A decade ago, the phrase “war on women” was everywhere. Democrats, ever eager to paint Republicans as hateful toward women, used it constantly. The term was born out of a push to make abortion more palatable. The GOP’s “war” was supposedly going to limit the freedoms of American women on various fronts. Now, the term “war on women” seems to have disappeared. In its place is a real war on women, waged by the Left.
In recent years, gender extremism has become a major issue of the culture war. But even the 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide gave no indication of what was to come. The Left would now have us think that “transgender rights” is the civil rights issue of our time, so disagreeing with any aspect of it earns dissenters the label of “transphobe.”
THE ABSURDITY OF GENDER SELF-IDENTIFICATION
The problem is that the militancy of the transgender movement goes far beyond live and let live. Instead, the worst offenders want to change the very definitions of male and female to include transgender individuals. And biological women, whose everyday experiences,
sports
, and even
menstrual cycles
are being co-opted by the transgender crowd, are supposed to just shut up and take it.
Unsurprisingly, there is little to no outrage from feminist circles as these developments continue apace. It’s as if feminism is collapsing in on itself. Advocating for actual women apparently now includes viewing biological men as women just because of stated desire. It is the polar opposite of first-wave feminism, which at its inception stood for basic rights and freedoms. Now, accepting men as women is just another form of feminism.
Progressives are more than ready to look at the GOP as aggressors who want to harm transgender Americans. The hysteria is the point. At USA Today, a recent
article
titled “11 states have already introduced bills targeting transgender health care in 2023” cites these bills as “part of a larger increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation at statehouses across the U.S.” The article is largely about legislation that seeks to keep minors from receiving so-called gender-affirming care. In reality, such bans are a good thing.
On Tuesday, the New Republic resurrected the language of “war” in an
article
titled “Here’s the First Salvo in House Republicans’ War on Transgender People.” Among other things, author Pablo Manríquez writes, “The new House GOP majority will almost surely take the human rights efforts by Democrats during the last Congress in the opposite direction. Already in the House rules package, there is a provision that would ‘ensure that nothing prevents Members from using gender-specific language in committee or on the House floor.'” When “gender-specific language” is considered one step back, society isn’t heading toward the cliff; it’s already tumbling down it.
Smear campaigns against women such as J.K. Rowling, who
dares
to demand that women not be erased, will only increase. Billboards
featuring
“trans men who are pregnant” are meant to normalize the erasure of women. Republicans who demand that definitions be protected and who want to protect minor children from life-altering surgeries will face even stronger pushback. It’s a deeply disturbing development for our nation and world.
The “war on women” as a hyperbolic term used by the Left has slowly faded from talking points. Now, an actual war against women does exist. Worst of all, it deals with the very definition of what it means to be a woman. The old definition, based on our very DNA, should remain untouched. But the political Left is focused on one thing at the expense of women: transgender appeasement.
It is true that individuals, no matter their sexual orientation or gender dysphoria, should be treated as human beings with their own individual worth. But women should not be pushed aside and told to share the same space with others who simply can’t occupy it. This is no time to sit quietly by and accept an altered version of reality that is being forced upon society. Biological women are not second-class citizens. If the new war on women succeeds, American women may find themselves back where they started, with no voice of their own.
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Kimberly Ross (
@SouthernKeeks
) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a Spring 2023 visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
