I am a man. I am a feminist. I am a misogynist. [I don’t say that last one out loud very often – it’s a bit embarrassing.]
I don’t want anyone to know that I am a misogynist. I am scarcely able to admit it to myself. I want to be able to attack and abuse and silence women without damaging my feminist credentials, without being seen as anything other than a Good Man.
I have managed to convince myself (and other people) that I believe that transwomen are women to serve this very purpose.
It’s quite simple and elegant. Transwomen are women. Anyone who states otherwise is transphobic, bigoted, anti-woman, anti-feminist. The beauty of this is that those women who know that transwomen are men are now cast as oppressors. As a feminist, I have a duty to challenge people who are oppressive, anti-woman and anti-feminist.
I can now legitimately attack and abuse any woman who knows that transwomen are men. I will silence her.
[I will neither attack nor abuse men who know that transwomen are men – what would I gain from doing that? No, it is women who must be silenced.]
So this is my confession. I know that what I am doing is wrong – that it is oppressive, that it reinforces patriarchy. But I benefit from that, so why would I stop?
zeeblebum 