There’s a lot of understandable confusion out there regarding what “gender crit” (gender critical) means, so here’s a concise chart to which you can refer as needed – also available as a one page PDF here.

 

 

PATRIARCHY: enforces gender stereotypes to keep women dependent on men,
thus ensuring men’s access to women’s bodies & labor

Biological sex: scientific reality	Gender: socially acceptable internal states	Gender: socially acceptable aspirations/behaviors	Gender: socially acceptable aesthetic presentation	Gender: pronouns
Woman: Female chromosomes, hormones & reproductive organs*	Feminine: emotional, submissive, other-oriented	Create & caretake life; serve others, be decorative	Pink, dresses, long hair, cleavage, high heels, makeup, etc. (varies by place & time)	She/Her
Man: Male chromosomes, hormones & reproductive organs	Masculine: logical, dominant, independent	Lead, build, conquer, protect, provide	Blue, pants, suits, short hair, facial hair, etc. (varies by place & time)	He/Him

*No, a hysterectomy does not render a woman no longer a woman. We know humans are bipedal mammals and we don’t think amputees lose their humanity. Get a grip.

FEMINISM: gender recognized as harmful social construct and abolished

Biological sex: scientific reality	Socially acceptable internal states	Socially acceptable aspirations/behaviors	Socially acceptable aesthetic presentation	Pronouns
Woman: Female chromosomes, hormones & reproductive organs	However you feel. Allowed to vary	Anything for which you have drive/talent & which does not harm others	Whatever the heck you want, within reason (health, safety, non-harmful & non-prejudicial dress codes)	Language evolves with culture. One set of pronouns for all
Man: Male chromosomes, hormones & reproductive organs	However you feel. Allowed to vary	Anything for which you have drive/talent & which does not harm others	Whatever the heck you want, within reason (health, safety, non-harmful & non-prejudicial dress codes)	Language evolves with culture. One set of pronouns for all
Intersex- Mixture of female & male biological traits, differentiation difficult	However you feel. Allowed to vary	Anything for which you have drive/talent & which does not harm others	Whatever the heck you want, within reason (health, safety, non-harmful & non-prejudicial dress codes)	Language evolves with culture. One set of pronouns for all

TRANSGENDER IDENTITY POLITICS: patriarchal gender stereotypes determine sex (basic reproductive biology erased)*

Biological sex: gender identity	Gender: innate internal state	Gender: innate aspirations/behaviors	Gender: innately desired aesthetic presentation	Gender: Pronouns
Woman: Feel feminine	Enjoy stereotypical feminine things**	Need to be seen as a woman, period	May need to undergo hormone treatment, expensive/ invasive surgery	She/her. Must ask every time, can change overnight & wrong pronouns kill
Man: Feel masculine	Enjoy stereotypical masculine things	Need to be seen as a man, period	May need to undergo hormone treatment, expensive/ invasive surgery	He/him. Must ask every time, can change overnight & wrong pronouns kill

*I am not going into “non-binary” here. Feel free to go down that rabbit hole on Tumblr, along with otherkin etc.

**Some AFTAs claim they do not like “feminine” things, as well as not wishing to undergo physical transition, in which case one must ask why they so vociferously claim to be women – the answer is, of course, to access (and dominate) women’s spaces, language and politics. As ever, more evidence and analysis at thenewbacklash.blogspot.com.