Recently I have discovered a particularly insidious group of seemingly progressive women who have turned out to be using the same selfish, arrogant, and offensive impulses as anti-feminists or Men’s Right Activists (MRAs). These women are known as TERFs, Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, and they are very dangerous!
Until tonight, I did not know all the bogus and hateful claims of the TERFs, but a blog entry seems to have finally assembled them together for all to see.
http://uncommon-scents.blogspot.com/2016/02/porkies.html
Let me be clear about this; I am not opposed to Julie Bindel, Germaine Greer, Milo Yiannopoulos or anyone else speaking about trans issues on the grounds of “offence”. These people may be offensive but that is not the reason why I believe they have no place speaking in our universities or in the media. The reason I oppose them speaking is because they use every opportunity they get, to spread deliberate lies about trans people which cause actual harm to trans people.
These lies include;
- trans children mostly do not grow up to be trans adults
- trans children have a medical transition forced upon them at too early a stage
- trans women use women’s toilets, not to pee but to attack women
- trans women are men
- trans people are mentally ill
- trans children are diagnosed too early and don’t have time to develop
- trans people are enemies of feminism
- trans people reinforce gender stereotypes and the oppression of women
This is why I believe trans activists now need to ensure that these people are not given undeserved airtime to spread these lies and to sharpen our response to them when they do, exposing their lies and being clear that no-platforming is about opposing their practice of spreading harmful disinformation about us, rather than “offence”.
Let us look at these lies in detail.
trans children mostly do not grow up to be trans adults
Perhaps the TERFS are confused because they see examples of “tomboys” (masculine looking and acting girls) who grow up to look and act like typical women as adults. But even Peppermint Patty, the tomboy of the Peanuts comic strip, identified herself as a girl. She was NOT transgender.
trans children have a medical transition forced upon them at too early a stage
According to whom? If a child specifically says he or she is NOT the gender assigned at birth and wants to have procedures done to change the gender appearance at whatever age it can be done, where is the force?!
trans women use women’s toilets, not to pee but to attack women
GIVE US EVIDENCE FOR THAT OR IT IS NOT HAPPENING, TERFS!
trans women are men
Gender comes from TWO parts of the body, the genitals and the brain. If you think it is solely about the genitals, why not simply proclaim that a woman who has a hysterectomy is no longer a woman?
trans people are mentally ill
Bigots used to say the same about homosexuals. Note: If something about the brain does not impede reasoning and cognitive abilities, IT IS NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS! Most gays, lesbians, and transgendered people are in fact highly intelligent and reason quite well.
trans children are diagnosed too early and don’t have time to develop
Assumes that one can know for sure one’s gender only at puberty. No, I believe one’s sexual ORIENTATION develops at that time (which is why child molestation is so horrible), but not gender IDENTITY.
trans people are enemies of feminism
Sure, if you define feminism as strictly segregating the genders so that one gender can occupy a superior position. You know who else thinks like that? MRAs!
trans people reinforce gender stereotypes and the oppression of women
That is like saying, “Jewish people reinforce racial stereotypes and the oppression of blacks.”
I won’t stand for this bullshit anymore. I am now an enemy of anyone who would identify herself as a TERF, accept TERF policies or advocate any TERF positions. Clearly there are some “feminists” who actually do think that women are superior to men and thus attack transgendered people for either betraying their sex or pretending to be their sex. And that in turn gives MRAs credibility they do not deserve. We must fight against both groups!
Dale Husband's Intellectual Rants 
Read this horror story about discrimination where it never should have been:
{{{In August, 1991 I attended my second Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) with Laura Ervin. Laura and I drove 1,050 miles nonstop in her vehicle… and arrived at the festival, car #33, at about 9:00 am Monday morning. We walked and talked with women waiting with us on the road, bought raffle tickets from a festival promoter, and joined women in joyous enthusiasm, camaraderie and expectation while we awaited the start of the festival at 2:00 pm. When we got onto the land Laura volunteered the use of her vehicle to help with shuttle service. Laura and I split the work shift. I worked the first two hours while Laura moved our gear to the campsite and set up her tent. She worked the next two hours while I set up my tent.
After going through an orientation run with a shuttle coordinator I began the process of loading women’s gear and driving them to their desired destinations. I felt a sense of pride in my work; welcoming the women, helping them with their gear, and answering their questions. At the completion of my shuttle shift I set up my [campsite], took a much welcomed shower and went for a long walk in the woods. I met Laura at our campsite and she invited me to walk with her to the main gate to meet a friend who was arriving on a chartered bus from Grand Rapids at 10:00 pm.
We arrived at the main gate at about 9:30 pm and sat down around the fire pit with several other women. We chatted with the women and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. At about 10:00 pm we received word that the bus was delayed and would arrive around 11:00. Laura and I decided to remain at the main gate until the bus arrived. We continued to socialize with the women who come and went from the area of the fire pit. The bus arrived at about 11:00 pm and Laura went over to the bus. A woman requested that I stay away from the bus to avoid congestion. I stopped at the edge of the road about 20 feet from the fire pit.
While I waited for Laura to return I was approached by two women, Chris Coyote and Del Kelleher. Chris said that she needed to speak with me regarding a serious and difficult matter. Sensing her urgency I suggested we move away from the women near the fire pit in order to talk privately. Chris said that the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival was a woman-only event and she wanted to know if I was a man. I replied that I was a woman and I showed her my NH picture ID driver’s license. Then she asked me if I was a transsexual. I asked her what was the point of her questioning and she replied that transsexuals were not permitted to attend the festival. She said that MWMF policy was that the festival was open to “natural, women-born-women” only. I replied that nowhere, in any festival literature or the program guide was that policy stated. I asked Chris to please verify that policy and she went to the office to contact the festival producers, Lisa Vogel and Boo Price. Sometime during this conversation I waved Laura to come over and she witnessed much of what transpired.
I continued speaking with Del. Del stated that the reason the policy was not in any literature was because the issue of transsexuals had never come up as a problem before. Del added that the policy was for the benefit of the transsexuals’ safety and the safety of the women attending the festival. When I pointed out that there were other transsexuals on the land she acknowledged that this was true. Then she added, ‘We haven’t caught them yet, but we did catch you.”
At around midnight Chris returned and told me that she had talked to the producers and that they had indeed verified that transsexuals were not allowed at the festival. I asked to speak with the producers directly. Chris stated that the producers would not speak with me and that she was the designated contact for the producers. Chris asked me if I had had a sex change operation. I replied that was none of her business. I said that I was willing to submit to genital examination in order to satisfy her concerns about my sex. She replied that she would not feel comfortable doing this. I said that was a rather odd reaction since public nudity was quite common at festival. How would viewing my cunt be different from any other woman’s? I told her to please produce her proof to her insinuations that I was a transsexual. She looked at me for a few seconds, saying nothing. Then she said that the festival producers had empowered her to expel any woman at any time, at her discretion. She told that I had I had to leave the festival and that I would not even be allowed to return to my campsite to retrieve my equipment. I realized that Chris and Del were expelling me in spite of all the irrefutable legal and anatomical proof that I was a women. I knew there was nothing more I could say to these women. I resigned myself to the fact that these women were expelling me from the festival.
Laura and Chris departed to pick up a few of my personal belongings while Del stayed with me. Del facilitated some arrangements for a room at a motel in Walhalla, about 10 miles distant. For some moments I stood outside the circle of women at the fire pit at the place where out conversation transpired. The night was clear and the air had a chill to it. Suddenly I realized I was cold. I was wearing only nylon shorts, a flannel shirt and sandals. I hadn’t dressed for extended night-time exposure. Del invited me to return to the fire pit. I sat at the edge of the pit for a long time, I’m not sure how long. My mind was blank, my body absolutely still as I became aware of the emotional devastation that I felt inside. The events that were going down seemed totally unreal. Nevertheless I found a place of calm inside myself. I found acceptance for my situation, and I could feel the emotional devastation without the devastation overwhelming me. I stared into the fire. The heat from the glowing embers warmed my legs and face. Del stayed close by. From the time Del and Chris first approached me until I left the land, I was guarded and forbidden from leaving the area around the fire pit.
After some time Del met with a woman from the office and she called me to come over to her. I got up and went over. I turned on my flashlight and she handed me a printed receipt stamped with an MWMF logo. I signed the receipt and she gave me a cash refund for my ticket. I held my flashlight up and pointed its beam at my right wrist as Del cut the wrist ticket free. Then I returned to the fire pit to await Laura’s return. During this time not one of the half-dozen women who sat with me at the fire pit spoke or looked at me. I no longer tried to keep secret the nature of the events that were going down. I asked Del if someone was going to protect my personal belongings from theft or vandalism. She replied that Chris and my friend had probably gone back to the site to retrieve all of my belongings.
At about 12:50a.m. Laura returned with all of my equipment and her car. We departed the land. In less than two hours and under the cover of darkness, the festival personnel had expelled me from the land. Their actions were facilitated by our closeness to the main gate and the lateness of the hour. There were no witnesses to the events except for Laura, Chris and Del. I don t know the women present at the fire pit knew of the events that had transpired.
Laura and I arrived at the motel at about 1:20 am Tuesday morning. We were both emotionally and physically exhausted. Neither of us had slept more than a few hours in the past 42 hours. The motel room was a small, cinder block room. We were greeted by the smell of wet, moldy carpet. The stillness of the night was interrupted by the loud roar of trucks passing by our open window facing Route 10. I still could not believe this was really happening.
I slept very little that night. I was exhausted from our 20 hours of travel and in shock from the emotional trauma perpetrated by the festival women. I eventually slept for a few hours and when I awoke it was light outside. The mattress bed had duplicated the effect of sleeping outside on the hard ground. My hips and thighs ached.
I showered, repacked my gear and we departed for Grand Rapids. When we stopped for breakfast at Muskegon I called to make reservations for a plane flight home. The flight cost $382 and I was grateful for having a credit card. I did not have the cash. I departed Grand Rapids at 12:40p.m. and arrived at Worchester, MA at about 6:25p.m. Laura called ahead and made arrangements for transportation from the airport to me car which me an additional $50. I drove home, arriving at about 9:15 pm.}}}
UNBELIEVABLE!!!
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Ket just saw a video documentary about MRA – and after hearing her describe some of what they said I concluded that MRAs are just as aggressive and whiney as TERFs
So basically you approached the issue from the opposite angle as me, because I knew of the MRAs first and then found out about the TERFs later, while you fought the feminist bigots first and only learned of the MRAs recently.
Remember this?
Well, read this too:
I have never excused anything that even feels like bigotry, no matter how well intentioned it may look.
And here’s something really shocking I discovered about MRAs.
They make me sometimes want to believe in a hell for them to burn in.
no, i hadn’t seen any of these, now i have, good job! – and thank you for documenting how i was chased out of Care2.
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