Transexualism, Feminism, and Gender
" As aggressively vitriolic and hurtful as radical feminist criticism of transexuals often is, I believe that transexuals do themselves a grave disservice by dismissing that criticism as entirely rooted in blind transphobia. There is certainly a very strong element of transphobia in certain quarters of the feminist movement, but even a broken clock is right two times a day. It is hardly surprising that the majority of transexuals are heteronormative in terms of their chosen gender presentation and behaviour, but this becomes exceedingly problematic due to the extremely loud and highly active minority of transexuals who are militantly heteronormative.
It is important to point out that those who are not familiar
with the psychological treatment protocols for transexuals often fail to
realize that a lot of the gender policing in the trans community originates
from behavioural requirements imposed on transexuals by the medical gatekeepers
who control our access to treatment. The Standards of Care for Gender Identity
Disorders mandate that transexuals go through a "real life test" to
demonstrate their gender identity prior to receiving hormone replacement
therapy and sexual reassignment surgery, and the majority of psychologists use
this requirement to demand and enforce gender policed behaviour throughout the
transition period.
Those who have completed the gender transition process are
largely free of the mandates of psychologists, but the intense social and legal
discrimination against them often pushes them into continued gender policing as
a defence mechanism. The safety provided by "stealth" status is in
many ways only an illusion, but it's very fragility tends to make
"passable" transexuals extremely reactionary towards anything which
has the slightest possibility of outing them. Exercising passing privilege is a
double-edged sword in that living in stealth is living in constant terror of
discovery, and that terror may cause transexuals to betray everything they
should believe in. This is why stealth transpersons often hypocritically adhere
to social conservativism or the transphobic flavour of radical feminism; in
their persecution-induced paranoia, they decide that no one would suspect an
outspokenly transphobic man or woman of being a transexual.
The fearful silence of the "stealth majority" has
given the militant conformists a disproportionate voice within the American
transexual community, and this has produced an distinct tendency towards both
internal and external gender policing behaviour. Relatively few step forward to
challenge the conformists' dogmatic assertions that that anyone who exhibits
gender variant behaviour is "not really transexual", that only
transexuals merit treatment because they are "normal", and that
transexuals who cannot pass should "be realistic" and not transition
because it would trigger witch hunts against those who do pass. To be perfectly
blunt, the militant conformists have chosen to sell out to the very society
which oppresses them, spurning the deconstruction of rigid gender roles which
would set them free, and instead embracing a traitor's thirty pieces of silver
in the form of passing privilege.
Most transexuals are distinctly uncomfortable with the
extremism of the gender conformists, but they also seem to be unwilling to
completely distance themselves from it. This is probably because the clear
lines and standards drawn by the conformists are reaffirming to those who are
themselves comfortable with gender normativity in the first place; they may not
necessarily agree with excluding others, but they still feel reassured of their
own "belonging". This is extremely unfortunate because as long as
moderates do not clearly distinguish themselves from extremists, they will
inevitably be smeared with guilt by association. As long as the bulk of the
transexuals who make themselves visible to outsiders are the militant
conformists and those conformists have (or are perceived to have) tacit support
from the majority, it is going to be nearly impossible to refute the assumption
that all or most transexuals are the same way.
The long term solution to these issues is for the current generation
of transexuals to reject the vicious orthoxody of conformist gender policing
and to embrace in its place the freedom of gender deconstruction. This does not
mean that all of us must reject traditional gender expression or stealth concealment
as personal decisions, only that need to cease imposing them on others as moral
imperatives. Just as a feminist may choose to be a housewife while fighting
society's attempts to force all women to be housewives, so also can a
transexual chose to be gender normative while fighting misguided attempts to
force all transexuals to be gender normative. The bottom line is that there is
no one "correct" form of gender expression which all males or all
females should be required to adhere to; gender expression is a choice, and no
form of it is more valid than another.
Below the belt.org "
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The Great Transsexual Radical Feminist Menace
“I don’t give a shit whether or not they [MTF transsexuals]
want to chop themselves up. I don’t give a shit if they want to wear dresses.
That doesn’t make them female. It doesn’t mean their issues and concerns are
female issues and concerns. So long as female issues and concerns are subsumed
to and absorbed by male interests (as they are when male people call themselves
and are accepted as female), women will never socially realize our full
humanity AS FEMALE PEOPLE.”
I responded at the blog with:
“I think your first five words say it all. You don’t give a
shit. Obviously. You follow a belief that it something akin to religion,
because it’s not based on any rational basis, only belief (a belief that isn’t
falsifiable). The science on transsexuality on the other hand, is growing.
Additionally, if you looked at human beings as people and
not objects, you’d not spout such ridiculous stereotypical nonsense. Just
because I’m a transsexual doesn’t mean I’m mentally handicapped. I know what my
biology is. I know what my chromosomes are. But in the big scheme of things,
how many people see your genitals? How do they oppress you, by looking down
your pants? No. We may not be biologically female, but I’m not sure how that matters,
given that oppression is based on gender, not sex. In the case of transsexuals, gender is the
’social position’, not sex. Those that have ‘the behavioral, cultural, or
psychological traits typically associated with one sex’ (gender), are oppressed
no matter what their genitals are (unless there is some inspection that I just
don’t know about).
But then to your kind, the facts don’t matter. People don’t
matter. The good side of radical feminism is that it is a radical pathology
that will, because of its weaknesses, never gain access to power.”
Under their theory (that the radical feminist goal is to
have female people be acknowledged as BOTH female AND human), it’s biology that
suppresses and oppresses, not gender. But that makes no rational sense. If you
are treated in this world as female, even though you aren’t biologically, how
is that oppression any different? Light skinned African American can have
access to to white privildge because of their skin color. If they are perceived
to be white, they are white in the social sphere. Their biology or lineage have
little impact on their privilege, unless it is publicly known.
What amazes me is the vitriol and anger that is spewed by
these kind of people. It reminds me of the same kind of emotional response that
my Klansman grandfather would have to African Americans. It wasn’t a rational
response, but an emotional one. I just can’t understand the source (in both
cases).
“I mean, whoop-de-fucking-doo if a male can call himself
female and have his humanity recognized. What about recognition of the humanity
of female people who actually acknowledge and accept that they are, in fact,
female?”
Are these radical feminists removed from society enough to
know that:
A study in the San Francisco Bay Area conducted in 2006 of
194 transgender individuals found a 35% unemployment rate, with 59% earning
less than $15,300 annually.
Nationwide, the rates of employment discrimination against
transgender people are consistently high. A Williams Institute review of six
studies conducted in cities and regions on both coasts and the Midwest, showed
the following ranges for experiences of discrimination based on gender
identity:
13%-56% of transgender people had been fired
13%-47% had been denied employment
22%-31% had been harassed, either verbally or physically, in
the workplace - source @ Transgroup blog
I’m not going to play the “my oppression is worse than your
oppression” card, but to insist that we
have our humanity validated is just ludicrous. One look at
Transgender DOR gives you an idea of how well our humanity is validated. But
then it really doesn’t matter to them because they “don’t really give a shit.”
One of my friends wrote the following poem, and it’s always
touched a part inside of me that wants to understand people that have such
hatred in their heart:
for a friend… (Desiree Handley)"
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