Mar 02 2023
aurora linnea on Ekman’s “On the Meaning of Sex”
An excellent review of an excellent book here.
And because a link isn’t anywhere near sufficient …
“On the Meaning of Sex reads like a forensic dissection, its forty concise chapters taking apart the corpus of transgender ideology piece by piece. No fallacy-wrapped riddle of a paradox is spared the nick of Ekman’s scalpel as she slits open all the standard trans talking points to point out the lethal flaws ulcerating their logic. The supposedly “progressive” return to retrograde Barbie-vs.-G.I. Joe sex-role stereotypes. “Overcoming” the gender binary through the reinforcement of a binary, dualistic gender system, the entrenchment of masculinity and femininity as the mainstays of human selfhood. The redefinition of biological reality (sex) as a “social construct” and of a social construct (gender) as a naturally occurring “reality.” Expunging essentialism by establishing gender as an “essence” emergent from one’s pink or blue brain. “Believing the science” of the scientifically unsubstantiated pink/blue brain theory. Individuality through conformity, corralling the “incongruent” individual into alignment with social norms. Being your True Self by changing yourself, by imitating others, trying to become something you are not. Self-acceptance through the rejection of your own body. Self-care through the infliction of self-harm through breast-binding or chronic-pain-inducing elective surgeries. Authenticity through artifice. Diversity through manufactured sameness. Transforming an oppressive culture by preserving that culture’s most foundational structures. Rebellion through compliance. Inclusivity through exclusion. Tolerance through violent threats against dissenters. Smashing patriarchy by re-centering men and demonizing women, courtesy of a “feminism” that prioritizes male feelings and desires. The lionization of men who pretend to be women by presenting themselves as caricatures of pornified, infantilized femininity, while white people who pretend to be black are condemned—and the slightest equivalency between the two practices is furiously denied. The “cis privilege” of women and girls to endure systematic birth-to-death, sex-based disenfranchisement, exploitation, and abuse. And then there is the refrain that echoes through our aching skulls: “Trans women” are women! Yes, “trans women” are exactly like other women in every single way, but also they must be acknowledged specifically, because to lump them in with other women would be to ignore their unique “marginality.” Men who say they are women are like other women in every single way, except more deserving of attention. They are also more womanly than “cis” women could ever dream of being, and more oppressed under patriarchy. But even these claims will be upended by the time we lurch, heads spinning, to the final analysis, when it is concluded that women do not, in any meaningful way, actually exist.”
Feb 25 2023
One way to deal with it (sexism) (in science this time)
“When I go to a venture-capital group of only men,” Nacy said, “I do most of the speaking, and my chief business officer and I watch faces. If they’re incredulous about something I’ve said, he’ll repeat the same thing—and then it’ll be just fine.”
Read the whole article here.
Feb 24 2023
Women’s Work, Kari Aguila
An interesting novel, worth the read!
“Think about how different our world is going to be when this generation of boys grows up, having been allowed to grow into whole, good, decent men. Nobody is going to tell them that they have to go through life being some stupid caricature of masculinity anymore. They can talk about feelings and beauty and love, and still be respected. We haven’t taken away your freedom, we’ve given it to you. You should be thanking us.” p127
Feb 20 2023
“A disagreeable reality …” – aurora linnea
“A disagreeable reality of the patriarchal society in which we live is that, lacking a proactive effort to overturn male supremacy, when men and women come together in groups, the men rise to power. They take over, and what was supposed to be shared territory becomes just one more zone of patriarchy. This is because men have more money and greater cultural clout and because men are accustomed to being in control, while women are used to being secondary and subordinate and also to serving men. Men are socialized to lead, women to submit to male leadership. The result is that men’s values prevail. A male agenda dominates.” aurora linnea, “Pride: Corporate Patriarchy’s Celebration in the Streets”
Well-put. And a great argument for separatism.
Feb 19 2023
Homophobia – great quote
“Homophobia is not actually straight men being afraid of gay men. It’s straight men afraid of any man treating them like they treat a woman.” quoted in Manifest: Transitional Wisdom on Male Privilege as a viral cartoon
Feb 16 2023
Well-put, Charlotte Knowles
“Women need to recognize that their husband refusing to do any childcare, cleaning, or cooking is not just a result of ‘cultural differences’, it’s a result of him being an arsehole.”
“Living the Life of the Mind: General Strike? What About a Gendered Strike!?” Charlotte Knowles, The Philosophers’ Magazine 98 (2022)
Feb 15 2023
How to Negotiate a Raise (if you’re a woman)
Brilliant piece at McSweeney’s: How to Negotiate a Raise (if you’re a woman)
Feb 10 2023
“And I’ve had enough.” Speech by Sarah Field
“If you cannot define women, then you cannot defend them.”
“Its purpose [meeting of Leeds City Council] was not to tell Trans people what is best for them, but to tell politicians and lawmakers what is best for women.”
“And I’ve had enough.”
“So to be clear: men in this city can access a woman’s changing facility, toilet, leisure facility or support group or service – anywhere they are vulnerable, traumatised, undressed or asleep – because men might at some point feel like they are something which the council says is indefinable, but might mean he once wore something which may or may not be something a woman might also wear.”
“… several men out on the street openly watching pornography in their cars as women stumbled to them to be used and discarded for a fiver. During the day I was approached by punters three times in 10 minutes while simply standing by a car for some fresh air at 2pm. We are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds so men can buy the addicted bodies of the most vulnerable women in the city.”
“I’m often asked how I would feel if I was born in the wrong body. And I say, I’ve been feeling like that every single day for as long as I can remember. You only have to go into a shop, turn on the TV, open a magazine, click on the internet and women are assaulted with GET A BIKINI BODY, 12 WEEKS UNTIL YOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY BODY, GET THE BODY YOU DREAM OF, THE BODY OF SOMEONE 20 YEARS YOUNGER, THE BODY YOU DESERVE. Botox, surgery, hair removal, Photoshop, permanent makeup, designer vagina. We get it.”
“I’m truly sorry for any man who feels imprisoned and tortured by masculinity. But that is something for men to deconstruct, to dismantle and to overthrow. … But it is not the moral duty of women to facilitate that.
Read the whole thing here.
Feb 05 2023
MacKinnon on free speech – so very astute
“The free speech of men silences the free speech of women.”
from Feminism Unmodified (1987)
Feb 05 2023
The Brilliant Monty Python on trans …
And to think they said all this over 40 years ago. Yup. 1979.
fiction
