I live in the U.S. where there is hardly any open discussion of gender-critical feminism (those who do discuss it openly are called TERFS and met with death threats and insults to their physical appearance). I attended an Abortion Rally in Portland with my partner, which was in response to the recent strict abortion laws being passed in places like Texas and Alabama.
We knew that this would be an 'inclusive' event, and while I am completely on board for anyone coming to a rally to show support for Women's bodily autonomy, we quickly noted that the speakers were made up mostly of Trans Women and Trans Men. What was even more frustrating, was that not only were signs referring to female anatomy discouraged, but the speakers themselves did not even mention the word woman once, just birthing people or pregnant people. A trans man went on to speak about their experience giving birth as a 'father' and completely derailed from the issue of access to safe abortions and began talking about Trans genocide-comparing it to the genocide of our Indigenous population.
There was a lot of talk leading up to this rally, and it seemed as if there would be more in the future, but as my partner and I were leaving in frustration we heard a few other women walking away with similar complaints and we have not heard of another rally since, despite the fact that these abortion laws will soon be brought before a fairly conservative Supreme Court. Instead, we keep hearing of Trans Genocide and the states putting restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors.
I truly aim to be supportive of all people, and I believe that gender stereotypes harm all folks, but it seems most trans activists only wish to enforce these stereotypes further. I was so disappointed after this rally, I had an abortion when I was a freshman in college and had little to no support. I had to deal with protestors screaming at me from the sidewalk, and people telling me I murdered my child. The person who helped organize this rally is my friend and knows of my experiences yet the people she chose to speak at the rally have never had an abortion, and most of them were unable to even get pregnant and will never understand what it is like to be in that situation.
I cannot describe how frustrating it is to have people who were born and socialized as men, dress up and act in stereotypically feminine (and frankly insulting) ways, and tell me that I have gained full equality because I am cis, and I need to sit down and shut up in women's spaces so their voices can be heard.
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