Boston Bisexual Women’s Network (Sep/Oct/Nov, 2008)

Anything That Moves, 1997

The Issue With "True Trans" ♀️♂️

For anyone who doesn't know, "true trans" are conservative-leaning trans-identified folks. They typically claim to know they are not "really" the opposite sex. They are more likely to say they have a mental disorder. They are more likely to call themselves transsexuals. They are more likely to say it's okay they take hormones and got surgery but criticize other trans-identified people for doing so. They do not endorse males in women's spaces. And conservatives typically lap it up. There are many issues with these people, and they are no friend to women and girls.

First, they still uphold misogynistic gender norms. A great example of this is Blaire White, conservatives' favorite trans-identified male. One look at him tells you everything you need to know. The balloon lips, the big fake boobs shown off in every outfit, the valley girl speak, the super long hair that he can't stop flipping while he talks. How is this different from Dylan Mulvaney cosplaying every straight male fantasy of what a woman should look and be like?

Second, similar to conservatives, they do nothing to help women when it comes to other topics that tend to affect women even more than trans activism. In fact, many of them identify as conservative. These include people like Marcus Dib, Blaire White, Caitlyn Jenner, and Jessica Gill. Others, such as Buck Angel, who calls herself "Daddy" and "Tranpa", btw (sorry if you're eating while reading this), claims to be a liberal and simply doesn't advocate for women when it comes to anything else other than being against the more extreme trans ideologists. Rarely if never will you hear these people speak out for reproductive rights or against female poverty, for example. Horrifyingly, Buck Angel worked in porn, on Pornhub, no less, for several years, making herself a fortune, and even when pushed, doubles down and refuses to call out the evils of the sex industry or to admit that porn is misogynistic. In fact, several years ago it came out that a 14-year-old girl named Rose Kalemba had been raped and the video put on YouTube. It took months of her begging Pornhub and then pretending to be an attorney for them to take it down, and in a now-deleted tweet (which survives online), Buck calls her a coward.

Third, they are ingratiating. They want only to be accepted into the conservative fold. They love their place in the limelight as conservative darlings. Again, these are typically conservatives' pet trans-identified folks. Often, conservatives are willing to call them by their preferred pronouns, a consideration not offered to other more liberal/Left-Wing trans-identified people. They uphold misogyny when it's the kind conservatives like. They uphold capitalism. They tend to love Donald Trump.

Please don't let these sheep in wolf's clothing fool you.

Anything That Moves (Summer, 1991)

❝ BISEXUAL FREEDOM ❞

I know what's meant here, but I feel like men get away with their abuse and manipulation too often by tricking women into just believing that they're stupid. If they're stupid, they're not doing anything bad maliciously, they're just too stupid to know any better. Instead, it's a deliberately manipulative tactic by straight men to target vulnerable women and shield themselves from criticism or call outs.

Straight men will lie to TIFs' faces and tell them that they see them as men, all to get them into bed, then abandon them and laugh at them later.

Falsely claiming bisexuality also cements them as more believable "progressive allies," because suddenly, they're oppressed, too.

They can then push into LGB spaces, harass bisexual women and lesbians, and then get bisexuals in general blamed for their predatory, straight male behaviour.

If none of that works out, or someone sees through the bullshit, they drop the bisexual and then claim the nebulous queer instead, and any criticism is then immediately classed as homophobic, so there's no accountability at all.

If you’re ever feeling insecure about your intelligence just remember there are males out there who call themselves bisexual because they’re attracted to females and trans-identified females

we need more mean bisexual radfems.

Naoki Ito: Urban Nature (2009)

The internet is amazing for unlearning what the patriarchy has taught us to be automatic. It's even better to practice personal feminism.

Because we're online, we can take a step away and analyse our thoughts if we feel angry, disappointed or disgusted at another woman. We have the ability to pause and not hate the woman that sneers at feminism, but feel grief for her and understand why she rejects it.

When we catch ourselves lashing out at other groups of women, the internet gives us the opportunity to work through those negative emotions and remind ourselves that patriarchy pits us against each other on purpose.

It's an incredibly powerful tool to use. Where else can we finally learn how to personally dislike another woman, to hate her views or wish that she was better educated, but not blame her for countless generations of patriarchy and still genuinely hope that she grows, succeeds, lives well, is happy and, most of all, safe? Where else is the space that allows us to go through the negatives to come out the other side, even when it's hard, without harming another woman?

In this space, where feminists will most likely agree on 90% of issues, there's still anger and infighting and backbiting thanks to the misogynistic female socialisation that tells us that nobody hates women more than other women, and that misogyny carrying on to think that other women want to trip you up or are readying themselves to attack to tear you down.

Men aren't thinking about how best to free women. We have to do that ourselves. Do you honestly think we can even come close to dismantling even one small section of patriarchy if we haven't learned to actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other women?

If you can't support and uplift and care for other women even in the same space with the same general ideals as you, how do you think you're going to be able to support and uplift and care for the women that hate everything that feminism stands for and promotes everything that feminism stands against? How are you going to be patient and understanding enough to teach her? How are you going to avoid victim-blaming her if she ends up being hurt?

That's why the internet is so useful. We can learn to dislike other women and step away from other women for our own sanities if we need to, we can understand that we will never be able to be best friends with every other woman, we can criticise other women and hold other women to account for their actions, but with this curated space and time to think, not being face-to-face, we can start the process of genuinely caring for every single woman anyway - especially the ones that we dislike the most.

I'd argue that that is the most important activism that feminists can do right now, the one that has to happen first before patriarchy can actually be ripped apart the way that it needs to be.

gay men are not discriminated against because they're gay. they're hated because being attracted to men is seen as a feminine trait, and our society sees being a woman as shameful.

men, no matter their sexuality, are not oppressed.

gay men are not the victim.