like to point out the hypocrisy: Literally I have watched the arguments get reversed, all in service of just getting discussions of transmasc oppression to shut down.
"You have to use the term 'TME' to describe yourself. Although you experience both transphobia and misogyny, when you use the term 'transmisogyny' for your experiences, as a man, it is appropriating the term and takes attention away from trans women, which is itself transmisogynistic. Nevermind the fact that a part of your experience includes being mistaken for a trans woman and treated as such. By virtue of being a trans man, you are inherently 'transmisogyny exempt'."
If that's how we're gonna use the language, then let's create our own terms for transmasc oppression. We were thinking of using the tag ''transmisandry", meaning "the hatred of trans men/masculinity".
"That's misogynistic because it's now implying that you think misandry is an actual thing that exists in our society. You're promoting M.R.A. talking points by doing that!"
OK, that was not at all what the term meant, nor the purpose the language was meant to serve, but let's let bygones be bygones and come up with a different word, since you take onus with the "-misandry" part of the term. How about "transandrophobia"?
"You're being misogynist and transmisogynist because you're implying that trans men are oppressed specifically for their masculine identity-"
I'm gonna let you continue, but like... I have literally throughout most of my life been punished by society for being masculine when according to cis sexist beliefs, I am supposed to be feminine-
"What you ACTUALLY experience is an intersection of transphobia and misogyny. And we already have a word for that! It's transmisogyny! You just want to invent your own thing because you clearly don't understand gender studies or trans theory. I can't support this. The term "transandrophobia" is inherently transmisogynistic."
??? So can we use the term "transmisogyny" to describe transmasc experiences and label them as a part of our self advocacy?
"No, you have to label yourself as 'transmisogyny exempt' (TME)."
Funny enough, it seems that whenever we try to talk about our oppression as trans men and try to combat trans male erasure- one of the key tools of our oppression- no matter what terms are used, you seem to view them as transmisogynistic. Have you considered taking a step back and considering why?
One thing you learn when you study rhetoric is that it's less important what words are used than what those words are doing. What is our speech doing? Why do you feel the need to silence it? Why does your speech, although cloaked in the language of progressivism, still fulfill the function of silencing another minority?
