I'm not welcoming Bruce Jenner into the sisterhood. We frown upon appropriating culture, so, too, do I frown upon appropriating sexuality (more on this later). It's not that I care what someone does on their own time—and if that's what this was, people minding their own business and living their lives, it wouldn't be an issue—but it's no longer on someone's own time. People used to say “what goes on behind closed doors …” but things are no longer behind closed doors and it's not simply that the doors are open, either; it's that some are forcefully ushering everyone else into the room and told to legitimize with their approval the lifestyle choices of the individual in question. I and other females are told that we are no different from someone who buys a tube of Mac lipstick and the best plastic surgery in town. We are told that our sex, our gender, is a nothing more than a new product at retail. You can identify, but I will not.

I discussed this passionately on today's show, below.

I didn't care what Jenner did at first. I didn't care when the cover made headlines, when he invited cameras into his home to show off his personal life. I started to care when, upon casually referencing it on air, I received a few emails chastising me for using the wrong pronoun. I'm expected to refine my speech? A day later I saw a trailer for Bruce Jenner’s new reality show, “I Am Cait,” documenting his transition to identifying as a woman. While applying makeup he says he “never understood until now” the pressure women are under where it concerns our looks. It struck me as a somewhat ironic statement.
It is insulting to think that women are nothing more than boobs and makeup. Stick on your acrylic nails, wear fake eyelashes, shave down your jawline, remove your Adam’s apple, it doesn’t make you a woman. You can get all the plastic surgery you want but being a woman is more than all of these things. It was something that used to be valued. Now, we have women who don’t even value it in themselves, much less value it in other women. We are told that we are not special and not unique, that you can walk into a surgeon’s office and buy “being a woman.” Women grow and nurture life in more ways than one. In my full podcast I say that women love differently. We think differently. We experience differently. We are biologically different. Men and women are wonderfully different and amazing. Why do we have such a hard time celebrating these unique qualities?

This isn’t the new normal. It’s a mental illness. I absolutely am not “politically incorrect,” or “hateful” because I take exception to society insisting that a man is every bit as much of a woman as I am because he believes himself to be such. Is this the so-called “equality” over which feminists salivated? This numbing homogeny?

You are not a woman. You will never be a woman. That title is something that is earned. It is not a persona or a skin you can slip into one day when the moment is right. It is not something you think you are and then later mutilate your body to match. What goes into becoming a woman cannot be surgically inserted (or removed for that matter). It cannot be gained in therapy or a lifetime of feeling different or found in the hem of a particularly stunning dress. I think even the most hardcore of feminists would agree it is far more than biological, certainly much deeper than psychological. You will never understand the careful navigation of the world every girl must figure out for herself. You’ll never know what it’s like to be a little girl in a man’s world or what it’s like to watch your body change into that weird in-between stage when all the boys around you are still little boys and you’re turning into a woman without even really wanting it. You’ll never know what it’s like to deal with a monthly cycle, or even what it’s like to be the very rare woman who doesn’t get her monthly but still has to deal with the stigma of being a teenager developing more slowly than her peers. Ovaries are not just anatomy. They play a big part in who we are as women. There are many, many women out there who have had their ovaries removed for various medical reasons. You are not even like them, because those women also deal with the emotional and physical repercussions of being a woman who had ovaries and can no longer let them stay in her body.

Womanhood is a unique journey. For my daughter’s sake and the sake of my fellow women who battle every day to be recognized as valuable for their womanhood and not just in spite of it, I cannot cheapen that journey by allowing you to suddenly claim that moniker having never truly known the price.

I wholeheartedly agree with Kira. Cultural appropriation is bad but sexual appropriation is fine? If I wanted to mimic Kirk Lazarus from “Tropic Thunder” and identify as a black woman simply by changing my skin color, would that not be considered an offensive and cheap appropriation? Is it wrong that I do consider it cheap appropriation? Cameron Crowe is under fire because he cast Emma Stone in the role of a part-Chinese, part- Hawaiian character. What if Stone “identified” as half Chinese and half Hawaiian? Where is the line drawn? We already have the “disabled by choice” movement, called “transabled,” where people identify as disabled and some of them cut off their own limbs to make it a reality.

This was an interesting read:

Watch the Wikipedia page for the 400 meter sprint over the coming days. The page was recently edited to add the following line about the world record time for women:

The current women’s world record is held by Marita Koch, with a time of 47.60 seconds. However Caitlyn Jenner is the fastest woman’s performer of all time, running a time of 47.51 in 1976 while competing under the name Bruce Jenner.

After this line was added, the page went through a flurry of revisions before the line was stricken and moved over to the Talk section, where the following comment now resides:

Caitlyn Jenner ran a 47.51 at the 1976 Olympics, a best of all time for women in the event. At the time, she went by the name Bruce. I feel it would be extremely transphobic to erase her identity and belittle her accomplishments by failing to mention this time. Although the IAAF has not, and likely will not, ratify Caitlyn’s time as a world record, it deserves mention here as an all-time woman’s best. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.235.91.193 (talk) 15:40, 2 June 2015 (UTC)

A 37-year old man, Fallon Fox, decided to identify as a female, underwent surgery to replicate a female appearance, and fights in MMA leagues with only one loss to his record. Fox desperately wants a UFC contract, and thinks that challenging UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is his admittance ticket. He attacked and taunted Rousey and other female fighters for declining to fight him. What is the point of having a women’s division if men can pretend they're women, switch divisions, and dominate, obliterating women’s records? How far will it go: taking their places on sports teams? College scholarships? Women have to give up these achievements because of political correctness?

This is no longer a choice that doesn't affect anyone. It's a societal demand that we ignore the born biology of human beings.

Last night Jon Stewart criticized the “sexist” media tone of Bruce Jenner’s coverage, saying:

“It’s really heartening to see that everyone is willing to not only accept Caitlyn Jenner as a woman, but to waste no time in treating her like a woman. Caitlyn, when you were a man, we could talk about your athleticism, your business acumen. But now you’re a woman, and your looks are really the only thing we care about.”

During the 2008 presidential cycle we had accomplished women in both major parties vying for the offices of the presidency and vice-presidency. Few talked of their accomplishments, instead, we heard about their pantsuits, wardrobe budgets, whether or not one should be running for office because how can she balance campaigning with school-aged children? and more. It was reprehensible. But a man identifies as a woman and suddenly talking about his appearance is sexist? Well I’m glad that a man defends another man for being attacked in a perceived “sexist” manner. If only Stewart defended women when we’re attacked the same way. All this does is teach that only men can break glass ceilings.

**THIS is also a good read.