Iconic stars Bette Midler and Macy Gray are facing backlash from trans activists but celebration from feminists after coming out against the erasure of women on the same day.
On July 4, Midler lashed out against terms such as “birthing people” and “menstruators,” calling on women to fight back against being reduced to body parts and functions.
Midler referenced the recent rollback of reproductive rights in the United States, which has seen an uptick in “progressive” politicians, activists, and institutions scrambling to use non-gendered language when discussing issues such as abortion and pregnancy in order to avoid accusations of excluding transgender people.
Midler’s passionate tweet has wracked up over 86,000 likes at the time of publication, with many feminists overjoyed to see Midler join the ranks of the other mega-celebrities who have put their careers and reputations on the line to speak out against the increasingly-powerful transgender lobby.
But while pro-woman advocates rejoiced, not all of the responses were supportive.
Some replies to Midler’s statement patronizingly suggested that she needed “education” on trans rights and inclusivity, arguing that women aren’t the only ones who give birth, get periods, or become pregnant.
Trans activist and actor, Nicole Maines responded to Midler saying: “That language is reflective of the reality that simply not just cisgender women menstruate or have need of reproductive healthcare. It takes away nothing from anyone to update and use accurate terminology as our understanding evolves.”
That language is reflective of the reality that simply not just cisgender women menstruate or have need of reproductive healthcare. It takes away nothing from anyone to update and use accurate terminology as our understanding evolves. 💙🏳️⚧️
— Nicole Maines (@NicoleAMaines) July 4, 2022
Maines’ claim that accomodating trans-identified males “takes away nothing from anyone” comes in ironic contradiction to the fact he had sued his school district to demand they give him access to the female restroom, attacking a law in Maine that had required school bathroom to be sex-segregated for the safety of girls. The ruling in Maines’ 2013 case resulted in the state being required to revise its laws to allow males to self-identify into female restrooms in schools.
Other respondents to Midler’s tweet, including Chicago Magazine editor Kris Vire, threatened to boycott Midler’s upcoming movie if she did not retract her pro-women statement.
But Midler wasn’t the only icon to come out on July 4 as being tired of the erasure of the female sex.
Legendary R&B singer Macy Gray also attracted controversy over similar statements she made while being interviewed by Piers Morgan.
Just 30 minutes prior to Midler’s statement, Morgan had tweeted out a clip from the interview with Gray for an episode of his upcoming show. During the interview, Gray said:
“I will say this and everyone’s gonna hate me but as a woman, just because you go change your [body] parts, doesn’t make you a woman, sorry.” During the interview, she went on to say: “But if you want me to call you a ‘her,’ I will, because that’s what you want. But that doesn’t make you a woman, just because I call you a ‘her’ and just because you got surgery.”
The moment the clip began to circulate, social media users leaped to called Gray a “TERF,” and even demeaned her as “transphobic garbage.”
When ITV broadcaster Jonathan “India” Willoughby stated Gray was “killing” what was “left of [her career],” the I Try singer responded simply: “Truth Hurts.”
Social media users were quick to Willoughby, a trans-identified male, out for racism and anti-Semitism, especially as he appeared to compare Midler, a Jewish woman, to Adolf Hitler’s top propagandist.
This is not the first time Willoughby has faced criticism for using extreme imagery when attempting to push his narrative.
Willoughby has a reputation on Twitter for comparing individuals who disagree with him, including JK Rowling, to Hitler. Even other trans activists have called out his anti-Semitic behavior.
Shortly after the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Wolloughby captioned a 2016 photo of children in a war zone “Trans kids saluting the adults who stand up against the might of the British Government, Press, and Gender Critical Cult.”
Recent research has shown “gender neutral” language to be detrimental to women’s physical and mental health.
Earlier this year, a collaboration of 10 women’s health researchers from Australia, the US, Europe and Asia argued that replacing words like “breastfeeding” with a gender-neutral counterpart such as “lactating parent” risks “reducing protection of the mother-infant [bond]” and “disembodying and undermining breastfeeding.”
Published in academic journal Frontiers in Global Women’s Health, the paper, titled “Effective Communication About Pregnancy, Birth, Lactation, Breastfeeding and Newborn Care: The Importance of Sexed Language,” argued that “imprecise or inappropriate terminology can have particular implications in policy which may affect many women and infants.”
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