Thanks so much for all the love on this post!! I've been working hard for years to build an audience on this platform, so getting all these shares and new subscribers is really affirming! 😊 I write about gender, technology, and culture every week, so stay tuned for more works like this and feel free to follow me on some other socials: www.ThatAnnaMarie.com
Also, here are even more book & article recommendations if you want to learn more about the connections between gender, race, science, and capitalism:
~The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, Dr. Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí
~Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, Kit Heyam
~Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation, Silvia Federici
~Superior: The Return of Race Science, Angela Saini
~Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings
~Women with Mustaches and Men Without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, Dr. Afsaneh Najmabadi
Beautifully woven through a number of layered subjects, making them come together into a single clear picture. Your article gives so much to think about.
Thank you so much!! Note that as a white person, I should not be the final voice you listen to on this subject :) I strongly recommend reading White Tears/Brown Scars and some of the other resources referenced!
Of course! It’s actually a really interesting subject, to what point should we as white women be voicing opinions on this vs. reading and amplifying the opinions of black and brown writers…. I do think there is value to both, as things move forward best when we’re all exchanging views. Also I always feel there is a special strength to you calling out your own.
Imane reminds me of all the other Algerian young women I’ve seen walking around Paris when I lived there: in cafes, bookstores, on bicycles…and those beautiful dimples as well! everyone just needs to relax. jeez.
Yes to all of this! Look at a picture of Imane next to a picture of Princess Di and the structural similarities are uncanny. (My daughter actually pointed this out to me.) Imane is beautiful! But, not white. All of this bigotry is just so transparent and disappointing.
Thoughts: Gender was invented for male supremacy; and now furthers Wealth Supremacy. It is another tool to keep them in charge and anyone else oppressed. Skin tones are a distraction they use to keep us all fighting amongst ourselves instead of taking them out. Skin tone fights hide the fact that it’s the WEALTHY that manipulate us all. And trust me, billionaires reject everyone that is not them. Everywhere on this planet. Follow the money in any situation and it leads to the culprit’s bank account.
Hello! I certainly don't want to discredit your experience of gender. And I totally agree that this article is (briefly & perhaps incompletely) summarizing the *American* history of gender, not global history, which is a limitation of both this work and my personal knowledge/experience. My attempt here is to critique the idea that white women are the paragon of gender, and to generally call the whole gender system absurd, not say that any part of it is correct. THEY are saying that white cis women are the only true women, not me. I like the term "transmisogynoir" because it reinforces that transphobia and racism are all part of the same system; our struggles are very connected! Black women are denied womanhood for absurd reasons, trans women are denied womanhood for absurd reasons. And of course, there is no conclusive evidence that cis Black women have more testosterone than cis women of other racial groups, which I state in the article. If you disagree with any of my analysis here, I totally respect it. Thanks for your comment!
Wait “our struggles are connected” in what ways…..I completely disagree. Black women are and have always been women/female. So let’s not. Why are trans women not “afforded womanhood” ? Now contrast that arguement with black women. Two complete different things.
*I* agree that Black woman are women, but white supremacist ideology disagrees; to paraphrase Angela Davis, racists believe that Black women are not women because they believe that Black women are not human. Similarly, they believe that trans people are subhuman, and so they exclude us from womanhood. Trans people are viewed by the Right as a social contagion who will sterilize white children and bring about white genocide (and depending on who you ask, they will also say this is a plot being carried out the Jews). All nonsense, of course. The subjugation of cis Black people and white trans people are not 100% similar, but they are indeed related, as all forms of oppression are; once you say that one group of people is less human or less deserving of rights, you're opening yourself up to all sorts of bigotries. And of course, intersectionality is a thing; Black transgender people exist and they are the most dehumanized out of all of us.
Here are three readings you can look into for more on this perspective:
Respectfully, if you disagree that trans women are currently being denied womanhood, then you misunderstand transphobia entirely, and I doubt we can have a productive conversation on this topic in a text-based comments section. Although it's possible I'm misinterpreting your comment!
Hmmm. I doubt this will go anywhere but I will bite. Trans women are denied womanhood by the majority of people globally(the US specifically) . They are often seen as gay men or predatory straight men. My main problem with this is you linking your experience as a white trans woman to black women. I think you should definitely speak on your own identity. But to use black women to paint this narrative is gross to me. Also Angela Davis doesn’t speak for all black people…. Also I disagree with white supremacists thinking white trans women aren’t still people when before white trans women transitioned. They were white men? I really think the real intersection is between gender and sexuality. We live in a white majority country and I think you’re speaking on how white people feel in America? Also I’m not being excluded for womanhood and I think most black women feel the same. This narrative is very white male gaze/ white centered. This whole take gives me micro aggressions and repackaged racism ngl. Now in regard to black trans women, I’m pretty sure they’d disagree with you also. I don’t think the subjugation of white trans people and black biological women and men is similar much. Definitely less than 100% but we do get hate. That I’ll agree. To varying degrees and that really depends on if the white trans person passes.Also I feel like white trans people bring up black trans women as a “gotcha moment”.Same with black gay people. Also a lot of the struggles black trans women face is due to racism….. They have a very different experience to white trans women such as yourself.
Thanks so much for all the love on this post!! I've been working hard for years to build an audience on this platform, so getting all these shares and new subscribers is really affirming! 😊 I write about gender, technology, and culture every week, so stay tuned for more works like this and feel free to follow me on some other socials: www.ThatAnnaMarie.com
Also, here are even more book & article recommendations if you want to learn more about the connections between gender, race, science, and capitalism:
~The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, Dr. Oyèrónké Oyěwùmí
~Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender, Kit Heyam
~Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation, Silvia Federici
~Superior: The Return of Race Science, Angela Saini
~Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings
~Women with Mustaches and Men Without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieties of Iranian Modernity, Dr. Afsaneh Najmabadi
Thank you Anna for laying it all out there. Much to think about and discuss with those who feel otherwise.
You're so welcome! I post about this kind of stuff weekly, so feel free to subscribe and share :)
Beautifully woven through a number of layered subjects, making them come together into a single clear picture. Your article gives so much to think about.
Thank you so much!! Note that as a white person, I should not be the final voice you listen to on this subject :) I strongly recommend reading White Tears/Brown Scars and some of the other resources referenced!
Of course! It’s actually a really interesting subject, to what point should we as white women be voicing opinions on this vs. reading and amplifying the opinions of black and brown writers…. I do think there is value to both, as things move forward best when we’re all exchanging views. Also I always feel there is a special strength to you calling out your own.
Imane reminds me of all the other Algerian young women I’ve seen walking around Paris when I lived there: in cafes, bookstores, on bicycles…and those beautiful dimples as well! everyone just needs to relax. jeez.
Yes to all of this! Look at a picture of Imane next to a picture of Princess Di and the structural similarities are uncanny. (My daughter actually pointed this out to me.) Imane is beautiful! But, not white. All of this bigotry is just so transparent and disappointing.
I saw that comparison too!! The racism is getting pretty blatant, I just hope it starts waking people up to how weird transphobia is!
Very insightful and educational piece! Thanks for making a topic/subject that many make so (unnecessarily) complicated easy to understand!
You’re welcome!
Good Lord. I had no idea how freaky they were getting.
Looks more and more like a set up/planned.
A brilliant piece! Thank you!
You're welcome!
This is a really excellent, thorough explanation of the subject. Thank you.
Brilliant! I didn't know this but it also doesn't surprise me in the least. In fact it makes perfect sense.
Thank you, Jasmine! Yes, transphobes will pick the weirdest things to be mad about!
You're welcome😊 That they do🫤
💯 from a German nonbinary person with XX chromosomes
Hormone tests, test for hormones. Some cis men produce enough of a certain hormone, forget what it is called, to make a pregnacy test be positive.
My tests were negative, but i still miscarried, later. Was definitely pregnant!
Biology is not bureaucracy.
I’m sorry for your loss. Thank you for the support 💜
Thoughts: Gender was invented for male supremacy; and now furthers Wealth Supremacy. It is another tool to keep them in charge and anyone else oppressed. Skin tones are a distraction they use to keep us all fighting amongst ourselves instead of taking them out. Skin tone fights hide the fact that it’s the WEALTHY that manipulate us all. And trust me, billionaires reject everyone that is not them. Everywhere on this planet. Follow the money in any situation and it leads to the culprit’s bank account.
Yes!!
Hello! I certainly don't want to discredit your experience of gender. And I totally agree that this article is (briefly & perhaps incompletely) summarizing the *American* history of gender, not global history, which is a limitation of both this work and my personal knowledge/experience. My attempt here is to critique the idea that white women are the paragon of gender, and to generally call the whole gender system absurd, not say that any part of it is correct. THEY are saying that white cis women are the only true women, not me. I like the term "transmisogynoir" because it reinforces that transphobia and racism are all part of the same system; our struggles are very connected! Black women are denied womanhood for absurd reasons, trans women are denied womanhood for absurd reasons. And of course, there is no conclusive evidence that cis Black women have more testosterone than cis women of other racial groups, which I state in the article. If you disagree with any of my analysis here, I totally respect it. Thanks for your comment!
Wait “our struggles are connected” in what ways…..I completely disagree. Black women are and have always been women/female. So let’s not. Why are trans women not “afforded womanhood” ? Now contrast that arguement with black women. Two complete different things.
*I* agree that Black woman are women, but white supremacist ideology disagrees; to paraphrase Angela Davis, racists believe that Black women are not women because they believe that Black women are not human. Similarly, they believe that trans people are subhuman, and so they exclude us from womanhood. Trans people are viewed by the Right as a social contagion who will sterilize white children and bring about white genocide (and depending on who you ask, they will also say this is a plot being carried out the Jews). All nonsense, of course. The subjugation of cis Black people and white trans people are not 100% similar, but they are indeed related, as all forms of oppression are; once you say that one group of people is less human or less deserving of rights, you're opening yourself up to all sorts of bigotries. And of course, intersectionality is a thing; Black transgender people exist and they are the most dehumanized out of all of us.
Here are three readings you can look into for more on this perspective:
https://www.raceforward.org/press/statements/attack-transgender-community-attack-racial-justice
https://truthout.org/articles/the-anti-trans-panic-is-rooted-in-white-supremacist-ideology/
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/gender/2020/12/07/straddling-the-line-between-gender-and-sex-how-racism-misogyny-and-transphobia-intertwine-to-define-notions-of-womanhood-in-the-world-of-elite-sports/
Respectfully, if you disagree that trans women are currently being denied womanhood, then you misunderstand transphobia entirely, and I doubt we can have a productive conversation on this topic in a text-based comments section. Although it's possible I'm misinterpreting your comment!
Hmmm. I doubt this will go anywhere but I will bite. Trans women are denied womanhood by the majority of people globally(the US specifically) . They are often seen as gay men or predatory straight men. My main problem with this is you linking your experience as a white trans woman to black women. I think you should definitely speak on your own identity. But to use black women to paint this narrative is gross to me. Also Angela Davis doesn’t speak for all black people…. Also I disagree with white supremacists thinking white trans women aren’t still people when before white trans women transitioned. They were white men? I really think the real intersection is between gender and sexuality. We live in a white majority country and I think you’re speaking on how white people feel in America? Also I’m not being excluded for womanhood and I think most black women feel the same. This narrative is very white male gaze/ white centered. This whole take gives me micro aggressions and repackaged racism ngl. Now in regard to black trans women, I’m pretty sure they’d disagree with you also. I don’t think the subjugation of white trans people and black biological women and men is similar much. Definitely less than 100% but we do get hate. That I’ll agree. To varying degrees and that really depends on if the white trans person passes.Also I feel like white trans people bring up black trans women as a “gotcha moment”.Same with black gay people. Also a lot of the struggles black trans women face is due to racism….. They have a very different experience to white trans women such as yourself.
Exactly!! Thanks a bunch for your comment ^.^