New comic! (link to comic)

Sorry this one’s a little late.

Trans people have to walk this really fine line with respect to acceptable gender expression. Deviating from what is considered ‘normal’ for their gender results in the credibility of that gender being called into question in ways that just don’t happen with cis people.

(while this happens with all trans people, I’m going to focus on trans women for this post)

The truth is, while feminism is making awesome inroads in creating space for women to adopt a range of gender expressions beyond what social norms of ‘women’ have prescribed, so often that only applies to cis women. Trans women who ‘break’ femininity are regarded as essentially ‘letting slip’ their ‘actual gender’.

This is a symptom of the fact that trans people are largely still considered to be ‘acting like ’ their gender – ‘acting’ being the operative term. People see their gender as being something that sits upon a deeper truth – some less genuine, something deceptive.

There’s another side to this, of course, for trans women who adopt non-transgressive expressions of femininity – they’re accused (often within the feminist community) of reinforcing stereotypes, damaging the image of women.

So there’s really no way to win. Trans women who conform too much are essentially accused of being in bad drag, trans women who don’t conform enough are accused of a lack of commitment to their gender.

That great work we do, where we’re troubling what gender norms are, challenging sexist ideals, and taking control of our bodies? We need to make sure that we’re opening up those opportunities for ALL women. And we need to make that space available for all other genders, as well. I don’t believe in feminism that opens doors to some people while locking them for others.

laurellament:

thedeadflag:

dead-png:

trans women out there

is drag inherently transmisogynistic? do you find drag insensitive or offensive? why?

It’s not inherently transmisogynistic, no.

Drag is and has been an escape for trans woc for ages and ages, an avenue to express themselves. It’s a part of the cultural history of trans woc, nb folks, and whatnot.

But mainstream drag, cis gay men’s drag? Yeah, that’s irreparably tainted with transmisogyny at this point. They’ve created their own offshoot brand of drag built on a transmisogynistic foundation. And that’s the type of drag folks are exceedingly more likely to encounter than good, positive drag by trans and nb poc..

Ooh, yes

zamaron:

pojexali:

zamaron:

crazy how cis women get to do all that “look at my hairy armpits” thing and still are considered women but trans women have to master and perform every aspect of imposed womanhood (hair makeup shaving clothes etc etc) and even then our womanhood is completely up in the air.

almost like womanhood isn’t something to be mastered or performed by outsiders but is instead inherent to girls

Nothing about womanhood is “inherent” every single standard women are held to is a product of societal expectations and generally varies by culture. Implying that womanhood is “inherent” would mean that if a girl was born completely alone she would automatically know exactly how to conform AND this would imply that every single woman across the world would have the same inborn need to do these things which we know as factually incorrect. Doing makeup, hair nails and all these things are TAUGHT by society to girls and women not through some inborn biological/mental need like hunger or sleep. The concept of womanhood itself is a product of society not biology in any sense. So not only did your lil “trans women are outsiders” thing not make any sense you proved that you don’t understand shit about socialization or like basic biology. Must be sad to be this dumb 😦

Transgender woman dies from injuries related to assault in November

gaywrites:

Sherrell Faulkner, a 46-year-old transgender woman in North Carolina, died this week from injuries she sustained after she was brutally assaulted in November. Faulkner’s passing marks this year’s 11th known death of a transgender person after an assault.

“Our hearts are heavy with the news of the death of Sherrell Faulkner,” Ames Simmons, the director of transgender policy at Equality NC and a member of the Human Rights Campaign’s Board of Directors, said in a statement.

“We are facing a national epidemic of violence with 11 trans people, many of them transgender people of color, murdered in 2017,” Simmons added. “We are asking leaders and community leaders at every level to consider both the overt and the underlying reasons for these killing. We must address the root causes of violence against our community, and we cannot rest until the violence stops.”

So far, no arrests have been made at this point. Anyone with information about the attack is being asked to call Charlotte Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or visit the Crime Stoppers mobile app website at charlottecrimestoppers.com.

Rest in peace and power, Sherrell. We will say your name.

sapphicghostbusters:

trans-mom:

“you’re going to DELETE a post you AGREED with just cuz you found out ops a terf??”

yeah turns out learning that people having uber bigoted ideologies changes the context of the post buddy

I once reblogged a post about how a women’s bathroom was an important place of refuge, and that was why women often go to the bathroom in groups or to cry and why people leave those domestic abuse cards in women’s bathrooms, and how it’s the one place women can be away from men, and I was like “this is a fantastic post, yes” and then I found out the OP was a TERF and that post was suddenly no longer about safety in women’s restrooms. It was actually about wanting to make it impossible for trans women to pee in a public restroom. It was about making trans women seem like they invade a sacred place and make it dangerous. You bet your ass I deleted that reblog.