I know. I’m old. Out of touch.
That’s probably why I’m reeling at the story of a transwoman raping a transman. Uh?
Cherno Biko, if you haven’t heard of the story.
Cherno Biko is a Brooklyn based award winning media activist and human rights advocate. She serves as the Co Chair of the Young Women’s Advisory Council for the City of New York and has been named to the Trans 100 and NBC BLK 28 Under 28.
From HuffPo.
Right. So we have a self-confessed rapist as a human rights advocate?
Apparently Biko is sorry for raping someone but it’s not their fault because they were sexually abused as a child.
Do you know, Biko, how many women, no, not transwomen, have been sexually abused? And that’s just the reported figures. And how many of those women go on to rape someone else? Unlike you?
Let’s get one thing clear. Anyone who sticks their penis in a vagina, and rips off a condom, hoping to impregnate their victim, is not by any stretch of the imagination a woman. Nor is their victim, a man.
Although Biko has confessed to rape, I am unable to validate the ripping-off-the-condom story in order to impregnate.
But actually, er how many women with cocks rape men with vaginas?
Alice in Wonderland has nothing on this surreality.
When are people going to wake up?
Biological sex is immutable.
Gender is a social construct.
I don’t wake up on Tuesday and decide it’s my Gender Identity Man Day.
Men don’t wake up Wednesday and put on a frock and make-up (got to be feminine) and wander into womens’ toilets or changing rooms and perv on them because it is Gender Identity Woman Day. And take photos. Or whatever other pervy men who think they are women get up to.
So sue me for being a TERF.
And spending a lifetime of being frightened of being assaulted and raped and getting pregnant. Because that is the reality of being born a woman. Unlike men who wear frocks and put on make-up because they really *are* women.
Meanwhile, I got called a weirdo for checking the sources of this story. Oh well, shit happens. Nothing new in feminism. Sadly, I’m too old to give a fuck.
roughseasinthemed
Clouds moving in 
“So we have a self-confessed rapist as a human rights advocate? Apparently Biko is sorry for raping someone but it’s not their fault because they were sexually abused as a child.”
Kill it with fire.
“we broke two of the most important rules… consent and safe sex. When he told me that he felt used and violated, I immediately apologized and offered to support in whatever way I could.”
“We” – HAH.
Damnit, I regret clicking that link and giving that site more web traffic.
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Not everybody knows about it. So, the link was the way to inform. But, if you think I should, I’ll quote and cite the source non-linkie?
But yes. We always are complicit with rape. Hah. Indeed.
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Sorry, not implying any wrongdoing on your part re providing link, spreading awareness is key. You do what you feel is best. From your description, I knew clicking that link was going to be a load of bullshit but did it anyway to see what other Rabbit Hole stuff was said.
However, I’m glad I read the not-unexpected/typical “we” comment used to water down responsibility for the following (albeit guarded) admission of le rapist. The rest of the article is so formulaic ‘bad-turned-good and now I represent teh young wimminz’ I found it unreadable. It’s a good example of current trans issues and trans of dubious values/beliefs representing women, so thanks for sharing it.
Using the tired “sexually abused as a child” thing is a very male thing to do, so it also helps reinforce that some things never change, regardless of external appearance and a few hormones.
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There are varying levels of awareness about trans issues, and the impact they are having upon women. Given that feminists are a tiny percentage of society, most people will be unaware/unconcerned about how the trans culture is eroding what little progress women have made. Or will know that there ‘is’ such a thing as a female penis, that women shouldn’t refer to periods and pregnancy because it is discriminatory to other, ie trans, women. Or will know that trans women have committed crimes against women.
But yes, I agree with your comments. And teh menz always find a way of exerting their privilege somehow. Whether it’s ‘he was such a good swimmer so he’s not a real rapist’ or ‘it’s not his fault because he was abused’. Funny how those excuses never work for women about anything far less grave than rape.
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“varying levels of awareness about trans issues”
You are 100% correct, thus I did not want to (nor would I!) suggest removing a link, nor tell someone else what/how to post on their own blog – it’s simply not my place to do so, and spreading awareness *is* key. I respect all of the blog posts re these issues that continue to expose the realities of this mess.
And, I accept full responsibility for having clicked something I knew I’d regret reading ; )
No blaming or shaming intended – I apologise for poor communication on my part.
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Alice in Wonderland indeed. I had to google “terf”. I guess I’m even more out of fashion than you are
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While you were googling TERF, you might want to add SWERF to your list. Oh, and re trans, muffing 🙂 Or there again, you might not. As a mother, do you know toddlers are being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and being sent to gender identity clinics? And that loads of kids are being put on puberty blocking drugs so they can then take the right drugs to align their biological sex with their gender identity?
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TODDLERS? And drug-induced sex changes?? That is fiendish!!
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Uh huh.
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Hair-raising. More call for homeschooling and full-time (or at least, maxed-time) moms.
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And limited internet time as a lot of kids pick up the trans cult online. The difficulty for parents is then going against their kids amd disagreeing, especially as schools are increasingly being obliged to support kids who think they are the ‘wrong’ gender over and above any parental thoughts. As well as the drugs at whatever age, you get girls wearing binders to make their breasts look flat. Not that that would ever have been my problem, but their is concern about them causing physical damage. And because this is all relatively new, there are no studies of the long term effects of piling a lifetime of drugs into people, and of messing with such young bodies at a developmental age.
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Messing with their beautiful natural bodies at any age! 😛 A young relative of mine had the disturbing experience that her best girlfriend of many years suddenly decided she was a guy.
In adolescence, apparently it’s quite common for girls to “pair off” in friendships that are so tight they border on, and sometimes enter the realms of, lesbianism. This is considered a normal developmental phase (some do, some don’t), and most don’t stop being girls because of it. If left unpoliticized, most will emerge hetero anyway, some will remain lesbian, but usually the fewest. But the smorgasbord of genders a kid is supposed to “pick” from these days is just staggering. At that age, a lot of it is a cry for attention, or a wish to be special and “different”. But if everyone is different, then nobody really is, right?
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I remember most of us had crushes on other schoolgirls. All my group, and I think, the rest of the school admired one beauty. Long jet black hair, large deep blue eyes, beautiful bone structure, gorgeous smile. But if we all, ie half, or all of the school adored her, did that mean we were boys? Uh? I tell you, if she spoke to one of us, it made our day! But yes, it is totally an adolescent phase. And it is important to recognise that. Been there. Done that.
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🙂 I’ll paraphrase what a friend of mine said about being lesbian: I can appreciate the beauty of other women without wanting to have them, just like I can admire a beautiful painting without the immediate urge to steal it.
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I’ve said similar about men, I can admire them, but just as I can admire a rose for its beauty. Similarly Sandy was lovely, but I certainly didn’t want to have sex with her. Eeek! We live in a crazy world when we can’t admire beauty without being put in a box. I am wondering if people don’t remember being young? How confusing it is? How difficult adolesence and puberty are? We go through lots of phases in life. That’s just one of many. But it’s not an age at which to make a life-determining judgement.
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That’s right! In fact I’ve also managed to admire beautiful men without wanting to own them. 😉
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Yeah, but without thinking, I. Must. Have. Sex. Now. Just, oh, they look nice. And then, switch to whatever else. The other problem with gender identity is conflating it with sexual attraction. A rabbit hole indeed 😦 🐇
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I think Freud would have a field day today…
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People are having a field day. Just … the wrong field?
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He was sort-of in the field 😀
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I think he would be way out in the field these days 😀
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For most of my life I have been extremely sensitive to injustice in all the forms I can recognize. Even though I’ve been ridiculed for it at times, I want to continue to try to understand things I have no personal experience with. I want to keep my mind open and consider what I hear and read so I can keep learning until the day I die.
One of the horrible things that I know is true, is that a number of people in every walk of life are out to hurt other people. I’m sure the percentage of evil-doers among the different specific populations of the earth: women, men, gay people, people of the different races, children (some kids are surprisingly adept at cruelty), etc., is similar to the percentage of evil-doers among the entire human population.
Our society has a lot of work to do in recognizing and changing the ways that it protects abusers more than it protects people from abuse. So I agree with the points you make about how we live in a rape culture, and how demeaning and unsafe it is for women to live in it. But when it comes to gender, I don’t want to put down a whole segment of society (that may seem new, but was always there, hiding in the shadows in an effort to stay safe.) I don’t want to put them down because some of them are rapists, in the way that I don’t want to put down all men.
I want all vulnerable people’s fears of rape, battery, and murder to be taken seriously and addressed fairly. People whose gender or non-gender identity are considered different, are at risk of sexual assault from those (usually heterosexual men with tiny minds) who hate them on sight. I think society is better served if we don’t ignore that and don’t cloud that issue by debating every scientific aspect of sexual identity.
It’s unfortunate that there are those who won’t have a civil discussion about these issues, so I’m sorry you were called a weirdo for checking the sources of this story. I think that people are sometimes so tired of being dismissed on certain subjects that they respond negatively to certain inquiries, in an effort to stand up for themselves. I’ve been working on not doing that sort of thing myself, with my issues. I hope we can all find safety and peace.
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There is injustice because people are motivated by self-interest, for the most part. And, regarding children, do you not think when we are young, we mimic the behaviour of our elders and supposedly betters? Hence the cruelty? Children often repeat things they have absorbed from their parents and other older family members, and churn it out in the playground. And so begins the cycle.
I think the mistakes that are being made about trans issues are making individuals a prime issue rather than looking at a class, and conflating gender identity with biological sex. The two are not the same. People are not debating sexual identity. They are debating gender identity. Whether people have a male or female brain. Whether they have ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ traits. As Sylvie says below, it’s extremely Orwellian. Girls do one thing, boys do another and never the twain shall meet or it’s off to the gender identity clinic with you for misbehaving according to the gender policing rules for your sex.
Society is not better served by diagnosing every girl who climbs trees as a boy or every boy who plays with a doll as a girl. Nor is it better served by eroding women only spaces, whether that is a refuge, a toilet, a dormitory, a changing room, a shower, etc and providing admission to men who ‘feel’ like women. The issue for many women is that the trans debate is taking preference over the historical oppression that women as a class have faced, and in many cases, is reversing any progress women have made. And in terms of civil discussion about this, that isn’t happening.
As for being called a weirdo, the irony is, I agreed with the original poster, but if I’m going to repeat stories like this, I think it’s important to go to the original source. I also got told to fuck off and had my subsequent comment deleted. Shit happens!
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I agree with you about how children who suffer abuse at home are more apt to perpetuate the cycle. I removed a long line expressing that from my original reply because I didn’t want it to appear in any way that I was excusing the abuses perpetrated by adults who had been abused as children. I was trying not to cloud the point I was trying to make.
I didn’t go to the article you were discussing yesterday, but today I clicked on the link and read it. I’m glad I did. Although I found the writing style difficult to get through, I for one am glad that they aren’t using childhood abuse as an excuse (an explanation of the impulse they are seeking help to quash, yes) and that they are working toward emotional health and treating others with the decency we all deserve. Life is messy, as you acknowledge above in your statements about why some children abuse. I just think that if we’re not inclusive about the answers, that if we leave vulnerable people out of the solutions, then we aren’t crafting real solutions.
This reminds me of an issue here in the US: voiciferous numbers of the white population want to ignore societal biases that make so many police officers believe that black people with their hands up in the air, in obvious surrender, pose an imminent danger to them and deserve to be shot or beaten to death. (?!) When our predominantly white society refuses to address the societal biases at the root of this problem, black people are being told that their lives don’t matter, hence the phrase being used that angers many whites over here and proves our point: Black Lives Matter.
Police officers have been murdered here in the past few weeks and that breaks my heart, too. I don’t feel that making black lives matter has to be addressed before my country addresses assaults on our police force. I believe that both problems have to addressed at the same time to create a meaningful dialogue that can make things better.
The details of this situation and the one you wrote this post about are different, I know, but I see root similarities in most of the messiness of human life.
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First, I should have said earlier, it’s good to see you around again. And I agree about the perpetration. Perhaps one of many reasons why we as a couple chose not to have children.
I disagree though. Many people, including me, do think they are using childhood abuse as an excuse for raping someone. Rape is rape. It isn’t mitigated by childhood abuse.
Your crisis, to me it seems like a crisis, in America, with blacks and police officers is dire.
I agree, there are parallels. Which do we put first? Police or blacks? Trans people or women? Because one way, or another, someone loses out. In the first case it’s blacks. In the second, it’s women.
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Hi Sparks. Not trolling you, I just noticed this part of your comment:
“I’m sure the percentage of evil-doers among the different specific populations of the earth: women, men, gay people, people of the different races, children (some kids are surprisingly adept at cruelty), etc., is similar to the percentage of evil-doers among the entire human population. ”
While this seems a reasonable assumption on the surface, actually a lot of aggression has been linked to testosterone. While women have some testosterone, men do have infinitely more as this is what the whole gene-regulatory system of the Y-chromosome is about. This seems to have had an evolutionary advantage in the development of humankind and is by no means a value judgement (on the contrary, it’s the slightly raised aggression levels in true “alpha” men that some women find so irresistible). There are also studies linking the rare XYY syndrome (a genetic imbalance that looks otherwise quite normal but carries an additional Y-chromosome) to not only heightened aggression but a higher conviction rate for specifically, violent crime.
It is no coincidence that usually the perpetrator in a rape is male, also the perpetrator in physical abuse inside a marriage tends to be male a lot more often.
Just saying. 🙂
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Ah. Got to love your expert take on the genetics. I didn’t know XYY was more prone to aggression and violent crime 😦 Thanks gipsika.
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They are unfortunate individuals. 😦 Their genetic predisposition is not their fault. Lots of counseling required.
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Absolutely. And lots of wrong decisions made in the past. Hopefully, things are better now, and arbitrary decisions by medics are not taken any more. But I think they are a different category. They are not gender dysphoria.
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That’s right. Sort-of the opposite.
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That makes a lot of sense in terms of explaining male violence against women, and scares the hell out of me in terms of how to make things better. In terms of the second comment I just left, it makes me realize that I haven’t heard of a female police offficer over here shooting or beating to death an unarmed black person.
What a daunting, depressing thought, that a male police officer’s critical thinking skills may be hampered by his testosterone levels.
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That’s why I like gipsika 🙂 she adds a bit of knowledge into posts about opinions. On a totally different point about brutality, I saw a horrific video today of a youth inndetention centre in Australia attacked by three thugs and stripped. Because he was threatening to self-harm. What on earth is wrong with our so-called society?
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Thanks, Roughseas!
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Everyone spouts google. Sometimes a little genuine knowledge goes a long way.
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What? attacked and stripped because he was threatening to self-harm? O.o I’m lost
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You don’t really want the link do you? It’s brutal. Having said that, convicted of various crimes from age 11 including robbery. But still, I’m not convinced his treatment was entirely going to make him a good member of society. Degradation in the extreme. I’ll find the linky.
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Yikes! :-O
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Click on the links in the post:
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It’s exactly that. And yes, that is at the root of all those ages of female subjugation. “Male dominance” is almost a teutology. Luckily the balancing factor is intellect. The more intelligent the man, the more he has not only the desire but the capacity of pausing before reacting. So if you keep to intelligent men, you ought to be fine 😉
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Intelligent man is almost a tautology.
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😀 haha
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I’ll save going to the correct comment, here’s a good blog on trans youth:
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I’ll have a read.
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You might want to read back a bit too. Enjoy or not, possibly. A good eyeopener 😦
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Yikesediyikes!!
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Keep going. Seriously. Given your genetics background, I thought you may be interested in this.
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The one thing that worries me the most about all this is that genetically, there is a distinct difference between male, female and “other”. The “other” is extremely rare (it in no way any way reflects the proportions of gay/whatever else to hetero), and consists of, basically, male and female (outwardly). Genetically, you get XX (normal female), XY (normal male), XO (Turner Syndrome, female), XXY (Klinefelter Syndrome, physically male), XYY (as discussed), XXX, XXXX, XXXXX, XXXY, XXXXY, or any variation of same. Essentially, if there is a Y chromosome present, the outward expression is male. The patients come in usually due to a high level of infertility, nothing more serious (except Turner syndrome, having an entire clinical picture).
Then there is the very rare XX-male and XY female. As a young geneticist I was stumped by these until an older colleague refreshed me about them:
The H-Y locus (a gene) on the Y chromosome sometimes (extremely rarely) transfers onto the X-chromosome. Then it can happen that a child is born with one X carrying the genes for “maleness”. XY-female is easier (and more common): The H-Y locus can either be broken, defunct or missing on the Y chromosome (in other words the Y chromosome in these people is basically dead baggage).
Complex enough? 😀 However, to my knowledge no connection has to date been found between genetics and the deviation of gender-identification from the genetic standard. I.e despite many false alarms that someone has found the “gay gene”, every time it turned out to be something else.
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Thanks Gips. No, not complex, interesting. I was up on XXY, Ks, and TS. But certainly not so many XXXXXs. But as you say, all of these are rare. Your average person has XY, XX. I can live with chromosomes. I can’t live with, ‘today I feel like a woman, so I’ll wear my best dress and go out and about and expect everyone to treat me as a woman’ (whatever that means).
You mention another important aspect. As well as gender (artificial construct), and biological sex (chromosomes, reproductive organs), people are confusing sexual orientation. The three are vastly different. Vastly. Yet, supposedly intelligent people seem to be confusing them all deliberately. Mind you, big bucks in it for the big pharma. A lifetime of drugs for every trans person? Mmm.
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🙂 Glad you find it that. You have background in cancer research, if I remember correctly?
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Sorry, hit send too soon! Amplified my reply. But, not research, cancer management. A little difficult to do without understanding the clinical theory behind it however, so, yeah, some lay knowledge.
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Cancer management, such as in nursing care? (Scuse my ignorance.)
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No. Responsible for all cancer services for half a million people plus the tertiary centre for three mill. And screening (breast and cervical) services. In short, I suppose quality assurance, making sure the right treatments were in place, the right drugs were approved, the service was consistent everwhere, and the left and right hand spoke to each other. In most cases none of that was happening when I took over.
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Wow, you meant Management with a capital M! (*Impressed!!*)
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Lol. Yes. I suppose it was a capital. Hence being Assistant Director. Also with caps 😀
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Plus four hospitals, including teaching ones, a couple of hospices, and far too many general practices 😀
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Phew, sounds like a LOAD of hard work!
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It was. And working with cancer takes its toll. I had some fantastic colleagues, and some great patients who worked with us too. I did lean towards the hospital sector, because I just got on really well with many of the clinicians. Once they had got over the fact I wasn’t a medic but I wanted to help improve services, life was ok. When I left work, all my letters and cards and flowers came from clinical colleagues. Not from management colleagues!!
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And another: https://stoptranschauvinism.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/100-of-children-put-on-puberty-blockers-went-on-to-cross-sex-hormones-this-will-likely-result-in-sterilization/
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Gipsika got to it first, Alice in Wonderland has nothing on this surreality. That’s twice today! Arghh!
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I kinda like Orwellian to describe all this trans stuff. Doublespeak, misinformation, changing the definition of things to suit – making a rapist an advocate for women? All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others…
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Orwellian is good indeed. The Ministry of Love, or was it Hate?
All people are equal, but some are more equal than others. Invariably men. I have a serious issue with men representing women on women’s issues. Let alone rapist men.
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Must have been the Ministry of Information
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Disinformation 🙂
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What was the other? Let me guess, something religious? At least this isn’t about religion. It’s about something real. Well, sort of. If you think a woman with a penis can rape a man with a vagina.
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It was you about Tassie.
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Ah right. She mentioned Bass Straits and Tas so I figured that’s where they were. Looking out from Tassie over the Straits. Even though she’s told me before, I’d totally forgotten.
My partner spent his first year in Aus in Tas, not even visiting the mainland, and I spent a few weeks bumming around down there, so I tend to think Tasmaniacentric!
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How can you get direct to Tassie without touching the mainland? Is there a direct flight in from overseas?
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Good question 😀 yeah, back then (79) he probably flew into Tullamarine and then to Tassie. My point was, once he arrived in Hobart he never left. In fact I’ve probably seen more of Tassie than he has! I don’t think stopping at Tullamarine in transit counts as visiting the mainland.
He loved Tassie. Loved everything about the Aussie life (back then). Even learned to love tinnies and schooners and midis. I blame Australia for introducing him to beer!🍻
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The truth has been spoken. I have nothing more to add.
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Thanks for the comment nikigreek. Truth, I guess, is relative though …
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Great article. Comments just as good.
One does have to wonder what will be the long term outcome of very small children being “decided” by parents that they are now this not that.
Just sayin’ ( I never say that, but..) with 3-4 yrs old boys’ fathers always fret when Jr. enjoys spending time in the kitchen/home play center at preschool and love to wear dress up clothes. Jeez – they are little kids – playing, copying the person and activities they see most of the time at home with their main caregiver. Normal behavior pattern.They are exploring and having fun. Rarely does it mean more than that. Girls playing in the blocks and little cars/trucks/trains, too. Geneder neutral activities for little kids.
Calm down parents and give the kids a chance to breath and go where they will in the future. (Loved the genetic comments – was in with child development research/ how the brain acquires language and information/ rewiring the brain after traumatic injury for a bit. Just observations I saw during that period with the little kids)
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We say what we think. Although not always popular. But I never was a popular princess.
Kids do what kids do. And so they should. But pushing gender identity on them? Oh no. It’s abuse. At least a few people are saying that telling four-year-olds they born in the wrong body isn’t the brightest idea. There is hope yet.
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