PRESS STATEMENT FROM A COLLECTIVE OF TRANS AND GENDER DIVERSE ORGANISATIONS, IN RESPONSE TO NTSIKI MAZWAI’S TRANSPHOBIC POSTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 18 JANUARY 2023

.

On the 16th of January 2023, Ntsiki Mazwai published a problematic and hurtful tweet asserting the harmful and ungrounded view that women’s rights are threatened by trans rights. She wrote a post sharing her pervasive and problematic views about women of trans experience. We, as organisations who exist to ensure that the human rights of all members of the LGBTIQ community are respected and upheld; collectively call on Mazwai to remove this dangerous post and apologise to the trans community.

.

Despite societal perceptions and attitudes that force transgender women to exist at the margins of society, transgender women are women and we have always been part of African cultures and history and therefore our existence will never be erased.

.

“When trans people are born into the world, we do not have access to the kind of language that we can use to define, and better understand ourselves. The word trans is used by trans women to better define our lived experiences of womanhood.” says Social Health & Empowerment Director, Leigh Ann van der Merwe

.

As organisations whose work is grounded in intersectional feminist praxis, we are aware that transgender women and cisgender women navigate life differently and may experience different struggles. Also looking at the inclusive and evolutionary nature of language, this difference does not mean that transgender women are not women. Claiming that gender is determined only by narrow physical/biological factors is misinformed and bio-essentialist. It ignores decades of scientific research that shows that gender, like all human characteristics, is a spectrum, not a binary, and is composed of complex social and biological factors. Trans Exclusionary Radical “Feminists” have always relied on biological essentialism as a tactic to marginalise trans women based on the assumption that we benefit from male privilege.

.

The main objective of feminism is to offer women choice, the power, and agency, to be and become our own decision makers. We believe that honouring the diversity of women’s lived experiences and histories is integral to the feminist cause. Mazwai claims to be a feminist and yet is policing the way other women make sense of their bodies, and lived experiences. To this affect her tweet opinion is not only anti-feminist, but also extremely transphobic and violent. By leaning into gender essentialism, Mazwai promotes and supports the very same patriarchal and misogynistic gender stereotypes she claims to stand against, sentiments which are damaging and harmful to ALL women. True feminists do not wish to limit any woman’s identity or freedom to fully be herself.

.

Nelly Mahloko, a young trans woman from rural Free State: “It’s very disappointing to see influential persons saying such hateful words that can easily increase the rate of killings of trans women. We need laws to prevent such hate speech that can drive us to be killed. Not only did Ntsiki impose violence on the trans community, but her post also sparked a spate of transphobic violence in the comment section of the post. These comments have far reaching policy implications. Too often, these utterings lead to systemic violence perpetuated in healthcare and access to justice. At no point in my life have I ever benefited from male privilege, in fact, I have been ostracised and denied because of my diverse gender expression”.

.

We do not condone Ntsiki Mazwai’s intolerant and exclusionary thinking, and further not accept people who share views which incite violence on the bodies of all women. The views shared by Ntsiki Mazwai on the Twitter media platform are anti-feminist and infringe on trans women’s right to dignity, bodily autonomy, and self-determination. Such comments are the basis of the systematic stigma and discrimination geared towards the trans community and undo decades of work done by women, and the entire South African queer movement, geared at creating a nation where ALL women are respected and can express themselves safely, and freely.

.

Signed by:
SHE, Gender DynamiX, Iranti, TransHope, Iphimbo Luthingo, Trans Wellness Project and Triangle Project.