Camilla Strand

Why can’t trans men be men?

Why isn’t being transgender/transsexual “being yourself”?

Why pressure a AFAB person to be a woman when they don’t want to be one?

These questions have been in my mind for a while, especially since I have trans friends myself, as an unlabeled/agender person.

Radical Feminism feels too “restrictive” to me, because it excludes transgender people, under the guise of being “gender critical”.

As an autistic AFAB person, I’ve always been judged and bullied for being myself, so to see RadFems pressure a transgender man to be a cis woman instead of just accepting them as they are, disturbs me.

Conforming is hard to do, even impossible if you’re someone like me.

The feeling of not being a woman/man doesn’t go away just because you get therapy or “accept yourself”. That feeling sticks with you for a lifetime, and I’ve learned this the hard way.

Yeah, you can be masculine, cut your hair, and many other things and still be a woman, but transgender men aren’t women and not all transgender men are masculine or cut their hair.

That’s all I want to say, since that reblog you made of that trans guy kind of disgusted me.

Sorry for the disgust, I guess? But thank you for keeping it polite.

"Why can’t trans men be men?"

Factually? Because biological sex is a reality. And it's immutable. Artificial hormones, surgery, clothes and pronouns can't change that. What makes a man "trans"? Being born female. Therefore not a male. Therefore not a man.

Morally? We're dealing with oppressed people desperately trying to become part of the oppressor group. We're seeing plastic surgeons, mostly men, and unethical doctors willing to hurt girls who try to escape misogyny, gender roles and homophobia. Men create an illness and sell its cure. Keep women compliant, make them think they are the problem and need to change themselves, instead of society. It's destroying class consciousness and solidarity among women and it's preventing women from organising against/out of male supremacy.

"Why isn’t being transgender/transsexual “being yourself”?

Your are your body. Your personality comes from your body. It's the result of your organs, cells and neurons interacting with each others and your environment. Being yourself means living in your body.

When you take artificial hormones, get on the operating table and beg people to pretend you're not what you are, you aren't being yourself, you're fighting against yourself.

It's very in keeping with religious propaganda to think that your body is an enemy that needs to be tamed.

And it's very in keeping with capitalist propaganda to think that your body can be customised, tailor made and advertised as something else.

You should be weary of anyone who tries to make you believe you can be anything you want. They're most likely snake oil salesmen. Reality comes with limitations and part of being an adult means accepting it.

Why pressure a AFAB person to be a woman when they don’t want to be one?

Misogynists are the ones pressuring "tomboys" into thinking that if they don't follow sexist stereotypes, or if they are lesbians, they aren't real girls and should "transition".

And men harass girls, sexually assault them and tell them that boys are superior. How's that for "pressure" into trans escapism?

Just because you don't want to be something doesn't mean you aren't. Being told it's okay to be yourself is not being "pressured". But being told that not obeying gender roles is wrong and unwomanly, certainly is.

Radical Feminism feels too “restrictive” to me, because it excludes transgender people, under the guise of being “gender critical”.

Radical feminism is not a club, it's a political movement. Our goal is not to include everybody. Our goal is to free women. We are opposed to pornography, bdsm, child brides, surrogacy, prostitution, religions, the nuclear family model, rape culture and sexist stereotypes, among other things.

We promote female class consciousness, female only spaces, female solidarity, female health, emancipation, freedom, autonomy and self-acceptance. Radical feminists created the first shelters for rape victims and they are the ones who put forward the fact that PTSD is most present among women as a result of domestic abuse and rape.

We support all women against misogyny; that includes the women who want to be men, so we are not, in fact, "exclusionary". The only people not included in radical feminism are men. And that's why we have become the primary target of the trans movement, which is an anti-feminist movement.

"Gender critical" women are typically not radical feminists. That's why "gender critical" exists as a separate term. They are women who oppose gender ideology for a variety of reasons, not all of them good.

RadFems pressure a transgender man to be a cis woman instead of just accepting them as they are

You've got the situation reversed. Misogynists are pressuring a girl to be either "feminine" or a fake man, and radical feminists are offering a third option: to just be herself instead.

I'm sure you'd agree that it's not healthy to think there's something wrong with you and that you were "born in the wrong body".

Conforming is hard to do, even impossible if you’re someone like me.

Radical feminists are not for conforming, quite the opposite. We are radicals after all.

The reason a lot of autistic girls end up affected by trans ideology is precisely because they have a hard time conforming. Trans ideology offers you the opportunity to conform to the point of absurdity. It invents new boxes for you to fit in. But a box is still a box. Radical feminists say there shouldn't be any box to begin with, because each woman is unique.

The feeling of not being a woman/man doesn’t go away just because you get therapy or “accept yourself”.

It did for me, with the help of feminism. Accepting myself, accepting reality like a mature person, stop focusing on how others perceive me, on the way I look and understanding that there's nothing wrong with being a girl and that being girl doesn't mean being an NPC in a man's world. That did it for me. Getting rid of the misogynist in my head. Women are varied, women are interesting, women are fun, women are valuable and I'm no different.

And given the way men behave, I really don't want to be anything like them now.

What you call procrastination might just be your body saying: "I'm overwhelmed and everything feels too much"

What you call anxiety might just be your body saying: "I've been in danger before, and I don't know if it's over yet"

What you call neediness might just be your body saying: "I didn't get what I needed, and I'm still longing"

What you call overreacting might just be your body saying: "This feels like danger to me because it once was"

What you call emotional instability might just be your body saying: "I was never taught that feeling emotions could be safe"

What you call resistance might just be your body saying: "I don't feel safe enough to do what you want me to"

What you call laziness might just be your body saying: "I'm frozen because I had to work hard for too long"*

What you call numbness might just be your body saying: "I had to shut down to keep you safe"

What you call avoidance might just be your body saying: "Im not ready to face this yet. I need slower exposure to it"

(the.trauma.educator on ig)