Transmisogyny, otherwise known astrans-misogyny andtransphobic misogyny, is theintersection oftransphobia andmisogyny as experienced bytrans women andtransfeminine people.[1][2] The term was coined byJulia Serano in her 2007 bookWhipping Girl to describe a particular form ofoppression experienced by trans women.[3][4][5] In a 2017 interview withThe New York Times, Serano explores the roots of transmisogyny as a critique of feminine gender expressions which are "ridiculed in comparison to masculine interests and gender expression."[6]
Transmisogyny is a central concept intransfeminism and is commonly referenced inintersectional feminist theory. In her definition of transmisogyny, Serano does not limit those affected by transmisogyny to individuals who identify astransgender and includes others, such ascisgender people, and those who identify asdrag queens.[7]
The concept of transmisogyny hinges on two other concepts first described by Serano: traditional sexism andoppositional sexism. The former is the idea that "maleness and masculinity are superior to femaleness and femininity", while the latter holds male and female as "rigid, mutually exclusive categories". Transmisogyny stems from both these concepts.[2]
InWhipping Girl, Julia Serano writes that the existence of trans women is seen as a threat to a "male-centeredgender hierarchy".[8]: 15 Gender theoristJudith Butler echoes this assumption, stating that the murder of transgender women by men is "the mosttoxic form that masculinity can take", a way for the killer to assert power over the victim in the instant, in response to the idea of theintrinsic nature of his power (i.e., his masculinity) being threatened. Butler states that trans women have relinquished masculinity, showing that it is possible to do so.[9]
Trans panic is a common legal and social defense strategy that is used to justify violence towards transgender individuals, particularly trans women.[10] Similar toGay Panic, it suggests that the aggressor was provoked into violence due to the victim's gender presentation being misleading or deceptive.[11] InA Short History of Trans Misogyny,Jules Gill-Peterson outlines several moments of trans panic related violence leading back to the 1800s.[12] She adds that, "The misgendering of trans-femme individuals as male sexual aggression… allows people to respond to trans femininity with as much preemptive violence as they desire."[13]
Transgender women face harsher levels of discrimination than some other transgender people. An analysis of around 7.000 LGBTQ+ workers conducted by theHRC Foundation found that trans women report the largestwage gap out of the gender-variant demographics, earning sixty cents for every one dollar earned by a typical worker, less than what is earned by trans men.[14] However, the opposite effect was also observed in a study published inLabour Economics based on data from theUS Transgender Survey, which has a different methodology and sample, notably includingcloseted trans people and any employment status.[15]
According to Laura Kacere (2014), trans people experience a disproportionately large number of hate crimes, with trans women experiencing the majority of these crimes.[16] TheNational Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2012) found that police violence is three times higher against transgender people than it is against cisgender people.[17] In fact, over half of all anti-LGBTQIA+ homicides were perpetrated against transgender women.[16] (SeeList of people killed for being transgender.) In the United States, the majority of transmisogyny is directed at trans women of color. TheHuman Rights Campaign Foundation (2018) reports significant overlaps between thegender identity and race of anti-trans violence victims: of the known homicides of transgender people from 2013 to 2018, approximately 92% were trans women, and approximately 70% were black.[18] Kacere (2014) also states that 21% of transgender women and 47% of black transgender women have experienced incarceration, rates that are much higher than those for the overall U.S. population.[16]
A study of discrimination directed against lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender andintersex women in Ecuador found that transgender women "lack protection against discrimination in both law and practice." As a result, trans women have faced violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination in educational, health and workforce institutions.[19]
Julia Serano has stated that many trans women experience an additional layer of misogyny in the form of fetishization.[20] She notes that, despite public fixation on describing even post-transition trans women as male, they are rarely sexualized as men. In theporn industry, whose target audience is primarily heterosexual men, trans women are largely presented assexual objects.[8]: 256
According to Serano, the sexualisation of trans women is not solely because transgender women, by nature of their relative rarity, are viewed as "exotic": she notes that trans women are sexualized particularly much even compared to other types of "rare" women.[8]: 257 InWhipping Girl, Serano writes on what she calls a "predator–prey dichotomy" where "men are invariably viewed as predators and women as prey."[8]: 255 Because of this view, trans women are perceived to be luring men by transitioning and "turning [themselves] into sexual objects that no red-blooded man can resist."[8]: 258
Transmisogynistic violence and harassment directed towards trans feminine individuals is often perpetrated by strangers rather than those known by the victim and oftentimes includescatcalling and other forms ofverbal abuse.[21] Although some states have non-discrimination laws protecting transgender individuals, there is no federal law specifically designed to protect those who identify as transgender.[21]
Forming coalitions with trans activism is crucial to collectively challenge bothableism and transmisogyny.[22] Transmisogyny and ableism often intersect, resulting in unique challenges for trans disabled individuals who face compounded discrimination and marginalization.[23]
Transmisogyny is a distinct category of transphobia in that transmisogyny mainly focuses on trans women and other transgender individuals who demonstrate femininity, whereas transphobia is a more general term, covering a broader spectrum of prejudice and discrimination towards transsexual and transgender individuals.[24] Julia Serano states inWhipping Girl that "[w]hen the majority of jokes made at the expense of trans people center on 'men wearing dresses' or 'men who want their penises cut off' that is not transphobia – it is transmisogyny. When the majority of violence and sexual assaults committed against trans people is directed at trans women, that is not transphobia – it is transmisogyny."[8]: 14–15
In an interview inThe New York Times, Serano states the discrimination experienced by transgender women differs from that experienced by transgender men as follows:
Once in San Francisco I saw a trans woman dressed like an average feminine woman walk past a straight couple on the street. The man turned to the woman and sneered "Did you see all that crap he's wearing?" He was referring to her dress and jewelry and makeup and all that. If a trans man had walked by, they might also have ridiculed him for being transgender. But I doubt very much they would have made fun of his masculine clothing.[25]
The phenomenon described by Serano is particularly evident in online depictions of trans women, mainly inInternet memes wherein trans women are often derogatorily portrayed as masculine men wearing feminine clothing.[26] The same transphobic depictions also often attempt to express that trans women suffer fromvictim mentality, are overreactive and demanding, or are "pretending" to be women with the intention ofsexually harassing "real" women and/or children. Such motifs are particularly prominent in discourse surrounding transbathroom bills.[26]
Noteworthy in the discussion surrounding transmisogyny is also the idea ofautogynephilia, a hypotheticalparaphilia proposed byRay Blanchard, and defined by him as "a male's propensity to besexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female."[27] Although modern scientific knowledge does not completely rule out the existence of autogynephilia as something that may occur in some individuals, it contradicts Blanchard's formulation that it is the basis for the transsexuality of heterosexual trans women.[27][28] The dominant scientific explanation remains the incongruence between gender identity andassigned sex, which is responsible forgender dysphoria.[29][30][31] Nevertheless, autogynephilia is often promoted by anti-LGBT hate groups and transphobic writers as an attempt to pathologize trans identity.[32][33][34]
On the topic of autogynephilia, Julia Serano (a former academicbiologist by profession) has said: "If proponents of autogynephilia insist that every exception to the model is due to misreporting, then autogynephilia theory must be rejected on the grounds that it is unfalsifiable and therefore unscientific. If, on the other hand, we accept that these exceptions are legitimate, then it is clear that autogynephilia theory's two-subtype taxonomy does not hold true."[35]
Feminism portalTransgender women, who hold both a marginalized gender (e.g., woman) and gender identity e.g. transgender), report the largest gap of all, earning approximately 60 cents for every dollar the typical U.S. worker earns.
Within the transgender sample, those who were assigned female at birth have significantly lower incomes and are more likely to work part-time than those assigned male at birth.
From dozens of potential images, I identified three broad categories: "Man in a Dress" memes, which present trans people (or cisgender men in women's clothing) as a threat in public restrooms [...] "Man in a Dress" memes invoke a wide variety of transphobic and transmisogynistic tropes. They feature conventionally masculine-appearing men, sometimes cross-dressing, attempting to use the women's restroom as a ruse to ogle or sexually assault cis women. [...] Another meme literally features the phrase "man wearing a dress." Labeling a crying adult "VICTIM" and a small girl "BIGOT," a cartoon ridicules activists for trans-inclusive bathrooms by having the cis girl (White, and wearing a pink bow in her hair) say "There's a 40-year-old man wearing a dress in the girl's restroom," to which the adult responds, "There's a micro-aggressive White privileged homophobe in my safe space!!"
The dictionary definition oftransmisogyny at Wiktionary
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