people cosplaying on public transit are the backbone of our society and i am SO serious. there is no greater omen of good fortune than seeing hatsune miku on the bus.
Here’s a little history lesson for everyone who doesn’t understand why Jk Rowling’s statements are problematic.
The Feminism movement has always been exclusionary. White women didn’t want to include black women in the movement. They thought they were more likely to get rights for themselves if they excluded those with the barest of human rights to begin with. You think there was a lot of Black women at the Seneca Falls Convention?
Sure, the different waves of feminism were about focusing on specific issues, but they were also about who they were going to exclude. White women at the forefront of feminism have always looked out for themselves first. The second wave of feminism was especially problematic in it’s exclusion of oppressed women and minorities.
Lesbians weren’t even welcomed in the feminist movement until third-wave feminism. That’s the 1980′s! It took sixty years of feminism (if we’re starting around the time of the women’s suffrage movement) for lesbians to even be included in the conversation about female rights and equality.
Where am I going with all this? What’s my point. It’s this: No one told Jk Rowling that sex does not exist. She is spouting rhetoric that her experiences being born female are more valid than that of a trans woman. To quote the woman herself: “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.” Do see what she did there? She drew a line in the sand between those born female and those who identify as female. That the identity of trans women somehow erases her identity as a cis-het woman (also she’s confusing sex and gender.)
This has constantly been the issue with feminism. The idea of “well my experiences are more valid than your experiences.” The idea that if we include trans women (WHO ARE WOMEN!) in the conversation, it’s going to take something away from the rich, white women who have worked so hard to get something for themselves.
Well, guess what, until all women (YES ALL OF THEM, NO IF ANDS OR BUTS) have complete rights and equality, then what one woman has is meaningless. Creating factions, creating walls around what feminism is and what it means just creates division, and we end up fighting amongst ourselves instead of focusing on the real issues. Even just saying “I’ll march for trans rights but I won’t include them in the feminist movement” is deeply problematic, and also essentially what Rowling said in her posts.
Include all women in the conversation or stop talking.
