it's interesting bringing up some transfeminist theory to my drag race watching cis therapist thinking she'll disagree but then she just starts spitting incredible transfeminist truth that would cause 100 years discourse on tumblr.
she was telling me that all her transmasc clients have soared up through their careers and have private insurance, while all her transfem clients are financially struggling and are on state insurance
she was like "they transition into privilege and patriarchy is happy to accept them as men" and what's awesome is she said her transmasc clients generally understand this privilege and use it responsibly, including in support of trans women
like girl they would kill you dead on tumblr.com
and you know to be clear these aren't even things I would have said. I mean there's definitely Nuance at the very least. if I were to say the "transitioning into privilege" and "being accepted by patriarchy as men" things myself I'd want to be able to prove them out relatively rigorously, and I haven't done that, so don't take this as me doing a full cosign on these claims. but damn, she did just kind of say them
on the transitioning into privilege thing: I don't tend to say this one because I think it's at least probably not linearly true. my theory of this one is kind of in a fetal development stage but I tend to imagine that coming out as trans is a sharp drop in privilege not immediately outweighed by manhood, but then that passing as a man and performing masculinity start to up one's privilege again. #privilegemath
on the "being happily accepted into patriarchy" thing, my therapist was saying that men tend to be cool with it because it reaffirms that manhood is good and desireable. I hadn't really considered that angle in my own analysis. I usually operate under the assumption that an oppressor class will not be so happy to accept upward movement with open arms, but maybe your average man is not really concerned with gatekeeping manhood as a class, so long as the goodness of masculinity is being affirmed? definitely a thought that's influencing my theory a little
gonna be honest that therapist is just spitting straight facts and I've seen it first hand. my own mom refused to accept me as a woman and in the same breath praised a trans man who works for her without even a hint of disapproval or a single pronoun slipup. benjamin "shitstain" shapiro complimented a trans man's masculinity directly and didnt even rescind it after he told him he's trans.
and yeah, the reason trans women are specifically targeted is directly because our very existence denies the validity of the patriarchy, which bakes into our very society that men must be above women. choosing to be a woman and throwing away being a man is inherently counter to that.
same reason women can wear pants but men cant wear skirts. its always been baked in that its (relatively) okay to choose masculinity over femininity, but absolutely not ever the other way around. femininity is supposed to be something to be forced into, not sought out.
additionally, its actually necessary for an oppressor class to accept "upward" movement, when it means joining their ranks. this goes for any class with higher privilege. the best way to gain influence is to grow, and accepting new members into your class is an easy way to do that. it's why missionaries are like, even a thing.
