selecting my chosen oppressed group
I’ve recently had cause to reassess my views towards groups of people who are routinely oppressed and/or marginalised within our society. It’s been suggested to me that it’s impossible to cover all bases for political correctness and that we should simply to stick to a specific subset of discrimination that we favour.
Given that I’ve recently been found guilty of trans-activist rhetoric (sounds like a crime!), I thought I should select trans people as the oppressed group that I’d like to support.
It would be absurd to suggest that humans are individuals within a society and that equality of treatment is a sensible goal for everyone. I’m now clear that we can only focus on one group of people (maybe two or three if we’re very clever) at a time.
So, I’ve decided to drop gay people and people with mental health problems as groups that I’ll support. To be honest, I’ve had some bad experiences with individuals who fall into both groups, and I’ve recently seen some headlines in the news indicating that most of them are perverts and criminals. So, if you see any of those types hanging round my blog, please feel free to tell them your personal opinion about them, regardless of how they claim (in their victimhood, yawn) it makes them feel – gay, poof, crazy, nuts – the floor’s open. I simply can’t be a catch-all.
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Hopefully anyone reading this spotted it was satire. But you never know. I’m sickened by the number of posts and comments I’ve been reading lately suggesting that the acceptance of trans people into ‘normal’ society isn’t simple. Even those who aren’t outright wishing harm to trans people are happy to accept comments that trans people in general may be a threat to feminism, to women or society in general.
In this respect, I am reminded of 20 years ago and the prevailing attitude towards to gay people. Even people who weren’t outright hostile to homosexuals were happy to accept comments that they were sexual perverts, wrapped up in themselves and their unnatural sexual desires, who would never lead normal lives. There seems to be the same trend now from areas where trans people might expect the most support – campaigners for other oppressed groups. I can only imagine these campaigners have been offended by specific individuals, have been hurt by society, and have found a lower class to denigrate and victimise.
It’s beyond sad. But interesting to note the patterns in human thinking that persist even as we attempt to tear down barriers.
If trans people don’t make sense within the framework of your chosen ideology, if you’re an evangelical Christian or a radical feminist, then please stop to consider that perhaps the problem doesn’t lie with them, but with your mouldy old rule book, and your inability to recognise patterns of societial oppression and discrimination.
(I’m not going to link to any specific posts or comments because I understand that there is a fear that a kind of witch-hunt is underway against people who are anti-trans, and I don’t want to contribute to whipping up antagonism. I think these people are genuinely misled. Suffice to say that there are sites out there dedicated to spreading anti-trans propaganda, scouring newspapers and websites for negative stories, and presenting anecdotes and foul personal opinions as evidence in favour of discrimination. These sites are acknowledged, liked and further shared by radical feminists who agree with them.)
I’ll hang back until you throw in your lot with us Oppressed South Africans.
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I’m not sure what these means. Is it humour? Maybe you should just stick to editing comments. 😀
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What comments? Sheesh!
Do you have to apply for a license to laugh in Ecosse?
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What comments? Sheesh!
Do you have to apply for a license to laugh in Ecosse?
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In defence of radical feminism, the best rad fem blog I know is very clearly NOT anti-trans: http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/?s=Trans+gender
She posts less and less, but go over and have a look: the archives are still all there, and she’s a bloody brilliant and funny writer.
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Hi Look at my email address (?I did?), thanks so much for your comment and the link to that interesting looking blog. I hardly understood a word of the first post I clicked on, but it did look kind of cool. Good to know there’s some hope. 🙂
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Oh yes, this is an excellent post that deserves a direct link: http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2013/03/25/shirley-theres-nothing-more-to-say-on-the-subject-of-radfems-vs-trans-women/
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I did not see it was satire, immediately, because it can be worthwhile choosing a subject and burrowing into it, rather than ranging over anything which interests you. If you want to specialise in trans issues, reading up and citing relevant Queer theory, please do.
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I’m confident that people can choose a specialist subject while maintaining perspective on and decency towards those who fall outside their speciality. Unfortunately I won’t be specialising in any subject, I get distracted by shiny objects …
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Pingback: Performing femininity | Clare Flourish
How terribly annoying. I can’t disagree with anything you say here- and I’ve been up and down the text three times 😛
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I imagine you even brought out the fine tooth comb. At the very least, I’m sure there’s an appalling spelling or grammar error to offend you.
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No. I tried that too, you evil Ginger highlander.
Did I ever tell you Mike’s career started in Glasgow? At the Citizen’s. He lived there for years. He loves the city with a passion.
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So you both have a Scottish connection. Glasgow’s a cool city. Edinburgh’s soft and bland in comparison, but a nice city to live with kids. Are you back in France?
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In France 100% of the time now- and I’m never, ever moving again. The stress was just enormous. Living out of boxes for three months before the paperwork went through.
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Yeah, I’m not a fan of moving. Although lack of sunlight may make it happen again.
On a side note, I wonder how long we’ll be buddies for this time. I give us two weeks. The common enemy will fade into the background, the knives will be out and we’ll be banning and unfollowing once more …. 😀
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Two whole weeks? Impossible 😛
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Wow, just read I’ve been banned from Roughseas. Went to see what happened, and you too (I’m not so surprised about that).
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I’ll open a bottle of wine to celebrate; you can open a bottle of some alcohol-free-vegan champagne or whatever it is you drink 😀
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I’m shocked. I quite enjoyed having prickly conversations with her, and I thought she was too much the ‘journalist’ to ban people for simply disagreeing with her. But I guess you’re-not-a-proper-feminist is a sin as serious as you’re-not-my-definition-of-a-woman. Insanity’s going to be my only blogging buddy before I know it. 😀
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I was teasing Insanity yesterday- she didn’t answer. I think I ruined cinema for her by telling her that no matter how many Jesus films she watches, he always dies in the end 😀
As for RS, I’m more disappointed than bothered. I didn’t put her down as a Katy Faust type. The truth is they may have different causes, but function on the same pseudo-logic and vile methods.
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“The truth is they may have different causes, but function on the same pseudo-logic and vile methods. ”
Sounds like something you said about me last week. You’re so fickle. She doesn’t have vile methods, she just can’t get her head past whatever barrier is there. People have unpleasant experiences they build these kinds of irrational fears on. The Bigot didn’t like her parents separating and presumably didn’t enjoy her mum’s new girlfriend as much as she claims she does. Roughseas was obviously drawn to Radical Feminism as a strict ideology for a reason. Toe the line because we’re all in this together (or something like that).
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Not fickle. I can accuse more than one person of resorting to a religious way of thinking 😉
As for vile methods, I’m referring to one in particular: trying to seem impartial while actually pushing ideas that will harm a particular group of people.
By allowing the association of gays to pedophiles (Faust) or transgendered people to rapists (RS) they are in essence endorsing and promoting those ideas.
And you can even see the bias in how RS controls comments. If someone says I’m an idiot, that’s permitted, if I call someone an idiot, that’s suddenly against the rules. Cult-behaviour.
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Yeah, I just read the comment from ‘concerned’ in full. She let that comment stand and didn’t challenge an ounce of the foulness? Wow. That does remind of The Bigot.
That’s the sort of comment I’d love to do a post on to rip this whole thing apart. Pity it’s so disgusting and harmful I couldn’t bear to repeat the words. It’s vicious paranoia gone wild.
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… but you should write about it if you have the time/energy. It’s of monumental importance that they not get to spread that sort of misinformation. And on top of it, it’s double-edged. Trans people are rapists, and so anyone who supports them is a rape promoter. And also promotes the corrective rape of lesbians. It’s a well calculated attempt to push bigotry and silence opposition.
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“vicious paranoia gone wild”- unfortunately, rape allegations are standard in the trans-excluders. One compared me to a rapist because I “broke women’s boundaries”- I thought she would be enraged if anyone else had used rape as a metaphor for anything less than forcible penetration. There’s a blog called “stop trans chauvinism”- there’s your google term- which is a good entrance to the rabbit hole, as it is almost all reblogs. Exulting in our suicides is another trope. Or you could try that kiwifarms thread, https://kiwifar.ms/threads/terf-tranny-exclusionary-radical-feminists.15152/page-5
But the weirdest thing about it is the energy they devote to this! Some have a fifty hour a week blogging habit- and all this repetitive guff.
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What I think we have to look at is that this variety of fringe “activism” isn’t really about ideas or an ideology. There’s a more personal, ego-related motivation.
As Violet pointed out, the comments are extreme enough one can only conclude some of these people have experienced disturbing situations. For others it will be about automatic membership to a group with very strict rules (extremist politics/extremist religion)… and the list goes on. Personal trauma or some sort of perceived failure can easily lead some people to search for someone or something to blame- because they haven’t developed more productive coping mechanisms.
It’s just my personal impression, but I think RS isn’t entirely content with her parcours. She dedicated some effort to education and work and feels things didn’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped. Perhaps she feels things would’ve been different had she been a man. Probably true.
Terribly unfortunate that what they ultimately do is to take their discontent and inflict it on fellow citizens. It doesn’t solve their problem and it creates problems for other people.
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Me too. I am not surprised at all. My comment to The Arbourist saying how much I would love to “define my material reality” and asking if I could buy a licence somewhere, went straight to spam.
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No, actually, **** let that one through.
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She’s allowing you to show it’s not actually discrimination … or waiting for you to say something incriminating that proves trans people shouldn’t be allowed in toilets.
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There is one proper TERF on that thread: the comment about “transactivists” supporting rape. I might just be driving her further towards that.
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