How Does Gender Ideology Impact Women?
A Review Of The Negative Impacts Trans Ideology Has On Women
By now almost everyone in the Western world is familiar at least somewhat with the new concept of transgenderism. We’ve all heard stories of men and boys who have always viewed themselves as girls and women and want nothing more than to live as a girl/woman. For those of you who think that we should just ‘be kind’, compassionate, and affirm the beliefs of this tiny percentage of people because they of course aren't hurting anyone, I implore you to REALLY think about the issue of gender identity. Cast aside anecdotal stories of your friend’s trans journey and think of this issue like you would any other issue-ALL the way through. Although anecdotal stories and putting faces to names is a great way to learn and humanize those who are different- there are always two sides to everything and we need to be fully informed with eyes wide open before we initiate mass changes to society.
Let me be clear, ALL people are deserving of human rights! Everyone alive deserves human rights and legal protections! And ALL people should be treated with decency, respect, and compassion. We should not discriminate against anyone and everyone should be free to live their life as they choose and present as they desire so long as they are not harming anyone! Harming anyone however is a key issue here. And if there is no harm to anyone why is there such a firestorm of controversy over this issue? Are women or anyone else harmed by this issue? Let's count the ways in which women (a discussion on the impacts of children to come in a separate post) are negatively impacted by gender identity.
If the proposed ‘Equality Act”, devised by Democrats which has already passed the House is ratified into law the following rights, norms, and protections will effectively be erased:
-Lost of the the right to privacy in spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms for both men and women
-Lost of the right to specific educational programs such as scholarships, business loans etc. awarded solely to women
-Lost of awards, accolades, and other benefits awarded solely to women and designed to increase female representation
-Lost of roles in employment and leadership positions reserved solely to women to increase female participation
-Lost of spots in sports that until now was guaranteed under Title IX
-Lost of the right to female safe spaces free from males such as rape and domestic violence shelters
-Lost of the right to choose female doctors and not to be seen in states of nakedness by male medical professionals
-Lost of religious rights for women (and men) to be separated from the opposite sex in bathrooms and other private spaces
-Lost of the right for women to have safe support groups for female only issues such as pregnancy, female cancers, menopause etc
-Lost of the right of free speech on sex based issues
-Lost of the right of women to be free from males in prisons
-Lost of the right of lesbians to congregate separately from males both in public and online life
-Lost of the right of journalists to accurately cover stories by correctly identifying male and female persons
-Lost of rights for women to organize politically for sex based rights
-Elimination of sex based crime stats
-Elimination of data collection of sex based inequalities where females are under represented
-Elimination on data collection of sex based differences in healthcare
-Enforcement of regressive stereotypes based on old fashioned gender roles
-Lost of universal words to describe women, their body, and health needs (eg lost of the word woman, mother)
-Normalization of dehumanization of women and alienation of immigrants and those for whom English is a 2nd language (eg use of confusing terms such as menstruator, bleeder, cervix owner)
-Enforcement of state compelled Orwellian style language (eg forcing women to refer to her male rapist as a ‘she’ or forcing teachers to refer to students with nonsensical and made up pronouns)
This list certainly isn’t exhaustive but when we are told that allowing men to be identified as women poses no harm to anyone it's important that we note all the ways gender ideology does in fact impact women and to a lesser extent men as well. Many mostly left leaning people have no idea these are rights and protections that will be lost with a full endorsement of this ideology. Some may even say these concerns are overblown right wing conspiracies, because so far there has been no mass exodus of males in women’s sports, safe spaces, and prisons. There has been no mass rollback of female rights…yet.
So why should we worry about something that hasn't even happened yet? If prisons are any indication, the tidal wave of men in female spaces is just around the corner. And for those of us who follow the news, even occasionally we will note the increase in all of these issues and there is no reason to expect this to change unless there is increasing mass outrage and more likely a complete take over by the Republican Party of both chambers this year and the White House in the following election cycle. Although support for trans ideology has been recently dropping as Americans appear to be souring on many trans related issues such as self-ID and especially males in sports, the activists are pushing forward despite public outrage.
Hopefully all if not most of us will agree that we should have compassion, dignity and respect for trans people. There is no doubt many within this community are marginalized and at great risk of harm. However no group’s rights or concerns should supersede the rights of other groups. Women are a group who has historically been oppressed by men arguably since the beginning of time and potentially until the end of it. So it is imperative that women who make up 50% of the world’s population maintain their rights and protections! Well-meaning left leaning politicians are proposing these types of bills such as the so called ‘Equality Act’ which are unnecessary because trans people (and everyone else) are already protected under the law and it only acts to obscure the definition of women, muddle, and mitigate the hard won rights and protections of women. Don't take my word for it, read the bill for yourself!
The bill states that an individual cannot be “denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity.” But what is gender identity, according to the bill “GENDER IDENTITY.—The term ‘gender identity’ means the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.” But what does this mean? What exactly are the nebulous definitions of appearance, mannerisms etc? Nothing more than regressive and more importantly subjective stereotypes, which by definition redefine the meaning of men or women to be not one who is born with a male or female reproductive system but to a subjective and simple act such as wearing a ‘gendered’ clothing item or hairstyle. This vague definition of gender identity effectively eliminates ALL single sex spaces and makes them all unisex and ALL rights and protections for woman based the simple fact that ‘gender identity’ is impossible to be logically defined and allows any one of us to identify in and out of our sexed bodies with our own thoughts within the context of the law.
Imagine having ‘racial identity’ as a legal category. This would allow anyone for example to identify as a Native American and collect reparations and take advantage of any benefits for Native peoples. We reject this notion because we know people would take advantage of this and would be stealing from Native people by identifying as Native without actually being so. Yet for some reason we not only allow this to happen to women (an oppressed group) but we openly celebrate it!
The primary purpose of this ‘Equality Act’ bill seems to place gender identity above sex based protections as it is often in direct contradiction of sex based rights. So that means all these sex base protections (eg separate bathrooms, rape shelters, sports etc) that we have, would no longer exist & therefore gender identity which is one’s subjective belief of a particular gender will now supersede sex based protections. A little girl putting her bathing suit on for swim practice in a locker room with her doting father waiting outside out of respect for the other females in the locker room will now potentially be changing next to a man fully presenting as a man with an erect penis. Yes, even this seemingly far-fetched situation which basically played out at the Wi Spa incident in California is not only a possibility but a likelihood. How many parents feel comfortable with their young daughter in this situation? If this bill were to pass, men would be able to expose their penises to any women or girls as long as he does so in the place where nakedness may occur such as a locker room.
So how can gender identity, a nebulous term with a vague definition supersede what we’ve known about the sexes for thousands of years? How does the government ensure that those with a differing gender identity are not bad actors & indeed the gender they say? How can the government ensure that although they are now allowing every man to identify in and out of womanhood with the change of the wind, each and everyone of these men will be doing so out of a true belief and not for nefarious purposes? The reality is they cannot!
Not only is it entirely delusional for a man to claim he is a woman based on his personal feelings there is NO way the government can ensure all of these men are sincere. And when we couple in those claiming ‘gender fluid’ and/or ‘non-binary’ status, which oddly seems to also mean taking from women, it becomes impossible to keep woman safe and females spaces and rights solely for females.
The sad truth is that in many cases much of the privileges (I won't call them rights because the trans community already has all the rights of everyone else) are in direct conflict with women's rights. Many if not most of those who advocate for males to be able to identify as women do so with good intentions but quite a bit of ignorance. If men can identify in and out of female oppression so easily why cant women?
Many believe that trans identified people have gotten any necessary surgeries to fully change their physical appearance including their genitalia such as men being castrated. However because of the great dangers of these surgeries and even hormones, most trans people do not have surgeries. So these males are almost always fully intact. It has been ruled as unlawful and even discriminatory to force any trans person to undergo sterilizing and potentially dangerous surgeries or medications to transition. So it is not legally possible even if this were a popular idea to have a middle ground of ‘fully transitioned’ people to only access female spaces and rights.
So unfortunately this seems to leave the only options as two extremes; a complete prohibition of males from all females spaces even those who have undergone surgery or an open invitation to all males which effectively erases women and many rights and protections for MILLIONS of oppressed and marginalized Americans. Sadly there is no easy answer and obviously a complex problem requires a complex solution. We must be logical and balance the rights of ALL impacted, not just a tiny percentage of mostly White, progressive highly privileged people.
What is the benefit of gender ideology? Are the impacts to half the world’s population worth the privileges given to a tiny percentage of people? What truly is the reason for these changes and why is there a sudden need now? Can our society really handle the upheaval of the rolling back of norms that have been in place for THOUSANDS of years across all cultures and countries? Should we? Are these changes really needed? And maybe most importantly do we all (including those who say they support this) REALLY understand what we are supporting?
Is this truly a movement of freedom of expression or is this simply a progressive push to implement this neoliberal ‘woke’ agenda, in which a ‘queering’ of society and dismantling of all norms and institutions including the family unit, prisons and police forces and even the constitution itself are required? And what impact does the incredible amount of profit for big pharma and the rise of ‘gender’ surgeons have on this sudden increase of trans identified people? There seems to be very little thought and consideration to why there is a 4000% increase in trans identified teenage girls almost overnight!
I don't pretend to know all the answers and I certainly have a LOT of questions which no one seems to have answers to. But I can say with confidence that throwing societal norms in place for millennia and the hard won rights of 50% of the world's population should not be cast aside so quickly for what (God willing) is likely a passing fad.