rad fawn

me saying “women are oppressed on basis of sex, not gender identity, and we cannot identify out of that oppression” does not mean I think it’s okay to kill or hurt trans people. it does not mean that I agree with right-wingers when they say gender non-conformity is destroying civilization. It does not mean that I am going to vote for politicians who think all gay people/gender non-conforming people are groomers.

it literally just means you cannot change your biological sex (which was never a controversial statement, even among trans people, up until like 5 years ago) and females should have special protections and spaces since we are constantly being preyed upon by males who see us as subhuman sex objects. that doesn’t mean I think all trans people are predators, it means that enough males are predatory toward women that we deserve to have spaces away from them (especially spaces where we’ll be not fully clothed).

What you’re talking about is confidence. Which, sure, different things make different women feel confident. But that has nothing to do with feminism? Individual women feeling confident isn’t going to dismantle patriarchy, because patriarchy is not caused by women’s insecurity.

So, again, as a feminist, my focus is not on what makes individual women feel good. What I care about is the liberation of all women. I don’t wear makeup, and it’s not because I “feel empowered” when I don’t. It’s because the beauty industry is terrible to women and I want as little of my money going to it as possible.

Radfems aren’t going to give you a cookie for making choices that make you feel good, but don’t do anything to liberate women. Honestly, if you have free choices you’re more privileged than most women, and you should probably spend more time thinking about how to help them, rather than which choice makes you feel most confident.

I care about the fact that women are expected to put themselves through a lot of pain and discomfort to look good to the point that it damages them (especially their feet in heels). I care about how these expectations are forced upon young women and how conformity starts so early. I care about how badly it affects women’s perception of themselves because we’re told to cover up so much of ourselves. I care about how women are taught to hate themselves and their bodies for being ‘unnatural’ and ‘disgusting’ for things that are perfectly natural/normal (eg: cellulite, having body fat, not having a at stomach, body hair). I care about how women are seen as unprofessional for not wearing makeup and how many people would discriminate against women for not wearing makeup, how many work places tell women that they need to wear makeup as part of their uniform because it’s ‘professional’ for women but there are zero expectations for men. I care about how many women are forced (either from a uniform policy or shamed into it) to wear heels to their jobs in the name of professionalism. I care about the fact that women are taught to hate their body hair and hence forced to shave from a young age, how many people are disgusted by female body hair and tell women that they should shave it because it’s not natural for a woman.

our ability to grow new life is a social construct and apparently forced pregnancy affects trans women somehow

Love your trans friends! Fuck terfs! Fuck transphobes!

But that wouldnt help either, because that would mean women who surgically remove their breasts because of illnesses like breast cancer, or go into menopause and no longer get a period, or have to have their tubes tied for their own health are now no longer women.

OP, the definition you’re looking for is “adult human female”. By extension, “female” is defined as “of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs (ova)”. In humans, this means someone with XX chromosomes, who can be distinguished by her sexual characteristics, such as a uterus, vagina, breasts, bone structure, etc. Even if one or more of these elements is artifically altered, the root cause of them remains: every cell in her body contains the genetic code for a FEMALE human.

Similarly, someone without XX chromosomes, a male, can attempt to artificially replicate the sexual characteristics of a female, but ultimately this does not change his sex. It is just an act inteded to confuse others about his sex.

makeup is fundamentally about preying on women's insecurities and convincing us that our natural faces are not good enough. why don't the vast majority of men want to participate in this fun artistic practice? why are their bare faces considered acceptable at formal events, job interviews, workplaces, auditions, etc.? there is something inherently demeaning about the fact that an entire sex is expected to paint their faces to be deemed societally acceptable. men have convinced us that our natural faces are too ugly and offensive to be seen without a coat of paint on. it is insulting, demeaning, and the furthest possible thing from empowering.

and the other thing is that wearing makeup does not exist in a vacuum. when you buy another $50 foundation, you are lining the pockets of men who have built careers of off women's insecurities. when you fret about "putting on your face" before leaving the house, your daughters, nieces, cousins, friends, etc. all see that and internalize those messages as well. they are learning that their faces are also too offensive to be seen in public, and they will in turn teach that message to the women in their lives.

the rise of social media is the biggest evidence of this: for the first time, girls as young as 10 and 11 are buying and wearing makeup to school. and not only are they wearing makeup, they are GOOD at makeup. they have barely hit puberty but they've internalized everything they see online that tells them their bare faces are not good enough.

I tried really really hard to make it make sense, and I got called a TERF any time I introduced anything resembling consistency.

There are a few different versions that most of them seem to move between.

Either you find out your partners gender identity and decide your orientation from that, or you describe your orientation based on attraction masculine and feminine presentation /energy/whatever, or you low key use sex based attraction but use layers of language to hide it, or you choose an orientation based on culture/vibes associated with it and pick partners who fit.

"You say women are defined by biology but what about THIS woman who has a disorder or illness or had a surgery!"

The mere fact that they say this means that they know it's not typical. They wouldn't point to a man and say "well what about him!! HE doesn't have ovaries, gotcha terf" because they know that a male with ovaries would be bizarre and a female without them is rare or a result of surgery.

What older people mean is that if this concept was in the air when they were young and impressionable they would have jumped on it and that should lead you to realize it’s a fucking social contagion with no material impact on the conditions of ones life.

Notice how people were gay knew they were same sex attracted even before it was popular or had a name. Yeah that’s because being gay is real thing you do with your body and mind, not an abstract, meaningless concept.

'Not all women have periods or can get pregnant so are they still women??' Yes.

'What about women with non-functioning ovaries or intersex disorders?' Yes, still women.

In order to be an infertile woman, and intersex woman or a woman with PCOS you have to be born female. In order to be a trans man you have to be female. We all know what female means. It's just really disingenuous when gendies act like we think female=baby incubator. There are undeniable differences between the sexes, and the experiences of both are completely different.

I'm sorry but trans men will literally never know what it's like to be a man. They will never have the full grasp of what it's like to be born in a male body, and socialized as men in society. They will never get anyone pregnant, never be able to have a functioning penis, and will never go through a male puberty. Trans men however share the same experience of growing up female as other women do. Trans men go through female puberty, often times experience periods and pregnancy and know what it's like to have a clitoral orgasm. These are experiences exclusive to females. So why is it so wrong to say it?

What is so horrible and degrading about naming the female experience? There is nothing inherently restrictive about being a woman, society is the one that tells us it is. Why do women have to call themselves men in order to cut their hair and wear practical clothing? Why do women have to call themselves men when they are uncomfortable with how men objectify us? Why do women have to call themselves men when they're attracted to other women?

1. Women speaking up when they’re not experiencing pleasure.

2. Stopping sex when it’s not feeling good.

3. Women refusing to fake pleasure for any reason.

4.The eradication of our sexuality as a performance or service.

5. Women’s sexuality becoming an authentic expression that centered on our desires and actual, physical pleasure not just the psycho-emotional pleasure that sometimes comes with being a desired object.

6. Your sex partner taking on some of burden of pregnancy prevention and not leaving it all up to you.

7. Abortion on demand.

8. Free reproductive care everywhere.

9. Free birth control. The development of birth control for women that is pain free and doesn’t have any negative side effects

10. Closing the orgasm gap. Restructuring from scratch ALL sexual scripts and habits until women are as likely to cum from sex as men. The kiss-blow job-penetration-script for hetero women being discarded.

11. Continuing to eradicate any shame or danger around sex for women.

That can only be done with eradicating violence against women and misogyny in society. How can we expect women to embrace their sexual desires when their desires can still endanger them? You’re attracted to someone and you want to go home with him but he might kill you. You’re horny and want to have a good time but the fact that you wanted sex might be used against you later to justify mistreatment, devaluing, sexual assault or stop you from getting a job.

They tell girls “Be a slut, do whatever you want” and forget to mention that society still has severe punishments for “sluts” that nobody is protecting you from it.

Source

Gender identity is how you feel inside and how you express your gender through clothing, behavior, and personal appearance.

Planned Parenthood

Gender is used to describe the characteristics of women and men that are socially constructed, while sex refers to those that are biologically determined.

World Health Organization

'Gender' refers to your sense of who you are as a guy, girl or something else, as opposed to what your physical characteristics, genes and hormones indicate.

ReachOut

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