Musings about Bea Jaspert's Blog Post on being a Gender Critic

I've just read this blog post by Bea Jaspert on Medium.

It's really interesting reading, not least because I find myself ignorant, conflicted and confused by the matter. It is hard to find people who can coherently explain opposing points of view, without going tribal, us and them, and throwing insults around. I am ignorant (in the genuine sense) and I want to learn more. I understand there are some people who are intersex or have multiple sex chromosome combinations, beyond the simple XX or XY. I understand gender dysphoria**. What I don't understand is changing your gender identity when you don't want to change your body? I even understand, to a point, is changing the descriptor you use for yourself to a gender-neutral one, as a way to try and promote equality. What I struggle to understand is why can't we celebrate diversity, rather than seemingly forcing a change? As a child, I wore blue, I had more male friends than female, I got on better with boys, I loved football and had a season ticket at Old Trafford, I enjoyed maths and science, I hated fashion, make-up and especially shopping, I liked rock music, rather that pretty-boy-band pop, I drank pints... I could go on. I am female. I love being female, and I find it crazy that some girls with traits such as mine could be convinced that because of these external things, they may actually be a boy. Similarly, why can't boys like pink, wear dresses, play with dolls, like fairies over action heros, want to grow up to be a dad or a childminder or anything else, without people thinking they are gay (which they may or may not grow up to be) or considered to be less male? The world needs more caring men! Why are we so scared of diversity, that we're coming full circle almost and restricting things to male/female, but based on likes and dislikes, rather than science? I'm not even going to attempt to talk about things that I don't understand. I saw a meme comparing the treatment of Caster Semenya and Michael Phelps. I can't find that, but did find this article from the Washington Post talking about it. Again, I don't know the full details, but it appears from what I have read is that Caster Semenya is being treated totally unfairly. What I do know, however, it that women do need to have safe spaces. I spent a few months of my childhood living in a women's refuge, and I would hate to think that the women's safety and privacy could be shattered by a man, who identifies as a women. Before my words get twisted, I'm not accusing all men as being predatory, nor am I accusing all men who identify as women as doing so in order to be predatory, however, women who have finally got to the shelter of being in a women's refuge have been through hell. They need time to recover and grow. They will be on edge, they will be scared, they may make mass generalisations about men, but most of all they need time and they need to feel safe. Safety isn't just a physical thing, they need to mentally and emotionally recover too, and that may not happen if a man is present. If a female identifying trans person has suffered violence, yes, they need to be supported and made safe too. Just, as there are female refuges and male refuges, there should also be various gendered trans refuges too. Going back to Bea's blog, the comments about identifying as female in the boardroom, or in other scenarios, to claim businesses have equality etc. As a feminist, that is a terrifying prospect. Sexism is real and is innate within our culture. Big businesses are already known to be unethical, so this 'get-around' isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first glance. So, am I a gender critic? I don't know. I don't understand enough either way to make that call.

**For clarity, I'm highlighting this has been edited. I previously mistakenly used the term body dysmorphia, rather than gender dysphoria. As I have repeatedly said, I am ignorant, so I apologise if I have accidentally offended anyone. That certainly wasn't my intention. If anyone reading this is confused about the terms, please read this article or this article.