In a world where the average man increasingly can't afford dates, cars, real estate, or education—and now fears AI making even his own labor and skills less valuable—while more and more wealth is concentrated among a tiny percentage of men. In a political system dominated by those same few... I have a question:
Why, oh why, are men in power so concerned with which women are “real” women, as strictly defined by reproductive organs and ability to bear children? Why enforce this in social arenas like bathrooms, sports, schools, and workplaces?
Moving forward, why is making physiological sex so explicit on passports and other documents so important?
Lastly... Why is taking away reproductive rights so important? Why this obsession with defining women by our reproductive capacity in the first place?
Here's a hint to the very “natural” imbalance of power we're talking about, when this is the focus:
It's entirely possible for one man who ejaculates once a day to impregnate 365 women in one year, if he wants to. And it's entirely impossible for one woman to carry 365 pregnancies, even throughout her entire life.
Excuse the ick-factor a moment, and really consider that.
This power imbalance between men and women in a population economy intersects with another enormous imbalance: the economic imbalance between men wielding and demanding larger and larger amounts of ownership, and men who already own nothing.
When those men in power become increasingly interested in controlling (1) who counts as a woman in public life, strictly by sex, (2) legally documenting sex, and (3) restricting what women can do with their reproductive bodies... I think it's worth asking what exactly they believe women are for and what their plans for us are.
Even if you personally believe that trans women are not women, the question still remains: What is the real reason the men in power are doing this? What is this funnel of female credentialism all for, really? Do you really think the women in their lives are going into public restrooms and playing in public leagues? Do you really think that they are protecting the women in general, for the sake of women, and not themselves?
Are we linng up the dominoes for some version of The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood?
As a mom with a young daughter... This keeps me up at night.