I Find It Frustrating How They Complain About Rebranding The Definition Of Woman

For the past few years, trans activism has focused almost exclusively on questioning and redefining womanhood.

What is a woman? What is a mother? And, inevitably, what is a lesbian? Dating apps, lesbian bars, the entire concept of same-sex attraction, and with LGB linked so inextricably with T in many people’s minds, it’s especially difficult for lesbians to speak up about the erasure of their identity.

Kate Harris, one of the co-founders of LGB Alliance, had this to say.

I’m going to speak for millions of lesbians around the world who are lesbians because we love other women […] We will not be erased and we will not have any man with a penis tell us he’s a lesbian because he feels he is.

Unsurprisingly, this inspired some debate on Twitter about who gets to speak for lesbians. And who better than two straight guys like Val and I to get to the bottom of it?

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Val:

Cis male so grain of salt but I also find it frustrating how they complain about rebranding the definition of woman while at the same time rebranding lesbian to mean "Anyone biologically female from birth who is attracted to other female born persons who agree with my position."

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Steve QJ:

Do you really see this as a rebranding?! It really seems to me that this is what lesbian has always meant. It wasn’t until the “women can have penises” rhetoric took off that people felt the need to specify “biological females,” but the meaning was always the same.