Miranda Devine claims that trans women are “culturally appropriating” womanhood

Miranda Devine claims that trans women are “culturally appropriating” womanhood
Image: Miranda Devine. Image: ABC.

Conservative writer Miranda Devine has drawn criticism for her latest transphobic column, in which she accused trans women of “culturally appropriating” womanhood.

The biggest problem facing cis women is “their identity being stolen”, Devine wrote, pointing as an example to Ángela Ponce, who will this year be the first trans contestant in the Miss Universe pageant.

“If she wins the title, it will simply bolster the sexist case that men are better than women at everything, even being women,” wrote Devine.

She went on to defend cis women who don’t want to be referred to using the “pronoun” cis—which is not a pronoun but an adjective meaning the opposite of trans.

Devine claimed that trans women are “starting to blitz women’s competitions, and everyone is too polite to call foul”.

Trans women in sport, particularly high-profile athletes such as footballer Hannah Mouncey and weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, face constant transphobic abuse and challenges to their being allowed to participate.

Mouncey was last year banned from the women’s AFL draft for being trans, and Hubbard was able to participate in the Commonwealth Games despite repeated attempts by the Australian Weightlifting Federation to have her thrown out of competition.

Rather than having an advantage due to their trans status, both have been outperformed by cis women in competition.

“Women’s sport as we knew it is coming to an end,” wrote Devine.

She went on to claim that gendered language is being banned in various contexts, repeating the debunked myth that universities are marking down students for using words such as ‘she’.

While commenters on The Daily Telegraph have applauded Devine’s words, many social media users have slammed the various transphobic sentiments in her column.

“More classy trans bashing from Miranda Devine today… There is no more female sport because of a handful of trans women playing,” quipped writer Catherine McGregor.

“Miranda Devine is not a feminist,” tweeted The Gender Fairy author Jo Hirst.

Devine came further under fire last week for her appearance on The Today Show, in which she called women “the weaker sex”.

https://twitter.com/CateMc3273/status/1015715033622274048

https://twitter.com/HannahMouncey/status/1015757011500191744

https://twitter.com/JohnWren1950/status/1014378910190977026

https://twitter.com/clementine_ford/status/1014469739354075136

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12 responses to “Miranda Devine claims that trans women are “culturally appropriating” womanhood”

  1. “. I have nothing against transgenders but I don’t abide natal women having to stay silent about breastfeeding and vaginas and other self identifying features, to appease transgenders.”

    I am a trans woman and I regularly discuss periods, breastfeeding and vaginas with my cis sisters. They don’t stay silent and neither do I. I read Everywoman when I was 7, enchanted by the wonder and majesty of the feminine form. I guess I’d need a tartan to be a TRUE Scotsman, though, wouldn’t I Marsha?

    Look Marsha, if someone finds a particular topic traumatic, the genuinely nice thing to do is not force the discussion into it. That applies regardless of whether we’re discussing rape, death, self-mutilation, suicide, substance abuse or anything else that might upset the people we’re with. The fact you feel put out that you can’t torture dysphoric women by discussing an absence they feel every day doesn’t make you look very considerate.

    Now. Given that it’s obviously such a problem for you, did you want to talk about your vagina?

  2. “Transgender men are not being named ‘man of the year’ or speaking for mankind like mtf trans are.” … Do you know this for a fact Marsha?

    • I can’t find any transgender male to females who’ve been named man of the year, on the web. Can you?
      I’ll leave it in the more than capable hands of Jesse Jones as to whether he knows any recent ftm trans people who are lecturing men on how to be men.

      • If there are any other women, let alone trans women lecturing other women on how to be women they deserve to be called out for being idiots. How is doing this?

  3. I’m a trans woman. Today I’ll be working on my “history of soccer” website while punting on the afternoon races. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so stereotypically girly.

  4. No wonder the younger generation are becoming disenchanted with democracy when it gives oxygen to Devine and her alt-intelligentsia ilk.

  5. And just what is the female normative? Is it my cis friend who is 6’4″? Or my cis wife who is 5′? Perhaps someone like Mama Cass but then I think of Twiggy. Or Josie who is a stay at home mom and Jessie who tirelessly fights for the rights of LGBTQI youth. Which one fits the standard she would set? Which is the embodiment of the perfect cis woman. To me they all do and are real women. And so am I.

  6. The one thing that makes me smile is knowing that one day this toxic woman – and that’s not far away – will be a toxic “old” woman. Can you image Miss Devine in the same nursing home as Abbot, Abetz, Nile, Andrews, Bolt, Jones and Hadley. On second thoughts don’t image that. The hot air and racist bigotry will just flow from the joint. One can only hope that dementia will set in. These bitter racist bigoted isolationists think they can say anything under free speech. My response “just go and put your manners back in Devine. Your mother would hit you with her shoe if she could see and hear what you have grown up to be”. Respect.

    • They’ll get what’s coming to them, make no mistake. The karmic 18 wheeler is heading in their direction at great speed and it WONT be putting on the brakes. That goes double for Bolt too, whose article on The Eurydice tragedy was nothing short of disgraceful.

  7. I first heard about the notion of trans people appropriating womanhood from a woman who would have self-described as a militant feminist lesbian in 1997, so it’s more than just Miranda Devine.

    That said, as a bloke I have no such objection to trans men. I’m not a mens rights activist though, those guys are overwhemingly arseholes in my experience.

    Let people be the people they’re trying to be. Just because you identify in a certain way has no impact on others and the opposite should be true too. Why the Miranda Devines or Mark Lathams of this world get their knickers in such knots will never make sense to me.

    • Dave, I think youre the only one here who has an ounce of sense. Women shouldn’t have to compete for sporting places against men. The fact that Kate McGregor was 60 when she first took a woman’s place in sport shows how unfair the situation is. I have nothing against transgenders but I don’t abide natal women having to stay silent about breastfeeding and vaginas and other self identifying features, to appease transgenders. Transgender men are not being named ‘man of the year’ or speaking for mankind like mtf trans are.