Bette Midler has defended herself after her scandalous tweet. The post, which was criticized as “transphobic”, was not meant that way.
A tweet from Bette Midler (76) has been causing an uproar since Monday (July 4). In it, she stated that women should “not be erased” and criticized the terms “parturient”, “menstruating” and “people with vaginas”. Many fans felt offended by this and called the tweet “transphobic”. The “Hocus Pocus” star has now responded to this in further tweets.
Her widely criticized tweet was a response to an article in the New York Times. “The Far Right and Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don’t Count” reads the headline. “I didn’t intend to say anything exclusionary or transphobic; that wasn’t my point,” Midler explains. Rather, she wanted to get out on “the same old shit that women – all women – have had to put up with since the cavemen”: “Even then, men came first.”
Bette Midler has ‘fought for marginalized groups for as long as I can remember’
“But seriously, folks, if anyone reading this tweet thinks I have anything other than love for marginalized people, go to Wikipedia and put my name in,” the 76-year-old defended. Bette Midler has “fought for marginalized groups as long as I can remember”.
“But if you want to dismiss my 60 years of love and care over a tweet that inadvertently upset the very people I’ve always supported and adored, so be it,” she continued. The truth is that “democracy is slipping through our fingers”. Midler was “determined to save democracy for all people”. “We have to unite because if you weren’t careful, divided we will definitely fall,” she appealed.
This tweet had caused criticism
Bette Midler’s full tweet on July 4th read: “Women of the world! We are being deprived of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even our name! We’re no longer called ‘women’, but ‘giving birth’ or ‘menstruating’ and even ‘People with vaginas’! Don’t let them wipe you out! Every person on earth owes you one!”
