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Behind the Aegis

(53,823 posts)
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:11 PM Feb 2017

Stop Using Women And Girls To Justify Transphobia

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded a guidance allowing transgender students to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity in public schools. While the Obama era guidance clarified that trans students are federally protected from sex discrimination under Title IX, the Trump administration said that it wants to leave LGBTQ rights to the states. Rescinding the guidance opens the door to discrimination against trans students at this level, and sends the message that the government will not stand up for the nation’s most vulnerable kids.

A common claim that opponents of such protections for trans students make is that allowing transgender people into bathrooms endangers cisgender women and girls. In his much discussed appearance on “Real Time,” alt-right former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos told host Bill Maher that he “makes no apologies for protecting women and children from men who are confused about their sexual identity.” This argument perpetuates the myth that trans people are predators, when they are far more likely to face violence and harassment in restrooms at the hands of cis people.

Yet, Yiannopoulos’s line is a common refrain that continues to be used by those who care little about real, not mythical, violence against women. When walking back LGBTQ protections or promoting so-called “bathroom bills,” proponents of such legislation have said that allowing trans people to use the appropriate restroom means men can “enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls,” and that businesses that allow trans people to use the appropriate restroom pose “a danger to wives and daughters.”

But invoking women’s safety while ignoring real violence faced by women and girls on college campuses, on the street and within their own homes is nothing more than a veil for hate. This so-called protection is a justification for transphobia — and as cisgender women, we’re done being your excuse.

more...

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Keep in mind, this was written by a cis-gender woman, not me and definitely read the rest of the article as it too contains some very good points!!

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Stop Using Women And Girls To Justify Transphobia (Original Post) Behind the Aegis Feb 2017 OP
Such a common technique to support bigotry I am really surprised it still works stevenleser Feb 2017 #1
I'm Not Surprised ProfessorGAC Feb 2017 #3
This is the most galling part of their whole pushback Warpy Feb 2017 #2
Thank you for the article. demmiblue Feb 2017 #4
Sadly, this is an issue which is difficult for many to understand. Behind the Aegis Feb 2017 #9
so many layers of stupidity around it. unblock Feb 2017 #5
People whom are afraid of Trans(women) persons Proud Liberal Dem Feb 2017 #6
The thing that pisses me off about this whole argument... Initech Feb 2017 #7
it's sickening Skittles Feb 2017 #8
K&R Solly Mack Feb 2017 #10
Edit to tone it down kcr Feb 2017 #11
Did you read the entire article? Behind the Aegis Feb 2017 #12
 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
1. Such a common technique to support bigotry I am really surprised it still works
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:23 PM
Feb 2017

"They're going to rape the women and children!!!!!111"

We have seen this garbage against Jews http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/story10.htm

We've of course seen it with African Americans, and now with Transphobia.

So tired of this nonsense.

ProfessorGAC

(64,413 posts)
3. I'm Not Surprised
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:31 PM
Feb 2017

We've seen fear as a political motivator nearly non-stop since 9/11 and to a lesser degree the entire Cold War.

I think it's silly, but i'm not surprised it still works.

Warpy

(110,900 posts)
2. This is the most galling part of their whole pushback
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:26 PM
Feb 2017

I know what trans women have to wear if they haven't yet had surgery to avoid looking like lumberjacks in dresses. There might be a penis in there but with so much Lycra between me and it, it is absolutely no threat to me or to any of those fluttery church ladies in pants who think their wives are helpless.

I'm sick of all this phony "protection." I never asked for it and I don't want it.

Behind the Aegis

(53,823 posts)
9. Sadly, this is an issue which is difficult for many to understand.
Tue Feb 28, 2017, 01:55 AM
Feb 2017

For others, it allows their bigotry to shine on. Sometimes, it is difficult distinguishing between the two. But any group which starts off with the "won't someone please think of the children" (best Helen Lovejoy voice), suspicions are raised. The right's "concern" for the safety of women and children, even some on our side using that excuse, are pathetically hypocritical, and it makes it more difficult for people to not only understand and care about trans rights, but those rights of all women, who are also under attack!

I think it is also a disservice to transmen, who do exist, and are vulnerable too.

unblock

(51,973 posts)
5. so many layers of stupidity around it.
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:53 PM
Feb 2017

for starters, if a heterosexual man wants to harass, molest, or rape a woman or girl in the ladies' bathroom, no "bathroom bill" is going to stop them. laws against harassing, molesting, or raping might be a deterrent, but no stupid "bathroom bill" is going to make a difference.

moreover, if a person who looks like a man, dresses like a man, acts like a man, and thinks of himself as a man follows some women/girls into the ladies' bathroom, is it any great comfort to those women/girls that the law says it's ok as long as he has an "f" on his birth certificate?


it's really stupid if you think about it, but of course, they don't want anyone to think about it, they just want people to get scared and pretend that being mean to an object of fear is somehow a solution.

Proud Liberal Dem

(24,353 posts)
6. People whom are afraid of Trans(women) persons
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 04:58 PM
Feb 2017

don't understand what being Transgender or Gender non-conforming is really all about. Anybody who wakes up one day and says that they are Trans and immediately barges into the ladies room without even the remotest concern about presenting as such to engage in inappropriate behavior is NOT Trans and, thus, would NOT be protected by anti-discrimination laws. Also, what's implied by these bathroom bills should really upset and offend non-Transgender men as well, since anti-Trans (women) people pushing these bills seem to single out a particular body part that all men and Trans women have (permanently or temporarily) as an existential threat to the safety of women and children. Plus, nobody is paying one lick of attention to the very real safety and comfort of Trans women having to use a male restroom and Trans men having to use a female restroom since they AFAB (would women really be ok with THAT? My guess is no)

Initech

(99,909 posts)
7. The thing that pisses me off about this whole argument...
Mon Feb 27, 2017, 05:57 PM
Feb 2017

The last time a trans person was arrested for a bathroom crime? Never, not once, ever. The last person to be arrested for a bathroom crime? Larry "Wide Stance" Craig" - a white male conservative GOP senator.

And our fucking president Donald Trump , walked into a women's changing room and just stood there. And this is the group far more likely to abuse women and get divorced more than any other group! They don't care about women, they only care about power.

kcr

(15,300 posts)
11. Edit to tone it down
Tue Feb 28, 2017, 08:58 AM
Feb 2017

I resent the implication that this is a thing cis-gendered women do as a rule, particularly if they're feminist. Milo Yaonoppolis is a scumbag.

I'm sorry, but it was the keep in mind, this is a cis-woman comment that touched a nerve. The Bill Mahr flap brought out the feminist bashing lately.

Behind the Aegis

(53,823 posts)
12. Did you read the entire article?
Tue Feb 28, 2017, 03:11 PM
Feb 2017

If so, I think you misunderstood it. In no way is it blaming cis-gender women for transphobia, it is blaming transphobes who use the guise of "concern for women (and children)" as a weapon to attack transpeople, especially transwomen.

As for your touched nerve, I added that comment so people didn't assume it was me writing it, and I was adding a comment the author used when she self-identified as cis-gender. I was pointing out a cis-gender woman was standing up for transwomen, and admonishing those who claim to stand up for women but do it at the expense of another group of women, and even all women. Her comments point out how these so-called "protectors" of women are concerned for women when it suits their bigoted agenda (transphobia), but when it comes to all women (health issues and the like), then women are the enemy again.

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