| vivster said: I use the current interpretation that divorces gender from biological sex. Biological differences exist and should be respected, but they don't define you. A woman is nothing more than a human that has certain biological characteristics and certain needs. Those needs are different from other humans, but they are in no way more or less important. The thing here is that humans are extremely diverse. There is no point in arbitrarily drawing a line between two groups if the biological differences within 1 group are as big as the differences between the groups. There are women that look and act like men and vice versa, so why even divide the groups then? There are special needs people who have to regularly go to special physicians to get themselves checked for their own biological issues. Be it a woman going to a gynecologist or a wheelchair bound person going to the orthopedist. I don't think we'll have to assign a gender to differently abled people just because they're physically different, so why would we do that to biological sexes? Genders are a social construct, created from the human need to categorize everything. From the earliest societies women were labeled the weaker gender, partly because of necessity and partly because male power fantasies. But that isn't really a natural state or a default state seeing how there have been matriarchal societies since the beginning of time. Biological sexes looked differently so of course they have to be separated. Animals and humans are wired to form groups and see members outside our group with skepticism. These things can be overcome however. Humans are intelligent enough to see past difference. We did it with races and we can do it with gender as well. If we look at infants we can see universal acceptance and respect of all genders and races, which means they're only later indoctrinated. This indoctrination is not malicious in most cases but it's just very stupid and causes more problems than it's trying to fix. It all starts with gendered clothing, colors and even toys. One of the most egregious things are gendered bathrooms. Children are taught to keep to their own gender. Having homogeneous gendered groups in childhood and especially youth creates a very toxic circlejerk within these groups who will then define the other group and creating a false picture, further dividing them. At the end of adolescence all the damage is done. To change people's perception of gender we need to start in the early childhood. The current generation is already lost but change can come in the future. At some point people have to stop caring about genders. Sadly we're currently going in the opposite direction. Ironically it's fueled by people who fight for gender equality. We're currently regressing in our acceptance of genders and races because people put emphasis on things that should not be emphasized. I think I made my point here. Now I'm trying to think of a way to fix the issue with gendered changing rooms. |
The situation isn't necessarily as hopeless as it may at first appear. It really depends on the extent to which a given country's feminist movement is influenced by the American women's movement because it's the American women's movement from whence intersectionality theory derives; intersectionality theory being the glue that connects feminist politics to queer theory in the contemporary imagination. In Spain, for example, the women's movement is more powerful and led instead by the lesbian feminists, as you can tell by their slogans and choices of imagery and attire (e.g. only lesbian feminists use the term "hetero-patriarchy" and the March 8th Movement organizers march in lesbian pride purple emblazoned with the second wave woman power symbol) and the March 8th Movement is having a real impact and influence across Europe. Likewise, , South Korea's Ditch the Corset movement is significantly influenced by the literature of lesbian feminist scholar, author, and activist Dr. Sheila Jeffreys.
Radical feminists, including the lesbians, are also a major faction of the movement in the United Kingdom, where there never really was a proper "third wave" or "fourth wave" like happened here in the U.S., and, unlike here in the U.S., over there they lead the movement against transgender politics. I think that helps because many if not most people who embrace transgenderism wind up doing so by way of introduction thereto by the intersectional feminists today. If feminist politics form a path in, they can therefore also form a path out for many of the same people. It's probably no coincidence that many ideas of the transgender movement are highly unpopular in the UK at present. (For example, a recent survey of Scottish women found that 79% want to retain single-sex facilities ranging from restrooms to locker rooms and sports teams.)
