Germaine Greer is not a feminist.
I say this with absolute certainty, because a feminist is someone who supports other women, and who doesn't dictate what traits someone needs to have in order to be defined as 'female'.
Feminism does not discriminate against a woman's lifestyle choice: how much make-up she wears/doesn't wear; the way in which she chooses to dress, act or speak; or her sexual activities or preferences - for those things do not make you any more or less a woman.
A feminist supports womankind. In a age where females are encouraged to intimidate one another and to bring each other down, feminism is what unites us.
Greer's comments come after Caitlyn Jenner, former Olympic athlete, was awarded Glamour magazine's prestigious "Woman of the Year" award. Greer said that trans-women were not "real women". And whilst everyone is entitled to an opinion, I find it so disturbing that someone with Greer's intellect would ever hold such a belief.
Feminism supports that we can dress, act and be whomever and whatever we want to be, for no one else's pleasure but our own. Womanhood does not preclude those who have had the misfortune of being born in the wrong body.
As someone with a transgendered family member, I've witnessed the courage it takes to transition. Greer is labouring under the misapprehension that people have a sex change on some kind of a whim - which couldn't be further from the truth. It is not something you choose to do overnight. Being trans is something you'll struggle with before and after you transition. It destroys relationships, it wreaks havoc with your hormones and it makes you continually question yourself, on the quest to feel like the real 'you'. And if that's not brave or worthy of an award, I don't know what is.
I'm not sure Jenner is the best advocate for the transgendered community, as most people in her situation don't have the level of wealth or fame she has. But I feel strongly that Jenner is more than worthy of such an award; for not only has she brought the struggles of being transgender into the mainstream and made people of her generation aware of her issues, but her awards as an Olympic athlete and as a doting father prove that she is more than just her looks. After all, feminism is about being proud to be a woman, and being a strong, loving and powerful one at that.
Greer's suggestions that your congenital biology alone makes you a woman are the comments that upset me the most. Your breasts do not define you as a woman; it's your character and inner-strength that does. And there are plenty of biologically-born women not worthy of such a title.
So no, by birth, Jenner is not a woman. But with her level of campaigning for trans rights, and a lifetime of fighting who she really is, she is all woman to me.