http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/feminist-icon-glitter-bombed-transphobia140312
"Feminist icon glitter-bombed for transphobia
Germaine Greer glitter-bombed in New Zealand for expressing 'transphobic feminism'
At a book-signing in Wellington, New Zealand today pioneering feminist Germaine Greer was ‘glitter-bombed’ by an LGBT rights group.
New Zealand group The Queer Avengers showered Greer in glitter to protest her ‘transphobic feminism’.
‘Transphobic feminism is so 20th Century,’ Stacey of the Queer Avengers stated on their website. ‘It wasn’t okay then and it’s not okay now. Women’s liberation must mean the right to refuse imposed gender roles, to fight for diverse gender expression.’
The group stated that Greer ‘has a history of denouncing transwomen; outing prominent transwomen and describing them as “ghastly parodies” of womanhood’. They were referring to Greer’s objection in 1996 that fellow Cambridge University academic Rachael Padman should teach at a women-only college when she was born a man.
Greer also made comments in a column for The Guardian in 2009 that are offensive to transgender women:
‘Nowadays we are all likely to meet people who think they are women, have women's names, and feminine clothes and lots of eyeshadow, who seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody, though it isn't polite to say so. We pretend that all the people passing for female really are. Other delusions may be challenged, but not a man's delusion that he is female.’
Kate Bornstein, American author and gender theorist, who identifies as neither male or female responded to Greer’s statement saying: ‘Germaine Greer's tragedy is that she has not considered as even possible the theory of gender fluidity’.
The Queer Avengers, who recently stormed Fairfax Media headquarters in Wellington for airing anti-trans statements, also handed out leaflets at Greer’s book-signing that said ‘transphobia is bullshit’. Greer was arrested in 1972 for saying ‘bullshit’ and ‘fuck’ during a speech on tour in New Zealand.
Tomorrow lunchtime The Queer Avengers are holding a press conference on media coverage of gender variance. "
My Thoughts:
Okay. I will be the first to say that I have a problem with the transgendered. But I know that its wrong, and biased, and unfair, and I am trying to work past that. The only reason for this is because when I discovered the guy I was about to marry was sleeping with the entire community of transgendered women from craigslist, the idea, the sight, of a man as a woman, literally made me feel illl, because all I could do was imagine in my mind, and wonder why that was what he wanted, and if any of what we had was real. But sooo over him, and for that reason, and slowly working my way past those feelings, its easy for me to see why what Germaine Greer said was wrong. I believe that being a woman, and believing in the ideals of gender equality, is accepting that we have a choice. And that choice is whether we choose to identify as a man or as a woman despite whatever parts we came with.
It seems to me like her views become so extreme that they become more about man hating, and discrimination, than upholding women's rights. To the point where she is neglecting a completely under represented group.
In a conversation in a group tutorial there was a discussion about whether we think gender should exist.
My response was yes, I do, because I am proud to be a woman, and I don't feel like that title shouldnt mean anything anymore. However, at the same time, I feel that gender and what is assigned to it is the problem, the stereotypes, expectations, discriminations, and limitations that come with it, are the problem. And getting rid of gender won't change that because people will just find another category to use to help them draw up the world into neat little boxes and labels.
What needs to change is openness, acceptance. And expectation: in that there should be none. (sorry Germaine, you need to get with the programme). In an ideal world, being a man, or a woman, or a human, should mean whatever we want it to mean, should come with a blank slate, with a choice each individual makes according to whats right and natural for them.
When the subject of my very pink clothing came up, it was mentioned that perhaps I am buying into what is being sold to me, as part of girly-ness, and innocence. But the fact is, again, that comes with my choice. That is simply what I am attracted to, and I would be attracted to it if I was a boy too, and I will be attracted to it when I am a granny, and it has nothing to do with what the world is trying to sell to me, or with what I am being told is 'male' or 'female. Because in fact, I feel like the world has been trying to sell me something different my whole life, something more serious and grown up, and it was never me and never will be. And neither, as my tutor thought, are my Pink choices a reaction of rebellion to any of that, to doing the opposite of what I am being told. The only reaction to the way I was raised and all the "you cannot"s I was given, was that for many years I tried to do exactly what I was being told I had to, and suppress all my inner pinkness. And no more. I am free now. And believing in woman's rights doesnt mean I have to reject what I find attractive. It means I have a choice. Yes morally I may object to what barbie does to female body image, and yes I would add a few pounds to her weight, but her eyes and her hair and her clothes and her malibu dream house and her pink convertible give me delicious chills, and its not because society told me I had to like it. I get to make that choice. And guess what, I like dinosaurs too. And I used take everywhere with me a huge hard rubber mammoth who's eyes used to light up red, and it was sleep in my bed next to a fluffy white cat plushy. (sad my mother threw it away)
I can be all these things, and love all these things, and still advocate womens rights, and still make work that says something MORE than that.
My Thoughts:
Okay. I will be the first to say that I have a problem with the transgendered. But I know that its wrong, and biased, and unfair, and I am trying to work past that. The only reason for this is because when I discovered the guy I was about to marry was sleeping with the entire community of transgendered women from craigslist, the idea, the sight, of a man as a woman, literally made me feel illl, because all I could do was imagine in my mind, and wonder why that was what he wanted, and if any of what we had was real. But sooo over him, and for that reason, and slowly working my way past those feelings, its easy for me to see why what Germaine Greer said was wrong. I believe that being a woman, and believing in the ideals of gender equality, is accepting that we have a choice. And that choice is whether we choose to identify as a man or as a woman despite whatever parts we came with.
It seems to me like her views become so extreme that they become more about man hating, and discrimination, than upholding women's rights. To the point where she is neglecting a completely under represented group.
In a conversation in a group tutorial there was a discussion about whether we think gender should exist.
My response was yes, I do, because I am proud to be a woman, and I don't feel like that title shouldnt mean anything anymore. However, at the same time, I feel that gender and what is assigned to it is the problem, the stereotypes, expectations, discriminations, and limitations that come with it, are the problem. And getting rid of gender won't change that because people will just find another category to use to help them draw up the world into neat little boxes and labels.
What needs to change is openness, acceptance. And expectation: in that there should be none. (sorry Germaine, you need to get with the programme). In an ideal world, being a man, or a woman, or a human, should mean whatever we want it to mean, should come with a blank slate, with a choice each individual makes according to whats right and natural for them.
When the subject of my very pink clothing came up, it was mentioned that perhaps I am buying into what is being sold to me, as part of girly-ness, and innocence. But the fact is, again, that comes with my choice. That is simply what I am attracted to, and I would be attracted to it if I was a boy too, and I will be attracted to it when I am a granny, and it has nothing to do with what the world is trying to sell to me, or with what I am being told is 'male' or 'female. Because in fact, I feel like the world has been trying to sell me something different my whole life, something more serious and grown up, and it was never me and never will be. And neither, as my tutor thought, are my Pink choices a reaction of rebellion to any of that, to doing the opposite of what I am being told. The only reaction to the way I was raised and all the "you cannot"s I was given, was that for many years I tried to do exactly what I was being told I had to, and suppress all my inner pinkness. And no more. I am free now. And believing in woman's rights doesnt mean I have to reject what I find attractive. It means I have a choice. Yes morally I may object to what barbie does to female body image, and yes I would add a few pounds to her weight, but her eyes and her hair and her clothes and her malibu dream house and her pink convertible give me delicious chills, and its not because society told me I had to like it. I get to make that choice. And guess what, I like dinosaurs too. And I used take everywhere with me a huge hard rubber mammoth who's eyes used to light up red, and it was sleep in my bed next to a fluffy white cat plushy. (sad my mother threw it away)I can be all these things, and love all these things, and still advocate womens rights, and still make work that says something MORE than that.
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