#ftmgenderistasks

when discussing the erasure of trans men and transmasculine people from history records and popular media, etc., i see it coming from two different directions.

First, and primarily, our erasure happens because the patriarchal and cissexist culture we are entrenched in cannot acknowledge the existence of trans men, without calling into question the supremacy and "naturalness" of masculinity itself. Julia Serano says because trans people "are a threat to the categories that enable [sexism], the images and experiences of trans people are presented in the media in a way that reaffirms, rather than challenges, gender stereotypes" (Whipping Girl ch. 2). In the case of trans women this leads to hyper-feminization and hyper-sexualization, which attempts to simultaneously call into question the "validity" of the femininity of the trans woman on screen, painting her femininity (as well as all forms of femininity) as fake and contrived, as well as deride and debase that same femininity by portraying it as a "fetish" or other sexual deviancy.

in the case of trans men, however, the media cannot call into question our masculinity without threatening the supremacy and "naturalness/neutrality" of masculinity itself. Serano says, "in a world where modern psychology was founded upon the teaching that all young girls suffer from penis envy, most people think striving for masculinity seems like a perfectly reasonable goal" (ibid). She quotes another trans writer, Patrick Califia, who says "This reflects the very different privilege men and women have in our society. Of course women want to be men, the general attitude seems to be, and of course they can't. And that's that" (Sex Changes, 1997). Cissexist and misogynist mainstream media then cannot depict a trans man because in doing so, in order to affirm and protect cissexism, they must degrade and call into question his performance of masculinity, which then calls into question all displays of masculinity and risks our cultural understanding of masculinity as a sort of natural and "neutral" state of being, as opposed to the "fakeness" and "performance" of feminity (read whipping girl to go more in depth on this).

Our erasure from mainstream media stems from our cissexist and misogynist culture that claims that masculinity is superior to and more natural than feminity. In order for us as trans men to fully "pass"/assimilate into cismasculinity, to gain a sense of safety in a transphobic world , we also take up these misogynist tenets that affirm the supremacy of masculinity over femininity, man over woman, and deny the transsexual nature of our own genders. And in doing so, we become lost in our own "stealth". Our erasure becomes twofold: the media erases our existence, and we then feed into that erasure in order to feel safe affirming our places in society as men.

And there is no community to be found there. no shared sense of brotherhood. no legacy to look back on, and nothing to give to our future trans brothers. Our erasure, despite keeping us physically safer, keeps us from forming community with each other. and can make us less safe to the women around us. Furthermore, through assimilation we are making a transmasculinity that is, by nature, misogynist. We are affirming our culture's assertion that manhood IS the dominance over women.

But at any point we can reject this cissexual/mispgynist model of manhood, we can reject assimilation. We can actively make the choice to become more visible. we can start making a ruckus. we can emerge from our veil of assimilated privilege and take up the fight that our trans sisters have been pioneering for decades/centuries/the past millenia. We can create a legacy of transmasculinity to be proud of, to pass down to our future trans siblings. And we do that by supporting and uplifting our trans sisters. we become loud and visible for them, for their liberation. We must step out of the safety of assimilation. We must reject transmisogyny. Our manhood must be a manhood that rejects transmisogyny and patriarchy and white supremacy.