How will female handmaidens in Womens Studies feel if TiMs filled all the positions in that dept?

submitted by SanityIsGC from self.GenderCritical

I was reading the following article which asks whether philosophy is ignoring important questions about transgender identity, an issue that was raised by Kathleen Stock in a series of essays for the Medium.

While reading the the responses of feminist philosophers who are critical of Stock's position I had to wonder how these handmaidens would feel when the ever decreasing positions in Humanities depts were to be filled by TiMs? Do they just assume this won't happen? If TWAW than it seems only logical that there would be no reason not to fill all positions in Womens Studies or any other dept with TiMs.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/06/philosophy-really-ignoring-important-questions-about-transgender-identity

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[–]BEB 32 insightful - 4 fun32 insightful - 3 fun33 insightful - 4 fun -  (4 children)

A TIM leads the Women and Gender Studies department at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA.

Rutgers wanted its director of Women's Studies to be "intersectional" so they chose a man - good thinking, Rutgers!

Quote from "her":

“I think this is precisely the thing that certain feminists feel is a betrayal. The argument tends to recycle itself because there are always new transwomen coming out,” she said. “They come for people without any provocation, but if you avoid engaging them online, they get bored and go away.”

The fucking nerve.

https://www.rutgers.edu/news/rutgers-newarks-womens-and-gender-studies-director-blazes-trail-trans-woman

[–]our_team_is_winning 21 insightful - 1 fun21 insightful - 0 fun22 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

My friend's son started at Rutgers last year, and I foolishly said "oh a prestigious university!" He's in statistics. Wow, I was sure wrong. I hope NOBODY signs up for any of those "women's studies" classes. Men have found the Final Frontier of what they could take away from us: Womanhood itself. From their POV, this was a stroke of genius. "Do you think any women will go along with this?" "The Woke will go along with ANYTHING, just watch!"

[–]BEB 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I have an old friend whose child got an insane scholarship to Rutgers so the child went. When I told my friend about this, she was aghast. She had no idea that any of this was going on.

Most of my friends do not have any idea that this is going on until or if their children bring it home to them. But it will be too late by then for Americans, with the Equality Act looming. And New Jersey the state has draconian laws stopping parents from stopping their child from transitioning. As always, these laws were passed in the darkness, so no one knows about them until it's THEIR child or a child in their circle, who wants to transition.

[–]yousaythosethings 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A man with no credentials. Leading the department is a big honor and this person has fuck all on their resume. And also isn't a woman.

[–]SameOldBS 25 insightful - 1 fun25 insightful - 0 fun26 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I think one of the most pernicious consequences of trans activism for women is one you don't often see debated, and that's how it's going to skew women's chances of promotion. TiMs, like most men, are never going to take a career break to have children, they won't be juggling career with motherhood and domestic commitments. The gender paygap - and glass ceiling - largely exist because women have to take time out to have a family. That means TiMs will have a huge advantage in terms of rising up their organisations, not to mention the boost from companies wanting to prove they're woke by promoting them.

Cue a situation where women in the top jobs aren't actually women at all, but no one cares cos TWAW. It's the career equivalent of women's sports - we need protection from the natural advantages men have at work.

[–][deleted] 21 insightful - 2 fun21 insightful - 1 fun22 insightful - 2 fun -  (5 children)

Rachel Williams, an independent scholar of philosophy and a trans woman, said there are so many worthwhile questions beyond “What does it mean to be trans?” While it’s not a bad question, she said, it’s “telling when cis scholars jump right on that” because it's “exotic” or “interesting,” trying to “psycho-analyze our identities and define who we are when we are quite capable of defining the boundaries of our own existence.”

“If your first entry into trans scholarship is ‘Are trans women women?’ then you are probably doing it wrong,” Williams said. “Do more scholarship, ask deeper questions and, above all, listen to trans people when they tell you the dangers of pursuing that question -- especially when your first entrance into trans studies comes through the so-called gender-critical perspective.” That perspective, while philosophically significant, “has a long and distorted ideological history which is often dangerous, bigoted and filled with hatred for trans women disguised as feminism,” she added.

BS. The hypocrisy...Is this the quality of academia these days? So this "philosopher" says that they can define the boundaries of their existence but women can't because defining their own is bigoted and filled with hatred. And that comments section...

Here's a good comment though

This is begging the question. The whole point of the discussion in the article, it seems to me, is that trans people are trying to take the question of "what is a woman" off the table so that they win the debate without ever having it. Thus, there is a political determination rather than a philosophical determination of the issue. If someone doesn't believe a trans woman is, in fact, a woman at all, he has the right to that opinion and the right to make his case, so long as he does so within the rules of the game.

Then there is the hyperbolic "questioning my...right to exist at all." Who is doing that? I don't understand where this ubiquitous hyperbolic statement comes from. It is what so many so-called "marginalized" persons say when someone disagrees with them. It is another attempt to shut down debate over legitimate issues.

[–]Shesstealthy 22 insightful - 3 fun22 insightful - 2 fun23 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

I wish I was allowed to define the boundaries of my existence without centering transwomen's ideas of who I am ahead of my own lived experience.

[–]yousaythosethings 11 insightful - 3 fun11 insightful - 2 fun12 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Nah, your lived experience counts for nothing. It's the "lived experience" of men roleplaying as women on the Internet that matters.

[–]vitunrotta 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

independent scholar of philosophy

This lady here seems to have a lot of "independent" credentials. What does that even mean in this context? Can I start calling myself an independent intellectual? Am I now an independent investigative journalist? Can I be an independent banker? (Note: I am not an intellectual, a journo or a banker, nor have I studied any such fields.)

I honestly do not know if one can use the word "independent" in this manner, so freely, and what it really means? Can an actual academic clarify this?

[–]MarkTwainiac 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Independent scholar used to mean someone who does legit scholarly work but doesn't have advanced degrees and isn't affiliated with a university or other similar "high level" academic institution - and who typically writes and publishes their work with a broad, intelligent popular audience in mind, rather than just aiming it at a small handful other academics in a narrow field. The esteemed historian Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, who won two Pulitzer Prizes and many other awards for her excellent books, was a good example. British author Simon Winchester is another one. Somebody like the American writer and thinker Ta-Nehisi Coates would be considered one too...

And yes, you can indeed be an "independent investigative journalist" - just as you can be an "independent filmmaker" There are lots of "independent investigative journalists" around these days. Whilst some are or have been affiliated with certain publications, they are not FT employees of those publications and tend to publish widely and diversely. Matt Taibbi, Julie Bindel, Abigail Shrier and Douglas Murray are some who would count as independent journalists as they all do in-depth investigative work...

But none of these people are trying to worm their way into university posts and academia like these trans "folx." One reason being that they know academia is a woke joke and a snakepit, and they seek to write and communicate in clear, accessible prose - not in the impenetrable jargon academics use nowadays. Another reason being that getting a foothold and standing an advanced academia still usually requires playing by the rules, meaning going through all the hoops to get a MA/MS and PhD - then continuing to do post-doctoral work of some worth and rigor. But trans people think they deserve special dispensation from all that, and they often get it - as the academic career of Ragehell McKinnon/Veronica Ivy and the "scientific research" of Joanna Harper shows.

[–]vitunrotta 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thank you so much for your exhaustive reply. I have read many of your comments here and always find them a delight. You seem like a genuinely smart, empathetic, well-read person and you write very well and clearly. :) So glad women like you are here on this platform.

I get what the "independent" means now - in this actual context - at least what it should mean, but yeah... for peeps like this it just seems like yet another loophole they found out about so they can squirm their way into women's spaces.

I will use the words "very disappointing" although something more vile wants to crawl out of my mouth (or keyboard), heh.

[–]jet199 15 insightful - 2 fun15 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I would assume that they would defer to the men, as women are prone to do.

However, I seem to remember a comment on old GC about a department who put a TiM in charge and then all patted themselves on the back about how woke and tolerant they all were. Then a supervisor position came up and rather than recruiting within the dept another TiM was brought in who was less qualified than them all. Then another vacancy filled and, surprise surprise, he recruits another TiM.

And they weren't happy but they couldn't do anything about it as they'd no language to describe what was happening to them and in every direction they could've taken a complain was now a trans male who'd scream transphobia.

[–]BEB 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Talk about colonization!

The word "transphobia" needs to be de-legitimized now. I call it out anytime I see it by sometimes beginning the conversation with a dissection of the word "phobia" in order to prove that women fighting to protect their own rights are not actually "phobic" by definition.

[–]Delia 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yet they never see it coming and no doubt called everyone who said a word about it...Transphobic.

[–]fuckingsealions 14 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 0 fun15 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I don't think a lot of them will notice, honestly, since they've drunk the koolaid. The program will be seen as woke and progressive.

[–]suzyquattrosshoes 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yep. Some might have a niggling feeling that something is untrue or wrong, or secretly resent they’re being fed bullshit (as I did when I majored in a social science in the 90s, during what I thought was peak POMO). But then they’ll worry about grades - and now probably, excommunication from society - so they’ll have to keep quiet or change majors.

[–]Shesstealthy 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Appropriately chastised and determined to check their privilege and Do Better, I expect.

[–]coffeedrinker 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

The amount of transwomen in departments would have to reach critical mass before women start taking note. As of right now complaining a peep about it could completely end a woman's career.

[–]BEB 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I honestly think that's changing in the US (that women who speak out will automatically lose their jobs), and in part it's because of a group that is referred to as the "Intellectual Dark Web."

These are relatively influential people, some not traditionally allied with pure conservatism or leftist stances. Many of them, and others of like mind, are challenging all the critical theory ideologies: critical race theory, Queer Theory, post-Modernism, etc., and/or the current stifling of free speech and debate.

The HARPERS letter that J.K. Rowling signed is an example of that push back. I think that things are looking up for GC women, in the US and UK at least, as more and more "Progressives" speak out against the absurdities of the extreme trans activism agenda.

Since conservative thinkers were never on board, I think that a critical mass will be reached soon and in the US we will soon be able to freely discuss the intersection of women's rights and trans demands.

https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

[–]SanityIsGC[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

At critical mass it will be too late. Since the ideology makes no distinction between trans and women, how will women and handmaidens argue against entire depts being taken over? This is not groundless fear-mongering as we see daily how aggressive they are in pursuing their own ends and how they avoid reasoned debate.

[–]Delia 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Women may end up taking discrimination cases against employers in that they showed special favour to trans candidates and I reckon that will happen.

[–]Delia 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I doubt they will care to busy betraying their own female sex.

[–]onemoredaydream 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Handmaidens have the same way of responding to anything.

They will SAY whatever they need to to look like "good allies", to look like they are morally correct. However, their actions will never back it up.

Handmaidens are obsessed with looking good, not with doing any sort of action. It's all optics and superficiality with them.

If all transwomen filled those positions, they would cheer and celebrate... but none of them would actually study with them or look to them as leadership figures. That's because everyone knows, deep down, that transwomen aren't women, and it's absurd to have them try to teach actual women about what their own experiences mean.