I recently read a piece on The Blaze by Matt Walsh which made me feel the need
to put my thoughts to keyboard. This
lovely
piece explained why feminists, and more importantly women, should be
offended by Caitlyn Jenner. It is always so marvelous to have a
conservative leaning male tell women when they should feel something. I have no
issues with Caitlyn Jenner. I don’t know
her. I’ve never been interested in
sports. So, beyond hoping she finds
happiness in her transition, I really have very little thoughts regarding her. (Both before and after the announcement of
being transgender.)
There is no reason for feminists to be offended by Caitlyn
Jenner. Feminism, actual feminism and
not the stereotype of “man haters”, is about equality. This equality extends to people not being
pressured to conform to gender expectations.
This means not just women, but men also.
If a man wishes to wear a dress or if he cries at a sad movie, these
normally feminine things do not make him less.
Jenner’s statements about feeling like a woman or thinking like a woman
aren’t offensive. We have a society in
which there are decidedly masculine and feminine ways of thinking and
actions. Jenner relates to the
feminine. If we lived in a society where there were not the perceived masculine and feminine spheres of thought,
behavior, and appropriateness then would Jenner’s transition even be an issue?
So, no, I don’t see a reason for feminists to be offended because generally
feminism disagrees with the concept of what is properly masculine or feminine,
which without these concepts Jenner could have been true to herself much
sooner.
Walsh also argues that feminism states that since men do not
have a uterus or vagina they are not allowed to discuss women’s issues. I think he’s misunderstood what has been
meant. There is room for all in
discussion, but demanding what others can or can’t do with their vagina or
uterus isn’t acceptable. And really,
this isn’t excluding men but more of a statement of “everyone makes their own
choices for their own vagina and uterus.”
It isn’t just saying men shouldn’t dictate what happens but saying a
person decides what happens with their own body. Men have authority over their own bodies;
there is no public discussion over what should be required from their body
parts. Women have long had their bodies
be the subject of public discussion with men having the means to make the policies that effects women's vaginas and uteri.
The fact that Jenner calls this his authentic self is
belittled. This is blatantly twisted to
serve the purpose of claiming Jenner is undermining the attempt for “natural
beauty” to be accepted. First of all,
authentic means “real or genuine; true and accurate”, so if Jenner has lived
for decades hiding his inner self behind the appearance of a masculine athlete,
admits he was living in a way that didn’t reflect the inner him, then Jenner is
now being authentic if this reflects the true her. Secondly, there is a demand for accepting
natural beauty in entertainment, but that doesn’t mean that it is wrong for a
woman to have cosmetic procedures. The movement is for accepting women of all
shapes, sizes, and builds. There is a
fight to recognize that to be beautiful a woman doesn’t have to have a certain
set of measurements, wear a certain size, or look a certain way. There is a fight to stop the cookie cutter
standards. There is a difference though
in cosmetic measures to fit society’s standard of beauty and cosmetic measures
to feel more comfortable with yourself.
For some people surgery (be it to enhance their breasts or change their
nose) makes them feel more comfortable, for someone else surgery to remove a
birthmark might make them more comfortable in their own skin. No one bats an eye over the amount of contact
lenses, particularly tinted, that are sold in the country. Most people, not just women, feel a little
better about themselves when they do something they feel improves their
appearance, be that new clothes, new hairstyle, teeth whiting, or any other
number of things people do. We can’t
confuse things done for them with the fight against only one standard of
beauty.
Now, for the reason that women should be offended. Women are beautiful and special, and are so
because they hold the organs that can carry a pregnancy. The enlightening piece explains that women
should be very offended Jenner is lacking the anatomy needed to carry a
pregnancy yet claiming to be a woman, and this makes a mockery of the essential
beauty of women. Really, this just boils
down to women are important because they can have children. A woman becomes a woman when she gives birth. By this standard there are plenty of us that
don’t qualify as women. I know women
that can’t have children; it is just not in their ability to give birth to a
child because of medical problems. I
know women that could have a child but don’t want to have one. I have children, but due to a hysterectomy
cannot have any more. I would guess that
means I had my beauty surgically removed.
Personally, I think there should be plenty of women that have been
through menopause, had a hysterectomy, that endure infertility, or just don’t
wish to have children that should be more offended by this notion of what makes
women beautiful than Caitlyn Jenner identifying as a woman.
Supposedly women pay for their title because “she suffers
with that title and gives life with that title”, once again placing a woman’s
value in what happens with one part of our body. This ignores both the varied experience of
women and their other values to society.
We are just uteri, and our worth is judged by that organ. For someone so worried about if transgender
can or cannot coexist with feminism (which based on feminism being the desire
for equality there isn’t a reason for it not to), the reasoning why women
should be so deeply offended by Caitlyn Jenner really clashes with feminism.
Walsh accuses Jenner of appropriating womanhood. There is no clear cut way to be a woman. Some women can do flawless cat’s eye eyeliner
with little effort; while others are baffled by eye shadow. A woman can dress in frilly dresses, yoga
pants, jeans; what is right for her to wear is based on her tastes. A woman can enjoy planting flower beds,
playing on a soccer league, sewing quilts, rebuilding a Mustang, baking
cookies, hunting deer, being pampered at a spa, or tailgating before the game of their favorite sports team. There
is such a vast variety of ways to be a woman.
I couldn’t possibly write a single thing that a woman absolutely should
do to be a woman because regardless of what it is there’s bound to be some
women that don’t do that.
There are some experiences that we do consider strongly
female. One of those is loud judgements
based on our appearance. Welcome to that
club, Caitlyn. Once people discussed
your winning the gold medal in the decathlon, referred to you as the “World’s
Greatest Athlete”, but now how you look is more important.
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