In this episode of Misunderstood, Kat and Nat talk about the controversial topic of "what is a woman?" with a special guest, Leah Thomas. They discuss Leah's journey to self-discovery of her identity as a woman, and dive into the controversial issue of abortion.
00:07:24.980And children because they're an extension of us.
00:07:27.860Yeah, and I saw a clip of Emma Watson.
00:07:30.700And she was having – I don't know what it was for, but she was having a conversation with a trans woman.
00:07:35.340And this woman was like, what would you say to people who are uncomfortable seeing me in the bathroom as, like, this biological male entering a female's bathroom?
00:07:43.180And she was like – she did not know what to say, first of all.
00:07:45.920She – it was like this – she's well-educated, but you would never know hearing her response.
00:08:02.060But it was just this – it was this crap.
00:08:04.300Like, she had nothing to say because –
00:08:05.640She would not like it if a frigging intact male came into her bathroom, any bathroom that she was in, and just whipped it out and started urinating.
00:08:49.200But then it trickles down to, like, where kids are in the locker room now.
00:08:52.120And then now they're – like, little girls should not be exposed to that.
00:08:54.360But when you're in college, it's, like, to pretend that you've never seen a wiener, either in person or on the internet, it's, like, a little bit –
00:09:43.780So, there's another article I think we should maybe address here.
00:09:47.380Leah Thomas is the latest target in culture war on trans athletes, critics say.
00:09:53.660So, I guess this is in response, of course, to the Florida Parental Rights and Education Bill, of course, because that affects CBC just so deeply and personally.
00:10:19.820So, according to Donnelly, there's little scientific reliable research on the performance advantages of trans women compared to cisgender women.
00:10:27.480The International Olympic Committee's IOC recently updated framework for trans athlete indicates this.
00:10:32.260So, I was like, okay, so this person is saying that there is – she seems to have some sort of intel that there's no biological difference – like advantage.
00:10:42.740But – so, I'm like, okay, so I went to the International Olympic Committee's source that she sourced.
00:10:49.340Like, I went to that website and it basically just says that the role of testosterone in performance across sports – so, they're literally just talking about testosterone.
00:10:59.600They're not talking – they're literally not talking about bone density, muscle mass, endurance, brain, whatever.
00:11:04.840They're only talking about how much testosterone you have in your body at the time of the actual performance, which we still have evidence to suggest it has a major difference.
00:12:49.180Why do we think, though, these weird articles are trying to make us sympathize with Leah's position and completely ignoring how biological women are feeling in these spaces?
00:13:19.840I mean, I think it's like – I'm sort of joking when I say this, but I think it's fair to say, like, not a lot of people actually care about women's sports.
00:13:26.800It's, like, kind of rude, but it's like they don't make as much money in sports because not a lot – not as many people are watching it.
00:13:33.780It's a lot of people who are involved in the sports and those families, and there are some fans, of course, but, like, look at female basketball versus male basketball, female soccer versus male soccer.
00:13:50.320So, it's like, yeah, to answer your question, it's like, because we're trying to protect women, like, is it the sport hill that I care about so much dying on?
00:14:01.740I don't watch college swimming normally or ever.
00:14:05.220But it's like, so when this happens, it starts to trickle down into society to the point where my daughter will be disadvantaged by men in the future.
00:14:14.940And I'm like, I thought that we stopped that.
00:18:25.820Um, and then in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that no father has a legal right to veto a woman's abortion.
00:18:34.580Yeah, so just going back a little bit, let's also just let people know, for those who don't know what Roe v. Wade actually was.
00:18:42.100Yeah, so it was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court ruled that the Constitution of the U.S. protects a woman's liberty,
00:18:48.680a pregnant woman's liberty, to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
00:18:53.800And pro-life activists—activists, wow—in the U.S. are trying to get this reversed this year.
00:19:03.540Yeah, so basically this federal law overrode all the—sorry.
00:19:07.980Yeah, the federal law overrode all of the, like—
00:19:12.760So the reason I think we wanted to talk about this is because of the babies, the five fully formed aborted babies that were found in D.C., I guess last week.
00:19:26.920So basically, a group was like a pro-life activist group.
00:19:33.760A whistleblower had informed them that there were fetuses at a local abortion clinic in D.C.
00:19:39.700So basically, they collabed, and they arranged to pick these fetuses up and bring them home, and then they were going to return them or give them—hand them over to the police, rather.
00:19:50.860So basically, the babies were in late gestational ages, and their apparent sustained injuries show violations of the Partial Birth Abortion Act, as well as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which are federal crimes.
00:20:02.680So they're alleging that this abortionist from this clinic did this illegally.
00:20:07.680They were aborted illegally, essentially, is why there's so much outrage and confusion.
00:20:57.740Yeah, but I would assume, like, because I'm a reasonable person, I would assume, well, that's only the case when it's clear that the mother, like, locked the baby in a room and didn't touch it for seven days.
00:21:05.400Which is what a lot of abortion clinics do, by the way.
00:21:41.160If you're—that's a really good point, Nat, because I was like, you might not want to look at them, and I did not because it upset me a lot.
00:21:50.820It's humbling, and it's also like, wow, I didn't—like, when I was doing research for this episode, I was not aware of how fast fetuses grow in the womb.
00:22:00.120So basically at 10 weeks, which is where you can no longer have—like, 10 to 12 weeks is where you can no longer have, like, the pill abortion.
00:22:08.620So you have to have a surgical abortion, which is way more gruesome.
00:22:59.440And so if I was just, like, a young girl and I was Googling, like, how do I get an abortion in Toronto, they were like, oh, you can do it anywhere.
00:23:35.720So it's, like—it's a huge topic and a really hard one to talk about, especially among women, because you never know who might have had an abortion.
00:23:49.580Yeah, and I think that's a good point, because it's funny, because so many people say that, oh, women don't have psychological, like, effects after getting an abortion.
00:24:24.740And I just—I think it's important to talk about that aspect of it rather than—you know, we don't want to point fingers at anyone who's had an abortion.
00:25:57.820And we have that article that we were looking at earlier that was basically the sentiment was, like, yeah, abortions are about to get more expensive, ladies.
00:26:06.540Like, you might have to travel 100 miles to get one.
00:26:10.06016-year-old girl reading this article.
00:26:11.960Yeah, and it's, like, why aren't we talking about, like, safe sex or, like, no sex or, like, birth control?
00:28:32.000And it's, like, once a human being has the ability to know it's alive and it doesn't want to die, like, you're committing murder, I would argue.
00:28:39.580Yeah, I think that's what that's called.
00:34:02.220Even if you're not looking to have an abortion yourself, like, when it comes up in conversation, we want to be compassionate.
00:34:06.660And we don't want to, like, yell at people for having questions about it or for if they've done it.
00:34:11.400And, like, we don't know how they're feeling now.
00:34:14.080But definitely don't shy away from the conversation, which I know is a really hard thing to do because you don't want to hurt your friend's feelings or whatever.
00:34:19.180But it's a conversation that you need to have.