The War Against Women

I LAUGHED when Glamor Magazine named Caitlyn Jenner their 2015 Woman of the Year.

I shouldn’t have.

Not because it was rude to laugh, but because those responsible were not laughing. They were deadly serious.

What I assumed was a novelty award - perhaps to garner publicity for the magazine - was in fact the first obvious shot fired in a war against women.

Seven years later, the fastest female college swimmer in America is Lia Thomas, a man. The highest profile female weightlifter in New Zealand is Laurel Hubbard, a man. One of the best female BMX riders in the US is Chelsea Wolfe, a man. The 2020 Miss Intercontinental New Zealand Arielle Keil, is a man.

And we could go on.

None of this is to say that these people are not lovely people. They probably are. But they are not women, they are men. And I’m not meaning to sound unkind in saying that. I’m just following the science.

The interesting question is how we got to this point.

It seems to have all happened in four simple but profound steps.

First, the term “woman” was redefined as a gender identity. The definition of “woman” was no longer a fixed biological reality. “Woman” was a subjective feeling; an identity that could be appropriated by men.

Second, that gender identity was protected in law. It became socially unacceptable, and in some parts of the world illegal, to discriminate against male “women” on the grounds of their gender identity. This is significant when you remember that gender identity is a feeling, unlike other protected attributes like race.

So if someone said they were a woman - even if they stood 6’5, were built like an outhouse, had a penis dangling between their legs and once answered to the name Trevor – it was dangerous to one’s social standing and employment to say they were not a woman.

Having redefined “woman” as a gender identity that was protected by law, activists then asserted a conflict of rights between women and male “women”.

It was not fair that women got to use female bathrooms whilst male “women” did not, for instance. And it was unjust that women got to compete in female sports while male “women” did not.

How to resolve this clash of rights?

Activists then insisted that we must only listen to male “women” to resolve the conflict. Any actual women who spoke out were immediately derided as bigots.

And so the most important voices in solving the conflict between women’s rights and male “women’s” rights became male “women”.

To summarise then:

1.     Men co-opted female identity

2.     Men co-opting a female identity were protected by law

3.     Men co-opting a female identity asserted they were being discriminated against by women and that lives would be lost if this discrimination did not end

4.     Men co-opting a female identity positioned themselves as the experts advising how women must end discrimination against them

What is it when men tell women who they are and how they must behave?

Oh yes, Misogyny!

There is no question that some men identifying as women are very troubled souls. There is also no doubt that, in the name of kindness, the whole issue has been leveraged to wage war on women.

Think that’s harsh?

Talk to Emma Weyant who was the fastest female 500m college swimmer in America but had to settle for a silver medal because no-one was allowed to say that first placed Lia Thomas was a man.

Talk to 18-year-old girl Roviel Detenamo whose dream of  representing New Zealand at the Olympics was shattered because no one, not even Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, would say that Laurel Hubbard was a man.

What if we do this …

1.     Redefine “child” as an age identity

2.     Make age identity a protected category under law

3.     Assert a clash of rights between adult “children” and real children. Insist that adult “children” treated unfairly because they are not able to access actual children’s spaces.

4.     Only consult adult “children” for guidance on how to resolve this conflict.

Madness right?

Activists have traded on and manipulated our goodwill to make fools of us.

You are not a bigot for believing that only women should be allowed to use women’s spaces and that only women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports.

If we care about women, we should call out this insanity whenever and wherever it arises, before our mothers, sisters, wives and girlfriends are disappeared.