I appreciate your tags but like, please donât do this.
Cis women being transphobic to trans men isnât Just Transphobiaâ˘. Cis women target trans men specifically, because they know they can get away with it in more spaces.
A cis woman being transphobic toward trans women, or trans people in general, is going to be seen as a transphobe. Theyâll likely, and rightfully be criticized and/or ostracized from certain spaces because of it- especially in most feminist circles. If they want to be a part of mainstream, non-TERFy feminism, theyâre gonna have to meet some bare minimum behavior expectations where thatâs concerned.
But when cis women are transphobic to trans men, most people wonât even notice itâs transphobia at all. Plenty of people will even cheer them on:
Trans men get acne and oily skin on T? Men are so nasty! Trans men have bottom dysphoria? Lol, just like a man to be insecure about his penis! Transmascs face the highest rates of lifetime sexual assault out of every gender and weâd like that addressed? Men are so whiny and fragile! Fight the patriarchy!
Theyâre women! Theyâre feminists! when they say horrible, violent, stomach-churning, bigoted shit about trans men, theyâre just railing against their own oppressors. Itâs justice!
There are so many more insidious forms of this, too.
Cis women who fetishize us as small, soft, effeminite versions of âreal menâ are still seen as âtrans alliesâ. It sounds so positive; who wouldnât want to be seen as inherently sweet, safe, and pretty? Who wouldnât want to be grossly othered and fetishized for qualities we are stereotyped to have? Surely not the men who already have to fight tooth and nail to define our own relationships with masculinity and manhood.
Cis women who infantilize us and try to revoke our autonomy are seen as âalliesâ, because theyâre only trying to protect us!
Cis women who quietly refuse make reproductive healthcare more inclusive, who go on making that fight about Womenâs Bodies, who continue to say things like âmen canât understand misogynyâ and include trans men in their âkill all menâ jokes⌠well, theyâre just affirming our genders!
Why would trans men want equal access to healthcare? Why would trans men want our suffering acknowledged? Why would trans men, the group with about a 50% rate of attempted suicide, not want to be told that everyone else would prefer we were dead?
This isnât even touching on the very intentional predation of trans men by cis women. Trans men and transmascs are targeted by cis lesbians in particular for corrective rape, and by abusive cis women as âeasy targetsâ due to the lack of support networks, resources, and community for trans men and transmascs.
These things are said and done by cis women who tout themselves as âtrans alliesâ. These are women who share those âshare to make a TERF madâ posts and call themselves âTERF destroyersâ. These are women who say âtrans women are womenâ. These are women in your spaces, and in your community. Theyâre people you follow and admire. Theyâre even people I follow and admire; women Iâve followed for years have called me a misogynist for pointing out the problems in things like âmen canât know what itâs like to be expected to have childrenâ.
Itâs not just a transphobia problem. Itâs not just a cis people problem. And itâs hilariously symbolic that you erased that meaning from my post, because the erasure of trans men and the silencing of our voices is exactly why this shit continues to happen.
