Transphobia and Feminist Exclusion
TRANSPHOBIA
Transphobia, in a general sense, is the fear of and prejudice against transgender people. The adjective “transphobic” has come to describe language, actions, attitudes, and/or people who delegitimize transgender people. In her article “Thoughts about transphobia, TERFs, and TUMFs”, writer and trans activist Julia Serano differentiates three kinds of anti-transgender attitudes or actions. These categories can help you identify where a character’s transphobic actions are stemming from and whether or not they might be open to changing their ways.
Trans-unaware: “Some expressions of transphobia stem from people simply being ‘trans-unaware’ — i.e., uninformed (or under-informed) about transgender people and experiences. [...] Trans-unaware individuals tend to be ‘passively transphobic’ (e.g., only expressing such attitudes when they come across a trans person, or when the subject is raised), and may be open to relinquishing those attitudes upon learning more about transgender lives and issues” (Serano)
Trans-antagonistic: “Other individuals may be downright ‘trans-antagonistic,’ in that they are fundamentally opposed to transgender people for specific moral, political, and/or theoretical reasons. [...] Trans-antagonistic individuals often actively promote anti-trans agendas (e.g., policies, laws, misinformation campaigns) and are highly unlikely to be moved by outreach or education (unless, of course, they undergo a more comprehensive philosophical transformation)” (Serano)
Trans-suspicious: “The ‘trans-suspicious’ position acknowledges that transgender people exist and should be tolerated (to some degree), but routinely questions (and sometimes actively works to undermine) transgender perspectives and politics. [...] While they often consider themselves to be ‘pro-trans’ (on the basis that they tolerate us to some degree), their strong cisnormative and cissexist biases lead them to spread much of the same misinformation, and push for many of the same anti-trans policies, as their trans-antagonistic counterparts” (Serano)
TERF
In 2008, cis-woman and activist TigTog coined the term “trans-exclusionary radical feminist” (TERF) in order to make a clear distinction between radical feminists who actively accept trans people and those who do not (Williams). Serano defines the term as the following:
Trans-exclusionary radical feminists: “A subgroup of radical feminists (who sometimes self-identify as ‘gender critical’ feminists) that are strongly opposed to transgender identities, experiences, and rights. Unlike mainstream expressions of transphobia (which tend to cite religious convictions or biological determinism to support their case), TERFs typically justify their views via the following reasoning: 1) gender is merely a man-made class system designed to oppress women, and which therefore must be eliminated, 2) transgender people ‘buy into’ and thus ‘reinforce’ this class system, thereby undermining women and feminism, and 3) trans women constitute a specific threat because (in their eyes) we are oppressive ‘men’ who are infiltrating women’s spaces and/or appropriating women’s identities and circumstances.”
Serano clarifies that TERF does not apply to all feminists “who expresses transphobia and/or attempts to exclude trans women from the category of ‘women.’” Most feminists who tolerate or spread hate towards trans individuals do not wish to eradicate the gender system. Serano astutely observes that “the main reason why people in the mainstream dislike or are disturbed by trans people is because they view us as undermining (not reinforcing) binary gender norms.” Therefore, many of the cis-women in the play would not be classified as TERFs, but rather according to one of the three categories of transphobia.
A HISTORY OF FEMINIST EXCLUSION
Throughout history, each feminist movement or wave has either excluded or not fully accepted certain groups of women among its ranks. Lesbians were considered a “lavender menace” to the cause in the 1970s and African American women had to work to obtain their own voting rights in the 1960s, forty years after “women’s suffrage” was passed. The justifications that white, straight, cisgender feminists put forth to exclude queer women and women of color highly resemble the trans-women-aren’t-women arguments made by feminists within the past decade.
More recently, some of the rhetoric surrounding feminist organizations and protests like the Women’s March has ostracized transwomen. The infamous cat-eared pussyhats, for example, equate womanhood with vaginas. In preparation for the 2nd annual Women’s March, organizers in Pensacola, Florida asked protesters to leave their pussyhats at home in order to make the protest more trans-inclusive. Devin Cole, one of the twelve organizers, told NBC News that “Not every woman has a vagina, and not every person who has a vagina is a woman.”
Two women wear pink "pussy hats" at the Pensacola Women's March on Jan. 20, 2018, in Pensacola, Florida. Frost Jones / Frost Images Photography.
As scholar and activist Emi Koyama points out in “The Transfeminist Manifesto”, the liberation of transwomen is “intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women and beyond.” In order for the feminist movement to successfully expose gender hierarchies and eliminate sexism, it must become intersectional. Intersectional-feminism accounts for how all of women's overlapping identities--including gender identity--impact the way women experience oppression and discrimination. Transwomen and other marginalized women should not only be welcomed in the fight against sexism, but also placed at the forefront of the movement, so oversights like the pussyhats can be minimalized and other neglected issues can be addressed.