07 April 2018

TERFs and the cult of sociological/scientific illiteracy


How much do TERFs hate us?

An almost better question is how much do TERFs hate women in general, but...let's specify for the moment. They hate us so much that they have been trying since last night to find incontrovertible proof that the YouTube shooter was transgender. Their argument is that women are incapable of violence, ergo the shooter had to be male. Think about this. This is dehumanisation illogic at it's finest. Take this in combination with their assertion that men cannot be feminist, and therefore trans women can't be feminist because they're not women, and...yeah.

Here's the thing.

TERFs use the exact same tools the patriarchy does...dehumanisation, hierarchical oppression, overt extremity of expression. Consider the TRA acronym, obviously intended to link trans women to MRAs. Consider the TIM acronym, intended to again deny identity. The more they can push their agenda and doctrine of dehumanisation, the better for them. We saw it in UK Parliament, where we were equated to parasites...a common analogy these days in the British press.

Dehumanise.

Reduce.

Push out.

Compare those acronyms to things like 'feminazi.' or the cliche of the overly emotional woman.

TERFs aren't feminist...they're fascists who use the same tools fascists and Nazis....aka the conservative patriarchal hierarchy...uses against them. and anyone else unlike. why else do you think they ally with the far right? TERFs are quick to associate us with violence, while ignoring the murders of trans women because it's just 'man on man violence.' which makes it OK.

And they are anti-gender, which really means they're against anyone who doesn't think the way they do. They're really anti-feminist in general, because they feel anyone who doesn't push out trans women isn't a true feminist. And they are anti-identity. They say so. All that means is that they believe in biological essentialism. They don't want to obliterate gender; they want to adhere to the binary as hard as possible. They cling to outdated science that isn't much more than Mendelian inheritance and Pruett squares...it's literally the extend of what they are capable of believing. OFC, despite their insistence that we're a cult and a religion...they're the ones holding to pseudoscience...or, at very least, outdated 2nd grade science that is easily shown to be outdated and supplanted by advances in science through the decades.

Try telling them that.

Listen to them assert that science never changes.

Tell them OK, the earth is at the center of the universe.

Listen to them mock.

Then tell them science changes.

And watch them cycle back to no! Genetics! XX! XY! RAR TERF SMASH ONLY TWO GENDERS RAR SMASH!

It's like arguing with a 3 year old....only eventually the three year old will find common ground with you.

Human beings are complex. We are. We all are. we are all capable of great things...creativity, caring, building, supporting. We're also all capable of terrible things. All of us are. Saying otherwise denigrates all...ALL...women. Biological imperative is reductive. Biological essentialism is reductive. Gender essentialism is reductive. These are the tools they will, and do, use.

I was sure I posted about how we can either block, or we can push back. And I am sure I posted that I elect to push back, because they eventually crumble. And it's neat to see people who go for the absurdist dadaesque pushback like I do at times...mocking them by turning their words back at them. You're not going to make headway with them...they've ossified and calcified into immobile unmovable icons of a past age, so mockery and absurdism in return is a beautiful thing. As is directed arguing.

And I use both.

I am reminded of The Witch's Familiar (Doctor Who, s10, e1)

Missy: Listen to that. The Doctor without hope. Nobody is safe now. He'll burn everything.

I am not without hope. It's hard to find most days, but i have hope. It's why i fight each day to live.
But will I burn everything? For my friends...for my lovely queer and trans and enby and LGBTQIAA+ etc family...for my /loves/??? I'd burn galaxies for them. Without thought.

And that's why I engage.

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. They must be fought."

Hello, I'm Julie. Basically...run.

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