Transfeminism

Robert Hill defines Transfeminism as "a category of feminism, most often known for the application of transgender discourses to feminist discourses, and of feminist beliefs to transgender discourse". Hill says that transfeminism also concerns its integration within mainstream feminism. He defines transfeminism in this context as a type of feminism "having specific content that applies to transgender and transsexual people, but the thinking and theory of which is also applicable to all women".

Despite its relatively late introduction as a term, transfeminist work has been around since the early second wave in various forms, most prominently embodied by thinkers such as Sandy Stone, considered the founder of academic transgender studies, and Sylvia Rivera, a Stonewall rioter and founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published.^{[citation needed]}

History

Early voices in the movement include Kate Bornstein and Sandy Stone, whose essay "The Empire Strikes Back" was a direct response to Janice Raymond. In the 21st century, Krista Scott-Dixon and Julia Serano have contributed work in the field of transgender women.

Transfeminism.org was created in 2000 to promote the Transfeminism Anthology Project by Diana Courvant and Emi Koyama. The site primarily devoted itself, however, to introducing the concept of transfeminism to academia and to finding and connecting people working on transfeminism projects and themes through an anthology of the same name. Koyama and Courvant sought other transfeminists and to increase their exposure. The anthology was intended to introduce the movement to a large audience. At a Yale event and in bios associated with it, Courvant's use of the word (as early as 1992) and involvement in Transfeminism.org, may make her the term's inventor. Courvant credited Koyama's Internet savvy as the reason transfeminism.org and the word transfeminism got the recognition and attention that it did.^{[citation needed]}

Patrick Califia used the word in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of a periodical. It is possible or even likely that the term was independently coined repeatedly before the year 2000 (or even before Courvant's first claimed use in 1992). The term gained traction only after 1999. Jessica Xavier, an acquaintance of Courvant, may have independently coined the term when she used it to introduce her articles, "Passing As Stigma Management" and "Passing as Privilege" in late 1999. Emi Koyama wrote a widely read "Transfeminist Manifesto" around the time of the launch of the website that, with her active participation in academic discussions on the internet, helped spread the term.

In the past few decades the idea that all women share a common experience has come under scrutiny by women of color, lesbians, and working class women, among others. Many Transgender and transsexual (together: trans, see Survivor Project link) people are also questioning what gender means, and are challenging gender as a biological fact. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere.

Transfeminism includes all major themes of third wave feminism, including diversity, body image, and women's agency. Transfeminism is not merely about merging trans concerns with feminism. It also includes critical analysis of second wave feminism from the perspective of the third wave. Like all feminisms, transfeminism critiques mainstream notions of masculinity and argues that women deserve equal rights. Lastly, transfeminism shares the unifying principle with other feminisms that gender is a patriarchal social construct used to oppress women. Although the "trans" in transgender and transsexual has been used to imply transgressiveness.

The road to legitimacy for transfeminism has been quite different than that of other feminisms. Marginalized women have had to prove that their needs are different and that mainstream feminism does not speak for them. Contrarily, trans women must show they are the same as other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. Feminist Janice Raymond's resistance to considering trans people as women and as participants in feminism are representative of this obstacle. Her career began with The Transsexual Empire (a book-length dismissal of transsexual women qua women) and she has often returned to similar efforts.

Feminism vs transfeminism

Common foundations

A core tenet of feminism is that biology does not and must not equal destiny. The idea that women should not be held down by traditional gender roles plays a major role in all feminisms. Transfeminism expands on that premise to argue that people in general should not be confined by sex/gender norms.

Feminists have traditionally explored the boundaries of what it means to be a woman.^{[citation needed]} Transfeminists argue that trans people and cisgender feminists confront society's conventional views of sex and gender in similar ways. Transgender liberation theory offers feminism a new vantage point from which to view gender as a social construct, even offering a new meaning of gender.

Transfeminist critics of mainstream feminism say that as an institutionalized movement, feminism has lost sight of the basic idea that biology is not destiny. In fact, they argue, many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender and insisting on a given destiny for trans persons based on nothing more than biology. Transgenderism resists and challenges the fixedness of gender that traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.

Transgender people are frequently targets of anti-trans violence. While non-trans women also routinely face violence, transfeminists understand anti-trans violence to be a form of gender policing.^{[citation needed]}

Differences

Despite the similarities, there are also differences between traditional feminism and transfeminism. Transfeminism stands in stark contrast to second-wave feminism. Transfeminists often criticize the ideas of a universal sisterhood, aligning more with the third wave's appreciation for the diversity of women's experience. Citing their common experience, directly challenge the idea that femininity is an entirely social construction. Instead, transfeminists view gender as a multifaceted set of diverse intrinsic and social qualities. For example, a there are trans/cis men/women who express themselves in an unusually feminine or masculine way. Because this strongly affects how the person experiences their gender, and also their standing within patriarchy, transfeminists would argue that masculine/feminine expression is an important concept worthy of feminist inquiry, to be compared and contrasted with both birth sex and gender identity.

Sisterhood

"Sisterhood" is a primary issue that separates transfeminisms and second-wave feminisms. Sisterhood is the idea that patriarchy and its tactics are so universal that the most important experiences of women everywhere are equivalent. However, women in culturally, ethnically, and/or economically diverse societies, young women and girls, women with disabilities, and others object to the idea of universal sisterhood and its logical extensions, including two ideas: first, if one works for the benefit of any woman, one works for the benefit of all equally; second, that in a sexist society all women have the same (minimal) level of power.

These issues were confronted in many fora before transfeminism was coined. "Killing the Black Body," illustrated how white-feminist led reproductive rights movements sometimes worked to the detriment of poor and/or minority women. "This Bridge Called My Back" is an anthology of third world feminist writing that challenged the idea of equal power among women.

Transfeminists report many under-examined situations in which one woman's uses of power has the potential to hurt another woman. Transfeminists propose client advisory boards for crisis lines and women's shelters, the end of unpaid and underpaid feminist internships, incorporating employees into board committees that evaluate non-profit executives, creating strategic funds to assist trans employees with nontraditional health issues, incorporating specific anti-racist and other anti-oppressive criteria on employee evaluation forms, and more. Particularly fruitful has been transfeminist investigation of feminism and disability, feminism and sex, and the combination of the three.

Access to feminist spaces

Though little acknowledged, trans people have been part of feminist movements. The appearance of openly trans persons in feminist spaces challenged the idea that all women are socially equal. This has made transfeminists natural allies of, for example, women of color who experience racism in a white feminist environment. While Raymond and others attempted to define trans people outside feminism, institutions that welcomed trans people sometimes were confronted with an alliance between a trans person and others who accused other women of racism. Trans people, like any large group, reflect the general public's range of temperaments. There have been a number of documented occasions when the trans people portrayed as bad actors were in fact the victims of overreactions by others.

Femininity

"Femininity" has become a place of contention between transfeminists and other feminists. Mainstream feminists who oppose the objectification of women often find it bothersome that some transwomen seek to be viewed as objects of desire.^{[citation needed]} A few transwomen also exaggerate their feminine traits. Because hate crimes and social punishments are rampant against trans people,^{[citation needed]} portraying gender unambiguously can increase a trans person's sense of safety.^{[citation needed]} Even when the visible signs of femininity are only marginally different from norms, they may be seen as wildly inappropriate.

Sampling bias is the most logical argument for feminists' notice of a disproportionate number of trans women with very feminine expression. Transsexual people are viewed as outlandish exceptions to society's norms. Thus when a person appears to fit within – or almost within – society's norms, one is assumed not to be transsexual or transgender. When a person sees someone that isn't easily classified as a man or a woman, the viewer still almost never assumes the subject to be trans. Take for example the "Saturday Night Live" character "Pat". The comedy is based on other characters' curiosity about Pat's gender. They ask leading yet socially acceptable questions whose answer might confirm Pat as a man or a woman. Invariably, Pat answers without doing so. Even after several rounds of such questioning, the characters never conclude that Pat is trans. Such are the rules of polite society: it would be rude to assume another person is trans. As this training is so deep (and it is impossible to perceive another's thoughts), it is not possible to notice each trans person one meets. Thus the idea that trans women are somehow more feminine is an unprovable assertion most often made by those who wish to malign trans women as uneducated, unliberated, retrograde throwbacks who threaten to serve as a useful tool helping anti-feminists drag all women back to a pre-feminist heck-on-earth

Femininity in transsexual women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in non-transsexual women. This double standard reveals that the behavior itself is not as problematic to many critics as the existence of trans people.

Womyn-born-womyn

Janice Raymond, Mary Daly and Sheila Jeffreys, among others, argue that the feminist movement should not concern itself in any way with the needs of trans women. The idea that only "womyn-born-womyn" can fully identify with the experience of being a woman conflicts with the concept that "biology does not equal destiny". Opponents argue that excluding trans women from women's spaces denies them their right to self-identification.

Cissexism in mainstream feminism

Perhaps the most visible battleground of feminists and transfeminists has been the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. The festival ejected a transsexual woman, Nancy Burkholder, in the early 1990s. Since then, the festival has admitted "womyn-born-womyn" only. The activist group Camp Trans formed to protest the transphobic "womyn-born-womyn" policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans people within the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and transfeminists were involved in Camp Trans including Riki Wilchins, Jessica Xavier, and Leslie Feinberg.^{[citation needed]}

Kimberly Nixon is a trans woman who volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1995. When Nixon's transsexual status was determined, she was expelled. The staff decided that Nixon's status made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients, and also required their clients to be genetically female. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse and sued for discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued that there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly transsexual woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case.

Transsexual women such as Sandy Stone challenged the feminist conception of "biological woman". Stone worked as a sound engineer for Olivia Records from about 1974 to 1978, resigning when tensions grew too high. The debate continued in Raymond's book, which devoted a chapter to criticism of "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist." Groups like Lesbian Organization of Toronto then voted to exclude trans lesbians. Sheila Jeffreys labeled transgenderism "deeply problematic from a feminist perspective and [stated] that transsexualism should be seen as a violation of human rights."

Current controversies within transfeminism

Inclusion in mainstream feminism

Transfeminists struggle to be accepted by mainstream feminism. Groups such as the Lesbian Avengers accept transfeminists, while others reject them. Feminist organizations that include both heterosexual and non-heterosexual women are often more welcoming than non-heterosexual specific organizations. Particularly reluctant are gender-segregated shelters and sexual assault support centers.

Max Wolf Valerio contributed as an out trans man to feminist anthology "This Bridge We Call Home," which followed "This Bridge Called My Back", to which Valerio contributed before coming out. Whether trans men are acceptable in a group, place, or event can vary with nuances of identity, membership, or personal relationship. A man's acceptance or rejection often depends on his past contributions to feminism and friendly relationships with a prominent group member. There is no clear trend on feminist acceptance of trans men other than more sophisticated discussions.^{[citation needed]}

Gender identity disorder (GID)

Gender identity disorder is currently listed as a diagnosable mental disorder in the DSM-IV-TR and the ICD-10. Many transfeminists and traditional feminists propose that this diagnosis be discarded because of its past abusive use by people with power. Transfeminists argue that being gender different is the right of all persons. When arguing for the maintenance of the current diagnostic category, pro-GID transfeminists typically concede past misuse of the diagnosis while arguing for retention with greater professional accountability.

In many situations or legal jurisdictions, transsexual people have insurance coverage for surgery only because of the diagnosis. Removal would therefore increase patient costs. In other situations, anti-discrimination laws which protect legally disabled people apply to transsexual people only so long as a diagnosis exists. In other cases, transgender people are protected by sex discrimination rules or as a separate category. This economic issue can split advocates along class lines.^{[citation needed]}

At the 2006 Trans Identity Conference at the University of Vermont, Courvant presented an analysis of this controversy. She noted that "eliminationists" must decide whether their efforts to destigmatize trans people conflict with efforts to destigmatize mental illness and whether removing the GID category would actually help with the former, while disrupting the current, albeit limited, insurance regime. Conversely, "preservationists" must address the problem of faulty diagnoses and improper "treatment". She proposed retaining the category and focusing efforts on legitimating mental illness and improving acceptance of trans people, leaving aside the diagnosis question.

Transgender, transsexual

Billy Tipton was born in 1914. He began living as a man full-time by 1940 at age 26, had a career as a jazz and swing pianist and entertainer, a common law marriage (unregistered but publicly accepted), and three sons by adoption. He was discovered to have been female-bodied after he died in 1989 due to a hemorrhaging ulcer (that he refused to have treated). Like many female-to-male transsexuals of this day he did not have genital surgery.

Harry Benjamin precisely defined "transsexual", in his seminal book "The Transsexual Phenomenon". He defined the "Benjamin Scale", which defines three levels of transsexualism: "Transsexual (nonsurgical)", "True Transsexual (moderate intensity)", and "True Transsexual (high intensity)". Some transsexuals believe that true transsexuals desire surgery. However, it is notable that Benjamin's moderate intensity "true transsexual" needs hormone medication as a "substitute for or preliminary to operation." There also exist people who have had sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) but do not meet the definition of a transsexual, such as Gregory Hemingway, while other people do not desire SRS yet clearly meet Dr. Benjamin's definition of a "true transsexual". Beyond Dr. Benjamin's work, which focused on Male to Female transsexuals, there are cases of Female to Male transsexuals for whom surgery is not practical.

Gender expressions other than the cisgendered norm also include cross dressers, drag queens, transvestites, transvestic fetishist, etc. Transsexuals may go through one of those self identifications before realizing that they are in fact transsexual.^{[citation needed]}

The originator of term "transgender", Charles "Virginia" Prince, the founder of the cross-dressing organization Tri-Ess did so to distinguish herself from transsexual people. In "Men Who Choose to Be Women," Prince wrote "I, at least, know the difference between sex and gender and have simply elected to change the latter and not the former". However, ordinary English ignores the academic distinction between sex and gender.

See also

• List of transgender-related topics
• transgender

References

Works cited

• Anonymous ' "A Taste of Inequality" explores issues still on feminist frontline,' Yale Bulletin, March 16, 2001.
• Anzaldua, Gloria; Moraga, eds (1980). This Bridge Called My Back. NY, NY: Routledge. 
• Anzaldua, Gloria; Keating, AnaLouise, eds (2002). This Bridge We Call Home. NY, NY: Routledge. 
• Califia, Patrick (1997). Sex Changes, Cleis Press, San Francisco.
• Courvant, Diana (2003). Thoughts on "Now That You're a White Man," http://www.confluere.com/column/20030527-diana.html
• Courvant; Koyama (2000). http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.transfeminism.org. 
• Crabtree, Sadie (2004), The fight for reproductive freedom 
• Hill; Childers, R. J. (Report Chair); Childs, A. P.; Cowie, G.; Hatton, A.; Lewis, J. B.; McNair, N.; Oswalt, S. et al. (April 17, 2002). In the shadows of the arch: Safety and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and Queer students at the University of Georgia (Report). Athens, GA: University of Georgia Department of Adult Education. 
• Kessler, Suzanne & McKenna, Wendy (1985). Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach.
• Koyama, Emi (2000). "Transfeminist Manifesto". http://eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf. 
• Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping Girl, A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. 
• http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/prince_vc.html
• http://www.gender.org.uk/conf/2004/04ekins.htm
• Virginia Prince quote from her essay in Sexology, "Men Who Choose to Be Women" as quoted in the Advocate, Dec. 2007, "A Transgender History"
• Bryan Strong, Ideas of the Early Sex Education Movement in America, 1890–1920 from the summer 1972 History of Education Quarterly, Vol 12, #2 (Summer 1972). Available online (for fee) at:http://www.jstor.org/pss/366974

Further reading

• Feinberg, Leslie (1996). Transgender Warriors, Beacon Press, Boston, Mass.
• Transfeminism: Let Her Rip by Hanne Blank
• Transfeminism – Broadening the Range of Feminism by Jelena Postic
• Trans/forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon
• Transgender Studies and Feminism: Theory, Politics, and Gender Realities (special issue of Hypatia) co-edited by Talia Bettcher and Ann Garry.
• You've Changed: Sex Reassignment and Personal Identity edited by Laurie Schrage
• Feminist Perspectives on Trans Issues, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Talia Bettcher

External links

• Organisation Intersex International (OII)
• Intersex Society of North America
• Vancouver Rape Relief
• Survivor Project, an anti-domestic and sexual violence organization for intersex and transgender survivors
• the home site of the community periodical "Chrysalis"