There are some fierce contenders in this year’s round-up of people who menstruate being absolutely completely and utterly normal about that fact. Today we honour Ana Kasparian who launched her bid to win the award via Twitter last night.
The highly-coveted award has led many menstruating individual to completely destroy all of their credibility in a wide variety of subject areas. From neurologists to newsreaders – we’ve seen it all! People who menstruate just absolutely losing their entire crap over the fact that they are not the only people who exist and which menstruate.
Today’s contender is Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks – she is shadowed by Cenk Uygur. I assume from his tweets he has been a worthy sparring partner for Kasparian behind the scenes. However so far Uygur has not revealed himself to be a person who menstruates and is therefore disqualified from running in the competition.
Ana Kasparian is 36 years old and lives in Los Angeles. She began working for The Young Turks in 2007. The Young Turks being a show which bills itself as a progressive news and commentary channel. In her tweet announcing that she would be contending in this years competition, Kasparian said;
“I’m a woman. Please don’t ever refer to me as a person with a uterus, birthing person or person who menstruates. How do people not realize how degrading this is? You can support the transgender community without doing this shit.”
I'm a woman. Please don't ever refer to me as a person with a uterus, birthing person, or person who menstruates. How do people not realize how degrading this is? You can support the transgender community without doing this shit.
— Ana Kasparian (@AnaKasparian) March 22, 2023
An excellent entry into the competition if I do say so myself, completely avoiding any attempt to engage with or understand the point being made when people say things like “people who menstruate”. Whilst also dodging the fact that in the country she lives in right now trans people have had literally hundreds of bills drafted up to control or otherwise prevent our existence.
And what do we make of “you can support the transgender community without doing this shit”? A beautiful contradiction, excellent form and something I would expect from our favourite contender to the “people who menstruate being absolutely normal” award 2023. Because how do you support transgender people without acknowledging that we exist and many of us menstruate too?
As the supportive replies to Ana Kasparian’s tweet reveal; this line of thinking is simply just transphobia. They do not want to acknowledge the fact that transgender men and nonbinary people who menstruate exist too. They believe the word “menstruate” is solely reserved for women and therefore it makes no sense to not say “women” and “women” only.
No, you can't. By endorsing the concept of "transgenderism" you have already reduced yourself to a mere "person with a uterus." You cannot push back against this nonsense without rejecting transgender ideology fundamentally. There is no middle ground here, Ana. https://t.co/lUOyrjcoKS
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 23, 2023
I have asked these people before; would you accept it if instead this was phrased as “women, men and nonbinary people who menstruate” and I have been told no. Because this gripe has never been about including the word “woman” specifically, it has always been about purposefully erasing transgender people. I for one refuse to believe that Ana Kasparian doesn’t get that given her almost 20 years on a progressive news and commentary channel.
Only time will tell if Kasparian manages to take home this years title belt for being the most normal person who menstruates of 2023. She could lose it all – all the fascists and anti-trans activists giving her praise – by simply apologising and accepting that she has been had by bigoted rhetoric. Something which isn’t uncommon for cisgender people or indeed, anyone raised under our cissexist society.
Though as we have seen countless times before this is usually when people (again, not specifically women) love to double down and further entrench themselves in the bigoted nonsense they have fallen for. They ignore the myriad of good-faith approaches by trans people and allies to explain the situation and instead focus on a tweet that told them to “fuck off and die” or whatever. Then use that ‘death threat’ to further ramp up their anti-trans sentiment.
This rhetoric is frustrating. No one is saying you can't use the word "woman." I call myself a woman. Anyone who wants to call themselves "woman" CAN and SHOULD. The issue isn't to say you're not a woman, it's to say NOT everyone who has a uterus IS a woman. It's not about you. https://t.co/kfsbCzNTfy
— Jessie Earl (@jessiegender) March 23, 2023
I have high hopes for Ana Kasparian to take home the person who menstruates award this year. Though it is early and as we have seen from previous years with surprise entries from the wimpund herself; JK Rowling, this competition can get fierce very quickly. Random acts of transphobia are very rarely followed by humility and an apology so I think we can expect more from Kasparian on this subject in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
ps don’t forget to continue to completely ignore the torture currently being enforced upon transgender people in America. Okay byeeeeeeeeee.
