The thing I don’t understand about the transandrophobia stuff is how it leads into the transmisogyny. Like, trans guys do experience oppression, and they should be allowed to talk about it, but every guy I’ve seen who’s talked about it using the term “transandrophobia” has also been extremely transmisogynistic. Not always at first or intentionally, but it’s like a pipeline I think? So like, I understand that there is a correlation here. I have observed it myself. But I don’t get it? What is it about using that word to describe their experiences that leads them to consistently become so transmisogynistic? And they talk a lot about wanting trans solidarity, but their actions don’t really reflect that? But I don’t understand how it happens. It’s like [a trans guy experiences oppression] -> [he wants to talk about it] -> [he starts talking about transandrophobia] -> [SOMETHING?????] -> [he becomes violently transmisogynistic]. And it’s like ok, the oppression IS real, talking about it IS good, but then we get to that word, and that’s where things start to go bad, but I don’t know how or why. I don’t know what happens in the “SOMETHING?????” step.
my guess is that part of it is they resent us for "appropriating" the experience of misogyny that they believe is inherent to agab. they want to be the ultimate authorities on misogyny, and they hate the idea that we have authority on discussing our own experiences of misogyny, and I think they especially resent the idea that it affects us more than it does them in many areas of life. I cannot forget how mad they got that I pointed out the wage gap between them and us
people in general are very condescending about trans women's experiences with misogyny, acting like we're appropriating what ~real~ women go through. and frankly, a lot of transandrobros seem to think of themselves as more of women than trans women in everything but name. they just say "afab" instead of "woman"
There's a reason why I prefer to call it transemasculation. Transandrophobia as a term doesn't even cover the 'why' behind the oppression of transmascs, which leads transmascs who start using the term to end up thinking that their oppression is due to some bullshit about misogyny being inherent to agab, like you said. In reality, it's due to transphobes trying to trying to remove their maleness and return them to being "vulnerable women" in some way. Transandrobros are literally perpetuating their own oppression by believing what they believe.
Okay, fuck, that's actually a really good term for the phenomena. Because that's exactly what patriarchy wants out of transmascs: to forcibly and coercively re-gender them. Because so much of patriarchy is aimed at sidelining everyone with a uterus into a reproductive resource, an aim thinly legitimized by ideas about the feminine, female, woman, girl, et cetera. That's not a program that transmasculinity fits into, resulting in violence of all kinds against transmascs to buy conformity.
Contrast this with the de-gendering that patriarchy inflicts on transfems, who are denied any legitimacy or humanity as punishment for, A, actively identifying with womanhood, a category that must always remain undesirable, and B, "betraying" manhood, a category that must always remain unbreakable and misogynistic. A failure to be a misogynist man makes us traitors. Our uselessness to the reproductive regime denies us even the faint protections of womanhood. And because we are denied a category, a humanity, we are denied language and knowledge and frameworks with which to speak of and understand our own oppression; epistimicide.
And these are two very different phenomena, so for a long time it's made very little sense to me to use blanket "transphobia" as a term; it feels like it ultimately plays into that force of epistimicide, generalizing and vaguely deferring any specific discussion of what transfemininity means and how it's oppressed, and at the same time not adequately attacking the roots of oppression against trans men. I'll be borrowing "transemasculation" as a way to talk about these things. Thank you for the addition to my lexicon.
