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The other day I couldn't stop jumping into threads about the Atlantic article on "TERFs", and it made me want to write out my thoughts on gender critical feminism. In sum: I'm not GC but I think it's a logically coherent view. Here's why I think it's coherent but disagree w/ it.
The premise of GC feminism is that biological sex exists (and is based on whether you produce eggs or sperm), but "gender" is a made-up idea rooted in stereotypes. One can change one's appearance but not one's underlying sex, so being trans is simply changing one's appearance.
I think this is logically coherent. After all, feminists have long promoted the idea that sex differences in personality, etc. are due to socialization.
So I see why feminists might take issue with the idea that people have an innate "gender identity" that is often related to whether they like stereotypically feminine or masculine things.
Of course it's *possible* to be GC and hate trans people, but in my experience, GC people don't promote hate or violence toward trans people. They do want single-sex spaces to be delineated by bio sex, though, which attracts controversy (it's not a super rare fringe view though).
Where I disagree with GC feminists is that I believe gender identity is probably a real concept. I don't think gender is just a product of socialization. The story told in this article is one reason why. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html
In other words, the evidence seems to suggest that if you try to raise a kid as the opposite sex, it usually doesn't work. I suspect there is something going on in people's brains that creates something you could call a "gender identity." I don't think dysphoria is a choice.
I'm also a defender of the concept of neurological sex differences and I'm sympathetic to people like James Damore who have experienced professional consequences for talking about this. Here's an article that talks about neurological sex differences. https://gen.medium.com/male-and-female-brains-are-different-should-it-matter-6db82ead5e20
On balance, I think I'm a "transmedicalist." I think gender dysphoria exists and you need it to be trans. The idea that you could be trans without dysphoria makes no sense to me. If that's true, what IS being trans, besides an aesthetic choice? https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Transmedicalism
Finally: I'm not trans and have no skin in this game. I just find it inherently interesting. And I think the left-leaning media's lack of curiosity about the philosophical underpinnings of GC feminism sucks. If I got stuff wrong here, I'm not an expert and am open to correction.
