Caveat Lector: I am learning. This is not a post about my beliefs. This is a post to help me learn. If you have something to say that will help me and others like me to build an opinion for ourselves, you are welcome. If not, please stay away. I have NO OPINION on this subject because the more I read, the less I seem to be sure of what I think is right and wrong in this regard. On a related note, I shall NOT be answering or commenting on this post myself because I really have nothing to say, given how undecided I am. So, kindly do not challenge me for a duel. I have not made up my mind, and perhaps won’t despite, I am sure, the best efforts by well-wishers. That is because of what an intellectual weakling I am, and not because your arguments lacked the strength of conviction of objective facts. So, please forgive me if I do not immediately agree with you. As for debating it with each other on this post, my request is to keep it civil and speak as if you and the person you are discussing/disagreeing with here is in front of you, in person, across the table, sipping their beverage in a nice, friendly, non-threatening environment. There are no winners or losers here. Only teachers, as far as I am concerned.
Now, after that long introduction, the questions:
1. Do you think transgender women are women? Yes/No
2. Where do you see yourself on the politico-socio-religio-economic spectrum? Your choices are far left-left-centre-right-far right (you may choose one for your political and one for your economic ideological leanings), fundamentalist-conservative-feminist-radical (you can only choose one for where you stand in the gender politics space), and believer-atheist (you can only choose one). I know this is probably not as black & white, but I only need to know this coarsely and not in superfine nuanced detail.
If you wish, you may also expand on your answer to question 1 as to why you think what you think and what the arguments are for your ‘side’. Try not copy-pasting links and such (though that’s upto you), because I really have tried reading whatever is available online, listening to people, lurking in the shadows in groups that talk about these issues, and being an observer in debates others participate in. And I still cannot make up my mind.
Lastly, no ad hominems please, nor tarring everyone with the same brush just because one of their opinions is not the exact same as yours. And this includes me.
Some background: I recently came across this article from the magazine I respect and read the most. It is behind a paywall, but worth reading.
It raises some pertinent points about jails and sports, where the government needs to decide where TG women fit. It also discusses the issue from an ideological perspective, and how the far left and the right both agree that the answer to question 1 above should be a resounding No, so that the spaces created for women by women so painstakingly and with much pain and fighting over the last century can be kept for women without men (even if only biological) once again invading them. There is much to unpack and while I had a simplistic “Yes, a person is what they want to be” approach earlier, this is not the same, or at least I not as easy as I was given to believe initially.
I have had similar issues with abortion. But that is not the subject being discussed here. If you wish, you can read my thoughts about it and how even as a liberal, my mind is not made up about abortion and the mother-to-be’s ultimate right over her body.
