I’m so sorry some of you are having issues with your daughters supporting TRAs, and I’m hoping this will maybe be of some comfort/reassurance to you that not all hope is lost:
I’m 24, left wing and largely surrounded by the “TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN!!!!!” brigade and was even one of them until recently. I really think the tide’s turning; it’s gone from mild courtesies such as going along with someone’s preferred pronouns to absolute extremism like implying same sex attraction is transphobic, and the removal of the word ‘woman’ from the NHS website etc.
Like we saw with Owen Jones the other day, if you don’t say the party line, even if it’s objectively untrue, you’re immediately attacked - I think that black and white thinking actually eventually pushes people who otherwise would’ve considered themselves allies away - that’s what it did to me. Now that non-women are being allowed in our spaces, it’ll likely become obvious with time exactly why they shouldn’t be there. Perhaps it’s too late then, but still. Also, now that doctors mutilating children is seen as progressive, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a complete crisis and even more evidence comes out about the unethical nature of it all (and stuff’s already coming out).
I think trying to appease and be kind to the oppressor both consciously and subconsciously is a defence mechanism women and girls use - we feel out of control, we can’t physically fight them, so our only option is to placate them. I think liberal feminism has also been going out of fashion recently… a lot of women seem to be realising that pretending you’re okay with/embracing patriarchal standards for women isn’t liberating, it’s just playing into the hands of your oppressor and their quality of life is worse as a result.
There’s far more of an expectation for women to ‘be kind,’ so I’m not surprised a lot of us have a knee jerk reaction the second we’re told we’re bigots instead of truly questioning what’s going on, but I do think women will notice with time. Hopefully enough women will wake up before it’s too late, but please know it’s not completely hopeless - I spent ages trying to suppress my own thoughts out of shame because I thought I was a bigot, and maybe some of your daughters are doing the same and that’s why their reactions are so extreme.
I’m 24, left wing and largely surrounded by the “TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN!!!!!” brigade and was even one of them until recently. I really think the tide’s turning; it’s gone from mild courtesies such as going along with someone’s preferred pronouns to absolute extremism like implying same sex attraction is transphobic, and the removal of the word ‘woman’ from the NHS website etc.
Like we saw with Owen Jones the other day, if you don’t say the party line, even if it’s objectively untrue, you’re immediately attacked - I think that black and white thinking actually eventually pushes people who otherwise would’ve considered themselves allies away - that’s what it did to me. Now that non-women are being allowed in our spaces, it’ll likely become obvious with time exactly why they shouldn’t be there. Perhaps it’s too late then, but still. Also, now that doctors mutilating children is seen as progressive, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a complete crisis and even more evidence comes out about the unethical nature of it all (and stuff’s already coming out).
I think trying to appease and be kind to the oppressor both consciously and subconsciously is a defence mechanism women and girls use - we feel out of control, we can’t physically fight them, so our only option is to placate them. I think liberal feminism has also been going out of fashion recently… a lot of women seem to be realising that pretending you’re okay with/embracing patriarchal standards for women isn’t liberating, it’s just playing into the hands of your oppressor and their quality of life is worse as a result.
There’s far more of an expectation for women to ‘be kind,’ so I’m not surprised a lot of us have a knee jerk reaction the second we’re told we’re bigots instead of truly questioning what’s going on, but I do think women will notice with time. Hopefully enough women will wake up before it’s too late, but please know it’s not completely hopeless - I spent ages trying to suppress my own thoughts out of shame because I thought I was a bigot, and maybe some of your daughters are doing the same and that’s why their reactions are so extreme.
