Germaine Greer
Recently, feminist icon Germaine Greer stated that, in her own opinion, transgenders (Male to Female) were not women, because they do not talk, act or sound like women. She's now suffering from some serious backlash regarding this situation, claiming she's had people be violent towards her, had things thrown at her, verbal abuse and has no longer been allowed to receive an honorary degree from her college after the things she has said.
Now, I consider myself to be a feminist, I consider myself as a person who treats people the same regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation and the like and I don't think that being lesbian or being transgender or being a certain race should prevent you from doing anything, ever. Because it shouldn't!
However, I do find myself in a bit of an awkward situation, as I see both sides of the argument here and whilst I disagree with some of what Germaine says, I also agree with some of it too.
Let's start with is a transgender woman (male transitioned to a female) a woman? This is a hard one for me to comment on. I'm inclined to say yes, because if they feel like a woman, they have female genitalia and a woman is who they want to be then I too shall honour their preferences and I will acknowledge them as a woman. It would be so awful and rude for me not to! However, whilst you still have male genitalia I'm sorry but scientifically you aren't a woman. That doesn't stop my opinion of course, I will consider anybody who wants to be a woman, a woman. It's just how I am! However, I do understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and to be quite frank, if Germaine doesn't want to think that male's who have transitioned to females are "women" then she doesn't have to. She stated that she will use feminine pronouns and use their desired names, which is good, but if she doesn't think of them as women- well, no one can make her.
In the interview, the journalist brought up Will Young's new music video, where a transgender person is attacked in the street. Germaine had clearly done her research and fired back about, "oh the one where he's running down the street naked? Well you try running down the street naked!" and she's right! I haven't seen the music video myself, so my comments may not be strictly accurate but if anyone was running down the street naked they would probably be attacked in one way or another by someone. You're naked in public, regardless of whether you're transgender or not you'll cause a scene!
A point Germaine made that I strongly disagreed with was her comment regarding the suffering of transgender people, stating that they didn't suffer more than any other person. I believe this is totally wrong. The fact that she's received all of this backlash for her comments surely indicates it's because there's still a stigma around transgender people that needs to be removed. It's not easy changing who you were born as, changing despite your parents, family or friends disagreeing, being bullied for being different, discriminated against at hospitals and jobs, starting a completely new life as a new person! Being transgender is a lot harder than not being transgender and I think that was a very ignorant comment for her to make.
Finally, her comments regarding Caitlyn Jenner, that she should not be awarded Woman of the Year. This I totally agree with. Caitlyn was brave, but why should we recognise her and not every other transgender woman? If she wasn't from the Kardashian bubble, her transition would not be half as significant as it has been- it might sound horrible but it's true. There are women who build schools for the less privileged, save lives every day, accomplish incredible academic feats at such young ages, these are deserving of women of the year awards. And also...Caitlyn made her decision as a man. She was a man when she decided to make this brave decision. And yes, I know, they can't give her man of the year as she is now a woman, and I respect that. But I think that if we hunted, we'd find much more deserving women. I'm not talking Beyonce or Angelina Jolie or your typical celeb, I mean someone who has done something worthwhile! Yes I appreciate that transitioning in front of the whole world is probably the most difficult thing Caitlyn has done but...I don't know. I don't think she deserves woman of the year for it.
At the end of the day, everyone has an opinion and no one is going to agree with everyone. I think transgender women are women, Germaine does not. We can't change that, but what we can change is the abuse people with opinions like hers are receiving. It's a waste of time- their opinions, their minds, they aren't going to change! So rather than focus on the few negative people, we should spend time focusing on the larger proportion of people who are trying to eradicate the stigma. Germaine is now receiving a lot of publicity (lucky her) because we won't stop talking about her. Forget her and focus on the positives instead.
But hey...this is all just my opinion!
Love from,
Florence Grace
Now, I consider myself to be a feminist, I consider myself as a person who treats people the same regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation and the like and I don't think that being lesbian or being transgender or being a certain race should prevent you from doing anything, ever. Because it shouldn't!
However, I do find myself in a bit of an awkward situation, as I see both sides of the argument here and whilst I disagree with some of what Germaine says, I also agree with some of it too.
Let's start with is a transgender woman (male transitioned to a female) a woman? This is a hard one for me to comment on. I'm inclined to say yes, because if they feel like a woman, they have female genitalia and a woman is who they want to be then I too shall honour their preferences and I will acknowledge them as a woman. It would be so awful and rude for me not to! However, whilst you still have male genitalia I'm sorry but scientifically you aren't a woman. That doesn't stop my opinion of course, I will consider anybody who wants to be a woman, a woman. It's just how I am! However, I do understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and to be quite frank, if Germaine doesn't want to think that male's who have transitioned to females are "women" then she doesn't have to. She stated that she will use feminine pronouns and use their desired names, which is good, but if she doesn't think of them as women- well, no one can make her.
In the interview, the journalist brought up Will Young's new music video, where a transgender person is attacked in the street. Germaine had clearly done her research and fired back about, "oh the one where he's running down the street naked? Well you try running down the street naked!" and she's right! I haven't seen the music video myself, so my comments may not be strictly accurate but if anyone was running down the street naked they would probably be attacked in one way or another by someone. You're naked in public, regardless of whether you're transgender or not you'll cause a scene!
A point Germaine made that I strongly disagreed with was her comment regarding the suffering of transgender people, stating that they didn't suffer more than any other person. I believe this is totally wrong. The fact that she's received all of this backlash for her comments surely indicates it's because there's still a stigma around transgender people that needs to be removed. It's not easy changing who you were born as, changing despite your parents, family or friends disagreeing, being bullied for being different, discriminated against at hospitals and jobs, starting a completely new life as a new person! Being transgender is a lot harder than not being transgender and I think that was a very ignorant comment for her to make.
Finally, her comments regarding Caitlyn Jenner, that she should not be awarded Woman of the Year. This I totally agree with. Caitlyn was brave, but why should we recognise her and not every other transgender woman? If she wasn't from the Kardashian bubble, her transition would not be half as significant as it has been- it might sound horrible but it's true. There are women who build schools for the less privileged, save lives every day, accomplish incredible academic feats at such young ages, these are deserving of women of the year awards. And also...Caitlyn made her decision as a man. She was a man when she decided to make this brave decision. And yes, I know, they can't give her man of the year as she is now a woman, and I respect that. But I think that if we hunted, we'd find much more deserving women. I'm not talking Beyonce or Angelina Jolie or your typical celeb, I mean someone who has done something worthwhile! Yes I appreciate that transitioning in front of the whole world is probably the most difficult thing Caitlyn has done but...I don't know. I don't think she deserves woman of the year for it.
At the end of the day, everyone has an opinion and no one is going to agree with everyone. I think transgender women are women, Germaine does not. We can't change that, but what we can change is the abuse people with opinions like hers are receiving. It's a waste of time- their opinions, their minds, they aren't going to change! So rather than focus on the few negative people, we should spend time focusing on the larger proportion of people who are trying to eradicate the stigma. Germaine is now receiving a lot of publicity (lucky her) because we won't stop talking about her. Forget her and focus on the positives instead.
But hey...this is all just my opinion!
Love from,
Florence Grace
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