I think a lot of transmisogyny stems from this idea that people are really scared to see a dick. The reason bathrooms and locker rooms and hot springs keep being flash points is because these are all places where if a trans woman is using them, it's possible you might see her dick. A lot of transmisogynistic humor revolves around being traumatized because the subject saw a woman with a penis. And look, to a certain extent I sympathize. I'm not a fan of dick; I dont want this thing either. But if you want to be an ally to trans women, I think a big important step you can take personally is to examine your own reaction to the scenarios I described above, and recognize that a dick is just a body part a girl has sometimes. Seeing it as inherently sexual and/or traumatizing is a major wedge conservatives use to justify their rhetoric
Even more radical stance: as a society we need to normalize nonsexual nudity. Bathrooms/locker rooms are not made safer by segregation, they're made safer by privacy barriers, sturdy locking doors, etc. (segregation has never stopped malicious actors )
I was raised thinking nudity was not inherently sexual. I would see a penis sometimes at home as my dad was crossing the hallway from the bathroom to his room after a shower. It did not scar me for life or traumatise me. I didn't really think about it at all. Everyone did that at home, you just walked naked to and from the bathroom if you were showering. My dad slept naked, which was how I learned that was a thing you could do. I started doing it in my teens.
I think Americans need to see people naked more often. We need more naked art that doesn't cover up the genitals and isn't meant to be sexual. If you watch British or Australian or European stuff, there's a lot of nonsexual nudity. There's even comedic nudity, because of how non-sexual nudity can be there! Jokes can be a lot more earthy than America, which has what I like to call a 13-year-old furtiveness about it.
I've been watching documentaries about nudity in film lately actually, so here's some of the ones I've been watching:
A history of film nudity, from the silent era to now, as ratings boards, politics, and cultural norms have shaped how much celluloid skin we
This is slightly left of just nudity, but also helps understand a lot of American weirdness around it:
This deep dive into American exploitation films unearths the shameless and occasionally shocking origins of the popular entertainment genre.
And then here's one that is about Australian film and really showcases how different the attitudes about nudity are in other countries:
Discover how renegade Australian filmmakers in the '70s blindsided audiences with a raw, uncensored explosion of sex, violence, and mayhem.
The Hays Code did a lot of damage to American art and culture and even our attitudes. It still influences how people think about art today. So do obscenity laws. "this stirs prurient interests" is the worst exception to the first amendment and should be struck down.
