With a big election looming and trans people one of the favoured punching bags of politicians and media, I want to talk about a specific and insidious type of misogynist transphobia that I see rarely touched on - and almost never challenged.
CW: transphobia chat, sui*/depression
CW: transphobia chat, sui*/depression
There's a flavour of transphobia that is so ingrained in patriarchal views it is near indistinguishable from general sexism. I struggle to feel ANY difference between the patronising sexism I experienced when the world saw me as a girl, and this transphobia that seeks to erase me
When cis male politicians use their voice to worry about "young girls being influenced by trans ideology", it is one of the most insulting things I've experienced. It is patronising to an extreme and I've never seen someone say so, so lets discuss what is actually going on here.
These men argue that young women need to be protected from becoming trans. This comes up whenever they get a whiff of trans men existing, or the things trans men do to survive eg; binding, hormone treatment, top surgery etc.
There are so many layers of insult here, bear with me.
There are so many layers of insult here, bear with me.
These people don't know trans men exist. They think anyone in the direction of being transmasculine is a perversion of their view of women. This is an extension of their sexism - they see women as objects of desire, sex, procreation, and anything that challenges this as bad.
They literally can't comprehend trans men: they interpret the concept as "girl/woman trying to be a man", and therefore any trans man as still being a woman, and they believe they have authority and control over women's bodies and identity so they can simply say "no you aren't".
I lived long enough as a young woman to experience the exact same authority and control over my body by men. This attitude towards trans men is literally no different; It is the belief that we are inherently women no matter what - and are therefore men's right to control.
In the same way that transphobia says "trans women are men" and therefore holds them to toxic masculinity standards and exclusion from all things female, it also says "trans men are women" and therefore treats us with the same misogynist values and exclusion from all things male.
Concern for "young women" from politicians and bigots in these instances is utterly false, because those same "young women" are trans men suicidal from dysphoria. The concern isn't for the life or health of the person, but for the femaleness, desirability and fertility of them.
When QLD announced it was letting girls wear shorts as part of the uniform in state schools, this exact same "concern" popped up again - this concern that is both misogynist and transphobic at once, that wants to keep girls wearing skirts be they young trans men or not.
They get especially upset over binders as the furor over Safe Schools proves - the idea that a "girls" chest be hidden, lessened, flattened goes against their desire to be able to sexualise all women, and for all girls to grow into women to sexualise. The mere idea enrages them.
The fact that Minus18 had a little info on safe binding practice, and that Minus18 was merely linked as an outside resource from Safe Schools, became one of the biggest arguments for scrapping the entire program is proof that this concern for "girls" actively harms those people.
Those "young women" that need info on safe binding, trans or questioning or queer, don't fit the mould of "be attractive to straight men, be fertile" and therefore the solution was to mercilessly attack a program to KEEP ALL LGBTIQ YOUTH SAFE. It is never real concern at all.
Young transmasc/nb people already feel utterly powerless- they are used to being patronised as not only women but YOUNG women- and to erase their identity in totality and write it off as being "susceptible to trans ideology" BECAUSE they are YOUNG "women" is extreme patronisation
Older men feel they have the power to simply ignore these people: they don't vote, and they're treated with the same flippant disregard any young woman experiences when she speaks up - that "oh sweetie, you don't know what you're on about, let me fix it" paternalism of thought.
This is one of the most harmful things to young trans men, who are already conditioned like every young girl to feel unable to speak up, unable to assert themselves on any topic - especially their own experience, emotions and bodily needs. It is not just erasure but elimination.
This idea that those most "vulnerable to trans ideology" are young women is insulting to young women, as if they cannot know anything about themselves. It is insulting to young trans men, who DO know themselves. It is insulting to all youth, as if anyone under 25 can't be queer.
It creates a world where trans men can't exist, which is what they want: "young women" can't be trans BECAUSE they're "young women" and need protecting from themselves, and as adults they are either subservient women, pushed to the fringe of society, or have killed themselves.
One of the most frustrating parts of all this is I have yet to see a defence of trans people when topics like this come up. It is like we are invisible, or don't exist, and instead there is continued false/misleading concern for the "young women" or complete silence from allies.
This was true throughout the Safe Schools debacle, it was true during the trans-antagonism of the Marriage Equality debate, and I continue to see it as politicians spew more transphobic vitriol ahead of the election next year. No one thinks about trans men - and it is killing us.
Next time you see a politician or article talking about "concern for young women" around wearing shorts, binders, being "influenced by trans ideology", "thinking they're a boy", etc - know that ON TOP of this being patronising, this all harms trans men to an immeasurable degree.
The world that doesn't want women to get abortions, hysterectomies, birth control and breast reductions is the same world transmascs live in with the same needs, and are subject to the same restrictions for the same reasons. It is never about concern - it is about control.
If you've felt enriched by this thread, you'll probably also be interested in the actual hard facts of transmasculine mental health stats in this much shorter thread. Don't read if you'd like to stay in a good mood.
