Intersectional Feminism 2016: Addressing the TERFs Through The Conversations Project 2016

It's an amazing feeling when you receive your first feedback regarding a published blog post or article, especially when that feedback comes from an academic that you particularly admire. John Stoltenberg, radical feminist, gay man and lifelong partner of trans-supporting radical feminist Andrea Dworkin who has written books to help critics understand rape culture and the need for men to disavow traditional patriarchy within traditional gender boundaries decided to get in touch with me after reading my Transfeminism blog post
 (http://sasssvensknorsk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/transgender-activism-and-feminism.html) to highlight the current work he is engaged in, i.e. the creation of a dialogue space between trans feminists, mainstream feminists and radical feminists about "what it is to be a woman" and to try and develop intersectional narratives that can be used practically to argue for the improvement of  all women's rights in 2016 and beyond.

The Conversations Project launched on January 1st is an attempt to debunk the myth that radical feminism has always taken issue with transactivism, a myth that seems to perpetuated by mainstream media's obsession with a minority of radical feminists who seem to hate trans women; The Advocate article gives the example of Germaine Greer's comments on Caitlyn Jenner after she was named Woman of the Year by Glamour - suffice to say that she went back to her "castration" and panto-dame arguments she's espoused for decades and added in a tough of dogue to make it appear "funny". Bit warped but if cocker spaniels are her thing I hope it doesn't shit on her crappy drab dress sense ;) Because obviously she cares far more about physiological features than about emotional feelings or any notion of gender as they currently stand. Ah well :)

The spark that created the Conversations Project was as the result of a conversation between Stoltenberg and transfeminist Cristan Williams in 2014 after Williams made a comment after reading Stoltenberg's essay on Andrea Dworkin Andrea Dworkin Was Not Transphobic a sentiment I share after having read some of her work and analysing her words within my context of feminist rhetorical engagement with trans issues. They'd never met or heard of each other before but after numerous critical exchanges it was decided they needed to highlight the fact a positive transinclusive radical narrative had existed in second wave feminism all along. The Conversations Project is wide ranging and takes into account voices from a range of contributors, both historically and contemporaneously including queer theorist Judith Butler and Catharine M. McKinnon. The aim of the project is to generate "reasoned discussion" that is "informed by historical evidence", allowing for easy curation of content. The resources are designed with easy searchability in mind for students and researchers and includes glossary, suggested readings and a historical timeline documenting the development of radical and intersectional transfeminism. There's also a quarterly journal planned and a book-length collaboration of essays. All sounds excellent for any student of feminism!

Yet even before the conversation has properly begun the Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists (TERFs) had slated the project as undermining "true" feminist discourse by allowing "biological" men who had never and could never experience period pains or lookism to join the conversation in the first place. For example, Wendy Lev on a Facebook response to an Advocate article introducing the
Conversations Project has claimed transwomen are "misogynist, lesbophobic and discriminate us to no end" whilst ending her comment with "Use your brain, lefties". This goes to show that radical feminist discourse has been taken over in part by conservative women who fear widening of gender definitions.  It also demonstrates a rather distinct lack of awareness of transwomen who become lesbian post-transition because they were in love with a straight/bi or lesbian woman prior or during their transitioning process. Gender and sexuality are inherently separate concepts even if they link up at times, so to say that the only types of transwomen who are acceptable are those who want to be lesbian is rather shockingly divisive! Transwomen who were initially perceived as gay men prior to transition are not the enemy. We do not hate women! Many of us have best friends who are women and some have had children through surrogacy. I may not want children or have engaged in sex with a cisgendered woman but that does not mean I hate them!

A lot of fear about giving transwomen a voice within the history of the feminist movement seems to come from Lesbian feminists who don't seem to want to relinquish their control over the mainstream narrative. They say feminism is only a "female organisational tool" but they never really seem to argue how they are going to use it effectively to benefit everyone's lives. Now I am sure there are a minority of even transwomen who send disgusting rape and mutilation threats to Lesbian feminists because they disagree with their point of view and are just generally disgusting trolls that need to be reported. Death threats should never be acceptable as a form of debate, even on social media platforms. And such cases have to happen because they come up on mainstream feminist threads on a regular basis. Hence why I can see why some feminists demand safe spaces that can only contain women biologically born as women, if that's who they are comfortable supporting their point of view. Does that mean that transwomen can only have trans safe spaces in which to voice their feminist narrative, despite the fact that most issues that affect biologically born women affect transwomen as well? I just don't believe any group deserves to own an entire critical narrative, choosing who they accept support and criticism from based on their physiological characteristics.

A key accepted argument within radical feminism is a desire to "abolish gender"; they want to free women from the shackles of labelling and destroy the stereotypes. Hence to them transwomen are only reinforcing the existing binary existence of gender because they are using surgical procedures to try and achieve a state of physical femininity that they find beautiful rather than trying to degender their own bodies. It'd be great to live in a world where the only labels we need to use were our names that we could choose for ourselves. I have to ask does the process of surgery actually create a "woman" for them physically when radical feminists like Greer say they are "castrating themselves" because they cannot handle the physical features of manhood? Seems a bit hypocritical to me. These TERFs want to degender and yet ascribe gender at the same time. If we really wanted to abolish gender let everyone engage in the discussion!

Another interesting dimension to the argument is whether men should be allowed to engage in feminist discourse in any way. Megan Mackin has posited that academics like Stoltenberg have "appropriated feminism, women's oppression and Andrea (Dworkin)'s voice" and that act has left feminism open to "being discredited by those who find women irritating" because they challenge male entitlement. Essentially men who use feminist ideas are "fetishizing" them and transwomen are also doing this to gain advantage and be accepted more easily. So when I was "presenting" or being perceived as an effeminate gay male I wrote my University essays using feminist ideas to ridicule male satire and to highlight the Establishment etiquette rules that Jane Austen and Aphra Behn wanted to get their readers/audience to challenge through appreciation of their texts. Was I also appropriating feminist voices to do this? What about now that I have "come out" as a transwoman? Can I still be accused of appropriation? I believe men have a place within feminist discourse, particularly if they help to contribute new ideas as to how to help to reduce rape rates or to improve representation within boardrooms and the debating chamber of the House of Commons.

Transfeminists and activists need to do their part to dispel some of the myths perpetuated by TERFs. Some TERFs hate the term itself being used because they see it as derogative and "misogynistic", so perhaps using a different term such as "trans hating radical feminist" or "Biological Radical Feminist" might make them feel better. It's true there are trans people who are rapists and probably use their transitioning process to rape women within their own spaces. But there are women who pretend to be men to rape women too. There are even lesbian radical feminists who are rapists. Let's not pretend that there aren't rapists within certain communities because no matter how you label yourself, whether through gender, biology, sexuality, political/theoretical association, I can guarantee you there is at least 1 person that self-defines that way who is a rapist.  Not every transfeminist wants to invade biologically born women's only spaces, especially when it comes to issues of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Trans people do need treatment too when they are victims of domestic abuse. Charities cannot turn their back on them just because they were not born biologically female. Perhaps there needs to be segregated units for those women who would be afraid of engagement with trans women if one had abused them in the first place. But let's not pretend the only domestic abuse victims who need our help are cis gendered women!

Feminism has had a bad press in the past thanks to a select group of individuals who decided to hijack the ideology and focus on trying to posit crazy futures where men are downgraded to the status of baby making semen dispensers and trans women should be seen only as part of the supporting act within the movement if allowed to express an opinion within it. Now I can imagine that some TERFs will say "oh we're being misogynistic" because we're highlighting them for serious critique. If feminism, especially radical feminism is to make it's mark in the 21st century, we have to move away from endless semantic smackdowns and an overfocus on the theoretical rather than practical applications.  There are many men and women wishing to be part of the movement, so let's be inclusive, compassionate and collaborative to reach workable solutions that can make a difference to everyone's lives. Such as helping protect funding for domestic abuse charities, improving Sex and Relationships education for secondary school students and to be supportive by encouraging, not shaming Muslim feminists who are trying to push for reforms in the Middle East and Asia to secure voting rights or abortion rights for those women who have been sidelined for many generations. TERFs have to be willing to work with us to achieve a compassionate sense of Feminism; if not, they may not be the best advocates to take our cause forward. "Deeds, Not Words" was the war cry of Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragette movement; maybe it's time to take on this banner once again and prove feminism has something valuable to offer: Hope, not Hatred.  

"Feminism ain't cancer if you don't want it to be": The Importance of promoting Compassionate Intersectional Feminism

"Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men, it does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a "bitch" or "dyke"; it means you believe in equality." Kate Nash.

It's fascinating to see how feminists are received on social media platform these days. Advocating for equal pay rights by guaranteeing a fair pay structure for all workers gets shouted down as "sexist against hard working men", recognising the existence of a rape culture that attacks men as well as women is shot down as "illogical thinking" and even acknowledging the need for state funded gender segregated  domestic abuse shelters for those women who have survived sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationships is seen as a waste of money.

Yet how striking is it to see the results of a January 2016 survey conducted by The Fawcett Society, "the UK's largest membership society for women's rights" who actively encourage men and women to help enact societal change to benefit both sexes. The wide ranging survey was conducted to analyse British attitudes towards feminism as a whole movement. They concluded that Britain is a nation of "hidden feminists". Here's why:

• 2/3 of Britons support gender equality but only 7% identify as feminists. (560/8000 people interviewed).
• 9% of women identify as feminists whereas 4% of men label themselves as feminist.
• However men more supportive of equality between the sexes - 86% want equality for their women but only 74% of women want equality with men.
• Younger women more likely to identify as feminist- 19% of 18-24 year olds use the word but also 18-24 year old age group more likely to oppose it. 8% expressed this view compared with 2% of people aged 55 and over.  I believe this could be partly due to a promotion of awareness of feminist issues being studied on the National Curriculum through studying feminist approaches to Elizabeth Bennett's desire to break etiquette rules in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for GCSE English Literature (Conservatives say this is liberal indoctrination of innocent minds).

When people were asked to ascribe an adjective to the word "feminist" when it first pops into their head:

• Just over 25% said "bitchy"
• 22% said "strength"
• 17% said "suffragette"
• 17% used gender-related words such as "woman" and "female".

A related poll conducted by the Huffington Post found that 82% of respondents believe that "men and women should be social, political, and economic equals" (the definition of feminism), but only 20% self-identify as feminists.

So what's truly going on within the feminist sphere that is putting off those who support mainstream ideas that have been espoused by various aspects of feminism and what can some feminists do to try and reverse the negative stereotypes being perpetuated by arch opponents of the movement?

Faux Feminism = Opponents of Feminism? A Social Media Analysis:

A Twitter follower and amazingly sassy British podcaster (one half of the Melanin Millennials show which I now religiously listen to on a weekly basis) and co-founder of the UK's diverse podcast company ShoutOut Network, Satia came up with a list of 4 types of faux-feminists who populate social media platforms and contribute to the creation of negative feminist stereotypes:

• #PickMePickMeFeministTwitter - these people are not a feminist except when it becomes a personal cause for them. They usually impose their ideas on other women about what is desirable to be taken up as part of the mainstream feminist cause without showing an awareness of different feminist viewpoints. Anyone who doesn't conform to their own personal ideals are seen as "defective" and should be "excluded" from feminist discourse.
• #MeninistTwitter- horned up men using feminism to pick up girls without really trying to hide their true intentions. To them "feminist" is a word they use in a sentence but fail to understand what mainstream feminists aim to achieve. It's important to realise though that there may be lesbian/bi women who try and use the feminist label to rape other women by gaining their confidence online.
• #SlutShamingFeministTwitter - Women and men who believe women who choose to dress "provocatively" (e.g. in a halter neck top and hotpants to go out clubbing) deserve to be shamed publically or online for their brazen choice. They also tend to argue that "skimpy"dressing or flirtatious actions usually leads to acts of rape being committed and it's the victims fault they got raped or assaulted or abused because they didn't take effective precautions. This sort of rhetoric is often one-sided in rape cases, as straight men who get raped are not criticised for their dress code or actions in the same way that straight women and trans women are criticised, hence why they are faux feminist.
• #ProstitutesCannotBeFeministsTwitter - This often comes from middle class Judeo-Christian bias against sex workers who they believe have sold their body illegally because they are "hooked on drugs" or "owe money to pimps". There are sex workers who are trafficked into the country to raise illegal money for their pimps and they deserve our compassion and help, especially if they are being daily exploited and raped. However there are sex workers who freely choose to engage in sex acts with strangers for money and should feminists judge those women for wanting to control how they use their own bodies when feminists generally call for legalisation of abortion without foetal limitations? Trans activist (and former sex worker) Paris Lees is currently writing a thesis looking at how mainstream feminism has failed sex workers by oppressing them through their support of draconian legislation. So do those who support curbs to prostitution still be seen as feminists or faux feminists?

 Satia then identified the key ultra opponents of feminism on Twitter that I have now added to:

• #FeminismIsCancerTwitter aka #FreeMilo/ Alt-Right Media Types who believe feminist ideology leads to the breakup of appropriate relationships, reduce the chances for acceptable men and women to "procreate" and  effectively lead to the destruction of men's confidence and natural dominant place in society. Mainly it's a bunch of bashful boys who bitch and moan about their own sexual inadequacies and blame strong, intelligent women for rejecting their sexual advances. It's quite ironic that the guy who came out with the leading statement is a conservative gay man who feels uncomfortable with his own sexuality and loves dressing himself up with gold jewellery despite hating the women that probably designed some of the jewellery he wears in the first place!
• #FeminismDestroysChivalryTwitter - these are men who argue that feminism destroys the codes of etiquette and common courtesy that has been shown towards women in the past as a form of deference- e.g. there are men who question whether they need to give up a seat on a train for a heavily pregnant or physically disabled woman because they believe full "equality" means all seats are up for grabs regardless of physical differences. These men also seem to go all "size queen" when women criticise their bank balance, penis size or shoe size, even though they regularly rate the size of women's breasts or "fuckability" with their mates down the local bar of a Friday night and don't care whether they get overhead rating those women by the women themselves!
• #YouCookOrGetFiredCavemanTwitter- These are men who argue that women still have to perform domestic "housewifely" duties even if they are the main breadwinner in the house. So there are young men who are able to cook or could learn how to do the ironing but they can't be bothered and expect their girlfriend/mother/sister to do it for them 100% of the time even if his primary occupation is baiting or masturbating fellow virgin male gamers online!
• #FeminismIsIrrelevantInTheWesternWorldTwitter- These are men and women who argue that feminist principles can no longer be applied to Western countries because these countries already have as much equality of opportunity as can be reasonably achieved. They say that voting rights, abortion legalisation has liberated Western women to the point where they now have freedom to choose their path in life and are protected by discrimination laws should their rights be violated. Therefore feminism has no application and should only be advocated for in countries where there is no women's right to vote or have access over their bodies such as the "Muslim" countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Most believe that Islam is an anti-feminist and should be combatted at all costs but because  the Western World is mostly Christianised, there is "less of a threat".

So what kind of feminist model do we need to follow to fully address the concerns of opponents of feminism to get the "hidden feminists" identified earlier to engage with the mainstream feminist more openly and positively to enact the radical social changes needed to make the Establishment much more representative of our diverse modern society?

Satia made an interesting point regarding male engagement and education them about women's issues during the Melanin Millennials podcast on feminism. She believes that enlightened men should take the time to educate men about "key" feminist issues such as the need to fight for equal pay or to encourage more women to stand for political appointment as a councillor or MP. Men who actively choose to own the label of "feminist" are much more likely to preach the message positively to others. Those who have a skewered view of feminism through social media engagement with ultra radical feminists or faux feminists are more likely to call for their "eradication", hence the "Feminism is Cancer" argument favoured by those #FreeMilo Alt-Right activists who see any form of feminism as a danger to the existing patriarchal world order. However, Satia believes that women should only teach their male family members about respecting women's rights and that it is then up to those men to educate their mates in the nightclubs, down the pubs and youth centres and in their workplaces about these values. I believe that what men are taught with regards to women's issues by their female family members may differ according to cultural, geographical and ideological differences. Some women are clearly transphobic and may therefore teach their sons and brothers to hate trans women even if they may never have met a trans woman in their lifetime. As my previous blogpost on the "uneasiness" between transfeminists and radical feminists demonstrated, there are women who turn their own cisgender misogyny against other women who are gender-fluid/queer and yet still describe themselves as mainstream feminists. This not only damages the reputation of feminism within the LGBTQIA community but also gives fuel to the fire of those who want to dismiss feminism as an attempt to create a new Establishment order dominated by cisgender women only.

I believe the answer may lie in adopting an intersectional approach to feminism but one which is based on compassion for all, respect for opponent's views and humility to be shown when it may appear we get our approach wrong. It is important for intersectional feminists to understand their own levels of cognitive dissonance that exist and try to change or reduce that dissonance through research, debate and compassion as much as they can. For example, I believe that intersectional feminists need to address the fact that rape culture can affect men as well as women and lead to male victims being emotionally scarred for life. Feminists need to understand the uncomfortable truth that there are women and girls out there who are prepared to rape men because they want to gain sexual/emotional power over them, to get them to bend to their will. Some women may have internalised methods through seeing how their male counterparts have used sexual abuse as a power tool. Yet much of the emphasis is placed on girls and women who are raped by strangers or older men who "should know better". Boys who rape girls are even excused as being "mentally immature" and often get away with a rap on the knuckles and left free to try and attempt rape again in the near future. Education about what constitutes rape under the law and what sentences perpetrators may receive (including being put on the Sex Offenders Register in the UK) in schools, youth centres and religious groups across the Western world is key to trying to rates of behaviour but let's not pretend it is a purely male issue!

Another key point regarding intersectional feminism is that we have to be prepared to engage with issues and movements that link and blend within the movement. There are feminists who are Muslim who are trying to change radical fundamentalist views of Islam that seek to subjugate and humiliate women and keep them within the domestic sphere. The recent "Men Wearing Hijab" movement in Iran was an attempt by Muslim feminist men to show their support against the law in Saudi Arabia that forces women to wear the burqa when in the company of non-family men outside the home. They wanted to demonstrate the fact there are Muslim women in these countries who have support to try and gain control over their own bodies. Yet in France, the burqa is banned for all women which is ironic given the supposed level of freedom of clothing choice we are meant to have within a secular democracy. There are Muslim women in the UK who freely choose to wear the burqa because they want to maintain a connection to their tradition or maintain their modesty. Yet feminists have argued Muslim women's choice to wear the burqa is because they remain indoctrinated in Middle Eastern values of subjugation.  So there are clearly conflicts between feminists who have different cultural and religious backgrounds. But it's alright to recognise that within a movement. Discussions should take place and to some extent we should allow this freedom to debate issues but only within the confines of the law. Feminists cannot excuse using phobic taboo language to defeat their enemies regardless of how strongly they feel about their point of view. Provided we try and show a level of compassion towards our ideological opponents and work together with those who are prepared to do so, we can reduce the number of "hidden feminists" and drive the social changes that are needed to make our Establishment systems diversity and feminist friendly.

Transgender Activism and Feminism: An Uneasy Coalition of Ideals?

So I had a rather heated exchange last week with a fellow transgender (male) activist about the place of feminism within the transgender community. I've read what seems to be an alarming basket full of  brazenly defensive articles proclaiming that "transgender activism and feminism cannot co-exist".
For me, I have always felt as I've dissected and analysed various elements of traditional 2nd Wave feminism (such as Germaine Greer's proclamation that transgender women need to be equivocated to "Christopher Biggins's Panto Dame standards" and cannot be taken seriously when trying to enter the feminist movement) and radical 3rd Wave feminism (based on moving towards a gender/queer analysis akin to Judith Butler's ironic gender as performance theory) to the creation of a trans variant of feminism (what Robert Hill defines as Transfeminism) where there has to be a place for trans women within the mainstream feminist community and beyond that, that trans men have to realise that trans women should be allowed to espouse feminist values without recourse to being called "traitors to their biological sex". I'd have thought rather than arguing regressively towards an essence of "biological determinism" that is still part of Catholic doctrine (traditionally seen as restricting feminists because of their views on abortion and contraception) we should be embracing the need to recognise that gender identities shift and are of equal worth. I'm not saying that biological cis women should not celebrate their uteruses and have "womb prayer parties" a la Ab Fab Episode 4 with Beth De Woody taking the lead but do not feel the need to destroy trans women in the process of celebrating these differences; most trans women appreciate that cis women go through the menstruation cycle and wouldn't proclaim that they know how it feels to have to buy sanitary towels on a regular basis to soak up the bleeding. After all I've bought sanitary products for my Mum on a regular basis. Equally, feminists must be careful not to denigrate the choices trans men have made if they have chosen to take testosterone and go for the removal of their breasts and uteruses and ovaries. In fact until they get to that point trans men still have to buy sanitary products and use femidoms and contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancy, issues that many self-proclaimed radical feminists have to deal with daily. So what sorts of theories have abounded about transgender people within feminism and what have transgender people done to try and change those feminist's minds, if anything?

Second Wave Feminist Critics against Transgender Activism:

Germaine Greer has been a vocal opponent of trans women trying to enter the mainstream feminist debate. In 1997 for example Greer voted against the offering of a fellowship to the trans physicist Rachel Padman to the all female Newham College because she had been born male. In her follow up to her seminal work The Female Eunuch, The Whole Woman (1999) Greer lamented the progress second wave feminism had made within Western European society. Part of her lamentation related to the fact that feminists had been unable to "shake off" transfeminists (see below). In a chapter titled "Pantomime Dames", Greer blasted trans women as pitiful parodies of sisterhood. Trans women have a desire to "castrate themselves" because they want to prove women are "non sex." They don't ask for a "uterus and ovaries transplant" and if made mandatory demand for sex reassignment surgery would "disappear overnight". Not true because I'd be more than happy to undergo that kinda transplant even if it led to me starting to go through menstruation but Greer seems keen to pass blanket judgement on men without fully realising the nuances behind gender identification. This is evident from Greer's assertion on BBC's Newsnight in 2015 that she does not "regard transgender women as women."

Julie Bindel, founder of Justice For Women an organisation that opposes violence against women and helps women prosecuted for murdering their violent male partners in self defence and self-proclaimed radical feminist has repeatedly campaigned against transgender women being offered the same rights as cisgender women. In her May Guardian 2007 article Mistaken Identity Bindel interviewed MTF trans "Claudia" who regretted her decision to go through sex reassignment surgery and blamed the male psychiatrist for not guiding Claudia through the process effectively. Bindel goes as far as to say these male psychiatrists want to diagnose men as having Gender Dysphoria to normalise them into fitting with traditional gender stereotypes. This view comes admittedly from Bindel's self-representation of radical lesbian feminism which may colour her interpretation of sexual psychiatry. Claudia was recently found dead but her suicide may have resulted from underlying mental health issues that had been neglected by CAMHS (NHS's Mental Health referral service) but important to emphasis Claudia is not representative of the trans community. A month after this article was published, Bindel published Gender Benders: beware where she criticised a transgender rape councillor's dispute with a rape crisis centre and used the article to attack trans people. In the article Bindel contends that readers think of a world wholly populated by transgender people because it would "look like the set of Grease" and "jokes" that "I don't have a problem with men disposing of their genitals, but it does not make them women, in the same way shoving a bit of hose down your 501s doesn't make you a man".
The Guardian  article attracted over 200 complaints from trans individuals, doctors and the UK trans activist group Press For Change have designated the article as a key example of transphobia. Bindel has continued to court controversy by positing sex reassignment surgery as society's way of "reinforcing gender stereotypes" citing Iran's status as the "most numerous sex change country of the world" as proof of this.
Bindel feels uncomfortable with the ever expanding LGBTQIA community- she says the tongue-twisting acronym helps to silence discussion within the lesbian section of the community: "the mantra at "gay" meetings...is all a bit of an unholy alliance. We have been put in a room together and told to play nicely". Well I say Bindel needs to try harder to understand the changing face of gender and sexuality studies and show the compassion and respect for those who are feeling just as oppressed as she is instead of trying to disrupt and dissect the community. Perhaps she'd feel right at home with the "Free Milo" #ArmTheGays crowd who argue the LGBTQIA community needs to be separated and yet also argue "Feminism is Cancer". What a crowded room that would be ;)

Second and Third Wave Feminist Critics supporting Transgender Activists:

Andrea Dworkin was one of the first radical second wave feminist to speak out against transphobia: in her work Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality (1974) Dworkin argues that transgender people were in a "state of primary emergency" because of the "culture of male-female discreteness" -i.e. the indoctrinated binary system of "man and woman" that had not been challenged in an effective way until the early 1960's. Dworkin contends that "every transsexual has the right to survive on their own terms" meaning they should be entitled to sex reassignment surgery and furthermore it should be provided free of charge by community health services. Optimistically Dworkin believed that the "phenomenon of transsexuality" might disappear, giving way to new (queer) gender identities.

Judith Butler - in an interview in 2014 showed her unfretted support for transgender people: "Nothing is more important for transgender people than to have access to excellent health care in trans-affirmative environments, to have the legal and institutional freedom to pursue their own lives as they wish, and to have the freedom and desire affirmed by the rest of the world.  Butler has also criticised the transphobic words of TERFs (see below) such as Janice Raymond who have used their biological essentialism as a form of "tyranny" over those who can only self-ascribe as female. Butler believes trans people have to go beyond their creation through medical discourse (i.e.  they become trans only when diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria) and focus on developing new discourses through looking at the commonality of their self-determination (i.e. removing the victim narrative and showing the strength of their freedom to choose the gender role in which they wish to be perceived.)

Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF):
TERFs believe in biological gender essentialism; if you are born with male genitals you remain male and if you are born with a womb and breasts you are a woman. Generally speaking they will disown any socially determined labels that challenge the essentialism they espouse. Some TERFs have argued that trans women are nothing more than "effeminate men" who have been relegated to the bottom of the patriarchal pile by machismo centric egotistical men, whereas trans men, (when they bother to mention them) are relegated to the status of wannabes "wanting to claim patriarchal privilege for themselves". TERFs go beyond calling trans women ideological rapists but to accuse them of using their transition to become actual rapists, hence the distinction I make between them and second wave feminists.

Key TERFs include:

Cathy Brennan believes trans women are de facto animals who cannot control themselves: "transgender women are in fact men using an artificially constructed feminine appearance to exert patriarchy from the inside of feminism and believe it or not, to gain access to women's bathrooms in order to rape them". Now I have a key issue with Ms Brennan's comment; some trans women are perceived as gay men before they transition and although the media may be saturated with examples of straight married men transitioning into women whilst still married it is unfair to blanket all trans women as heterosexual turned lesbian rapists.

Janice Raymond in her work The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male (1979) refers to transgender people as transsexuals and maintains that transsexualism exists because it is based on "patriarchal myths" of "male mothering" and "making woman in man's image". Transgender women are only interested in creating a "perfect type of woman" for themselves which has none of the negative connotations traditionally associated with womanhood such as the lookism associated with slut shaming culture and plus size curve disapproval. I have heard several conservative trans women such as Blair White talk about only going through sex reassignment surgery to become beautiful so I can understand why such comments would rile some feminist's feathers. I would, however, disavow Raymond's distorted comments that all trans women "rape women's bodies by reducing the female form to an artefact". I'm certainly not going through the transition process in the vain hope of making myself more beautiful at the expense of destroying cis women's conceptions of beauty. I'm going through the transition process because I believe it is the best way of ensuring I feel happier emotionally in the future. I'm a size 20 at the moment and even after surgery the likelihood is I won't have a "svelte" figure for long, but that's my choice. Most feminists proclaim they have rights over their bodies so I definitely have a right over mine!

TERFs tend to be anti Third Wave Feminism because they are angry that these feminists have taken the best aspects of the feminist argument, such as fighting rape culture and understanding health care and reproductive rights for all that self-identify in part as a woman and left behind the dogmatism and "one size fits all strategy" that is espoused by Second Wave and TERFs.

TERFs have also been known to collaborate with Conservative, evangelical and Alt-Right groups to harass and oppress transgender people despite holding themselves up as the "pillar of the feminist movement". Cathy Brennan collaborated with the Pacific Justice Institute to harass a trans woman using death threats. Janice Raymond has written a paper Technology on the Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery to advocate for mandatory reparative therapy for trans people to prevent them from being diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria to access the hormone and surgical treatment they are entitled to access if they are to have a right over their bodies.

Transfeminism:
Transfeminism predominately concerns the integration of trans discourse into mainstream feminism. Robert Hill has stated that it "has specific content that applies to transgender and transsexual people but the thinking and theory of which is also applicable to all women".

Transfeminists try and dissect the view espoused by TERFs that biological essentialism eliminates trans people from advocating for all women's rights. For example they ask such questions as :

• Is femininity an entirely socially constructed label?
• Does taking oestrogen and having breast enhancement surgery make someone more feminine?
• What is a woman?
• What does the label "woman" actually mean?
• What does the label "man" even mean outside of biological essentialism?

Key transfeminists include:

Sandy Stone who wrote the essay The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto in 1987 as a reaction to Raymond's article. A central tenet of Stone's essay is that transgender people shouldn't hide their status and should "read themselves aloud" or come out because that act leads to greater self-empowerment. By developing such a speaking position within mainstream feminism to prevent transgender people being automatically dismissed as "damaged, deluded, second-rate, or somehow internally compromised".

Sylvia Rivera who had been a prominent Stonewall rioter and founder of Street Transvestite Revolutionaries who took in homeless LGBT youth including black and Asian drag queens and trans youth and helped to give them a voice and promising future away from crime and prostitution.

Krista Scott-Dixon who edited the first book on transfeminism Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out (2006)

Julia Serano is a trans-bi activist and prominent biologist who wrote Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (2007) which argues that transphobia is rooted in sexism which is a twofold phenomenon- the idea that "maleness and masculinity is superior to femaleness and femininity" coupled with the belief that "female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories" that Serano calls oppositional sexism . Serano has coined the term effemimania to describe societal obsession with trans expressions of femininity and posits that it is just another example of oppositional sexism that lies at the root of homophobia as well as transphobia. Cisgender people (who are happy identifying with the gender in which they were born and have no experience of meeting those unhappy with their gender identity) propagate their experience onto other people and automatically assume everyone they meet will be cisgender like them. This is known as cisgender assumption. Such terms are now regularly used in gender studies courses.

Is Transgender Activism incompatible with Feminism?

Having conducted a wide ranging analysis and research of both transgender activism and feminism over my years as an English and Philosophy student and graduate I am yet to be dissuaded that trans people have a part to play in trying to improve equality of opportunity for both women and men, especially when it comes to the freedom to choice to identify in the gender in which a person feels most comfortable. I am sympathetic to radical feminist calls for women to try and dominate political discussion to enact changes which matter specifically to cisgender women such as ensuring sanitary products are available for women in third world countries and battling human trafficking to prevent sex slavery numbers from increasing in Europe. However I also believe that feminists must advocate for freedom of choice for all those who identify as female and that includes those who want to choose whether they want to have breast surgery to "look more feminine" for their own piece of mind. As a trans woman I certainly want to advocate for changes in the law to increase sentencing rates for male rapists and protect domestic abuse shelters from closing their doors due to lack of government funding. I also realise that females can be rapists too and that there should be domestic abuse shelter accommodation available for male victims and that includes transmen. If we are truly to improve women's rights even further in the UK we have to work together. That means stop focussing on purely biological issues and think of the battle as wide-ranging. If all those who identify as female work together on at least some of the issues mentioned, we can change attitudes and lives for the better. Positivity from all breeds broader, longer term success.