#black transfeminist theory

[7vyntheefaerie]

been thinking a lot abt how the woes of lesbian longing on social media have gotten caught up in the thralls of ytness. to elaborate, i would say most lesbians experience alienation on the basis of queer attraction (& gender fuckery for some of us) which boils down to misogyny + lesbiphobia. this manifests through faulty community networks or — ostracism +/mistreatment from family, friends, romance, work relationships, and other support systems which is “punishment”(read: part of the oppression designed and assigned by the cisheterosexual-patriarchal regime)for decentering men.

but, i would also say: while most-all lesbians experience longing (of irl community, friends, lovrs, familial-like ties. xpression of desire, increased opportunities for romance, friendship, presentation & expression free of homophobic+transphobic ridicule, etc), some of us also experience disillusionment with our relationship to belonging in lesbian spaces bc our diasporic ties to race, religion, (dis)ability, transness and their simultaneous socio-political affect. the ways our experiences of oppression interlock into a form that taints our ability to enjoy lesbian spaces is smthn that needs regular attention. like dressing and checking on a fresh wound.

i say allat 2 say, my experience of longing is so distant from the longing that has been popularized on social media. specifically, lesbian yearning 2. my loneliness is far more lonely.

i long for my family 2 love my queerness as much as they love their blackness bc they are inherently related, to never be separated. i long for disability conscious lovers that don’t shame me for where i “lack” due to physical disabilities. i long for a lesbian social media experience that talks more abt fatness, transness, and lesbianism. i wish i had more fat femmes and fat studs + butches in my life. i wish i could be acquainted with that familiarity yt lesbians have in their unity, belonging. i wish lesbians from where im from weren’t terfs that attempt to separate transness from the black lesbian experience. i wish my race didn’t erase my nonbinary gender. i wish my nonbinary transmascness didn't erase my femmeness.

i wish my access to care was not reliant on belonging.

(tagging posts like this ‘genderfckd rants’)

#trans lesbian longing #lesbian yearning #lesbian desire #wlw yearning #sapphic yearning #black femme #black lesbian #disabled #butchfemme #lesbianism #queer theory #black transfeminist theory #genderfckd rants

[transunity]

The Transunitist Manifesto

(here is a link to where it is being hosted- it is also copy-pasted below for easier reading)

Introduction:

21st Century trans politics is in many ways different to 20th Century trans politics. Some of the problems facing trans people then are gone. Others remain. And yet others are entirely new, borne out of the political landscape which we walk today. This Manifesto is simultaneously a response to the world as it is today for trans people and a commitment to building better solidarity and unity amongst trans people of all kinds. It is an affirmation to love, respect and help others in our community whenever we can- and to be alert to each others needs and problems, so that no-one ever feels like they are on their own. This is Transunitist theory at its core: compassion, respect and solidarity above all else.

Why Transunitism?

Transunitism was coined in the early 2020s by myself and a few other trans and nonbinary acquaintances online. Collectively we noticed that 21st Century trans politics had become unstable and imbalanced, inadvertently feeding into the transphobia it was supposed to be guarding against. Transunitism could be considered a wave of transfeminism, in that it draws from the same roots as transfeminism (and thus feminism as a whole), but recognises that a shake-up of the current trans politics is needed to better serve the community as it stands today.

The name Transunitism was chosen for its immediate understandability. Simply, it describes the desire to explicitly strive for greater transgender unity against our common and uncommon oppressions. In the last few years, trans politics has seen a rise in toxicity and vitriol between different transgender groups. This has had a negative effect on overall trans solidarity and unity when fighting against transphobia. As a result, transunitism is needed to help repair those bonds and create lasting solidarity against transphobia in all its forms.

Transunity theory largely draws from transfeminism, however, transunity theory also has some key developments of its own. Transunitism utilises transfeminisms beliefs that everyone has the right to define their own identities and to expect society to respect them- especially without the fear of discrimination or violence (1). It also utilises the transfeminist idea that trans peoples relationships with oppression, privilege, patriarchy and feminism are complex and at their most basic interpretations, are rarely black and white or as clear cut as is often suggested (1). These principles have been a part of transfeminism since its inception, however, subsequent interpretations of transfeminism have neglected one or both of these principles, leading to the need for transunitist theory to develop.

Transfeminism originated as a movement mainly by and for trans women, but much like feminism as a whole, many others can find solace and support in it. However, one of the flaws in early transfeminist theory was the neglect of non trans women in transfeminism. This has since been recognised by many early writers of transfeminist theory, however, mainstream transfeminism continues to neglect or even deliberately deprioritise non trans womens issues in the movement. The initial error is understandable, but is by no means the way forward. Feminism (as arisen from cis gender dynamics) prioritises mainly cis womens issues due to the lack of support womens issues have compared to those of cisgender men. The error is that those cis gender dynamics are frequently applied to transgender politics, but such a thing is not possible to achieve and often leaves other equally marginalised people with little to no support from transfeminism. The truth is that transfeminism has its roots in the mainstream feminist movement, but has different dynamics to it and requires more nuance in its application. Often, the (incorrect) application of transfeminism has been to prioritise trans womens issues on the unfounded assumption that other kinds of trans people's issues (particularly trans mens) have more support. Clearly, this is not the case for the following reason: Namely, that patriarchy does not value trans men as men the same way it does cis men (nor would it value nonbinary people the same way), therefore non trans womens issues are not receiving support from the patriarchy and thus prioritising trans womens issues at the expense of other, struggling trans groups is in the long run, damaging for solidarity and detrimental to non trans women.

Transfeminism's Role:

Since transfeminism was coined in 2001, its usage has morphed and changed. At present, the dominant strand of transfeminism does not promote unity and solidarity. Instead, it has fallen into relying upon toxic and often separationist politics- a crude distortion of the founding ideas of transfeminism. Emi Koyama, author of The Transfeminist Manifesto, was explicit in transfeminisms inclusion of all trans people in its movement. She wrote that transfeminism began primarily for trans women and that "it is also open to other queers, intersex people, trans men, non-trans women, non-trans men and others" (2). Her initial publication of The Transfeminist Manifesto was in the year 2001. Two years later, she revisited it and added the following in the postscript of the 2003 edition "I take full blame for the fact that this manifesto is heavily focused on issues male-to-female transsexual people face, while neglecting unique struggles that female-to-male trans people and other transgender and genderqueer people face" (3). Numerous other transfeminist publications recognise the need for greater solidarity between all trans people and for transfeminism to be explicitly inclusive of all transgender and nonbinary people. Talia Bettcher explained in 2017 that "since trans men are also vulnerable to sexism, transphobia, and the interblending thereof, trans feminism would be ill-advised to exclude them from its purview" (4). Despite the academic push for greater inclusion and solidarity, socially these ideas have not manifested. And so transunitism was created to bring awareness to these ideas with clarity of intent and purpose.

Transunity Theory:

Transunitism is not solely created from transfeminist and feminist theory. It also draws upon ideas of stewardship towards fellow trans people that are based upon ecological and environmental concepts.

Transunitism was coined by myself and a small group of other trans people online, but what is known as the transunitism symbol is my creation. I took inspiration from ecological and environmental movements to create a metaphor to explain transunity theory. Hopefully, many readers will be familiar with the recycle symbol and a variation on the three Rs. The recycle symbol usually consists of three arrows in a triangle shape. Each arrow point melds into the point above it and so on. The symbol represents how steps taken to recycle refuse follow on from one another and are interconnected. Typically, the three Rs are reduce, reuse, recycle and all three are equally important steps one can take to help the environment. The three Rs can be reordered and the sentiment still makes sense. For transunitism, the concept is much the same- three elements of trans theory which interlock and intersect which must all be upheld, otherwise neglect is risked. Instead of the three Rs, transunitism considers the three Transphobias.

The Three Transphobias

The three transphobias (or types of transphobia) are the subdivisions that transphobia can be broken down into. Transphobia itself is an umbrella term and while it can be used universally on any kind of anti-trans discrimination, it is helpful to subdivide it further in some instances to describe the specific challenges each part of the trans community faces. Over recent years, there has been a movement to establish a term for the transphobia primarily experienced by trans men. This manifesto will use the most popular term, transandrophobia, to refer to the concept. The transphobia primarily experienced by trans women is known as transmisogyny, while the most popular term for the discrimination primarily experienced by nonbinary people is exorsexism. There exist less popular terms for these concepts, but these will be the three used in this manifesto. I also acknowledge that further groupings exist within the trans community which the terms trans women, men and nonbinary people do not adequately cover.

Transmisogyny is described variously as either the transphobia primarily experienced by trans women or as an intersection of transphobia and misogyny. The term transmisogyny itself is at a crossroads- it is used often to refer to the transphobia usually experienced by trans women, but it is also often used to refer to any intersection of transphobia and misogyny- this has proved to be problematic, especially when attempting to include non trans women's experiences in transfeminism. There are transfeminists who believe that only trans women, as women, can experience an intersection of transphobia and misogyny. However, this is a flawed understanding of misogyny, since many non-women experience misogyny frequently (i.e. much homophobia directed at gay men is based in misogyny). Nevertheless, this has become the prevailing view in much of mainstream transfeminism. This is a problem, since transmisogyny as a concept could very much describe the experiences of trans men and nonbinary people as well as it does the experiences of trans women. However, it is my view that transmisogyny, at its crossroads, should take the path in which it simply describes the transphobia primarily experienced by trans women. This manifesto will use that definition henceforth.

Transandrophobia describes the transphobia primarily experienced by trans men. While trans men do experience an intersection of transphobia and misogyny, they also experience an intersection of transphobia and a hatred of men or masculinity. Arguably, much of what is called transmisogyny for the experiences of trans women is also partially an intersection of transphobia and a hatred of men or masculinity. The ideal word for the concept is sadly marred by disingenuous cis men, but to use 'misandry' here tentatively is not an endorsement of any kind of MRA-style politics, but a convenient shorthand for a kind of hatred of men or masculinity which has a significance in (and only in) the context of transphobia. As alluded to, the term transandrophobia is the most popular term presently for the transphobia primarily experienced by trans men. Earlier terms did include 'transmisandry', which, aside from one academic usage in the context of an intersection of transphobia and racism (5), has not enjoyed much usage due to knee-jerk rejection of the term's suffix. In short, 'misandry' in this solely trans context conveys the transphobia rooted in a hatred of men or masculinity.

Exorsexism describes the transphobia primarily experienced by nonbinary people, which, like transmisogyny and transandrophobia, can contain elements of misogyny, 'misandry' and discrimination based on existing outside of binary sex or gender (henceforth 'misandrogyny'). Like transandrophobia, other terms exist for exorsexism, such as ceterophobia or simply 'nonbinaryphobia'. The most high frequency term is exorsexism and this manifesto will use this term for clarity and consistency.

The three transphobias (as has been touched on somewhat already) intersect, interconnect and intermeld into each other, much like the 3 arrows in the recycle symbol. Hence, in the transunitist symbol, it is transmisogyny, transandrophobia and exorsexism feeding into each other. They are the 'arms' of transphobia. This metaphor comes with some important tenets to transunitism theory:

You cannot dismantle transphobia as a whole by only focusing on one arm of transphobia. E.g. eradicating transmisogyny, for instance, will not bring about the eradication of transandrophobia and exorsexism. Eradicating transmisogyny is a noble goal, but it can't be achieved in isolation. It is interconnected to other two transphobias. By working on eradicating them all, transphobia can truly be fought in all of its forms. Relating back to the recycle symbol, only doing one 'R' will technically help, however, it will have more impact if one strives to do all three. Just recycling is helpful, but reusing will extend the lives of items that would have only been recycled, and reducing your consumption altogether would prevent some waste altogether. The same is true of transphobia- all arms must be tackled to achieve greater trans liberation.

The three arms of transphobia are not exclusively experienced by their main target. E.g. Transandrophobia is the transphobia usually experienced by trans men, but a nonbinary person could be targeted with it for resembling a trans man. The same goes for anyone resembling a trans woman being targeted with transmisogyny (e.g. gender nonconforming cis men) or anyone who is perceived as nonbinary (exorsexism). When helpful terminology is gatekept because the victim of the bigotry doesn't belong to the main group targeted by it, nobody benefits. It is useful to defer to the main targets of a bigotry as authorities on it, but space must be held for all victims of bigotry. Not just some. E.g. Many Sikh men have reported being the victims of islamophobia because bigots had mistaken them for muslim men. While not the main targets, they are equally victims of islamophobia as the muslims who are targeted with it.

All trans groups experience a mixture of misogyny, 'misandry' and misandrogyny- the levels of which vary from group to group. Trans women may experience misogyny (such as unwanted sexualisation for being female and trans), however, they may often experience 'misandry' (such as the vitriol some transphobes espouse which accuses trans women of being 'violent males) and misandrogyny (such as transphobic rhetoric which centers around a trans person's appearance being androgynous and thus not easily sortable into male or female categories . This may result in slurs like 'heshe' being used). Trans men, on the other hand, may experience 'misandry' (such as accusations they are going to transition into -'violent men'), misogyny (such as insinuations trans men are being led astray and that they are incapable of thinking for themselves) and a similar kind of misandrogyny trans women may face. Nonbinary people may experience misandrogyny (such as being forcibly put into a male or female category against their wishes, especially in a medical setting), misogyny (such as rhetoric which claims being nonbinary is a social contagion amongst those assigned female at birth) or 'misandry' (such as rhetoric that claims those assigned male at birth who are nonbinary are identifying as such in order to be predatory). In short, every kind of trans person experiences a mix of misogyny, 'misandry' and misandrogyny. It differs from group to group as well as from person to person.

These tenets are foundational to transunitism. A synthesis of transunitism theory and transfeminism results in what the transunitism movement stands for.

It is my hope that through transunitism theory, we will create a trans community that includes all, aids all and fights for all.

Thank you for reading.

Luke, 01/01/2023

References:

Koyama, Emi. The Transfeminist Manifesto, 2001 & 2003 p. 2-4

Koyama, Emi. The Transfeminist Manifesto, 2001 & 2003 p. 1

Koyama, Emi. The Transfeminist Manifesto, 2001 & 2003 p. 10

Bettcher, Talia, Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments, 2017, p.2

Martino, Wayne, Omercajic, Kenan, A trans pedagogy of refusal: interrogating cisgenderism, the limits of antinormativity and trans necropolitics. Pedagogy, Culture & Society. 29, 2021, p.679

#transunity #transunitism #transandrophobia #exorsexism #transmisogyny #mod luke

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

feminist theories, esp Black feminist & transfeminist & anticapitalist feminist theories, have a lot of complexity and depth and really dig in to complex systems of oppression and like there's so much there!! so many critiques, so much back and forth and refining and updating theory to better fit evolving understandings and circumstances

so it's kinda wild to me that people think they're gonna revolutionize gender theory when it's painfully clear that they have NO idea what's already there.

like there are people trying to make whole new frameworks to understand systems of gendered oppression but without any detailed understanding of the current frameworks or, crucially, in what ways they are useful and what material realities they accurately describe.

in order to be useful a new framework needs to both be a) internally logically consistent AND b) describe or explain or interrogate etc material realities that exist in the real world

and c) do this in a way or to a degree that existing or past frameworks don't already do as well or better

and some people are coming up with stuff that sounds good in a vacuum!!!

but they're going off vibes and feelings without much attempt to find out the details of existing frameworks or even what the measurable & objective material realities are

so these "revolutionary new gender theory frameworks" often end up being rehashes of stuff that's already been thought about by lots and lots of people and widely rejected for being inaccurate or inadequate in the face of better frameworks, and/or describing or responding to a totally alternate universe disconnected from how things work in the real world

these kinds of issues make many "revolutionary new frameworks" useless at best, and at worst, they can be reactionary and actually reify existing forms of oppression.

#also they often coincidentally tend to center the exact same kind of person as the person who came up with them as the most oppressed #but it might be petty of me to point that out #you know you can talk about your experiences without claiming they're literally the worst possible experience right? #like you don't actually have to claim people in objectively worse situations are actually the REAL oppressors for your suffering to matter #also i think learning about actual feminist theory might be genuinely empowering to people in this weird position of like #''aware i'm oppressed but feeling like my oppression is minimized on social media because i see people who have my oppression + others'' #like social media is not all that feminism is and you don't have to rely on it for your understanding of oppression #thatdiabolicalfeminist

[asiancatboy]

how does transmen talking about the specific way they experience prejudice and ostracization from both the cishet and queer communities inherently uphold ad justify transmisogyny? im not defending the ise of the words they use but how is it different from like biphobia as a specific word to describe the prejudice and ostracization experienced by bisexual people from both the het and queer communities? im asking this in the best faith possible

transmascs talking about their struggles is not inherently transmisogynistic, but how they do it and the language they use can absolutely be

'transandrophobia' implies that masculinity is an axis of oppression, which is simply not true. misandry isn't real. transmascs are not oppressed on the basis of being a man or being masc; they are oppressed on the basis of being transgender. they may struggle to access the full privilege that comes with being a man in today's western society because of their transgenderism, but so do gay men, men of colour (especially Black and brown men), disabled men, mentally ill & neurodivergent men, fat men etc. transmascs still have some access to & benefit from the privilege of a patriarchal society

transmisogyny, on the other hand, is a term based on actual transfeminist theory and observed systematic violence that's enforced and upheld all around the world. being transgender is an axis of oppression, being a woman is an axis of oppression. transfems experience both, and the term is actually important & helpful to describe & differentiate the unique experiences that they face

'transandrophobia' is an argument that's too often used against transfems to silence the rightful calling out of transmisogyny, as though trans women are not also women who are still oppressed by (cis or identified) men. it's a term that's inherently transmisogynistic by nature bc it suggests that transmascs and transfems are on an equal playing field when we are very clearly not

we don't need a specific term to talk about the specific transphobia that transmascs face because "transphobia" already exists. there are ways we can talk about the struggles of being transmasc without speaking over and disrespecting transfems

#ask #and on a more personal level. transandrotruthers are fucking despicable. makes me ashamed to identify as transmasc some days #like truly i have never met a more reactionary entitled whiny group of people who have to make everything about themselves and thrive on #their own oppression. using it as a shield to absolve themselves of the responsibility that comes with their privilege #like sorry i just can't stand for them. the incels of the community to me tbh #transmisogny tw

[autolenaphilia]

Whipping Girl is such a transfeminist classic at this point that it’s hard to review. Of course it wasn’t meant to be some definitive work on transness. There wasn’t much credible research, so Serano uses largely her own experiences to create her own observations on gender.

Of course, over the years the limits of her perspective has grown more obvious. Serano is a cis-passing middle-class white woman, and it limited her perspective. There are almost no discussion of racism in this book. Serano may have coined the word transmisogyny, but transmisogynynoir remains beyond her, at least in Whipping Girl.Her transfeminism lacks an anti-capitalist analysis. There is much valuable criticism of this book to be made, preferably written by black transfems.

Yet a lot of the criticism the book has actually received seems much overstated, and ultimately coloured by the very transmisogyny the book criticized. I’ve seen descriptions of this book as some anti-transmasc or NB-phobic screed, out of a few lines taken out of context. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Michfest barring trans woman from attending as audience members while allowing transmascs to take the stage is hardly hatred of transmascs. And describing how Serano went from identifying as bi-gender to becoming a trans woman and criticizing the ideology of subversivism is not to invalidate non-binary gender identites. I’m not entirely convinced by her “born this way” or “intrinsic inclinations” explanation for gender, but it’s hardly a gender essentialist ideology, as it actually tries to validate being trans or gender non-conforming. Again there are valid criticisms of Whipping Girl’s limitations, but this kind of criticism seems coloured by transmisogyny more than anything.

And there is so much that Whipping Girl gets right that it remains a vital text almost 16 years later. Serano’s main insight is that transfems are not just oppressed by transphobia or for breaking the gender binary, but also misogyny. That we are affected by an intersection of transphobia and misogyny, transmisogyny. It’s such a useful concept for understanding the world we live in. It enables us transfems to be included in feminist theory and analysis, while providing a method for criticizing our exclusion from it.

And the book is at its best when it analyses the impact of that transmisogyny, in both the daily life of transfems and in the media that talks about us. All the discrimination, mistreatment and hurtful comments we experience. The disgusting attitudes of our medical gatekeepers, who deny us healthcare if we are not straight, gender-conforming and passable/fuckable in their eyes. The misogyny of the media and literature, from hollywood films with disgusting and deceitful trannies, to radfem transmisogynistic screeds like Janice Raymond’s The Transsexual Empire, the dubious “research” by medical gatekeepers such as Ray Blanchard or how we are practically exploited in modern queer theory written by non-transfems. Again, Serano’s perspective is limited by her privileges, but the personal perspective gives the book a lot of its accessibility and emotional impact.

So despite Whipping Girl’s limitations it remains a very important book. Even allies to transfems should read it, with an open mind, and maybe they will learn something. Serano does sincerely try to reach out to allies with the book. And I especially recommend any transfems to read it, to help them understand what is being done to us. It provides such vitals tools to identify and criticize transmisogyny, both external and internalized.

#my writings #whipping girl #transmisogyny #julia serano #edited to fix a broken sentence

[gamergoo]

I left it in the replies of @molsno’s post about it but the bizarre transmisogynist epistemology that has been constructed whereby the knowledge of transmisogyny cannot come from trans women, we cannot be trusted to know about our own oppression, is so fucked! If black women were discounted when writing feminist texts about misogynoir, specifically by other feminists, for the crime of: not writing a grand unified feminist theory? That would be racist! And likewise, the idea that knowledge of transmisogyny can never be complete when coming from trans women, and that it MUST be abstracted by TME individuals, is transmisogynist! Julia serano doesn’t write her books because they’re supposed to be these grand theories of feminism, they are SPECIFICALLY transfeminist, they are about her experience!

Idk it’s just so sinister to me

[tinkerbitch69]

I put this in the tags of a previous post but I think it needs to be its own post too. If you genuinely care about trans women beyond just posturing, the very least you can do is read transfeminist theory.

Your understanding of feminism, misogyny and patriarchy cannot come from cis theorists alone!!!

Here’s just a small list to help get you started feel free to add more in reblogs/tags/comments

Whipping Girl by Julia Serrano

Black Trans Feminism by Marquis Bey

A Short History of Transmisogyny by Jules Gill Peterson

Trans-gressive by Rachel Anne Williams

The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye

And remember this is a STARTING POINT. Please put the work in to support trans women through your actions as well as your thinking <3

#transgender #trans #trans feminism #trans rights #trans theory #trans girl #trans woman #trans femme #trans allies #how to be an ally

[pansyboybloom]

I think maybe my tone and language may out sent the wrong message because I agree with you and a lot of the points you are saying. We probably also are just in different spaces online and my use of the term "anti trans masculinity" was wrong and misconstrued.

When I say anti trans masculinity, I don't mean anti trans men. I mean anti masculinity in the context of being trans. Probably not the best term.

My "not immune to terf propaganda" was taken out of context. I'm saying that I've seen a lot of trans people online still propagate the idea of trans women are predatory and ugly for being masculine, and trans men are victims of grooming. Especially with poc trans people. Black trans women are almost immediately clocked as groomers, even by fellow trans women.

I've seen other transmascs fall into a pipeline of "feminine transboys are the only valid ones", with those transboys tell others that masculine features are disgusting. I've seen transmascs hold off from transitioning because they are scared to turn "ugly". Because feminine = attractive and masculine = ugly.

Also I talked about the uwu cunt boy fetish of trans men because it's become incredibly more popular, including in "trans friendly" spaces from what I have seen. I didn't mean to say that trans women aren't fetishized, they most definitely are. Trans people are very much seen as a kink to a lot of people.

While you are fair to call bs on my claim that transfems are ripped apart if they don't immediately transition, I have seen it. Though I definitely did word that statment wrong. I've seen trans women online post videos of them in makeup and wearing wigs, then a video of them out of that, and told in the comments that they "look prettier when passing", "you should only do content while passing", and "be glad you aren't a man anymore".

While we can agree to disagree about transmen experiencing a specific kind of bigotry (oppression wasn't a good word), I was talking about the very small communities of trans women saying that trans men are "betraying them", and how that isn't an excuse to turn around and be misogynistic to them. Even if a transfem is saying something slightly annoying, transmen will rip her apart.

I'm sorry that my anons came off the wrong way. Also not trying to immediately push off the blame to me being uneducated. I try my best to hold up my transfem friends and I do try call out fellow trans guys for being misogynistic.

once again giving the heads up that the schizo word/brain salad is making articulation hard and that my hand tremors are really bad today, so any tone or misspellings or anything is bc of that! just in case

thank you for your reply, i know my own was super long, so i appreciate you taking the time to read and digest that giant wall of words. i hope it didn't come across as aggressive, as that wasn't my intent (i hate to keep giving the same excuse, but I'm schizo spec and have a very hard time articulating myself)

i will agree that we are likely in different areas online-- I've actually made it my new year resolution to spend less (for lack of a better word) time in online spaces and more irl (PFLAG has been wonderful to me <3) so I'm a little behind on the attitudes on tumblr, so to speak, and was coming more from what I've seen in person and in literature (once again recommending whipping girl! it is a great place to start on transfeminist theory, though it is long. if that's something you're interested in, Julia Serano, the author, reads her audiobook and you can likely find it at your local library/on libby)

I apologize that i didn't realize the context of the terf comment! that's on me. I agree that a lot of trans people regurgitate the "trans women are predatory and ugly for being masculine, and trans men are victims of grooming". the amount of trans men i have seen (specifying trans men since that's the space i spend the most time in) who have detransitioned into 'dysphoric females' and buy into the sudden onset dyphoria theory so they can have more of a community with radfems.... shudders. I think this serves as an example of how the unique experiences trans men have can turn into bigotry. not excusing trans men who go full radfem's actions, bc they are hurtful and dangerous, but i see radfems twist a lot of young trans men's fears surrounding men developed by the sex binary and sex essentialism to convince them they are being groomed and have to stay women or will lose their whole community/safe space. i see this a LOT with young adult straight trans men who are so scared of being rejected by their lesbian radfem community that they turn on fellow trans people. as i said in the last ask, the idea that women are 'abandoning' their girlies to go be with the enemy is definitely dangerous when put to the extreme by communities like radfems. i wouldn't call it a systemic transmisandery (or similar word) issue as much as i would a symptom of misogyny, essentalism, & transphobia, but it should be something we as a community talk about, esp since these 'dysphoric females' genuinely hurt the rest of us. especially since, in my experience, these communities tend to be predominately white, so like you said, Black trans women get the brunt of the vileness. the whole community at large has failed Black trans women and fems, and transmisgoynoir is something that must become the forefront of community discussion.

okay back on track lol.

i misunderstood your point on the 'fem tboy is the only valid one' earlier, so sorry. trans men as a community most certainly do that to other trans men, but, just speaking as a gnc trans man, I've noticed that like, it comes less from a fear of masc-ness and instead from a fear of fatness/loss of conventional attractiveness and also this misunderstanding of gnc as a whole. not wanting to start t bc 'i'll get fat/i'll go bald/i'll have to stop wearing skirts' is a fear i see a LOT in pre t gnc trans men circles, especially the young ones, and i think that really shows how we as a community have failed young trans men. i think by showing love for fatness/bears, 'non conventionally attractive' men, be it balding, acne, whatever, and showing how to play with gender outside of fem/masc would solve that problem, or start to. but that's just coming from my perspective as a white, fat, gnc gay guy, so i cant speak for everyone and every trans kid.

and oh my god just adding onto the 'cuntboi' thing-- as a guy who wants phallo, the idea that we're all white thin sexually ambiguous bottoms who enjoy vaginal penetration makes me want to eat my pants. i think that affects all trans people-- femininity is synonymous with submission, sex, and fetish for a lot of people-- it def is frustrating when you see even other trans guys perpetuate it. i think it's less a hate of masculinity and more a fetishizing of femininity and using that fetish to fetishize trans men. it's like how autogynophilia is used all the time to denounce trans women but autoandrophilia is rarely mentioned for us, bc why would we want to be men during sex? we're all bottom-submissive cunt boys, we would never want to imagine and get off on being men during sex!! that's why im not the biggest believer in autoandrophilia being a modern internet problem as much as it could be.

As for your comment on trans women getting ripped apart for not passing: i personally think that is a product of effemimania, which is a term Julia Serano coined in Whipping Girl (i know, i know, this is like the 5th time I've mentioned it) to describe our cultural obsession with “male femininity,” specifically the manner in which such expressions are routinely sensationalized, rigorously policed, and pathologized, instead of any specific anti trans masculinity. Basically, it is spurred on by an obsession with what womanhood looks like and a near fetishistic need to watch trans women practice it the way you want them too to enforce control over them.

once agian, thanks for reaching out. i'm glad to know we could have a conversation, ya know? if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to reach out again

#long post

[joshuadunshua]

Actually what if I made a post that’s just a thread of suggestions for expanding your understanding of feminist theory? Feel free to add!

I’m a scholar, admittedly, so my contributions are all either books or essays, and they range pretty widely in terms of ease-of-reading. I’ll highlight the ones that are less dense and less incredibly academic in language.

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center — bell hooks (book)

Feminism Is For Everybody — bell hooks (book)

The Will to Change — bell hooks (book)

if you struggle to or just don’t want to read works that use textbook/academic language, I can’t recommend bell hooks enough. Her work is intentionally written for people not already familiar with feminist scholarship, it’s written for the common person not eyeball deep in The Literature™ because you should not have to be in order to learn more about visionary feminism & why it’s important for everyone.

Multiracial Feminism: Recasting the Chronology of Second Wave Feminism — Becky Thompson (article)

Feminism in ‘Waves’: Useful Metaphor or Not? — Linda Nicholson (article)

Unlearn mainstream feminist history! ^

The Combahee River Collective Statement

The Transfeminist Manifesto & Postscript — Emi Koyama

The Transunitist Manifesto — Luke B.

Required reading imo. ^ none of these are very long!

The rest just come very strongly recommended:

Black Feminist Thought — Patricia Hill Collins (book)

Re-Thinking Intersectionality — Jennifer C. Nash (article)

Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics? — Cathy J. Cohen (article)

Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing — Andrea Smith (article)

The Social Organization of Masculinity — Raewyn Connell (article)

And if I had to pick two things that aren’t available for me to link you to online, it would be:

Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions (2nd ed.) — Lisa Wade & Myra Marx Ferree (textbook)

Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics (2nd ed.) — Cynthia Enloe (book)

Technically that first one is an academic book but it is well written and, especially for a textbook on such a complex topic, rather easy to read.

[pleuvoire]

"tme/tma terminology is just white feminism/doesn't apply to people of color/etc" just tells me you don't pay any attention to transfeminists of color or to black transfeminist theory

#is this really a discourse these dorks are having now. come on. #number one way to give away you live in a little internet bubble far away from any twoc!

[bluescreen-puppy-dot-com]

feels like the ways transmisogyny unaffected people are being transmisogynistic are like, morphing and changing a bit recently? like they are taking transfeminist theory and just in general other social justice theory and twisting it to paint themselves as being oppressed for being men, which is very frustrating of course, to see this framework being twisted like that.

I try to keep perspective and like remember that all marginalized groups as a collective are dealing with people like this and its just important to have solidarity in this with other women, black women especially.

and like, solidarity in general, fucking push back against people who are twisting the fuck out of theory and claiming reverse bigotry and shit exists because that shit just fucking seeps into everything. My experience has been pos trans dudes saying reverse racism real and its just so fucked like i hate these people

[7vyntheefaerie]

hiii yawll, my name is vynée and you may call me that or [s]vyn. i am open to being gifted names too 🪷 [edited last 3/27/2024.,will upd8 as needed]

planting some roots/groundwork:

politik:

• men + minors (ageless bio 2 🙄) automatically blocked. DNI !

• this blog will occasionally b nsft so pls follow + interact with discernment

• i am a [mean] disabled black transmasc femme lesbian & would love to b in community with other black & poc t4t lesbians! i do not mind interacting with and befriending yt lesbians but please watch the way you handle me and other black lesbians, thx 😆

• i do not tolerate anti-blackness, racism, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism, or zionists. i stand with palestine 🇵🇸 and do not tolerate bigotry flimsily informed by colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, anti-blackness, anti-indigeneity, or yt supremacy. & if you’re apolitical do not interact w me. immediate block 4 all these.

•terfs, swerfs, other radfems, political lesbians, bioessentialists & transmeds stay thee fuck away from me 😁 immediate block 4 all these.

• i don’t identify with the run of the mill, mainstream feminism. i am a black transfeminist genderfuk’d scholar and would put my life on the line for black transfems whose light is stolen by transmisogynoir. they are the center of my theory & praxis.

• dms & asks open, feel free 2 use them i want more 1:1 interactions on this app! ok 2 flirt as well but please b @ least 20.

interests:

• astrohorr!!!! (astrology) + super spiritual

• i am very into music production and interested in learning how 2 dj! i play electric guitar and sing

• i am a performer, so far a [hyperfem] drag performer and a poet. i am a self taught dancer and have experience with constructing choreography. also p into makeup, fashion, scents, accessories + jewelry etc

• k!nkster, i am a sensualist + bratty switch that has been posting lite nsft content. there’s more, in terms of k!nk, but we can discuss more privately if ur interested in me/that 🤭

• i am a writer of songs, poetry, prose, and short stories

• i enjoy film & tv, specifically films from the queer new wave era and tv such as the wire, the oa, the leftovers, from, and i am a virgo. also an anime enjoyer but not a weeboo.

• genre wise (4 all media) i am a horr 4 horror, scifi, fantasy, and psychological thrillers.

• gender studies scholar so queer theory is nvr off my brain esp in terms of black queer cultural prod

that’s all i can think of 4 now! i preciate u reading if you made it this far 🪼

with care,

[s]vyn

#transmasc femme #femme4stud #black lesbian #genderfuck #nonbinary #transmasc #disabled #black creatives

[xxxjarchiexxx]

for international women's day i thought i'd put together some less passed around (on tumblr) feminist texts i really have enjoyed and think are useful!!

Articles:

Women's Liberation Interview with Eve Hinderer

Where Black Feminist Thought and Transfeminism Meet by Kai M Green and Marquis Bey

The Transfeminist Manifesto by Emi Koyama

Here We Go Again and Again and Again by Rayne Fisher-Quann

Against the Wife by Jina B Kim

Books:

Feminism Interrupted by Lola Olufemi

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Outspoken by Julia Serano

Undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Meat Market by Laurie Penny

Women Don't Owe You Pretty by Florence Given

Feminism & Marxism by Dorothy Ballen

Books I Don't Have An Archive For:

White Feminism by Koa Beck

Sexed Up by Julia Serano

A Feminist Theory of Violence by Françoise Vergès

Down Girl by Kate Manne

#reading

[hyperbolicpurple]

It’s been awhile since I’ve read Poasts that made me feel blind, frothing-at-the-mouth rage. Sorry to everyone who doesn’t want ranting about sensitive discourse topics on their dashes! But it’s infuriating that people can write these posts so smugly and condescendingly without any awareness or apparently knowledge of recent history whatsoever. The unholy marriage of “women and femmes” is literally pop transfeminism. (Not All Transfeminists, etc.) The idea that men are oppressed by gender is a general pop feminist idea, not originating in transfeminism but definitely supported by a significant portion of it, including the very popular bestselling literal inventor of the concept of transmisogyny, which she explicitly defined as rooted in the common experiences of people assigned male at birth being more policed for gender nonconformity than people assigned female at birth, which is not even empirically supported but whatever. Arguments about men marginalized by other social categories not being allowed to be “real men” and therefore being oppressed by gender have been literally based on a pop bastardized version of intersectionality! And while I agree that that wasn’t “real” intersectionality, the counter-arguments that men of color experience male privilege as such were constantly labeled the anti-intersectional work of second-wavey ignorant carceral white feminists who probably loved to call the cops on innocent black men, etc. What the FUCK are you talking about!?

It’s clear that the damage done to feminist theory and consciousness over the past, I don’t know, decade, is becoming more explicit and obvious and some people want to do damage control and rewrite history so as to minimize their role (or the role of people they identify with or groups they’re a part of) in producing the current state of things. And then, insultingly, they try to “rescue” feminism by reproducing the exact dynamic and rhetoric that created the problem in the first place. (Who was actually not listened to about this? Are you absolutely sure that this problem occurred because cisfeminists were assiduously ignoring transfeminists this whole time? 🙃) Worse, I think there’s enough cognitive dissonance floating around that encourages ignorance and avoidance of the discourse such that a lot of people reading posts like these don’t know that they are not accurate representations of anything that actually happened. The people writing these posts are either too ignorant about the topic to comment meaningfully on it, or they’re just straight up lying. I don’t see any other real possibility.

#it’s julia serano. I’m complaining about julia serano. #i have to finish my performance review self-appraisal today #but this is going to stew in the back of my mind all day distracting me #good morning btw

[transmisogyny-explained]

have you ever like, read anything by trans men of color on the subject of transandrophobia/whatever else u wanna call it? especially black trans men? the people I've seen sound off about this really don't like being strawmened as whiny whites for good reason. i find your framing of this subject to be highly reductive. a lot of what ive personally seen in the transandrophobia tag primarily talks about how cis ppl harm trans men, and while some posts are about trans women, and others i just flat out disagree with, i feel as though its throwing the baby out with the bathwater to say that the concept of trans men having issues specific to them then automatically discredits the myriad of problems trans women go through. it really doesn't. stating that trans men face some things trans women don't doesn't mean trans women oppress trans men. again, most posts ive seen in the tag talk about cis people and medical transphobia as well as access to uterine reproductive care like abortion access. im sure some of them r transmisogynistic, and some posts have seemed sus to me, but it think there is legitimacy to most of the claims made, ESPECIALLY THOSE ABOUT CIS PEOPLE. why do you think it's all whiny white boys?

To be honest, these are the most annoying kinds of asks I get because, like, I could give a substantive answer with counterarguments for all of this anon’s points, but I know that would just be a waste of my own time. It would mean pretending that these kinds of arguments are ever made in good faith and that isn’t going to get us anywhere. Transfems have been identifying and describing for decades (even before all these useful neologisms) the ways that trans TMEs act entitled toward, make assumptions about, project onto, and demonize us, and all of these things have cultivated into this new reactionary movement — one of many like it whose purpose is to push transfeminism back into obscurity and prevent transfems from being able to speak about our oppression — and I’m tired of getting message after message like this from some whiny, arrogant trans guy who clearly doesn’t care about anything I’ve ever actually said on the subject and just want to put words in my mouth about why I’m actually just a transandrophobe who hates transmascs for having a voice or whatever.

“Oh, most of us are just having a frank conversation about how cis people harm transmascs, and sure, some of them might be transmisogynistic, but really they’re just pointing out how transmascs experience a different kind of transphobia from transfems — please ignore how they appropriate transfeminist theory and talk about it in the exact same way that transfems talk about transmisogyny (with the implications being that transmisogyny is also “a different kind of transphobia,” and/or transandrophobia is it’s own system of oppression and/or it’s the inverse of transmisogyny).”

Okay, cool, if you’ve so thoroughly convinced yourself that this movement isn’t about protecting your ability to be openly transmisogynistic, then why do you keep dragging transfems into it?

#it was literally transmascs of color who first called out tmras when they were still a small movement #and faced endless racist harassment for it #like how DARE you

[crossdreamers]

On the use of "self-identify" in transphobic circles

Harry Josephine has written a very interesting thread on what it means to identify and self-identify over at twitter.

Self-identification is always anchored in a historical and social reality,  and in a concrete life experience. To say that anyone can self-identify as anything is to willfully ignore the reality of people’s lives, and making a mockery out of the suffering of transgender people.

I am taking the liberty of unrolling it and presenting it here in an easy to read format.

Harry Josephine Giles is a writer living in Scotland. Kathleen Stock is a British professor and trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF).

.............

A thread on the misuses of "self-identify". 

CN: transphobia, including screengrabs of tweets.

I've been thinking about the use of "self-identify" in transphobic circles, and how it's usually an equivocation that deliberately obscures trans life and political analysis. [1/?]

Here is Stock showing complete ignorance of both critical race theory and critical disability theory, using a straw tran to invalidate decades of work on what it means to be Black or disabled. [2/n]

In practical terms, *of course* in virtually all administrative situations one "self-identifies" as Black, disabled or a woman. There's never anyone checking what box you tick. Here, "self-identify" refers simply to the process of putting pen to paper.

But in disability circles, the political fact of taking on a disabled identity for oneself is a significant move, related to the crucial "social model of disability", where we recognise that we are disabled by society, not by the facts of our bodies. [4/n]

To "self-identify" in these terms does not mean to disregard the material facts of bodies (this is a debate within the social model: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…), but rather the political act of identifying as a social class for class liberation. [5/n]

Such political acts are of course a key part of radical feminism, hence the Woman-Identified Woman. Woman is a social class we build together, creating solidarity across the material differences of our lives and bodies. [6/n]

historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/radica…

[Link to Defending the Social Model, by Shakespeare and Watson]

A third meaning of "self-identify" is Talia Mae Bettcher's usage of "First Person Authority" with regards to trans life, which is an *ethical* argument that the best way to know what gender someone is is to ask them:

s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.d…

[7/n]

So we have administrative, political and ethical usages of "self-identify", none of which are the ur-case that transphobes have in mind, which is a person abstracted from all social context saying "I'm a woman!" and then becoming one. [8/n]

This is the straw tran which has no interest in actual trans lives. Our long processes of self-discovery, reflection on political experiences of gender, hard-won understanding that woman as a class is necessary to us -- all are dispelled by the non-existent speech act. [9/n]

This is also not what is meant by a constitutive speech act in post-structuralist trans studies. A single verbal declaration ("self-identification") is not what we mean when we say gender is a performative: we mean a whole set of ways of being in the world over time. [10/n]

This marxist insight, continuous with de Beauvoir & Wittig, is that womanhood is produced socially by oppression & our responses. Where the Radicalesbians politically cathect womanhood, Wittig disavows it; both are also common trans moves. [11/n]

medium.com/@thinobiafalx/…

Stock never engages these marxist traditions of feminism, even as she proclaims trans politics as "neo-liberal". I'll note also that, along with her attacks on UCU [The University and College Union] membership, her feminism has not extended to supporting THE MASSIVE STRIKE THAT IS HAPPENING IN TWO WEEKS. [12/n]

I'll note here that while the first 70s-80s wave of transphobia did have a radical feminist analysis at least commensurable with foreshortened marxism (versobooks.com/blogs/4188-the…), the contemporary wave is entirely informed by a retrograde liberal positivism. [13/n]

The philosophical school to which Stock & her collaborators all belong is the analytic school which in 150 years of historical materialism, and a century after Wittgenstein, still thinks that human words can refer completely and coherently to transcendent truths. [14/n]

I cannot emphasise enough that the foundations of Stock's philosophy are the ontological equivalent of a contemporary physicist pretending quantum mechanics doesn't exist. Their modes of argumentation read like alchemical treatises. It's bizarre. [15/n]

Worse, there is no feminist history of this kind of gender positivism. It cannot build a feminist movement and is out of touch with all antecedents. Which goes some way to explaining Stock's refusal to ever consider the actually existing functions of power. [16/n]

Stock wants to prove what gender is, but once she's done so to her satisfaction there's nothing left to do with that knowledge except hand it to the police. The methodology entails the bankrupt anti-feminist politics. She needs an authority to validate her argument. [17/n]

Consider what it would mean for UCU, or any other political organisation, to set explicit terms for who counts as disabled, rather than trusting disability organisations' politics & disabled folk's first person authority. How could that ever build a liberatory politics? [18/n]

Race, sex and disability are historically-situated social categories. You can't extract a transcendent definition from that & the only political movements that have sought to do so are colonialist and fascist. It's anathema to class politics. [19/n]

So back to "self-identify". Stock floats a "neo-liberal", behind which I detect a spooky ghost of "postmodernism". This is the contemporary fascist fear that truth is abstracted from reality, that information is free-floating & there are only individuals.

existentialcomics.com/comic/224

The argument is that postmodernism has detached truth from the material base, and that only individual and singular speech acts have authority. This is a misreading of postmodernist theory and of transfeminism. [21/n]

When contemporary marxists and transfeminists talk about "identity", we are not talking about individual declarations, but historical facts. My identity is the way I belong to a class through oppression, through the performatives that constitute social being. [22/n]

Personally, to avoid this confusion, I never say "I identify as trans". I just say "I am trans". My transness is the product of my historical being in the world, oppressed by patriarchy, produced through the gender dynamics of the capitalist family. [23/n]

Against this analysis, transphobes deploy "Yes, but what if a man just says he's a woman to get into women's spaces?" This is a dishonest argument. (a) There's no empirical evidence of this happening when self-declaration is enshrined in law, (b) That's not how the world works...(c ) Even if it did happen it wouldn't justify trans oppression and "coarse-grained safeguarding" is a phrase uttered by no-one who actually does safeguarding, (d) That's not what legal self-declaration or trans identity mean in the first place. [25/n]

It is very hard to find a response to this straw tran, because from the start it has been devised to obscure feminist analysis, shift the debate onto meaningless territory, and exclude trans thought. Frustrasting! [26/n]

I can't recommend engaging in these debates. I can only recommend reading transfeminist thinkers, learning about trans life, and strengthening trans presence in the world. I'm no longer interested in debating these dishonest terms. It's a social struggle. We'll win. [27/27]

Read the twitter comments to this thread here.

#trans #transgender #gender identity #philosophy #terf