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I don't think the concern this article raises can be automatically written of as trans-phobic or repugnant. There is an issue here that needs to be addressed. The article claims, among other things, that lesbian women are being subjected to pressure to have sex with people who claim to be lesbian women, but who have male genitals. I don't know to what extent this is happening but unless I learn otherwise I would take that allegation in good faith. We can't just declare it a fiction. If it isn't happening, and if women are not in fact finding that people with male genitals but who identify as women are entering women's spaces (changing areas etc), then perhaps there is no issue. But the fear seems real and needs to be addressed. None of this need in any way belittle the struggle of trans people, who are clearly amongst the most viciously persecuted minorities in our communities. It just means there is a conflict of interests that needs to be resolved in a comradely manner to the benefit of all. If I were a lesbian woman and felt that spaces that previously seemed safe were now the equal preserve of people who are physically male but declare that they feel female, that would be a concern to me. It wouldn't make me trans-phobic. It would make me concerned about what was happening or might happen. I certainly don't find the suggestion that lesbians are suddenly being written out of history especially convincing but I'm not in the US. There seems to be a strange contradiction between the rise of implementation of trans ideology (as claimed in the article) and a repression of lesbians coming about through the resurgence of right wing Christian fundamentalism, Trumpism etc (also claimed by the article). I can't imagine a world where the US evangelical right and the political demographic that elevated Trump to the presidency would simultaneously condemn lesbianism and embrace trans ideology. That link seems tenuous to me. I don't think though that Menasche can be simply written off as a "repugnant" "transphobe". Such allegations require actual evidence and rational accurate rebuttal of her arguments. John Edmundson On Mon, Jun 3, 2019 at 4:40 PM MM via Marxism <[email protected]> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > > On Jun 1, 2019, at 9:36 PM, Philip Ferguson via Marxism < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > Excellent piece by veteran lesbian, trade union and socialist activist > Ann > > Menasche. Also sets the record straight re Stonewall riots. > > > > > https://rdln.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/remembering-lesbians-in-lesbian-and-gay-liberation/ > < > https://rdln.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/remembering-lesbians-in-lesbian-and-gay-liberation/ > > > > "We are being pressured and guilt-tripped on the one hand to accept men > calling themselves women into our communities and our bedrooms." > > Really? Into your bedrooms? Are you sure about that? > > Meanwhile, maybe we should step outside the fevered delusions — delusions > of a scenario which I contend has never, ever happened — and “remember” the > ongoing slaughter of trans-women: > > “Muhlaysia Booker and Michelle Washington were killed less than 24 hours > apart in separate incidents. They are among at least five transgender > people — all of whom were black — who have been killed nationwide in 2019, > according to advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign.” > > > https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/two-transgender-women-color-killed-one-weekend-one-arrest-made-n1008386 > > But maybe Muhlaysia and Michelle were killed by lesbians for trying to > guilt-trip them into “accepting them into their bedrooms.” > > What a sick and repugnant obsession Ferguson has. > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/johnedmundson4%40gmail.com -- The law locks up the man or woman Who steals the goose from off the common But leaves the greater villain loose Who steals the common from the goose _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
