TransRadical

Apr 19

“The idea that all anti-trans sentiment arises from the fact that, as transgender people, we “transgress binary gender norms” does not resonate completely with my personal experiences. As a somewhat eccentric kid, I was given plenty of leeway to opt out of boys’ activities and to cultivate an androgynous appearance and persona. I was sometimes teased for being different, for being an atypical or unmasculine boy, but it was nothing compared to the venom that was reserved for those boys who acted downright feminine. And now, as a transsexual woman, I find that those who wish to ridicule or dismiss me do not simply take me to task for the fact that I fail to conform to gender norms - instead, more often than not, they mock my femininity. From the perspective of an occasional gender bender or someone on the female-to-male spectrum, it might seem like binary gender norms are at the core of all anti-trans discrimination. But most of the anti-trans sentiment that I have had to deal with as a transsexual woman is probably better described as misogyny.”

Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity

Mar 31

[BREAKING] Misogynist blowhard Keith Olbermann fired from Current TV.

No official word as of yet as to what prompt Current to yank Olbermann’s sorry ass from the airwaves, but after Rush Limbaugh got people paying attention again to misogyny in the punditverse, woman-hating statements like these couldn’t have improved Mr. Olbermann’s job security.

Keith Olbermann tweets that conservative commentator S.E. Cupp should have been aborted. Classy.

For what little it’s worth, he has issued apologies for most of what he’s said, and with all the sincerity of a child dragged next door by his mother to apologize for a broken window too.

I for one am not sad to see him go. Let’s hope that jackass Ed Schultz is next.

Mar 24

“We’re both women who have worked in Democratic politics and the media for decades and find Bill Maher’s misogynist treatment of women candidates deeply disturbing… Maher has implicitly attempted to tie his own demeaning attacks on women to the unrelated issue of partisan-motivated fake outrage, which we agree is tiring. While others have been held to account for their sexism, Mr. Maher remains unrepentant for his attacks on women in public life.” From Democratic analysts Penny Lee and Kristen Powers’ response to Bill Maher’s op-ed telling folks to stop apologizing

Mar 10

If you read Queerty, you’re an asshole.

(Sorry for no TW.)

Feb 17

Quora: Are Facebook policies to censor pictures of women's breasts misogynistic?

Short answer: Yes, but…

This is indeed a double standard that falls unfairly on the shoulders of women. The idea that a woman’s chest is by its very nature sexual and a male’s is not relies on framing the world solely from the perspective of the heterosexual male.

Any straight woman or gay man can tell you that a man’s chest can indeed be very sexual:

Hey girl, let’s dismantle double standards surrounding public toplessness.

This is particularly problematic concerning the issue of breastfeeding. Facebook has continuously removed images of women breastfeeding their child even when the dreaded aerola isn’t visable.

Facebook has rightly taken a lot of flack for its ban on breastfeeding photos, and hopefully the campaign to get them to change their policy (including public “nurse-ins” [1]) will be successful.

However, as other answerers have pointed out, it’s not entirely fair to blame them specifically for the ban on photos of topless women outside the context of breastfeeding, since this is based on the larger societal taboo on topless women and done solely in the interest of not angering or alienating wide swaths of potential customers. To put it another way, it is a business decision, not an idealogical one.

But this is hardly the only issue on which Facebook has been accused of misogyny. Facebook long defended it’s unwillingness to remove pages trivializing, defending and encouraging rape such as “You know she’s playing hard to get when you’re chasing her down an alleyway.”

Facebook defended its rape joke policy in a statement saying “Just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook.” [2]

While Facebook eventually relented and took down some of the offending pages, all someone has to do is label their pro-rape page humor or satire, and Facebook will wholeheartly approve it. [3]

And of course, Facebook’s many misogynistic transgressions only highlight the fact that while they do have a female COO, there is not a single woman on their board of directors. [4] It’s no surprise that the concerns of Facebook’s female users are so routinely dismissed.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/facebook-nurse-in-60-brea_n_1263532.html

[2] http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/11/02/notfunnyfacebook-day-of-action-against-facebooks-rape-joke-pages/

[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15641998

[4] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-08/no-women-on-facebook-board-shows-white-male-influence.html

Feb 14

Quora: Are gender-segregated public washrooms misogynistic?

Short answer: Not really.

Considering that men’s restrooms tend to be quite a bit dirtier than their counterparts for women, it’d be much easier to make the argument that they are, if anything, misandric, but even that is a rather silly argument.

However, this isn’t to suggest that their is no problem with public restrooms being segregated by gender. There are many.

The first is merely a matter of efficiency. Having to two seperate restrooms takes twice as much space as having one (duh) which, of course, entails increased cost. Moreso, this can easily lead to a situation wherein a large line is built up for using the facilities of one restroom while the other sits empty.

If you are an employer, the time your paid employees spend waiting for a facility to open up in their gender-designated restroom while an equally good facilities remain unused again wastes money. A gender-neutral restroom larger than each gender-segregated restroom but smaller than the the two restooms put together can easily decrease costs in terms of space, time and money.

Of course, a larger problem comes in the form of transgender discrimination. As unfortunate as the case may be, public restrooms have become a front line in the battle for transgender equality. Transgender people (mostly trans women) are routinely mocked, harrassed and even assaulted for using gendered restrooms that conform with their gender identity.

While it can be argued that proper transgender protections in the law could prevent said harrassment, this does nothing to help trans* people who identify outside the gender binary and may be uncomfortable using either gender-segregated restroom.

Despite the rather spurious argument I began this answer with to label gender-segregated restrooms as misandric, the most common defense I’ve heard for keeping seperate restrooms is indeed rife with misandry: that defense being that gender-neutral restrooms will invaribly lead to an epidemic of men sexually assaulting women in the restroom. This argument has been used by opponents of everything from transgender protection laws today (such as the one passed in Maryland last year which explicitly excluded “public accomodations) to the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

The misandry contained within the completely unfounded argument that all men are naturally rapists should be obvious, but that hasn’t stopped regressive pseudo-feminists, practitioners of “evolutionary psychology” (a pseudoscience if there ever was one) and even so-called “men’s rights activists” from trouting it out to either demonize the male half of our species or excuse all rape (and the role rape culture plays in perpetuating it) with a ”boys will be boys” attitude.

The concept that men are nothing more than dangerous beasts enslaved to their basest and more barbaric insticts is one that all men should be insulted by and, again, has absolutely no scientific basis. Using gender-segregated restrooms and similar accomidations as a half-assed attempt to prevent sexual assault and rape instead of addressing the cultural forces that perpetuate said assault is, to put it mildly, misguided and lazy.

Lastly, even if gender-segregated restrooms are not themselves misogynistic, the signs that accompany them often fall into many sexist and cissexist traps. The classic restroom sign (below) is probably is the best example of the “male as default” fallacy all too prevalent in our society (i.e., a person is male unless otherwise stated):

Men are humans. Women are humans in dresses.

For further examinations on the the gender politics of restroom signs around the world, I highly recommend this article.

Dec 16

“As much as my nerdy brethren wish that more girls were of the geeky persuasion, it’s a little understandable why women might be a little reticent. It’s hard to feel valued or fully included when a very vocal group insists that your input is irrelevant, misguided and ultimately unwelcome. It’s small wonder why geekdom – for all of it’s self-proclaimed enlightened attitudes towards outsiders and outcasts – stil retains the odor of the guy’s locker room.” Harris O’Malley, “Nerds and Male Privilege”