“There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said.”
Bette Midler is clarifying what she meant in her transphobic tweet — but TBH, it didn’t really help anything.
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Earlier this week, the Hocus Pocus actor shared her thoughts about women’s rights, heavily implying that trans-inclusive language would lead to the erasure of women.
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In the tweet, Bette wrote that women are being erased and stripped of their name when they are referred to as “birthing people,” “menstruators,” or “people with vaginas.”
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 / Via Twitter: @BetteMidler
Obviously, a lot of people didn’t appreciate Bette’s tweet, which racked up thousands of responses alerting her to the very transphobic nature of her comments.
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Following the backlash, Bette finally offered some clarification about her tweet, but it kind of completely missed the point.
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Bette explained that her comment was not transphobic, and was instead based on a “fascinating and well written piece” from the New York Times — an article that happens to be widely regarded as transphobic.
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD! My tweet about women was a response to this fascinating and well written piece in the NYT on July 3rd. https://t.co/MlsATlrr1r. There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said; it wasn’t about that.
@bettemidler / Brooke DiDonato / Redux / Via Twitter: @BetteMidler
The recent NYT opt-ed, “The Far Right and Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don’t Count,” was criticized for equating the far right’s war on reproductive rights to the left’s “effectively misogynist agenda” of advocating for gender-neutral language that would be more inclusive for trans people.
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Despite Bette clearly not hearing about the backlash surrounding the article, she insisted that her comments were not transphobic.
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“There was no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic in what I said; it wasn’t about that,” Bette wrote.
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She continued, “It was about the same old shit women – ALL WOMEN – have been putting up with since the cavemen. Even then, men got top billing.”
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Bette then encouraged anyone who thinks she has “anything but love for any marginalized people” to visit her Wikipedia page.
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“I’ve fought for marginalized people for as long as I can remember. Still, if you want to dismiss my 60 years of proven love and concern over a tweet that accidentally angered the very people I have always supported and adored, so be it,” Bette wrote.
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Bette wrapped things up by telling her followers that “Democracy is slipping through our fingers” and she is “all in on trying to save Democracy for ALL PEOPLE.”
I have always supported and adored, so be it.
But the truth is, Democracy is slipping through our fingers! I’m all in on trying to save Democracy for ALL PEOPLE. We must unite, because, in case you haven’t been paying attention, divided we will definitely fall.
@BetteMidler / Via Twitter: @BetteMidler
“We must unite, because, in case you haven’t been paying attention, divided we will definitely fall,” Bette concluded.
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Unfortunately, there was no mention of an apology — and it sounds a lot like Bette still stands by what she said.
