What does it mean to be a woman?: The issue of male-to-female transexuals

[Natasha]

What does it mean to be a woman?: The issue of male-to-female transexuals

http://notsoangryfeminist.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-woman-the-issue-of-male-to-female-transexuals/
1/15/11
by tori

I was reading the section in "The Sexual Spectrum: Why We're All Different" by Dr. Johnson (a really good book) about transsexuals.  At one point she mentions that some women believe, specifically in this case Germaine Greer, that without a womb you cannot fully understand what it is to be a woman.  Basically saying that a transsexual woman (born with male chromosomes) cannot really be a woman.  And it made me think, do I agree?

[spacial]

in this case Germaine Greer, that without a womb you cannot fully understand what it is to be a woman.  Basically saying that a transsexual woman (born with male chromosomes) cannot really be a woman.

This is clutching at straw.

It defines a woman by her reproductive organs. That would seem to be the antithesis of feminism, specifically redefined for a specific purpose. Namely, to exclude transgender women.

We could ask if women who've had hysterectomies lose their womanhood or the small number who are born without a womb are refused membership, but there seems little point.

It seems sad that people with such obvious intelegence should spend so much time defending their supposed territory, instead of seeking to build allies in the cause of women's rights.

The likes of Greer seem to be more concrned with taking some sort of revenge than actually promoting equality.

[LivingInGrey]

Actually from what I got out of the blog entry was her defending everyone's ability to be called a woman no matter what our situation was.

My first reaction to this is that it implies that what makes a woman a woman, her defining characteristics, are child birth and menstruation.  I don't like this implication.  I don't feel defined as a woman by my period. 

I can't see knocking them for not growing up with the same pressures those of us who were born women had, since they most likely felt even more pressure to conform since their natural inclinations were so far from "normal".  Every woman has to make a personal journey to find out who they are and I have only respect for women who have to cross a gender line to do it.

[CaitJ]

This is clutching at straw.

It defines a woman by her reproductive organs. That would seem to be the antithesis of feminism, specifically redefined for a specific purpose. Namely, to exclude transgender women.

We could ask if women who've had hysterectomies lose their womanhood or the small number who are born without a womb are refused membership, but there seems little point.

It seems sad that people with such obvious intelegence should spend so much time defending their supposed territory, instead of seeking to build allies in the cause of women's rights.

The likes of Greer seem to be more concrned with taking some sort of revenge than actually promoting equality.

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