#im open to discussion but there are some ideological beliefs here that are not gonna change in any case

[thisisnotahetship]

my opinion on the T’Pring subject

Maybe the way to start the debate wasn't the best, but I'm glad we can have this conversation, because star trek tos -at least- portrays a utopia of a future imagined in the late 1960s, and not by the most progressive people of the time, so it's obvious that many of the things we find along its episodes don't match our sensitivity and our current ethical opinions.

First of all, I am of the opinion that science fiction is only interesting insofar as it says something about what concerns us as people, as humans. Yes, it allows us to abstract ourselves from our reality, but more importantly, it changes the scenario to explore our reality with other eyes. To quote Stanislaw Lem  (in Solaris): "We think of ourselves as the Knights of the Holy Contact. This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. We need mirrors".

Vulcan has always fascinated me. As far as I know, Vulcans identify ethics and rationality, for rationality is the common place where we all can meet as intelligent beings, the place where we recognize facts and undeniable truths, where we can detach ourselves from personal circumstances and think of what is beneficial and just for everyone, as opposed to passions that incline our actions towards biased gains. Vulcan culture is collectivist, it seeks the common good. But next to logic, there is tradition, a tradition that seems to hide behind the veil of its authority and its antiquity the undomesticated heart of Vulcan. Spock says that Pon Farr is something they don't even speak of among themselves. It seems strange to me that something so important is not talked about, a taboo, and -I assume- not investigated. A society that can travel to the other end of the galaxy, that can regenerate organs with a pill, that can transport the atoms of a being from one place to another... it seems to me extremely suspicious that something that affects its entire population, as a matter of life or death, remains an unspoken mystery. In my opinion when something like this happens, we find that someone is benefiting from the status quo. 

From what we find out in Amok Time and in Journey to Babel, I would say that Vulcan is a patriarchal society. I don't expect any male writer of the late 60s to give me an example of social justice with regard to women, it's frankly difficult to find it now... the intention may have existed, but it seems to me that they were not concerned about what feminism might say about their notion of that justice. Ok, there is the figure of T'Pau to disprove my guess, but the existence of a woman with great power does not entail an egalitarian society. Women in position of power is something obviously important for the feminist cause, but their presence inside patriarchal institutions does not garantize the end of the patriarchal nature of these intitutions -that's why many feminists voted Sanders instead of Clinton-. The authority of the other Vulcan women we see in the movies has some religious or spiritual element, so I wouldn't know how to fit them in. Again, their existence does not prove that Vulcan is not a patriarchy, but the interactions between Amanda and Sarek and the millenary traditions that articulate the life of Vulcans do seem to contain a patriarchal tone.

In tos, Pon Farr seems to be a matter of male biology and the whole family system seems to be built on it. Changing something that affects so intimately and so massively a society may not be easy, perhaps many resistances are found from the conservative sectors. I don't believe T'Pring has feminism as the motivation for her actions and no, she doesn't really question the system. But I do understand why a feminist would take her figure and claim her. The fandom is not only a place of reverence, it is also a place of interpretation, it is a place of expression; here we hunt elements of the culture that is transmitted to us from the media and we mold it according to our needs and desires, and the transformation we make is also a way of criticism. When we reinterpret T'Pring we are not accepting blindly what we are given, we change it, and that change already says something about what we don't want. We don't want to accept that a woman in such a fucked-up situation is presented to us simply as a villain, we don't want to simply see psychopathy in a woman who is cornered. It is true that Spock is also tragically compromised by the situation, but he is the beneficiary of the system, the privileged one, because it is the men who benefit from arranged marriages, it is the men who own the women so that they don't have to worry about their biology. And it is the women who have to accept to be raped by animals without intellect, to get pregnant -because it is not sex detached from procreation-; it is the women who can only get divorced by getting another consort to fight for them and then accepting the random outcome of the combat. In this system they are the ones who are dispossessed of their body. -But men's lives are in stake! Yes, but as a feminist I believe every woman has the unalienated right to control her own body. Everyone should have that right. It's not about romance, it's about agency, it's about owning your own body and not being a second-class citizen. Because... truth be told, I can't believe that there isn't a fairer solution to the problem. It rather seems that these things they do not speak of have remained undiscussed and unchanged since the "dawn of their days". T'Pring may not be a feminist, but she is an oppressed woman who twists the oppressive system and turns it against its beneficiaries. And that's kind of admirable.

[novakidds]

can i ask what it’s like to be both a radfem and a trans person? like how are u treated in the radfem community and how does your view of yourself differ from typical non-radfem trans people? i’m sorry if this seems invasive but i’m actually also a transman and it’s rare for me to find blogs like yours. i often find myself agreeing w radfem ideas but all my friends r hardcore trans activists and it makes me scared to ever admit it

this is a good question, thank you anon. never feel the need to apologize for asking legitimate questions, this is what radfems are 100% into- open discussion :]

i ended up typing a LOT so im gonna tuck it away with a read more a little down the line. my bad bro

i completely understand how you feel, transitioning (lol) into the radfem community meant losing some trans-activist friends who formerly had rays of sunshine beaming from their rears. suddenly someone they knew had become, in their eyes, ‘dangerous’ which has never ceased to baffle me because i was... y’know, still me. still feminist, still lesbian, just focusing on women’s issues and calling out male behavior, which is what feminism was made for, right??? i was very bluntly disagreed with in that regard, due to my belief that trans women are biologically male.

that’s a pretty key difference between me and other non-radfem trans people i think. trans people are, and always will be, their biological sex. if we weren’t, what would we be transitioning from, exactly? our dysphoria is based in our sex. i’ll tally up the biggest beliefs that differ me, personally, from ‘them’:

1) you cannot change your biological sex. your biological sex and resulting primary/secondary sex characteristics are the reason you feel the need to transition. otherwise, what you are experiencing is not a desire to become the opposite sex, but distress at how others treat you due to your sex. this is why a lot of detransitioners are women due to how poorly women are treated, and the resulting regret of having changed their bodies so drastically in an attempt to escape sexism.

2) gender roles and the unfair standard for expressing gender are oppressive and should be abolished. women are attacked for being masculine, meanwhile... uh, drag queens exist. (i’m currently figuring out wanting to be perceived as a man vs hating performing gender for people hnnng)

3) medically transitioning, as it is now, is hazardous guesswork at best and a moneygrab by Big Pharma at worst. hormone blockers on minors, diagnosing gender dysphoria with precious little questioning, and ESPECIALLY the emphasis upon medical transition all serves as a lifelong detriment to the lives of gay and GNC people who simply don’t have the language to understand who and what they are before trans ideas found them first. there are also precious few trans people who have lived for great lengths of time after these surgeries and hormone treatments, and so there is next to no research on how these surgeries will affect ones life longterm. i can’t find the discussion on this as i type this, but i believe there was also concerns about elderly transgender people suffering from dementia being disoriented and in distress at their primary or secondary sex characteristics being missing. but again, we literally cannot know because this movement is so fresh, yet has such rapid traction.

4) activism for trans rights is on easy mode. the reasons being, say, rich white men are funding it, and places like iran pushing for the forced transition of gay people to make them appear heterosexual. what is truly being fought for? what is truly being fought against? this was a big thing that made me opt the hell out.

5) trans people still have many (if not all) behaviors of their assigned gender. i say gender and not sex, because although there are different hormones at work and chemicals are produced by the sexes at different quantities, this does not make shit like “lady brains.” that concept is misogynistic. hear me out: 98% of sexual crimes are committed by males, and proof of this can be found in the statistics of crime (october 2011 to september 2012) in the criminal justice system for england and wales. an easier to read chart with the gender of offenders and crimes can be seen right here. i can’t find the source as i type this, but iirc roughly 40% of transgender women who have been convicted of a crime were convicted of some form of sexual assault, but in spite of this statistic there is a push for transgender women to be put in women’s prisons. it’s a dangerous neglect of male-pattern violence. have you noticed how transgender men never push for access to things like, say, “gentleman’s clubs?” it’s because as females we’re socialized for complacency. we don’t want to take, vandalize, and take some more like males are socialized to do.

TL;DR

i refuse to view transitioning, trans activism, and the oppressive perceptions of gender that are required for trans ideology to exist without a critical lens. i also refuse to blindly trust males who want access to female spaces. this has, in one person’s eyes, warranted very violent threats.

the worst i had ever received from a (presumed) radfem was this anonymous ask. at worst it was a little condescending. (the answer i gave is probably old and not super relevant btw, no worries over not reading it.) i do sometimes fret to myself when i get caught up in thought about never finding ‘my people,’ but usually when i actually talk to other radfems mutual respect is perfectly intact and i was just overthinking it lmao

the biggest thing i can tell you is- being trans and believing in women’s rights as a radfem have one big thing in common that you need to embody: self-confidence. not necessary loving yourself to bits, i’m still on that path myself. just the belief in yourself that you know what you’re talking about, you know yourself well enough to make this decision, and with that knowing you refuse to crumble over the fear of what other people think. because using peer pressure isn’t politics, it’s outright bullying. any activism that depends on manipulating the human need to fit in is no longer activism- and once you’ve distanced yourself, you’ll see how much of that emotional bribery is occurring, and it being used against radfems with the assumption that they, like other women, will apologize and fall in line.

you can do it, brother. no longer having those old friends was the best thing for me in regards to my confidence and growth, and plenty of radfems will understand the system shock of being dubbed ‘dangerous’ and blocked by people they formerly talked to in a matter of a day. if they throw a hissy fit, just know that it isn’t you- and that at the very least, i’m here for you if you do decide to take the plunge.