When I recently came across viral TikTok clips of comedian Chris Overalls labeling himself a “chaser” seeking to hook up with trans men, I felt, frankly, unnerved. Chasers, or people who fetishize and sexualize trans people based solely on their transness, have been the topic of intracommunal trans dialogue for decades. In fact, a robust canon of zines, blogs, and articles have documented the phenomenon, usually focusing on cisgender men who fetishize trans women and transfeminine people. But less-discussed, both in the archive and in the present, are the specific subset of chasers who pursue trans men and other transmasculine people.
As controversy has erupted over the content made by Overalls — who, it should be noted, has “John Wayne Chasey” in his bio — several transmasculine people and trans men have taken to social media to share their own thoughts about this controversy, but with one clear and overarching message: In general, we need to talk more about chasers who pursue transmasculine people.
“Predators who target trans men are often loud af in the way they claim to affirm our manhood and masculinity in order to build a sense of false trust,” Jersey Noah, a trans social media creator, wrote in an Instagram post. “In reality, they use our isolation, our struggle to gain access to our bodies.”
The recent bout of discourse speaks to the necessity of finding common language for this experience. There has even been some discussion about whether or not trans men are subjects to chasers at all, because so often trans men are often mistakenly viewed in two camps: not passing, and being seen as a woman, or passing, and being unclockable as trans. The reality is that transmasculine experience occupies many more shades of gray, and anyone in that spectrum of experiences is still subject to unwelcome fetishization from cis people. According to Louis Lindley, a researcher who has written papers on the sexualization of trans and nonbinary people, this is, at its core, an issue of power. [...]
How exactly do chasers who pursue trans men differ from those who pursue trans women, and does the distinction even matter? According to Lindley, there are a few distinct — and often troubling — ways in which trans men and transmasculine people are fetishized. Trans men who are early on in their transition, for example, might be approached by cis men who are attracted to them because they have a “prepubescent” look. Cis women can also be chasers, despite popular representation, often by saying they won’t date men while actively seeking out trans men as the exception to that rule — an approach that can both hinge on and invalidate someone’s identity.
For G. Perry, a trans man based in Philadelphia, his experience with chasers manifested in feeling disposable and sexualized in uncomfortable ways.
“I once had a cis bisexual guy that I used to f**k tell me he likes transmascs because we don’t expect him to marry us,” he tells Them. “Now, he is in a serious relationship with a woman, and it hurts a little to know that I am good enough for a quick f**k but not a marriage.”
Wanted to share this article because I'm glad them is talking about transmasc issues and raising more awareness. Although god I wish transandrophobia / anti-transmasculinity was more mainstream, because even this article I wish tackled this topic better.
I also wish we talked more about how people perceived as women in men's clothing have historically been sexualized, and similarly to trans women in often pornophobic / anti-SW ways. This is not new. FTM crossdressing sex workers were such an "issue" in medieval Venice that a law was passed to require any woman caught with a certain masculine haircut to be excommunicated and publicly shamed, and sex workers were specifically whipped and had their heads shaved. And this is far from the only case of FTM crossdressing being seen as a thing sexually deviant women.
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