Coleman Rohde

9/3/20

Opinion Columns

What defines a woman? Is it her set of female reproductive organs, the expressions of her

femininity, or is it something more subtle yet more fundamental? With transgender activism on

the rise, particularly for transgender women, there have been groups that question whether

transgender women should be included in the movement of feminism. Feminism has been a

monumental movement that has allowed cisgender women to resist the patriarchy, but can it

become an effective tool to fight the patriarchy from the perspective of a transgender woman in

order to claim her human rights? Some would argue that, ultimately, the movement of feminism

should be exclusive to cisgender woman, like Suzanne Moore, whereas others believe it must be

inclusive of transgender woman, like Davina Cooper, though both generally agree that a

movement of transgender rights must take place whether it is within or without the movement of

feminism.

Suzanne Moore, in her article “If we can't define what a woman is, how can we organise

politically?”, argues that the focus on transgender woman within the feminist movement dilutes

the experiences of violence that woman face where, “women’s difficulties are considered merely

the bleatings of privileged females.” She believes that by including transgender woman within

the feminist movement it erases the experiences of cisgender women. In another article by

Moore, titled “Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced”, she asserts that

the oppression of females is deeply rooted in their “ability to reproduce” and therefore

transgender women, lacking in the female reproductive organs, do not experience the same
violence as cisgender women who often go through childbirth, menopause, and meunstration. In

both of her articles it is clear that she believes that transgender woman must not be included in

the feminist movement because it detracts from the experiences of cisgender women. Davina

Cooper, in her article “Responding to gender critical feminism”, contrasts Moore’s argument

contending that focusing on biological sex leads to over-generalization and thus some cisgender

woman should be excluded from the feminist movement by logic like Moore’s because they

don’t happen to experience reproduction. Further, Cooper argues that gender as well as sex can

lead to the exploitation and subordination of women. Therefore she asserts that feminism must

move from a class based approach, where men and woman are classed due to concepts of gender

based on biological sex, to a societal based approach, where gender is seen to be created not by

the existance of the sexes but by how society applies the existance of the sexes.

Although it seems Moore and Cooper have little common ground, they both generally

agree that the movement of transgender rights must take place whether it is within the workings

of feminism or outside of it. Both authors view gender as a construct which has to be defeated in

order to achieve equality; they simply have different approaches. They believe that gender is

largely a construct created to oppress women through the stereotyping of characteristics that are

then designated to be female. In this way gender creates the tools of the oppressor in defining a

woman to be a certain way such that she can be manipulated.

Ultimately, Cooper’s argument is more nuanced and effective than Moore’s. Cooper

identifies that all cisgender women do not have the same experiences because they are of the

same sex. Transgender women can experience much of the same oppression as cisgender women

do because gender, not biological sex, is the main tool of the oppressor. Moore’s argument that
transgender women in the feminist space dilute the stories of cisgender women falls flat on its

face because transgender women often share the same stories. Stories of how gender sought to

define them and therefore confine them to a single stereotype.

In conclusion, transgender women ought to be included in the spaces of feminism. Their

experiences coincide with those of cisgender women and their rejections of the oppressive

construct of gender from which they have suffered the same as cisgender women are just as

important. It is vital that transgender women have a means to claim their rights as women, rights

which are undoubtedly human rights, and that is through the movement of feminism. Truly the

subtle and fundamental thing which defines a woman is herself and nothing else.

(https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/03/define-what-a-woman-is-organise-po
litically-suzanne-moore
https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2020/mar/02/women-must-have-the-right-t
o-organise-we-will-not-be-silenced) Body of work
https://criticallegalthinking.com/2020/04/16/responding-to-gender-critical-feminism-on-gender-se
x-and-a-generous-feminist-politics-in-anxious-times/