I began noticing this a couple of years ago, when it started happening that any online discussion of feminist ideas (like at The Toast, Feministe, Tiger Beatdown, etc.) could not be conducted without tortuous caveats and exceptions and catering to trans concerns. Either it was done by women policing each other to be “inclusive” or by trans women jumping in to point out how the discussion didn’t apply to them. Eventually I got the idea that I, as a woman, was being defined out of existence, and that the language I used to talk about my experiences was emptied of meaning.



I can’t tell you the number of times (well, you all probably know) the point being made was watered down to the point of ineffectiveness by such reminders that “not all women have vaginas” or “not all people who can get pregnant are women” and the like. Whatever happened to the SJW motto, “If this accusation [e.g., of racism] doesn’t apply to you, don’t make it about you!”

