I appreciate that you took the time to reply. In reading your response, I couldn't help but notice the obvious similarities in the way we frame our beliefs. I have tried to point to these similarities below - and I have chosen to do so with an example of a trans natal male so you do not feel like I am calling you out (I am not.).

So, bear with me when I say this isn't possible, I'm trying the best I can to engage with the problem you stated, without having to redefine what it means to be trans.

And natal women are trying the best we can to understand you, without having to redefine what it means to be women.

Trans is a descriptor, not an identity.

Gender is a system of oppression, not an identity.

No matter what my ideology is (and it's changed a lot over the years), I am trans, and I have been since at least the 4th grade, if not all of my life.

No matter what my ideology is (and it's changed a lot over the years), I am female and have been since birth. I am currently a woman, and have been since puberty.

My identity has changed/been more thoroughly discovered all throughout my life, especially in the past few years. But I am trans as much as I'm male.*

My identity has changed/been more thoroughly discovered all throughout my life. But I am a woman as much as I am a female.

I say all of that to point out that if your identity is "woman", and you're female-bodied, then you're clearly not trans in any way.

I say these things to point out that if your sex is male, and you are male-bodied, then you're clearly not a woman in any way.

However, if your identity has something to do with wanting a feminized male body, then that's a nonbinary identity, and I'm going to be using that identity to answer the rest of the questions.

At this point, you have taken my hypothesis in a direction in which it was not intended to go. I thought I was pretty clear about this, but I understand if you were confused.

I don't know that all of the intricacies of the trans experience are universal such that you could understand them simply by being trans.

I don't know that all of the intricacies of the female experience are universal such that you could understand them simply by believing you are a woman.

There are some universal parts of the experience, but there's also a lot of parts that are only experienced by some people. So, I would say no trans person understands all of the intricacies from experience alone. You have to research and listen.

And here is another place where our thoughts diverge.

Obviously, one person cannot speak for every experience of every person within their group, whether it be religious, sexual, race, hair-color, etc.

When we speak of oppression or discrimination of certain peoples, however, we try to represent the most universally experienced truths. It would be impossible to record and evaluate each individual's specific experience before speaking, but reading a history book or two will often provide information about the most universal experiences.

It depends on what the specific definition of those funds are for. If they're for natal males, you're out of luck. If they're for binary trans women, you'd also be out of luck. Most such funds would be open to nonbinary people, though, so you would likely be fine

If I relate this to the responses I've often heard from trans natal males about seeking scholarships designated for women, etc., I must state that my hypothetical character will state that it doesn't matter if I am not a natal male, or if I am a binary trans woman because I know, I have felt that I am a trans woman. It has been my experience from a very young age.

To deny me funds for trans women is to discriminate against me for not being the kind of trans woman people think I should be. That does not change the fact that I am a trans woman.

Even if a trans natal male does this to another trans natal male, that's not right. Who you are, or what your identity is doesn't really change that.

When a trans natal male does this to a female, that's not right. Who you are, what your identity is, doesn't change that.

You'd have to break down the persecutions, because surely there's some you could have faced, but others you wouldn't've. Self-doubt, I'd absolutely understand. Especially if you were already a natal female, but felt that you wanted to feminize your body, but not as a natal female, that would be really confusing.

Again, I never mentioned wanting a masculine body that has been feminized, etc. etc.

It's really about having actually had specific experiences. I think you can speak to any experience you've had, so long as you're not dismissing others who've also had that experience.

It's really about having actually had specific experiences as a natal female. I think you can speak to any experience you've had as a trans natal male, so long as you're not dismissing natal females and their experiences.

If it happened, that would be shitty. I agree. Using slurs to address people we don't understand or agree with is very shitty.

That's beyond shitty.

Agreed - abusing people (and this includes the abuse that natal women suffer at the hands of natal men) is beyond shitty.

I don't know. I feel like reactions would vary so much by the individual. I mean, if you're definitely trans and aware of it, that stuff's gonna effect you, right? It would impact any trans person negatively. Maybe you'd get mad. Maybe you'd get depressed.

Again, let's address this in general truths. Do you think my experience with the slurs about trans people and the the spitting on me because I'm a trans woman (even though I am a natal woman) would be the same as a trans natal male's experience?

• Now the star to the first paragraph. I'm well aware of the clear rhetorical parallels between trans-as-descriptor and woman-as-descriptor. What those parallels lack, though, is real world context parallels.

In asking these questions, I believe it was clear that I was not trying to describe an actual experience. I was asking because in general, I have not spoken with any trans natal males who have ever tried to understand natal women and our concerns and feelings about trans ideology. I sought to humanize gender critical folks for trans folks.

Trans ideology is an attempt to explain the real world experience of dysphoria felt by tens of millions of people worldwide.

Gender Critical ideology is an attempt to explain the real world experience of sex-based-oppression experienced by millions and millions of women for millennia.

Basically, there are trans people, and we think we understand why. If there were no trans people, and it were merely an academic question of whether a natal male could identify as a woman and thus be one, the quick answer would essentially be, "but that doesn't happen."

Basically, natal females experience oppression that is based on our biology - our reproductive organs. Even if a natal female is born without the capability of reproducing, she is oppressed for the same biology, because it is automatically assumed that because of her biology she can. We are oppressed, and our biology makes us unique, and we think we understand why.

Again, I hope you understand that I have written these things in the hopes of helping trans people better understand gender critical people.