Who or what defines you as a women? Are men invading women’s spaces?
Personally speaking I think this is a relatively simple question to answer and I find it frustrating as to why people find it so difficult to understand.
If a woman had breast cancer and had to have a double mastectomy does this make her any less of a woman? No of course not!
Now let’s say, hypothetically of course, you took any of the feminist women in this video and gave her full gender reassignment surgery, with hormones, so her appearance outwardly appeared male, would she be a man? Would she feel like a man? No! She would feel like a woman stuck with a male body. What a horrible situation to be in, right? Gasp!
Gender is not that fragile and is something you cannot change. It comes from an inner sense of who you are and no matter what your body looks like, how you were born or what you do to your body you cannot change your gender.
So here’s the point……. if you inwardly identify as one gender but your birth sex doesn’t match that, there is nothing you can do to change your gender identity, however you can change your body to match your gender identity.
Remember gender is defined as who you identify as, sex is defined by your external anatomy. So a trans woman who was born with male anatomy is actually mentally just as much of a women as any of these female feminists are and there’s nothing you can do to make them male. So I would define that person as a women, whether they were pre or post transition.
Also remember the physical aspects of being transgender, although very important, are only part of the difficulties trans people experience. Different genders have quite different social roles, are treated differently (a simple example is being called ‘mate’ or ‘love’) and also dress differently.
The purpose of the medical interventions available to transgender people is not only to make them feel more comfortable in their own skin, but they have a huge impact on social behaviors and acceptance from others and this is just as important as correcting body dysmorphia.
As a trans man myself, who luckily for me is gendered male 100% of the time without fail, I find it fascinating that if I met any of these feminists who are complaining about ‘men in women’s spaces’ they would certainly not want me in their women’s space, and rightly so, I have NEVER felt like a woman despite living for 39 years in essentially a female shaped body. Yet by their own definition I will only ever be female in their eyes. If they met me I think they would certainly have a hard time seeing me as female!
Would you want Matt in your female space?
The toilet debate
I certainly know what it feels like to be nervous about using public toilets. Even pre transition when I went into a women’s toilet I would be stared at and have people tell me I was in the wrong place, so I would avoid this situation at all costs, even to the detriment of my bladder and it’s health. It becomes a huge problem whenever you’re out for the day and don’t have access to a basic human right as simple as a toilet. Post transition I’ve never had anyone so much as bat an eyelid at me in a male toilet, but even so it’s complicated and still comes with it’s problems. I can guarantee using a public toilet causes far more anxiety for the transgender person than it will ever will for the cis people sharing that space with the transgender person.
Transition is also not all about ‘passing’, some of us are lucky to be able to pass, but not everyone does or will pass. No one would question my masculinity because they are essentially judging the book by the cover. However no matter what the cover looks like we all feel the same on the inside whether we pass or not and should be afforded the same respect.
Every human being has a right to feel comfortable and accepted, transgender people are not harming anyone by transitioning and just want the same rights as those lucky enough to be born with their gender and birth sex matching.
……..and sometimes our bladders just won’t wait!
Links:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-42864916/who-or-what-defines-you-as-a-woman