Feminists are brilliant at analysing any problem and extracting from it that, and only that, which makes them the victims. One of the most recent is the problem with trans-women and the fact that women quite properly feel threatened by the presence of biological males in what would normally be considered as women-only spaces such as toilets. Similarly, women-only sports are threatened by individuals who were formerly men competing on a level playing field with biological females.
Take the case of Laurel Hubbard for example. Laurel went through male puberty and became a second-rate weight lifter among other men. Then, at the age of 36, she transitioned to become a world-class weight lifter in the women’s category. If I were a biologically female weight lifter I would certainly resent Laurel’s presence as a competitor.
The people I have less sympathy with are the feminists who feel they are victims of this culture when in fact they are the root cause of the biological denialism prevalent in parts of mainstream media and academia. Not only that, but these same feminists chuck out some pretty vile abuse but when they are the subject of nasty tweets accusing them of transphobia they ‘cry like babies’
Take Suzanne Moore, for example, who used to be a correspondent at the Guardian. She wrote in the New Statesman- Men, you can’t hate them all can you? Actually I can? Similarly when Jordan Peterson was in an intensive care unit in Russia she tweeted – Hello editor types. Jordan Peterson holed up in rehab in Russia. F*** me gently with a chainsaw… let me do that story. Come on-. However, when she started getting nasty tweets from fellow journalists at the Guardian, accusing her of transphobia, she revealed the full extent of her narcissistic feminist fragility and resigned. She hasn’t stopped bleating about it since.
What annoyed me most about the Suzanne Moore story is that she got a sympathetic ear in some outlets (Spiked for example) that might have given the matter a more balanced account. Far from feeling sorry for Suzanne Moore it should have been pointed out that she was consumed by an ideological purity spiral that she was a part of.
Feminists have long argued that gender and gender roles are purely social constructs and they have gone on to deny the importance of biology. Some ‘Social Justice’ scholars have gone further. For example, Judith Butler has argued that sex too is a social construct. Judith Butler is not just some fringe academic -she gets column inches in The Guardian. If you believe that sex as well gender are performative don’t be too surprised by what comes your way.
This denial of biology has been apparent in parts of the main press. Think, for example, of the misreporting of the Omloops Het Nieuwsblad women’s cycle race. That is not a subject that would normally make front-page news or be reported on BBC Radio 4. However, we were told that female cyclist Nicole Hansman had caught up the men’s race that started 10 minutes earlier. It was even suggested that the men’s race should have been paused to let her pass. The truth, of course, was different, she caught up the support vehicles following the race because of a hold-up on the road and the race was neutralised for short period. At this time, the leader of men’s race was 14 minutes rather than 10 minutes ahead of the leader of the women race. Far from gaining on the men, who were competing in a longer race, the women had slipped four minutes further behind. The lesson that feminist reporters took was that female athletes were equal to men even though the race data told a different story. See post of July 2020.
Similarly in action movies. It is now not uncommon to see women physically dominating male opponents in fights. Obviously, there is some overlap in physical strength in men and women but we are a dimorphic species and men are on average stronger and it will be unusual to see women beating up men.
All of this has played into the narrative that if gender (and to lesser extent sex) is a social construct you can construct yourself as anything you like. This includes women constructing themselves as men (nobody seems to mind) or men constructing themselves as women – (people mind a lot).
Feminists need to show some humility. They are not the victims here. Instead, they are among the guilty parties who through biological denialism have opened the door to those who want to identify as a different gender or sex.
toxic feminism 