Reading recommendation trans rights

June 11, 2020 4:08 AM

As it turns out, one of my now ex-facebook friends is deeply TERF (the UK version). Gah! I need to educate myself, but my time is severely limited, as is my bandwidth for mental health reasons, and I am not on twitter, which seems to be a problem. I apologise. If, to start with, I read one thing about trans rights and TERF tactics, what should it be?
posted by Omnomnom to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

The rise of anti-trans “radical” feminists, explained by Katelyn Burns is a good starting point.
posted by xchmp at 5:29 AM on June 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

if you find that article helpful, here’s a twitter thread of articles to place that in context
posted by octobersurprise at 6:04 AM on June 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

Julia Serano is well worth a read
posted by eyeofthetiger at 6:29 AM on June 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

This long twitter thread (which needs no twitter account to to read) written yesterday in response to JK Rowling's latest intervention on this issue covers quite a lot of ground.
posted by robself at 7:58 AM on June 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

She's Not There by Jennifer Boylan is a very well written memoir of one woman's experience. It's a good entry point for someone who needs to learn. I recommend Boylan's NYT articles, as well.
posted by theora55 at 10:26 AM on June 11, 2020

Response by poster: Thank you very much. I believe trans people, but I also feel like I'm not much of an ally if I'm as ignorant as I am now, so I'd rather get some reading under my belt before I meet another transphobic person.
posted by Omnomnom at 12:10 AM on June 12, 2020

I would put that believing question back on the transphobe. Why don't they believe transfolks? What part of their own identity are they insecure in and trying to defend? This isn't about facts it's about emotions (which are often being stirred by various falsehoods).

Personally though, being trans myself, I wouldn't waste my time unless I felt they genuinely wanted to learn. My existence doesn't depend on their opinion.
posted by kokaku at 2:31 AM on June 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

If your friend is otherwise a liberal/Guardianista-type, you may want to read this 2018 rebuttal of the Guardian's editorial line on trans rights by US Guardian journalists. The Guardian continues to take a 'two sides' position although maybe not quite as loudly.

British attitudes towards trans rights, while still clearly having some way to go, have not been as TERF-y as one might think: most British people think that transphobia is wrong.
posted by plonkee at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2020

Response by poster: If your friend is otherwise a liberal/Guardianista-type

Thanks, though to make it clear, this is an ex-friend. I told her I was done with transphobic posts like hers and unfriended her.
This was a catalyst for me wanting to be better informed in case something like that happens again. But I think Kokaku is right about facts being unimportant to them and arguing mostly pointless.

Personally though, being trans myself, I wouldn't waste my time unless I felt they genuinely wanted to learn. My existence doesn't depend on their opinion.

Thank you for that.

I really appreciate all the links above, they're giving me a better sense of what's going on and what to expect.
posted by Omnomnom at 1:28 PM on June 12, 2020

I very much like Julia Serano's book, Whipping Girl. It gets into a lot of issues around femininity and feminism as well as trans issues, and is the more valuable for it. Serano is a bi femme trans woman who works as a biologist, and is an excellent writer. Her twitter is also great, and she's done a number of shorter pieces on Medium.
posted by bile and syntax at 3:12 PM on June 12, 2020