This subject always reminds me of the problem in feminism (thankfully now much diminished) of how to deal with and treat women who were not feminist, or worse, who spoke up against it. I never liked the idea of treating as traitors a fair proportion of the people we claimed to be fighting for (now men who fit that description, they’re obviously fair game). So...
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@LUCILOSER used this term in a comment on a post of mine, so I thought I really should do a blog to explain what it means.
TERF is an acronym for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, or bastard git¹ for short. The term was coined - or at least popularised - in 2008 by Viv Smythe², a trans-inclusive cisgender radical feminist blogger. Originally applied to...
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Intersectional feminism, also known as Intersectionality, is a branch of feminism asserting that all aspects of social and political identities (gender, race, class, sexuality, disability, etc.) discrimination overlap (or "intersect"). Intersectional feminism separates itself from “white feminism” (as it views traditional feminism) by acknowledging the fact that all women have different experiences and identities. The term was coined by black feminist scholar Kimberlé...
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Transfeminism is "a movement by and for trans women who view their liberation to be intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women and beyond.", as defined by scholar and activist Emi Koyama. It supports the belief that the rights of transgender women are linked to the feminist movement, specifically the right to assume a gender identity that does not correspond to one’s biological sex...
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Transmisogyny is a very useful term. It’s also an horrific bastard word, and I hate it. It makes no etymological sense; misogyny is miso-gyny – (a person) who hates or dislikes-women. So, logically transmisogyny is trans-miso-gyny – across/to/over-(a person) who hates or dislikes-women. The correct word should surely be misotransgyny - a person who hates or dislikes trans women. But what the hell, English...
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(That's a "Naked Gun" reference if you missed it 😀.)
Sexual harassment includes gender harassment. This is a name designed to emphasise the fact that harmful (and perhaps illegal) sexual harassment does not have to encompass sexual activity. Gender harassment constitutes discrimination because it is harmful, and it is based on gender—it is not necessarily motivated by sexual desire, nor need it involve...
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Universities in the US tend to be fairly liberal places (real universities, not Trump University or right wing Christian Loony universities), and scientists are obviously logical, rational people – so the sexual harassment of women ought to be fairly rare for female science undergraduates and graduates, right?
No fucking chance. A survey conducted at the University of Texas System [Swartout, K. (2018). University of Texas...
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(The end of my posts about misogyny, not the end of misogyny, sadly).
In part one I listed; patriarchy, male privilege, discrimination, sexual harassment and violence against women, and the sexual objectification of women. I said we’d look at them one by one. In parts two to five, I covered patriarchy, male privilege, discrimination & sexual harassment and violence against women. So, at last, the...
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In part one I listed; patriarchy, male privilege, discrimination, sexual harassment and violence against women, and the sexual objectification of women. I said we’d look at them one by one. In parts two, three, & four, I covered patriarchy, male privilege & discrimination, so let’s try another one (in two sections). And I have to say, I am fucking dreading doing this one:
Sexual harassment...
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In part one I listed; patriarchy, male privilege, discrimination, sexual harassment and violence against women, and the sexual objectification of women. I said we’d look at them one by one. In parts two & three, covered patriarchy & male privilege, so let’s try another one:
Discrimination – and here, obviously, I mean sex discrimination against women*. Sex discrimination can refer to beliefs and attitudes in...
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