Women are the class of adult human females. Females are the members of a sexually dimorphous species that are biologically built for gestating and nursing offspring. Period.

Vagina-centric feminism acknowledges this, and acknowledges that our oppression is primarily based on the biological fact of our being the ones to gestate and nurse offspring.This is absolutely the bottom line. Transgender is based in individual head-space (which can't be socially moderated) while biological realities of sex are mediated in this physical universe.

Our "feelings" don't make us women, our identification as women or our socially-accepted behavior doesn't make us women... our BODIES of the female sex make us women.
No matter what one feels or believes, if a trans-person's skeleton was anonymously exhumed, they would be "clocked" as their natal sex regardless of what surgeries, hormones, clothes the person had altered themselves with during life.

Being a Woman is a bio-psycho-social experience that Male to Transwomen just will not ever have. No amount of androgen blockers and estrogen will change that. They will never know the lived experience of Women, just as Female to Transmen will never really know the bio-psycho-social experience of Men. (And BTW, our bodies are a complex stew of hormones at various levels; we are not analogues with the sole difference between male and female being just E or T.)

People whose bodies had penises at any point in their lives ARE NOT WOMEN, regardless of their manner of dress, behaviors, preferences, or feelings. To say otherwise gives credence to the sex-based stereotypes that women have fought for so long to be rid of.

We don't "identify" as women - we want to have our unique biology be acknowledged while being free to have identities that aren't dependent upon our biology. Many of us feel that people "identifying" as women/men discount the biological facts that make us who we are, and therefore erase the realities both sexes experience because of our biology. We would like to see everyone free to express their masculinity or femininity without needing to appropriate the other sex.

To believe otherwise, that you can be a different sex by identifying as such, in many cases re-opens the pathways to sex-based oppression that we have been making incremental progress in eliminating:

Title IX was established so that women could participate in sport equally to men, while acknowledging that our bodies make it so that participating WITH men is inherently unfair. Saying that men can be women, co-opts this carve-out and renders it meaningless when people born male compete in women's sports. Trans women who couldn't reach top tanks competing with men, are pushing natal women off podiums all over the place.

Saying that "people" get pregnant and not women, harms protections against pregnancy discrimination because pregnancy is not legally considered an illness or disability. Protections against pregnancy discrimination are based in laws against sex discrimination... but if both men and women can get pregnant, then there is no longer a sex-basis for this discrimination.

There is an additional slippery-slope here, also, to erasing progress against other oppression based on someone's physical personhood. The law states that prejudice is only discrimination if it is based on someone's "immutable characteristics" - if sex-change is possible, then sex-based discrimination becomes impossible. The fact that there are a number of trans people who 'detransition' should make it clear that transness is not immutable.

Consider also that there are biological markers to identify male vs female down to the DNA level, but there are no such markers for "race," meaning that racial identity cannot be contradicted by biology, unlike transness which can be contradicted.

Why then, cannot Rachel Dolezal be black? She had the cosmetic procedures done, was living as a black person in a black family, and worked to advance the cause of colored people. She wasn't raised as black, but sure identified as such, AND she has nothing in her biology that would contradict her identity.

If biological markers mean nothing then trans-species, and trans-age are also possible.

In short - Vagina-centered-feminism is correct, while trans(anything) ideology is fantasy.

KA-BOOM!

Wow, borntoryde, fuck you and your backwards rad fem, trans exclusive vision of feminism.

These are the same bullshit arguments that men used to use as to why women can't vote. "Well scientifically their brains are smaller" blah fucking blah. You are being closed mined, conservative, anti progressive, and just downright mean.

You obviously don't know what it feels like to not align with your assigned gender. Must be fucking nice.

Also, why the fuck are you talking about skeletons? Trans people want to be recognized as who they are while they are alive and will actually experience it. I don't think any trans person gives a fuck about a theoretical scientist looking at their bones at some point in the future. Seriously, what? They just want to live their lives and be happy and we should all encourage that.

Are we critiquing women's fashion choices at the protest? Cool, we never get tired of people ignoring the issue and focusing on what we wore.

Wow.
1) The woman in the picture that you decided to publicly dissect is a friend of mine. I marched with her on Saturday. She's as worried and disturbed as the rest of us about our new fascist President and the threats he poses to all of us, but especially to vulnerable minorities who are already being targeted.
2) There is a certain tone-deafness going on here. I'm sure you all remember that there is video footage of misogynist-supreme Donald Trump saying "grab 'em by the pussy". Wearing a t-shirt at a protest that says "This pussy grabs back" is in direct, ironic reference to that now very infamous video. You can say that humor, sarcasm, and irony have no place in protest, but many of us would disagree. I appreciate that you'd much prefer to believe that this woman dressed as a vagina at the Women's march to announce to the world "only persons with a vagina count as women," but I suspect you know it's not true. You're just using her as your whipping post to go on a smug, self-righteous rant.
3) Finally, a really disturbing fascist is the President of the United States now. He's going to do terrible, awful things. I'm not sure how we're going to stop him, but I'm betting that beating up a liberal straight woman for not having 'proper' gender politics isn't going to be a winning strategy. If this is our strategy, then we can all just pick up this conversation again once we're interned in the camps.

Not really a fan of the low quality writing lately both in the Merc and on Blogtown, but I'll try to be constructive. 3 things:

1. Vagina, vulva, uterus, ovary, penis, testicle: none of these are 'secondary sex characteristics' as you refer to them in this blog post. They are actually legit 'sex organs', by definition.

2. The term 'gender' refers to masculinity and femininity, sometimes with regard to social roles and sometimes with regard to grammar. It does not refer to 'male'/'man' or 'female'/woman, or any other biological variant. In 1993 the FDA decided to start using the term 'gender' to replace 'biological sex', which basically helped enable a quarter-century of perpetual conflation of terms, and did fuckall to help anyone, ever. In 2011 they reversed this decision; gender once again is a social referent, which means it exists in your head again, like race, and pokemon.

3. Intersectional Feminism is inherently individualist in focus, which indicates that it is only associated with collective empowerment in an abstract, theoretical manner, if at all. If it is a given that the purpose of feminist polemics is to organize, advocate and empower women using political power, then the adoption of an elite-only variant of individualist feminism is inherently contradictory. Intersectional Feminism and Corporate/Carceral Feminism are the same thing: a boondoggle.

mental cases all of you. Sad state of affairs that this is what the 'left' is digussing. Wonder why they lost the elections across the US.

Did you mean "correct your friends"? I don't understand the "collect your friends" reference.

Have you actually spoken to anyone in the trans community? It sure doesn't sound like it to me. i was at the march, with my best friend who is a transwoman. Guess what? She was ecstatic to be there, to be a part of our voice. She couldn't have been happier with all of the silly hats & the glorious vaginas parading around. And it was she who, with embarrassment & anger, showed me several articles over the next couple of days written by angry transwomen who were upset that they weren't the center of attention at a women's march. Her anger was at the fact that these lone voices were being represented as THE voice of the trans community, much like far-right xtians are treated as THE voice of the christian community. She was angry because these few people not only did not speak for her or anyone that she knows, but the power that people like this author give them actually creates huge problems in her day to day life.
But, hell, maybe she is different. She has been living as a woman since she was a young teen. She has not had a lifetime of living as a man, with all of that pesky male privilege. You know, the kind that is threatened when women raise their Voice, when women & our power are given a real voice. When we talk about our bodies & refuse to be silent. Who absolutely cannot stand when strong women are center stage, not men. What this author is doing, in the name of liberal equality or some such thing, is actually supporting the silencing of women's expression of power & freedom by male bodied people. And you are NOT helping trans people with this narrative. What you get instead is the attitude expressed in the first comment.
We Women will not allow our voices to be silenced, by anyone. We will NOT stop talking about our bodies & our rights. We will NOT erase ourselves, our language, because it makes men & male bodied people uncomfortable.
And by the way, what gives you the right to speak for the trans community? If you are not trans & are not actively engaging in conversations with REAL PEOPLE, maybe you should stop "white knighting" & trying to speak for a minority community that you are not a part of. However, there is still time to learn. i, too, thought that these crazy, lone, angry voices were THE voice of the trans community. And it left me with a lot of anger. It wasn't until i got the fuck off the internet & started dialoguing honestly with real people that i learned that trans folks are not represented by the angry, militant few. That many of them are very offended by these people, in fact.
But, that's cool. i see that your current piece on "feminism" is all about POC. So, you're going to speak for them too? Cool story. True feminism is NOT in universities, or utterly detached from reality theories. It's in the lives that me, & my best friend, live every day. Maybe you should, you know, actually listen to real people sometime.

"We Women will not allow our voices to be silenced, by anyone. We will NOT stop talking about our bodies & our rights. We will NOT erase ourselves, our language, because it makes men & male bodied people uncomfortable."
i need to add that the real trans community are not asking us to. Real people, in real life, want connection & support. Not division & control. So, i support the narrative that embraces love, kindness, empathy & understanding ~ from all of us. And with that spirit, all Sisters are welcome!

Hi! I am a real human being who's picture is being used without consent here. I suppose I should just be grateful that it is stimulating so much conversation. But NO ONE who's used my picture asked for my consent, never asked me my name, anything about my gender, why I'm marching, why I made and am wearing a pussy costume, why I made the shirt, and what it means to me. I showed up to this march this march for everyone with a message to the misogynist tyranistic leader of this cuntry that you can't grab and violate our bodies. And now I find myself the unwitting mascot, having my image being used out of context for whatever argument serves arguments both on the left and right. I feel violated. I feel betrayed by a march that was supposed to honor and empower all women. But I'm frequently being told now that being a white woman, I'm supposed to use my "white privilege" to champion for other people's causes. This feels oppressive, unsupportive and invalidating to me, having judgment and ridicule cast on my experience and self expression. There are many different reasons people were showing up to March. We can't all be marching for your specific cause. That's your to champion for what you feel most passionate about. And how dare any person marching for a women's march stereotype any woman and be discounting and dismissive of ANY woman's self expression who shows up.
And the truth is, if anyone asked me, I'd have probably carried their sign, if I believed in it and thought I could help. I can't help but imagine, if I were a minority, or if my costume were of a vulva transitioning that anyone would dare make me subject to ridicule. I'm just in shock that any woman in a pussy costume to a women's march could become the subject of so much scrutiny.
-Especially if you're not willing to take a moment and ask that woman, give her a chance, & give yourself a chance to be enlightened to HER experience and perspective.
We all brought and all bring something different. It’s what makes us rich, dynamic, strong, powerful, and beautiful.
It's an old ignorant and ethnocentric idea that people should be doing things your way.
Some people are fierce, some soft, some sad, some depressed and hopeless, some filled with optimism and conviction, some angry, some FUNNY... And THAT'S who I am and have always been. It's how I cope, add levity, and transmute negativity and darkness into light.
You don't have to get it. You don't have to like it. But I ask that you honor our differences and honor my way of walking on this earth and in whatever way I do, -as I did, and will always do for your. We all might march and protest differently.
It’s great to be politically motivated, aware, and to always be trying to educate yourself and each other. But beware of the tendency to react to these situations with anger and hypercriticism and misdirect it on each other. It only creates infighting which is destructive to the larger goal of enlightening others, enlisting others to help yo in your cause, eliciting empathy, achieving liberation from oppression, and facilitating healing and connection. If you want to get others to listen, don’t blame them and make them WRONG.
And these are cheap easy shots to make at easy targets when you point the blame and ridicule at people like me. We seriously need to stay focussed on the bigger picture. You're going to waste your time taking the clown down while the real criminals rape and pillage at the top? I think it's time to re-aim and not waste your psychic ammo.
So I'm asking that you respect me and my right to express myself and remove my picture. Maybe make a drawing that doesn't disrespect and exploit anyone without their consent. Thanks.

Thank you, Tza. i move with honor. <3

Tza, you don't have to apologize for a damn thing. I am sorry these crusaders of female invalidation and erasure put you up as the mascot for their bullshit, which is focused on anything BUT women's empowerment. Thank you for your explanation, it was beautifully written. I am grateful for you taking the time to write it, especially when you don't owe anybody an explanation. Women are allowed to focus on their vulvas and vaginas and whatever the fuck else they want in their methods of activism against their own oppression.

Trans people and conciliatory feminists, you all need to back the fuck off of other women, because you aren't fucking gatekeepers. You fight for .03% of the country to be able to piss with women, while doing nothing to stand up for reproductive rights, black and Latina women's wages, and the right to perform porn and prostitution. You ain't done shit for women.

Then with a straight face you say feminism doesn't do more to include you. Feminism isn't a person, it's a movement and a philosophy. Like any human rights movement, it isn't supposed to be all about *your individual feelings* and it's not there to be in agreement with you constantly. It's not there to concede its tenets and change for you. You eke out what you're wanting to do to make things better for women. Feminism is for liberating women and girls, period. Not there for men, not there for dicks, not there to be all things to all people.

Radical feminism is especially valid and truthful. Gender is bullshit to a lot of women, and that's OKAY. Disagree if you want, but radical feminism is just as real and true as any of your gender delusions, and you aren't going to tell women what they can and cannot believe. If you can't let go of your male entitlement, fine, but quit making that OUR problem. When it comes to being a female feminist, I for one don't need your guidance. I'm not a doormat, I'm not cis, I'm not gonna Follow dogma I don't believe, cos trust me as a women, trust me, I got this,

Oops, I meant you all fight for the right to perform porn and prostitution, as if most women appreciate being abused for men to get off to, not that you are against those things. Priorities of conciliatory feminists are wack.