Why Trans Inclusion Is Essential To The Feminist Movement
Gender is not a fixed biological fact but a socially constructed category that has shifted across cultures and eras. From the priestesses of Inanna in ancient Mesopotamia to the Hijra of South Asia, history is replete with people who lived outside the binary, demonstrating that gender diversity is a natural part of humanity. Yet contemporary feminism often treats trans women as a threat to “womanhood,” ignoring the overwhelming evidence that trans people face higher rates of violence, discrimination, and stigma while contributing to the fight against patriarchy. Embracing trans women as women expands, rather than diminishes, feminist solidarity and is essential for dismantling the rigid gender norms that underpin misogyny.
First of all, let’s clear up the fact that gender is not biological; it is social. Society defines “man” and “woman,” and these definitions have always been flexible. Yes, throughout the majority of human history gender has been based on biological sex, but biological sex itself has countless variations, and there are enough exceptions in human history to validate the fact that humans have always had a flexible definition of gender. To refuse this fact is a line of thinking promoted by Nazis, white supremacists, and religious extremists: positions that feminism is completely against.
Even if we were to acknowledge that gender is based off of biological sex, 1.7% of the population, roughly the same percentage as people with red hair, does not fit into the traditional definitions of binary sex and 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) of the population is truly intersex, which is a condition in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female, and when biology itself is so diverse alongside the significant historical evidence of trans identity being present even during times when they were heavily oppressed, how can we ever deny gender variation as anything but natural?
Add to that the fact that reducing women to their genitals and biology is exactly what the patriarchy does. The strict enforcement of gender is one of the building blocks of misogyny, and doing the same in an attempt to exclude trans women from feminism is counterproductive. Including trans women as women doesn't erase cis women—it expands the definition of womanhood to be more inclusive. Cis women still exist, still face sexism, and still have their own experiences. The idea that trans women somehow invalidate or threaten cis women assumes that womanhood is a scarce resource, which it is not.
This separation of trans and cis women is often done to claim that trans women enter women's spaces to violate women. Not only is there no evidence of this, but trans people experience more violence in any space, whether gender segregated or not, when compared to their cis counterparts. The majority of violence against women and in general is committed by men, and masculinity promotes this violence, traditionally stating that a man has a natural right to women and children, and there is an expectation that he will claim what he wants with force if necessary. This is not present in trans inclusive gender definations, which instead is more inclined towards a flexible definition of gender in general.
Another lie often spread about trans people is that they're indoctrinating children, but trans people have very often reported feeling discomfort in the gender assigned to them at birth even when they had no knowledge of trans identity. Forcing kids to stick to the appearance assigned to their biological sex even when they show clear discomfort is more damaging than letting them express themselves as they wish to. It is generally understood that gender dysphoria in children is different than actions which do not alone with the gender assigned to them as one is a feeling of dysphoria and the other is humans being human and unable to fit into select boxes. A trans child is very rarely given anything that is not reversible. A child changing their name, wearing a dress, or using different pronouns will not hurt them if they decide to de-transition once they are older, and puberty blockers are also fully reversible if administered properly, have manageable side effects, and have been used by cis children to treat precocious (early) puberty for even longer than for gender affermation in trans kids.
Less than 1% of trans people ever regret surgical transitioning, and many of them reportedly do so due to the social stigma and bullying they suffer due to their identity and not because they willingly choose to. Meanwhile, in similar surgeries, studies have found that between 5% and 14% of all women who receive mastectomies to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer say they regretted doing so.
People also claim that gender dysphoria is a mental illness, but if it is, then why do the same people ridicule trans people who they claim are ill? Do you also bully cancer patients? The World Health Organization declassified being transgender as a mental disorder in 2019, and the "cure" of gender dysphoria is not conversion therapy or being forced to live as the gender you were assigned at birth; it is to transition to whatever you are comfortable being. The majority of trans individuals agree that conversation therapy and similar "treatments" did not help them but instead made their lives worse.
Being trans is nothing new. What is new is social visibility. Social media and the internet have helped connect similar people and given them the vocabulary to define themselves, but even before it, there have been countless examples of trans people throughout history.
Inanna is the ancient goddess of love, war, beauty, sex, and justice who was worshipped across the cradle of humanity, Mesopotamia. She also was believed to have the ability to change a person’s gender. Men who joined the priesthood in devotion for Inanna became women for all intents and purposes and were titled the Gala.
A gallus was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele; they castrated themselves and wore women’s clothing, accessories, and makeup, so scholars have interpreted them as transgender.
Androgynous men in Khmer (Southeast Asian) society were observed by the Chinese explorer Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor Wat in 1296–1297. These people are considered the ancestors of today’s kathoey, a term used by trans women in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.
Hijra people, transgender, intersex, or eunuch individuals of the Indian subcontinent, were mentioned in the Puranas dated to 250–950 CE and continue to be one of the largest communities of trans individuals.
Khanith people from the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Oman, were also assigned male at birth but occupied an intermediate “third gender” between male and female, with outward appearances that blended both genders.
In Diné (Navajo) culture, the Nádleehi gender role is fluid and cannot be simply described in terms of rigid gender binaries. Some Diné recognize four general places on the gender spectrum: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, and masculine man.
Lhamana, in traditional Zuni culture, are biologically male people who take on the social and ceremonial roles usually performed by women.
Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, a Jewish philosopher, translator, and hakham of Provence, lamented being born a man instead of a woman in their poem "Prayer for Transformation"; this has been seen as an early account of gender dysphoria.
Waria, a term for transgendered people derived from the words wanita (woman) and pria (man), is a large group of trans people from Indonesia and previous to the pre‑Islamic Bugis society of Indonesia recognized five gender roles, namely Oroané (cisgender men), Makkunrai (cisgender women), Calabai (transgender women), Calalai (transgender men), and Bissu (androgynous/transcendent shamans)
The genderless Public Universal Friend, an American preacher born in 1776, refused both a birth name and gendered pronouns after claiming to have died and been reanimated as a genderless evangelisn.
Among the Nuer people (in what is now South Sudan and Ethiopia), widows who have borne no children may adopt a male status, marry a woman, and be regarded as the father of any children they bear.
There is also this idea that trans people who choose to appear in the appearance traditionally assigned to their chosen gender are enforcing gender stereotypes, but trans people choose to associate with the attributes assigned to their gender by society because those attributes define the gender they grew up with. Radical feminists often focus on trans women appearing feminine, forgetting that cis women also adhere to the same standards. How often do we see women growing out their hair, wearing makeup, and styling themselves to look more feminine? I would argue it is the same amount, if not more, than trans women. Sticking to the appearance assigned to your gender is not the problem; the stigma attached to that appearance is.
Yes, a woman who does not shave, does not wear makeup, and cuts her hair short makes a feminist statement simply by refusing to invest her energy and money in the value society places on female appearance. Yet she is shunned and hated by the wider public, and that hatred is far harsher for a trans person who already does not fit the gender binary. Trans people who refuse to change their appearance to adhere to gender norms are often discriminated against by both the queer community and the general population at large, and you cannot police someone's appearance, as the right to one's body is a basic human right.
Some go as far as to say that trans people in particular do not experience any hate, but a quick Google search can disprove this. They are denied access to male‑ and female‑centric spaces, and whenever they create a place for themselves, cis people often intrude. Their mere existence is treated as a crime in 13 countries. They are bullied not only by strangers but also by their own families. They are more frequently victims of more violent and sexual crimes even when compared to cisgender queer people. One trans individual’s wrongdoing is seen as a failure of the entire group when people use the criminal records of a few trans people to declare the entire community as dangerous. They are denied the fundamental right to their own body and appearance. They are denied employment and education. 45% of trans individuals have reportedly attempted suicide due to the discrimination they face. No person chooses to be trans because who would willingly endure all of this?
Feminism is built to dismantle the patriarchy; you cannot do so while being too busy classifying what a woman is and trying to exclude other vulnerable groups from the movement. If even you still think that trans women are men, they should not be bullied for embracing femininity as that inherently devalues what is traditionally attributed to women. What they choose to be perceived as does not hurt anyone else, and it is undeniable that they are very often under the threat of violence. We can't exclude cis men from the movement, as they too suffer under the patriarchy, so how can we exclude trans people who have historically helped the feminist movement and are just trying to live their lives how they are most comfortable?
