"
It is, after all, an ex-man, insisting that she is a woman, that is demanding equal treatment....
Not surprisingly, the trans-woman – who probably doesn’t understand the concept of women’s space anyway – feels utterly rejected and hurt. She has never felt like a man; she has always identified with women. Therefore, she rationalises, she is a woman. She has a right to be included....
Meanwhile, the rejection feeds the transsexual’s insecurity and battered self-value and
she often responds in the only way she knows – with male aggression and anger....
So what is the solution? Well, let’s be clear on one thing from the start.
As M to F transsexuals, we can never be real women. However distasteful we may find it, and however hard some transsexuals may argue against it, the inescapable fact is that
we’ve grown up with gender privilege. We’ve been taught to compete, take power and demand what should be ours. And we’ve done it for so long that we don’t even notice it happening....
However strongly we may identify as women, as transsexuals we need to acknowledge that we are different. We don’t know what it’s like to grow up as a girl in a male dominated society, we’ll never experience women’s puberty and menopause, we can’t conjure up the social experience of growing up female, or know what it’s like to bleed….. Of course we can approximate the physical shape and we may well consider that, inside, we feel the same as born-women feel. But, demonstrably – and however much we may wish otherwise – we cannot be the same....
First,
trans-women should be scrupulously honest about their past.... And we should stop acting like we still have the privileges that we grew up with....
But what about those trans-women who won’t take that journey?
We all know who they are. Those who continue to flout the conventions, trash feminist issues and
ride roughshod over anyone who crosses them....
If an individual won’t make that effort, if they insist purely on membership ‘by right’, then they do not deserve acceptance.
There can be no excuse for arrogant, confrontational behaviour from some individuals. Such people not only cause damage to the community, they also undermine the effort that the rest of us are making.
Respect cannot be bought through a sex-change operation. It has to be earned."
http://www.femininebyte.org/sapphos_party/m2cfspeaks.htm
