I think I’d be a lot more open to TMA/TME language if it were actually used to define and highlight oppression instead of just forming an oppressed in-group that needs to constantly fear the outgroup.
and I know I’ve made that post before but the conversation around what we get to call anti-transmasculine oppression and discrimination got me thinking about who is allowed to define their oppression.
I do think transfems and trans women should make their own words and language to define their oppression, discrimination and struggles. I think any minority group should have their right to be heard on their own struggles defended. I think a majority of transfeminist theory (actual transfeminist theory, not just discourse on tumblr (because timely reminder that’s genuinely where we are right now)) has a lot of merit, and a lot of points worth listening to and incorporating into broader feminist theory. Similarly, I think transmisogyny has a lot of mileage as a term, and is a good way to speak up about the injustices faced by transfems and trans women.
but when does language used to define and speak on oppression become a tool against other oppressed groups? Is it when tma/tme language is used to alienate non-transfems from discussions around common experiences of transphobia? Is it when tma/tme language is used to really just mean afab trans folks? Is it when that language is then used in sentences like “kill all tmes” “bomb that explodes all tmes” and “tmes aren’t actually part of the trans community”? The framing of transmascs as exempt from the specific type of transphobia being highlighted by this language then makes it very easy to see taking a swing at us punching up instead of across.
and moreover, my dislike of the use of tma/tme also means I don’t like “transandrophobia-affected” and “transandrophobia-exempt”. The terms have actual criticism beyond just not including transmascs and trans men. The main uses I’ve seen of taa/tae are jokingly, but if they were to become actual terms I’d oppose them too. Black and white binaries of oppressed/oppression exempt are not useful, especially in discussion around communities that will always have exceptions, outliers and fringe cases by the very nature of those communities.
