As the featured image to this post shows, the response to this video by some transgender males has been negative. I think it’s worthwhile thinking about the central message this video conveys, which is ‘respect women, respect homosexuals and respect homosexuality’, and asking oneself what type of ideology finds such a message unpalletable.
Some points that have come up in discussion:
Q: I thought it was interesting when Miranda talked of transwomen who are hetereosexual men who now want access to Lesbians! Straight men must always feel that affront to their patriarchal rights, that they can’t have some women – and now, with this trojan horse play – they say “but we are women too” so lesbians who don’t want dick (even a “female penis”) are now subject to their abuse – the cotton ceiling. Miranda suggested that straight women are being complicit in this?
A: What I’m getting at is women who are in relationships with trans males claiming to be lesbians; even if the trans male was the most ‘convincing’ trans male in history, that person would be a heterosexual male, so we have a woman in a relationship with a heterosexual male. If that’s to be recognised as a lesbian relationship; we are redefining female homosexuality as a relationship between a male and a female; a heterosexual relationship.
I’d also make the observation that ‘being a lesbian’ is a very common male fantasy, and is common among autogynephilia transsexuals and transgender individuals who define themselves as ‘transgender lesbians’. The corollary to this is of course ‘the cotton ceiling‘, with heterosexual males claiming access to the bodies of homosexual females.
How the use of ‘TERF’ and ‘CIS’ is anti-lesbian
The conjunction of ‘cis’ and ‘lesbian is inherently homophobic. A quick search on Twitter shows how this and ‘TERF’ are instrumentalised against female homosexuals by (almost always) heterosexual males. You are reading these screen captures correctly: lesbians who aren’t into penis or ‘trans woman’ are being branded as ‘TERFs’.
If we accept that the most simple meaning behind ‘TERF’ is anyone (usually a woman) who does not accept ‘trans women are women’, under the guise of political correctness we find now that lesbians no longer have the ultimate right to decide who falls within their dating pool the message from transgender males is clear: homosexual women must either accept heterosexual males as potential partners, or be branded as ‘TERF’. This is the worst kind of homophobia: it is both sanctioned and enforced by the left, and directly benefits males at the expense of homosexual women.
Notes:
We filmed this video on 25 June 2017. Rya was asking me how I felt about words like ‘TERF’ and ‘cis’, what they mean and how these words are used.
This is my piece arguing why ‘cis lesbian’ and ‘cis gay man’ are homophobic.
Our earlier collaboration ‘Trans Women Are Not Women’ is here, with my accompanying short essay.
Examples of how the word ‘TERF’ is used as a component of violent rhetoric are available to see at Terf is a Slur.
Miranda on Twitter
Rya on Twitter
Miranda Yardley’s YouTube Channel
Rya Jones’s YouTube Channel
Hey Miranda! I just wanted to say I’ve been reading stuff you’ve written and you are truly a breath of fresh air in the whole transgender vs. gender criticals debate. As a radfem and as a lesbian I feel lucky to have you as an ally – and it is for trans people like you that I still seek to find common ground with the transgender community. So thank you for speaking out about these things!
Thank you!
This is frightening. After reading more from here and delving into this subject a bit more its actually disturbing. This has some serious serious social ramifications that do not bode well. We have to fight these illogical premises before it gets hold. Very scary.