Aretha Franklin’s song Natural Woman is now considered OFFENSIVE to trans women

Aretha Franklin’s song A Natural Woman is being criticized by LGBTQ critics as “offensive,” with one organization in particular saying the tune helps perpetuate harmful anti-trans stereotypes.

Released as a single by the late Queen of Soul in 1967, the soulful love ballad is now facing scrutiny, despite preaching positive messages regarding women and femininity in general.

Leading the charge to have the song rejected is the Norway-based Trans Cultural Mindfulness Alliance (TCMA), a group that began to form earlier this year and has since made its presence known with a series of polarizing posts on social networks.

Since then, statements made by the organization, which seeks to open a chapter “in every European country and North America,” have sparked outrage, including its request on January 20 to remove Franklin’s song from streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

The post, perceived by many as a parody, began by stating that the song is offensive to transgender people and that “there is no such thing as a ‘natural’ woman.”

“Aretha Franklin’s 1968 song ‘Natural Woman’ perpetuates multiple harmful anti-trans stereotypes,” reads the post, which erroneously lists the song’s September 1967 release as 1968.

“There is no such thing as a ‘natural’ woman,” the organization continued, before stating that the song has already “helped inspire acts of harm against transgender women.”

TCMA said it is requesting that the song be “removed from Spotify and Apple Music.”

The post, the group’s first on social media, would go on to garner national attention, racking up more than 300,000 views in a matter of days.

In terms of likes, however, the reception was more lukewarm: the post as of Monday only numbered just over 100.

Social media users were quick to question whether the account, started just days ago, was satirical, designed to fan the flames fueling the ongoing war between progressives and the political right.

Other posts that would follow contained statements considered by many to be just as controversial, and some even more so.

“There have been no meaningful studies on the gender identities of pets,” read a post later that day, in which organizers told parents that children should be able to decide on the gender of their pets.

“It seems pointless, but many children learn the gender of their pets,” the organizers wrote. “Just because you bring home a ‘gendered’ pet, allow your child to choose the pet’s gender, don’t assign one ‘at will.’

In another on feminine hygiene, organizers wrote: ‘You don’t need to bleed to get a period. You do not have to ovulate to get your period.

“A period is a state of mind rather than an actual state of being,” the post continued, before stating that biological men who have transitioned ‘You can absolutely have periods and you need free hygiene products.’

Other requests put forward by the organization included a ban on including gender on birth certificates in his native Norway and “an international police force to prosecute bigotry.”

Despite claims by many that the group is legitimate, including from TCMA itself, many users remain skeptical, believing the blatant requests are a joke.

The group, however, attested to its legitimacy in a post published Monday morning.

“To clarify, TCMA is not a parody organization,” it said, adding that the organizers “are a group of trans people looking to make the culture more fair for transgender people.”

“We are headquartered in Norway, but we are looking to open a chapter in every European country and also in North America,” the group revealed.

That said, following their initial post demanding streamers pull out Franklin’s classic tune, TCMA quickly found themselves at the center of backlash on social media.

“You have got to be kidding,” wrote one. “No one cancels Aretha Franklin.”

Another user, who admitted he thought the account was a joke at first, added: I thought you had to be a parody but I looked at the accounts you follow and it looks like you might be serious.

“You all level up crazy every day so it’s hard to tell,” the user continued. ‘Just in case, there DOES exist such a thing as a natural woman. They are born with female chromosomes + anatomy. Seek help.’

Someone else wrote that the tweet was the “stupiest” they’d ever seen on the platform, before demanding “on behalf of all normal people” that the group delete their Twitter account.

“If you don’t like the song or the sentiment, don’t listen to it,” another user simply instructed.

Others, including Standing for Women founder Kellie-Jay Keen, criticized the request to remove the song as misogynistic and an affront to women’s ownership of their own femininity.

Appearing for an interview with Sky News Australia on Sunday as the backlash against the organization continues, Keen insisted that “being a woman is not a crime.”

“Being a mother, that’s also coming under attack, now we’re called people who are giving birth or people who are pregnant,” said Keen, who appeared for the interview in front of a sign inscribed with the aforementioned phrase.

“I don’t think a lot of women really know how much they hate us, I hate to say it… I don’t have a victim mentality, but it’s really hard to ignore the misogyny of this particular movement.

“It means a man who says he’s afraid to go to the men’s room; his words are more believable than a woman who says she doesn’t want that man in her space.”

The group, according to their social media profiles, was founded in January 2023 “exclusively by trans people” and seeks to instill “cultural changes to ensure the inclusion of trans people.”

The group’s request to remove Franklin’s song has yet to gain the attention of more notable activist groups, but it has garnered support from many viewers on social media. The identities of the group’s founders are not yet known.