What Makes a Woman?
June 10, 2015 8:54 AM Subscribe
Elinor Burkett takes on Caitlyn Jenner and transgender identity standards in a NYT op-ed.
Many thoughtful comments appear on the NYT site; more during Ms. Burkett's interview segment on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show yesterday.
"People who haven’t lived their whole lives as women, whether Ms. Jenner or Mr. Summers, shouldn’t get to define us. That’s something men have been doing for much too long. And as much as I recognize and endorse the right of men to throw off the mantle of maleness, they cannot stake their claim to dignity as transgender people by trampling on mine as a woman."
Many thoughtful comments appear on the NYT site; more during Ms. Burkett's interview segment on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show yesterday.
This post was deleted for the following reason: I don't think there's any good that's gonna come from giving this essay front-page attention on Metafilter; there's an open thread about Caitlyn Jenner where it'd be okay to broach it if folks haven't already. -- cortex
Also:
posted by zarq at 8:59 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
(One way you can tell that Burkett is a TERF is that she calls the term TERF a "trans insult." In fact, the term was coined by radical feminists who are not transphobic, to distinguish themselves from bigots. But TERFs inevitably claim that the term is a trans slur and that they should be referred to simply as "feminists.")
posted by zarq at 8:59 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
People who haven’t lived their whole lives as women, whether Ms. Jenner or Mr. Summers, shouldn’t get to define us. That’s something men have been doing for much too long. And as much as I recognize and endorse the right of men to throw off the mantle of maleness, they cannot stake their claim to dignity as transgender people by trampling on mine as a woman.
So yeah, this article is problematic.
posted by Dysk at 9:00 AM on June 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
So yeah, this article is problematic.
posted by Dysk at 9:00 AM on June 10, 2015 [4 favorites]
But I also want her to remember: Nail polish does not a woman make.
My instincts are telling me to stay away from this thread, but as a woman who never got into makeup or girly things and was often shamed for it, this was a refreshing take on the subject.
posted by Melismata at 9:00 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
My instincts are telling me to stay away from this thread, but as a woman who never got into makeup or girly things and was often shamed for it, this was a refreshing take on the subject.
posted by Melismata at 9:00 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
...and whatever the current state of confusion in the press over Jenner's pronouns is, this shit is inexcusable: By defining womanhood the way he did to Ms. Sawyer, Mr. Jenner...
posted by Dysk at 9:01 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 9:01 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wow, sorry, but this is some ugly ugly TERF writing. Calling trans folks "self-described," "I was born in the wrong body rhetoric", "trans people want vaginas," etc is hella nasty.
posted by Kitteh at 9:02 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 9:02 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by zarq at 8:58 AM on June 10, 2015 [2 favorites]