Attending Smith College was an amazing experience. I fondly remember walking into downtown Northampton, kayaking on paradise pond, and studying in the botanical gardens. I loved the community and have been appalled to hear that Smith is under investigation for admitting trans women. First of all, women are women. Anyone who says she is a woman is a woman. Second of all, I don’t like being told how I feel or felt going to Smith as a cis woman having trans women there. Being told these policies are to protect me and my safety makes me feel like my feelings and opinions are being decided for me.
As a Black woman, I thought about how in the past Black people were not allowed into certain white colleges and schools and now how crazy that would sound if a school such as Smith was under investigation for having Black students admitted. This to me is how crazy and appalling it should sound to hear that Smith is being investigated for admitting trans women. While I hear some people argue that being a trans woman is a “choice” and being Black is something you are born into, I disagree. What I will say in response to that notion is that I don’t believe it is a choice but a feeling of identity to realize you’re trans. Instead of attacking this and being nitty gritty on if it’s a choice, be happy and embrace and accept who someone is when they tell you who they are rather than attack it like lawyers. I’m also biracial and in the past there were different laws where depending on how Black you were, you had different rights. There was also the one-drop rule, stating that having even one Black ancestor makes a person Black, and many other state-sanctioned laws and rules used to control people. Looking back this is also ridiculous. We are going backwards and attacking trans people the way we have historically attacked Black people and continue to do so in every day present micro aggressions. This also harms cis women because they may be accused of being trans just because their appearance does not conform to society’s stereotypical, narrow, heteronormative standards.
When I think about my experience at Smith, I think about how not only in dorms did people have visitors of any gender constantly in our one bathroom like in any dorm, but also we are part of a Five College Consortium and had students of any gender from other schools in classes. It is a women’s space, but that doesn’t mean people of other genders are not going to be there. Some professors there are male and people may transition while in school to non-binary or male or fluctuate identity throughout this college experience. Smith is an environment that is hopefully safe and comfortable for most individuals to explore identity not just in gender but across other aspects of their identity going into adulthood.
Gender is not biology. I was a biology major and still don’t believe that. I think our focus on genitals is gross and no one’s business. We are adults and your only business with genitals is if you’re in a consensual sexual relationship with someone.
Additionally, this investigation is so harmful and disgusting, but my heart goes out to anyone at Smith who identifies as a trans woman because all this does is puts a spotlight on them and alienates them. Smith should be a comfortable place and an environment to meet people, have a nice college experience, and not feel like the world is looking at you like you don’t belong.
As a rape victim, when it comes to bathrooms I believe there can be individual experiences around feeling unsafe or having uncomfortable interactions in bathrooms. However, I don’t believe that isolating a population that is statitistally low for being known perpetrators is the answer. That is like saying most cis men are statistically the ones who rape so let’s remove them from the U.S. so women feel safe. Safety comes from education of consent and making it safe to report. Safety does not come from discrimination of trans women for parts they were born with and calling them biologically male. A woman is a woman if she says so. It is a disgusting attitude and a more harassing attitude to focus on the genitals of who is using the bathroom. There are stalls for a reason and in my experience at Smith stalls were used and people’s business remained private. Trying to expose and draw attention to something we know as “private parts” from a young age is more than invasive; it’s horrifying and disgusting. There is a reason we learn to keep our business private and restricting who can go where based on genitals and not respecting the person as more than the private parts they were born with rather than who they are as a person and what they have to say is objectifying. This goes back to racial discrimination based on hate that was focused on being born Black.
Zaida Block (she/her/hers) is a Smith College graduate of the Class of 2021 and lives in Cambridge.