Questioning Transphobia

I wanted to write a post about sheer cowardice of wanting to attack men, but choosing instead to go after safer targets – like trans people, especially trans women. Queen Emily beat me to it, and wrote something better than what I had in mind. I agree with every word:

An open letter to cis feminists

Stop fucking up.*

I have complained numerous times that the feminist blogosphere, such as it is, has one main conversation about trans people, one that is returned to again and again and again – the political implications of our transitioning. Click here if you want yet another example of pointless bloody “analysis.”

I don’t CARE about whatever horrible thing some feminist has said anymore. I care that these discussions centre on cis concerns, even (maybe especially) allies respond mostly to the slurs, but rarely address the real issues.

Now, if you want to have those conversations, here’s an idea. Subject yourself to the same kind of analysis. Honestly interrogate if and how you might have more or less privilege than trans people. And no, for the millionth time, trans women are not the fucking Patriarchy.

Or how bout this for an idea. Spend some actual time and energy on trans issues. Here is one thing you are barely talking about – the continual violence against transgendered people for being transgendered.

Blog about Angie Zapata. Blog about Ebony Whitaker. Blog about Sanesha Stewart (to name just three trans women murdered this year).

Try subjecting all that torturous analysis to something actually useful – how violence against trans people occurs. Try thinking about the fact that it is overwhelming trans women of colour being murdered. Try thinking about the intersections between race, transness, misogyny and sex work.

Try writing about the way that institutions collude with this violence – that medical professionals may willingly leave you to die, that police may not prosecute, that lawyers use “trans panic” as a defence to justify the death, and then to add insult to injury, the media effectively blames the dead person for their own deaths AND misgenders them.

And for fuck’s sake, don’t blame the fucking victims.

I DARE YOU.

* if this doesn’t apply to you, then it doesn’t apply to you.

I’d love to see cis allies take this up – talk about this stuff. The truth’s in my stats, too. My posts?

The post with the most views was entirely about one radfem’s comments about transphobia, and a number of radfems closing ranks to defend against the idea that attacking trans people for arbitrary and poorly informed reasons was bigoted. It has 2,182 views.

I don’t remember how many views this post had, as I can’t seem to find stats for it – but I recall it exceeded 1,000.

But posts about the women who are murdered for being trans? They don’t really generate much traffic, nor do they ever really get linked to. How many cis feminists will link to Rebecca’s post about Angie Zapata? How many trackbacks will be there in 48 hours? Are murdered trans women only a concern for trans women?

I don’t have any trackbacks to this post about Ebony Whitaker. That’s not to say a couple of cis women didn’t post about her murder. But most of the coverage? Monica wrote a great post editing the news story so it wasn’t so dismissive and dehumanizing. But if you look at the links to that post at the bottom? One comes from Emily’s post quoted above, one comes from my post linked in this paragraph, and one comes from one of Emily’s transphobic tropes posts here. By the time you see this post, its link will probably be there too.

I checked Bilerico Project and found this post by Waymon Hudson, a gay man [Warning: Detailed description of how Angie was killed in post]. Well, yay, coverage for Angie Zapata from someone who isn’t a trans person. I’m not happy about the blow-by-blow account of how she died, though – but that’s how trans women are murdered. Violently, with excessive force. Like the killer is trying to destroy his victim. That’s the definition of a hate crime right there.

Waymon Hudson said what needed to be said in his closing paragraphs:

Here’s the truth- even in death, Zapata continues to be victimized by a brutal, bigoted man and the media. The continued attack on her identity serves to put her in the role of the one at fault, not her violent killer. It is disgusting and beyond belief.

A young woman was brutally murdered. She deserves the same dignity and respect that any person would get. She should not be dehumanized or insulted. It is the killer who is on trial, NOT Angie Zapata.

This is what an ally says.

So, write about Angie. She was a woman, she was murdered because she was a woman. Women like her are violently murdered every month, and the most acknowledgement many receive is an article written specifically to erase her identity and dehumanize her. If Kyle Payne and Jon Justice are worth blogging about, another iteration of “she was asking for it [murder]” certainly is.

Women getting murdered and their killers getting off with light sentences? How is that not a feminist issue?

Not just the murders, but access to services, bigotry from medical professionals – issues trans women often have in common with cis women.