“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”
Gloria Steinem
Who recently also said, as a radical feminist (like us):
“So now I want to be unequivocal in my words: I believe that transgender people, including those who have transitioned, are living out real, authentic lives. Those lives should be celebrated, not questioned. Their health care decisions should be theirs and theirs alone to make. And what I wrote decades ago does not reflect what we know today as we move away from only the binary boxes of “masculine” or “feminine” and begin to live along the full human continuum of identity and expression.”
And here we are being told when we say the same thing that we are some sort of trans person. Gee, we guess that one of the most important Radical Feminist leaders of all time is a trans person.
At least based on what we get told.
Of course, our usual suspects -- the inimitable fucking assholes we have for so long dealt with -- will all say that she's "sold out" despite being in a position where she has no reason to sell out.
They will magically find that the reasons for her decision have nothing to do with what she says, but instead they will police her, making up their minds about what she says and what she means for her.
Just like they pick on everyone else. They aren't radical feminists. They are feminists who pretend to be radical, in a conservative way.
Ain't that right, Cathy Brennan.
In 1974, Ms. Magazine published a long excerpt from Conundrum, the autobiography of the writer Jan Morris, and her transition from her life as James Humphrey Morris, a British army officer. Hers was a brave voyage to authenticity and a story I was glad to play a role in bringing to this country.
Obviously, there is much similarity among the challenges of transgender people and all women — from health care to harassment to discrimination in the workplace. And there is always the basic patriarchal bias against any sexual expression that can’t end in conception, which is why kids on campus are sometimes mystified by the fact that the same groups oppose both, say, contraception and lesbians. I also think we have a lot to learn from original cultures that often didn’t even have “he” and “she” in their languages, taught girls how to control their own fertility, and routinely accepted and had special roles for the “twin-spirited.” These facts may remind us that patriarchy, racism, and nationalism have been dominant for less than 5% of human history. Maybe they are an experiment that failed.
Strange, she says much the same stuff that person we are supposed to be says. Why, its almost as if they know less about radical feminism than the people they hate!
I know we’ve all worked hard on and are celebrating the Supreme Court marriage rulings this spring, but there is so much work to do to reach full LGBT equality — and ensuring that transgender people also have equality under the law has been the most left out and therefore should become foremost on that list.
I’m grateful for this opportunity to say that I’m sorry and sad if any words floating out there from the past seem to suggest anything other than support, past and present. As feminists know, power over our own minds and bodies comes first.
Past and present, folks -- she's always supported trans people.
And she's sorry she didn't make that more clear.
That's what a real radical feminist does: the radical, feminist thing.
She steps up and speaks out and tells the truth.
