Also: 'The arbitrariness of it all troubled me. You could never find your footing. You never knew what you could say without courting censure. What a massive tax on women’s energy and attention!'
That paragraph explains exactly the tactics of narcissistic abusers. Gaslighting and word salads, speaking in circles without grasping true meaning at all, on purpose to break you down over time thus rendering you into a confused and weakened state so you give up your power and your rights. This is a deliberate manipulation tactic of gender ideology.
Beautiful lucid writing. You have articulated the experience of so many of us who have been compelled to speak up about the appropriation of womanhood.
Brilliant article. But one caveat for all those feeling cast out and isolated. Get out of the metropolis and the universities and political parties and speak to people in the real world, they absolutely know what reality is and scoff at this nonsense. Slowly the word is getting out about the awful damage being done and from being tolerant or unaware, they are turning against it.
So many of us came to where we are now through these events Eliza describes.
I keep questioning myself, I don't wish harm on anyone, and I see so so many otherwise intelligent people fall under the spell of gender identity ideology. It saddens me. It's like Alice in Wonderland, a world of contradictions and things not as they should be. Being critical of a harmful movement shouldn't feel so lonely and isolating.
"Transwomen are women" is a semantic parallel with "3D printing is printing." This is only the case because when the technology we call 3D printing was invented, no one thought up a new word. Instead, the word "printing" was employed as a metaphor, and "3D" added as a qualification. These phrases are qualified metaphors. This doesn't make them inaccurate, provided we understand that we mean by them. If attempts are made to imbue them with meanings that are more literal than the phenomena they refer to, things get confused. Of course confusion suits some people's interests better than clarity.
You don't need to redefine what a word means to use it as a metaphor. When we make an impression on paper with an inky block, we still call the process printing. The problem is more the ideological attempt to have people forget they are speaking and thinking metaphorically.
I don't think any trans activist is speaking metaphorically when they say these things. They are claiming that a trans woman is a woman in every way - that's the basis for claiming lesbians who won't date a trans women, penis and all, are transphobic.
That’s a great point. If they’d called it “Automated Sculpting” then the link in our heads to printing would never have been forged. Likewise, another name for men who dress as women like “Drag 2.0” would have created a different impression that would not have invited such an easy semantic route to claiming they are also women. “Drag 2.0ers are women” doesn’t trip off the tongue quite as well.
Tremendous piece (and one of a number now appearing, so rewarding). Language is being skewed and manipulated by the gender ideologists to infer (an agreed upon) reality which is counter to scientifically proven and experiential reality, as the vast majority of human beings subscribe to. "trans women" want to compete against women so they can win, unfairly or not, not against other trans women which would be less self aggrandising, and there aren't enough of them anyway.
Superb article. I was thinking earlier on how difficult it is not to tread on trans landmines (transmine?) - and I'm a bloke, I can't even imagine how hard it must be for women seeing your own language taken away, let alone your hard-won spaces.
As for this nonsense about lesbians being considered transphobic for not doing penis, that is sinister beyond belief. As long as it's consensual and legal, what business is it of anyone's who you choose to sleep with?
Current 'progressive' thinking seems to suggest that if you're white, you're a racist, regardless of actual individual thought or behaviour. I wonder if it's becoming the same with transphobia. I'm straight ergo I'm automatically a transphobe... You can't win.
Among the many great reflections on the issue I've read this is easily one of the very best.
It is a very similar process when you start questioning the supposedly benign role of religions in progressive circles and start developping a secular alternative.
It's just that this issue goes much, much deeper. Personally as well as socially. This does not just take us to the symptoms of religion, it takes us to the very core of why people choose to believe and why they so violently defend their beliefs.
Also: 'The arbitrariness of it all troubled me. You could never find your footing. You never knew what you could say without courting censure. What a massive tax on women’s energy and attention!'
That paragraph explains exactly the tactics of narcissistic abusers. Gaslighting and word salads, speaking in circles without grasping true meaning at all, on purpose to break you down over time thus rendering you into a confused and weakened state so you give up your power and your rights. This is a deliberate manipulation tactic of gender ideology.
Excellent article. No apologies from me either for asking questions and holding onto reality. Sex matters.
Stunning writing here. Thank you Eliza.
Beautiful lucid writing. You have articulated the experience of so many of us who have been compelled to speak up about the appropriation of womanhood.
Fabulous writing. It’s easy to become a heretic if you ask the glaring questions.
Brilliant article. But one caveat for all those feeling cast out and isolated. Get out of the metropolis and the universities and political parties and speak to people in the real world, they absolutely know what reality is and scoff at this nonsense. Slowly the word is getting out about the awful damage being done and from being tolerant or unaware, they are turning against it.
This is excellent.
Sums it up for many of us so well!
So many of us came to where we are now through these events Eliza describes.
I keep questioning myself, I don't wish harm on anyone, and I see so so many otherwise intelligent people fall under the spell of gender identity ideology. It saddens me. It's like Alice in Wonderland, a world of contradictions and things not as they should be. Being critical of a harmful movement shouldn't feel so lonely and isolating.
"Transwomen are women" is a semantic parallel with "3D printing is printing." This is only the case because when the technology we call 3D printing was invented, no one thought up a new word. Instead, the word "printing" was employed as a metaphor, and "3D" added as a qualification. These phrases are qualified metaphors. This doesn't make them inaccurate, provided we understand that we mean by them. If attempts are made to imbue them with meanings that are more literal than the phenomena they refer to, things get confused. Of course confusion suits some people's interests better than clarity.
3d printing is correct only because we redefined what printing is.
Trans women are women is not correct unless you redefined what the word 'women' means. Do that and we need a new word to replace 'women'.
Trans women are trans women.
Trans men are trans men.
Why are they not proud to say what they are? Everyone else who marches in Pride events is proud of who they are - why not trans?
You don't need to redefine what a word means to use it as a metaphor. When we make an impression on paper with an inky block, we still call the process printing. The problem is more the ideological attempt to have people forget they are speaking and thinking metaphorically.
I don't think any trans activist is speaking metaphorically when they say these things. They are claiming that a trans woman is a woman in every way - that's the basis for claiming lesbians who won't date a trans women, penis and all, are transphobic.
That’s a great point. If they’d called it “Automated Sculpting” then the link in our heads to printing would never have been forged. Likewise, another name for men who dress as women like “Drag 2.0” would have created a different impression that would not have invited such an easy semantic route to claiming they are also women. “Drag 2.0ers are women” doesn’t trip off the tongue quite as well.
It’s mad innit
Thank you
This is a terrific piece. I relate so much to this and It's really well written--clear and reasonable. Thank you for sharing, Eliza.
Tremendous piece (and one of a number now appearing, so rewarding). Language is being skewed and manipulated by the gender ideologists to infer (an agreed upon) reality which is counter to scientifically proven and experiential reality, as the vast majority of human beings subscribe to. "trans women" want to compete against women so they can win, unfairly or not, not against other trans women which would be less self aggrandising, and there aren't enough of them anyway.
Superb article. I was thinking earlier on how difficult it is not to tread on trans landmines (transmine?) - and I'm a bloke, I can't even imagine how hard it must be for women seeing your own language taken away, let alone your hard-won spaces.
As for this nonsense about lesbians being considered transphobic for not doing penis, that is sinister beyond belief. As long as it's consensual and legal, what business is it of anyone's who you choose to sleep with?
Current 'progressive' thinking seems to suggest that if you're white, you're a racist, regardless of actual individual thought or behaviour. I wonder if it's becoming the same with transphobia. I'm straight ergo I'm automatically a transphobe... You can't win.
Among the many great reflections on the issue I've read this is easily one of the very best.
It is a very similar process when you start questioning the supposedly benign role of religions in progressive circles and start developping a secular alternative.
It's just that this issue goes much, much deeper. Personally as well as socially. This does not just take us to the symptoms of religion, it takes us to the very core of why people choose to believe and why they so violently defend their beliefs.