My but what a fascinating education I’ve got recently.
My recent reblog about a trans lesbian being treated rather poorly by a cis lesbian, blah blah blah, let’s all be nice to each other (Cliff Notes version) … Well, the auto-twit about it got replied to by a group/blog – I’m still working out just who/what this is – @GIDwatch (sensitive and kind hearted souls may wish not to follow that link) calling me a “rapey prick pushing #cottonceiling”. I had to look up cotton ceiling which lead me to discover a phenomena known as radical feminists, which after discussing it with friends I learnt was actually something else called “rad fem”. It’s apparently rather rude of those women to spell the words out since, it would seem, they’re typically not very nice at all and the people who’d been known as radical feminists first want nothing to do with them.
Wow, these women are … something. Ever seen PCU? You know the Womynists (or is it Wymenists? Whatever)? Yeah, I get the impression some of these women saw it, and didn’t realise that it was a joke.
It seems to be a sort of misogynist AND misandrist group of phallophobics.
No, really, I’m trying to be nice, but follow the logic they seem to use: All men are rapists, because [somehow] having a penis makes you a rapist. Also they are adamant that possession of a penis, or the former possession of one, or having a Y chromosome regardless of anything else makes you a man and … I don’t know, maybe now you’ve got some kind of ghost penis – I couldn’t really follow some of that argument if my life depended upon it. Essentially trans women aren’t women to the extent that they fight very hard against trans rights (they seem to be quite unaware of the existence of trans men).
The misandry is pretty covered by that.
Now the misogyny. All women are victims and should hide from men. Not the exact words, but essentially the root of their arguments. See, they don’t seem to realise that women are the equals of men and can stand up to them, can prevent rape, etc. Which is more misandry, they’re the sort that hurt ending this ‘rape culture’ they like to go on about by perpetuating it in all the worst ways, as they believe that only men can rape (or seem to at any rate, which is just as bad really); and by absolving everyone of responsibility – their arguments are dangerous for both sides because they give the women the idea that their being raped is inevitable, and the men are given an excuse to believe that they just can’t help it and it’s part of their nature so they may as well …
As an author I love to learn things about people. This is the first time since reading about what the Nazis, Spanish Inquisition, and Salem witch hunts got up to that I rather regretted the discovery.
I really wish I could understand what makes these women so afraid, and so hateful. Were they, perhaps, raped or molested? Are they just bitter and petty by nature? I wish I could think more charitable things about them, but their words are just that: bitter hateful, cruel. They are so harsh to men, and to trans women, to women who should dare to speak in favour of those two groups, etc.
And this just in: YES they DO believe that only men can rape. They replied to a twit I made. Fascinating. And their rationale for this does seem to indicate a phallophobic attitude. Again, fascinating.
Frankly, I feel that things like this really hurt feminism on a couple of grounds. First off, by being your stereotypical man hating feminazi by the definitions of those who hate feminists you legitimise the criticisms of feminism. Secondly there’s the aforementioned dangers in belittling women as unable to protect themselves, and in belittling men into mindless rape machines but barely contained by aught but the diligence of women. You hurt the men who are raped and trying to seek justice, or the women raped by women who might be trying to do the same.
Hatred and the denial of the rights of others is no way to have power; it’s how to shed power. If you fear a thing, that thing controls you. If you fear not a thing, it has no power over you. Love is a tool that lets you share in power – any control that someone or some group you love has over you is given freely by yourself because it means you respect and trust.
To love your trans sister is simply to respect her. You don’t have to like that she has a penis; you certainly don’t have to have sex with her! That’s the voluntary control. You allow her to tell you who she is and you give her the control of that by accepting who she is and show her the love and support she needs (remember, oppressed groups really ought to stand together).
Let’s look at history. At slave societies, especially the one of the American South just before the civil war.
Who was actually in control there?
On the surface it would seem to be the slave owners. They certainly were on paper, and they had the guns and educations, etc. So obviously they’re the answer, aren’t they? Yes, sort of, to a point.
See, they feared the slaves – some of them. Those who respected the slaves had less fear; not no fear, just less. See by respecting them, and some did so just keep with me on this as explaining that would be a very long post by itself, that group of slave owners had the respect of their slaves. With that respect was a lessening of the fear of rebellion and uprising, BUT they still had to fear the slaves of those disrespectful slave owners.
The disrespectful slave owners were in terrible fear. They were outnumbered something fierce by a bunch of people who were, by necessity, in pretty damned good shape and who might have known the terrain pretty damned well within a certain range, and who by necessity probably were better suited to survive in it than the owners.
Fear is why the slave owners tried so hard to oppress the slaves. That fear ruled them.
Slave revolts in the ancient world were less common. This is due to “slavery” being a rather different thing there, something far closer to an indentured servitude, for one thing. Still they were slaves, and property. But they did often have respect. They could earn wages; they were sometimes the doctors or lawyers; their status as slave brought protections that some enjoyed and others chafed at the lack of freedom, but could buy their freedom since they were allowed to have money … Rome didn’t tend to fear its slaves until it adopted a model not so different from the American south.
Slavery is stupid. Seriously. No human should ever own another for any reason and in any capacity. The point of the history lesson is to show that we have to respect one another. Right now LGBTQ and women are like the slaves. Society has laws in place to hold us down to deny and reject who and what we are and to oppress that. We’re chiselling away at that, but it’s there, little by little the members of the community and their family, friends, and supporters. The fight is fought by those who are first class citizens – our underground railroad, so to speak, if we wish to carry the slavery comparison – as well as by the second class and downtrodden. That’s important, too. LGBTQ need the straights and the cis, because together the numbers may or may not be equal, but it’s not like the slave owners with the clear advantage of numbers going to the slaves – in a democratic world we have to respect each other and that class of the people around us who might see as ‘the enemy’.
It’s fine in a political campaign to say as you will about Communism, or Democrats, Republicans, Populists, etc. That’s the point of political campaigns (though, even there, more might get accomplished if there was more and better mutual respect between parties and voters – mud slinging clouds issues and wastes time that could be spent on real solutions). But when fighting for rights, when fighting for acceptance, we need to look around to see who out friends are. Women are 51% of the population, as I recall, but I believe that’s world-wide. There’re parts of Amereica, for examples, where we are in fact a minority. And 51% is not a big advantage; we, therefore, should embrace and cherish those men who would stand with us and say “these women deserve respect, equality, etc” rather than pushing them away with cries of “rapists”. After all, love is not sex; a lesbian can love a man as her brother, as her equal, as her friend … that love need not be romantic and sexual, that’s clearly for some lucky woman somewhere.
Trans, bi, it doesn’t matter.
“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
I don’t care if you’re Christian or not … I’m not. Doesn’t change that it’s a good concept. Love that which you feel is divinity, and love your neighbour.
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
Is another good one.
I think I’ve wandered down a tangent.
Back to the point I’d wanted to make: I didn’t know what a rad fem was, now I do and wish I didn’t. I’d like to think they were doing something positive, but they rather strike me as a sort of anti-male KKK analogue as I simply cannot find anything in their comments and essays that speak otherwise; they don’t even empower or support women in any meaningful and positive way! I’m saddened by that, just as neo-nazis, Klansmen, and other groups whose foundations are built in hatred and fear … until they find love and joy they can’t know peace, and fear and hatred are anathema to love, joy and peace … thing is, if you can find them, love, joy, and peace are often far more powerful and can rather banish the hatred and fear. It’s one thing to dislike; several of them seem to be lesbians, so fine they’re not crazy about men and penises – to each her own – but dislike and hatred are different things, dislike is a preference whereas hatred is a desire for harm.
My … I can get rather preachy when I’m riled about something, can’t I? I suppose there’s more of myself in Lauren’s character than I tend to realise.
Not that this is a unique problem to People, but this article is a perfect example of a pernicious issue in the way trans* people are discussed in the media or even by the people around us.
Jaye Em Edgecliff 