Take a photo of a barcode or cover
morikoh 's review for:
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
by Caroline Criado Pérez
DID NOT FINISH: 13%
While I like what Caroline Criado-Perez said in her 99% Invisible interview, I discovered, as I started to read her book, Invisible Women, she completely omits intersex and non-binary people. I made excuses for her to do this, like they are a small percentage of the population and women are 50%. Then my friend Emily asked me how I was liking the book because her view of the author was that Criado-Perez was "TERFy". That stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Well, it turns out the author is a TERF and is also racist. I absolutely cannot support a book about bias by someone who has so much bias. Here is an open letter from The CUSU Women's Campaign asking for the author to not be allowed to speak at the "Women of the World" festival: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0jbQADDLP9ANC1VZEQyeXowYXM/view
Thank you Emily for helping to enlighten me. I was sad at first to discover this. I was turned off from JK Rowling over the summer when I discovered she is a TERF. I was hoping that Emily was operating on out-dated information, but it's clear 5 years ago Caroline was still a TERF, despite acting like a friend to trans folk:
https://weekwoman.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/becoming-a-woman-trans-male-violence/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
If Caroline were to have apologized since, I could let it go, but she hasn't. Sure, we (trans women) were born in a position of power. I hated it though. I hated seeing other women oppressed. When I went to the Women's March in DC I purposely made myself look as cis male appearing as possible because I wanted to make counter protesters and police think twice about harming the women I was with.
I also hated how being assigned male at birth put me into a box. I alone should define me.
A book I can firmly recommend is "Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive" by Julia Serano. I read this book in Library Camp at Firefly. It talks about how lesbian and dyke communities used to exclude trans women but would include trans men! For example, Mitchfest was a music festival that only allowed "womyn born womyn." It makes no sense to include trans men in a women's space and exclude trans women!
I equate TERFs to racists among the suffragettes, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Some of the suffragists justified their actions by saying it would be too complicated to include black women in the movement. Some were just plain racist and I cannot excuse, and Stanton is one of them. There were some, however, who were not racist and fought for female inclusion.
I'm sure there are ways it can be said that I am making a false analogy. Regardless of how much male privilege I may still be profiting from, I certainly have white privilege.
When I am mistreated as a woman I'm likely to say something, because I know how I should be treated. If I see other women mistreated, be they my CEO, my daughter, the next president, my female employees, my mother, or even Criado-Perez, I'm likely to say something even if they don't want my help. Despite the awful things Criado-Perez says about trans women, I would stick up for her human rights. Maybe the knowledge and power I have to help women only comes from having lived like a man, but isn't that knowledge and power helpful to us women? I say yes.
As for Criado-Perez's book, I was in the sample section. I will read no more of it and I will never pay money for it. I cannot accept a book about bias by a TERF and a racist.
Thank you Emily for helping to enlighten me. I was sad at first to discover this. I was turned off from JK Rowling over the summer when I discovered she is a TERF. I was hoping that Emily was operating on out-dated information, but it's clear 5 years ago Caroline was still a TERF, despite acting like a friend to trans folk:
https://weekwoman.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/becoming-a-woman-trans-male-violence/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
If Caroline were to have apologized since, I could let it go, but she hasn't. Sure, we (trans women) were born in a position of power. I hated it though. I hated seeing other women oppressed. When I went to the Women's March in DC I purposely made myself look as cis male appearing as possible because I wanted to make counter protesters and police think twice about harming the women I was with.
I also hated how being assigned male at birth put me into a box. I alone should define me.
A book I can firmly recommend is "Excluded: Making Feminist and Queer Movements More Inclusive" by Julia Serano. I read this book in Library Camp at Firefly. It talks about how lesbian and dyke communities used to exclude trans women but would include trans men! For example, Mitchfest was a music festival that only allowed "womyn born womyn." It makes no sense to include trans men in a women's space and exclude trans women!
I equate TERFs to racists among the suffragettes, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Some of the suffragists justified their actions by saying it would be too complicated to include black women in the movement. Some were just plain racist and I cannot excuse, and Stanton is one of them. There were some, however, who were not racist and fought for female inclusion.
I'm sure there are ways it can be said that I am making a false analogy. Regardless of how much male privilege I may still be profiting from, I certainly have white privilege.
When I am mistreated as a woman I'm likely to say something, because I know how I should be treated. If I see other women mistreated, be they my CEO, my daughter, the next president, my female employees, my mother, or even Criado-Perez, I'm likely to say something even if they don't want my help. Despite the awful things Criado-Perez says about trans women, I would stick up for her human rights. Maybe the knowledge and power I have to help women only comes from having lived like a man, but isn't that knowledge and power helpful to us women? I say yes.
As for Criado-Perez's book, I was in the sample section. I will read no more of it and I will never pay money for it. I cannot accept a book about bias by a TERF and a racist.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia