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Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars: The Politics of Sex
Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars provides important theoretical background and context to the 'gender wars' or 'TERF wars' - the violent feminist fracture at the forefront of the LGBTQ international conversation. Using queer and female masculinities as a lens, Finn Mackay investigates the current generational shift that is refusing the previous assumed fixity of sex, gender and sexual identity. Transgender and trans rights movements are currently experiencing political backlash from within certain lesbian and lesbian feminist groups, resulting in a situation in which these two minority communities are frequently pitted against one another or perceived as diametrically opposed.
Uniquely, Finn Mackay approaches this debate through the context of female masculinity, butch and transmasculine lesbian masculinities. There has been increasing interest in the study of masculinity, influenced by a popular discourse around so-called 'toxic masculinity', the rise of men's rights activism and theory and critical work on Trump's America and the MeToo movement.
An increasingly important topic in political science and sociological academia, this book aims to break new ground in the discussion of the politics of gender and identity.
Uniquely, Finn Mackay approaches this debate through the context of female masculinity, butch and transmasculine lesbian masculinities. There has been increasing interest in the study of masculinity, influenced by a popular discourse around so-called 'toxic masculinity', the rise of men's rights activism and theory and critical work on Trump's America and the MeToo movement.
An increasingly important topic in political science and sociological academia, this book aims to break new ground in the discussion of the politics of gender and identity.
264 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 16, 2021
This was great. Thoroughly researched and a very considered approach at handling a difficult topic sensitively.
Some of the key points:
- The gender wars are portrayed as a clash between ‘TERFs’ (offensive term) and trans activists. Radical feminists are not a threat, they do not run institutions or hold power. The real threat is fundamentalists and conservatism
- Radical feminists argue that gender is constructed. Gender identity in its truest sense plays with this construction, as well as challenging the stereotypes we have about gender norms.
- Some people (eg Butch queer) have lived on the edges of gender diversity for decades - but are threatened as an identity. They can help all of us come to terms with hegemonic masculinity.
The only area I had problems with was a feeling that the reworking of challenging gender identities should sit with women. It may be the case that I am uncomfortable sharing a communal shower with a person with a penis, regardless of how they identify, because of a history of male violence and the norms constructed by this. But I’m not sure this is just about me confronting my prejudice, there has to be a wider piece addressing male violence and understanding why so many women are threatened by male bodies.
Also while I completely agreed with McKay’s misgivings about policing who accessed toilets and questioning all but the feminine - I’m not sure if she properly addressed safeguards against men using liberalised spaces as an opportunity to abuse.
Nevertheless, for a challenging topic, this was the best book I have read so far, and the balanced tone was a breath of fresh air in an age of shouting, blame, slogans and bullying.
Highly recommend
Some of the key points:
- The gender wars are portrayed as a clash between ‘TERFs’ (offensive term) and trans activists. Radical feminists are not a threat, they do not run institutions or hold power. The real threat is fundamentalists and conservatism
- Radical feminists argue that gender is constructed. Gender identity in its truest sense plays with this construction, as well as challenging the stereotypes we have about gender norms.
- Some people (eg Butch queer) have lived on the edges of gender diversity for decades - but are threatened as an identity. They can help all of us come to terms with hegemonic masculinity.
The only area I had problems with was a feeling that the reworking of challenging gender identities should sit with women. It may be the case that I am uncomfortable sharing a communal shower with a person with a penis, regardless of how they identify, because of a history of male violence and the norms constructed by this. But I’m not sure this is just about me confronting my prejudice, there has to be a wider piece addressing male violence and understanding why so many women are threatened by male bodies.
Also while I completely agreed with McKay’s misgivings about policing who accessed toilets and questioning all but the feminine - I’m not sure if she properly addressed safeguards against men using liberalised spaces as an opportunity to abuse.
Nevertheless, for a challenging topic, this was the best book I have read so far, and the balanced tone was a breath of fresh air in an age of shouting, blame, slogans and bullying.
Highly recommend
December 23, 2021
Absolutely recommended! Very well researched, providing a much-needed insider perspective from a side of “the gender wars” that’s not heard much. The book gives a much-needed “grey” view on things. Instead of black and white picking a side, it investigates gender issues and highlights where sensitivities and problems are and where they come from. A call for acknowledging all the many shades and the un-fixedness of gender, and for solving the real problem, which is the lack of a true sex revolution that maintains the patriarchal status quo, rather than fixating gender in its existing binaries and picking sides.
April 26, 2022
such a good book on masculinities, feminine masculinities & gender and sexuality as a whole - if u fancy reading more about gender (specifically masculine feminine identities) this is a fab book for that and really breaks things down in both an accessible and academic way (a lot more than just a basic book about gender for example). rlly made me think a lot & rlly made me think about the way terf is used, and how we should not refer to every woman who is transphobic as a terf, bc guess what? probably not a radical feminist. anyways! good book
July 13, 2023
Oh my goodness this book was amazing. Very dense and took me a while to get through as it is a sociology book (love to all my humanities baddies) but has amazing deep dives into constructions of masculinities, how this is separate from male anatomy, lesbian identities and conflicts within this and how to continue to heal our community and make space for the trans masc lovelies around us. Super interesting few chapters of interviews with older butches and GNC people about their identity and relationship to their female bodies. I LOVE BEING A LEZZA!
March 3, 2023
A brilliant, thought-provoking and insightful book investigating the politics of gender, sex and sexuality
Good demolition of trans-exclusionary/gender-critical arguments:
Those opposed to trans inclusion may raise points of transwomen having male privilege, but like all groups, transwomen are not a homogenous group and it stands to reason that individuals who rejected the roles imposed on them from an early age would have been punished for doing so. Homophobia and transphobia blight the lives of young people who reject sex and gender norms, regardless of how those young people actually define or identify themselves
If we acknowledge that women are more than whatever reproductive system and capacity they may (not) have, then feminism stands for precisely this "more" - feminism is the political unity of women under conditions of patriarchy, and all those treated as women by patriarchy should have a place in that unity
Chu points out that gender is implicated in such processes of desire, and it should need no biological justification or ‘born this way’ style apology; it just is, like any other desire. Her theory should, in theory, have much to appeal to GC and gender-abolitionist feminists alike. In its avowed anti-essentialism it has received much criticism from some trans activists, and due to the sharpness of the sides in the gender wars, it is unlikely to be read as closely as it deserves.
In conclusion, like many GC activists and queer activists, the author believe gender is indeed a social construction. Masculinity, femininity, both, neither or something in between are not born; they are made. GC activists argue that only sex matters, as in the sex we were recorded at birth. The author agrees that sex matters; it affects our life trajectory and places us into one of two hierarchical sex classes. Our sexed bodies affect how we understand and experience our own bodies and the bodies of others. However, the author disagrees that gender identity is irrelevant. Gender too shapes how we understand and experience our bodies. This is intimately connected with sexuality too. Gender affects how we understand and experience our sexuality. Masculinity and femininity shape and construct heterosexuality; in fact, heterosexuality couldn’t exist without them because heterosexuality is masculinity and femininity.
Lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys also argues that sexuality, including lesbianism, is a social construction, but concludes that this does not mean it is not significant: "Lesbian feminist identity is a social construction, I suggest, as is lesbian identity; but this does not mean that it needs to be abandoned" This acknowledgement can surely extend to gender identity, even if some people feel that they have no inner sense of themselves as a woman or a man. Whether it is purely biological, social or a mixture of those things, everyone has a right to express themselves how they wish. If a nonnormative individual has a sense of their gender identity as masculine, feminine or it is important that they can express that without punishment or threat, let alone risk to life. We have as much of a right to express and have that identity recognized, as all those gender-conforming individuals who are male, masculine men or female, feminine women.
Other highlights include:
The discussion of Connell's research on the patriarchy dividend - Not all men perform the role of poster boy for patriarchy by displaying and embodying visible practices of hegemonic masculinity. However, while not all men are within the ranks of what counts as hegemonic masculinity, and do not perform these configurations of gender practice, Professor Connell argues that all men benefit from it because they benefit within a current gender order that, in the main, puts men above women. This is what Connell calls the patriarchal dividend, the varying degrees and scale of benefits that accrue to men within patriarchy, simply for being men and not being women.
Discussion on masculinity - Perhaps a more tempting answer to the question of what is masculinity is to suggest that it is probably a mixture of two approaches; that is to say that masculinity is something men do, but also something that men are. This is a melding of biological and cultural or social perspectives; it is an approach of having it both ways and it is popular. Many people acknowledge societal stereotypes about what men are meant to be, which is masculinity, but they are also committed to the idea that men are just different to women, and do have some drives that make them drawn to what we would classify as masculine behaviours and roles.
Good demolition of trans-exclusionary/gender-critical arguments:
Those opposed to trans inclusion may raise points of transwomen having male privilege, but like all groups, transwomen are not a homogenous group and it stands to reason that individuals who rejected the roles imposed on them from an early age would have been punished for doing so. Homophobia and transphobia blight the lives of young people who reject sex and gender norms, regardless of how those young people actually define or identify themselves
If we acknowledge that women are more than whatever reproductive system and capacity they may (not) have, then feminism stands for precisely this "more" - feminism is the political unity of women under conditions of patriarchy, and all those treated as women by patriarchy should have a place in that unity
Chu points out that gender is implicated in such processes of desire, and it should need no biological justification or ‘born this way’ style apology; it just is, like any other desire. Her theory should, in theory, have much to appeal to GC and gender-abolitionist feminists alike. In its avowed anti-essentialism it has received much criticism from some trans activists, and due to the sharpness of the sides in the gender wars, it is unlikely to be read as closely as it deserves.
In conclusion, like many GC activists and queer activists, the author believe gender is indeed a social construction. Masculinity, femininity, both, neither or something in between are not born; they are made. GC activists argue that only sex matters, as in the sex we were recorded at birth. The author agrees that sex matters; it affects our life trajectory and places us into one of two hierarchical sex classes. Our sexed bodies affect how we understand and experience our own bodies and the bodies of others. However, the author disagrees that gender identity is irrelevant. Gender too shapes how we understand and experience our bodies. This is intimately connected with sexuality too. Gender affects how we understand and experience our sexuality. Masculinity and femininity shape and construct heterosexuality; in fact, heterosexuality couldn’t exist without them because heterosexuality is masculinity and femininity.
Lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys also argues that sexuality, including lesbianism, is a social construction, but concludes that this does not mean it is not significant: "Lesbian feminist identity is a social construction, I suggest, as is lesbian identity; but this does not mean that it needs to be abandoned" This acknowledgement can surely extend to gender identity, even if some people feel that they have no inner sense of themselves as a woman or a man. Whether it is purely biological, social or a mixture of those things, everyone has a right to express themselves how they wish. If a nonnormative individual has a sense of their gender identity as masculine, feminine or it is important that they can express that without punishment or threat, let alone risk to life. We have as much of a right to express and have that identity recognized, as all those gender-conforming individuals who are male, masculine men or female, feminine women.
Other highlights include:
The discussion of Connell's research on the patriarchy dividend - Not all men perform the role of poster boy for patriarchy by displaying and embodying visible practices of hegemonic masculinity. However, while not all men are within the ranks of what counts as hegemonic masculinity, and do not perform these configurations of gender practice, Professor Connell argues that all men benefit from it because they benefit within a current gender order that, in the main, puts men above women. This is what Connell calls the patriarchal dividend, the varying degrees and scale of benefits that accrue to men within patriarchy, simply for being men and not being women.
Discussion on masculinity - Perhaps a more tempting answer to the question of what is masculinity is to suggest that it is probably a mixture of two approaches; that is to say that masculinity is something men do, but also something that men are. This is a melding of biological and cultural or social perspectives; it is an approach of having it both ways and it is popular. Many people acknowledge societal stereotypes about what men are meant to be, which is masculinity, but they are also committed to the idea that men are just different to women, and do have some drives that make them drawn to what we would classify as masculine behaviours and roles.
August 1, 2023
Well summarised history of modern feminism and the gender wars and how many butch identities are overlooked , or even perceived as “traitors”, in many discussions surrounding women’s & lgbtq+ rights. It redefined my own perceptions of what masculinity is beyond the fragile masculinities inherent in patriarchal society, and rather ironically how butches/ trans men / GNC pose the most threat to patriarchal gender norms.
February 4, 2024
This was an overall very nuanced and extremely well researched study of our current 'gender wars'. I enjoyed the format of the book and felt it was well paced and structured. I have however been left with more questions that were answered and have been left a good footing for further research on the topic- 4.5/5
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November 16, 2022the diss really is dissing
March 1, 2023
*SMACKS THIS BOOK IN EVERY SINGLE PERSON I KNOW’S FACE* READ.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews