Her book Material girls is very liked, one reviewer posted a change of opinion of KS and JK Rowlings stance on the matter.
I get that some people dismiss these kinds of books as transphobic right off the bat without actually reading them. I did too. I was on the “J. K. Rowling is a TERF” bandwagon only a year ago, I mean, I wrote a whole essay about how problematic she is. I agreed wholeheartedly with the idea that gender is something invisible “inside” a person and that there’s no such thing as “biological sex”. I couldn’t answer questions like “what is a woman” or “what is homosexuality”. I had doubts and questions, but I was terrified of being perceived as problematic, transphobic and a TERF.
But since I actually started reading about these things I’ve pretty much changed course. Not about trans people - but about gender vs. sex. Biology vs. identity. I 100% believe that trans people exist and that they deserve proper health care, equal opportunities in the job market and to live their lives free of hate. Of course I do.
But also believe that we need to be able to distinguish between perceivable biological reality and invisible gender identity. People are born either male or female - even the majority of intersex people are either male or female with DSD, which Stock also goes in to explaining - and if we can’t acknowledge this, we erase the reality of whole concepts. These include but aren’t limited to: homo- and bisexuality, female genital mutilation, femicide, rape statistics, sex trafficking, forced marriage and, even, gender dysphoria. This book explains why, in a pedagogical manner.
It would be lovely if we lived in a world where biological sex didn’t matter. But we live in a world where women - females - are oppressed not because their gender identity, but because of their biology. Yes, trans women are oppressed too, but their oppression shouldn’t and cannot infringe on the safety of women and girls (meaning females) globally.
