Feel Good’s Mae Martin weighs in on Bette Midler transphobia
On Monday, star of Disney’s upcoming Hocus Pocus 2 Bette Midler stirred up controversy when she took to Twitter to rail against the use of inclusive language in conversations about reproductive rights and justice. Feel Good star Mae Martin posted some advice for fans of Midler who were upset by her tweets on their Instagram story on Wednesday.
“WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name!” Midler tweeted. “They don’t call us ‘women’ anymore; they call us ‘birthing people’ or ‘menstruators’, and even ‘people with vaginas! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!”
Martin had a fairly sympathetic take on what Midler said, pointing to the older actress’ relation to the women’s rights movement based on her age.
“These figureheads, like Bette Midler, fought hard for women’s rights and they’re upset when, in the context of reproductive rights, they read phrases like ‘people with uteruses’,” Martin wrote. “They feel reduced and negated and confused. I would say to them: Nobody is negating the fact that people assigned female at birth have a unique struggle against an oppressive patriarchy. Nobody is denying the power and magic of cis women.”
Martin went on to explain why inclusive language is important to these conversations, and not meant to erase cis women from them.
“But for instance: I was born female, grew up with all the struggles that entails, but I am trans/non-binary, not a woman. I am medically and culturally transitioning and so ‘woman’ is not an accurate word to use when describing me. The use of inclusive language when talking about abortion rights means that I – with all my shared experience and shared threat of pregnancy as I also sleep with cis men – can participate and be acknowledged in the conversation and fight alongside women.”
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