I keep hearing trans men have male privilege or have fewer obstacles than others trans folks in cis patriarchal society. What are those? No one ever says. And honestly, I only see trans men as being punished for not being cis men and "choosing" the wrong gender. As someone who came out 30 years after living as a very femme woman and not in queer spaces, that dealt directly with misogyny (especially working in cis male dominanted spaces) and have lost all the support from being "a woman" in patriarchal society, what are these advantages/privileges? I have been kicked out of trans spaces for being too masc and "not needing help for being a man", being told trans men are "worse than cis men", for being a "gender traitor", for being "boring" as a trans man, being told after surgery that they won't cover me because my M gender marker conflicts with "women's healthcare" under my insurance which almost bankrupted me and I'm still struggling with, being told I can only access gay men's healthcare by claiming to be a sex worker, and unable to apply to queer fellowships in my field because they intentionally exclude trans men. Where is the privilege? Since I've transitioned, there isn't a week that goes by where I don't regret it because there was at least marginal support being seen as a sad cis woman than worthless trans man.
