Table Of Content

• •t • r• • •a • • •n • • • s• • •f • •e • • •m • • • • • i• •n • • •i • •s • • m• • • • • :• • a collection • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Featuring: The Transfeminist Manifesto An Open Letter to Alix Dobkin Whose Feminism is it Anyway? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Written & Compiled by Emi Koyama <[email protected]> http://eminism.org/ * Putting the Emi back in Feminism since 1975. The Feminist Conspiracy Press, PO Box 40570, Portland OR 97240 Index The Transfeminist Manifesto 3 Reprinted from The Transfeminist Manifesto and Other Essays on Transfeminism, March 2000. An Open Letter to Alix Dobkin 12 Reprinted from An Open Letter to Alix Dobkin, April 2000. Whose Feminism is it Anyway? The Unspoken Racism of the Trans Inclusion Debate 19 Reprinted from Whose Feminism is it Anyway?, October 2000. About Eminism.org 27 © 2000-2001 Emi Koyama / The Feminist Conspiracy Press PO Box 40570, Portland OR 97240 Get more of Emi – visit www.eminism.org email: [email protected] 2 The By Emi Koyama [email protected] Originally Published: October 1999 TransfeminisLast Etdited: July 2001 Manifesto Introduction less as women despite their birth sex assignment to the contrary. “Trans men,” likewise, is used to The latter half of the twentieth century describe those who identify, present, or live as witnessed an unprecedented broadening of men despite the fact that they were perceived American feminist movement as a result of otherwise at birth. While this operational the participation of diverse groups of women. definition leaves out many trans people who When a group of women who had previously do not conform to the male/female dichotomy been marginalized within the mainstream of or those who are transgendered in other ways, the feminist movement broke their silence, it is our hope that they will recognize enough demanding their rightful place within it, they similarities between issues that we all face and were first accused of fragmenting feminism find our analysis somewhat useful in their own with trivial matters, and then were eventually struggles as well. accepted and welcomed as a valuable part of the Transfeminism is primarily a movement by and feminist thought. We have become increasingly for trans women who view their liberation to be aware that the diversity is our strength, not intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women weakness. No temporary fragmentation or and beyond. It is also open to other queers, polarization is too severe to nullify the ultimate intersex people, trans men, non-trans women, virtues of inclusive coalition politics. non-trans men and others who are sympathetic Every time a group of women previously toward needs of trans women and consider their silenced begins to speak out, other feminists are alliance with trans women to be essential for challenged to rethink their idea of whom they their own liberation. Historically, trans men have represent and what they stand for. While this made greater contribution to feminism than process sometimes leads to a painful realization trans women. We believe that it is imperative of our own biases and internalized oppressions that more trans women start participating in as feminists, it eventually benefits the movement the feminist movement alongside others for our by widening our perspectives and constituency. liberation. It is under this understanding that we declare Transfeminism is not about taking over that the time has come for trans women to existing feminist institutions. Instead, it extends openly take part in the feminist revolution, and advances feminism as a whole through further expanding the scope of the movement. our own liberation and coalition work with all “Trans” is often used as an inclusive others. It stands up for trans and non-trans term encompassing a wide range of gender women alike, and asks non-trans women to stand norm violations that involve some discontinuity up for trans women in return. Transfeminism between one’s sex assigned at birth to her or embodies feminist coalition politics in which his gender identity and/or expression. For the women from different backgrounds stand up for purpose of this manifesto, however, the phrase each other, because if we do not stand for each “trans women” is at times used to refer to those other, nobody will. individuals who identify, present or live more or 3 Primary Principles we find ourselves constantly having to negotiate our need for safety and comfort against our Primary principles of transfeminism are simple. feminist principles. Transfeminism challenges all First, it is our belief that each individual has women, including trans women, to examine the right to define her or his own identities how we all internalize heterosexist and and to expect society to respect them. This also patriarchal mandates of genders and what global includes the right to express our gender without implications our actions entail; at the same fear of discrimination or violence. Second, we time, we make it clear that it is not the hold that we have the sole right to make responsibility of a feminist to rid herself of decisions regarding our own bodies, and that every resemblance to the patriarchal definition no political, medical or religious authority shall of femininity. Women should not be accused violate the integrity of our bodies against our of reinforcing gender stereotypes for making will or impede our decisions regarding what we personal decisions, even if these decisions do with them. appear to comply with certain gender roles; such However, no one is completely free from a purity test is disempowering to women because the existing social and cultural dynamics of the it denies our agency, and it will only alienate a institutionalized gender system. When we make majority of women, trans or not, from taking any decisions regarding our gender identity or part in the feminist movement. expression, we cannot escape the fact that Transfeminism believes in the notion that we do so in the context Transfeminism holds there are as many ways of the patriarchal binary of being a woman as gender system. Trans that nobody shall be there are women, that women in particular are we should be free to coerced into or out encouraged and make our own decisions sometimes required to of personal decisions without guilt. To this adopt the traditional end, transfeminism definition of femininity regarding her or his confronts social and in order to be accepted political institutions that gender identity or and legitimatized by the inhibit or narrow our medical community, expression to qualify individual choices, while which has appointed refusing to blame as a “real” feminist. itself as the arbiter of individual women for who is genuinely woman making whatever enough and who is not. Trans women often find personal decisions. It is unnecessary -- in fact themselves having to “prove” their womanhood oppressive -- to require women to abandon by internalizing gender stereotypes in order their freedom to make personal choices to be to be acknowledged as women or to receive considered a true feminist, for it will only hormonal and surgical interventions. This replace the rigid patriarchal construct of ideal practice is oppressive to trans and non-trans femininity with a slightly modified feminist women alike, as it denies uniqueness of each version that is just as rigid. Transfeminism woman. believes in fostering an environment where Transfeminism holds that nobody shall women’s individual choices are honored, while be coerced into or out of personal decisions scrutinizing and challenging institutions that regarding her or his gender identity or limit the range of choices available to them. expression in order to be a “real” woman or a “real” man. We also believe that nobody The Question of Male Privilege should be coerced into or out of these personal decisions in order to qualify as a “real” feminist. Some feminists, particularly radical lesbian As trans women, we have learned that our feminists, have accused trans women and men of safety is often dependent on how well we can benefiting from male privilege. Male-to-female “pass” as “normal” women; as transfeminists, transsexuals, they argue, are socialized as boys 4 and thus given male privilege; female-to-male assert that our experiences represent a dynamic transsexuals on the other hand are characterized interaction between male privilege and the as traitors who have abandoned their sisters in disadvantage of being trans. a pathetic attempt to acquire male privilege. Any person who has a gender identity and/or Transfeminism must respond to this criticism, an inclination toward a gender expression that because it has been used to justify discrimination match the sex attributed to her or him has a against trans women and men within some privilege of being non-trans. This privilege, like feminist circles. other privileges, is invisible to those who possess When confronted with such an argument, it. And like all other privileges, those who lack a natural initial response of trans women is to the privilege intuitively know how severely they deny ever having any male privilege whatsoever suffer due to its absence. A trans woman may in their lives. It is easy to see how they would have limited access to male privilege depending come to believe that being born male was on how early she transitioned and how fully she more of a burden than a privilege: many of lives as a woman, but at the same time she them despised having male bodies and being experiences vast emotional, social, and financial treated as boys as they grew up. They recall disadvantages for being trans. The suggestion how uncomfortable it felt to be pressured to that trans women are inherently more privileged act tough and manly. Many have experienced than other women is as ignorant as claiming bullying and ridicule by other boys because they that gay male couples are more privileged than did not act appropriately heterosexual couples as boys. They were made because both partners to feel ashamed, and Our experiences have male privilege. frequently suffered from Tensions often arise represent a dynamic depression. Even as when trans women adults, they live with interaction between attempt to access the constant fear of “women’s spaces” that exposure, which would male privilege and are supposedly designed jeopardize their to be safe havens from the disadvantage employment, family the patriarchy. The relationships, friendships of being trans. origin of these “women’s and safety. spaces” can be traced However, as back to the early lesbian transfeminists, we must feminism of the 1970s, resist such a simplistic reaction. While it is true which consisted mostly of white middle-class that male privilege affects some men far more women who prioritized sexism as the most than others, it is hard to imagine that trans fundamental social inequality while largely women born as males never benefited from it. disregarding their own role in perpetuating other Most trans women have “passed” as men (albeit oppressions such as racism and classism. Under as “sissy” ones) at least some point in their the assumption that sexism marked women’s lives, and were thus given preferable treatments lives far more significantly than any other social in education and employment, for example, elements, they assumed that their experience whether or not they enjoyed being perceived as of sexism is universal to all women regardless men. They have been trained to be assertive and of ethnicity, class, etc. – meaning, all non-trans confident, and some trans women manage to women. Recent critiques of the 1970s radical maintain these “masculine” traits, often to their feminism point out how their convenient advantage, after transitioning. negligence of racism and classism in effect What is happening here is that we often confuse privileged themselves as white middle-class the oppression we have experienced for being women. gender-deviant with the absence of the male Based on this understanding, transfeminists privilege. Instead of claiming that we have never should not respond to the accusation of male benefited from male supremacy, we need to privilege with denial. We should have the 5 courage to acknowledge ways in which trans experiences in which physical sex is felt more women may have benefited from male privilege artificial and changeable than their inner sense -- some more than others, obviously -- just of who they are. like those of us who are white should address Social construction of biological sex is white privilege. Transfeminism believes in the more than an abstract observation: it is a importance of honoring our differences as well physical reality that many intersex people go as similarities because women come from variety through. Because society makes no provision of backgrounds. Transfeminists confront our for the existence of people whose anatomical own privileges, and expect non-trans women to characteristics do not neatly fit into male or acknowledge their privilege of being non-trans female, they are routinely mutilated by medical as well. professionals and manipulated into living as their By acknowledging and addressing our assigned sex. Intersex people are usually not privileges, trans women can hope to build given an opportunity to decide for themselves alliances with other groups of women who how they wish to live and whether or not they have traditionally been neglected and deemed want surgical or hormonal “correction.” Many “unladylike” by white middle-class standard of intersex people find it appalling that they womanhood. When we are called deviant and had no say in such a major life decision, attacked just for being ourselves, there is whether or not their gender identity happen to nothing to gain from avoiding the question of match their assigned sex. We believe that genital privilege. mutilation of intersex children is inherently Deconstructing the abusive because it Trans liberation is about Reverse unnecessarily violates Essentialism the integrity of their taking back the right bodies without proper While the second wave to dene ourselves consent. The issue is of feminism popularized not even whether or from medical, religious the idea that one’s not the sex one was gender is distinct from and political authorities. assigned matches her or her or his physiological his gender identity; it sex and is socially and is whether or not culturally constructed, it intersex people are given largely left unquestioned real choice over what the belief that there was such a thing as true happens to their bodies. physical sex. The separation of gender from sex Trans people feel dissatisfied with the was a powerful rhetoric used to break down sex assigned to them without their consent compulsory gender roles, but allowed feminists according to the simplistic medical standard. to question only half of the problem, leaving the Trans people are diverse: some identify and live naturalness of essential female and male sexes as members of the sex different from what was until recently. assigned to them by medical authorities, either Transfeminism holds that sex and gender with or without medical intervention, while are both socially constructed; furthermore, others identify with neither or both of male and the distinction between sex and gender is female sexes. Trans liberation is about taking artificially drawn as a matter of convenience. back the right to define ourselves from medical, While the concept of gender as a social religious and political authorities. Transfeminism construct has proven to be a powerful tool views any method of assigning sex to be socially in dismantling traditional attitudes toward and politically constructed, and advocates a women’s capabilities, it left room for one social arrangement where one is free to assign to justify certain discriminatory policies or her or his own sex (or non-sex, for that matter). structures as having a biological basis. It As trans people begin to organize politically, also failed to address the realities of trans it is tempting to adopt the essentialist notion 6 of gender identity. The clich popularized by the for many women, including trans women. mass media is that trans people are “women For many transfeminists, the issue of body trapped in men’s bodies” or vice versa. The image is where our needs for comfort and safety attractiveness of such a strategy is clear, as the directly collide with our feminist politics. Many general population is more likely to become of us feel so uncomfortable and ashamed of supportive of us if we could convince them that our appearances that we opt to remain in the we are somehow born with a biological error closet or endure electrolysis, hormone therapy over which we have no control over it. It is also and surgical interventions to modify our bodies often in tune with our own sense of who we in congruence with our identity as women. are, which feels very deep and fundamental to These procedures are costly, painful and time- us. However, as transfeminists, we resist such consuming and can lead to the permanent loss of temptations because of their implications. fertility and other serious complications such as Trans people have often been described an increased risk of cancer. as those whose physical sex does not match Why would anyone opt for such a seemingly the gender of their mind or soul. This inhumane practice? While we might like to explanation might make sense intuitively, but believe that the need to match our bodies to it is nonetheless problematic for transfeminism. our gender identity to be innate or essential, To say that one has a female mind or we cannot in honesty neglect social and political soul would mean there are male and female factors contributing to our personal decisions. minds that are different One such factor from each other in some is society’s enforcement identifiable way, which of dichotomous gender Trans women should not in turn may be used roles. Because our to justify discrimination identities are be made to feel guilty against women. constructed within the Essentializing our gender for doing whatever it social environment into identity can be just as which we are born, one takes for them to feel dangerous as resorting to could argue that the biological essentialism. safe and comfortable. discontinuity between Transfeminism believes one’s gender identity and that we construct our physical sex is own gender identities problematic only based on what feels because society is genuine, comfortable and sincere to us as we actively maintaining a dichotomous gender live and relate to others within given social and system. If one’s gender were an insignificant cultural constraint. This holds true for those factor in society, the need for trans people to whose gender identity is in congruence with modify their bodies to fit into the dichotomy their birth sex, as well as for trans people. Our of genders may very well decrease, although demand for recognition and respect shall in probably not completely. no way be weakened by this acknowledgement. However, such reasoning should not be Instead of justifying our existence through the used to hold back trans persons from making reverse essentialism, transfeminism dismantles decisions regarding their bodies. Trans women the essentialist assumption of the normativity of are extremely vulnerable to violence, abuse and the sex/gender congruence. discrimination as they are, and should not be made to feel guilty for doing whatever it Body Image/Consciousness as a takes for them to feel safe and comfortable. Feminist Issue Transfeminism challenges us to consider ways in which social and political factors influence We as feminists would like to claim that we feel our decisions, but ultimately demands that comfortable, confident and powerful with our society respect whatever decisions we each make own bodies; unfortunately, this is not the case regarding our own bodies and gender expression. 7 It is not contradictory to fight against the revealed. Murders of trans women, like that institutional enforcement of rigid gender roles of prostitutes, are seldom taken seriously or while simultaneously advocating for individuals’ sympathetically by the media and the authorities rights to choose how they live in order to feel -- especially if the victim is a trans woman safe and comfortable. Nor is it contradictory to engaged in prostitution. provide peer support to each other so that we Trans women are also more vulnerable to can build healthy self-esteem while embracing emotional and verbal abuse by their partners individuals’ decisions to modify their bodies if because of their often-low self-esteem and they choose to do so. We can each challenge negative body image. It is easy for an abuser society’s arbitrary assumptions about gender and to make a trans woman feel ugly, ashamed, sex without becoming dogmatic. None of us worthless and crazy, because these are the same should be expected to reject every oppressive exact messages the whole society has told her factor in our lives at the same time; it over many years. Abusers get away with domestic would burn us out and drive us crazy. violence by taking away women’s ability to define Sum of our small rebellions combined will their own identity and experiences -- the areas destabilize the normative gender system as we where trans women are likely to be vulnerable know it. Various forms of feminisms, queer to begin with. Trans women have additional activism, transfeminism, and other progressive difficulty in leaving their abusers because it movements all attack different portions of the is harder for them to find employment and common target, which is would almost certainly the heterosexist lose child custody to patriarchy. Trans women, their abusive partner in a divorce if there were any like other groups of Violence Against children involved. Women women who suffer from In addition, trans women are targeted for Feminists have identified multiple oppressions, being queer. since the 1970s violence Homophobes tend not are particularly against women was not to distinguish between merely as isolated events, vulnerable to violence. gays and trans people but as a systematic when they commit hate function of the crimes, but trans people patriarchy to keep all are much more women subjugated. Transfeminism calls vulnerable to attack because they are often attention to the fact that trans women, like more visible than gays. Homophobic terrorists other groups of women who suffer from do not look into people’s bedrooms when they multiple oppressions, are particularly vulnerable go out to hunt gays; they look for gendered to violence compared to women with non-trans cues that do not match the perceived sex of privilege. their prey, effectively targeting those who are First, trans women are targeted because we visibly gender-deviant. For every gay man or live as women. Being a woman in this misogynist lesbian whose murder makes national headlines, society is dangerous, but there are some factors there are many more trans people who are killed that make us much more vulnerable when we across the nation, even though there are far are the targets of sexual and domestic violence. more “out” gays and lesbians than there are “out” For example, when a man attacks a trans woman, trans people. especially if he tries to rape her, he may Trans men also live in the constant fear discover that the victim has or used to have a of discovery as they navigate in a society that “male” anatomy. This discovery often leads to persecutes men who step outside of their socially a more violent assault fueled by homophobia established roles. Crimes against trans men are and transphobia. Trans women are frequently committed by strangers as well as by close assaulted by men when their trans status is “friends,” and are undoubtedly motivated by 8 a combination of transphobia and misogyny, We must also address the issue of economic performed as a punishment for violating gender violence. Trans women are often in poverty norms in order to put them back in a “woman’s because as women we earn less than men place.” do, because overt discrimination against trans Because of the danger in which we live, people in employment is rampant, and because transfeminism believes that violence against of the prohibitively high cost of transitioning. trans people is one of the largest issues we must This also means that abusive partners of work on. We may be hurt and disappointed that trans women have more leverage to control some women-only events refuse to let us in, but and keep us trapped in abusive relationships. it is the violence against us that has literally Transfeminism believes in fighting transphobia killed us or forced us to commit suicide way too and sexism simultaneously in the economic often for way too long. We have no choice but to arena as well as social and political. act, immediately. In this regard, cooperation with traditional Health and Reproductive Choice domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and hate crime prevention programs is essential. It may seem ironic that trans women, who in Some shelters have already decided to fully general have no capacity for bearing children, accept trans women just like they would would be interested in the women’s reproductive any other women, while others hesitate for rights movement, but transfeminism sees a various reasons. We must deep connection organize and educate between the liberation existing agencies about As transfeminists, of trans women and why trans women women’s right to choose. we should not just deserve to be served. First of all, society’s We must stress that the demand that existing stigmatization of trans dynamics of the violence existence is partly due to against trans women is organizations provide the fact that we mess not unlike that involving with our reproductive services to us; non-trans women, organs. Non-genital except that we are often we should join them. cosmetic surgeries are more vulnerable. And we performed far more should also advocate for frequently than sex services for trans men. reassignment surgeries, As transfeminists, we should not just demand yet they do not require months of mandatory that existing organizations provide services to psychotherapy. Nor are the ones who pursue us; we should join them. We should volunteer cosmetic surgeries ridiculed and scorned daily to assist them develop an effective screening on nationally broadcast trash talk shows. method in order to preserve safety as they Such hysteria over our personal choices is expand their base. We should make ourselves fueled in part by society’s taboo against self- available as crisis counselors and case managers determination of our reproductive organs: like to other trans women in need. We should help women seeking an abortion, our bodies have them fund trans-specific workshops for their become an open territory, a battleground. staff too. We should develop self-defense courses Additionally, the hormones that many trans for trans women modeled after feminist self- women take are similar in origin and chemical defense programs for women, but which pay composition to what non-trans women take special attention to our unique experiences. for birth control, emergency contraception, and There may not be enough of us to start our own hormone replacement therapy. As trans women, shelters from scratch, but we can work toward we share their concerns over safety, cost and elimination of the violence against trans people availability of these estrogen-related pills. Trans in the broader coalition toward the elimination and non-trans women need to be united of violence against women and sexual minorities. against the right-wing tactics aimed at making 9 means and information to control our bodies movement also solves the strategic dilemma over unavailable, if not illegal. pathologization of gender identity. For many Of course, reproductive choice is not years, trans people have been arguing with just about access to abortion or birth control; each other about whether or not to demand it is also about resisting forced and coerced de-pathologization of gender identity disorder, sterilization or abortion of less privileged which is currently a pre-requisite for certain women. Likewise, transfeminism strives for medical treatments. It has been a divisive issue the right to refuse surgical and hormonal because the pathologization of gender identity interventions, including those prescribed for disorder allows some of us to receive medical intersex people, and still expect society to honor interventions, even though it stigmatizes us and our sense of who we are. negates our agency at the same time. Before the During the 1980s, lesbians were purged from feminist critiques of modern medicine, female some reproductive choice organizations because bodies are considered “abnormal” by the male- they were seen as irrelevant to their cause. centered standard of the medical establishment, But the right to choose is not exclusively a which resulted in the pathologization of such heterosexual issue nor a non-trans issue, as it ordinary experiences of women as menstruation, is fundamentally about women having the right pregnancy and menopause; it was the women’s to determine what they do with their own health movement that forced the medical bodies. Transfeminists should join reproductive community to accept that they are part of choice organizations and ordinary human demonstrate for choice. experiences. A society that does not Transsexuality is not Transfeminism insists respect women’s right to that transsexuality is not an illness, but as much make decisions regarding an illness or a disorder, pregnancy is not likely a part of the wide but as much a part of to respect our right to the wide spectrum of make decisions about spectrum of ordinary ordinary human medical interventions to experiences as human experiences make our bodies in pregnancy. It is thus not congruence with our as pregnancy. contradictory to demand gender identity. If we medical treatment for fear having to obtain trans people to be made underground hormones more accessible, while or traveling overseas for a sex reassignment de-pathologizing “gender identity disorder.” surgery, we should be able to identify with women who fear going back to the unsafe Call for Action underground abortions. In addition, transfeminism needs to learn While we have experienced more than our from the women’s health movement. Research share of rejection within and outside of feminist on health issues that is of particular interest communities, those who remained our best allies to women, such as breast cancer, did not have also been feminists, lesbians and other arise in a vacuum. It was through vigorous queers. Transfeminism asserts that it is futile to activism and peer-education that these issues debate intellectually who is and is not included came to be taken seriously. Realizing that the in the category “women”: we must act, now, and medical community has historically failed to build alliances. address women’s health concerns adequately, Every day, we are harassed, discriminated transfeminists cannot expect those in the against, assaulted, and abused. No matter how position of power to take trans women’s health well we learn to pass, the social invisibility of seriously. That is why we need to participate in trans existence will not protect us when all and expand the women’s health movement. women are under attack. We can never win Drawing analogies from the women’s health by playing by society’s rule of how women 10