On How to Spot a Transphobe
Today we are going to talk about how it is that one spots a transphobe. Much of this is already visible under a different location here, but I thought that it deserved a bit of a highlight for the google search results.
Trans people, themselves, are often transphobic and do not even know it, so it should not come as a surprise if you happen to see something you have said yourself in the list of things below.
All it means is you need to rethink something.
Now, it is important to note that transphobia is NOT “fear of trans people”. I know that is hard to remember, what with that fancy prefix and all. But it isn’t.
Fear is a really, really big thing. It has real value — many trans people are fearful of the potential harm to them if they use the restroom. Fear isn’t the issue.
It is the way that fear manifests that is the issue. Which is why we have the strong definition of Transphobia we have.
So here, in Six Easy Lessons, each derived from things that transphobes have said, are ways to spot a transphobe.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. That is what the comments are for…
Lesson one:
1: If they think that cis has something to do with liking your body
2: If they think that cis has something to do with the clothes you wear or makeup
3: if they think that being trans has something to do with liking your body.
4: if they think that beings trans has something to do with the clothes you wear or make up
5: If they think that cis is a slur
6: If they think that gender is not composed of three to five distinct elements
7: If they think that being trans is a mental illness
8: If they think that being cis is a bad thing.
9: If they think that cis privilege has anything to do with someones’s sex or gender
10: If they think that biology says that trans women are male.
Lesson Two:
11: If they think that the points above are limited just to trans women, since we are talking about trans folk. Note that these are exemplars based on actual ideas held by people who hate trans people, and so the assertions are equally valid for all trans folk along the spectrum.
12: If they make an argument against trans women that features the idea of “male socialization”, yet never note the way this argument relies on racism because they don’t understand how it does so.
13: If they think calling a trans woman a man or male is not violence. Bonus: they are not only ignorant, they are also violent.
14: If they ever say ” it’s not like i ever go out of my way to message anyone ever and trigger them intentionally”, and pretend like their stuff doesn’t show up in tags or is reblogged or is said in public on tumblr since tumblr is a platform designed intentionally to make things visible to other people.
15: If they think that “gender abolition” is not a dog whistle for genocide of trans people.
16: If they think that bodily autonomy is great for women, but bad for for trans women by arguing that trans women have no place in the pro-choice movement.
17: If they are against sex work and never speak about how trans women of color are driven into it by the same forces that drive cis women of color into it and at the same ages.
18: If they think that trans women cannot be lesbians or that trans men cannot be gay men.
19: If they think that despite holding any of the items in this list they are an ally of the trans community.
20: If they argue that trans women represent a danger to cis women.
Lesson Three:
21: If they disagree with the term Cis.
22: If they think that Transness is a mental illness named gender dysphoria
23: If they argue that gender is a social construct but argue that sex is not a social construct.
24: If they argue against unisex restrooms because of risks associated with trans women.
25: If they argue for female only space instead of cis only space (these are two different things)
26: If they say they don’t hate trans people but use arguments that rely on seeing trans women as men, not only are they ignorant, they are also violent and hypocritical.
27: If they think that the treatment for trans children isn’t based on decades of research and study by experts in pediatric care.
28: If they think that Transness has always been a mental illness when it wasn’t introduced until after homosexuality was removed.
29: If they they think that trans women are just homophobic gay men.
30: If they say that trans women are not women because womanhood is not a feeling or identity
Lesson Four:
31: If they don’t agree with “Trans Theory” and think trans theory is the stuff from lesson one.
32: If they say things like cis privilege has something to do with a person’s “mode of presentation”
33: If they say things like “How can I, as someone who doesn’t subscribe to gender politics and does not have a gender identity, be “cis”?” Right before describing themselves as cis people.
34: If they say terf is a slur
35: If they argue for separate but equal like trans woman/ cis woman restrooms
36: If They say that a trans woman in a relationship with another woman is “straight”
37: If they get upset at the idea of a women’s space including trans women
38: If they think that trans men in a women’s space is ok
39: If they think that when people say they are being essentialist, they leap to the conclusion it is about biological essentialism and never think about what the person says routinely.
40: If they make a habit of being violent, dishonest, prejudiced, bigoted, aversive, anxious, incompetent, ignorant, immoral, and unethical when it comes to trans people.
Lesson Five:
41: if they post any quote from Sheila Jeffreys, Julie Bindel, Robin Morgan, or Janice Raymond on their blogs without pointing out how they are all deeply transphobic
42: if they think that it is reasonable for trans people to engage in dialog with people who are violent towards them but refuse to acknowledge that violence.
43: If they think “cotton ceiling” is about forcing lesbians to have sex.
44: If they reference “Gender Identity Watch” or “OWL”.
45: If they talk about “redefining woman” the same way folks talk about “redefining marriage”. .
46: If they talk about gender as if it is not the way that society deals with physiological sex.
47: If they use phrases like “womyn born womyn”, “women born female”, or a half dozen other variations of the same thing.
48: If they think that Laverne Cox is a misogynist or that Janet Mock thinks positively of molestation of children.
49: If they argue that male socialization only affects males.
50: If they think that saying die cis scum is a threat.
Lesson Six
51: describes themselves as Trans critical
52: Say that Transness is a medical condition
53: Say that Dysphoria is required to be trans
54: Saying that disliking trans people is a legitimate response to their behavior of expanding and strengthening misogyny through their glorification of gender.
55: saying that trans people need to be nicer to trans critical people and other transphobic people
56: Argue that Gender Critical is different from trans critical
57: Claim misogyny cannot be engaged in against trans women
58: “Trans Theory” is responsible for perpetuating patriarchal gender systems
59:Sex is not a social construct (when used in reference to any of the above, it is an intellectually dishonest attempt to devalue the lives of trans people)
60: “I hate trans people”
Bonus Round:
61. They describe themselves as “Trans critical” or “gender critical” or say that they are arguing from that position.
62. They argue in favor of gender abolition, yet remain unaware of the basis of that argument or how it is colonizing and racist.
63. if they cite Paul McHugh in their writing.
64. if they worry about their kids safety in restrooms that trans people might use.
65. if they have said or done any of the above and exclaim they aren’t a transphobe.
Be Aware:
Transphobes will frequently engage in racist, ableist, biphobic, and homophobic arguments. This is because they are misanthropes who lack common human decency, and reflective of harm they are inflicting on themselves via their hate.
So, yesterday I posted something that was actually supposed to post today.
It was how to spot a transgender. Some trans folk didn’t quite get the stylistic choices I made in writing it, and I don’t blame them. I Wrote it for a very specific audience, and I know, for a fact, that audience will see it.
Because I wrote previous versions of that post in the past, and it was the single most commonly viewed post on this blog for years.
So natch I had to do a new version.
Ok, so shortly after I posted this, I came across a video that is too horrific for words.
It leaps out at you foremost because of the blunt racism, matter of fact hatred for someone’s race.
Then you realize this is someone combining racism and Transphobia. And they get violent when they finally realize this is going to be seen.
The version you are about to see is edited by Mic.com.
Now, I want to point out that this is extremely overt. Even an ignorant fool can see this woman is wrong.
But most of the above stuff is what people who will claim not to be transphobes say.