I’ve recently started looking into radical feminism (peaking I guess?) because the way the trans community talks about intersex people does my head in. For context, I have a rare and female specific intersex condition. It only affects genetic females, but my chromosomes didn’t separate into “normal” female chromosomes. In recent years, I’ve seen people argue that sex and gender are a spectrum, not binary, and people like me are proof. And I don’t know how they don’t realize how insulting that is. Firstly, what does my disorder that causes me health issues have to do with a perisex person self identifying as a different gender? Secondly, the insinuation that I am a lesser female, that I’m some third category, just because of a random genetic error is fucked up. Humans are defined by being bipedal, but we don’t look at babies born without legs as a separate species. We acknowledge they are humans that simply didn’t develop the way we’d typically expect. But because my chromosomes didn’t develop the way we typically expect for females, I’m somehow a third category or somewhere between a male and female? It’s like they don’t even realize they are implying I’m less female than the “real” females because of a medical condition I can’t control. I reckon the majority of people saying this shit aren’t even intersex themselves and I’m sick of people using us to fit their narrative. The first time I’ve seen anyone online talk about us like normal human beings that just happen to have a medical condition has been from blogs under the radfem tag.
when it comes down to it, trans rights activists are trying to mystify sex as much as possible. If sex isn’t real, or it’s a spectrum or whatever else, then women (adult human females) have no basis to consider ourselves a distinct group with our distinct interests. This will make feminism defunct, and males would face little to no backlash or consequences for using their fetishization of femininity to speak over women, intrude in our spaces, and have access to us at our most vulnerable. If women can’t define ourselves in a court of law, then the law can’t protect us.
It’s wrong that you and your condition are being used to do this. You didn’t ask for this. Not to mention all the ways your life must be made worse through the misinformation campaign. The forced-teaming with TRAs is annoying also, coming from a lesbian.
The truth is there is room in radical feminism for women with differences of sexual development, or intersex women if you prefer. Feminism is for female human beings. No if, ands, or buts.
