This is apropos of nothing but inspired by something I've been seeing unfortunately fairly often:
'Saying "all men are bad and should die" hurts trans men!' WRT transandrophobia/anti-transmasculinity in the queer community?
Is just,
'It's not a human at [x] weeks, it's a bunch of cells' WRT arguments against abortion bans.
Like. Does that make sense? It's focusing on the wrong thing.
Yes. Both of those statements are true. But they're not addressing the problem.
The problem with abortion bans is that they're violating people's bodily autonomy. You can't be compelled to give of or donate your body to somebody else, even if not doing so would result in their death. If you need a kidney or else you're gonna die in a week, I'm a viable match, and I say 'no'? I cannot be forced to give you a kidney. If a baby/fetus/bundle of cells needs my uterus to survive? I should not be forced to give it to them. That's it.
And simultaneously, the problem with 'this hurts trans men' is that the statements being criticized are reinforcing bioessentialism and radfem rhetoric. It does hurt trans men, but it's just part of the issue. The REAL issue is that categorizing a whole type of person (about half of the global population) as inherently evil and dangerous because of their A) biology or B) identity is bad no matter who you're talking about. It's bad if you say it on a racial basis. It's bad if you say it on a gender basis.
You can and should be able to make arguments against these talking points without capitulating to their flawed ideologies.
And this is maybe related, though not like. A directly connected thought, but:
The patriarchy is a system. It is not individuals. Individuals can uphold that system, but they are not the system itself and they are just as capable of being harmed by that system as anyone else. Yes. This means that EVEN CIS MEN can be harmed by the patriarchy. It is an inherently oppressive system and ANYONE can be oppressed by it because that's what it's designed to do.
And I'm not gonna do that oppression olympics 'obviously there are some people more likely to be oppressed by the system' bullshit because IT DEPENDS. It depends on the community you're in. It depends on who you are and how you're perceived by that community. Hell, it depends on whether the person in a position to utilize the system to enact harm on you is having a good or bad day.
IDK these are just some thoughts I've been rolling around in my head lately. Maybe not the best articulated, but I've been fistfighting the brain fog lately and it's got some fuckin hands, so. IDK cry about it if you don't like it.
