ah yes, the false binary of everyone who is a trans woman, and everyone else who is not a trans woman.

just like the evil oppressive binary of gingers vs non gingers. or left handed people vs everyone else. or people from Baltimore vs people who aren't from Baltimore. or Ryan Gosling vs every single other human being on the planet.

you people lost the plot on why the gender binary is bad. you think that its oppressive because there's just two categories. not that its oppressive because its a symptom of the patriarchy to abuse women, promote misogyny, and punish nonconformaty.

you hate the number two, instead of hating oppositional sexism. you have no understanding of basic gender theory, and are identical to the common transmisogynist.

righteousness + no might = a fool

no righteousness + might = a beast

society sees "male" as the default. any amount of perceived masculinity makes you male. [it's also one of the reasons people love to insist "dude" "bro" "guys" etc. are automatically gender-neutral terms.] if your gender is unknown, you're assumed to be a man. i think it's pretty obvious how that benefits trans men and oppresses trans women.

though they're obviously not the primary victims, even cis women with "traditionally masculine" features [taller, deeper voices, short hair, facial hair, or even just a refusal to shave or wear makeup] become "suspected trans women", given the title of "male". i don't think i've ever seen the reverse happen to a cis man [or any man, for that matter] who's shorter or has long hair or paints their nails.

people are more willing to see a "drag queen" or a man "experimenting with gender" than a trans woman because then that person is still "male", still has an acceptable proximity to masculinity. because maleness is assumed above all else.

i present fairly feminine some of the time, as in, not binding [and, trust, it's... noticeable], wearing clothes with a more feminine cut, earrings, styling my hair with bangs. even then-- i suspect, because i don't wear makeup, i do present masculine sometimes, the job i work requires a very "jeans and a tshirt" wardrobe, and i don't wear many skirts or dresses anyway-- people default to using they/them [ironic, because i use pretty much any pronouns other than they/them lol] and assume i'm going for androgyny. and, frankly, getting read as "androgynous" requires a certain perceived proximity to masculinity. the standard for "gender-neutral" presentation is pretty masculine, which again benefits transmasculine people and contributes to people bending over backwards to they/them trans women.

people assume i'm a trans woman sometimes too, and they treat me differently when they do. i'm sure no tma person needs a tme telling them that transmisogyny is real, but i do hope other tme trans people hear me when i say: you have it so, so much easier in terms of passing and in terms of how you're treated, and it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise using claims of "invisibility".

it's incomplete to identify this only as a problem of consent, though that is a very large factor. the downplaying and erasure of dysphoria and the negativity surrounding bottom surgery are very much components of the rape culture that harms a staggering proportion of trans women

this is a culture that ingrains in the minds of trans women that we must love topping, that all trans women love topping, that any negative feelings we may have about it are just regressive internalized transphobia. it is ingrained in our minds that our value comes from topping

she did not experience "male socialization." when i look back on our childhood, it is easy to understand that there was no privilege to that concept. she was forced to try and shrink herself into the shape of a man, and was abused when she didn't succeed at playing the part. being "raised as a boy" only highlighted the stark incongruity between what was expected of her and what she was. this repeatedly led to her facing violence.