On Trans Rights, Let's Not Get Distracted By Philosophical Questions | TaraElla & Friends #10

TE: Welcome back to TaraElla and Friends. Today, I want to revisit my thoughts on the topic 'are trans women women', which I first talked about briefly around two years ago. With the help of my friend The Clarifier, let's see if we can untangle the many aspects of this question.

TC: So let's start here. Do you believe that trans women are women?

TE: Of course I do. Well, I am a trans woman, and I identify as a woman, so logically I would have to believe that trans women are women. There's also the fact that I live my life in society as a woman, and is seen as such, so there's a bit of life experience to support my view that trans women are women. However, let's make this clear. I don't believe we need to make everyone agree that trans women are women. I have nothing against people who don't believe that trans women are women.

TC: So you believe that trans women are women, but you don't want to make others believe the same?

TE: Yes. For two very good reasons. Firstly, you can't make the whole world agree with you anyway. It's authoritarian to do so. As a Moral Libertarian, my political goal is that everyone has equal and maximum moral agency, and that of course includes every individual making their own minds up about things, using their own independent thinking. So of course I'm going to accept that there are naturally going to be differences in views.

Secondly, and this is perhaps the more important point, I don't think people necessarily need to agree that trans women are women, before they can support the idea that society can and should accomodate trans people and our needs. Sometimes, I even think that the whole argument over whether trans women are women is a distraction from the more important conversations we need to have. It needlessly creates an us-vs-them dynamic, which is bad when what we need to do is to come to a better understanding about certain issues.

TC: When some people oppose the idea that trans women are women, they do so on the grounds that trans women are biologically different to genetic women. How would you answer this?

TE: Well, firstly, as I always say, I don't deny the biological differences. I believe any argument we make must be consistent with objective empirical science. That's why we shouldn't deny the biological differences, and their importance in some areas of life.

When I say trans women are women, it isn't an absolutist statement or anything like that. It simply means trans women identify as women, we live our lives as women socially, and we would like to be treated as women socially, wherever possible. Now, that doesn't mean we need to deny any biological differences, or the need to take into account and accommodate those differences in certain areas of life.

If you say that, okay, we will treat trans women just like other women in most areas of life, but there needs to be a few exceptions, then I'm fine with that idea, as long as the exceptions are reasonable and the gender dysphoria and safety needs of trans people are still accommodated. What I have a problem with is some forms of extreme gender critical ideology, where there is a firm commitment to place trans women in the category of 'men', at all times, at all costs. This is not science, but rather, neo-Marxist or pseudo-Marxist ideology, and the application of this ideology can harm trans women in many areas of life. We must not let ideology come before humanity and compassion.