One of the most extraordinary things about 2018 was the hysteria that met some fairly modest Government proposals to allow transgender people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate by self declaration rather than by the current demeaning process of having a Gender Recognition Panel. From the reaction of the mainstream media and the radical feminist lobby you would never guess that half of all Gender Identity Clinic referrals are of biologically female people seeking to live as men. Transmen were completely erased as the rad fems went to work presenting transpeople as men in frocks trying to access women only spaces to commit various form of rape and other forms of sexual assault. The arguments against this view have been made in various places already , that a GRC does not allow a trans person to do anything they can’t already do under the Equality Act, and so on, so there is, I think, no need to repeat them here.
And where trans people go, sex workers are sure to follow as they are both demonised by the radical feminists. It is no surprise to find that SWERFS are also TERFs. The arguments of the anti sexwork lobby were taken apart by Juno Mac and Molly Smith in their book Revolting Prostitutes. This was the best single read of the year as regards sex and the politics of sex. And a book on sex work written by practising sex workers was long overdue as the authors say. This book is not a comforting read or anyone and they are severe on the positions of may allies as they ae on the SWERFs. As the book points out, being in favour of the full decriminalisation of sex work does not mean being an advocate for the sex industry. For many sexworkers, it is a shit job. But doing a shit job should not mean that you have no rights or be denied the opportunity to organise and fight for them.
Which leads on to a telling critique of radical feminism, namely the willingness of the radical feminists to endorse the role of the patriarchal, capitalist state in controlling women’s bodies. The term carceral feminism was coined some years ago to describe this, and this particular cap fits. Radical feminism is in reality deeply reactionary.
But 2018 wans’t all bad. I thoroughly enjoyed Eroticon, enjoyed too the Smutathon and hot tub weekend in Cheshire. Blogging became a bit intermittent, what with a busy life and metal health issues but I have loads to write about in 2019. I have just completed my first Smut Marathon assignment And the next Eroticon is only 8 weeks away as I write.
And did I mention Brexit? Only joking! I write about that elsewhere.
Eve's Temptations 