Controversial take, but please believe I’m making it in good faith:
Obviously this is bad, but I hope people realise that these kinds of attitudes are still incredibly pervasive, sometimes where you would least expect them.
You’ll sometimes see people who think of themselves as feminists or progressive, have a superficial(!!!) understanding of identity politics, treat abstract even stereotypical ideas about gender as if they’re real things, and reinforce essentialist and binary ideas about gender. They’ll shout down those who don’t have the same identity based ‘lived experiences’ and claim they have no right to speak on certain topics.
It ranges from the banal: someone claiming the only reason someone could possibly be criticial of the Barbie movie, is because they’re not a woman.
To the outright toxic: progressive women who were assigned female at birth (cis/not trans) who are transphobic against trans women because they’re not ‘real women’ because they haven’t had the same ‘lived experiences’ and therefore don’t have the right identity to speak on ‘real’ women’s issues or become part of the women’s movement. Of course, trans women aren’t cis women, but that doesn’t mean both don’t have enough in common to both be considered women. Nature’s messy.
I suspect this partly explains what happens with people like JK Rowling, who think of themselves as feminists but in practice are increasingly(?) sliding into essentialist, regressive and right wing ideas about what it means to be a woman, thereby helping to foster division among people who share a common cause and inadvertently undermining the women’s movement.
More generally, binary essentialist thinking can be incredibly divisive and undermine stuff like class consciousness. I may have been born with a penis and think of myself as a boring man, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing in common with a black trans sex worker. We’re both getting fucked by the Elon Musk’s of this world.
This comment was overly long and stream of thought. I go sleep now.
I agree with most of what you said. There are biological differences between men and women though, and we do tend to have different reactions to similar situations based on our hormonal balances. It’s scientific, and not some antiquated ideology. We know the effects estrogen and testosterone have on mood, behavior, physique, and libido. We even know how particular balances of those hormones can impact someone’s perceptions and reactions. When men undergo hormonal treatment for transitions they do become more emotional, and when women transition to male they become less emotional. Men and women with lower estrogen levels have a lower libido and men and women with higher estrogen levels demonstrate larger mood swings. Even something as simple as testosterone replacement for injured or older men can trigger emotional differences until the doctor gets the patient’s estrogen balance correct.
Hormones make a difference, but I don’t think it’s wise to use that to say “men are like this and women are like that (but because of hormones).” Doubly so since there are a ton of factors that impact those levels, e.g. age, weight, medications, cycles, etc.
Perhaps their emotions CHANGE? Humans, regardless of sex or gender, are emotional beings. Estrogen and testosterone have an effect on emotions, but one does not cause less emotions, just different emotions.
adjective
(of persons) excessively affected by emotion
Being emotional doesn’t mean that you have more emotions, it means that you are more affected by them.
High estrogen levels are associated with greater mood swings, and greater reactivity towards emotions. The infamous Roid Rage is actually caused by elevated estrogen levels as a result of the elevated testosterone levels from steroids. If steroid users don’t use estrogen suppressors, then the body attempts to balance the hormonal levels and produces excess estrogen, which causes dramatic mood swings. Women are naturally susceptible to this because of their fluctuating hormonal levels during reproductive cycles.
Great story. You’ve made some good points in themselves, but what does it have to do with a man who abandons his wife and new-born child, abuses the wife and writes a book about it?
Obviously this is bad, but I hope people realise that these kinds of attitudes are still incredibly pervasive, sometimes where you would least expect them.
It ranges from the banal: someone claiming the only reason someone could possibly be criticial of the Barbie movie, is because they’re not a woman.
Over Christmas I was on the receiving end of a common variant of this from my sister in law: she claimed that the only reason I don’t like Taylor Swift’s music is that she’s a woman.
It ranges from the banal: someone claiming the only reason someone could possibly be criticial of the Barbie movie, is because they’re not a woman.
I don’t like the Barbie movie because its themes of sexism are confused. Ken is too sympathetic to be a good villain in a movie about misogyny, and he’s too abusive to be a good victim in a movie about misandry. Ultimately, Ken is exactly what incels think they are: a victim of mean women who is denied personhood itself through being denied attention by women. Creating the perfect incel self-insert is a bad idea in a movie about how misogyny is bad.
While I enjoyed it, the main reason I found the Barbie movie problematic, was because it is effectively purple washing corporate propaganda for a male led company, with a horrible record on treatment of foreign (often female) workers, and with a product that has historically caused girls serious body image issues. Which is why it could never be a truly feminist movie.
My main point was that, according to people who have a superficial understanding of identity politics, you have no right to voice this criticism unless you are a woman because you can’t truly understand what the movie was about and don’t truly understand what it’s like to be oppressed like a woman. Even if you may have had similar experiences, have people you love who have experienced similar issues, and have read up on a lot of the relevant literature.
Ie. the idea that men might as well be from a different planet, so have no way of relating to women, so don’t get to voice their opinions on something like the Barbie movie. “Men are fundamentally different from women, they have no way of understanding the oppression we have faced.”
Controversial take, but please believe I’m making it in good faith:
Obviously this is bad, but I hope people realise that these kinds of attitudes are still incredibly pervasive, sometimes where you would least expect them.
You’ll sometimes see people who think of themselves as feminists or progressive, have a superficial(!!!) understanding of identity politics, treat abstract even stereotypical ideas about gender as if they’re real things, and reinforce essentialist and binary ideas about gender. They’ll shout down those who don’t have the same identity based ‘lived experiences’ and claim they have no right to speak on certain topics.
It ranges from the banal: someone claiming the only reason someone could possibly be criticial of the Barbie movie, is because they’re not a woman.
To the outright toxic: progressive women who were assigned female at birth (cis/not trans) who are transphobic against trans women because they’re not ‘real women’ because they haven’t had the same ‘lived experiences’ and therefore don’t have the right identity to speak on ‘real’ women’s issues or become part of the women’s movement. Of course, trans women aren’t cis women, but that doesn’t mean both don’t have enough in common to both be considered women. Nature’s messy.
I suspect this partly explains what happens with people like JK Rowling, who think of themselves as feminists but in practice are increasingly(?) sliding into essentialist, regressive and right wing ideas about what it means to be a woman, thereby helping to foster division among people who share a common cause and inadvertently undermining the women’s movement.
More generally, binary essentialist thinking can be incredibly divisive and undermine stuff like class consciousness. I may have been born with a penis and think of myself as a boring man, but that doesn’t mean I have nothing in common with a black trans sex worker. We’re both getting fucked by the Elon Musk’s of this world.
This comment was overly long and stream of thought. I go sleep now.
I agree with most of what you said. There are biological differences between men and women though, and we do tend to have different reactions to similar situations based on our hormonal balances. It’s scientific, and not some antiquated ideology. We know the effects estrogen and testosterone have on mood, behavior, physique, and libido. We even know how particular balances of those hormones can impact someone’s perceptions and reactions. When men undergo hormonal treatment for transitions they do become more emotional, and when women transition to male they become less emotional. Men and women with lower estrogen levels have a lower libido and men and women with higher estrogen levels demonstrate larger mood swings. Even something as simple as testosterone replacement for injured or older men can trigger emotional differences until the doctor gets the patient’s estrogen balance correct.
Hormones make a difference, but I don’t think it’s wise to use that to say “men are like this and women are like that (but because of hormones).” Doubly so since there are a ton of factors that impact those levels, e.g. age, weight, medications, cycles, etc.
Men are only less emotional if you don’t consider things like anger emotions. Which is bullshit.
Perhaps their emotions CHANGE? Humans, regardless of sex or gender, are emotional beings. Estrogen and testosterone have an effect on emotions, but one does not cause less emotions, just different emotions.
Being emotional doesn’t mean that you have more emotions, it means that you are more affected by them.
High estrogen levels are associated with greater mood swings, and greater reactivity towards emotions. The infamous Roid Rage is actually caused by elevated estrogen levels as a result of the elevated testosterone levels from steroids. If steroid users don’t use estrogen suppressors, then the body attempts to balance the hormonal levels and produces excess estrogen, which causes dramatic mood swings. Women are naturally susceptible to this because of their fluctuating hormonal levels during reproductive cycles.
deleted by creator
Great story. You’ve made some good points in themselves, but what does it have to do with a man who abandons his wife and new-born child, abuses the wife and writes a book about it?
https://medium.com/@jencoates/i-am-a-transwoman-i-am-in-the-closet-i-am-not-coming-out-4c2dd1907e42
Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20231214030029/https://medium.com/@jencoates/i-am-a-transwoman-i-am-in-the-closet-i-am-not-coming-out-4c2dd1907e42
I want to give the author of that a hug.
Fantastic article.
Over Christmas I was on the receiving end of a common variant of this from my sister in law: she claimed that the only reason I don’t like Taylor Swift’s music is that she’s a woman.
I got the same with an ex girlfriend and Outkast. The only reason I didn’t like them is because I am white and racist.
Pfft. That implies that the only reason I do like them is because I’m a white racist.
I don’t like the Barbie movie because its themes of sexism are confused. Ken is too sympathetic to be a good villain in a movie about misogyny, and he’s too abusive to be a good victim in a movie about misandry. Ultimately, Ken is exactly what incels think they are: a victim of mean women who is denied personhood itself through being denied attention by women. Creating the perfect incel self-insert is a bad idea in a movie about how misogyny is bad.
You raise a good point.
While I enjoyed it, the main reason I found the Barbie movie problematic, was because it is effectively purple washing corporate propaganda for a male led company, with a horrible record on treatment of foreign (often female) workers, and with a product that has historically caused girls serious body image issues. Which is why it could never be a truly feminist movie.
My main point was that, according to people who have a superficial understanding of identity politics, you have no right to voice this criticism unless you are a woman because you can’t truly understand what the movie was about and don’t truly understand what it’s like to be oppressed like a woman. Even if you may have had similar experiences, have people you love who have experienced similar issues, and have read up on a lot of the relevant literature.
Ie. the idea that men might as well be from a different planet, so have no way of relating to women, so don’t get to voice their opinions on something like the Barbie movie. “Men are fundamentally different from women, they have no way of understanding the oppression we have faced.”