Sly's Feminist Book Club: The Emergence of the Movement Lesbian

I intend to review this book myself. However, I have not done so yet. I am currently reading "From Liberty to Magnolia," which is the autobiography of Janice Ellis and details her struggles both as a black girl growing up in the racist Southern United States prior to the Civil Rights Movement and her work within both the Civil Rights and Feminist movements.

In the meantime, please read this well-written review of the featured book. This is my response:

A lot of people don't remember or don't realize just how difficult it was for gay people in times past. The 1990s was when I first started seeing acceptance by the general public and the idea that homosexuality was not deviant or a form of mental illness began to take hold.

As both women and homosexuals, lesbians have faced extreme backlash. There is an unspoken expectation that women will become wives and mothers, the organizers of the husband's household and the producers of the next generation. Like all women, lesbians are objectified in pornographic scenarios. Stereotypes still exist that all lesbian couples consist of a butch "husband" and a femme "wife". Lesbians still struggle with not being seen as people.

I feel very passionate about the subject matter in this book. Although I am not a lesbian myself, I am a feminist and an ally. Lesbians continue to be scapegoated today in many of the same ways they were scapegoated in the past.

Thank you for this well-written review of an important scholarly work which is likely to be overlooked by the general public.

This was my comment on the Book of the Day's Facebook page:
A lot of people don't remember that homosexuality was once widely considered to be "deviant" and a form of mental illness. Lesbians faced double the backlash from both homophobia and sexism.

Women are expected to bear and care for the next generation. Although a lesbian couple is certainly capable of raising a child, the expectation of the general population is that girls will grow up to find and marry their Prince Charming, have 2.5 children with him, and will manage the household. Lesbians receive backlash for disrupting that stereotype.

Further, lesbians are objectified by male pornography, and there continues to be a pervasive idea that all lesbian couples have a butch "husband" and a femme "wife." Books like this are very necessary for breaking down those stereotypes.

Note: some brain trust actually commented that he was "not a fan of lesbians." I refrained from getting into a flame war. I wanted to tell him that I'm not a fan of closed-minded, homophobic bigots.

This was my comment on the book club president's Linked In page:
Although homosexuals overall face less backlash in Western society than they did in times past, lesbians face not only homophobic but sexist backlash.

Lesbians are objectified in pornography which is made for men. They are stereotyped by the belief that a lesbian couple is supposed to have a butch "husband" and a femme "wife." Further, although a lesbian couple is perfectly capable of raising a child, lesbians defy the expectation that little girls are supposed to grow up, find their Prince Charming, have 2.5 children with him, and manage the family's household in the suburbs. "Are you sure you just haven't met the right man yet" is a phrase that many lesbians are still subjected to.

I'm always pleased when books like this one are featured. It has historical value and also addresses a problem which continues to plague society, although it is less prevalent and more covert than it was in the past.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Stop Trying to Correctively Coerce Lesbians into Having Sex with Trans Women

woman-adulthumanfemale

 anarchist-dog

okay. listen. youre all children apparently so im going to explain this to you like youre in first fucking grade.

trans people dont want you to fuck them. they arent forcing you to have sex with them, and they understand if you arent sexually attracted to them. what trans people are asking of you is to acknowledge them for who they are.

what this means is that if you find yourself interested in someone and they turn out to be transgender, you dont be an asshole because theyre transgender. instead of getting angry and using slurs and misgendering them, try saying “oh, sorry, im uncomfortable doing this now” and chances are they will be entirely respectful of your wishes. if they arent, then yell at them all you want, because thats fucked up. however, so long as you are respectful, they will be respectful back.

when trans people say “its bigoted to say a trans person cant be gay/lesbian” or when they say “its bigoted to say someone isnt gay/lesbian because theyre attracted to transgender people” they mean that its bigoted because, when that kind of thing is said, its implying that you dont believe they are that gender.

tl;dr: respect trans people and their gender. please. its not difficult. if you dont want to have sex/date a trans person, you dont have to say that aloud or be rude about it.

thank you and have a wonderful day.

 auntiewanda

You’re not forcing us to have sex with anyone but you are trying to change the definition of homosexuality and will call people who don’t play along bigots. Which is pretty fucking rude.

I have a question. Are biological sex and gender the same thing? Or different things?

 dreddigon

it aint rude to call a bigot a bigot lmfao

the general concept of being attracted to men or women does not and has never had anything to do with the physical form of their genitals, considering most normal people don’t actually see a person’s genitals before becoming attracted to that person and cis gay people are perfectly capable of enjoying genital shaped sex toys that don’t match their own while still not having a desire to be intimate with an actual person who doesn’t line up with their sexuality in terms of gender

stop trying to reduce people to a walking set of genitals you freak

 auntiewanda

the general concept of being attracted to men or women does not and has never had anything to do with the physical form of their genitals 

Gee, whatever have homosexuals been stigmatized and reviled for all these centuries?

considering most normal people don’t actually see a person’s genitals before becoming attracted to that person 

Most normal people can also tell a female human from a male human at a glance. And most normal people understand that female and male reproductive organs are pretty different.

 drpepper-is-a-woman

Genitals have ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS played a part in sexuality! What are you smoking?!

Heterosexuality = attraction to the opposite sex

Bisexuality = attraction to both sexes

Homosexuality = attraction to the same sex

Having a sexuality doesn’t reduce people to their genitals, what an awful and condescending thing to say. The point in bringing them up is that straight people and gay people are both only capable of being sexually attracted to one sex. It doesn’t mean they see everyone of that sex as walking genitals, it means that those are the only people who they’re able to be attracted to.

Straight women are only able to be attracted to males, this doesn’t mean they see them as walking penises lmfao, really telling how this sort of sentiment is always targeted at gay people.

You know who else implies that gay people are sexual deviants? HOMOPHOBES.

Hiding behind “trans activism” doesn’t make you any less of a bigot.

Y'all really love to use the “no one is saying you have to fuck trans people” but then go on to guilt and shame gay people for not being attracted to the opposite sex, regardless of identity. Sexuality isn’t based off social constructs like femininity or masculinity like y'all pretend they are. They are innate aspects of the human condition.

Stop being HOMOPHOBES.

 auntiewanda

Yeah pretty convenient how it’s only gay people who are accused of being “genital fetishists” or “reducing people to their genitals”. 

 slysfreespeechspace

It’s madness, and it’s only getting worse.

I’m reminded of another genderist post about how said genderist went to sleep and dreamed they had short hair and they woke from this terrible dream to feel their beautiful long hair and know they were a woman. Because, after all, hair length makes you a man or a woman.

I don’t know about the rest of you “genital fetishists,” but I am fully aware that this is a woman:

(Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby)

And this is a man:

(Malcolm Young, 1953 - 2017 Picture circa 2000)

Myself, I’d be attracted to the one with long hair. It’s not that I find the one with short hair unattractive. It’s not that I find her genitals gross. It’s just that I, as a heterosexual woman, am attracted to the sort of human being who has a penis, aka, a man. But, oddly enough, I’m not looking at his dick, nor even giving it much thought. I’m looking at the shape of his face. The person with the long hair is evidently a man. He doesn’t have to drop trou for that to be obvious.

It would be really gross for a woman to try and guilt-trip me into having sex with her by suggesting that I hate women if I’m not sexually attracted to people with vaginas.

It is really gross and stupid to try and guilt-trip women who are attracted to other women, aka lesbians, into having sex with people who have penises, regardless of whether those people identify as women. Just because man, you feel like a woman, it doesn’t mean that women who are exclusively attracted to women should be coerced into having sex with you.

Also, these people are setting things back to the 1950s with their insistence on rigid gender roles. “Boys have short hair, girls have long hair. Boys wear pants, girls wear dresses. Boys play with trucks, girls play with dolls.” Stop it already!

Source: anarchist-dog gender critical feminism trans culttra = homophobia TRAs be like

Pushing Surgery on Vulnerable People

Artist Unknown

I’m a person with two X chromosomes, aka, a woman. After menopause, I was still experiencing bleeding once a year. It was discovered that I had simple endometrial hyperplasia with normal cells and a uterus full of little fibroids and polyps. This means that I have a 1.5% greater chance than a woman with no endometrial hyperplasia of developing endometrial cancer. 

My OB/GYN was pushing me to have a hysterectomy. My GP was pushing me to have a hysterectomy. The doctor who would be performing the surgery was pushing me to have a hysterectomy.

In the end, I decided that for a very small increase in the possibility of developing endometrial cancer, the risks of hysterectomy were not worth it. If I had abnormal cells and/or complex hyperplasia, I would have had the hysterectomy because the increase in the chance of developing endometrial cancer at that point is 36% greater than for a woman with no hyperplasia.

Further, I feel like there continues to be a pervasive attitude that a post-menopausal woman is no longer able to function as a baby factory, so why should she keep her uterus?

If for no other reason than not wanting to spend two months recovering from major surgery, I tend to be very conservative about having major surgery. I always believe in trying less invasive and catastrophic methods prior to having permanent alterations made to my body.

The Trans Cult convinces vulnerable people that having life-altering surgery performed is THE only way to deal with feelings of dysphoria.

I also have a degree of body dysmorphic disorder and am a large person who tried to hate myself thin over the course of 33 years. It didn’t work.

Instead of having gastric bypass surgery, which would have permanently altered my ability to eat normally (as it happens, I inadvertently end up restricting my food intake because I am food insecure) I did a lot of exploring and discovered the concepts of size acceptance and health at every size. I ended up instead of having a healthy organ (my stomach) amputated telling the diet industry and hateful attitudes towards fat people to go fuck themselves.

I don’t see myself as beautiful and I never will. But I use techniques to cope with my low self-esteem rather than permanently altering my body.

Being a girl in this society is rough. I’m honestly glad that encouraging kids to transition wasn’t a thing when I was young, or I might have ended up believing that I was “actually a boy” because I hated the way girls were treated. Honestly, with the way girls are treated in this society, who would want to be a girl?

Call me crazy, but isn’t it better to fight back against the sexism and homophobia which make people think that they “should” be the opposite sex rather than having procedures to turn you into a permanent medical patient. Shouldn’t you at least give the least invasive option a try first?

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Sly's WTF Wednesday: Queering the Primary Classroom

A response to this post at Transgender Trend.

Fantastic and terrifying information.

I've always believed in trying the least drastic intervention or treatment for any condition first rather than having a "slash and burn" approach. For instance, what if Bailey, the child making the dresses, is simply a boy who wants to wear dresses? What if Bailey is gay? Why not simply tell Bailey that it's okay to be a boy who wants to make and wear dresses? Why does wanting to make and wear dresses make you a girl?

I am an XX-chromosome heterosexual woman who despises wearing dresses. According to the twisted TRA logic, I must actually be a man because I don't like to wear dresses. After all, wearing dresses is a girly thing, amirite? I don't wear makeup either, never mind that one of the reasons I don't wear makeup is because it causes my eczema to flare up like nobody's business. Yep, totally a dude!

So much of this stuff echoes conversion therapy, except instead of trying to zap the gay out of someone's brain with shock treatments or trying to "pray away the gay," they are telling people that "you aren't gay, you were born into the wrong body. Instead of being a gay guy, you're actually a heterosexual woman who was born into a man's body. Now, all you have to do is sign up for surgery and a lifetime of hormone treatments."

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Whose Interests Does the Early Transitioning of Children Really Serve?

A reply to this post from Transgender Trend.

As a gender critical feminist, I find the statement "we gender really early" appalling. I honestly think Susie Green, the founder of the Mermaids charity has Munchhausen by Proxy or at least a really unhealthy obsession with transgenderism, and her transgender daughter Jazz is the victim of Susie's obsession. 

Physically transitioning children early on by giving them puberty blockers creates a person dependent on aggressive medical interventions for life. I cannot fathom why any parent would wish this for their child.

Patriarchy says: you must change your personality to fit your sex.

TRA's say: you must change your sex to fit your personality.

Both the patriarchy and the TRA's exhibit homophobic behaviors. The patriarchy offers "conversion therapy" and "praying away the gay."

The TRA's encourage transitioning so a lesbian can become a straight guy or a gay guy can become a straight woman. 

Gender critical feminism, on the other hand, says that there is nothing wrong with being an "effeminate" or gay guy, or a "masculine" woman or lesbian.

Yet gender critical feminists are the villains.

I do not hate people who choose to transition. Far from it. However, we do have to be able to acknowledge that giving puberty blockers to children is questionable and may not indeed be in their best interests, and that we need to be working on accepting people as they are rather than encouraging them to become something else and, thereby, become a permanent patient, often at a very young age.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com