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It's instructive this dude asked such a performative question.
There are many people in the comments giving coherent replies, and he's ignored them all... because the question wasn't a good faith request for an answer, it was 'tell me why British women are such nasty witches?' https://twitter.com/albinokid/status/1269620039700922369
There are many people in the comments giving coherent replies, and he's ignored them all... because the question wasn't a good faith request for an answer, it was 'tell me why British women are such nasty witches?' https://twitter.com/albinokid/status/1269620039700922369
Anyway, because the Americans keep asking this question, I've been wondering about it for a while. So, to summarise some of the responses given and ideas I've had.
1. The British left has a better understanding of materialist class analysis than the States ever had, and
1. The British left has a better understanding of materialist class analysis than the States ever had, and
leftist politics in the US is still far more individualist. So, when people come along and try and erase an entire axis of material oppression we're more like, 'um, what, fuck no.'
2. Relatedly, the British have a longer and deeper tradition of socialist feminism than the US.
2. Relatedly, the British have a longer and deeper tradition of socialist feminism than the US.
3. Further relatedly, we have been able to create a left-wing movement to oppose trans ideology from a progressive political position.
4. In the States, this has been much harder to achieve, and because of the culture war and the presence of the conservative right, left-wing
4. In the States, this has been much harder to achieve, and because of the culture war and the presence of the conservative right, left-wing
women are faced with the problem of how to organise without playing into the hands of the right, who oppose trans ideology for almost diametrically opposed reasons to us.
5. Trans rights in the US don't exist independently of sex-based rights. So opposing the appropriation
5. Trans rights in the US don't exist independently of sex-based rights. So opposing the appropriation
going on would actually equate to removing trans people's legal protections against housing/employment discrimination etc. Most decent people don't want to to that.
6. The States is much bigger so it's much harder to organise and get traction and energy going like we have.
6. The States is much bigger so it's much harder to organise and get traction and energy going like we have.
Many of us have met each other, and a lot of us have got drunk together. Even in this dematerialised age, this still matters for building a political movement.
7. As Lachlan's thread pointed out, the way women were deliberately excluded from the political process around GRA
7. As Lachlan's thread pointed out, the way women were deliberately excluded from the political process around GRA
reform REALLY pissed us off. Especially when we discovered that the TRA orgs had been explicitly petitioning the government to remove our rights.
8. Maria Maclachlan was assaulted by Tara Wolf outside a feminist political meeting. Young males assaulting older females to try and
8. Maria Maclachlan was assaulted by Tara Wolf outside a feminist political meeting. Young males assaulting older females to try and
shut them up about their own political rights turns out to be a great way of creating resistance.
9. We don't like authoritarianism. We have a long traditions of opposing it, and a long tradition of analysing it. When people start dictating to us what we can and can't
9. We don't like authoritarianism. We have a long traditions of opposing it, and a long tradition of analysing it. When people start dictating to us what we can and can't
say, or what we must or must not believe about the world, it tends to make us fighty.
10. We are a bunch of uppity non-compliant gobshites and the grand-daughters of the suffragettes. Males have tried to bully us before and we broke shit. We will do it again if we have to.
10. We are a bunch of uppity non-compliant gobshites and the grand-daughters of the suffragettes. Males have tried to bully us before and we broke shit. We will do it again if we have to.
Oh and American people who know fuck all about this country and read everything through the lens of your own limited world view.
To lift one of the most pious and condescending tropes of the movement you are supporting...
'Educate yourself.'
To lift one of the most pious and condescending tropes of the movement you are supporting...
'Educate yourself.'
