Gender dysphoria is considered a psychological illness, not a physical one. This is a feminist issue because women should not be forced to accept men, even if they have a mental illness, in private female only spaces. Medically designated mentally ill men (trans women) now have a term "cotton-ceiling" to describe who they call "trans-phobic lesbians" who won't have sex with them, with or without penises. Because sex-change operations are expensive,a lesbian rejecting a woman who has a penis is being classist because the only reason they have a penis is because they couldn't afford to have it removed. Other trans-women don't even want to have an operation. Instead they are saying they have female penises called trans-clit. Lesbians are supposed to challenge their trans-phobia by questioning if they are being prejudice by dismissing trans women who have penises as sexual partners. The absurdity of the situation is high-lighted by two people with penises having sex together claiming to be lesbians. I kid you not. This is not hypothetical. There is an argument to be made for those who have had their penises removed to be permitted to use some public female spaces for safety reasons. That does not mean mentally ill men who think they are female have a right to access -all- female spaces without exception. Some services, like Vancouver Rape Relief, are intended for biological females. Some private places, like the MWMF, are gatherings for females, not people who think they are female, especially when they still have penises. No one who is willing to throw away the right of women to gather in a penis-free environment is a feminist. That is not a radical principal. Females should not have to justify their desire to be in a female exclusive space. To give up the right to female only space to pander to a small number of mentally ill men, including those who keep their penises, is bizarre. It is not feminist.

This article is ignorant, and as equally contrived as the Gender Roles and Gender Norms enforced by the patriarchy. Why is it that people always seem to result to extremes, either all nature, or all nurture arguments. It's pretty clear that neither is the end all be all for human gender. Also, you stated that there was no scientific or medical evidence for transsexuality is fallacious. There is evidence, and your denial is clear that you don't understand biology, or science on the matter of gender. Yes, as a feminist, I agree that much of the standards and norms are contrived, and thus little more than constructs. I think people should be allowed to like whatever they want to like without people labeling it "gender". Your thesis here also seems to be devoid of any discussion of non-gender conforming (Butch, Queer, Et cetera) transitioners. Because of the factual vacuous state of your position it can only be asserted that you are ignorant of trans issues, or what it really is. Not all trans people are for the "loose labels" of gender that could endanger women and children in the use of public accommodation. I am not bigoted against cross-dressers and transvestites, but they don't belong in the women's restroom, not because they don't need safe public accommodations, but because it's not appropriate. Furthermore, your position that transition and SRS isn't effectual is wrong. Plenty of data and studies indicate that it is. Furthermore, you are confusing gender identity with gender expression which are two totally different entities. Thus your article is ignorant, short-sighted in how it defines "gender" either via 'chromosomes' or 'anatomy'. It demonstrates your profound failure to understand science, and medical studies. Generally speaking, gender discrimination against trans women and gay men is higher than most other, especially when you look at murder statistics. The gains you made in working for rights that protect women doesn't entitle you to a free pass when it comes to your stance and faulty understanding of trans issues. You are parroting the words of first and second wave feminists, and those words are scientifically unsound and unfounded. Put your money where the evidence is, rather than data-mining the points that prove your position. Gender Dysphoria is not the assertion that gender roles are biologically predestined, but that gender identity is, and that this constitution is set at birth. Get your facts straight and trans people won't riot at your doorstep.

Unlike many of the commenters, who seem to have bought-in to the concept of GID, this article was a breath of fresh air for me. My entire childhood, I was different. I hated the cute little dollhouse my father made for me, but all my female friends loved it. I always took my younger brother's toys and squirreled them away in my room, making dinosaurs eat the ever-uninteresting barbies. I loved dirt, bugs, tree climbing and wanted to join the Boy Scouts (after all, they camped, had pocket knives, and raced pinewood cars!) In my teens, it became more and more apparent to me that I wasn't just a tomboy -I was a man in a woman's body. I hated having breasts, I hated my female genitalia. I dressed as a male, passed as a male -bought a vest to hold down my breasts, and a fake soft piece for the downstairs. The stress of not being able to reveal any of this to my family was huge. It took a very long time (and some unsuccessful therapy) for me to decide whether or not I was going to transition. I chose not to -not because I didn't want to, or was scared, but because it wouldn't give me what I wanted. I would have a flat chest, but large scars. I could get a penis, but it would likely be small with little to no feeling or function. In short, I wouldn't be a man. And you know, I did like wearing skirts once in awhile (a LONG while). So, in my own typical fashion of rejecting society, I've rejected what could be the largest of societal norms -gender. I may have the biological sex of a female, and society can react to that all it wants -but I am ME. I'm a human, a placental mammal, a vertebrate, I am intelligent, I drive too fast, lift heavy shit, work on my car, and love my cat. I don't think trans people should have to change to fit what society has told them is one gender or the other. I am one of millions of variations on the gender binary. I'm not a masculine female, I am a female who like what he/she/it likes, regardless of how my culture pegs me. If you're not happy with you, you can't be happy. No surgery can change that. If you have a young child who you or they believe is trans- support them, listen to them, and make sure they know you love them for them, and not for their gender. Leave the surgery and hormones for them to decide after they're 18. Our brains don't finish growing until our early 20s, and it's just irresponsible parenting to allow a child to make such a huge, life-changing, and irreversible decision.

Julie Bindel...as the mother of a clearly transgender child, developmentally disabled in fact, and so not influenced to be who he determines to be by any other means than what his mind tells him (that is where the TRUTH of one's identity is), it absolutely pains me to read your article that I come to by happenstance. Seems to me that you have absolutely no idea what transgender IS. Do you really seriously believe that anyone "chooses" SRS treatments to get their jollies? You are the one that needs your head examined, if you do. ...can you even imagine what it is like for them to live life without gender conforming bodies? Continued reading makes me wonder what is your ultimate point...pretty scary. Yeah, and I'd considered myself a feminist for a pretty long time...I admit similar naivety in the past, short long winded intolerance, up to my most recent conviction concerning my son...do you really have to have one to know one?? You with the religion here, get off it!! Does God tell you personally what his plan is by divine intervention?? Consider that such diversity is the plan and Jesus turned away not the least of these.

Dear Julie,The BBC star Andrew Neil has broadcast the fact that "The European Court also overruled a British Law restricting forced marriages seemingly on the grounds that the right of men to a family life overrided the right of young women to be abducted. Please could you find out which Political Party set up this Law,please? T

Well, it's good to see so many intelligent comments here to contrast with the article. I'm an androgynous girl in a male body. I'm also a feminist. (And I'm attracted to girls, so you can screw the idea that I'm transitioning to "correct" my sexuality). I understand that transsexuals often conform heavily to gender stereotypes (not me, I'm incredibly anti-stereotyped), but if they want to do that, then what business is it of yours? There ARE girls who are naturally feminine. And to suggest that all transsexuals conform to such stereotypes is stereotyping in itself. How about a world in which everyone is allowed to be whoever they want? If I want a sex change to get a female body, while being utterly myself, completely androgynous, I'll do it. I'll wear men's suits if I want to (I plan to)! And if I wanted to get a sex-change so I could wear f***-me shoes and birds' nest hair, then I'd do that too. Yeah, your article is pretty unintelligent. But honestly, it's disgusting what that poster wrote about you; the one you mentioned.

What crap !

So, you either had sex or competition with a trans woman; and you didn't like the outcome -- I'm betting it was competition.

I can't say that I'm surprised by this artcle, only that I thought we, as a whole, were getting past all of this. Every person has the right to be happy regardless of what one person or group or organization defines as happiness. I fail to see how your issues as a feminist are the issues of transgendered people. Their decision for surgery or therapy or what ever they feel is necessary to live a normal life has only to do with them; their happiness. One persons decision to have SRS does not necessarily have anything to do with YOU. It has everything to do with THEM and what will make them happy. The world does not revolve around Julie Bindel or Feminists...just so you know.

Exactly like the person before me, i came to read this article via a picture i clicked; and just like the person before me, i, too, would rather see myself as a guy although i have a female body. i haven't started any hormone treatment yet and don't know if i will, i'll see where counselling will take me first. the view presented in the article was indeed interesting and i don't agree in some points. there is something important, or at least important to me, that bothered me at the beginning already. it says that the stereotypes presented my (most) transsexuals are against everything feminism stands for, that is, they present long outdated gender roles, that mtf-transsexuals tend to be chliché girls and vice-versa. i really hope i am able to explain my point here, since english is not my mother tongue. but i thoroughly disagree here. as i said before, i myself am transgendered, and yes, i wish to be a boy. if i had the option to wake up tomorrow and have a male body, without anything else changing in my life, i'd definitely take the chance. and oh, i do enjoy some 'male' activities such as online gaming, i dislike romantic movies, etc etc, the usual clichés. but i also love to put on makeup, i enjoy art, i love to dance, to write, and i am mostly into boys. i'd just rather do all that as a boy. so, am i any less transgendered now, because i act too girly at times? or am i "just gay"? i don't say i oppose everything or even this one thing that was said in the article. i just mean, yes, there are stereotypes, always have been, always will be, among humans. but each and every person is different, that goes for transsexuals as well as non-transsexuals. just saying. oh, i just saw that other people commented on the same subject. i'll post anyways. nice to see i'm not alone here though :)