terf history rant
I guess I should actually start writing short articles about radical feminist / terf history on tumblr. I don't know where else I could properly summarize the history, so tumblr it is. a rant about radfem vs. trans ideologue history and how it's been forcibly rewritten by men galavanting as the "most oppressed" type of person you can be, a misogynistic man appropriating womanhood.
This is a neglected subject in the community because the history is sparse, inaccurately represented in a cursory google search; the true details only found while digging through old lesbian feminist periodicals and forum posts by elderly radical lesbian feminists, but I'd trust all that over TIM bloggers and their minions any day.
What happened early on in the second wave (mid 70s-80s) echoes today heavily. The issues they had early on with TIMs claiming to be lesbians and feminists, it sickens me how as soon as it was relatively acceptable to, men started to claim womanhood and lesbianism. The history of mister "Beth Elliott" makes me sick and is reminiscent of today's EIi ErI*ck.
The 1973 West Coast Lesbian conference in San Francisco California is said to be the first lesbian conference of its kind (in the world, perhaps). Many lesbians and feminists in general flocked to the Bay Area to meet likeminded women. There had been a gurgling debate transpiring in the months preceding the conference surrounding a transsexual male identifying as a lesbian in San Francisco. Beth Elliot, or whose real name is Elliott Basil Mattiuzzi, was notorious in the Bay Area lesbian community for creating a dramatic schism in the San Francisco Daughters of Billitis and having worked on a few copies of the Lesbian Tide. He was accused of rape by at least one lesbian attending the conference.
Many lesbians begged the conference organizers, including Jeanne Cordova not to invite him and let him perform, but their pleads were ignored. He has been accused of sexual assault and years-long stalking of notable lesbian-feminists in the Bay Area, these accusations span decades. Bev Jo, a young lesbian feminist, was one of the women known as the Gutter Dykes. Bev knew Beth before he identified as a lesbian, and claims he sexually harassed her and begged her to date him when she was 19. She also claims he elected the similar name of "beth" because he was obsessed with her and wanted to "become her" (something very reminiscent of autogynephilia, cough cough).
You can read about lesbian's experiences at the conference in the May 1973 edition of the Lesbian Tide, where Robin Morgan gives the conference organizers a mouth-full in their own periodical (epic.)
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
Here is Dr. Em's articles about this story more in depth.
Dr Em charts the history of the development of 'just be nice' feminism and the inclusion of trans-identified males in the women's movement.
Dr Em charts the history of the development of ‘just be nice’ feminism and the inclusion of trans-identified males in the women’s movement.
In Part 4 of Dr Em's series, we explore the objections of the lesbian group Gutter Dykes to the inclusion of transsexuals within the lesbian
Here's what Gutter-Dyke separatist Bev Jo, who knew Elliott personally pre-transition, had to say on what happened in the comments on Dr. Em's articles on the subject.
Trans "historians" will tell you that an evil group of radical dykes physically attacked Elliott that day, but that wasn't true. They put it up to a vote and Elliott was able to sing at a vote of 3 to 1. He was able to perform uninterrupted, but at least 90 lesbians left he room in protest. He had a myriad of sexual accusations against him and these were blatantly disregarded. The only person who got their ass beat that day was a Christian anti-gay protester who got whooped by a bunch of lesbians.
From Elliott himself, he describes his time in the lesbian community as being "blacklisted" and harassed by, and I quote, "the emerging radical dyke feminist political correctness police" and he mentions his disdain for "PC police propaganda" multiple times while describing his personality and life online.
women have so pathetically flopped over in obedience to men. The most disheartening aspect of modern feminism is how brain dead we've become.
SyIvia Rivera is revered as a trans, LGB and women's right's activist all while being a misogynistic, lesbiphobic hateful man masquerading as a woman. He actively disparaged and tried to silence lesbian feminists early on in the gay liberation movement.
It makes me sick every time a young person calls me a colonizer and tell me that I need to be grateful for "trans people fighting for and winning your civil rights, you owe it all to trans people." And that fucking drives me mad, because I ask them every time--
"can you please tell me what rights, where were they fought for, when were they, how were they, and who the fuck got them for me that was trans?"
And they can never tell me a single incident besides "Marsha P Johnson, SyIvia Rivera, and stonewall! They won your rights!" Which, first, is false. Marsha (a self-described GAY MAN) is quoted as saying he missed the riots entirely that night, he most definitely didn't throw the first stone or brick or whatever.
It's noted that the culprit of the riots was likely Stormé DeLarverie, butch lesbian and drag king performer who started throwing things (bricks I think) at the cops. Yet the trans rights activists rarely acknowledge her? And when they do it's to assign her a trans identity post mortem, it's stomach churning.
This truly feels like living in an insane world and you're the only person who is capable of a single rational thought. We keep repeating history but it's only getting worse. Lesbian-only, female-only spaces are nonexistent. We're threatened with violence and loss of employment if we speak out. Goddess, it's so exhausting. Take me away from here. Rant over. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions, likeminded women only.
TRAs fuck off. Thanks.
groomer
