radical feminism and the transgendered

8/3/2019 Radical Feminism and the Transgendered

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Radical Feminism and the Transgendered, or, howto write a post that will infuriate everyone

by Jane Doe, 05/15/2006

Please note: This essay was removed from its original home because of the harassment of itsauthor by "transgender activists." It is published here by permission; the author has askedthat her name not be used in order to avoid further harassment for her views.

I've seen a lot of transphobia (prejudice, misunderstanding and deliberatehurtfulness directed towards transsexuals and transgendered people) flagrantlydisplayed by some radical feminists. I've also seen some distinctly anti-feministopinions held by transfolk. Both of these attitudes are counterproductive,hurtful, and divisive. Neither of them make much sense. I don't even think theyare topics worthy enough of serious discussion to have people spend the amountof time and energy on them that they do, and maybe the time and energy I amputting into this post is also part of that wasted energy.

Why do I say these topics are a waste of the energy spent on them? I guess I justhave to start off playing hardball here. Dear sisters in radical feminism - there isa tiny percentage of the population that feels they were not born into the right

body and wishes to change their gender presentation. They are not your enemy;they are not the founders of the patriarchy; they are not the masses of men whoare beating and raping women; they are not, as a group, supportive of violenceagainst women or unequal pay or the anti-abortion movement. Deartranspeople - radical feminist groups that do not let MTFs into women onlymeetings or gatherings are not the defining issue of your oppression. I have yetto see any radical feminist say it is okay for you to be discriminated against in

jobs and housing and beaten to death by roving packs ofhomophobic/transphobic men.

Yet to hear the rhetoric from both sides, you would think, sometimes, that this isa life or death issue. And as the characterizations of those on the opposing side

become more and more ridiculous, I feel more and more hurt and silencedbecause it is obvious nether of you are is listening to one another.

My girlfriend is a transgendered woman. She is currently in the process of

coming out at work, living full time. I also have several good friends who aretransgendered. Contrary to the accusations I see on the part of some radicalfeminists, they seem to have no interest in doing this in order to "colonize"

womanhood, or to show off how much better they are at being female thanwomen born women, or any of the other reasons I have seen some radicalfeminists purport for their decision to change their gender presentation. Afterseeing some of the things written about MTFs, I have to wonder if those who

wrote them have ever had an actual conversation with a transwoman about whyshe is doing it or what her experiences are. Every single transperson whom Ihave ever talked with about their transition says the same thing over and over -that they just don't feel right living their life in the gender role prescribed to

them at birth.


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Now, my girlfriend and I have long conversations on this topic, ranging fromtrying to imagine if transgenderism would be a phenomenon in a world wheregender stereotypes were not handed out beginining with either pink or blue

blankets at birth, to questioning the official psychological model oftransgenderism (which they label as a mental illness - "gender dysphoria" - and

offer surgery and hormones as a "cure") which supports a strong genderdichotomy, to the different levels of being physically intersexed, which canrange from non-normative DNA to amorphous genital presentation to hormoneimbalances which cause someone who is sexed one way through DNA to appearto be a member of the opposite sex, but they may not find out until they areunable to have children as an adult. There's a lot to question and a lot to thinkabout. In this way, the idea that being transgendered is "transgressive" of oursociety's gender roles is very true.

But in other ways, many transgendered people fall prey to patriarchal ideas andattitudes, just as many non-transgendered people do. FTMs in particular seem

so anxious to identify themselves as men that they sometimes throw out sexiststereotypes or behave in a very anti-feminist way, perhaps in order to prove theyare "one of the boys". I have seen the very good point made that of course FTMshave "gender dysphoria" - and so do almost all other women, because ourculture, as a whole, hates and reviles women and femininity. What womandoesn't hate being female for at least part of her life? Where is the line betweenreally feeling you should have been born a man and wishing you had theprivileges accorded to men in our society?

I have seen many MTFs get extremely excited about getting to be "real women"who can - go SHOPPING! and wear frilly things! And heels! Until I sometimes

wonder if to them, being feminine is nothing more than a fashion statement. Ihave known FTMs who explain that they knew they were really boys becausethey wanted short hair as children, hated Barbie dolls, and were very athletic.These kind of statements reveal that they don't think girls or women who

behave in this way are "real women", and you can't really get much more anti-feminist than that.

I do think it is a real problem that the only way little boys are allowed to expressthe softer and gentler sides of themselves is if they are seen as "not real men".

And it is definitely a problem that little girls are supposed to be shy and retiringand obsessed with their looks or "something is wrong with them." I do not think

these things alone are at the root of transgenderism. But I think in some cases,these cultural attitudes have pushed people into surgery and other medicaltreatments because behaviors outside of the strictly gender normative are seenas literally "sick." I have had some transpeople become very upset with me fordaring to say these things, and while it is not my desire to hurt them byreiterating this, I have to call it as I see it.

But the fact remains that it *is* easier to get along in life if one appears to bewhat others expect. In this regard, FTMs have a bit of an easier life, as the takingof testosterone makes them indistinguishable from men born men in a fairly

brief amount of time, at least in public settings, or while clothed. Theirmasculine behavior will then pass unnoticed by society unless they wish to makean issue of having been born female. MTFs face a different set of variables,


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however. Depending on several appearance factors, some MTFs can be taken asa woman by most people without comment, but some will never succesfully"pass" as female, but will be seen as "a man in a dress." While feminism hasmade some avenues open to women which were never open before, such as thefreedom to wear either pants or a skirt/dress, men as a group have clung to the

idea of dresses as women's clothing and go out of their way to torment anyfellow male who dares break the masculine code of dress and behavior. When anMTF, or for that matter, any crossdressing man, hippie boy, or goth boy, goesout wearing a skirt, s/he is exposed to, at best, whispered mockery and ridicule.

At worst, men will beat him/her to death for breaking the male code of behavior.Male privilege comes with a high price, and those who visibly reject this code,even with something as petty as changing one's clothes, sometimes pay thatprice with their lives.

Which brings me to male privilege.

Many MTFs I know minimize the effect male privilege has on their behavior. Isuppose it is like the proverbial fish who asks "what is water?" - being the

beneficiary of male privilege during one's formative years, even if one begins toquestion one's identity as a man, confers benefits upon one that are invisible tothe recipient (although obvious to women, who do not receive these benefits).Since MTFs do not want to be male, they would like to imagine they can just tossmale prvilege away along with their unwanted boys' clothing. The human minddoes not work in this way, however. It is ironic that those resorting to violent,invasive tactics in order to enter the Michigan Women's Music Festivial, forexample, with the excuse that they are NOT men and should be accepted as

women, are resorting to an ingrained male privilege which tells them they have

a right to go anywhere they want to go. Also ironic in their insistence that theyare no different from women born women is their seeming inability tounderstand, or their willingness to brush aside as insignificant, women's veryreal fears of rape, from which follows the concept of a safe space for women

being male-free. Thus the "cutting edge" protest method some have developed,that of passing succesfully as female until they get to the shower area and thenshowing everyone they have penises in a sort of "Neener, neener, I have a penisand you didn't guess but I'm showing it to you now so you're a hypocrite ha-ha-ha you're wrong about transwomen!" sort of gesture really only proves the pointthat they DON'T belong in a women's only safe place, as they have no clue howfrightening it is for a vulnerable naked woman to suddenly be confronted by an

angry naked man. This is something every woman raised female understands - Ihave only ever seen men or those raised as men question this and call it sexist.Transwomen - if you are serious about transitioning and serious about feelinglike a woman, you have to stop insisting that female fear of men is sexist orunreasonable. Every time you do this it just proves the point of why women doneed some women born women only space - so they don't have to deal with you,as a newcomer to living as a woman, to tell us how we are doing it all wrong.Every time you think or say something along these lines, you are acting on maleprivilege, whether you like that idea or not. Question - if you are transgenderedand pre-op or non-op, would you feel safe in a prison with men? Of course you

wouldn't - and for the exact same reason, in general women are not going to feel

safe if you invade a space where they are naked and vulnerable. You can be asunhappy about that as you like - trust me, I am unhappy about it too - but until


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the epidemic of male violence against women ends, this is how it is going to be.You cannot blame feminists for this - they did not invent an irrational prejudiceagainst men as violent rapists - the high number of men who are violent rapistsis what is responsible for this very realistic fear.

Finally I want to tackle what I think is the most hidden issue in all of this butperhaps the root of it all - the question of "who defines womanhood"? I haveseen the very good point raised that women ave never been allowed to define

what makes a woman. Men have defined womanhood for us for centuries. WhenI see transgendered women questioning the refusal of some to refer to them as

women, there is again an unexamined male privilege in their questioning at thesame time as that there are some very good points. The unexamined privilegecomes from them setting up patriarchal societal objections to acceptingtranspersons as they wish to be accepted and smashing those admittedlyunfounded ideas, thus concluding that radical feminists are wrong to everexclude them from anything at all. The good part comes from them actually

questioning those patriarchal standards. Should a woman be defined by herability to bear children? Should a woman be defined by whether or not shemenstruates? Should a woman be defined by her DNA? What about people whoare ambiguously gendered? But there is a lack of examination of the fact that

women have never been allowed to define womanhood for themselves. It hasalways been about how well they fit into the tiny box allotted to them inpatriarchal society. Men have defined various things in the past as unfeminine,including athleticism, wearing pants, even obtaining an education. Americans ingeneral do not accept these things as "mannish" or "unwomanly" today. Butthere are other patriarchal standards and stereotypes of woman which feministsand women in general struggle with. To demand full acceptance into a group

which has little power to define its own boundaries is invasive and insensitive.Furthermore, if you are a transgendered woman, no matter how badly you may

want it, unless you were incredibly lucky you were not raised as a girl in thissociety. There are some experiences you will never have, and there are somethings that will never quite match up between your experiences and those ofgirls who were raised as girls. I understand well this is a sore point for manytranswomen, who feel they have missed out greatly on something very special,and maybe they have - but the fact remains that they did not have theseexperiences and many of the bonds between women who are born women are

based on the assumption of shared experiences.

So what is the answer? Well, it is becoming more common for many women'sgroups to accept transwomen, and I think this is a good thing. At the same timeI have no problem for women who wish to maintain a women born women onlyspace, and my corollary suggestion is that if transwomen feel very slighted bythis, they are equally welcome to form transwomen only groups to discussexperiences they have which women who have always been accepted as women

would not ever have experienced. I think both sides need to listen to the othermore. I think some radical feminists need to quit the obnoxious practice ofdeliberately being hurtful by refusing to call transwomen "she" in order to provetheir point, and try to respect the ways in which transwomen were born men buthave voluntarily given up a lot of male privilege in choosing to take the path they

have taken. I think transwomen need to stop focusing so much energy ondevising obnoxious protests aimed at one little one week a year festival which


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doesn't allow them in, because whether or not they are allowed into the MWMFwill do nothing for their status in the rest of society either way, and they need torealize why women need a few women born women only spaces and respectthose boundaries. The MWMF does not control or influence this patriarchal

world that discriminates against transpeople in housing, religion, and in which

they are at a high risk of violence, and protesting it gains you nothing of benefit,it merely fuels the flames between the feminist and transgendered movementand reveals the transwomen who take part in it as being exactly what theyprotest they are not. I think some fabulous conversations about gender andsociety could take place between radical feminists and transwomen if these twopetty issues quit being the source of so much dissent. Please - a little respect, alittle listening. I don't think this train is completely derailed as of yet. Divisinesshurts both of these movements, whereas together we can make a powerfulindictment of the strict gender roles imposed on us by society.

radical feminism and the transgendered

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