Blair White is one of the most aggressive trans separatists today, and she is actively making fun of trans women who do not live up to her conservative standards. |
These "Harry Benjamin Sydrome supporters" and, more lately, "truscum" or "transmedicalists", have all bought into the extreme gender binary and hate the idea that "normal people" should think of them as anything but a 100 percent man or woman.
(As if any cis man or woman is 100 percent male or female...)
Quite a few of them (but not all, I am glad to say) then throw all other trans people under the bus, using a lot of traditional transphobic arguments in the process, the most obvious being that (”false”) trans women are scary, sexual, predators.
These two videos by karviday give a very good, although depressing, view into the world of transgender panics and how transphobic bullying tacts are used by younger transgender separatists. None of this is OK.
For me, who has followed this debate for some 14 years now, it is interesting to see how the presentation of the dichotomy is changing.
14 years ago the idea of the "transvestite" was still very much alive, so the "classical transsexuals" (they liked to call themselves "transsexuals" at the time), had to prove that they had never been crossdressers.
As trans women they loved men, and as trans men they loved women. In other words: Apart from the "born in the wrong body" part, they were just like your regular cis women or cis men.
As several explained to me (who was cast in role as a perverted "transgender") at the time: They had never crossdressed, since they had always been women, which meant that they had been women dressed up as women at the time.
Good point, but as most of us knew: Many of the the trans women had a past as married crossdreamers.
They were simply denying the transgender journey: The fact that sometimes it takes years to unpack and understand your real gender identity was a threat to their own self worth, as the medical community told them that real trans kids had always known.
Now, in 2019, the transvestite vs. transsexual divide has been replaced by the nonbinary vs. real transgender divide.
Even though straight trans separatists like to make a point of the fact that they are attracted to the opposite gender, they cannot openly invalidate gay trans men and lesbian trans women anymore, so instead they focus instead on the degree of "transness". Nonbinary people, and people who do not live up to their own ideas of ideal femininity or masculinity, are ridiculed as "trans trenders", sexual perverts and pretenders.
This is, of course, the same as all other transphobes say. The trans separatists have simply replaced their internalized homophobia with an even stronger internalized transphobia.
If you are trans and for some reason are attacked by trans separatists of this kind, do keep in mind the following: They represent a very small minority of trans people.
Most transgender activists, whether they see themselves as binary or nonbinary, understand that gender is a continuum and that being trans is a journey. Only you can find out who you truly are, not some angry vlogger who has never met you.
By the way, karviday is a really good vlogger! Here are some more of his videos.
The original version of this post was published over at Trans Express.
This post is spot-on Jack. So well said.
ReplyDeleteCalie xx
At the end of the day this is about deep seated insecurity which tries to find solace in the disparaging of others. What makes it particularly galling is that the science is still in its infancy which makes a firm stand by separatists a bit of a farce.
ReplyDeleteWhite is a bit of a cartoon character anyway but her schtick will always find an audience with some which is rather unfortunate.
Thanks.
ReplyDelete