Pride Rage

TW: sexual assault, rape, trans issues, transphobia, homophobia

So, JK Rowling, a woman who regularly pretends to be a man in her working life for financial gain, has been on the TERF wagon this week.

Some of you won't know what TERF means: it means trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Radical feminism rejects male supremacy, which is good. Trans-exclusionary radical feminism rejects male supremacy while also rejecting trans-women as women. The weird thing about TERFs is that all their arguments for excluding transwomen from radical feminism rely on traditional gender roles for women. TRANSWOMEN DON'T MENSTRUATE THEREFORE THEY DO NOT KNOW A WOMAN'S PAIN. Well, I hate to tell you ladies, but there are a lot of cis women who don't menstruate, through choice or not.
Some of you won't know what cis means. Some of you will think it's a bad word. It's not. It is just the opposite of trans: I am a ciswoman. It says nothing about sexuality, just about whether or not your sex (your bits) match your gender (your sense of you being male/female). Gender expression is much wider for women than men, which may be part of the reason there are more transwomen than transmen, but that's another discussion entirely.

So, JK Rowling is against changes to the Gender Recognition Act. A lot of people are, to be honest with you. The current Gender Recognition Act requires trans individuals to live as their preferred gender for two years, and then go to a panel and prove that they are living as the opposite gender in order to recieve a new birth certificate that says they are male or female. The panel bit is horribly invasive: you have to have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, you have to have your spouse's permission if you are married, and you must prove you are living as trans. There are only about five thousand people who have changed their gender in this manner in the UK, of a trans population of up to 500,000. This means you have probably shared facilities with a trans person, without a GRC, and you had no idea.

The revision to the Gender Recognition Act proposes to do away with the panel, so if you want to change your gender legally, you can much faster and with much less fanfare.
That's it.

Anyway, JK Rowling and COUNTLESS OTHERS are against this change, and they're probably against it (if they're deeply honest with themselves) because they see being transgender as an aberration. Nevermind the fact that nobody knows what their sex chromosome makeup is unless there's a problem, nor their sex hormone levels; nevermind the fact that other people's genitals are absolutely none of your business, there is a sizeable chunk of people who think that being trans is just wrong. They cannot concieve of it. The same as people used to think being gay was just wrong. So much so, that they'd execute you for it.

But naturally, you can't just SAY you think it's wrong, that would be terrible for business. Especially when you're a beloved children's writer. So, a lot of concerns about the new Gender Recognition Act are dressed up as concern for the children. As it was ever so. Remember Section 28?

JK Rowling and friends are terribly concerned that men will simply say they are women in order to access sex segregated spaces. Changing rooms and toilets are the two most commonly cited examples. "Would you want your daughter in a changing room with a PENIS???" they ask. They don't say "Would you want your daughter in a changing room with a transwoman desperately trying to get changed without flashing anyone, terrified in case she does?" because that would actually humanise transwomen. No, A PENISSSSSS.

And it's ALWAYS transwomen getting demonised. Nevermind transmen, who will either be using the male changing rooms and risk being sexually assaulted by angry men (they do that, unfortunately) or using the female changing rooms while being coded as male and therefore also enraging the women. No, it's always the PERVERTED MASSIVE SCHLONGS IN SKIRTS that get pulled out for this particular argument.

Now. Let's consider what we know of rape and sexual assault against women in general. All stats are from Rape Crisis UK. About 20% of all adult women have experienced sexual violence in the UK. Most victims know their attacker (about 90%). Rapists overwhelmingly get away with it - about 5.7% of REPORTED rapes end in conviction; most rapes are unreported.

So, about 10% of rapes are committed by strangers. I can't find any statistics for what percentage are carried out by transwomen, which strongly suggests that it's such a rare crime that statistics do not exist. But stranger rapes still happen, largely committed by cismen.
Raped in the bathroom at McDonalds. Raped in the loo at Heathrow. Raped in the public toilets. Raped in the leisure centre changing room. Raped at school. Raped at the bus station. Raped in the pub. Raped in a shopping centre.

And these are just the ones that are reported.

Men do not need to pretend to be women to rape women.

Men just need to look like they're supposed to be there.

No rapist has ever walked up to a women's toilet, looked at the sign, sighed "foiled again", and walked away.

Because signs do not protect you from rapists.

If I am being really charitable, I suppose I can see this argument as a desperate hope that sex-segregated spaces ARE safe from rapists. That putting a sign on the door saying "women only" WILL protect them.

But it's Pride month, and I'm sick of this shit.

My little brother is trans. It is not a fucking ten minute thought experiment for him. It's a constant cycle of fear, self-doubt, coming out to new people, coping with being misgendered and deadnamed, arguing with the barber over whether or not he's allowed to have his fucking HAIR CUT, self-loathing, choosing the 'right' toilet, dysphoria, having to deal with other people's shitty whataboutery and "but the CHILDREN" all over his social media 24/7. He's been on the waiting list for the Gender Identity Clinic for more than a year, after having to argue with his psychiatrist to get a referral. He'll probably be waiting another year or more because of COVID, and the lack of clinics.

I am not here for people treating transgender people as a Problem To Be Solved rather than people trying to live true to themselves.
I am not here for people trying to make their lives harder when they are so hard already.
I am not here for people merrily demonising the entire trans community over a hypothetical situation.
And I am not here for these coded messages that trans people are sexual predators.
Statistically, you know rapists.
You're friends with rapists.
You have no idea they're rapists.

Do you know any trans people? Even one?