Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our Publishing Guidelines.
Dear Editor,
Interesting to read Meredith Doig’s take on men becoming women (or being accepted as having done so) as a feminist issue (RSA Daily, 11 April, 2024).
I can see how allowing men to occupy spaces that women have been able to win – both physical, as in safe spaces and shelters, and institutional, as in sport and politics – is a feminist issue, and I can imagine how such encroachment by men would be alarming and indeed threatening.
I don’t think that because Meredith happens to land on the same side of the argument as those from the Right automatically makes her part of team “conservative backlash”. I “identify” as a leftie but I also reject the Orwellian restructuring of language that we are seeing.
My take is that it’s a science issue. Sex is fundamentally binary (the ability or potential to produce large or small gametes). Denying it is to deny reality.
My feeling is: if a man identifies as a woman, and wants to be referred to as “she”, it’s only polite to do so. I shouldn’t also be forced to accept that the said individual is literally female. They’re not. They’re a man experiencing dysmorphia.
Great to see Meredith having the courage to engage with this issue. It makes her a target, but she clearly isn't intimidated.
Aaron
Play time or danger time?
Dear Editor,
I found Jonathan Haidt's four recommen...
Blog
Tags:
Related Posts
06
Dec
The Jacaranda bloom-bust parallels life
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
10
Nov
Recognising the right to have no religious belief
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
03
Oct
Agnosticism the ‘only rational choice’
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
07
Sep
Charity for the rich
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
07
Aug
When all meaning is thrown overboard
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
05
Jul
Do religious schools still have a place in modern society?
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
03
Jun
Are renewable energy projects destroying our environment?
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
07
May
Scomo and the ‘Rapture gang’
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
11
Mar
People with ‘barrow to push’ on child transgenderism should butt out
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
05
Feb
Criticism of Israel’s militarism is not antisemitism
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
05
Jan
Conference shows what secularists are for, not against
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...
08
Dec
The case for a new form of censorship
Editor’s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au. See our ...