Phil, re: What you call "Post Modern Identity Politics"
There's nothing post modern or even necessarily modern about non-binary gender expression.The gender binary is an artificial construct, a tool of patriarchy and capitalism buttressed by JudeoChristian religion. As you can see from this link if you bother, there are dozens of surviving non-binary gender identities that persist against the compulsory cisheteronormative gender binary. How many more would there be if not for European Imperialist imposition of the gender binary, along with the extinguished spiritual beliefs they were a part of? Contrary to your claim that non-binary gender expression is part of the imperialist world, it is the gender binary that is imperialist. The allies that 'gender critical' groups find in their attacks on transgender identities should also clarify that attacking transgender identity is on the side of reaction. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/ When looking at the evidence, you cannot say that the current expression of freedom of gender identity is just a fad, or a misogynistic plot (an accusation which erases transmen). While it is difficult to ever make definitive statements of human nature, the dozens of surviving non-binary gender identities in cultures around the world demonstrate the humanity has repeatedly allowed space for people to exist outside the compulsory gender binary. * TERFs/Gender critical adherents base their arguments from certain threads in radical feminist critiques of gender. Yet one of the leading theoreticians of radical feminism, Andrea Dworkin, has this to say in her 1974 book, "Woman Hating" about the gender binary: "The discovery is, of course, that “man” and “woman” are fictions, caricatures, cultural constructs. As models they are reductive, totalitarian, inappropriate to human becoming. As roles they are static, demeaning to the female, dead-ended for male and female both. The discovery is inescapable: We are, clearly, a multisexed species which has its sexuality spread along a vast continuum where the elements called male and female are not discrete." In another section, "Transexuality", she explicitly calls for inclusion of people with transgender identities, and calls out how we are oppressed: "There is no doubt that in the culture of male-female discreteness, transsexuality is a disaster for the individual transsexual. Every transsexual, white, black, man, woman, rich, poor, is in a state of primary emergency . . . as a transsexual. There are three crucial points here. One, every transsexual has the right to survival on his/her own terms. That means that every transsexual is entitled to a sex-change operation, and it should be provided by the community as one of its functions. This is an emergency measure for an emergency condition. Two, by changing our premises about men and women, role-playing, and polarity, the social situation of transsexuals will be transformed, and transsexuals will be integrated into community, no longer persecuted and despised. Three, community built on androgynous identity will mean the end of transsexuality as we know it. Either the transsexual will be able to expand his/her sexuality into a fluid androgyny, or, as roles disappear, the phenomenon of transsexuality will disappear and that energy will be transformed into new modes of sexual identity and behavior." Yes. According to Andrea once gender no longer exists with complete freedom for everyone to discover their own identities then transgender identities will also no longer exist. We're not there yet. As I see it, transgender identities attack the notion of the artificial gender binary and demonstrate freedom in discovering one's identity. They're allies in the war against the patriarchal construct of gender. * As for the threats of violence that you are decrying in the post you are referencing. Yes, they are troubling. But they have to be taken in context. Most revolutionaries understand that the oppressed will react out of anger at their oppression. So even though I disagree and argue against that kind of rhetoric, I understand where they are coming from. Transgender people are at risk of violence in their every day life, something they share with ciswomen. Most ciswomen however, aren't at risk of losing their jobs and housing simply because they are women. Transgender men and women are. Many "gender critical" 'activists' expose transgender people as trans even if they are passing. Trans people lose jobs, housing, and their lives when this happens. We should recognize that when someone's humanity is denied and their lives are threatened, they react in anger. Do you as a man blame Valarie Solanas for writing the "Scum Manifesto"? SCUM being the Society for Cutting Up Men. I recognize that as a battle cry against patriarchy, albeit one that wasn't productive in the struggle past being a rallying cry of pain. Remember the slogan, "biology is not destiny", the feminist credo that attacks the artificial binary gender construct and its oppressions? Jonna in Seattle -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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