o_O.Q said:
MrWayne said:
I think you both have good arguments about transgender women and their role in feminism.
If I talk to a transgender woman, aka a biological man who identifies himself as a woman and tries to be seen as a woman, I would definitely address her as a woman. Also normally one can not know how many X and Y chromosomes an unknown person has, one can only assume on the basis of their appearance, so transgender women are strongly affected by the social norms for women.
However, transgender women and biological women can not be treated equally in all aspects. Women's sports leagues are a good example, they exist mainly for two reasons:
a) the obvious one, women have less physical strength than men, so they are unable to compete with men in physicaly demanding Sports.
b) in less physical demanding Sports, like chess, women's sports leagues exist to counteract the social and historical disadvanteges women have and to provide an environment in which a healthy competitive scene can develop.(pretty feminist idea if you ask me)
It's debatable if transgender women should be allowed to participate in women's sports leagues, they have better physical conditions than women, even if they take hormones, and even though they have social disadvantages compared to men these are very different and not really comparable to the ones women have.
I actually have a perfect example of point b).
In February of this year, the Canadian Starcraft 2 pro Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn won a big tournament in Korea tied to the Olympics. A little while later I read an article about the tournament in which the author arguaed that winning that prestigeous tounament wasn't only a huge acomplishment for her but also for all women in e-sports. Scarlett is a transgender woman so i have trouble to understand how she could be a inspiration for biological women.
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i don't get this stance...
"If I talk to a transgender woman, aka a biological man who identifies himself as a woman and tries to be seen as a woman, I would definitely address her as a woman."
ok fair enough you accept their identity here
"It's debatable if transgender women should be allowed to participate in women's sports leagues"
but deny their identity here
why is it ok to throw out the biological basis for sex in one instance but not another?
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because these are very different situations.
If the instance is heavily tied to the physiology of the women body or to being born and raised as a women, women and transgender women have a different view and experiences but there are many cases where it's not important what's between you legs or how your parents raised you.
So I would say feminism isn't a movement for transgender women but they definitely benefit from it, so it's pretty logical for them to be feminists..
btw Feminism is a movement for women but you don't have to be a woman to be a feminist.
