#transmasc discourse

[lord-radish]

imagine thinking that trans men are inherently bad or evil or predatory on the basis of gendered privilege and societal power structures. cringe

[lindentea]

there were some thoughtful tags in the notes & i didn't want them to get lost at sea. (i cropped the usernames bc i know some ppl put things in tags instead of as a comment when they reblog in order to limit their notifications and/or to try to minimize the potential for harassment)

all i know is when you're trans you are whatever gender hurts you more

thinking about how the whole "trans men literally can't experience misogyny bc men can't experience misogyny" thing has done fucking catastrophic harm to feminism as a movement in recent years

[corvid-on-the-rock]

hug a trans dude today. tell him he looks good. tell him you see him and value him. ask him about his gender. ask him about his day. ask him about how he's doing. ask him about his hopes for the future. connect with him. please.

[unpopulartransfag]

I don't really understand why people have a problem with people, especially younger queers, using fun, new, complex or "made up" labels.

There were times when I was younger when I really identified with otherkin and I had a huge list of pride flags to show different facets of my gender identity and personality and you know what?

It was fun and liberating.

And yeah, I "grew out of it", I changed and evolved as a person and gravitated towards different, more "conventional" terms, but that's not a big deal. You're allowed to experiment and play around with different labels while you figure yourself out.

But it's also just as valid and fine if you keep using those terms for the rest of your life.

There's no age limit on neopronouns or mogai identities. You can be 97 and use ey/em/eirs pronouns and identify as a gender fluid boygirl and genderfaun if that's what makes you feel the most like yourself and makes you happy.

And idgaf if people want to hate on mogai, neopronouns, "weird genders"... Really, how the fuck are they hurting you? Unless they're just trolling like a douchebag or it's a MAP thing, people are allowed to do what they want. It doesn't affect you.

"Oh but they make transphobes hate us and mock us!" Transphobes already hate us and mock us, even when we're "normal ". Even when we pass perfectly.

Life is short, gender is different for everyone, worry about yourself.

[anarcho-catboyism]

A lot of discourse could stop if y'all stopped approaching every situation with this idea that your experience is the default one

[corvid-on-the-rock]

said it before and i will say it again: when black trans men are involved, we should say transmisandrynoir. it is the hating of trans, black, men. we are doing our black brothers a huge disservice by denying that they aren't oppressed on all three of those axis. "but men aren't opp-" shut your fuck. yes they are. there is Men Who Are Accepted By Patriarchy (straight, cis, white, masc, so on) and then there is Every Other Man. Black men are uniquely oppressed by white, cishetero patriarchy already. As are transmasc individuals. Good thing we have a word to talk about that specifically!

asides, etceteras and whathaveyous below the cut

* I am white, but transmasc

* I am aware that all transmasc POC face very similar issues at a similar 3 pronged axis of oppression, but I do not know the words for that, if there are any. Let me know if there are.

* I will not debate that most men are oppressed under U.S patriarchy. There is a dominant image of the ideal man in the U.S and most men are constantly fucking themselves up trying to fit into that mold. A good chunk of that "most men" are directly harmed by patriarchy with guns. That in itself is a form of oppression. End of.

One thing i hear about transandrophobia is that it is not serious/noticed outside of tumblr. It is mostly because your queer spaces supress, not seeing it as a form of transphobia unique from transmisogyny and exorsexism.

This insta post showed up literally a few minutes ago on my reel feed.

Transmascs who do not fit the usual flamboyant, feminine queers are.. basically discarded. Many transmascs of color are seen as more masculine, and therefore pushed from queer spaces becaue of how they look. Yes, transandrophobic people hate transmasculinity, do not let them tell you otherwise. Yes, race and "passing privlege" has to do with transandrophobia, and plays a part in it.

Transmascs, trans men and many more are oppressed by misogyny-based androphobia, and transandrophobia is the intersection between transphobia and androphobia. We all know that queer spaces feel less welcome to those who are masculine, so why deny that androphobia exists as a tool to oppress trans men?

[vulturesawake]

Why are so many people convinced that "white, passing trans man in a liberal city surrounded by supportive family, peers, and medical professionals who is systemically equal to a cis man" is universally the only transmasculine experience in the entire world ever

[hiiragi7]

Honestly, the amount of assumptions that other trans people make about trans people's bodies based on whether they're transmasc or transfem is a large part of why I don't identify with those terms currently. I don't want people to make assumptions about my body and how it functions, my birth sex, how I was socially raised, my lived experiences, or anything else based on what gender identity I currently identify with. I remember a time when the trans community felt very united on the idea that nobody ever needs to know what's in your pants, and that it's fucking weird to ask - but nowdays, with all the discourse surrounding labels, it feels like everyone is much too comfortable pressing for details about what genitals you were born with and what your original birth certificate says.

Another part of it is, as an intersex person, I feel completely excluded from these terms. Every definition, every discourse, every discussion of transfemininity and transmasculinity is completely perisex-centered. It feels like there's no place for me at all with regards to these terms, and it makes me feel like I can't really use either label, even though sometimes I wish to. Even when intersex people are brought up, it always turns into debates about how close an intersex person has to be to a binary sex to be able to appropriately claim transfemininity or transmasculinity; we are still being violently forced into perisex ideas of transness for the sake of upholding a binary.

[tboychewtoy]

"can trans men say the t slur?" trans men can jerk off on my face for all I care

[xenineshroom]

I cannot get over the whole "theyfab is allowing me to discuss my oppression!" gang. Like no, it is a way to call someone woman-lite while also playing this "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" routine. One would use the already existing word, "transmisogynist" if they were making an actual criticism.

One has just chosen to pretend that this isn't an obfuscation because even though TME is meant to group afab trans folks with cis people in regards to transmisogyny, "theyfab" is only an effort to point out someone's assigned sex in order to act like their behavior is connected to said assigned sex... almost like sex essentialism.

This has only ever been about a desire to use nonbinary people's assigned sex to denigrate them. It's just pooner/transtrender/tenderqueer with a fresh coat of paint and carries the same sexist and transphobic connotations. It reinforces the status quo where all nonbinary people are really just cis women who're invading trans communities- or being tricked into them (depending on who one asks.)

One cannot pretend that they care about critique when all they really want is to misgender someone they don't like.

[prettycansworld]

Do you like my look,Yes you 😊😅

[lord-radish]

"transmasc discourse" its discourse to you. The otherness of being trans in a cisnormative society, the disconnect between what's expected of you based on your sex and how you actually feel about yourself regarding gender and the struggle to express yourself and finally be happy as transgender reads just as well to me from a transmasc perspective as it does from a transfem one.

The idea that transmasculine people benefit from patriarchy and misogyny is bunk when you consider that transphobia manifests as people not taking trans people as the gender they present as, and transphobia tends to be a default in cisnormative spaces. I would wager that transmen are still often victims of misogyny due to that expression of transphobia. The idea that transmen transition, become one of the guys and kick down the ladder for other queer identities because they assimilate as "oppressors" and inherently become a part of the problem is absurd and deranged.

Transmasc people are as queer as gay people, bi people, transfem people, non-binary people, pan people - they are a part of the queer community, and I'm absolutely against othering them or turning them into intra-community "oppressors".

If we're talking about assimilationists, they exist along all axes of queerness and aren't inherent to the transmasc experience. If we're talking about misogyny, transmasc people tend to suffer from it due to transphobia. I've heard for years about bi people and ace people and trans people "harming the community", I'm not about to roll over and see the same thing happen to transmasculine people.

In closing:

[ID: A screenshot of a post by tomohawk12345 that reads "This sexual minority isn't part of the sexual minority group", with two emojis with buck teeth and glasses after the text. End ID.]

[gor3sigil]

Cis Queer Bitches be like "Yeah I'm an intersectional feminist, I want everyone to feel safe and want to create a space for radical love and acceptance !!" then basically put a bouncer at the entry of the LGBTQ+ center to make sure the people coming to the "women and enbies ONLY" event are, indeed, women and enbies.

[intersexability]

Here’s your friendly reminder that AFAB and AMAB are meaningless and obsolete terms!

[maria6136]

honestly if I was transmasc I would be so much meaner about all this than you guys have been

(I keep holding myself back in case I get accused of being you and held up as an example of something - but seeing it and saying nothing is part of the problem as well)

I've been impressed and moved by how few of you are taking the anti-solidarity bait that the "TMA" supremacists (and/or TERF trolls) keep throwing at you - it is very much appreciated and gives me something to hold onto when the behaviour of (some of) my alleged sisters is driving me to despair. I wish certain people could let themselves recognise this. you've also made me reckon with my own proto-transradfem tendencies and assumptions which were (on reflection) hurting me as well

there is an openness and generosity to the transandrophobia theory I've seen so far which is lacking in the very reductive, identity-determinist, exclusivist interpretations of (trans/)misogyny that are being weaponised way too much atm - it will be transfeminism's loss if we can't accept these experiences and insights and challenges because they're theoretically inconvenient (and expose our online pissing contests and harassment campaigns for what they are).

it would be nice if we could become less reactive and dogmatic in general but this is where we are right now and we can face it honestly and work on it together or we can go into our little factions to fight about who's dying faster. the cis establishment has made its preference clear enough. it would be a shame to agree with them.

[lycandrophile]

if you ever get involved in discourse that boils down to "can trans men be/do X?" i need you to understand that you're asking the wrong question. the right questions are: what gives you the authority to tell trans men what we're allowed to be or do? what makes you think we would listen to you? why is it your business? (hint: it's not.)

trans men can be and do whatever we want forever. stop worrying about what arbitrary rules you want to hold us to and start worrying about your own life for a change.