Trans Identities are Sacrosanct, but Lesbian Identities are Transphobic

A recent article on Feministing caught my attention.

http://feministing.com/2012/06/28/enough-with-i-date-women-and-trans-men/

In it, women are told that they must re-evaluate their lesbian identity if they are attracted to both women and trans men, or else they are being “transphobic”. As Jos Truitt (the author) says:

My trans brothers deserve better than sex in a frame that undermines their identities [that is, sex with lesbians who sleep with trans men]. This doesn’t mean queer cis women and gender non-conforming female assigned folks can’t f*ck trans men, but then they owe it to these guys to reframe their sexuality in a way that’s not undermining – to recognize that they sleep with men, and to question why they’re OK with sleeping with trans men and not cis men.

In other words, if you sleep with trans men, you can’t legitimately call yourself a lesbian any more. YOU must change your identity, and Jos (who does not identify as a lesbian) has the right to request that you make this change. Additionally, you must ask yourself why you refuse to consider dating “cis men”. This statement places the onus on lesbians to determine why they have decided not to date “cis men”– rather than allowing them to decide for themselves who they should be attracted to.

Note that gay and straight men are not being called to task for not properly identifying themselves so as to avoid “transphobia”. It’s women– once again– who are the target of this ostensibly “feminist” critique.

Lesbians are under attack. At a recent dyke march, Cathy Brennan was cornered by tens of trans/queer activists, and screamed at. You can see video here, as well as one trans critique of the violent rhetoric currently swirling from the queer/trans community. Brennan has stated that she has never felt so unsafe as she did at the NYC Dyke March 2012.

But Cathy Brennan is not the only target. Lesbians are under fire. First it was the cotton ceiling debacle, and now this article at feministing.

Female reality is also under fire, and we are not even permitted to organize and discuss it.

It is unclear to me why “feminists” focus so much attention on policing women and lesbians, when the entire purpose of feminism has always been the liberation of women.

As an ally and a woman, I will stand with my sisters against oppression– no matter the source.

Ah, Womanhood!

-Jenna Talackova-

Radical feminists object to misogynistic beauty pageants such as the Miss Universe Competition, since these competitions reduce women’s value to how well their bodies conform to narrow, p-compliant standards. They reify patriarchal values of what women are for– that is, they are useful as masterbation props, as f’k toys, and as product billboards. See Woman as Useful Objects for more on this. Radical feminists believe that this reduction of women to useful object is a woman-hating enterprise, and should be abolished.

We also reject stereotypical conceptions of womanhood. We believe that we are socialized to think of ourselves in patriarchal terms; to believe that our value is in our bodies and how well they conform to the f’kability mandate. However, we reject this value, and recognize the myriad other qualities that make us A-mazing. At the same time, we also recognize that other women may not have the resources to dis-entangle their own self-worth from these p-given values. Regardless, we strongly object to these contests, and wish to see them abolished.

Recently a controversy has broken out out over a trans* contestant of the Miss Universe Competition named Jenna Talackova who wished to participate in the competition. At first, the contestant was kicked out, only to be reinstated at a later date. Interestingly, many mainstream feminist websites supported Talackova’s inclusion in this woman-hating enterprise.

Unfortunately, Talackova uses gender stereotypes when self-describing:

I have two sides to me. There’s the soft, subtle, calm side, and there’s the very glam, diva-ish side. I had to let that side loose a bit [in this competition].

Radical feminists know Talackova’s self description exudes stereotypical femininity. We encourage women to reject gender stereotypes, and we wish Talackova would recognize that womanhood and stereotypical womanhood are not the same thing.

The performance of stereotypical femininity, both in dress and manner, is not liberating for females. Radical feminists do not believe that these performances are necessary nor sufficient conditions for womanhood, and we would like to see them abolished. Though we do not blame individual females who perform them, we blame the misogynistic culture we live in for perpetuating them.

-Radfems OBJECT to this view of what a woman is-