18 y/o trans girl

Can't stop thinking that if Jax transitioned inside the circus, she'd be Regina George 2.0 🩵🤍🩷

this was obvious subtext anyway (the whole ideology in which the term emerges is a male supremacist one) but learning it's so explicit and unambiguous was kind of surprising. doubly so since this term is already starting the process of integrating into general usage outside this subculture, first as "ironic," then as decontextualized ("it's just outshining someone!"), and eventually probably as sincere.

I know the instinct is to push back against disagreement but I think this can be an important conversation if it is a conversation and not a fight.

This system is very often used as a categorisation for all trans people, even all queer people. Putting all trans experience in relativity with transmisogyny implies that trans women are the default, or that all experiences should fall in line with them. People talking about their own issues are often called TMA/TME while they are not speaking in reference to trans women, the purpose of this system seems to be to speak about transfeminism, if someone is not speaking about transmisogyny, then surely the terms transmisogyny affected and transmisogyny exempt are not relevant, yet they are often used regardless for transmasc, non-binary and intersex people speaking about their individual experiences.

At this point, TME is used as a derogatory term, maybe not intentionally, maybe not as it is used by everyone, but it is used to put down and silence genuine points of conversation from people who are not TMA, aka many queer and trans people, and by some standards all people who are not adjacent to trans women. An important point in labelling theory is that you cannot create a way of categorisation, then make one category within this inherently pejorative in nature, because, obviously, people within this group will not wish to use these terms as they are being used to ostracise them. The terms TMA/TME alone do not come with moral attachments, being being trans woman adjacent is not inherently morally good, and the opposite is not inherently evil, but TME is being used as a pejorative, so these terms have breached use for their actual meaning and have taken on their own associations. This means they fall under this concept of a failed categorisation, where the expectation is for people to label themselves with a pejorative term, meaning it will never end up unanimously accepted, nor bring good to a community, as people who have done nothing wrong we be forced to accept a label that have become derogatory.

As a concept, I think this system could have been genuinely useful for speaking about transfeminism, categorisation of privilege is not inherently bad and, in this case, could have been used to accurately discuss aspects of the queer community. However, because it has been used outside of its intended field of effectiveness (transfeminism) and because it has been used as a pejorative for non-transfem adjacent people, it does not serve its purpose and is not an effective categorisation.