Womyn-born womyn

Womyn-born womyn (an alternative spelling of women-born women) is a term that describes women who were assigned female at birth and raised as females. Events and organizations that have womyn-born-womyn only policies bar access to any persons who were assigned male at birth, including trans women and the young male children of women attendees. According to Michigan Womyn's Music Festival co-founder Lisa Vogel during a Bitch magazine roundup, "What womyn-born womyn means to us is women who were born as women, who have lived their entire experience as women, and who identify as women."^[1][2]

History

The term was developed during second-wave feminism to designate spaces for, by, and about women who were identified as female at birth, then raised as girls, and then who chose to live as women. Though transgender and intersex people have been present in women's only spaces for decades (often in the closet), the term garnered wider attention in response to the exclusion of trans women from the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.^[3] The festival has publicly declared that it is intended for womyn-born womyn.^[4]

The controversy has sparked scholarly discussion.^[5]

Examples

There have been several instances where transgender women have been denied access to or even been evicted from women's spaces.

• Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
• Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter
• Mountain Moving Coffeehouse
• Lesbian Organization of Toronto

See also

• Womyn
• Cisgender
• Radical feminism
• Transphobia
• Feminist views on transgenderism and transsexualism
• List of transgender-related topics
• List of transgender-rights organizations

References

External links

• Egale Canada Backgrounder on Nixon v. Vancouver Rape Relief
• Press For Change briefing paper