She went on to name all sorts of insults about transsexuals, and all those born males who have decided to live their life as women. I was shocked by the vehemence and hatred aimed towards TSs, by a woman who is married to an active crossdresser, and has strong connections to one of the larger support groups. Unfortunately, anyone who dared to speak up against this was immediately thrown off the list.

However, the idea that born females have the sole rights to femininity is thrown around not only by unhappy wives and the gender police. For example, a flyer was inserted in Xtra! West, a gay and lesbian magazine, by lesbian separatists, claiming transsexuals, like all males, to be ‘dangerous, abusive, intimidating, lazy and manipulative..polluting our communities with their lesbian-hating/woman-hating position.’ One can also read the Transsexual Empire, and other documents by so-called feminists, to hear the rhetoric that only women can be women.

But why does the ‘born female’ have a monopoly on womanhood? Is it because we have XX chromosomes? That argument excludes all the females born with Turner Syndrome, having XO chromosomes instead. Is it our breasts and our genitalia? Yet, those who have had mastectomies or hysterectomies do not suddenly lose their right to be a woman. Perhaps it has to do with hormones, with estrogen. If we decide that is what makes us women, then anyone entering menopause must be thrown out of the ‘club’. Since those arguments all contain very faulty logic, then it must be how we are socialized. Yet, socialization continues throughout life, not just during childhood or adolescence. We are only socialized as women because a doctor turned us over, and proclaimed us a girl.

Womanhood is something unique, something precious...a sisterhood. Our sisters are not just those who were raised as girls to become women. Our sisters are those who identify as a woman, who shares the empathy and emotional freedom that comes with being a woman. Our sisters are those who face the same discrimination and harassment for being identified as a woman. Our sisters are those who, along with us, yearn to understand what it is to be female, what it is to be a daughter, a sister, a wife. It takes strength to be a woman, for anyone to dawn the role of a female in our society and face both the joy and pain of our sisterhood.

We should embrace our sisters, hold their hands during their pain, and rejoice in their triumphs.

Sooner Belle May 98