clarifying my beliefs on gender
i lean towards radically feminist beliefs. i think it’s ridiculous to hate trans people for being trans or make sweeping generalizations on them based off of what biased news sources publish about trans people. the problem i have is with the bastardized version of queer theory that many online leftists peddle. gender is not just a subjective judgement you make about yourself; this is an incredibly insignificant part of the system that is gender.
yes, gender is a system. largely, gendering is something that happens TO you, without your consent. in day-to-day life, it is a guess people make about you based off of your secondary sex characteristics. historically and more centrally, though, “gendering” is simply another word for sexing. those whose reproductive systems are organized around producing large gametes (eggs) are labeled “female,” synonymous with “woman,” and those whose reproductive systems are organized around producing small gametes (sperm) are labeled “male,” synonymous with “man.”
some leftists have changed the way they gender people, where it relies on subjectivity rather than observation of physical characteristics. but it is important to not forget that larger society does not typically think this way, and that societies worldwide were not built on a foundation that cares about people’s subjective experience of gender. you can be considerate to trans people while recognizing how horrific gendering/sexing is and has been as a system, particularly to those classed as female.
the hatred of females (misogyny) has many cascading effects on societies built on it, some of which rebound to negatively affect males; for example, males who are seen as “excessively” or “inappropriately” admiring females, as in wishing to emulate females rather than wishing to objectify and “own” us, are stigmatized and marked for “corrective” measures so that they support male hegemony like they’re “supposed to.” males are seen as acceptable targets for violence as long as they continue this admiration and/or emulation of females; this is why extreme violence is directed towards gnc males and those who are “mtf.”
additionally: given my beliefs, i honestly think “mtf” and “ftm” are reductive terms because transition is imitative rather than totally transformative. i describe it as imitative not to be cruel, but because, historically, a central part of gendering/sexing is distinction between different reproductive systems, (ones that attempt to produce large gametes vs small gametes) and humankind has not yet figured out how to make males produce large gametes nor make females produce small gametes. if that becomes possible, then “mtf” and “ftm” would make more sense as terms.
“terf” and “tirf” are also reductive terms, because feminism as a study is more complicated than “excluding/including males.” there are people who self-identify as “terfs” because leftists insist on labeling transphobic women (and even transphobic men) this way. the trans community would benefit far more from simply calling transphobia transphobia rather than folding the entire study of radical feminism in with it as well. just like there are different kinds of leftists, there are different kinds of feminism.
by the way: thinking women are human beings and that we shouldn’t be treated as breeding stock is not an exclusively radically feminist belief.
