hii i'm trying to learn more about what it means to be gender critical, etc. could you explain a bit more on it? or give resources? i don't know which ones are good or not :S
i also see a lot of radfems saying that trans movement is a blacklash against feminism and i couldn't understand that too well. i hope none of these questions are stupid or wrong ^^"
No questions are stupid or wrong! Nothing wrong with wanting to learn more.❤️I’ll do my best to give my thoughts here, but I’m not a master of debate yet so it’s a bit disorganized😂 (Long post ahead)
Gender critical is really what it says in the name- we criticize gender and issues related to gender (gender stereotypes, gender roles, etc). The thing that we’re the most critical of is gender identity.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “gender is a social construct” before. This is what gender criticals believe. Psychology Today put it well: “Gender is thus ‘socially constructed’ in the sense that, unlike biological sex, gender is a product of society. If society determines what is masculine or feminine, then society can change what is considered masculine, feminine, or anything in between.”
This also goes into the next part, which is the phrase “sex and gender are different.” Biological sex (male/female) is observed and cannot be changed. Gender identity is known as someone’s “sense” of their gender. Gender criticals are aware that sex and gender aren’t the same (as opposed to trans-critical conservatives who think they are the same).
Our issue with gender is that it’s often been used to oppress women and reinforce sexist stereotypes. For example, teaching young girls that they’re meant to be wives and mothers is an example of gender roles. Teaching little boys not to cry because it’s “weak” is another example of gender in action. I’ve seen many GCs say “sex is WHY women are oppressed, and gender is HOW women are oppressed.”
The main source of conflict here is that we don’t believe in the idea of gender identity, and many of us claim to have none. I am a woman not because I identify as one, but because I was born female or “AFAB.” Some of us see gender identity as a religion, since many believe that everyone has a gendered soul or gendered brain.
This is what causes the tension between trans activists and gender criticals. Since we think sex matters and gender doesn’t, trans activists believe that we’re denying the identity of trans people. (Ex: we point out that trans women are still male, especially in discussions around male privilege and socialization). Someone being transgender is the result of a neurodivergent condition called sex dysphoria (or gender dysphoria) in which a person feels that their gender identity doesn’t match their biological sex. Dysphoria is absolutely a real condition that many people struggle with, however in my opinion, I don’t think as many cases of sex dysphoria would occur if the sexist idea of gender didn’t exist.
This gets into your last part of the question about trans activism vs feminism. In the end, GCs think that gender identity is misogynistic. We think this because there is no way to “identify as a woman” or “feel like a woman” without using stereotypes. We believe that there is only one way to be a woman and that is to be an adult human female. (And yes this means that some of us don’t see trans women as women. I will still use trans people’s preferred names and pronouns, though, because I respect people going through dysphoria.)
Additionally, “gender affirming care” or transitioning often reinforces gender stereotypes. While this doesn’t include everyone of course, transitioning often involves going from one stereotype to the next. Trans women often grow their hair, wear makeup, dress in more feminine clothing, and shave. Trans men often cut their hair, wear masculine clothing, and stop shaving. Since we (GCs) fight against gender stereotypes and gender roles, trans people doing these things can make us feel frustrated because they’re reinforcing the gender stereotypes that we’re trying to get rid of.
Do I think we can work together? Yes. I think that can only happen if the gender cult is somehow broken, because currently there is a major “us vs them” mentality when it comes to TRAs and GCs. But at the end of the day it’s like a religious battle- they have a belief that we don’t have, and that causes conflict.
Sorry this was kind of messy, I’m actually in the car right now but I’ll add to this later with resources and blogs that are good to look through!
Also any radfems/terfs/GCs that want to add their thoughts, please do!
@occultist-romantic
GCs believe that the only thing that makes someone a man or a woman is their sex.
GCs believe there is no behavior, clothing, feelings or interests that are incompatible with being male or female. A woman with short hair that wears no makeup, doesn't shave and has traditionally "masculine" interests is not a man. She is a woman simply because she was born female. A man who likes to wear dresses and makeup, who shaves, has long hair and traditionally "feminine" interests is not a woman. He is a man simply because he was born male.
The problem with gender ideology is that its believers believe that there's something other than your sex that makes you a man or a woman. There's dissonance about what exactly that something is.
Some will say that it's gender roles; so, someone who likes "feminine" things is a woman, and someone who likes "masculine" things is a man.
That is obviously sexist. it's basically the old sexism of pink = girl and blue = boy, but with extra steps. It implies that people who behave outside of their traditional gender role aren't "really" men or women. This thinking invalidates "masculine" women and "feminine" men, and reinforces gender stereotypes by implying that all men are comfortable being masculine and and all women are comfortable being feminine.
Some say that it's the brain, that trans people have a "male brain" in a female body and vice versa and that is the cause of gender dysphoria. However, various studies have debunked the existence of such thing as "brain sex". Other than size, there's no significant difference between male and female brains.
Some will cite gender dysphoria. While I do believe that dysphoric people exist and deserve help and support, someone feeling intense distress towards their sexed body does not make them the opposite sex. Also, transition might not be the best solution to solve their distress --- we don't tell anorexics "yes, you are fat and should lose weight", we don't tell people with Cotard's syndrome "yes, you are dead"... so why should we tell dysphoric people "yes, your body is wrong and you should change it"?
Others will say it's a vague "feeling" or "essence" or "gendered soul'. This is subjective and makes no sense. What does a woman "feel" like? How do you know every woman has this "feeling'? Men have been oppressing women for millennia. How did they know who to oppress? Do they have an internal "feeling" detector?
Others will say that there is no criteria other than self identification. So, someone is a man or a woman because they say so, no matter their sex or presentation. So, a completely masculine male bodied person with a beard and a penis can magically become a woman by saying "I am a woman", and then have the right to go into any female space (such as changing rooms, rape shelters and prisons), be included in lesbians' and straight men's dating pools and be considered part of an oppressed minority. I don't even need to explain how this could be exploited, do I?
(The disagreement GCs have with those lines of thought does not mean GCs hate trans people. Trans people do not deserve violence for their trans status, and should not face discrimination in things like housing, employment, etc.)
The conflict between feminism and trans activism Previously, I asked how men knew who to oppress. The answer is simple: men have exploited women on the basis of their biological sex.
Forced pregnancy. FGM. Breast ironing. Abortion bans. Less research into female specific medical conditions. Child marriage, forced marriage. Majority of rapes and domestic abuse. Majority of sex trafficking victims. Mandatory hijab. Menstruation huts. Sex selective abortions. Female infanticide. Foot binding in China...
What do the people who suffer from those things have in common?
Not a female identity, but a female body. Nobody asks the little girl getting married to a man 10 times her age what she identifies as. When a man opens a porn site to look at degrading images of women, he doesn't wonder about the actresses' pronouns. When the ultrasound shows a female baby and the father orders to have her aborted because he only wants sons, he doesn't care she might identify as something else when she grows up.
The woman who identifies as a man or as non-binary will still be affected by abortion bans. Her body is still the type of body that is not taken into consideration during car crash tests. You cannot identify out of oppression.
Sex based oppression is real and affects all female people, regardless of their race, nationality, sexuality, socioeconomic status or personal gender identity. That's why feminism exists, to fight against this oppression.
But according to trans activists, talking about sex based oppression is bigotry. it's 'not real', it's a ' terf dogwhistle', it's 'transmisogynistic'.
Any suggestion that male people/"AMAB" oppress female people/"AFAB" on the basis of sex is transphobic because it implies that transwomen are part of the oppressor class. Which they are.
Any talk of illnesses that only affect female people, such as uterine cancer? Terfy too.
Abortion cannot be called a women's issue anymore. It's a "people" issue. So, people oppress people because people hate people. See how this gender neutral language removes our ability to discuss misogyny?
But that's just semantics, words. What real world implications does this conflict have?
Imagine you're 17 years old. Showering in a women's locker room, where you should be safe. A naked man walks in. You, understandably, are scared. Later, thousands of trans allies, some of them grown adults, mock your tears and discomfort.
Maybe you like sports and want to make a career out of it. But now you have to compete with men, even though males have an obvious physical advantage, even on estrogen. You lose a spot on a competition to a male, and if you complain about how unfair it is, you're branded as a bigot. i can't find the link right now, so if anyone could add it I would be grateful, but there was a female surfer who lost one her limbs to a shark attack... after she spoke out against males in women's sports, dozens of trans supporters made memes about how sharks are trans allies, implying that she deserved it. (Edit: found it. Here.) Maybe you're a lesbian. but if you say you're not attracted to male bodies, or that you don't want to have sex with someone with a penis, that's problematic. Terfy. Bigoted. You're a "genital fetishist" and "gross.' Strangely, this is never told to straight people. Using terms such as same-sex marriage/same-sex attraction/same sex relationship is now transphobic too, because according to TRAs, to not be a transphobe, you should be attracted to someone's ~gender feelz~, not their body. Maybe you've been raped and want a female only support group to talk about your trauma, or a female only shelter. Maybe you're disabled/sick and only want another woman to take care of you. Maybe you even believe that transwomen are women, but don't think the bearded man who just walked in is truly trans. So, having boundaries, worrying about female people, wanting clear language... Things that should be feminism 101. Any of that is enough to get you the "terf" label
And with the terf label, comes hostility:
https://terfisaslur.com
https://transactivistsitow.tumblr.com/
Lastly, you should know Gender Criticism is different from Radical Feminism. All radical feminists are GC, but not all GCs are feminists. Radical feminism worries about more issues than just gender, such as being anti-prostitution and pornography, being pro-choice, anti-beauty standards, etc. That's mostly it. I hope you understand it a little better now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and we'll try to answer the best we can! (Also, check out the #gendercritical tag on my blog, it's all posts talking about the GC perspective on gender!)
