Feminism must learn to accept trans women

AS the summer of LGBT Pride rolls on, we are still asking if trans women can ever be ‘real’ women.

Why are some districts in the feminism neighbourhood still shutting the door in this idea’s face? What is it about trans women, who identify as women, that makes other women say ‘no, you are not one of us’? While Ireland has some of the most progressive trans legislation in the world, why does transmisogyny continue to exist in such unexpected places?

‘Transmisogyny’ was coined in a decade ago by Dr Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl: Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Basically, it’s what happens when transphobia and misogyny combine to create a double whammy of exclusion and discrimination, sometimes from surprising sources: From feminist BBC broadcaster, Jenni Murray (“Be trans, be proud — but don’t call yourself a ‘real woman’. Can someone who has lived as a man, with all the privilege that entails, really lay claim to womanhood? It takes more than a sex change and makeup”); and feminist author, Chimamanda NgoziAdichie (“Trans women are trans women”) to feminist academic, Germaine Greer (“just because you lop off your penis…it doesn’t make you a woman”) — feminism has not entirely embraced the womanhood of trans women.