what's so interesting about this to me is how this is exactly what i've seen people saying about the backlash to the discussion of transandrophobia & transunity.
like people would tear someone apart for saying it but its right there. Emi's Manifesto is far better, even without the initial Postscript, at tackling transfeminism and the question of male privilege and gender essentialism than most "transfeminists" on here and she still thought she didn't do enough in 2001 when it was published (& i agree).
and then seven years later she felt that what she had written was "a version of white feminism modified just enough to include trans women." & that's exactly what so much "transfeminism" right now looks and acts exactly like!!!!!!!!!! its what we have literally been saying
& then the fact that Emi reflected on how much of that was born out of her own lack of self-confidence in feminist spaces, dominated by cis white women, and her fear that anything too transgressive would be seen as opening the doors of feminism to MRAs and she would be blamed for cheapening the work.
earlier in this essay she talked about her experience with a Women's Studies course that unfortunately very much mirrors my own
It was during my second year of college I was first introduced to the writings of Audre in a Women’s Studies course. Throughout the academic term, students read several articles each week, discussed them in the class, and wrote journal entries that reflect on the week’s readings. Week after week, most of the assigned materials were those written by white, middle-class, straight (or sometimes “political lesbian”) women, and I was having difficulty relating to much of what was being discussed. I kept writing in my journal how I didn’t relate to the reading, but I did not realize it had anything to do with the selection of the materials. I felt bad about being so “negative” about feminism and feminists.
& i think that for a lot of trans people, particularly trans men&mascs and nonbinary people, this is a very common experience. being unable to relate to feminist courses and discussions which never engage with any of your experiences, and then feeling bad and/or being made to feel bad for being so "negative" about feminism.
idk gang its just wild how the Manifesto and the additions Emi made to it as a historical document still reflect so much of the "discourse" we are seeing right now. i think a lot of folks out there could benefit a lot from reading Emi's work and her bring up how her own experience feeling othered and shut out from "good feminist theory" directly led to her neglecting trans men and nonbinary/genderqueer people "unless it was convenient" out of fear that including those groups would be too alienating to cis women. so much of online "transfeminism" is just thinly veiled attempts to get white cis women's approval.
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