#transfeminism

[trans-androgyne]

Men please DO interact!! I’m just some non-binary lesbian but I want my blog to be a safe space where you won’t be treated poorly for your identity. It’s not your responsibility to self-flagellate or otherwise hate yourself for the crime of being born as or becoming* a man. Gendered expectations are sexist; you have no obligation to be strong, to sacrifice yourself to protect others, to show no emotion, or any other of the standards people may try to force on you.

Of course everyone should use their privilege to uplift those less privileged than them, but people shouldn’t assume you’re exclusively privileged due to your gender or ignore the way it intersects with other identities of yours. I love you disabled men, men of color, trans men, intersex men, queer men, and everyone else. I will include you in my feminism always and forever. Please surround yourselves with people who care about you.

[ceno8yte]

Updated an older image I made since I remembered the massive document that leaked a while back. (It's directed at TERFs, if it wasn't obvious enough.)

[yngsuk]

When a straight man lashes out after dating or having sex with a trans woman, he is often afraid of the implication that his sexuality is joined to hers. When a gay man anxiously keeps trans women out of his activism or social circles, he is often fearful of their common stigma as feminine. And when a non-trans feminist claims she is erased by trans women’s access to a bathroom, she is often afraid that their shared vulnerability as feminized people will be magnified intolerably by trans women’s presence. In each case, trans misogyny displays a fear of interdependence and a refusal of solidarity. It is felt as a fear of proximity. Trans femininity is too sociable, too connected to everyone—too exuberant about stigmatized femininity—and many people fear the excess of trans femininity and sexuality getting too close. But sociability can never be confined or blamed on one person in a relationship; it’s impersonal, and it sticks to everyone. The defensive fear and projection built into trans misogyny, whether genuine or performed, is an attempt to wish away what it nonetheless recognizes: that trans femininity is an integral part of the social fabric. There will be no emancipation for anyone until we embrace trans femininity’s centrality and value.

Jules Gill-Peterson, A Short History of Trans Misogyny

[intersexfairy]

can't help but think about the trans palestinians who are excluded by the constant use of phrases like "men and women" and "boys and girls." so here's to remembering them. to every palestinian with neglected gynecological issues who isn't a woman or girl. to every nonbinary person who's fallen. to everyone who's lost access to their hormones, who wasn't able to get their gender affirming surgeries - intersex palestinians, too. to every unidentified trans person and every trans person who never got to be their true selves. to all of them, the martyred, and those still struggling just to survive. free palestine - trans and intersex palestinians included.

[ftmtftm]

I just said this in a reply on another post but very seriously?

I really think some shit is stirring on Radblr and I think we as trans folks need to be very vigilant about it and block as much of Radblr as humanly possible.

I've noticed I'm getting more Radfems in my notes as a trans masc that blogs about Feminism - coincidentally right after that copy and paste sexual harassment anon pointing blame at trans mascs went around hitting popular trans fem accounts.

Something my ex-gf actually brought up to me when we were discussing that anon was that she thought it might be a Radfem trying to cause shit. The fact that I'm now seeing increased activity happening on Radblr - specifically in terms of Radblr seeking out trans masc bloggers, especially Feminist trans masc bloggers - all but confirms this in my opinion as someone who's been around the block on Tumblr regarding this kind of thing.

Please be safe, please be vigilant, and block those fuckers on sight.

[arlens-entries]

Trans activism would go so much further if we would stop talking about how "sex is different than gender" and started mentioning that sex is also constructed and the difference between them is a matter of convenience for the speaker's agenda

[librarycards]

hi, do you happen to have any writings about gender written by transfem butches and/or transfem poc that you'd recommend?

Yes! first, I recommend checking out this post, where I recommend / crowdsource some readings on butch trans womanhood / TMA subjectivity. I also highly recommend Emi Koyama's blog/body of work, b. binaohan's numerous writings and books, and the Trans Woman Writer's Collective (founded by Jamie Berrout, a powerhouse author/editor in her own right). My friend Valerie (@grimesapologist) has an excellent pamphlet out with them!

Some transfem/trans woman/TMA (acknowledging that there is as much variation in gender among TMA people as TME people, though the former group are systemically foreclosed from gender creativity in ways TME people are, within queer and trans circles, marginally permitted) writers of color I recommend include

micha cárdenas

Meredith Talusan

Vivek Shraya

jia qing wilson-yang

Ryka Aoki

Jules Gill-Peterson

Kai Cheng Thom

Trish Salah

[I've linked to my personal favorite/most influential work by most of the listed authors]

There are some great, relevant readings in the anthology Trap Door: Trans Cultural Projection and the Politics of Visibility. Lastly, this paper, A Tranifesto For the Dolls in Transgender Studies Quarterly is something of a who's who in this cohort of junior scholars in trans/feminist of color theory. Very exciting piece based off a very exciting conference roundtable that I actually attended back in 2022!

hope this helps :)

[fuwe]

happy womens history month btw if ur curious ab transfeminism i recommend the transsisters magazine which is archived & completely free to read here

[sugarclarice]

I want to be licked top to bottom.

[trans-androgyne]

If you don’t mean “men” but “cis men” then say that. If you don’t mean “women and nonbinaries” but “marginalized genders” then say that. If you don’t mean “‘afabs’” but “people with a uterus” then say that!!! Can 2024 be the year of ppl saying what they mean.

[arlens-notes]

Something about my transsexualism...

[I.D.: Digital colored drawing of a white trans figure sitting slouched on a red marble column on a white background. They have a broken yellow circle around their head, split by a red and white line down the center of the image. The figure is wearing small bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. Their floral shoulder tattoo is colored in white. End I.D.]

[jam-n-jay]

Because of the whole ~situation~ I've been seeing a large uptick in transfem support/positivity posts and don't get me wrong I appreciate it but I think it needs to be said

If you actually want to support trans women YOU NEED TO COMMIT TO THEM.

The harassment, violence, and censorship we face is constant, it is not relegated to isolated incidents extreme enough to be broadcast to the wider public. Every time something drastic like this happens people will show up, offer their support and condolences, but in the intermediary just go back to perpetuating the very transmisogyny that led to this in the first place. That's why the events of today have been utterly unsurprising for any trans woman who's been even the teensiest bit plugged into the general 'discourse' that just so happens to follow us wherever we go. Again I feel the need to repeat:

THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT

This is the result of a pattern of persecution that is not limited to just outright transphobes and TERFs. It is one that YOU, YES YOU, are capable of perpetuating. In all likelihood, you HAVE spread or contributed to it in some form or another. So LISTEN TO TRANS WOMEN. Vet call-out posts targeting us, be wary of spontaneous hate mobs against us. Acknowledge the reality of transmisogyny and don't be afraid to face your own culpability in it. TME people, stop getting irrationally upset at TMA/TME terminology. It is meant to be used specifically in the context of discussions around transmisogyny. It's not the axis around which all trans-ness rotates, there are grey areas, and it doesn't function well as a general label like trans man/trans woman or AMAB/AFAB because that was never meant to be it's purpose in the first place. It's a tool to assist in the discussion of a prejudice nothing more.

Do not just listen to transfems when our voices are at their loudest. Even when things seem quieter you have to KEEP LISTENING. If you can't do that, all your current words of support and solidarity will mean jack shit in the long run, and that's when it matters most.

[ftmtftm]

It's always "Read Transfeminism! Read works by trans women!" in response to conversations on trans men and transandrophobia as a concept until it's pointed out the trans women being used as meat shields for these people's arguments have recognized that their scope is/was limited and that trans men and other trans people also deserve a voice and place at the table.

From Emi Koyama's 2002 postscript of the Transfeminist Manifesto [ pdf ]:

Julia Serano in 2021 on her Medium site [ link ]:

I also think it's vitally important that Emi Koyama calls direct attention to the fact that she came to reevaluate her positions because she was engaging with other women of color, disabled women, and working class women. Engaging with feminism that doesn't center around your own identity and instead places more diverse voices into your space is a net good. More perspectives are good. They help you self evaluate and understand how you and those around you actually fit into these larger systems in ways you're unable to in an echo chamber of the self.

[intersexcat-tboy]

⚠️Reminder⚠️

⚠️Women are not the only marginalized gender ⚠️

[abyssal-debonair]

“Masculinity and patriarchy are one in the same” is one of the ideological pillars of patriarchy. It frames masculinity as something that can only be affirmed via a dominance relation and renders all forms of counter-hegemonic masculinity invisible. Ceding that territory to patriarchy only serves to erase the butches, trans mascs, trans men, nonbinary people, etc. who explore and live out subversive forms of masculinity. We would be far better served by understanding masculinity as something that patriarchy attempts to capture, rather than something it inherently owns, therefore shifting our understanding of masculinity away from seeing it as a component of the enemy and towards understanding it as continuously contested territory. Patriarchy attempts to enclose masculinity, rigidly define it, tie it to domination and control, and punishes all unsanctioned expressions of it. This capture is not inherent nor is it complete. Trans and gnc people have been undermining that project since it began! Many of the positions explored above take for granted that masculinity is a real and consistently definable phenomena: invented, made material, and defined by patriarchy alone. They assume that patriarchy’s word on masculinity has been the only real word, cis men’s understanding of it the only real understanding of it, its deployment in rigid gender roles its only possible manifestation. Cis men have been at the wheels of centralized power and thus have had more means to make their own voices drown out the rest of us, but subversive masculinities have always been here, have always been a threat to the patriarchal narrative. Many also assume that when queer and trans people refer to masculinity we are always referring to a masculinity that at least gains its meaning from patriarchy. It is time to inform you that your imagination up until this point has been disastrously stifled. Certainly, popular conceptualizations of hegemonic masculinity are inherently patriarchal and gain their meaning from that system. However, it is too far to assume that trans people are always referring to the same framework of masculinity that cis men do. We create our own meaning even as we expand masculinity to the point of meaninglessness. I take testosterone and am seeking top surgery to affirm my womanhood. Glitter, dramatic eyeliner, platform boots, and extremely slutty deep-V shirts validate my sense of my masculinity as much as work boots and button-ups do. Some of us are simply not referring to patriarchal masculinity when we are doing masculinity and what we’re doing is not new. Not only is masculinity not inherently patriarchal: masculinity is not inherently anything at all! Masculinity, femininity, and all gendered terms are vibes-based only and vibes are always changing with people and context! They are not real! Their utility is in play and self-exploration and any insistence of inherent reality beyond that will itself necessarily refer to patriarchy.

read the entire essay by Lee Shevek (@butchanarchy) — she does an excellent job breaking down the problem with conflating masculinity with patriarchy, especially how that leads to vilifying masculine people who are harmed by the patriarchy.

[taliabhattwrites]

Serena Nanda is an Orientalist lunatic who hates trans women.

The intro to the first edition of her book was written by John Money.

She repeatedly talks about hijras describing themselves as women, and ignoring them to call them castrated males and crossdressers.

Third-Sexing is anthropological transmisogynistic violence on a discipline level.