From an Indigenous Woman in India
“This gender ideology has forced itself on the women’s movement as the most important issue.”
“I am from what is known today as India, I am also indigenous to this land and for thousands of years, our people were not considered humans under the caste Hindu settlers state. We still face systemic discrimination and our women are at the receiving end of the worst forms of violence imaginable.
Whenever I attend women’s meetings or events at ‘feminist’ organisations I have to state my preferred pronouns! There are also times when I see women like me in the meetings who are clueless about this drama of announcing our pronouns.
It is not just limited to this, gender ideology has seeped in through everything, when people identifying as nonbinary / trans take offense and lash out at working-class women, (who by the way are Indigenous or Dalit in most cases) in so-called ‘safe spaces’ I see it as gatekeeping. No wonder these spaces are led and run by caste Hindu or uppercaste Muslim women who go to universities and get indoctrinated.
It is taking attention away from issues that need to be addressed urgently. Issues like sexual violence at the hands of the military, laws against marital rape, safety of women in public spaces, rape, human sex slavery/ trafficking, etc., to name a few.
This gender ideology has forced itself on the women’s movement as the most important issue ever! Organisations receiving funding from abroad must adopt the lens of gender ideology and so women who are beneficiaries of these organisations have to speak their language.
If this is not colonising, what is?
For example, just 10-12 years back most Hijra people identified as Hijra in the cities today all of them identify as Transwomen! This is suffocating.
We had to fight so hard to even be seen as women and not uncivilised forest-dwelling demons and now when we were finally coming together to address our distinct issues, we have to do this! When is it ever going to stop.”
Letters From the Front is a regular series from WoLF curating stories from women about how “gender identity” ideology has impacted them. We’ll share new letters, submitted anonymously, each week. Write in to share your own story!
WoLF does not necessarily endorse the content of Letters.
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