professional gay, amateur opinion haver

transmasc is not a synonym for a trans person who was afab

And nonbinary people, right?

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The myth around trans men is that they pass as a binary gender soooooo much easier and more quickly/reliably than trans women, so, when ppl who feel this way see trans men who do not pass, are gnc, or who are not making efforts to be stealth/100% pass as a cis man, the assumption is that (just like nonbinary ppl), they aren’t “really” trans, just sort of trans lite.

No, “afab nonbinary” is NOT equivalent to transmasc.

No, “ amab nonbinary” is NOT equivalent to transfem.

How many times do nonbinary people have to beg and plead for the rest of the trans community to stop forcing us back into the same shitty gender binary we’re trying to escape? Just because some nonbinary people identify as transmasc or transfem does not mean we all do.

Transneutral people are being erased. People with xenogenders are being erased. People with unique cultural gender identities are being erased. A lot of intersex nonbinary people are being erased.

Nonbinary isn’t a third gender, or a modifier for other genders. It is an umbrella term for anyone who identifies beyond the traditional definition of the gender binary. This does include nonbinary people who are transfeminine, or transmasculine, or both, but please stop defining the entire community by the parts most familiar to you.

This erasure feels like the product of laziness and ignorance. Often I see it happening because someone wants a quick shorthand they can use in their discourse posts. And sometimes it happens because someone is claiming half the nonbinary population as transfem or transmasc for the sake of their argument.

For the record, the word for discrimination against nonbinary people is EXORSEXISM, though some may prefer enbyphobia, or just transphobia as a blanket term. Terms like transmisogyny and transandrophobia/anti-transmasculinity CAN be applied to some nonbinary people, with their consent.

But you’ve lost the plot the moment you start trying to sleuth out a nonbinary person’s AGAB to determine which type of oppression they face. If you treat a nonbinary person differently based on what junk you think they have, you are a transphobe and a sexist. And know that any system based off of AGAB is going to be extremely intersexist as well, because sex isn’t a clear-cut binary, either!

Here's a better explanation of transmasculine from the transgender dictionary!

And here's one for transfeminine.

Alright, this is your sign to step away from this discussion entirely for your own sake and for the sake of everyone in the trans community.

Do you know why people keep saying this is a fed psyop and that there are FBI agents starting these arguments? It’s not because they’re denying every single case of a trans woman or transfem genuinely hating trans men and transmascs. (At least I’d hope they don’t, because that’s leaning too hard into the idea that trans women and transfems are incapable of harming other trans people, which I think is dehumanizing to transfems and trans women. We do have to accept the idea that some of these are real trans women and transfems being openly hateful online because they’re people with a wide array of beliefs just like every other group of people).

It’s because this argument is a goldmine for anyone looking to engage in the divide and conquer strategy. When we decide we hate each other, we make it easier for people with power and desire to eradicate us from existence to hurt us. And we do this by making ourselves weaker while they maintain the same amount of power. By hating all transfems over the actions of a few, you are falling for it. And you’re doing so at a time when we cannot afford to weaken ourselves like this.

Besides that, look at what you’re doing. Do you really think hating trans men and transmascs is inherent to being transfem because of the toxic views held by some of them? Does that actually seem rational to you? If you’re going by your own experience in trans spaces, I encourage you to find new ones. I get it if you don’t want to because you feel now you’ve been burned. But trust me on this. Because there are transfems and trans women out there who love and support us. I’ve met plenty of them. And that’s why I can be so certain that toxic assholes claiming to support transfems while doing nothing but harming everyone in the community don’t represent all transfems and trans women at all.

visible gender nonconformity has Never been respected, full stop. there are some spaces where it's more common, because there are more trans and queer people in those spaces. but there has never been a reality where visibly feminine men or visibly masculine women are the norm.

and this only gets more complicated in trans spaces. because Yes, it IS a stereotype for trans people to be visibly gnc. this fact IS used to degrade, other, and fetishize us. it's Also true that many trans people Are gnc, and they embrace these traits While Knowing how they're seen because of them.

many gnc trans people find joy in their presentation Because they don't have access to transition. and many gnc trans people who DO transition are faced with open contempt and disgust because of it. their presentation not "passing," either by circumstance or choice or both, putting a target on their back.

and these trans people who can't conform or wouldn't be happy doing so have historically been scapegoated. treated with contempt even from within trans spaces because people are afraid of Being them. of being seen as lesser than, of being mocked or fetishized or othered out of association.

so often times when many young trans people latch on to characters with visibly gnc traits, men with hips or women with shoulders, it's not because of stereotypes they believe in but because they're TREATED like walking stereotypes.

people flock to these depictions of feminine trans mascs or masculine trans fems or trans neutral people who break boxes Because there IS so much negativity pointed at these presentations. because it IS difficult to find spaces that treat them with respect and dignity.

so ! when we have situations where visibly gnc characters are popularly depicted as trans, followed by the Backlash where it's insisted that that's bigoted because it's clearly a transphobic stereotype, it's Uncomfortable.

the underlying assumption is that it's only popular to depict viktor as trans, with visible hips or long hair or in dresses, because people don't Really see people with those traits as men. or don't see trans men as being "Real" men.

and this response is a defense mechanism, people who've experienced transphobia being (Understandably) hyper-vigilant. but it's still ultimately harmful towards gnc trans people.

there's Also a reason why people seek out trans characters who look like Them. to find euphoria and joy in Their traits being treated as desirable, being treated with respect, being depicted to be Loved, not mocked. and it's deeply disappointing that whenever gnc trans people Try to be visible, this backlash always follows.

gender nonconformity shouldn't be treated as a litmus test for bigotry and fetishization. All trans presentations Can be fetishized and demonized and mocked, because transphobes are transphobic. what matters is the Intent behind the depiction, and if you assume intent based on a trans character's presentation that Says Something about that presentation.

there Should be more (and more Varied) trans rep, more body types and more skin types and more presentations. but there shouldn't be LESS of any particular trans rep either. there shouldn't be LESS gender nonconformity.

bigots don't want trans people to be gender conforming Or gender nonconforming. they don't want trans people of Any body type or any presentation, because they don't want trans people to exist At All.

that's why All honest depictions of trans people are important. there is no version of trans people that are over represented, because there will always be trans people who feel seen and loved Because of that representation.

we need to Unclench and let trans characters be non-conforming, because non-conforming trans people deserve to be visible Period.

I want to close this off by sharing the story of another creator, who leaned into this kind of othering from within trans spaces and learned from it [Link]

pointing your disgust and insecurity and fear at other trans people will never make you safer, it just signals to the bigots around you that every insecurity you have is fair game. Every Single insult and caricature and stereotype passed around in the trans community has made it back to cis bigots and pointed at ALL of us

and trans people With these traits are only MORE vulnerable. the only thing that perpetuating this hatred and disgust and othering Within the trans community accomplishes is putting pressure on vulnerable people from every side.

Demi Lovato / Symere "Lil Uzi Vert" Woods / Stephanie "Jimquisition" Sterling

Demi Lovato identifies as nonbinary and pansexual and uses they/she pronouns; they are a singer, songwriter, and actress. Lil Uzi Vert identifies as gender non-conforming and uses they/them pronouns; they are a rapper, singer, and songwriter. Stephanie Sterling identifies as transfem, pansexual, and non-monogamous and uses she/them pronouns; she is a Youtuber and game journalist.

Christopher "Bob the Drag Queen" Caldwell / Jack Haven / Samira Ramírez

Bob the Drag Queen identifies as nonbinary, pansexual, and polyamorous and uses he/him and she/her pronouns; he is a drag queen, comedian, and activist. Jack Haven identifies as nonbinary and queer and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor. Samira Ramirez identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor.

Jane Schoenburn / Alex Newell / Alok Vaid-Menon

Jane Schoenburn identifies as transfeminine and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are a director. Alex Newell identifies as gender non-conforming and gay and uses all pronouns; they are an actor. Alok Vaid-Menon identifies as nonbinary and transfeminine and uses they/them pronouns; they are a writer and performance artist.

Leo Baker / AJ Hikes / Suzy Eddie Izzard

Leo Baker identifies as transgender and nonbinary and uses he/him and they/them pronouns; he is a professional skateboarder. AJ Hikes identifies as queer and nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns; they are a social justice advocate and is the Deputy Executive Director of Strategy and Culture at the ACLU. Suzy Eddie Izzard identifies as genderfluid and prefers she/her pronouns; she is a comedian, actor, and activist.

Chella Man / Jiavani Linayao / F1NN5TER

Chella Man identifies as nonbinary, genderqueer, and pansexual and uses they/them pronouns; they are an actor, model, and artist. Jiavani Linayao identifies as queer and uses she/him pronouns; he is an improviser, drag king, rapper, and actor. F1NN5TER identifies as genderfluid and bisexual and uses he/she pronouns with a preference for he/him; he is a Twitch streamer, Youtuber, and OnlyFans model.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"