Ireland to allow self-declaration of gender

Vojera

According to The Journal, the new Gender Recognition Bill will allow people over 18 years of age to declare their own gender without the need for supporting input from medical practitioners. This sounds pretty good!

What happens to the Bill as it goes through the various stages, will these amendments stick or can it be changed again?

L.Jenkins

http://www.thejournal.ie/trans-rights-ireland-gender-recognition-self-declaration-2141181-Jun2015/

donaghs

Maybe its a sign of changing times that there's not much visible feminist opposition to this. The idea that anyone can state they are any gender, and this change will be legally recognized. Effectively recognizing that the person is a now a different sex?

From my time in university, the liberal feminist view (i.e. the academic norm) dictated that "gender" was in the most part a social construct, a cultural thing. "Sex" was different, less open to interpretation. Inherent in this was that, particularly men dressing up in heels frocks and makeup, was an exaggerated almost insulting notion was of what being a "woman" was. A more extreme debate emerged in the notion of "women born only" feminism.

I think there has been a shift then, where people are trying to be more inclusive now of the transgender mindset?

Interesting NY Times articles on these issues, and the praise heaped on Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/sunday/what-makes-a-woman.html?_r=0
If anyone is blocked by a paywall, here's a sample of the points raised:
"Do women and men have different brains?
Back when Lawrence H. Summers was president of Harvard and suggested that they did, the reaction was swift and merciless. Pundits branded him sexist. Faculty members deemed him a troglodyte. Alumni withheld donations.
But when Bruce Jenner said much the same thing in an April interview with Diane Sawyer, he was lionized for his bravery, even for his progressivism."

Julie Bindel, regular lesbian feminist in the Guardian is still waging war againsts this:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/31/gender.weekend7
"...a pub landlord objected to one of them using the women's toilets. The claim was rejected, with the judge stating that although he accepted the claimants' wish to regard themselves as women, a person's wish "doesn't determine what he is". Quite. Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the one battle we feminists won fair and square was to convince at least those left of centre that gender roles are made up".

pl4ichjgy17zwd

donaghs wrote: »

Maybe its a sign of changing times that there's not much visible feminist opposition to this.

In my experience, so-called TERFS are pretty much a fringe group of feminism these days, or at least are going that way. People are moving to practice intersectional feminism more and more. It can be very complex and nuanced, but if you're interested in reading a bit more, there's an article here which lays some of it out.