I've never been able to pin down where all this territoriality and and factionalism and arguing over semantics comes from: is it from long left-wing habit, or did it crawl out of some interdepartmental feud on campus? Anyway, as a trans woman I can say without hesitation: trans women are women with an asterisk. Because we lack the reproductive function, historical source of much of women's mercantile value and hence a specific target of oppression. We don't have that, but we have our own cross to bear that is distinct from what biological women are forced to carry. Women's rights and their violation are a vast topic, ours a small and specific one, because our numbers are comparatively few and because we have never not been marginal. But the thing to bear in mind at all times is that WE ARE HATED BY THE SAME PEOPLE. That fact should override any quibbling about the overlap between sex and gender.
I wish there was a term that everyone could agree on, like "African Americans" or "People of Color" or whatever...some inclusive, PC-friendly term like Women Plus or something - that could refer to transwomen respectfully so we can throw them off our volleyball teams for being too awesome, and give them their own volleyball team in a way that doesn't further marginalize or insult or whatever. That's the only sticky wicket from the perspective of my ass.
Or we could just skip the whole gender issue and talk about humans. The Finnish language doesn't have masculine or feminine pronouns. Everyone is neutral. In Portugal, women have decided to have a child or two, not necessarily by the same man, and they refuse to marry, but can legally demand child support if they can provide DNA. They argue, what's the use? The marriage laws are medievil. The boys grow up to.go to war and get killed, and even then, there aren't enough jobs for all the girls to grow into.
Agreed agreed agreed! I don’t want a fucking pussy hat, I want the asshats ruining the lives of at least half the humans on earth to have their mouths glued shut.
And while I’m at it, I want feminists to shut the ever-lovin fuck up with their bashing on trans women, because I couldn’t care 1 cent less if one defines them as ‘real’ women, women with an asterisk, non-biological women, or women whose transitions sound a helluva lot harder than just waking up all bloody one morning; however you qualify it, they’re still women like every other person lucky enough to be born with lady parts, and I think this dog whistling misdirection is a big part of why we don’t have a competent feminist movement these days.
Like could we focus on something important for once? No, we can’t, because everything can and often does get worse, and the general disintegration of democracy, community, common shared discourse, and oh right the planet has distracted us all to the point that even ‘feminists’ can’t pull their heads out long enough to stop arguing about what a woman is and actually do one fucking thing about this obscenity of a fucking ‘law.’
I am SO with you on this. At 66 years old, I really didn't think we'd be going here again. Yet, here we are. And then that rat-face puke molester of adolescents, Matt Gaetz, derides all pro-choice protesters as too ugly to need an abortion (get it -- too ugly to f*ck), and he is not even run out on a rail. How is this even possible? To quote an ex-mother-in-law, "My nerves and all, my nerves and all. I need to take a Tylenol."
The crowd of Republican Christian Fascists really needs to be sent somewhere else...like Greenland, where they can burn books and have jackboot marches. Somewhere they can run the social order like the FLDS and have plural marriages. Just....far away from here.
Thank you for this plaint. The left in general has a terrible time getting out of its own way, to the point of responding to emergencies like the Three Stooges trying to cram through a doorway. (I think I may be stealing that image from you?) Until women can unite around a core goal, as Robin said, we'll just continue squabbling about feminutia in our separate corners, unable to take on our real opponents.
Hi! I’ve been reading a bunch of your posts—excellent writing!! Thanks for this post and acknowledging what you don’t know and asking for advice. I get what you mean about feminists being “attack-y.” I will do my best to not be. You see, I think the reason this happens is because we (as women/womxn) are constantly put down and disenfranchised—especially by other women. I want to point out that trans women are women, are actual women, and are valid as women. Someone’s gender identity isn’t up for you or anyone else to decide. And in light of recent anti trans legislation being passed at alarming rates, it’s especially important for feminists to act as allies for the trans and lgbtqia+ community. I am open to questions about trans-ness because I’d love to help you understand anything that you’re confused about.
If we women were fewer, we would have more clout. Overpopulation has diluted our worth. Just as after every war, when the smaller number of men increases their value; the computerization of jobs has evaporated the need for real jobs for women as well as window dressing jobs in offices.
Yes, yes, yes to every word. I even sat my husband and son down and read this to them. Not because they can’t read, but because it wouldn’t have come up in their respective bubble doom scrolling. I’m broken hearted by what’s going on in the feminist world.
This is the art of war: divide and conquer. Pit women against women and your average male successfully maintains a comfortable existence at the top of his little tree. But the planet is in its death throes so really it is perhaps banal to be even complaining.
Agree. The more divisive everything continues to become, the less chance for meaningful change. The opposite of that would be solidarity movements - putting a core goal front and center and not getting ensnared in the micro-details and minutia... The true revolutionary people have figured that out in the past.
So true. To paraphrase the song in your title “ life is a well thumbed machine”…Haven’t we already been through all of this ?
Many people seem to have lost their stamina to fight, others are too busy participating in the burgeoning olympic sport of being triggered and offended by everything, thus leaving a depleted army… so, it is more important than ever to be unrelenting. Perhaps you are the new leader?
I’m not yelling at you, I’m screaming with you!
Right on! This stuff needs to be participatory, not exclusionist.
I've never been able to pin down where all this territoriality and and factionalism and arguing over semantics comes from: is it from long left-wing habit, or did it crawl out of some interdepartmental feud on campus? Anyway, as a trans woman I can say without hesitation: trans women are women with an asterisk. Because we lack the reproductive function, historical source of much of women's mercantile value and hence a specific target of oppression. We don't have that, but we have our own cross to bear that is distinct from what biological women are forced to carry. Women's rights and their violation are a vast topic, ours a small and specific one, because our numbers are comparatively few and because we have never not been marginal. But the thing to bear in mind at all times is that WE ARE HATED BY THE SAME PEOPLE. That fact should override any quibbling about the overlap between sex and gender.
That works for me. Lovely to see you, esteemed Lucy, on my humble Substacks! Thank you for your exceptional input! Love to you!
I wish there was a term that everyone could agree on, like "African Americans" or "People of Color" or whatever...some inclusive, PC-friendly term like Women Plus or something - that could refer to transwomen respectfully so we can throw them off our volleyball teams for being too awesome, and give them their own volleyball team in a way that doesn't further marginalize or insult or whatever. That's the only sticky wicket from the perspective of my ass.
Or we could just skip the whole gender issue and talk about humans. The Finnish language doesn't have masculine or feminine pronouns. Everyone is neutral. In Portugal, women have decided to have a child or two, not necessarily by the same man, and they refuse to marry, but can legally demand child support if they can provide DNA. They argue, what's the use? The marriage laws are medievil. The boys grow up to.go to war and get killed, and even then, there aren't enough jobs for all the girls to grow into.
Men like to put us against each other: divide and conquer.
Agreed agreed agreed! I don’t want a fucking pussy hat, I want the asshats ruining the lives of at least half the humans on earth to have their mouths glued shut.
And while I’m at it, I want feminists to shut the ever-lovin fuck up with their bashing on trans women, because I couldn’t care 1 cent less if one defines them as ‘real’ women, women with an asterisk, non-biological women, or women whose transitions sound a helluva lot harder than just waking up all bloody one morning; however you qualify it, they’re still women like every other person lucky enough to be born with lady parts, and I think this dog whistling misdirection is a big part of why we don’t have a competent feminist movement these days.
Like could we focus on something important for once? No, we can’t, because everything can and often does get worse, and the general disintegration of democracy, community, common shared discourse, and oh right the planet has distracted us all to the point that even ‘feminists’ can’t pull their heads out long enough to stop arguing about what a woman is and actually do one fucking thing about this obscenity of a fucking ‘law.’
Rant over, love your work!
I love your rant!! Thank you Nina!
Bam! You nailed it.
We are, all of us, missing leaders. Somehow leader has been confused with celebrity. Thanks for this.
Thank you, JD! As soon as I can figure out how to recommend you back, it's DONE!
I am SO with you on this. At 66 years old, I really didn't think we'd be going here again. Yet, here we are. And then that rat-face puke molester of adolescents, Matt Gaetz, derides all pro-choice protesters as too ugly to need an abortion (get it -- too ugly to f*ck), and he is not even run out on a rail. How is this even possible? To quote an ex-mother-in-law, "My nerves and all, my nerves and all. I need to take a Tylenol."
The crowd of Republican Christian Fascists really needs to be sent somewhere else...like Greenland, where they can burn books and have jackboot marches. Somewhere they can run the social order like the FLDS and have plural marriages. Just....far away from here.
Thank you for this plaint. The left in general has a terrible time getting out of its own way, to the point of responding to emergencies like the Three Stooges trying to cram through a doorway. (I think I may be stealing that image from you?) Until women can unite around a core goal, as Robin said, we'll just continue squabbling about feminutia in our separate corners, unable to take on our real opponents.
That really drives me crazy, because women undermining each other is the whole desired effect of the patriarchy. Work together ye wenches.
Hi! I’ve been reading a bunch of your posts—excellent writing!! Thanks for this post and acknowledging what you don’t know and asking for advice. I get what you mean about feminists being “attack-y.” I will do my best to not be. You see, I think the reason this happens is because we (as women/womxn) are constantly put down and disenfranchised—especially by other women. I want to point out that trans women are women, are actual women, and are valid as women. Someone’s gender identity isn’t up for you or anyone else to decide. And in light of recent anti trans legislation being passed at alarming rates, it’s especially important for feminists to act as allies for the trans and lgbtqia+ community. I am open to questions about trans-ness because I’d love to help you understand anything that you’re confused about.
If we women were fewer, we would have more clout. Overpopulation has diluted our worth. Just as after every war, when the smaller number of men increases their value; the computerization of jobs has evaporated the need for real jobs for women as well as window dressing jobs in offices.
Super post - painting off the charts
Yes, yes, yes to every word. I even sat my husband and son down and read this to them. Not because they can’t read, but because it wouldn’t have come up in their respective bubble doom scrolling. I’m broken hearted by what’s going on in the feminist world.
This is the art of war: divide and conquer. Pit women against women and your average male successfully maintains a comfortable existence at the top of his little tree. But the planet is in its death throes so really it is perhaps banal to be even complaining.
Well, that does sound airlessly cynical.
Agree. The more divisive everything continues to become, the less chance for meaningful change. The opposite of that would be solidarity movements - putting a core goal front and center and not getting ensnared in the micro-details and minutia... The true revolutionary people have figured that out in the past.
It feels really desperate to me right now, on the female front. They've all been deep fried in patriarchy.
So true. To paraphrase the song in your title “ life is a well thumbed machine”…Haven’t we already been through all of this ?
Many people seem to have lost their stamina to fight, others are too busy participating in the burgeoning olympic sport of being triggered and offended by everything, thus leaving a depleted army… so, it is more important than ever to be unrelenting. Perhaps you are the new leader?
I doubt it. I don't have a soapbox or a bullhorn.
Oh?