If feminism is about the equal rights and opportunities for all women, yet in 2015 Germaine Greer told the BBC that trans women are “not women”, can she be considered a feminist?
Picking and choosing which women are deserving of representation, support and rights, and which don’t - how can that be feminist? It’s not. It can’t be.
If feminism becomes exclusive and actively discriminatory towards marginalised communities, surely it ceased to be feminism. Right?
But how about Greer’s famous book, ‘The Female Eunuch’? How about all the attention she has brought to women’s issues over many years of speaking, writing, campaigning? Do we disregard that because she is a raging transphobe?
Although apparently Greer didn’t even know there was such a thing as transphobia, “arachnophobia, yes. Transphobia, no.”
Her views on trans people have been made repeatedly clear in her public speaking and work. For instance in her book, ‘The Whole Woman’ she described trans women as "men who believe that they are women and have had themselves castrated".
Having typed that, I cannot believe I am even attempting to argue that we should continue to give her recognition and credit within the feminist movement.
How can someone be valued for their other work when they have been so repeatedly offensive towards the trans community?
Germaine Greer has had a huge cultural impact since the publishing of her first book, ‘The Female Eunuch’ in 1970 and her radical views are widely considered essential reading for anyone learning about gender theory.
So this is my genuine query, do we filter through her unpleasant comments and discriminatory opinions and focus on the positive influence she has had on feminism and how she brought attention to the movement? Or do we blacklist her entirely because one cannot claim to fight for the rights of women while also publicly condemning a group of women.
Feminism is continuing to evolve. It isn’t just about middle-class, cishet white women, although the conversation has been dominated by this group previously.
The suffragettes addressed women’s right to vote. That era of feminism orbited around that specific right. Betty Friedan’s era of feminism in the 60s - often known as the second wave - centred around women’s constraints within their role as housewives.
Today, I believe feminism acknowledges all of these things while addressing our current society, for instance by noting the impact of media domination on women’s lives. I believe feminism in our modern world is also invested in how we can involve and collaborate with men.
We are also moving away from the constraints of a binary view of gender to the extent that I would argue feminism today has to include a broader understanding of what it means to be a woman. This includes trans people. And disabled women, women of colour, queer women.
Has Germaine Greer been vital in raising the profile of women’s issues and the need for sexual liberation? Absolutely.
Have her views and her feminism evolved as our society has? It seems not.
Is her stance outdated as a result? I think so.
While society evolves and feminism evolves, we need its prominant voices to grow with it.
So on that basis and with my understanding of what I believe feminism to be about and who it is for (which is everybody regardless of their gender identity), I would argue that Germaine Greer should no longer be seen as a feminist by today’s standards.
Do you agree?
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