Nothing Feminist about Bigots

[JI7]

Trans rights are now where women's rights or gay rights were a generation ago, in terms of what people feel able to say and still feel self-righteous. So, we need to think ourselves back in time. If you're the kind of person who says "Trans women are not real women", a generation ago that would have been you denying the womanhood of lesbians or women who don't have children. If you think that trans women should not be allowed into public toilets, you would have been that moron shouting, "Backs to the wall, lads" any time a gay man walked by.

Single-sex spaces also include prisons, where generation-ago-you would have been worried about the dangers the odd openly gay man would pose to all those poor straight guys. Arguing that trans women belong in men's prisons leads to cases such as those of Vicky Thompson, 21, who was found dead in a men's prison last year, and Ashley Diamond, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after she claims she was repeatedly sexually assaulted for three years in a men's prison in the United States.

The above cases are real, whereas in the hypothetical case of a man who suddenly announces he is a transgender woman the minute he is convicted of rape, a judge should, of course, consider that when sentencing. At which point, the anti-trans lobby usually say, "Ah, but how do they know they're really female/male?" Well, how do you know you're really the gender you are? Because of your genitals? I have had people try to tell me that, as a woman, I am essentially just a body part (or pair of body parts), but never until now has that person been a feminist!

Finally, "I'm entitled to my opinion". You can hold the opinion that all trans people are mauve for all I care, but if you support legislation to deny healthcare, legal support or other basic human rights to mauve people then we have a problem. Please, feminists, listen to yourselves ... then listen to Jeremy Clarkson and realise that you sound the same. Transphobia is not feminist; it is about as patriarchal as it comes. And if you really want to talk about men's violence against women, who do you think is beating up all those trans women — other women? Meanwhile, while you're busy Googling for evidence that trans people are rapists in disguise, men are still raping women. And, by the way, you are a bigot. Equality means for everybody, not just for women exactly like you.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/columns/views/Nothing-feminist-about-bigots/articleshow/50797285.cms