Greer, who is considered to be one of the major voices of second-wave feminism (and just so we’re clear here, DOES NOT represent all feminists and IS NOT why ‘feminism is bad’, so please don’t even bother with that unhelpful bullshit), recently claimed that transgender women do not “look like, sound like, or behave like women,” and that Caitlyn Jenner who famously came out about her transition earlier this year with a Vanity Fair front cover, was merely trying to get some of the attention the Kardashian / Jenner women receive.
“I think misogyny plays a really big part in all of this, that a man who goes to these lengths to become a woman will be a better woman than someone who is just born a woman,” she told BBC2’s Newsnight, when asked to comment on Caitlyn Jenner being widely tipped to receive Glamour Magazine‘s Woman of the Year award.
“It seems to me that what was going on there was that he/she wanted the limelight that the other, female, members of the family were enjoying and has conquered it, just like that.”
A Change.org petition to have Greer’s November 18 lecture ‘Women & Power: The Lessons of the 20th Century’ cancelled has already received over 2,100 signatures since it was started last Friday.
“Greer has demonstrated time and time again her misogynistic views towards trans women, including continually misgendering trans women and denying the existence of transphobia altogether,” writes Rachel Melhuish, the Cardiff University student union’s women’s officer who started the petition.
“Trans-exclusionary views should have no place in feminism or society. Such attitudes contribute to the high levels of stigma, hatred and violence towards trans people – particularly trans women – both in the UK and across the world.”
But Greer is giving precisely two fucks over the whole thing, saying that the petition’s claims are “nonsense”.
“Apparently people have decided that because I don’t think that post-operative transgender men are women, I’m not to be allowed to talk,” she told Newsnight.
“I’m not saying that people should not be allowed to go through that procedure, what I’m saying is it doesn’t make them a woman.”
At this point, it is TBD if Greer will go ahead with her lecture, but she doesn’t sound all that keen.
“I’m getting a bit old for all this. I’m 76. I don’t want to go down there and be screamed at and have things thrown at me. Bugger it. It’s not that interesting or rewarding.”
Image: Don Arnold / Tibrina Hobson via Getty Images.
