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Nairaland Forum / Entertainment / Literature / Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. (18044 Views)
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Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by JamieBlog(m): 9:53am On Mar 13, 2017 |
Acclaimed Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, over the weekend found herself at the centre of a controversy over gender identity after the comments she made about transgender women during an interview with the U.K Channels 4 while promoting her new book, Dear Ijeawele. "When people talk about, 'Are trans women women?' my feeling is trans women are trans women" the author said. Taking to her official Facebook page earlier today, Ms Adichie said her intention was a good one and while we can oppose violence against trans women, difference should also be acknowledged. Read after the cut.. CLARIFYING Because I have been the subject of much hostility for standing up for LGBTQ rights in Nigeria, I found myself being very defensive at being labeled 'trans phobic.' My first thought was – how could anyone think that? I didn't like that version of myself. It felt like a white person saying 'I'm not racist, I supported civil rights.' Because the truth is that I do think one can be trans phobic while generally supporting LGBTQ rights. And so I want to put my defensiveness aside and clarify my thoughts. To make sure that I am fully understood. I said, in an interview, that trans women are trans women, that they are people who, having been born male, benefited from the privileges that the world affords men, and that we should not say that the experience of women born female is the same as the experience of trans women. This upset many people, and I consider their concerns to be valid. I realize that I occupy this strange position of being a ‘voice’ for gender rights and so there is an automatic import to my words. I think the impulse to say that trans women are women just like women born female are women comes from a need to make trans issues mainstream. Because by making them mainstream, we might reduce the many oppressions they experience. But it feels disingenuous to me. The intent is a good one but the strategy feels untrue. Diversity does not have to mean division. Because we can oppose violence against trans women while also acknowledging differences. Because we should be able to acknowledge differences while also being supportive. Because we do not have to insist, in the name of being supportive, that everything is the same. Because we run the risk of reducing gender to a single, essentialist thing. Perhaps I should have said trans women are trans women and cis women are cis women and all are women. Except that 'cis' is not an organic part of my vocabulary. And would probably not be understood by a majority of people. Because saying ‘trans’ and ‘cis’ acknowledges that there is a distinction between women born female and women who transition, without elevating one or the other, which was my point. I have and will continue to stand up for the rights of transgender people. Not merely because of the violence they experience but because they are equal human beings deserving to be what they are. I see how my saying that we should not conflate the gender experiences of trans women with that of women born female could appear as if I was suggesting that one experience is more important than the other. Or that the experiences of trans women are less valid than those of women born female. I do not think so at all – I know that trans women can be vulnerable in ways that women born female are not. This, again, is a reason to not deny the differences. Why does this even matter? Because at issue is gender. Gender is a problem not because of how we look or how we identify or how we feel but because of how the world treats us. Girls are socialized in ways that are harmful to their sense of self – to reduce themselves, to cater to the egos of men, to think of their bodies as repositories of shame. As adult women, many struggle to overcome, to unlearn, much of that social conditioning. A trans woman is a person born male and a person who, before transitioning, was treated as male by the world. Which means that they experienced the privileges that the world accords men. This does not dismiss the pain of gender confusion or the difficult complexities of how they felt living in bodies not their own. Because the truth about societal privilege is that it isn't about how you feel. (Anti-racist white people still benefit from race privilege in the United States). It is about how the world treats you, about the subtle and not so subtle things that you internalize and absorb. This is not to say that trans women did not undergo difficulties as boys. But they did not undergo those particular difficulties specific to being born female, and this matters because those experiences shape how adult women born female interact with the world. And because to be human is to be a complex amalgam of your experiences, it is disingenuous to say that their being born male has no effect on their experience of gender as trans women. Of course there are individual differences. But there are always individual differences. We speak of ‘women’s issues’ knowing that while there are individual differences, the truth of human history is that women as a group have been treated as subordinate to men. And we speak of male privilege acknowledging that individual men differ but that men as a group are nevertheless accorded privileges by the world. I think of feminism as Feminisms. Race and class shape our experience of gender. Sexuality shapes our experience of gender. And so when I say that I think trans women are trans women, it is not to diminish or exclude trans women but to say that we cannot insist – no matter how good our intentions – that they are the same as women born female. Nor do I think that we need to insist that both are the same. To acknowledge different experiences is to start to move towards more fluid – and therefore more honest and true to the real world – conceptions of gender. http://www.jamienaija.com/2017/03/chimamanda-adichie-clarifies-her.html 10 Likes 3 Shares
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by oshibote1: 12:19pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Hmmmm |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by Newsreporta: 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Ok na... WATCH THE VIDEO THAT LED TO KEMEN'S EVICTION FROM BBNAIJA >> http://thearticle.com.ng/2017/03/bbnaija-watch-video-that-led-to-kemens.html |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by prigoz(m): 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
U re entitled to your opinion 4 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by oshibote1: 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Hmmm |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by TINALETC3(f): 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by hdami: 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
be bold and stand by your claims 6 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by LagosismyHome(f): 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
She a good writer but talks WAY too much and likes to stay in the press....... how many other writers do u see issuing statements up and down every week This week is tranwomen ....oya next week biko come quick because Chimamanda is waiting to issue another topic 51 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by mykelmeezy: 12:20pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
are you allowed to hit a transgendered man ![]() 17 Likes 1 Share
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by flyca: 12:21pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
This lady is quite controversal. More like creating fame through controversy ![]() 12 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by DuBLINGreenb(m): 12:21pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Chimamanda is a better writer than a speaker on politically correct issues |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by SageTravels: 12:21pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Promoting Her Book |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by ebishuga(f): 12:21pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
too long biko... I can't read 1 Like |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by hollandis(f): 12:22pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Trans phobic and homo phobic slowpoke talking from both sides of the mouth.The truth is Nigerians are homophobic and transphobic 16 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by hushshinani(m): 12:22pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
this happens when craze no gree leave her... stupidity in pursuit.... 4 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by Jengem: 12:22pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Lol |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by Chimaritoponcho: 12:23pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
T ebishuga:Asin erh some people skip summary classes while in sec school obviously |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by vicdom(m): 12:23pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
![]() Meanwhile, 18 Likes
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by amiibaby(f): 12:23pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Indeed trans gender are women women 1 Like |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by rotimy(m): 12:23pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
How will her comment bring down the high price of commodities in Nigeria? Trans-wetin? Oyibo people get plenty time sef and have serious gender identity crisis 1 Like |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by DuBLINGreenb(m): 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
E |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by selfmadeboss: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
tooo long. i cant waste time am suppose to use to generate cash to read shit. trans are shit. there is nothing women or woman there. trans is a guy with abnormal brain. there are shit. tell those idiots i said so 12 Likes 1 Share |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by mykelmeezy: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
hollandis: personally i can ignore the femme gays or bisexual community but the the trans and male gays hell no it's fuckin.g disgusting to hell with them 4 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by naijaboiy: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by clancymiim(f): 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
rubbish |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by anonimi: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
2 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by cstr150: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
jtedy:There is a greater chance of Buhari being banned from America than chimamanda being deported. I don't think even Trump can handle the female outrage and protests that would sweep throughout America. She is one of America's greatest female idols of the 21st century. She does not have a citizenship, but she has never really needed it and would get it if she wants. 12 Likes |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by SexyNairalander: 12:24pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
booked |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by oluxy(m): 12:25pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
She is still single? If one should marry this woman, U need to be extremely patience because, someday she'd come out wide that she is wide read and smart than the husband. |
Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by rotimy(m): 12:25pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
How will her comment bring down the high price of commodities in Nigeria? Trans-wetin? Oyibo people get plenty time sef and have serious gender identity crisis[color=#990000][/color]
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Re: Chimamanda Adichie Clarifies Her Statement About Trans Women. by theSpark(m): 12:26pm On Mar 13, 2017 |
Who cares ![]() Trans are the least of my concerns so far as they stay out of Nigeria. As for Ms Adichie, her views are here and I give no single f about them. 1 Like 1 Share |
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