Recently I was told by a cisgender woman I was a misogynist, and refused to accept I was a feminist simply because I was standing up for the rights of trans women and for them to be treated equally amongst all other women.
This cisgender woman did not accept trans women as women. I doubt she even accepted them as human.
There have been numerous times in history when some in society have excluded people on the basis of their skin colour, their gender, or their religious or cultural identity, and gone on to treat them as inferior or less worthy.
Every time those oppressing a minority have done so it’s because they’re scared of losing their privilege and sense of entitlement.
Those cisgender women who feel so entitled that they cannot find it within themselves to accept trans women as women are no different to those who said “No blacks”, “No women” or “No Jews”.
The Club of Women is not so full that there isn’t room in it for trans women to find a safe space.
Any cisgender woman who wants to exclude and vilify trans women ought take a look at history and think about what exactly it is they’re fighting for, because it’s usually just privilege and a sense of entitlement.
Never surrender. Never give up the fight.
Emmeline Pankhurst
