Bette Midler fans are calling on the Hocus Pocus star to not “buy into the rhetoric” that women’s rights are at odds with trans equality.
It comes after the 76-year-old posted a tweet on 4 July which claimed that women are being erased: “WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us ‘women’ anymore; they call us ‘birthing people’ or ‘menstruators’, and even ‘people with vaginas’! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!”
Admirers of Midler were quick to express their disappointment in the actress.
“Really disappointed in this as a trans man and a Bette Midler fan,” one person responded.
“Bette, including trans men in the conversation about reproductive health does not harm women. We have the same organs, and even greater vulnerability, as cis woman.”
Another stated: “Bette, this is disappointing to see from you. These are terms we use to include trans men and non-binary people who can get pregnant. It is absurd and dangerous to be lumping attempts at trans inclusivity in with right wing attempts to control our bodies as threats.”
WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us “women” anymore; they call us “birthing people” or “menstruators”, and even “people with vaginas”! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 4, 2022
Roxane Gay, author of books such as Bad Feminist, added: “No one is trying to erase women with inclusive language about people who need abortion care. No one is calling you anything but what you prefer. You should extend that courtesy in return.”
Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera asked Midler to not “fall for the anti-trans panic fake nonsense.”
“No one is erasing women,” they told the Parental Guidance star. “In a few small healthcare cases where appropriate they are using trans inclusive language. That’s all.”
Drag Race UK’s Crystal was among the thousands of people replying to Midler’s tweet: “The fight for women’s rights INCLUDES trans people – trans rights do not erode women’s rights. We’re all fighting this together and this trans-exclusionary rhetoric does NOTHING to help that.
“Bette – you are a woman. Some other people who give birth are not women. That’s ok!”
Midler’s comment comes not long after a sequel to 1993’s Hocus Pocus was announced, which is set to pick up 29 years after the original left off.
Latest
