Yesterday I got banned from a reddit sub for not regurgitating all the TRA slogans like a good, obedient woman. Being banned has convinced me I'm ready to officially hang out with y'all.

I peaked around this time last year. I was on a forum talking about trans issues and my ambivalence about some of the rhetoric and how I'm sick of "TERF" being the default insult for anyone who has concerns, no matter how slight. One of my concerns is how gate-keeping has been deemed "transphobic" and thus unacceptable. Anyone who says they are a woman is a woman, I was told robotically by multiple posters--people I'd been "friends" with for ages. These people were not only saying that anyone who says they are a woman is* a woman, but they are also female and thus should be able to change their legal designation to "F" and enjoy all the benefits and protections associated with that "F". Even if they haven't altered their biology in any way. Even if they have no plan on altering their biology in any way. Even if they had just started identifying as a woman yesterday.

So I asked one of the posters to explain this to me since it's crazy bananas.

He explained it to me like this: A female person doesn't have to wear feminine clothing to be called a woman. A female person can alter her biology and still be a woman. So why should it be any different for a male?

Leading up to that moment, I thought that gender ideology was stupid drek but mainly harmless. But as this ally mansplained what it means to be a woman to me, I realized that gender ideology is oppressive. It's dangerous. And I realized that this guy--who I had always thought was smart and decent--had been brainwashed. And so had all the other posters, who called me a hateful monster for not wanting every Tom, Dick, and Harry to feel entitled to women's spaces. I no longer post on that forum because I just can't with those people. I can't suffer that kind of foolishness anymore.

So I guess you can say that experience opened my eyes. I haven't been able to close them since.