TransRAGE Manifesto
I believe that as we a enter new age and develop places in queer activism, one of the many obstacles we find ourselves stumbling over is the displacement, erasure, and the belittling of the gender expansive. Gender expansives are defined as those who subvert and oftentimes reverse traditional gender normalcies in society, with no real boundaries on who gets to be one and why they get to be one, save for the act of becoming "anti-normal." The gender expansive is not coerced to be subversive, to wear clothes of the binary or the unbinary, and neither do they have to subvert their gender or sex to exist comfortably as gender expansive. This then, opens up to gender expansive being an umbrella term.
Within this umbrella term, there is gender non-conforming, multigender, xenogender, nonbinary, genderqueer, varsex, and the various presentations held onto by butches and femmes and bears and otters that are gender expansive. In fact, I would argue that these groups of people who choose gender expansiveness are allowed to fit into whatever category they see fit, and that their choice of whether or not they are cis or trans stands to unearth the compulsive nature of society to create opposites out of cis and trans people.
There is no other gendered minority more pressured by the systems of varying binaries and narratives than the trans-gender expansive. Unlike the cis privileges held by the cis-gender expansives, the trans-gender expansive is barred from defiance of the binary and oftentimes is held to the standards of another's gender entitlement of their expressions, which is looked at as lesser for seemingly not "putting in effort" to be trans. A gender expansive who does not dress to defy, does not act to subvert, or does not love queerly is not a gender conformant, but rather a gender expansive who is comfortable in maintaining only an expansive gender. After all, there are no rules on who gets to do what with gender expansiveness, we are a collective of different groups united as one to the destruction of the Western gender binary.
As a whole, trans-gender expansives have been reduced and ignored in trans activism, deemed as caricatures of trans women and trans men, and furthermore pathologized in numerous settings to showcase how our trans-genders should behave. While cis-gender expansives have been widely accepted by lesbian and gay communities, trans-gender expansives are ridiculed by the media and in our daily lives for our appearances, as well as victimized by bigotry fueled crimes. Even in queer activism, being trans-gender expansive is seen as a joke or a cringe title. The labels that define the gender expansives complex relationship with gender and sexuality such as fagdyke, turigirl, weird queer, bi lesbian, and neopronouns are dismissed as things that are "making queer less serious," and that the gender expansive is not actually working to open the boundaries on who gets to be what but that we are reinforcing a binary of who gets to be queer. In our lives, we have been unjustly abused and harassed by the quarrels of men and women who place us within rigid gender expectations and the approval of society's binary. Instead of giving the gender expansive the choices to be described as they wish, it is within the palms of others to place us under investigation. A cis woman who uses it/its is cis-gender expansive, but to the outside world, it uses she/her, is expected to pass certain gendered trials, and is expected to adhere to clothing and sexualities that allow it to traverse as a conformant woman because traversing as gender expansive seemingly encourages others to think of your gender as holding less weight, especially if you are trans-gender expansive. The same cis woman who uses it/its is no longer treated as a cis woman, but rather positioned at intersections in its life that determine future interactions with its gender. For a cis-gender expansive, these intersections, dyadism and gender-based sexism, make up what is known as queerphobia.
For the trans-gender expansive? Not only would the trans woman be victim to transmisogynies, but she would also become subject to further third-sexing through malgendering and fetishizing of her pronouns and sexuality. She would then experience the intersections of prejudice containing enbyphobia, dyadism, and cissexism.
Enbyphobia is defined, by me, to mean the irrational fear and subsequent discrimination done to gender expansives through the lens of protecting the gender binary's structure between man and woman. Unlike transphobia, enbyphobia is a specific beast of its own. Enbyphobia does not require the hatred of binary trans people, nor does it require the aversion to those who step outside of the gender binary, but instead it requires the act of second-gendering. Second-gendering is when a given choice is placed before trans and cis people against a gender expansive, and when said choice is vague, the most familiar and easiest choice is taken. In terms of gender, a multigender transmasc will be referred to as a transbinary man despite being a woman, faggender, and a lesboy. In terms of pronouns, a trans woman who goes by they/she/em will most likely never be called em/eir or they/them. Enbyphobia derives from the internalized need to categorize another's gender into simple boxes and easy to remember titles rather than acceptance for what is given first hand. Enbyphobia is about protecting one's sense of inner gender binarization to further demonstrate how good of an ally they are, with their ability to clock who is trans or cis, and who is a woman or man. The mere fact that one may be androgynous and that an "ally" might not be able to tell their sex/gender will lead to assumptions to their AGAB, never acceptance of their identity given.
Dyadism is the tendency to group concepts in pairs of two, but when applied to gender/sex, dyadism refers to the sex traits and the beliefs that there are only two sexes, and that these sexes experience completely different symptoms or are assigned different genders at birth. Dyadism is the systemic precursor to oppositional/traditional sexism and cissexism, and presents itself as one of the oldest forms of prejudice. Any act of then being intersex, having neo assignments, or being variant in your sex (varsex), is defiance to dyadism and therefore, your sexual and medical experiences will drastically change. External performances of dyadism exist in varying forms, lateral and medial. Lateral dyadism is when someone aligned with the queer community uses dyadism, such as using intersex experiences as a gotcha! when discussing binary transphobia. Medial dyadism is dyadism appearing from someone who exists outside of the queer community, as an ally or not, who denies gender expansives representation if they are not traditionally transitioning using estrogen or testosterone, instead equating them to corporate queers and LARPers. A lateral dyadist's methods will define the intersex person as a theory instead of a reality, suggesting that if "someone with both parts" or "someone who is hormonally a man/woman" exists then that means transphobia will stop making sense as a theory. The lateral dyadist does not believe intersex people exist as concepts outside of mullerian and wolffian but rather as a condition that happens to a cisgender person. Medial dyadists have an outlook that if someone wants to be transgender, then they should be able to transition, but at least conform and look like the "rest of us", that trans-gender expansives are not really trans because they are not traditionally transitioning.
Language and words used in everyday life construct the primary forms of misogyny, a form of discrimination that affects women, those assigned female, and those who are externally viewed as women. Trans women and cis women then are the targets of misogyny. The way the cis/trans woman is spoken to by a man, usually in an attempt to flirt with her, is misogynistic if his first instinct is to catcall and stalk her. The words he uses, "pretty lady" or "sweetheart" can quickly change to "stupid bitch" and "whore" if he is rejected by her. More often than not for trans men, the person had misidentified "her" and assumed "she" was a woman instead of a man, and will malgender him to have sex with him, leading to violence. A trans man, if assigned female or viewed as a woman, can be the focus of misogyny against his masculinity, and often experiences androphobia, sexual violence, and lack of/forced reproductive advice now that he is seen as a masculine woman. The way the trans man is spoken to is misogynistic because he can be called a "gentleman" or "handsome" at one moment but a "ma'am" or "they" when clocked or is outed as trans. The trans man being threatened with corrective rape and violent threats is to feminize these men, declaring that if they're men then they shouldn't get pregnant from assault nor would they cower like a bitch would. Misogyny's practice is about punishing those who fail to be submissive and nurturing women, women who are sexualized, or women who want to become men. This maintains that women have a subservient place in the patriarchy and subsequently, in the binary system.
Androsexism is a set of symbols and signs. Akin to the languages and words of misogyny that enforces pure, untainted, cloaks of womanly femininity, it is made to uphold the dirty, strong, cloak of manly masculines. The way the cis/trans man is signaled to perform masculinity for the benefit of others, as a means of reproducing traditional gender roles, is androsexist if he is shamed or feminized for not producing a masculine result. The boy you may have raised will see the way other kids treat him if he does not adhere to what is being learned about masculinity, and he will recognize through gestures, through the way they play with him, he will understand that now his peers see him as less of a boy, but as a sissy, who is weaker than them. A trans woman, if assigned male or viewed as a feminine man, can be subject to androsexism against her femininity, and often experiences femmephobia, sexual violence, and lack of/forced reproductive advice now that she is seen externally as a feminine man. The trans woman is belittled in her womanhood on the basis that it is seen as an inauthentic form of maleness, she will acknowledge many of these as signs. There are sometimes little words exchanged before someone harms a trans woman, and the act alone is supposed to reiterate her place in society - as a so-called man sissy who is beneath respectful encounters now that she has surrendered her male privileges. Not only does androsexism play a role in developing another form of sexism, but it itself is made to enforce the status-quo of manhood and punishing anyone who refuses or cannot exist as a cis man.
A trans-gender expansive refusing to live a life that expresses full gender/sex conformity becomes a primary victim of gender-based prejudice, uniquely named exorsexism, which is the intersection between cissexism, enbyphobia, and dyadism. Exorsexist ideals state that the only true expressions are those that are of the Western settler binary, entirely man or woman, oppositional to each other, and never ambiguous or against dyadic wolffian or mullerian traits. This is specifically targeting the sex traits, the transition, and the legitimacy of gender expansiveness, intersexed people, and those of non-western cultural binaries, and so instead of using transphobia here, I use exorsexism.
The trans turigirl using they/them who expresses her relationships with men through a lens of homosexuality rather than heterosexuality is not misgendering herself but reclaiming her ability to gender complexity and variety that many trans people are forced to suppress in order to pass as their gender. While exorsexism can affect just about anyone including cis people, it is used to refer to the subjugation of those who are gender expansive specifically and those who do not apply themselves to the Either/Or. All transgender people may face forms of dyadism and cissexism, but trans-gender expansives have heightened experiences with enbyphobia. It is not applied to us just because we are subverting our gender at birth but because we are also rejecting to conform to the so-called opposite, rejecting to use languages that are strictly gender conforming, and that we are then creating our own languages and terminology to communicate our new identities. Yes, other trans groups may also face the same, but them being of the binary gender is not being scrutinized, their expressions that are deemed factitious versions of the true cisgender ones are.
For the purposes of describing the many groups who are currently experiencing exorsexism, I will refer to it as "immediate or closely targeted exorsexism" or "ICTE", but not to ascribe specific, personal labels to a person. An enban is not an ICTE, they are currently experiencing ICTE, because it is a state that can change depending on the situation.
Examples of exorsexism that are not transphobia:
When those experiencing ICTE are asked what genitalia they have, tells them what their gender presentation should be, or that certain terms are off-limits to them because of their AGAB/sex traits.
When those experiencing ICTE have pronouns that are called dehumanizing, are ridiculed, or are used improperly to second-gender them.
Jokes revolving around sexualization, mutilation, forced transition and violence specifically directed at enbans and intersex people.
Ignoring or dismissing the higher rates of violence and assault of those experiencing ICTE to focus entirely on people not experiencing ICTE.
Assigning unbiern and intersex people into WLW, MLM, and NBLNB based on sex traits, HRT, or AGAB.
When the majority of legal documents misgender, exclude, demonize, and create binaries out of unbiern and intersex people while including binary trans people.
When safe spaces specifically deny enbans and intersex people from entry due to their nonbinarity or sex traits being masculine, ambiguous, or "not femme."
When a binary trans person is ridiculed for being "FTXTF" or "MTXTM".
Intersex people experiencing ICTE being stripped down to "cis people with disorders" and hearing slurs such as "h.rmaphrodite" or "b.eddel."
The claim that intersex and enbans have it easier for being "born in the right bodies" in relation to binary trans people.
Someone who is of a cultural gender being reduced to a binary trans or nonbinary identity.
Those who go through ICTE are ridiculed for daring to speak out against it.
Our society functions because of the patriarchy, with its gender hierarchy that positions men and those helping him as the elites to the lesser, someone who literally and figuratively refuses to become what is normal, someone who chooses to cross both binaries, and someone who does not wish to be treated as Either/Or, will not only suffer tactics of sanism, erasure, and dehumanization.
Exorsexists will use sanism against us by portraying our external expressions as involuntary, that we do not know what we are doing when we leave the house dressed as ourselves, that we are not aware of our mental health and that we require someone to reality check us or demean our external appearance in order to reflect on our gender expansive expression as "bad".
Exorsexists will erase us using the medical institution's false forms of inclusivity, misidentification of our genders and terminology, through everyday society and communication as well in literature. Asserting that the nonbinary person can also use a binary presentation and set of pronouns is a known excuse to write us out of our choices, which allow for them to second-gender us regardless of our preferences.
Exorsexists will dehumanize us against our will, often mocking our bodies, terminology, and our surgery choices. They will call us "it" and "they/thems" to ridicule our natural identities and use our own words to shame us for them. A gender expansive who undergoes a nullectomy is then a traitor to their sex and they are mutilating their normal sex traits for fake dysphoria, considering that only male and female are real concepts.
Not only is it that misogyny and androsexism are used against us, but that exorsexism and dyadism are so prevalent in queer communities and transsexual spaces, where we can only face the blaring lights of what is to come. Truthfully, as I have lived, there is no materialist outlook to transfeminism that has been raised so far that looks to the trans-gender expansive and wishes to extend a hand as much as we have done for many of them in the past. Not only has transfeminism given us a whitewashed one-sided perspective, quieting many trans men and transmasculine voices on their relationships with transness, womanhood, and femininity in the patriarchy, transfeminism has failed to provide accurate coverage to black people, and nonbinary/ intersex voices just as the exorsexists do, ultimately uplifting white middle-class trans women who have access to life saving HRT on the basis of their whiteness and class privileges. On top of those concerns, there is no structural breakdown of what masculinity means to the transfeminist and how a trans woman may choose to retain her complex relationship with maleness, because they often talk down trans women who are trans-gender expansive in expression and sex, declaring depictions of their own body types and sexualities as "TME" behavior and discriminatory to other tgirls.
If feminism had these problems, it is inevitable that transfeminism will also have similar issues, and in that, a harsher output of damage is done considering the direct exorsexism and intersexist behavior exhibited without further consideration. I fear that if there is no intervention in the form of neosubversivism and radical gender expansion, that what eventually caused factions of feminism to split into anti-trans radical feminism and bioessentialist cultural feminism will be performed similarly through transsexual radfems and transbinary inclusive activism. The words of those who are anti-gender subversivism such as Julia Serano state that subversivism acts to "other" binary trans women into a separate group from the trans community and that those who are gender-expansive and subvert the expectations of gender are willing to call those who are gender conforming "reinforcers" of the binary. It is not reinforcing the binary to be transgender, heterosexual, post-op, and be a woman, but what is known as reinforcing the binary occurs when those who want to criticize it as harming them will dictate the existence of the trans-gender expansive in queer spaces.
It is everyday that I am met with the realization that I am told that I am less queer, not allowed in the queer community, or that my transness is an affront to the transness of another being for being gendered complexly and existing as neutral who chooses contradictory terms for myself occasionally. It is everyday that other trans-gender expansives are questioned for being assigned female, being post-op, and living their lives as transfeminine on estrogen, intersex and in need of life saving HRT that is denied to them because of their gender identity, or assigned male with a xenogendered sense of self being told that they cannot choose binary labels or be a lesbian. When it is your community lacking safe resources and help for transitioning, there is outcry, but when the trans-gender expansive lacks all of that and more, there are only scraps of paper at our doorsteps telling us to stop complaining about "trivial" matters as "all of our rights are being taken away." We are told that we do not transition anyway, that we are speaking over transsexuals, that we are the cissexual invaders at the doors of all queers.
Feminism is not the problem, feminism is not why there is exclusion, but there is exclusion because the creation of said feminist theory has a narrow, specific audience that lacks unity with its thoughts and tenants. There is exclusion because there is only one word being taken as gospel despite the various of transfeminists who are of differing genders, races, and sexes, there is the word of the white transbinary woman and that is it. So for me, as a black trans neun who refuses womanhood and manhood, for me as a racialized trans-gender expansive that has been torn down by transfeminism's lack of extension towards my possible relationship with womanhood and theory, I have taken it into my hands to formulate something with meaning to those counted out, ignored, or erased.
Instead of incorporating white feminism into the activism of the Trans Radical Gender Expansionist, I choose to empower the word of womanism. The doubled amount of racial abuse, gendered erasure, and sexual violence I experience as a black trans neun in and out of my community is not to be quieted by the voices of the privileged, and neither will the trans women of color's voice, who began work to establish the trans community's influence before us. These white transfeminists will instead shout daggers at the common trans-gender expansive woman for not adhering to the regular everywoman stereotype and instead choosing something that refuses to become what is accepted or deemed trans enough for others. The gun to the head of the xenogender person as they are second-gendered by a transfeminist by grouping them into they/them, "TME", and transfem/transmasc so they can justify their gender framework. Thus, our work as gender expansives must be to not only destroy the basics that the gender binary functions from but to eradicate its tools of misogyny and androsexism.
I argue that the restrictive nature of the gender binary is one of the leading problems for an enban's oppression, and that if we are to halt expectations of gender roles and sexuality, that we do have to celebrate subversivism while challenging the gender entitlement that spawns from dyadism, we must then establish neosubversivism and use it as our tool. It is not enough to be feminist, it is not enough to be transfeminist, it is not enough to not be racist, it is not enough to just be transbinary inclusive. The gender expansive must fight to empower trans people of color, to empower femininity instead of only those born female, to establish language to discuss oppression for trans men and the transmasculine, and we must empower the sexes of intersexed queer people.
The Trans Radical Gender Expansionist is anyone who knows of these previous tenants and recognizes that the trans-gender expansive is in fact under the same oppressive forces as others, as well as developing forms of activism to support the needs of all transgender and transsexual people regardless of ability to subvert gender. The Trans Radical Gender Expansionist is anyone who wishes to expand gender past what they are inclusive towards, to the point where they overlap, and where the meaning of what a man or woman is, is no longer important to society's function, where gender is a personal title instead of a system. The Trans Radical Gender Expansionist is anyone who acknowledges gender as artificial statements of self that require physical and mental commitments, where the only difference between gender is the adjective used to imply it. The Trans Radical Gender Expansionist is anyone who knows gender, sex, and expression as a performance. The Trans Radical Gender Expansionist is anyone who challenges the belief that womanhood and manhood are separate units, that can never overlap, exist as one, or behave as one unit without punishing one or the other.
It is, for the future of trans unity, not enough to simply fight transmisogyny and cissexism. It is only when we accept the tenants of womanism, radical intersex liberation, anti-racism, and neosubversivism in trans activism as Trans Radical Gender Expansionists that we will reach out to the hands of those missing in our current trials of liberation. We will only make the world safer if we establish a world that no longer entraps the gender expansive, no longer infantilizes the trans man, no longer erases the intersexed, and no longer objectifies the trans woman.
-Azriel Pierce.
