Trans Mascs Matter!

There's a wild amount of misinformation about the term "transandrophobia" going around, and has been for a long time. So let's dig in a bit and set the record straight.

What it is

"Transandrophobia" was coined as an alternative to "transmisandry", and describes the unique oppression targeted at and faced by transmasculine folks (and people perceived to be transmasculine).

Transmascs experience oppression not just on the basis of being trans, or (typically) AFAB, and certainly not on the basis of being men alone. What we experience is unique to being transmasculine, and the way cissexist society categorizes and responds to us: not as women, not as men, but as an "other" that lies between the two.

Some quick examples of transandrophobia:

Trans men are the most likely group in the trans community to have negative experiences with healthcare providers.

AFAB trans people in general are most likely to be denied HRT.

Trans men are most likely to be denied surgery coverage.

Trans men are most likely to avoid healthcare out of fear.

Nonbinary people and trans men were most likely to report having never, or only sometimes, been treated with respect by law enforcement.

Trans men are more likely to experience problems with airport security.

Trans men are most likely to avoid public restrooms.

Over half of all AFAB nonbinary people and trans men experience sexual assault. These are the highest rates in the queer community.

9 out of every 10 trans men seriously consider attempting suicide. This is the highest rate in the queer community.

About half of all trans men attempt suicide. This is the highest rate in the queer community.

What it Looks Like

Transmascs are generally placed in one of two categories: confused "girls" they believe can be saved, and evil, dangerous "other" they believe are beyond saving. There's a ton of overlap in these two categories, both in what they experience, and in the fact that oftentimes the two are experienced simultaneously; even in the same situation.

A quick, incomplete list of how these things can manifest:

Infantilization ("soft", "little")

Removal of autonomy

Stereotyping as "whiny", "hysterical", or "entitled".

"Butch flight" or "ROGD" - the idea that transmascs are stealing butch lesbians.

Pressuring transmascs to be more feminine/womanly, either through overt force, or through subtler manipulation.

The desire to "make transmascs women" via sexual assault (corrective rape).

The idea that testosterone causes aggression; emotional, physical, and sexual- therefore transition is dangerous, and transmascs who transition are dangerous.

Fearmongering around transmasc transitions; "binders can never be safe", "vaginal atrophy is untreatable", "you'll get fat/ugly/acne/sweaty/oily/smelly", "phalloplasty is too dangerous/expensive/unsatisfying to be worth it", etc.

Medical professionals dissuading transmascs from transitioning; stressing risks that can in actuality be mitigated easily, nitpicking family history without presenting options, etc.

The idea that transmascs only become trans to "escape misogyny" or to "gain male privilege".

Erasure of transmasc experiences, esp. experiences with misogyny and transphobia.

Lack of resources for transmasc abuse survivors.

Lack of resources for transmascs in need of reproductive healthcare on the basis of "male" gender markers, names, voices, and appearances.

Why We Call it That

"Transandrophobia" can be broken down in two ways:

"Trans" + "androphobia" = the "trans version" of "androphobia", a fear of men or social bigotry toward men.

"Trans-andro" + "phobia" = a social bigotry directly specifically at trans men/transmascs.

The second is the more common interpretation and usage, largely because the first can be interpreted, by some, to mean that those using the word are suggesting that it's actually (cis) women who oppress (cis) men, that we don't believe patriarchy exists, etc. This, of course, has never been the intention of the word.

The first break-down above could also be interpreted to refer to patriarchy's negative stereotyping of men- as aggressive, dangerous, and sexually predatory.

While that doesn't translate to systemic oppression of cis men, those same feelings- a general disgust and fear toward the concept of manhood- do inform how society responds to transmascs. As a group of people who are oppressed on the basis of being transmasculine, those feelings do play a role in transmasc oppression.

What it Isn't

"Transandrophobia" is not an attack on, or accusation toward, any other group of people.

The word does not imply that trans women oppress trans men, that transmascs have it worse than anyone else, that transfems are horrible bigots, that transfem issues do not deserve the attention they receive (or, ideally, far more attention than they currently receive).

It does not imply that cis misandry exists, that "MRAs were right", that patriarchy and misogyny aren't real, or that feminism isn't necessary.

It does not signal bigotry toward other groups. Whatever your personal opinion of the word, of who uses it, or of who coined it, the word is a word and it stands alone from those things. It belongs to the transmasculine community.

It does not demand anyone pay any less attention to other important issues. It does not accuse other trans people of oppressing us. It does not dismiss the existence of patriarchy or structural oppression of women. It does not belong to any one individual.

Why We Need it

There are real, tangible issues within the transmasc community- things that are unique to transmascs- and those things happen because of a unique bigotry toward transmasculinity.

In order to address those problems, we have to be able to talk about what they are and why they happen.

In order to talk about that, we need a word for what it is. "Transandrophobia" is that word.

Don't get me wrong: the word might change at some point, and that's fine. If the transmasc community as a whole decides that we would like a new word, and creates one together that suits those new needs, that's fine. But as of now, this is the most common, recognizable, easy-to-understand word we have.

"Transandrophobia" belongs to the transmasc community, and it's up to transmascs to define, interpret, create or remove associations, revise, and replace, as it sees fit.

What You Can Do

If you're transmasc:

Talk about your experiences. Connect with other transmascs. Join transmasc community spaces, create new ones, and maintain a positive, productive, and inclusive culture within those spaces. Uplift transmascs with different experiences from you.

Be an ally to other trans people, to people of color, to disabled people, and to other marginalized groups. Do not allow resentment toward the trans community- any part of it, and especially toward transfems- to fester in any space you inhabit.

If you're not:

Listen to transmascs. Seek transmascs out to listen to. Uplift transmasc voices. Learn. Ask questions, even if they're scary, and be ready to be surprised by the answers.

If you're coming into these tags just to tell a marginalized group that their oppression isn't real, I really hope you work on whatever personal issues are causing you to think that's okay and learn to do something better with your time than spreading lateral aggression towards other marginalized groups.

To the people continuing to lead healthy discussions on transandrophobia on here, take care of yourselves, don't let this destroy your mental health, take a step back when you need to and rest assured you're not alone, we're still fighting for ourselves, just not here anymore.

I mean tbh this is exhausting to have to type out. You're wrong. There is a word equivalent. It's not mainstream as hell tho bc black communities don't talk like this with each other about opression, but it exist and is used. Sinple answer.

Not as simple answer:

We find all idenities, even the non opressed ones, to be part of the intersection. The intersection is not soley opressed idenities! Its about how any of you idebtities mix to shape your unique experience under a white supremacy led patriarcy.

That's what the og theory states pretty openly if you read it through a lense that doesnt start and end with "systemaic is the only ones that matter"

It cannot misuse these if the og theory ask to consider all parts, even the parts who are arguably not opressed, which it does.

For you? It's one post where you could be wrong.

For me it's been months of white users explaining how my opression works, misdefining the black theory around intersectionality, calling me names and slurs, and just gernally proving to me why transandrophobia as a word for me as a nonbinary poc is not only needed, but important.

My blogs brimming with talk about me and many other trans men of colors talks about our intersection and if the word is what stop you from exploring what we are actually saying , then it just really comes across as you never intendingbto listen anyway.

Black men use misandronoir (Spelling may vary based on circles) in irl spaces I attend and the black woman still use misgynoir and both have very good talks about what we can to structurally desmatle thebsystems that perpete that hate.

But that starts with whitenpeople believing what we say for even like, five minutes

Also:

See: anyone who isn't TMA/transfeminised can weaponise transmisogyny against TMA/transfeminised people for their benefit and gain, and this is a form of active oppression.

Therefore, if anti-transmasculinity and transandrophobia are real, anyone who isn't ATMA/transmasculinsed can weaponise ATM/Transandrophobia against those who are ATMA/transmasculinised for their benefit and gain, and this would also be a form of active oppression.

Like obviously a lot of people in ATM/transandrophobia discussions believe & understand that only cis people have the systemic power to oppress trans people. And I think that any other type of inter-community bigotry amongst trans people does not give others any genuine systemic privileges, insofar as, like, for example a woman can uphold misogynistic and patriarchal views and actions for a slight benefit and even at the expense of other women, but ultimately doesn't gain much in the way of systemic privileges by doing so. Like, I believe it is possible for some benefits to be gained from enacting lateral transphobia/transmisogyny/anti-transmasculinity but it's never as meaningful as the power cis people wield over us, and generally enacting lateral bigotry is to curry favour with cis people or other bigoted trans people.

I think it's absolutely fair to talk about when non-transfeminised trans people have used transmisogyny as a tool for their benefit, and I think it's important to examine how and why this happens.

But I think we should also be able to talk about the very real fact that non-transmascs/trans men can use anti-transmasculinity and transandrophobia as tools for their benefit as well.

I can, off the top of my head, think of about 10 or so blogs of trans people who are not trans men/mascs, who have been able to wield transphobia against trans men/mascs to gain popularity and curry favour within the greater trans & queer communities. And this is just getting more followers and getting their ideas boosted and being able to do things like write books and have podcasts and make art that therefore all get boosted as well, and this is a material benefit. I don't think this makes it systemic because there's no systems in place that benefit specifically one type of trans person in favour of another, because the system of patriarchy is always inherently oppressive of trans people no matter their gender.

But there are still real material benefits that come with participating in anti-transmasculinity and transandrophobia as trans people. Even other trans men/mascs benefit from this; look at Devon Price. He's decreed he's "one of the good ones" and "not like those other transmascs being whiny asking for their problems to be listened to". And he has multiple published works that, every time he espouses these anti-transmasculine views, get lauded and pushed to say "see here's someone that agrees with me".

I'll also touch on a recent example of a cis man benefiting: yes, it's about the infamous PDB. This guy used anti-transmasculinity and transandrophobia, couched in faux-progressive language hidden as "protecting transfems", to gain notoriety and popularity and curry favour with another group. Which obviously would have had material benefit for him in many ways, but most notably that he is a streamer so he would have attracted a larger audience with this. The fact that this got immediately lauded and praised and any pushback or criticism was met with anon hate and threats, just shows how much this guy benefited from this. I'm not gonna speak more on this specific example because it's already been done to death and also I'm sure we're all sick of hearing about it.

Hell, I’d go as far to say that just like there are forms of misogyny non-transfems usually don’t face (due to that specific intersection, usually called transmisogyny) there’s also forms that are unique to transmascs (which we call transandrophobia). Things like reproductive healthcare being so difficult to obtain in many parts of the world and medical gatekeeping specifically oriented around the potential children one’s body could theoretically support are big ones, which while already a part of cis women’s experiences with misogyny only become more extreme with the intersection of trans identities. At the end of the day, I do not think it is hyperbole to say that transmascs will never be “free” of misogyny until misogyny itself disappears from society, and until then, it seldom actually lessens upon transitioning so much as it transforms into new and often worse forms.

trans broken arm syndrome

similar to fat broken arm syndrome; the way that doctors blame medical problems being experienced solely on testosterone or estrogen

tomboy breaking

an umbrella term for tropes that force gender nonconforming female characters back towards femininity or womanhood, usually to "bring out the true woman underneath all that masculinity" in order to sexualize them

reproductive detransition or corrective-rca / detrans-rca

similar to reproductive coercive abuse; a method of forcibly detransitioning a trans man/masc person by having them carry a child, reproductive detransition and corrective-rca would be if a trans man/masc person does not want to be a seahorse dad and detrans-rca is if the trans man/masc person does want to be a seahorse dad

malgendering

You can no more separate a bi person into two boxes to mathematically prove how not oppressed they are than you can separate trans men into a trans person and a man to do math to deny their oppression.

Same shit, different shovel. Every time.

The author writes that trans men are hated for being trans men, and society hates trans men. There is no trans male privilege- no systemic privileges to being a trans man. However, he also argues against the use of a word for the intersection of trans masc oppression.

“There is no ‘transmisandry’, or whatever you want to call it, because it identifies manhood as the root of our oppression when manhood is fundamentally not marginalized under patriarchy. Transmisogyny, which transmisandry is mimicking, refers to a specific kind of misogyny that impacts trans women; there is no such institutional "misandry" for us to refer to here.”

I agree, personally, that the word transmisandry isn’t the best. I think him avoiding the word transandrophobia, which addresses the issues with the word transmisandry, is a Choice.

“As such, if any discussion about transphobia specific to trans men has to occur, then Nsambu Za Suekama's concept of anti-transmasculinity more accurately identifies the targeting of trans men based upon our transness instead of our manhood.”

I agree with him here- trans men are marginalized for being trans men. Trans… men. I prefer the word anti-transmasculinity as well. Transandrophobia as a term definitely has its place in theory, though.

We need to discuss the reality.

If you want to talk about trans men as people who can perpetuate bigotry then do that. This does not mean they have privilege.

And the fact that so many people are pairing these things scares me a little because it creates an attitude that you can only experience bigotry from someone who oppresses you… and that someone who doesn’t oppress you cannot be bigoted toward you.

Which makes it make a little sense that people are out here insisting that trans men MUST have male privilege, even though those of us who can achieve stealth passing well enough to actually be given systemic power is few, because they can perpetuate bigotry against trans women. And a trans women’s bigotry toward trans men can be explained away by “punching up”.

stop hearing people complain about bigotry with no comment on who the person perpetuating it was and imagining a marginalised person in your mind. stop justifying bigotry against others because it's against the "side" of discourse that you personally dislike. stop assuming everything a certain marginalised group talks about has to do with whatever petty discourse you're involved in. stop tolerating blatant bigots because you see them as "on your side".

i understand the desire to latch on to this one bit of "proof" as validation that yes, transmascs do experience severe levels of violence. but acting as if it is an undisputable fact that we "have it worse" in this way without further analysis is ignorant at best and openly hypocritical and kneecaps our arguments at worst

what cultural biases surrounding transfems exist that might make them less likely to report sexual violence, less likely to consider the sexual violence they experience as real and harmful, and less likely to be taken seriously when they DO report sexual violence enacted upon them?

Binary trans men are excluded because of the "man=evil" mentality. The struggle doubles if they want to pass as a cis man.

Nonbinary transmascs are excluded because of transmedicalism and exorsexism. There's also being seen as "trans man lite."

There’s so many people telling us how to be men, how to be more masculine, what we can and cannot do as men. In passing tips they will casually throw things out like “don’t wear colors”, “don’t express emotions”, as if we have to adhere to asshole standards of masculinity in order to pass. There’s as many different ways to be a man as there are men on Earth, we don’t all have to look like Connor from down the block.