Transgender Feminism

Are we headed this direction?

Since I have transitioned, I have learned a lot about being a woman. By far the biggest surprise to me was learning how cisgender women are treated in everyday life. I have to confess that I pretty much go through my day without being clocked. That is true for me about 95% of the time. I have worked very hard to get to this point and am very happy with the way things are shaping up in my life. However, with passing comes the hindrances of being female. I get the incredibly rude and vulgar comments from men on the train trying to pick me up. I am often taken aback at just how graphic men can be about what they would like to do with my body. Then there is the way that I am treated at work. Not bad, or even rude, just what I would call, Child-like. As if I need a man to get anything accomplished.

First let’s get a basic definition of what a feminist is. In simple terms a feminist is anyone, be it female or male, who believes a woman should have the same rights and rewards as men. To not be defined by their body parts. With that definition I have to admit to being a proud feminist. I mean why would I want to become the woman I know I am, only to be treated like a second class citizen? Also, the last thing I want is to be defined by my body parts.

Now there are going to be differences in women versus men. Can’t deny that a woman is more emotional than men are. I know this from personal experience. Since I have been on estradiol, my way of putting thoughts together is totally different from the person I used to be.

Being transgender takes nothing away from cisgender women. Cis and Trans do not need to be in separate camps of political discord. We should be working together to bring about equal treatment. We have more things that bind us together than there are that pull us apart. One such example is most women who wear the mantle of feminism are often perceived by society as being more masculine. She is called a bitch because she stands her ground, and is perceived to hate men as a whole. As a transgender person I often find that I too have to stand my ground, politely telling a man,“Thank you, but I already know that.” or correcting the occasional, “Sir”. Often I am seen as the culprit for trying to be a gender they feel I am not.

British suffragettes.

Emmeline Pankhurst

Women  have been fighting for their rights for 118 years now. It all started in England in 1903. They were called suffragettes. The organization was founded by a fiercely independent woman named, Emmeline Pankhurst. Their main focus was on the right to vote. Later in the 1960s through the ’70s America had Gloria Steinem. She expanded the ideals to equal treatment to that of men. In France there is Simone de Beauvoir. She was known for feminist existentialism and feminist theory. What this shows is that oppression of women is not new or confined to one country. Feminism is a global issue. Today women do have the right to vote in most parts of the world. Still we are not equal in our earnings or promotions. If a woman tries to put her family first she is seen as a less than dedicated employee.

Gloria Steinem

I have experienced sexual harassment at work. The simple truth is I did nothing about it. The reason is because this person is well liked in the company. I would get the blame for being an overly sensitive Trans girl with no sense of humor. So when he wants to show me porn on his phone, I just give him a very dissatisfied look. I’m good at that one. Still why should I be subjected to behavior that I don’t desire or make allusions to? This person also feels as if he is over me in authority. Most of the time I just ignore him and do what I feel is the best thing to do concerning my job. Still I often feel as if I have no recourse but to just put up with it.

Then there is the camp of the TERFs (Trans exclusionary radical feminist.) This movement is represented by the likes of J.K. Rowling. Her ideals are actually taking the women’s movement back to a time of being defined by their body parts. A Trans woman is not a woman because she was not born with female anatomy. That the female race is becoming less valid because of transgender people. That transgender people are degrading the female race by taking away women’s private spaces and domination of female sports. As trans people we are battered by the images of the likes of Lia Thomas. She is held up as the epitome of everything that is wrong with transgender girls in sports. In reality we are asking the wrong question. The question should not be; how you were born, or how long you have been transitioning. The question should be: How did you go through puberty? I feel that is the only fair thing for everyone. Even then there are always exceptions to the rule. However, it is incidents such as this that gives TERFs fuel for their exclusionary Ideology. Pardon me, I digress, we are talking about feminism.

As Trans feminists we need to be aware of female issues even when they have no direct bearing on us. Remember, any issue restricting the rights of women is one more step to taking away the rights of the transgender. When politicians come between a woman and her doctor, telling her what decisions they are allowed to make, how much easier is it to tell parents that support their transgender kids what choices they can make by law? I have even seen a few posts on facebook about how no one should be allowed to transition; at any age. How scary is that?

If you have not seen the television show, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” You need to watch it. When Margaret Atwood first published the book in 1985, she thought it was too far-fetched to be believable. However, today we see a glimpse of a society that is degrading into life portraying art. The Handmaid’s Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel about a country that has been set up by strict old Testament morals. Women are subservient to men. They are not allowed to hold jobs or even read books. There is a class of slave women who are fertile and can therefore bear children. This when most of the upper class women are infertile because of the adverse effects of a civil war. So a system of forced handmaid’s is set up to continue the procreation of the human race. This is why you are seeing women at protest rallies showing up dressed in red garments. The red robes being the uniform of the handmaid. This is a visual representation of women being regulated into submission.

So when you ask yourself ; isn’t feminism an outdated notion? My answer is: most fires happen when you are sleeping. We as transgender people, whether MTF or FTM, we need to stand strong with our cisgender sisters. It is also why the cis-female needs to stand strong with us. There is strong opposition out there to an equal society. We are becoming a nation of divided people. The least we can do is stand together in solidarity as a gender that embraces each other in identity.

(Note from the author) After reading this article my wife insisted on going to my department boss about the sexual harassment I had received. I had told her about the unwanted events but did not give all the details.So the guy and I still work in the same room. The day after he was called into the office was really bad. He didn’t say anything to me but kept slamming things around. It reminded me of a four year old who just received a spanking. I just ignored him.

I am strong, I am beautiful, and Trans proud.

Chrissy

Tags: featured, feminism, suffragette

Category: History, Transgender Opinion, Transgender Politics