people. Are you under the impression that I or anyone in this thread believes that Yaniv is the cookie-cutter version of a generic transwoman? If so, you are mistaken, and I believe you have missed the point.

EmilyCat believes I am dismissive of her opinions because she is a woman, while I contend I am dismissive of her opinions because they are clearly rooted in animus and are not worthy of respect.
They're not rooted in animus. Why is it that when certain points are made by a group of people who happen to have something in common (let's call them group A), you assume that they are rooted in animus and not worthy of respect... but when those exact same points are made by a different group of people who have a different thing in common, you do NOT assume malice on the part of that group, and you respond to them as if their views ARE worthy of respect and civility? And why does your response seem to so strongly correlate with the elements that distinguish group A from group B? Have you given any thought to that?

EC has repeatedly in this thread attempted to conflate the positions taken by these trans-exclusionary organizations as those taken by women more broadly. I have repeatedly pointed out that these TERF groups are in fact extremist groups, and that the majority of lesbian women are not threatened by the existence of trans people. In the split between LGBT groups and trans-exclusionary types, the latter is by all indications the smaller.
Lol, no. No ST. You haven't named any organizations at all. All you've done is take views expressed by myself and a few other natal women, and have deemed those views to be TERF views, then attacked our character and dismissed us out of hand. If information is presented to you from a source, you simply assume that those sources are TERF sources, and you stick by it.

I am not dismissive of TERF positions because they are voiced by women, I am dismissive of TERF opinions because I reject the bastardized version of feminism they are rooted in. And so do the majority of feminsts and the queer community, who make up the most vocal opposition to these TERF viewpoints.
And yet, when those positions are voiced by males, they are not called out as TERF positions, and you do not attack those male posters.

Additionally, you repeatedly dismiss any dissenting voices as being "fringe" and assume that they are simultaneously "not worth attention" and "dangerous" views. When you are presented with the views of lesbians who are dissatisfied with how they are being treated by the transwomen in their own communities, you simply dismiss them as TERFs and assume their views aren't valid. When you are presented with the views of natal women who surface valid concerns you simply dismiss them as TERFs and assume their views aren't valid.

It really does seem that your definition of "TERF" is highly subjective, and essentially boils down to "a view expressed by a female who disagrees with any aspect of the trans agenda".
 
An article discussing the specific issue of why transphobic feminism and transphobic liberalism is unusually prevalent in the UK. It's a few years old, but as far as I can assess, it holds up. The Skeptics movement even gets a nod.

Graham Linehan, still on the warpath and not yet relegated to the internet backwaters, is mentioned, and so is the reactionary hellhole that is Mumsnet, where Linehan still haunts today.



So it has been, so it shall always be. Pages and pages of trans panic on this forum going back years. Just retreading the same worn out trans-panic screeds forever.

I'm not sure I am convinced by this article's conclusion about why the UK is such a bastion of TERFdom, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

The articles point about the skeptic movement's near deification of STEM and vilification of the Humanities leading to massive blind spots on social issues is spot on.


https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic

So... your support here is an opinion piece that equates skepticism of homeopathy with transphobia?

ETA: And also consistently and repeatedly conflates sex and gender.
 
So... your support here is an opinion piece that equates skepticism of homeopathy with transphobia?

ETA: And also consistently and repeatedly conflates sex and gender.

I linked that article because I found it an interesting exploration on the particular phenomena of UK transphobia. It's a tangent, which is why I didn't quote anyone. it's not meant as a reply to anyone specifically.

Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it seems pretty clear that the UK has become an unusually hot front in the cultural battle between trans activists and trans exclusionary feminists. With the recent court battle to prohibit medical care for young trans people, the high profile UK folks like Rowling and Linehan becoming very public anti-trans voices, and so on. Seems like the UK is punching well above its weight on this cultural battle, and it seems only natural to wonder why.

I don't really think it's of any particular direct importance to the back-and-forth of the last few pages here, but it's tangentially related and I find it lays out the problem of UK transphobia quite clearly. It certainly lays it out more succinctly than I will ever be able to.

I too remain a bit dubious of the link between UK transphobia and the skeptics movement of the last decades, but it's an interesting opinion regardless.
 
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EmilyCat believes I am dismissive of her opinions because she is a woman, while I contend I am dismissive of her opinions because they are clearly rooted in animus and are not worthy of respect.

EC has repeatedly in this thread attempted to conflate the positions taken by these trans-exclusionary organizations as those taken by women more broadly. I have repeatedly pointed out that these TERF groups are in fact extremist groups, and that the majority of lesbian women are not threatened by the existence of trans people. In the split between LGBT groups and trans-exclusionary types, the latter is by all indications the smaller.

I am not dismissive of TERF positions because they are voiced by women, I am dismissive of TERF opinions because I reject the bastardized version of feminism they are rooted in. And so do the majority of feminsts and the queer community, who make up the most vocal opposition to these TERF viewpoints.

I mean, I am not any kind of feminist, and I don't have much interest in gender theory one way or another, but I have a number of concerns and a good deal of confusion over some of this "sex isn't real" type talk. And I have personally met at least two people (neither were trans themselves) who outright told me that genital preferences were transphobic, in no uncertain terms. I disagreed with that statement and had concerns about it. I'm not sure the stuff you're reacting to is as extreme as you claim. I don't hang out with radfems or activists - by the time these ideas get to me, they're on the fringe of the mainstream.

If I get categorized as a TERF for saying what I just said, then I give up on civil discussion as a concept entirely. We are talking about radical changes to language, thought, social structure, and conceptions of identity. It should be okay for people to ask questions and express objections while everyone sorts out these new ideas. Questioning those aspects of this issue does not equate to disrespect towards trans people. There are at least a few trans people on YouTube who have similar concerns, I believe.

Transwomen are women. Fine and dandy! Transwomen are female. Uh, if you say so, but not sure I'm clear on what the word's supposed to mean in that case. "Female" is a social construct. Now wait just a god damn minute. Transphobe! Aw, crap.
 
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I linked that article because I found it an interesting exploration on the particular phenomena of UK transphobia. It's a tangent, which is why I didn't quote anyone. it's not meant as a reply to anyone specifically.

Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it seems pretty clear that the UK has become an unusually hot front in the cultural battle between trans activists and trans exclusionary feminists. With the recent court battle to prohibit medical care for young trans people, the high profile UK folks like Rowling and Linehan becoming very public anti-trans voices, and so on. Seems like the UK is punching well above its weight on this cultural battle, and it seems only natural to wonder why.

I don't really think it's of any particular direct importance to the back-and-forth of the last few pages here, but it's tangentially related and I find it lays out the problem of UK transphobia quite clearly. It certainly lays it out more succinctly than I will ever be able to.

I too remain a bit dubious of the link between UK transphobia and the skeptics movement of the last decades, but it's an interesting opinion regardless.

On the other hand, I don't view the majority of it as being transphobic at all. There is, as you've noted, general support fortransgender people to present however they want to, use whatever bathroom they want, and to be able to live without discrimination. That's even true for some of the groups you've called out as "TERF" groups, like mumsnet and Women's Place UK, and Fair Play for Women.

The UK has been eye-opening for me, in part because they moved very quickly to embrace trans ideology... without stopping to consider the consequences on females. It really does point out some of the conflicts between what trans activists want as rights and the rights that females would lose through that process. And it highlights some of the problems with self-id alone as a means to gain legal standing as a woman.

It's been the UK that allowed self-identified transwomen, who had no medical intervention at all, to be placed in the female prison ward despite their records of violence... and that led to female prisoners being raped by a male-bodied transwoman. You, AGG, and London John have all expressed that you don't think that's a big deal, because men get raped in prison too, and it's a price you're willing to pay. Except it's not you paying that price, it's females paying that price. You've all three variously expressed that you don't think it's worth worrying about, it will "probably" happen only rarely... and besides, it's more important that transwomen in prisons get to be housed where they feel most comfortable. You disregard the safety issues involved, and you dismiss the concerns of females in this case, with no real thought or consideration given. Now, California has adopted that same approach.

It's been the UK where feminists and women who started out generally supportive of trans rights wanted to get together and discuss the impact of the proposed GRA revisions... and were silenced, threatened, and finally actually physically attacked by transwomen who didn't feel that women should have a right to discuss an issue that directly affects them. Even though several trans rights speakers were invited to take part so that attendees would have a full understanding of the issue, they declined, saying that the topic itself was transphobic and taboo.

It's been the UK that rapidly embraced the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children. The doctors at Tavistock were NOT applying appropriate clinical criteria for their diagnosis, were NOT following up on the side effects and impacts to those children. They took an "affirmation only" approach, and derided parents who had doubts about their child's very recently and rapidly developed sense of gender dysphoria. They prescribed blockers with only minimal time spent with the child. It's been the UK where a desister sued GIDS for having effectively pushed her down a transition path that she should not have been on because she was not genuinely dysphoric - now that she's undergone irreversible and permanent mutilation of her body, she can't get that back. And Keira Bell holds GIDs responsible for not having acted in HER best interests when she was a child.

You look at these events, and you interpret them as horribly transphobic. Thus, you see anyone* who agrees with those views as being irredeemably transphobic as well. I look at them, and I see a country that let good intentions get in the way of good sense, and is willing to sacrifice natal females and children in order to affirm a small minority of transgender people. I see a country that should serve as a warning to give more thought to this, to be considerate of the secondary impacts, and to try to find a solution that doesn't put other people at risk of harm or reduce the rights of others.


*Anyone, in this case, seems to very often be any females, but is very rarely any males. I happily invite you to either become more aggressive, rude, and insulting to the males in this thread... or to become less aggressive, rude, and insulting to the females in this thread.
 
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And I have personally met at least two people (neither were trans themselves) who outright told me that genital preferences were transphobic, in no uncertain terms.

That's definitely where the line is drawn for me - utterly nonsensical and exclusionary as hell. My gay mates are transphobic because they find vaginas revolting.

Genius.
 
It's been the UK that allowed self-identified transwomen, who had no medical intervention at all, to be placed in the female prison ward despite their records of violence... and that led to female prisoners being raped by a male-bodied transwoman. You, AGG, and London John have all expressed that you don't think that's a big deal, because men get raped in prison too, and it's a price you're willing to pay. Except it's not you paying that price, it's females paying that price. You've all three variously expressed that you don't think it's worth worrying about, it will "probably" happen only rarely... and besides, it's more important that transwomen in prisons get to be housed where they feel most comfortable. You disregard the safety issues involved, and you dismiss the concerns of females in this case, with no real thought or consideration given. Now, California has adopted that same approach.

This is why I don't treat you respectfully. This is a gross and willful misrepresentation of the position taken there and you know it.
 
This is why I don't treat you respectfully. This is a gross and willful misrepresentation of the position taken there and you know it.

:rolleyes: You've been treating me disrespectfully well before now. Don't try to use this as a veneer to shield your behavior.

Tell you what, why don't you clear up my misunderstanding on this? What view have you actually expressed with respect to fully intact, undiagnosed, self-identified transwomen being placed in female prison wards?
 
I mean, I am not any kind of feminist, and I don't have much interest in gender theory one way or another, but I have a number of concerns and a good deal of confusion over some of this "sex isn't real" type talk. And I have personally met at least two people (neither were trans themselves) who outright told me that genital preferences were transphobic, in no uncertain terms. I disagreed with that statement and had concerns about it.

And then again you get lots of people refusing to date trans people even if they have bottom surgery so it is often more than preferring certain genitals for sexual activity. Then it gets into things like how exacting can ones standards in partners genitals be, is say refusing to date anyone below 8" reasonable or bias?

People also love to debate as to if racial preferences like refusing to date blacks are in some way racist.
 
That's definitely where the line is drawn for me - utterly nonsensical and exclusionary as hell. My gay mates are transphobic because they find vaginas revolting.

Genius.

Then of course they date transwomen all the time as long as they have not had bottom surgery. It is genitals that matter to them after all so they should be happy with a penis even if it is on a woman. Thus proving they are not transphobes.
 
:rolleyes: You've been treating me disrespectfully well before now. Don't try to use this as a veneer to shield your behavior.

Tell you what, why don't you clear up my misunderstanding on this? What view have you actually expressed with respect to fully intact, undiagnosed, self-identified transwomen being placed in female prison wards?

It's an example of a general trend to willfully misrepresent my views. I have no interest in rehashing something from pages and pages ago. You refuse to be intellectually honest then, and will continue to do so now.

I am also confused by your most recent comment. Both Woman's Place UK and Fair Play for Women very much oppose trans people rights in regards to using restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Both groups seem consistent that trans women must be excluded by law from women only spaces. It's almost as if they are feminists, but trans exclusionary ones. If only there were a shorthand term for such things.

https://fairplayforwomen.com/male-free-toilets-and-changing-rooms/

https://womansplaceuk.org/2019/06/14/wpuk-toilets/

TERF groups do not want trans women in women's restrooms. They reject the entire concept of trans identity. They challenge any acceptance of trans identity if it means trans women will be treated as women in any meaningful way.
 
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