Transphobia in Feminism

GWS 203✨ Lara H - Discussion of transphobia in current feminist movements.

[transphobiainfeminism]

Thank you for this page! Thank you, thank you, thank you! <3

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[transphobiainfeminism]

Reflection

I really enjoyed this project. It was a lot of work, but I felt like I gained a lot of insight into just how serious transphobia is in feminist movements. I mean, I knew it was an issue, but I did not realize how frequent of an issue that it was. What I have learned from this project will help me not only become a better feminist and a better human in general, but a better (hopefully) future professor of gender and women’s studies. All of the research I did was really interesting and honestly it was even hard to read at times. Finding out all of that information on just how malicious trans exclusionary radical feminists could be was mindblowing to me.

Again, I wish I had gotten more insight as to how transphobia in feminism affects transgender women of color specifically, but as previously stated I feel like that information not being easily accessible says a lot about what is left to do and improve on. It is always important to look at things from an intersectional framework, so I hope if I do more work on this in the future I can make that happen.

I know that as a cisgender, straight person, I have a lot of privilege. And this project makes me realize more than ever that I can use my privilege to help uplift the voices of transgender women who are fighting against transphobia. I feel like it is my responsibility to call out others on their transphobia and work to make sure trans exclusionary radical feminism gets stomped out and that those people stop hurting transgender women. 

[transphobiainfeminism]

Annotated list of additional resources

1. http://theterfs.com/

This website has a HUGE amount of information on what exactly trans exclusionary radical feminists are. It goes as far as to give quotes by TERFs, a history of abuse of transgender women, where the term TERF comes from, and much more. You can even report harassment that you have faced at the hands of someone who is a TERF.

2. http://sjwiki.org/wiki/Trans-exclusionary_radical_feminism#.Vl5tqvmrShd

This is a social justice type of Wikipedia page. It is very good at explaining things in a very simple way. It has much less information on it than the first website, so it is a good first step on educating yourself on who TERFs are, what they support, what their hate looks like, and how it affects the lives of transgender women. It even brings up intersections of sex work, Christianity, and other waves of feminism. 

3. http://misandry-mermaid.tumblr.com/tagged/transphobia

This source is actually a tumblr blog. Misandry-mermaid is known for her active stance on transphobia in the feminist community and has an entire tag dedicated to transphobia. The tag may be triggering to some, so you should be careful if you feel like you could be affected by it. But I feel like it is a good source to see real life examples of transphobia and transphobia towards transgender woman in the feminist movement on even sites like tumblr, that are supposed to be open minded.

4. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/transgender-rights-versus-feminism-what-makes-woman-1501487

This source discusses the history of transphobia in feminism, transphobia currently in the feminist movement, and even brings up statistics on hate crimes. It gives good examples of transphobia in feminism, and talks about whether or not public transgender woman have made an impact on transgender rights. 

5. http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/02/trans-inclusive-feminist-movement/

This article from Everyday Feminism is really great when talking about transphobia within feminism. It discusses why exactly the feminist movement must be trans-inclusive, and gives a lot of sources with examples of transphobia to back up their claims. They talk about women only spaces, examples of trans exclusion, anti-trans analysis, and talks about ways in which to build a better, trans-inclusive feminist movement.

Sources I have used on my blog

1. Vasquez, Tina. “It’s Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women | Bitch Media.” Bitch Media. N.p., 17 Feb. 2014. Web. <https://bitchmedia.org/post/the-long-history-of-transgender-exclusion-from-feminism>.

(my second post)

2. Munro, Ealasaid. (2013), Feminism: A Fourth Wave?. Political Insight, 4: 22–25. doi: 10.1111/2041-9066.12021

(my third post)

3. NAMASTE, V. (2009), Undoing Theory: The “Transgender Question” and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist Theory. Hypatia, 24: 11–32. doi: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01043.x

(my forth post)

4. Williams, Cristan. “TERF Hate and Sandy Stone.” The Transadvocate. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. <http://www.transadvocate.com/terf-violence-and-sandy-stone_n_14360.htm>.

(my fifth post)

[transphobiainfeminism]

Photo by Mikheala Reid

My recommendations

I think solving this issue of transphobia in feminism is something that is very possible if we do the right things. I think the first thing we can do is what this comic above says, learn to call out people who are transphobic, especially those who are transphobic against transgender women in the name of feminism. If people are not called out, no conversations are going to end up being had about what is and is not acceptable. I do not think any one person or group should be responsible for calling out people for being transphobic, I feel like it is a thing that every person should be responsible for. I feel like letting people know that what they are saying is transphobic and messed up helps transgender woman and helps keep transphobic people out of feminism. It can even be used to help educate people who say something transphobic on why what they said was wrong, hopefully changing their minds by the end of the conversation.

Speaking of education, I also feel like education in academic spaces is also a good step to solve this issue. We do not often talk about transphobia in feminism in the gender and women’s studies classes that I have taken. Because of that, many people probably do not even realize that it is a problem. We actually do not even talk about transgender people that often in general. I think if teachers took time to educate their students on the lives of transgender people, especially transgender woman, then we would not have as much of an issue with trans exclusionary radical feminists spreading so much misinformartion about transgender woman (and having so many naive people accepting it).

[transphobiainfeminism]

Summary of my topic

I think my topic is extremely significant because it is something that is going on today, within the current feminist movement. Transphobia within the feminist movements has, and still, hurts transgender women’s lives and their space in activism. The research that I’ve done shows how it has been hurting them, especially when it comes to doxing and even death threats  by trans exclusionary radical feminists. What we learned in class about intersectionalism and how the medical establishment can have such a big affect on transgender people also was related to my research and helped my understand things better.

I think it is also important to note that most of the things I found in my research were based on white transgender woman. I had trouble finding things other than tumblr posts written by transgender woman of color, and I think that says as much as the things I found said. Making sure transgender women of color have a voice in the feminist community is still something that I feel needs to be worked on after researching this topic. 

Making feminism a space for everyone is very important. I am a big believer in the idea that if women do not protect other women, than no one else will. This includes transgender women. After doing research and finding out just how much transgender woman are pushed aside and sometimes even terrorized by trans exclusionary radical feminists I believe in this more than ever.

[transphobiainfeminism]

Description of how the problem is an intersectional issue

In class we talked a lot about intersectionality, which I thought was really important! We discussed how race, class, body types, etc, all play into a person’s life in different ways. Because of this, some people have privilege, some people don’t, and some have privileges in some places and not in others. I definitely feel like transphobia in feminism is an intersectional issue. I have seen TERFs on tumblr become racist, specifically target transgender women who do not pass well enough, make fun of transgender women’s bodies, etc. Transgender women of color experience transphobia within the feminist community in different ways than white transgender women do. Not only do they experience transphobia, but they experience racism too. A lot of mainstream feminism only focuses on middle class, cisgendered, straight, able bodied, and conventionally pretty white women, especially the type of feminism trans exclusionary feminists preach. To be a transgender women of color, a poor transgender woman, a queer transgender woman, a transgender woman that is not able boded and not conventionally attractive, means facing discrimination that white women who are privileged just do not face. Transgender white women face transphobia, that is something that cannot be argued, but they do not experience racism. If they are wealthy, they do not experience classism. With their privileges, they do not end up experiencing their identity as a transgender woman in the same ways those that are marginalized do.

[transphobiainfeminism]

Discussion of power structures

There are stereotypes and negative connotations attached to transgender women that are encouraged by certain institutions in our society that hold a lot of power. The medical establishment and the media are two main power structures that I feel have, for a long time, put down transgender people as whole, especially transgender women. 

When it comes to the medical establishment, there has been a lot of negative things about transgender people actually published in academia. People believe these things because they are published by professionals and because academia is seen as more credible than other sources or peoples’ personal experiences. This is something that we discussed in class, especially in relation to transgender people. Professor Chu himself brought up a situation where they were at a dinner and someone in the medical field said something negative about transgender people. Luckily, it turned into a learning experience, but a lot of the times that does not happen. A lot of things posted by people in the medical establishment deny the validity of transgender women’s identities and come up with “medical reasons” as to why transgender women are not women. Most of my sources focused on the hate that transgender women receive in feminist communities, but it is important to note the hate that they receive in the medical institution. A lot of trans exclusionary radical feminists use transphobic medical sources as credible academia to back up their beliefs that transgender women are not actually women and therefore do not belong in feminist or lesbian spaces.

The media is also a really big thing used to perpetuate the negative stereotypes against transgender women. Social media is an outlet that a lot of trans exclusionary radical feminists use as a platform to discuss their transphobic propaganda. Tumblr has even become a place where transgender women are attacked by TERFs. I am not a transgender woman, but when I made a tumblr post speaking about TERFs many TERF accounts replied back to me either trying to fight me for supporting transgender women or to “educate me” on the ways in which transgender women were not feminists and hurt the feminist movement. It was just a really weird situation to be in and I ended up ignoring it, but a lot of transgender women that get harassed by TERFs do not get that privilege. The internet is also used to spread transphobic memes, for instance those pictures that made fun of Caitlyn Jenner after her transition. Not only that, but people used social media outlets such as Facebook to discuss in depth why exactly Caitlyn Jenner and other transgender women were not actually women.

The medical establishment and social media being huge power structures that put out negative information on transgender women can really hurt the transgender community. A lot of people who are not fully educated on the issues that transgender women face could look at medical academia or look at the transphobic things that people say on social media and take that as truth. TERFs learn from other TERFs, and they get that outlet via social media and by being able to use “credible” medical articles that support the delegitimization of transgender women’s identities, thus supporting their beliefs that transgender women do not belong in feminist spaces.

[transphobiainfeminism]

Discussion of a real example

For this part of the project I chose to talk about an interview that Sandy Stone did with Cristan Williams. Stone is an out transgender woman who worked for a radical feminist lesbian separatist music collective group called Olivia Records. Stone faced a lot of hate that started because of Janice Raymond, author of The Transexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male, an extremely transphobic piece of work. 

This hate started because Sandy Stone and other women who were part of Olivia Records, a collective of lesbian feminist women, were sent a couple of chapters of Janice Raymond’s book, read it, and sent it back to her with a comment sheet attached to it. Stone stated that the copy they received, though it did not name Stone personally, was clearly pitched to out her. The collective sent it back to Raymond with negative comments attached, and that is when the hate started. The hate that Olivia Records got was all aimed at Stone for being a transgender women. Many believed that she did not belong in a lesbian feminist space because of her identity as a transgender woman. It went as far as actual death threats, with a women’s group called Gorgons threatening to kill her if she came to Seattle. Stone did in fact go to Seattle with the collective, and Gorgons did actually show up there with guns. They were confiscated by the security there, but the threat was still very real and very scary to Stone. The hate, threats, and overall violent energy being directed at Stone and Olivia Records caused Stone to leave the collective and move. Now she lives a normal life and has moved on from the hate that TERFs threw at her.

Though the entire thing that Stone dealt with is scary, it is important to note that she has a lot of privilege as a transgender woman who passes very well and is white, able bodied, and lives in the United States. I really wanted to get the perspective of a transgender woman of color, but is was difficult finding well written sources or a person to interview. Transgender women of color experience transphobia very differently than white transgender women as it has racism tied directly into it. Transgender women who are not able bodied and do not have the means to pass as well as Stone does also have a very difficult time with transphobia. In general though, I felt like Stone’s experience with TERFs tied really well to my other sources, which all talked about TERFs and how malicious they can get, especially when it involved transgender women being a part of feminist and lesbian spaces.

Works Cited

Williams, Cristan. "TERF Hate and Sandy Stone." The Transadvocate. N.p., 16 Aug. 2014. Web. <http://www.transadvocate.com/terf-violence-and-sandy-stone_n_14360.htm>.

[transphobiainfeminism]

Analysis of a second scholarly source 

Undoing Theory: The “Transgender Question” and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist Theory by Viviane Namaste

This article criticizes “Anglo-American feminism”, which I personally took to mean what some people in the feminist movement now call white feminism. In this article, Viviane Namaste talks about how Anglo-American feminist theory has asked questions about gender by using the bodies and lives of what she calls transsexual women in the forefront. She specifically criticizes Judith Butler’s works on gender and transgender women, which was a lot different than what my other sources focused on. Namaste does not mean to say that Judith Butler’s work is useless, rather she says Judith Butler’s works try hard to talk about all women, as Judith Butler talks about transgender women of color, but does not take into account intersectionality. Namaste criticizes Anglo-American feminism and says that, even though they rely on transgender women to ask theoretical questions, transgender women are not actually benefiting from it because Anglo-American feminism does not talk about the high rate of HIV among transgender women, the role sex work plays in their lives, and many other ways labor and other issues intersect with the lives of transgender women.

I really liked this article. I originally was not going to use it, but I kept seeing Viviane Namaste’s name on a lot of other scholarly articles I was looking up. She is apparently a pretty big deal in that sphere and has written a lot of things about transgender individuals and the AIDs epidemic in relation to transgender women. Judith Butler is one of the first authors I remember reading in my first GWS classes so to see an article that focused on a criticism of her work was new to me and very interesting. I agreed with a lot of the things that Namaste was saying. I feel like feminism now a days is trying to be more inclusive, but mainstream feminism and white feminism still do not think too much about the ways labor and race, among other things, intersect with the lives of marginalized people, especially transgender women. Namaste states that Anglo-American feminist theory was inadequate for understanding the complexities of women’s lives, which I agreed with completely. The way transgender sex workers are also swept under the rug is something Namaste brought up that I thought was pretty important to my topic. Transgender sex workers, and especially transgender women of color who are sex workers, are groups that I have really seen being ignored in the current feminist movement. This leaves out the opportunity to hear the voice of those marginalized groups and understand how complex the lives of transgender women actually are.

My questions are how can we make this better? How can we expose the ways in which Anglo-American feminist theory ignores transgender women and just uses them to analyze gender, not to make their lives any better? I am not really sure if there’s one specific answer to these questions. I know making things better probably starts with educating women in the current feminist movement and trying to make sure writings on transgender people, rather than just using their bodies to further academic writing, is used to try and better society and talk about the ways in which we can improve the lives of transgender women. I also feel like lifting up the voices of transgender women, especially those of color and those who work in the sex work field, is necessary in making sure feminist theory is more inclusive and understanding of how complex transgender women’s lives are.

Works Cited

NAMASTE, V. (2009), Undoing Theory: The “Transgender Question” and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist Theory. Hypatia, 24: 11–32. doi: 10.1111/j.1527-2001.2009.01043.x

[transphobiainfeminism]

Analysis of a scholarly source

Feminism: A Fourth Wave? by Ealasaid Munro

This article opens up by discussing a controversial quote by commentator Suzanne Moore, who likened the perfect body to that of a Brazilian transsexual. This quote offended many people, in it that it “suggested that trans women could not be considered women, whilst callously mocking the trans community as a whole” (Munro pg. 1). Moore, and a friend who defended her by also saying something transphobic, were publicly called out and told that they were out of touch with current day feminism. The author then goes on to discuss every wave of feminism, from first to third wave, and the idea  of a newly emerging fourth wave of feminism that heavily relies on the internet and “call out culture”.

Munro describes every wave of feminism in detail, also noting the issues in them. First wave feminism was only interested in getting the vote for white women, as most people already know. Within second wave feminism, the term the personal is political was coined, but at the same time it treated women as a similar group, not taking into account intersectionalities that make women different. Third wave feminism, though heavily influenced by queer theory, saw a rise of discrimination within the radical feminist movement, including transphobia. Lastly, the author brings up fourth wave feminism, which the author describes as a wave that focuses on the internet, call out culture, and online activism.

Munro goes on to talk about the new language within feminist movements, including cisgender, TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminists), and doxing, which has been used by TERFs to release private information on those who are transgender or those who are supporters of transgender people. Munro concludes the article by stating that academics need to start taking into account the way the internet is having an effect on feminist debates and activism, and how the fourth wave of feminism has the potential to give a voice to women who are still oppressed and marginalized. 

I enjoyed this article! I thought it was important to list an article that talked about the waves of feminism. It was a little hard to find a scholarly source that talked about both fourth wave feminism and at least mentioned transgender people, but I feel like this article did a good job on that. If there were any issues, I feel like the author should have talked about fourth wave feminism even more. I’m a big believer in fourth wave feminism, and I believe it is a movement that strives to be more inclusive, less transphobic, and less focused on Western ideals. I enjoyed the author’s critic on third wave feminism, noting that while it was intertwined with queer theory, there was still a rise in trans-exclusionary feminists. I also really enjoyed the discussion on the internet. I feel like the internet is a HUGE part of the current feminist movement - or really any movement at all. I, too, wonder how the internet will effect feminist activism in the future, and I feel like that is an important question that a person who cares about LBGTQA+ studies should ask too. I have high hopes though, and I feel as though the internet helps give a voice to those not often heard, like women of color, transwomen, and those who are not from the United States.

Works Cited

Munro, Ealasaid. (2013), Feminism: A Fourth Wave?. Political Insight, 4: 22–25. doi: 10.1111/2041-9066.12021

[transphobiainfeminism]

Analysis of a web source

“It’s Time To End The Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women” by Tina Vazquez

This article is one that I really really enjoyed. It is written by Tina Vasquez and discusses transphobic radical feminists like Cathy Brennan. Cathy Brennan is a attorney, a radical feminist, and a lesbian activist who frequently advocates against transgender people and holds a lot of power within the TERF community. I actually had heard about her before via tumblr before reading this article, but I did not know the extent of her hate.

The article opens up talking about how a transgender woman, Emily Horsman, was harassed by Brennan for arguing with her via twitter, Brennan going as far as emailing Horsman’s doctor to complain that she was harassing lesbian feminists.This is not the first time Brennan has gotten personal like this, as the article states that she has also contacted a trans woman’s employer, posted OKCupid profiles of trans women online, and even contacted the mother of someone who was supporting transgender issues online. 

The article goes on to discuss the way trans-exclusionary radical feminists (also known as TERFs) have hurt transgender movements, including sending letters to the Reagan administration to cut back on transgender healthcare (which worked), creating “womyn-born-womyn” spaces like the Michigan Womyn’s Fesitival, writing letters to the United Nations opposing laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, etc. Though trans-exclusionary feminists are not actually large in number, the author states that they have a strong voice on social media, which is why the concern of transgender feminists is serious.

I really liked this article and agreed with everything that the author stated. The reason why I am doing this topic is because I feel like trans-exclusionary radical feminists are hurtful to not only the feminist movement but the transgender movement as well, and that’s an issue that’s very serious and could easily damage peoples’ lives. I do not feel like transgender people must fight this fight alone, I feel like it is the responsibility of cisgender people to also make sure that these TERFs are not gaining anymore power and to help bring to the forefront the voices of transgender women who are working hard to gain more recognition. The question is how does this happen? How can cisgender feminists help stop TERFs without overstepping boundaries and ending up trying to speak for trans women? It is kind of terrifying that people like Cathy Brennan are essentially doxing people on the internet, and that can put people at potential risk for violence and harassment. I’m not sure how to go about totally solving that issue, but I know that the most important thing at this point is protecting transgender women and making sure that their voices are safely heard within the feminist movement.

Works Cited Vasquez, Tina. "It's Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women | Bitch Media." Bitch Media. N.p., 17 Feb. 2014. Web. <https://bitchmedia.org/post/the-long-history-of-transgender-exclusion-from-feminism>.

[transphobiainfeminism]

My topic for our blog project is transphobia within the feminist movement. I picked this topic because I thought it was really relevant to LGBTQAI+ studies, considering the lives of transgender people and social justice topics like feminism are really closely intertwined in the community. I am a huge feminist and I have noticed that transphobia in the feminist community is a much larger issue than people think it is, which is another reason why I picked this topic. I want to work to make the feminist movement more inclusive and I feel like shedding light on the issues that transgender people face in the feminist community is a way to educate people and hopefully make feminism a more positive space. I am going to be focusing on transphobia within the current feminist movements because I feel like everyone already knows that first and second wave feminism were transphobia, racist, etc, and not as many people talk about the problems with the current feminist movements.