I’m not sure if it’s because im tired (it’s 5:37 am as I type this) but I find this post to be really weird https://www.tumblr.com/qcharlie/822116519659159552/i-do-think-the-world-punishes-those-outside-the?source=share
(Feel free to ignore if I’m just reading too much into it or if I’m off my mark)
as always, disclaimer, do not harass anybody on my behalf or for any reason!
it is also late here! & no you are not reading too much into this. although i do find this post fascinating! certainly exorsexism is finally getting discussed more, and i'd like to imagine i've helped with that in some ways.
i do think the world punishes those outside the gender binary deeply and there is very little societal respect to be found as an out and proud nonbinary person, from everyday interactions to a consistently under researched (yet existent) wage gap. why are the only ones that talk about exorsexism those that believe in men being oppressed for being men?
yeah i wonder, what is it about people who are willing to talk about transmasculine oppression even its extremely unpopular and gets a lot of backlash by people with cissexist understandings of feminism and patriarchy, that makes us the most willing to also talk about nonbinary oppression even when it's extremely unpopular gets a lot of backlash by people with cissexist understandings of feminism and patriarchy?
why do we believe in misandry? or androphobia? why haven't we shifted with the terms to adopt transemasculating, something that functions much better as a term describing the punishment and denial of transition towards masculinity, WITHOUT implying that men are an oppressed minority? i just want to talk about the real world impacts of exorsexism without having to platform someone who understands nothing of the core principles of feminism
here's one definition of transemasculation (post linked goes into a MUCH more extensive critique of the term, especially as it relates to the implicit racism in the term and how it overlooks the experiences of trans people of color, and the erasure of the intellectual contributions of Saint, a trans man of color):
It's a term created within transfeminist circles to try and better theorise around transmasculine oppression as from a theoretical perspective the terms "transmisandry” and "transandrophobia" kind of miss the point, the roots of anti-transmasculinity aren't rooted in being-man, but in "doing man wrong" solely by virtue of having not been born into the category, and as such transmascs face attempts to capture and regender them as women, as reproductive assets to be exploited by those that society considers and recognises as men.
which, on its own, i do not think it is terrible. but i would argue its pedantic; for trans men, being-man is doing-man-wrong. i would also disagree that it is "solely by virtue of not having been born into the category"; this overlooks how the term "misandry" in a transunitist context is understood as affecting all trans people, because "misandry" (to mean) simply means how the patriarchy uses negative stereotypes of men and masculinity as a tool of control and a way to demonize perceived-male/masculine people who are a threat to hegemonic power. relatedly, also how the concept of anti-masculinity also shapes discussion of racialized sexism towards men of color. the point being that the misandry in "transmisandry" has always meant more than "men are oppressed for being men" in the shallow, malgendering way people describe it. i will also continue pointing out that feminists like Sophie Lewis, Sophia Giovannitti, and F.D Signifier ave also used the term "misandry" in a feminist context to describe harmful anti-male sentiment, so this is not unprecedented in feminism and using the word misandry is not the cardinal sin of feminism people make it out to be.
and the motivation of the term is clearly, in my eyes, that people do not want to engage with pre-existing discussion of anti-transmasculinity, and most of all they do not want to confront just how much of the backlash to these terms is blatantly bad-faith and refuses to engage with the actual theory. notice how people never acknowledge Black feminist concepts of misandronoir/andronoir/racialized sexism and how that has influenced discussion of transandrophobia. because they use these terms entirely because they recognize we are talking about serious issues but fundamentally you are not allowed to give the term transandrophobia, or any concepts coined by those who use it, any respect. see also how people only ever acknowledge malgendering when they can ignore that the concept was defined and popularized by trans men discussing transandrophobia, and that just fucking perhaps, being willing to talk about how trans men's oppression relates heavily to the "man" part leads to some interesting and important contributions to transfeminism.
like it or not, they owe the concept of "transemasculation" existing at all to Saint and transandrophobia theorists, who spoke on these subjects despite it being unpopular and getting harassed over it, who decided that this was a subject worth discussing whether or not we got permission from the community at large. y'all owe us! and if you are someone who is glad to see more discussion of exorsexism at long last, y'all owe us too!
"without implying men are an oppressed minority" 1. trans men are 2. marginalized cis men's gender is not irrelevant to how they experience marginalization, and that is what we have been saying about the transfeminist use of "misandry" / androphobia for years at this point.
i just want to talk about the real world impacts of exorsexism without having to platform someone who understands nothing of the core principles of feminism
the core principles of feminism for its entire history have been exorsexist, and many people discussing transandrophobia do, in fact, read a feminist book every now and again, and yet we still have the opinions we do. if you want to discuss exorsexism more, you also need to discuss exorsexism in feminism, and to do that you must challenge the "core principle" of cisfeminism which is that the patriarchy is fundamentally a binary and all forms of gender oppression are reducible to the m > f equation, and in doing that you must understand how deeply tied the history of exorsexism and anti-transmasculinity are and how they both tie back to a resistance to understanding gender oppression on a level that directly challenges cis women's limited perspective on patriarchy and the desire for many trans people to pursue acceptance by (white) cis feminists over contributing to a truly anti-cissexist transfeminism.
tl;dr the erasure of exorsexism and the erasure of anti-transmasculinity are fundamentally interwound, and you cannot confront one without the other, because both challenge the idea that gender oppression is at its core a binary of "men/males/masculinity privileged over females/women/femininity." the reason so many people who discuss exorsexism also discuss transandrophobia, is because once you are willing to discuss transmasculine oppression without waiting for permission or approval, you become far more willing to challenge exorsexism, intersexism, and other frequently erased forms of lateral violence within the community without waiting for permission or approval. also see this post.
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