#transmasc discourse

[counting-crows-at-the-graveyard]

Not to get into community discourse, but I’d like to share a point.

Mind you, I have seen multiple sides to this “debate” as I like to have rounded knowledge before I say my piece, about ANYTHING political or discourse-y.

The statement I’ve seen again and again, in multiple places, is the sentiment that there aren’t bills directly targeting transmascs, or hatred directed specifically at transmascs, or anything else under that umbrella directed at transmascs.

Obviously there have been a lot of good counters to these statements, and I’m not going to repeat something that’s been said better or more eloquently by others.

However, I have yet to see anyone talking about something that, in my opinion, really should be referenced more.

The concept of “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” (ROGD).

ROGD as a concept was legitimately created to theorize why, all of a sudden, transmascs were coming out and attempting to transition.

Rather than acknowledging the blatant truth- tranness, to these people, was limited to AMABs, and even then, for the longest time “trans healthcare” for ANY trans person was just discouraging transition altogether- they decided to make up a narrative that suited their needs.

That their precious “daughters” were falling victim to a new disorder. Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria.

Rather than help their sons feel comfortable in their own bodies, masses of parents flocked to this idea. Politicians flocked to this idea, and used it as a BASIS for many anti-trans bills.

Need I cite the hopefully infamous book? “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters”? The INFAMOUS book written elaborating this idea? The book used as evidence for countless transphobic bills?

That one concept (which, by the way, ROGD has been discredited by NUMEROUS health organizations worldwide, just in case I needed to clarify that) led to COUNTLESS transmascs facing abuses at home, in school, and elsewhere.

IDK, just food for thought. I think it’s odd that, in all my searching and read throughs of this discourse, NOBODY has mentioned this, even though it’s a pretty good example of transmasc specific oppression.

[elasticveins]

You guys hate nuance

[fossilizedhysterics]

grabbing all trans men by the fucking shoulders oh my god. you are allowed to be angry. you SHOULD be angry. you should not have to clarify your words to death, going "i know i dont have it as bad, but-", or put yourself down, "haha yeah, men suck dont we?", you are trans, and you are worthy, and you belong in this fucking community and you deserve to have your voice heard.

trans men get fucking angrier

[clowncarfullofrats]

important note of if you hate trans men on the basis of them being men, you are transphobic. "oHHH BUT MASCULINITY IS PRAISED BY SOCIETY" my mother hated that T made me look like my father and used it to put me down at any opportunity. I have been denied queer spaces because I made people 'feel unsafe' [i didn't say anything, I just was masculine] I've been yelled at for being a 'gender traitor'. I've been told that I was grooming my little sister into being queer. Queer masculinity is not universally loved. Stop making unnecessary fights and actually go out an do something.

edit: yall are losing reblog privileges. im seeing too much nasty shit in the notes. please keep in mind im a teenager and this was meant to be a small vent post.

[that-satireguy]

^^^^

If your argument is that transmascs had no place in trans culture in its beginning stages...

you should be WAY more concerned about what was happening to your transmasc siblings during those stages, than any kind of 'gotcha'

(Credit to @zaebeecee)

[prettycansworld]

I know you're straight but are you brave enough to fuck a pretty transwoman just like me?

[nixisverytired]

Can we take a moment to think about the younger trans men and mascs on tumblr right now?

I was a teenager when ace and transmed discourses were at their peaks, and I can’t exaggerate how badly it affected me then.

Now trans men are the latest target, and I’m terrified for trans kids.

It’s easy to say “intracommunity discourse is an online problem! Go talk to queer people irl!”, but people forget that so many kids and teenagers do not have safe or reliable access to IRL LGBT+ communities and support groups. For many, online spaces are the only option.

We need to make sure the younger members of our community are being heard, and block out the hateful voices with messages of support and encouragement. Things are bad enough for trans people right now, and it's easy to forget that trans minors are often the ones suffering the most.

To any younger trans men or transmasculine people reading this:

The hate you are experiencing isn’t normal, it hasn’t always been like this, and it won’t always be this way. It is bleeding out from a small, miserable group of self-absorbed jerks.

Don’t feel obligated to call them out, don’t feel like you have to interact with these people. Please don’t doomscroll through discourse tags; it will make you feel like everyone is out to get you.

If you want to speak up for your community, that’s fine, but please take a break if you feel like your mental health is worsening. Block anybody who so much as breathes rudely in your direction.

You’re just as trans as the rest of us. You are welcome here.

Oh, and if you want to seek out external resources and groups, PFLAG helped me a lot when I was younger. It is an American-based organization, however, so if anyone has recommendations for those living outside of the US, please let me know in the reblogs!

[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.

[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

[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

[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.

[that-satireguy]

Ok, so not even getting into everything insane about the whole 'forcemasc is a mockery of forcefem 'thing, I just want to address something, using this post, which i think is an interesting example.

So, clearly, this creator is speaking largely about the trans community when referring to the 'queer community', (mentioning t4t, forcemasc/forcefem, and gender affirmation).

Now, this idea that everything in the trans community came from transfems and trans women is pretty popular, and based in the fact that the majority of openly trans people, trans communities, trans people in activism, for much of recorded history were/made up of transfems.

What i struggle with, is the fact that someone can argue 'most openly trans people were transfeminine people', and also not acknowledge that this was... not transmascs choice?

I mean typically speaking, you can't argue 'majority of [community] was defined by, spearheaded by and revolved around [half of community]' and that theres a problem with the less represented, more history wiped, less common [half of the community] building stuff for themselves.

Its... not transmascs fault that they haven't been able to popularise any terms, make their own communities, be present in campaigning, explore their kinks, and set their boundaries until pretty recently*.

You do know thats not their fault right?

I mean transmascs have only recently been able to be openly out at the same 1:1 ratio as transfems*, is it really a surprise that their language developed later, and may be seen to be 'copied' off transfems?

We should be studying the reasons why transmasculine people appear to be one of the most stunted groups in the queer community at having their own spaces, terms, even medical care and representation in the public.

Not blaming them for it.

**Worth noting that this is Western focused. In the rest of the world transmascs still have not reached even close to a 1:1 ratio and still the majority of trans communities outside of the west do not include transmascs/are extremely heavily transfem

[prettycansworld]

I haven't cum all week! How will you clean it up for me?💦😈

[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.

Edit: disabling reblogs since terfs decided to tear me down lmao