3/4/2021 the concept of female biology being something taboo and offensive serves the patriarchyRead Now I feel so disillusioned as an American feminist. It seems more and more hopeless that we can pull together a large social movement or cultural shift to make progress in fighting misogyny and women's sex-based oppression. Dividing and silencing women while making us complicit in our own exploitation under the guise of "progressiveness" and "empowerment" serves the patriarchy. Strengthening the concept of female biology being something taboo and offensive serves the patriarchy. And yet the left has bought into it, hook line and sinker.
I'm a feminist, but I don't participate in "feminist movements" anymore. I'm bisexual, but I don't participate in "the LGBT community" anymore. I'm a liberal, but I don't participate in "the left" anymore. Living in a super liberal area with super liberal friends used to feel amazing to me, but it's increasingly feeling more uncomfortable as it becomes "woke" to suppress and erase women. I kind of wish I'd never woken up to this. I used to be a liberal feminist (or "choice feminist") who bought into gender ideology completely. It was easier to be in line with the popular beliefs in my circles, instead of putting up a front and saying things I don't believe while hiding my true beliefs in order to keep from being seen as a bigot and ostracized. And it was a lot less painful not to understand how truly hopeless things are for women, how deep into the core of society our oppression goes, and how it's getting worse for us by the day. 3/2/2021 that you should be unpersoned if you bring any of this up, has me despairing and looking to see if there's any elsewhere for me to goRead Now I'm a life-long Democratic voter, but the unwillingness to even consider that there could be conflicting access needs between women and trans-feminine males, that there might be issues with the sudden rise in trans identification in teen girls might indicate something's rotten in Denmark, that you should be unpersoned if you bring any of this up, has me despairing and looking to see if there's any elsewhere for me to go. I've also stopped supporting any organization that undermines women's rights, so the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, pretty much all of the LGBT organizations I used to support? No more.
Even the local grassroots organizations that long supported that had been about marginalized, abused women now focus more on transgender issues and needs. No more support for them from me. No support for the PTA when the schools are socially transitioning children without their parents' input. And my congresswoman? I'm hoping she gets an opponent I can stomach, because has a trans-feminine child she was front and center waving the pink, white, and blue when they passed the Equality Act in the house, so there's no hope she'll ever care about women and girls. I'm quiet about this, as my daughter's caught up in the gender nonsense, as are all her female friends, but that doesn't mean it's not a huge part of the choices I'm making on what I support going forward. Oh yeah, and how I vote. I was President of my college's chapter of College Democrats. I have met three Secretaries of State, President Obama and Chelsea Clinton, for starters.
Last year I donated to three presidential candidates, and five Senate races. I have completely ceased all involvement and ESPECIALLY all donations and payments until this gender nonsense is taken care of. I can’t take it anymore. I emailed all my representatives this afternoon with the following letter:
I am a voter and California native residing in the (xxxxx) zip code in San Mateo county. I am contacting you about legislation related to gender equality being pushed by the Democratic party. It pains me to write this, honestly. I am a lifelong Democrat. I’ve voted straight blue in every election since I turned 18, but that has changed. Today I re-registered to vote as an independent and will not vote Democrat in the future unless I see serious changes in the party’s approach to trans activism. Democrats want to market themselves as pro-women’s rights, but that’s not what I’m seeing at all lately with legislation like the Equality Act being pushed through Congress. Female-only spaces and sports, which women fought long and hard for, are being erased to appease a small group of men who wish to identify as women. I find this absolutely unacceptable. Women should not be forced to compete against trans-identifying men in sports. Women should not be forced to serve time in prison cells with trans-identifying men, particularly when some of those men are in prison for domestic violence and rape of women and children. Women should not have to accept trans-identifying men into their bathrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms, public showers, etc. I say this as a survivor of violent rape who has been formally diagnosed with PTSD: I do not want to share female spaces with any and every man who decides to call himself a woman. I wish my consent mattered to the political party that claims to support #MeToo. I am appalled by the anti-scientific mantra, “Trans women are women.” It is simply not the truth. Trans women are men and pointing that out is not bigotry or discrimination. It is a simple acknowledgment of reality. I wish the Democratic Party would stop falling in line with this propaganda and trying to gaslight and bully intelligent people into agreement. It’s insulting and irresponsible. Please know that I will be looking elsewhere for representation if the Democratic Party continues to trash women’s rights and treat biological women as if our feelings and needs mean nothing next to a trans-identifying man’s. For the time being, you have all lost my vote and I’m deeply offended by the misogyny I’ve been seeing. 2/28/2021 I've woken up to the fact that the Democratic Party is not the party of women as I naively thought it wasRead Now I'm a woman with a doctorate and a career in a male-dominated field. I'm an atheist. I'm a thinker. I believe that everyone should have equal rights.
I take my right to vote seriously. I'm registered as an independent because I don't like the idea of being a member of one party. I also consider myself an independent voter, but have voted for Democrats in every presidential election since I was 18. Gender ideology has opened my eyes. I now subscribe to the WSJ as well as the NYT. I actually prefer the Journal. I feel as though I've woken up to the fact that the Democratic Party is not the party of women as I naively thought it was. The left claims to be the party that doesn't deny science. But the left is denying the most basic scientific concept: that there are two sexes in humans. There are biological reasons that women need protections. There are biological reasons that women play on their own sports teams. There are biological reasons for separating changing rooms and prisons. Unless something changes, my votes in future elections will be much different. Gender Ideology is just the tip of the iceberg for me. Identity politics in general has completely put me off the left. Add in the embrace of neo-liberalism (corporatism) and I'm done. That all my progressive lefty friends wholly embrace identity politics, gender ideology, and the false solutions of corporate greenwashing in the form of high tech "solutions" to climate change while utterly ignoring women's rights, the hate-mongering inspired by identity divisions, and the real, material, natural world and what she needs... the "left" as embodied by progressive Democrats is an anathema to me now as the "right" as embodied by the Republicans is. I have no political home and unless something changes substantially, it is unlikely I'll vote in any elections except perhaps ultra local elections again.
I'm a lifelong lefty, immigrating to the U.S. It was so frustrating to watch 2016 and 2020 go by without being able to support "the good guys." I did what I could from the sidelines.
I assumed, maybe naively, that once the democrats had a comfortable mandate, we could start having serious policy discussions again. Nope, it's still mindless slogans and no debate. And an "Equality" Act that doesn't acknowledge the existence of female people as a class. I really don't know what I'm going to do in 2022. The Republicans have nothing for me, I'm not stupid enough to think they actually care about women. But I don't know if I'll be able to stomach voting Democrat after this. Protest vote for a third party, I suppose. As a progressive left woman, I spent countless years supporting the US Democratic party just to watch them concede important women's issues over and over. Our needs were always sacrificed for the sake of compromise. It's clear now that the party always had the ability to fight for controversial legislation, it just lacked the desire. It would rather cater to a minuscule number of men who think they're woman than actual adult human females.
This pseudo science gender identity nonsense is the last straw! The audacious behavior of usurping all women fought and created for themselves and handing it over to men lays bare the misogyny of the left. I am officially done supporting a party that doesn't support women. I used to wonder why the left had such a hard time figuring out why they lost elections, but seeing how they can't recognize material reality, it makes perfect sense. Enjoy losing the next election! I've pulled my donations for Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. Every time they send an envelope to me asking for money I send it back with a reason why I regretfully (and understand it's true regret) will not be sending them money.
I've also discontinued my membership the the NSTA (National Science Teacher Association) which has been a reliable advocate of democratic causes that I believe in such as education and action about climate change. Now even they have published material suggesting that biology teachers change their language around genetics lessons. I've fought the good fight making sure students understand climate change and evolution in the face of pushback from conservative families and organizations. I can't believe I now have to fight with the left, and TRANS is the big issue they want to prioritize. 2/28/2021 The gender identity ideology seems less about acceptance of ourselves and others and more about forcing others to agreeRead Now I’m a disabled LGB woman who has leaned far to the liberal left my entire life. I’ve been a voting member of the US Democratic Party since the 2000 Presidential elections. I was involved in Gay rights activism in the 90’s and 00’s, I protested the Iraq war, and have been a disabled rights activist for the last dozen years. I’m a Democratic socialist who resisted Trump and boosted the DP’s candidates. I’ve voted straight Democrat every ticket of my adult life. I have a bachelors in science and believe in the promise of the scientific method. I believe in diplomacy over violence. I believe in tolerance and open debate.
However, I no longer feel that my party represents me. As a disabled woman, I depend on sex-based laws and medical research that accounts for the material difference between male and female patients. There is already a disparity in medical research and healthcare outcomes for women. Now the Biden administration is further diminishing sex-based legal protections. Major medical institutions around the world are erasing the language of biological sex and the liberal government parties around the world are facilitating the process. It goes against science and will cause disproportionate harm to the human beings most dependent on medical care: the disabled. I have no problem with trans identified individuals. They should be able to dress and call themselves what they want. They should have the same rights as anyone else. However, that is not what I see happening in the trans rights movement. I don’t see people being accepted for who they are. I see people, including young children, being encouraged to change their bodies with hormones and surgery if they don’t fit snugly into rigidly-defined gender roles. I see the social pressure on young people to identify their gender driving them to deep depression and searing anxiety. I see families torn apart when a kid comes home from school one day demanding to be called by a new name and itching to call their parents abusers if they have any questions before putting their child on the path to medical transition. I see culture wars breaking out all over the world over this issue, and anyone with doubts or quest being branded as a right-wing bigot. I see women being called TERF for using the word ‘woman.’ I see women deplatformed, doxxed, harassed, fired, and threatened with death and ‘corrective’ rape for saying only people born female can menstruate or get cervical cancer. Or for asking what safeguards are in place to prevent children being accidentally treated for gender identity disorder. I see people with whom I once shared a political party and tolerant world-view accept this kind of behavior because they think the target of such harassment is transphobic and therefore barely human. I see women being told to make room in their legal protections, sports, changing rooms, domestic violence shelters, trauma support groups, rape crisis centers, and online spaces for any male born individual who self-identifies as a woman. Regardless of whether or not this person has done anything to transition, if a male claims to feel female, they should be allowed to bunk with a battered woman in a rape crisis center or be moved to a women’s prison. I have no problem with trans identified people having equal protections, third spaces in sensitive situations like jail, hospital rooms, changing rooms, and trauma support groups. I would love to see more peer-reviewed and replicable research on gender and more effective treatments for dysphoria. I would willingly donate my money and volunteer my time to make these things a reality. I want everyone to live their safest and most authentic life. They should have the same access to healthcare, housing, and gainful employment as their countrymen. Equal, not superior access. Equal, not superior social status. Unfortunately, that is not what is happening. The gender identity ideology seems less about acceptance of ourselves and others and more about forcing others to agree. That behavior is not compatible with a liberal Democratic society. I would not support such means regardless of the end. I can’t support self-ID laws. I can’t support the erosion of women’s sex-based rights. If that one principle is enough to convince you that I am no longer a member or the liberal left and have joined the authoritarian right, you may have a shallow or distorted view of the issues involved in the gender identity debate. |
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