Feminist writer Germaine Greer has been glitter-bombed at a book-signing today in New Zealand for her comments about trans women, including a 2009 column which said they ‘seem to us ghastly parodies’ and claimed being trans was a ‘delusion’.
The Queer Avengers group took exception to Greer’s brand of what it termed “transphobic feminism” and delivered the glitter in a move more often seen deployed on homophobic politicians in the US.
Germaine Greer unsuccessfully opposed the election of a trans woman to the staff at the women-only Newnham College, Cambridge in the 1990s and the group highlighted her opposition to regarding trans women as women.
In her 1999 book, The Whole Woman, she wrote: “Governments that consist of very few women have hurried to recognise as women men who believe that they are women and have had themselves castrated to prove it, because they see women not as another sex but as a non-sex.
“No so-called sex-change has ever begged for a uterus-and-ovaries transplant; if uterus-and-ovaries transplants were made mandatory for wannabe women they would disappear overnight. The insistence that man-made women be accepted as women is the institutional expression of the mistaken conviction that women are defective males.”
In 2009, Greer wrote in the Guardian that being trans was a “delusion” and that trans women “seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody, though it isn’t polite to say so”.
She said: “We pretend that all the people passing for female really are. Other delusions may be challenged, but not a man’s delusion that he is female.”
Stacey of the Queer Avengers said: “Transphobic feminism is so 20th Century.
“It wasn’t okay then and it’s not okay now. Women’s liberation must mean the right to refuse imposed gender roles, to fight for diverse gender expression.”
The Queer Avengers also handed out leaflets saying “transphobia is bullshit”, a reference to Greer’s 1972 arrest for using the swearword in a speech in New Zealand.
Source
Hell yeah. :D
The Queer Avengers group took exception to Greer’s brand of what it termed “transphobic feminism” and delivered the glitter in a move more often seen deployed on homophobic politicians in the US.
Germaine Greer unsuccessfully opposed the election of a trans woman to the staff at the women-only Newnham College, Cambridge in the 1990s and the group highlighted her opposition to regarding trans women as women.
In her 1999 book, The Whole Woman, she wrote: “Governments that consist of very few women have hurried to recognise as women men who believe that they are women and have had themselves castrated to prove it, because they see women not as another sex but as a non-sex.
“No so-called sex-change has ever begged for a uterus-and-ovaries transplant; if uterus-and-ovaries transplants were made mandatory for wannabe women they would disappear overnight. The insistence that man-made women be accepted as women is the institutional expression of the mistaken conviction that women are defective males.”
In 2009, Greer wrote in the Guardian that being trans was a “delusion” and that trans women “seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody, though it isn’t polite to say so”.
She said: “We pretend that all the people passing for female really are. Other delusions may be challenged, but not a man’s delusion that he is female.”
Stacey of the Queer Avengers said: “Transphobic feminism is so 20th Century.
“It wasn’t okay then and it’s not okay now. Women’s liberation must mean the right to refuse imposed gender roles, to fight for diverse gender expression.”
The Queer Avengers also handed out leaflets saying “transphobia is bullshit”, a reference to Greer’s 1972 arrest for using the swearword in a speech in New Zealand.
Source
Hell yeah. :D
I'd never read those comments before and they are all disgusting. I don't understand why a feminist feels the need to undermine such an important issue by spouting sick crap about transgender women.
I do read them sometimes though, expecting lulz and just getting confirmation of my own misantrhopy
All this feminism ala "real women are better" shit is so fucked up. its the same people who say "oh, women shouldnt even try to go to the army, we are so much better than these silly fighting men" etc etc
....good, I hope it fucking scratches her corneas something rotten.
RAGE.
That... is not nearly how that works.
Also, I know that most fertile women I know just LOVE being categorized as a womb on legs and being told that's "feminist." /sarcasm.
She's so awful and makes me see red and one of my students had to read her bullshit and deal with it in a thesis (her choice, not mine) and it was like trying to handle toxic waste with inadequate gloves.
And the thing with Greer is that she's been openly transphobic for a long time. This was back in 1996 (taken from her wiki page): "Greer unsuccessfully opposed the election to a fellowship of her transsexual colleague Rachael Padman. Greer argued that Padman had been born male, and therefore should not be admitted to [Newnham College, Cambridge, where she was a fellow], a women's college. Greer resigned in 1996 after the case attracted negative publicity." That was well over a decade ago, and yet her opinions haven't changed one jot since then. Which makes me think she's basically just stuck her fingers in her ears and shouted "la la I'm not listening".
This is so true.
But she is a product of her time. And it is past time to move on. Just because someone was born male and raised with male privilege doesn't mean they aren't a woman (if they continue to exercise it, I will, however, question whether they are truly committed to being a woman). What makes a woman is in the heart and head, not between the legs.
Edited at 2012-03-14 10:34 pm (UTC)
In what world does she live that trans women are more accepted by governments than cis women? Or that no one questions a trans woman's "delusions" of being a woman? Has she had anything to say about trans men?
It does seem a lot of transphobes ignore the existence of trans men altogether or worse, in the case of many leftists, accept trans men but not women or even worse, they fetishize and describe trans men as "de-caf men". However, the transphobic radfem rants I've read describe trans men as women who are being gender traitors by acting like men. smh
So... patronising, erasing and dismissive, which I guess is better than the outright hate and vitriol they tend to direct at trans* women. Nevertheless, some of the lies they spout (e.g. all trans* men end up regretting it, unloveable and alone, that the partners of any trans* men will dump them within a year of transitioning, that if any trans* man chooses to detransition they will be hunted down and ostracised by the trans* community) are very harmful, especially because they prey on the anxieties that a lot of us have.
I THINK YOU'LL FIND THAT THAT'S FUCKING MISOGYNIST, YOU VICIOUS DOUCHECANOE.
God, I hope glitter spends months irritating that vagina she's so goddamn proud of being born with.
Edited at 2012-03-14 10:55 pm (UTC)
Is it great to feel pride in being a woman? Fuck yeah! Is it great to feel pride (instead of shame or revulsion) over having a vulva and accompanying genitalia? Fuck yeah!
But that's not all that we are. Woman are more than our parts - isn't that one of the major tenants of feminism? That our worth and identity as woman are not solely comprised of what's between our legs? To hold that "real" women cannot be born as men complete undermines feminism and hurts both sides of the fight for equality.
Edited at 2012-03-14 11:16 pm (UTC)
The stuff she and similar feminists pull has resulted in trans* women being denied access to rape shelters. A few graphic comments about glitter on a website are the least she deserves, so take your concern trolling and shove it.
I don't enjoy reading about people's graphic desires to have the insides of her vagina scratched or corneas scratched out. It might be nice for you but it's pretty distressing for me to visualise it, particularly when it's sexual violence and sounds a hell of a lot like the sorts of sexual harrassment that's been directed at me.
And yes, the same goes for all the 'cut his dick off' or 'testicles in a meat grinder' style comments in posts about Santorum or any other dickweed of a man. If ONTD is basically a place where people express their desire to see violence against somebody else, maybe I plain don't belong here but I somehow thought it was better than that.
I can only comment on it as an outsider, who considers it only fair to allow others to find and define themselves as I find and define myself. If a person lives as a woman, presents as a woman and damn well FEELS as a woman, she is a fucking woman. d'uh.
And as for myself:
Hey Greer, I'd be fucking grateful not to be reduced to my fucking PLUMBING. Which in my case isn't planned to be in use, ever.
I am not, nor will I ever be my vagina, my uterus or my ovaries.
This comm is chock-full of news about assholes bending over backwards to reduce women to their reproductive organs. And if you feel the need to start that, TOO, I can only tell you the same I'd tell them: FUCK you.
I am not, nor will I ever be my vagina, my uterus or my ovaries.
Precisely. I'm proud of being a woman, and that identity is not contingent on the fact that I have a uterus and ovaries (that will never be used). I'm a woman because that's what I am - not simply what I was born with the "right" anatomy. That kind of proud identity is the right of everyone - you are who the fuck you say you are.
News at 10.