The coming out of Caitlyn Jenner as transgender has sparked debate across political, cultural and gender lines. But nowhere is the discussion more polarized than among women, and particularly feminists. In its Sunday Review, The New York Times featured an essay by Elinor Burkett titled “What Makes a Woman.” Burkett argued that it’s not merely saying the words and posing for a glamor-shot cover in Vanity Fair.
The “I was born in the wrong body” rhetoric favored by other trans people doesn’t work any better and is just as offensive, reducing us to our collective breasts and vaginas," Burkett wrote. "Imagine the reaction if a young white man suddenly declared that he was trapped in the wrong body and, after using chemicals to change his skin pigmentation and crocheting his hair into twists, expected to be embraced by the black community."
Allow me to retort, Jill Filipovic effectively says, writing for Cosmopolitan. In a carefully considered response, Filipovic ticks through Burkett’s points – agreeing with some, disagreeing with others. Filipovic’s essential point, playing off the original Times headline: “What makes a woman is less important than what makes a feminist.”
