#transmasc vent

Example of transandrophobia and isomisogyny blended together.

Or one could say this is transphobia and misogyny intersecting… but many would likely disagree

I’m not a fan of the word transandrophobia but things like this from cis people radicalize me a little bit

Let’s analyze this. There’s a bit of incel/MRA ideology here - which is why I find it so funny when people call us “TMRAs” for trying to articulate how we deal with transphobia and misogyny. This is clearly misogyny:

“because no man would have that kind of joy and happiness in his eyes after the age of 14-16”

and it overlaps with transphobia:

“You can lowkey tell this is a woman by the warmth and light in her eyes”

This account making this post is a cis man who has made positive comments towards trans women in his comment history. He claims to be a leftist. This is not something unfamiliar to me, though I am aware many transfems haven’t encountered people like this. And if they have they have no idea this is how these people view trans men.

Yes, it does mean these people view trans women as men, but that means they have “earned their right” to have wisdom and experience suffering. Trans men are viewed as inherently weaker, lighter, more joyful, having it easier, etc. all the things incels and MRAs say about women to dehumanize them and make them seem like flattened caricatures of people who can’t understand pain or suffering and have life infinitely better than them.

These types of men love to hide these ideologies and might even chase trans women. I’ve seen this happen before with some of my friends. I can tell when a guy is like this and oftentimes my transfem friends can’t tell because they simply feel respected AND seen as a woman. Little do they know that respect comes from being seen as men, and seeing them as women is just an act many chasers pull. Some transfems I’ve known have been privy to it, and I honestly wish they didn’t have to analyze men like this in order to make sure they’re being respected.

No one has it easier here. Transfems get lead on and treated like sexual objects with their only humanity connected to their birth sex and transmascs get disrespected and seen as less than human because of their birth sex. But we MUST be willing to notice and identify the overlap of misogyny and transphobia going on here. We need to let transmasculine people TALK about it

Transmasculine people are not less than human here simply because we are trans. This was said specifically because we are trans MEN and we were assigned female at birth. If we were not assigned female at birth and therefore seen as women this would not have been said. We apparently cannot understand pain because women (according to these men) have life automatically easier thanks to being female and therefore cannot understand suffering. Even if we look like men and we live as men and we otherwise ARE men - our assignment as female still means we cannot understand “real” suffering “actual” men experience.

I acknowledge that anti-transmasculinity exists. Do I think “transandrophobia” is a good word to refer to that oppression? I’m not sure, I don’t really think so as androphobia isn’t a word that refers to a systemic issue. I feel like there are better words that better articulate what is going on. Saying that shouldn’t warrant a response where I’m outright told to stop talking about this topic that directly impacts me as a transmasculine person. Transandrophobia is the most popular tag on this website to find others who believe anti-transmasculinity is real and systemic.

I may not be a trans man but I am transmasculine. When it comes to TRFs I am seen as a trans man. When it comes to trans men I’m seen as “woman lite” and I’m getting tired of it. We have overlapping experiences. I am on t. If I was bigender you’d have no leg to stand on as I’d partially be a man and I’d be transitioning all the same. I have every right to be here talking about this.

once you become “woman enough” for cis women you can join the demonizing men club. and if you’re ‘man’ enough to be seen as a man to them you can’t join the club, you’re in fact part of the problem they demonize so much

I might take testosterone but that does not make me a man.

I might grow facial hair and wear feminine clothes, this does not make me a feminine man.

I might get a deeper voice and body hair and sometimes wear makeup, this doesn’t make me a feminine trans male.

This also doesn’t make me any less transsexual. I am not cissexual for refusing to identify as a man (because I’m not one)

Why are so many other trans people obsessed with reminding me that they see me as a man or that I *must* live as a cisgender man does otherwise I’m transphobic for implying a transmasc isn’t a man?

The biggest thing that stands out here to me is acknowledging that a person assigned female/living in a body assigned female experiences transmisogyny.

I thought they were ALWAYS tme

I ask this because I’ve seen lots of black transmasculine people say “I’m a black woman before I am transmasc” and I relate to that a lot but in reference to my disabilities I’ve dealt with especially since those disabilities greatly overlap with having been assigned female at birth/dealing with female related conditions