It’s always hard witnessing our favorites get dragged by social media but we all should know by now, that Black Twitter will drag their own family members if they come incorrect.
Feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie found herself at the center of controversy after an interview where she made some very opinionated comments about gender identity, specifically transgender women. While promoting her new book Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, Adichie shared her feelings on how trans women are just that–trans women. Her argument stems from the idea that because many trans women have been assigned and raised male from birth until they decide to transition, male privilege they may have received fundamentally sets their experiences apart from cisgender women.
“I think the whole problem of gender in the world is about our experiences,” she said. “It’s not about how we wear our hair or whether we have a vagina or a penis. It’s about the way the world treats us, and I think if you’ve lived in the world as a man with the privileges that the world accords to men and then sort of change gender, it’s difficult for me to accept that then we can equate your experience with the experience of a woman who has lived from the beginning as a woman and who has not been accorded those privileges that men are.”
She went on to add that she does, however, support transgender people’s existence, saying they’re allowed to be whatever they want but their experiences should not be fused with women’s experiences. “I don’t think it’s a good thing to talk about women’s issues being exactly the same as the issues of trans women because I don’t think that’s true,” she said.
There was a rift between those that supported Adichie and her personal beliefs while others felt like she was dead wrong.
Some people were very supportive…
Chimamanda handled that topic in the classiest of ways. To acknowledge unique differences in struggle is not to deny the struggle of others.
— lucas is 27 + 2 (@awkwardunique) March 10, 2017
And were still fans at the end of the day.
I just love that Chimamanda does not bend backwards to make everybody happy with her. She says what she means and means what she says.
— WANDE DELALA (@Sheriiberri) March 11, 2017
On the other hand, some people were NOT here for it…
Chimamanda being asked about trans women is like Lena Dunham being asked about Black women. It doesn't work. We can speak for ourselves.
— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) March 11, 2017
And wanted her canceled immediately.
Someone come get your fave Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and fix her politics around trans women, please. As in like immediately.
— Zoé Samudzi (@ztsamudzi) March 10, 2017
Watch the full video below and share your thoughts. Was she right or wrong?
