Are trans women, women?
What is a woman? It's a cluster of traits that's reappeared so often that we recognize it as a pattern. These traits are all over the board - physical, behavioral, mental. Nobody has the perfect set of all 'woman' traits, but we recognize 'womanness' 1/
What is a woman? It's a cluster of traits that's reappeared so often that we recognize it as a pattern. These traits are all over the board - physical, behavioral, mental. Nobody has the perfect set of all 'woman' traits, but we recognize 'womanness' 1/
in traits; e.g., 'dresses' are something that occur in the 'woman' cluster. A certain look to facial features and body type is also associated as 'womanness' (and why trans people try to assume this appearance in order to become 'womanly'). Same with genitals and temperment 2/
It's also based a lot on shared experience and treatment! Being raised female is a 'womanly trait'; having men pursue you is a 'womanly trait'. Wanting to have a safe space away from ambient sexual pressure is a womanly trait. 3/
So - are trans women, women? I think the question should be, "How much do trans women overlap with the 'womanhood' cluster of traits?' and the answer is... it depends. It varies per trans person, and depends on how much society perceives them as women. 4/
For some trans women, they overlap so closely to the 'womanhood' sphere that I consider it bigoted to not consider them to be women, because really the amount they deviate from the womanhood-traits-cluster is not really more than biological women. If you're going to call 5/
a trans woman who overlaps harder with femininity than butch lesbian Jill 'not a woman' then you are probably transphobic.
Because a lot of "actual women" aren't that womanly. I myself have a lot of traits that push me away from womanhood, yet you still think I qualify. 6/
Because a lot of "actual women" aren't that womanly. I myself have a lot of traits that push me away from womanhood, yet you still think I qualify. 6/
This being said, some trans people don't map very well onto womanhood at all. I think this is really unfortunate for all parties - it really is painful and dysphoric for them, and confusing and difficult for others too. I think *this* is where "trans women aren't women" could- 7/
possibly have some meaning, given we take it at face value and you're not tryin to slip an asshole opinion under the cracks. What this means is that some trans women do not overlap well at all with the cluster of traits that appear so consistently as the pattern we label 'woman.'
What should we do about this? I think providing better social support to help these trans people actually overlap with womanhood better makes sense. Easier access to estrogen as an adult, greater social approval for surgery, and empathy for what they're going through.
But generally, this is the frame I use to understand people who say "trans women aren't women." They're trying to communicate that there's a gap in their pattern recognition, and that this gap is meaningful. And - sometimes it is meaningful, in that it has concrete impacts!
As in; maybe you want to have a group centered around support from being sexually pursued as a woman from an early age. Unfortunately, most trans women don't have this experience, and so the gap is meaningful. There's also meaningful gaps in medical fields.
I think what some people who are saying 'trans women aren't women' actually want is for meaningful gaps to be acknowledged. I do think that if you said "ok sure there are some differences" they would really lighten up and be way more open to actually supporting trans people.
