Except we do. Words mean different things in different contexts genius. Calling a kickflip sick doesn't invalidate using it to describe how your stomach feels to a doctor. Even within science, even within the same fucking field, operational definitions can differ. There is no objective essence of the term "female" out there.

we need a way to make those kinds of distinctions between the two fundamental 'sets' of body parts sometimes.

Just say "in reproductive terms, trans women may take the male role," or preface with your current operational definition of female. That encompasses the current reality accurately, as many people cannot take on either reproductive role, white humans may only be born with the ability to take on a specific role.

However, simply waltzing into a conversation and saying "um actually, you women aren't female because you don't produce large gametes" is both rude and wrong based on how terminology works. Even terms like MtF specify "male to female," not "male to woman, but not female." Language isn't some clean thing that has universal rules.

I'm not male in any real sense, as not only is that not my gender identity, but I probably can't serve that reproductive role, now or in the future.

[–] damnedfurry 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Just say "in reproductive terms, trans women may take the male role,"

Don't hold your breath for any significant portion of the population to ever go along with something this ridiculously convoluted. By the way, "the male role" is sexist. It's always amusing to see horseshoe theory in action.

Fact is, the vast majority of people don't and won't use male/female

However, simply waltzing into a conversation and saying "um actually you're transphobic because you said the female body doesn't have testicles" is both rude and wrong.

This is what you lot are doing, and literally trying to turn it around to the exact opposite of what happened here, lol. Not gonna let you move that goalpost, sorry.

How can you not see the irony of making this big stink about how words can be used different ways, while simultaneously calling someone a transphobe/bigot for using a word in an accurate way, that happens to be not the way you want to use it? The telltale stench of "rules for thee, not for me".

[–] TotallynotJessica 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The word use itself isn't as transphobic as you choosing to die on this hill. Your transphobia isn't just a statement out of context, but a consistent pattern of saying "trans women can't have a female body because words MUST have ridged definitions." That position states that the female body is the status of their gonads or chromosomes or something else we can't see. I don't know how you would categorize trans women who got rid of their gonads or cis women born without theirs, but it ultimately doesn't matter.

The fact that you don't realize that "the male reproductive role" is the most clinical way to describe things imaginable shows how little you know. I don't want most people to use that terminology because they should just refer to trans women as female, adding trans if it somehow matters for the conversation. Not gonna heed that request? Don't worry, I'm used to not getting support from people who embrace horseshoe theory.

If you're gonna cry about "the authoritarian left" every time we ask you not to be a stickler about language, you don't sit where you think on the left/right spectrum.