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Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama (involved in the ISNA) in The Transfeminist Manifesto.
Transfeminism describes the concepts of gender nonconformity, notions of masculinity and femininity and the maintaining of gender binary on trans men and women. Transfeminists view gender conformity as a control mechanism of patriarchy, which is maintained via violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals as a basis of patriarchy and transmisogyny.
Tactics of transfeminism emerged from groups such as The Transexual Menace (name from the Lavender Menace) in the 1990s, in response to exclusion of transgender people in Pride marches. The group organized in direct action, focusing on violence against transgender people, such as the murder and rape of Brandon Teena, a trans man. The Transsexual Menace organized protests and against the medical and mental Medicalization of trans people.
Trans people were generally excluded from first wave feminism, as were and all other people considered "queer." Second wave feminism saw greater level of acceptance amongst some feminists, however "transsexuality" was heavily excluded, and described as an "illness," even amongst feminists who supported gay liberation. Third and fourth wave feminism have generally been accepting of transgender people, and see trans liberation as an overall part of women's liberation.
In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press. Transfeminism has also been defined more generally as "an approach to feminism that is informed by trans politics."
Patrick Califia used the word in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of a periodical.Patrick Califia (1997). 9781573440721, Cleis Pr; First Printing Highlighting edition. ISBN 9781573440721 It is possible or even likely that the term was independently coined repeatedly before the year 2000 (or even before Courvant's first claimed use in 1992). The term gained traction only after 1999. Jessica Xavier, an acquaintance of Courvant, may have independently coined the term when she used it to introduce her articles, "Passing As Stigma Management" and "Passing as Privilege" in late 1999.
In the past few decades, the idea that all women share a common experience has come under scrutiny by women of color, , and working class women, among others. Many transgender people are also questioning what gender means, and are challenging gender as a biological fact. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere.
Transfeminism incorporates all major themes of third wave feminism, including Multiculturalism, body image, self-definition, and women's human agency. It also includes critical analysis of second wave feminism from the perspective of the third wave. It critiques mainstream notions of masculinity and argues that women deserve equal rights and shares the unifying principle with other feminisms that gender is a patriarchal social construct used to oppress women. The "trans" in transgender has been used to imply transgressiveness. See the subtitle of the trans community periodical "Chrysalis," which is "The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities," transfeminism should not be seen as an anti-feminist movement Nicholas Birns categorizes transfeminism as "a feminism that defines the term 'trans-' in a maximally heterogeneous way."Birns, Nicholas, "The Earth's Revenge: Nature, Transfeminism and Diaspora in Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl", in Lee, A. Robert (ed.), China Fictions, English Language: Literary Essays in Diaspora, Memory, Story, Rodopi, 2008, p. 161.
The road to legitimacy for transfeminism as a concept has been different and more vexed than for other feminisms. Marginalized women of trans background and affect have had to prove that their needs are different and that mainstream feminism does not necessarily speak for them. Contrarily, trans women must show their womanhood is equally valid as that of other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. Radical feminism Janice Raymond's resistance to considering trans women as women and as participants in feminism is representative of this obstacle. Her career began with The Transsexual Empire (a book-length analysis of transsexual women) and she has often returned to this theme.; The second edition includes a new forward that describes her transgender-related work after the publication of her thesis project as the first edition in the late 70s.
In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press.
At the 2007 Transgender Leadership Summit, Alexis Marie Rivera, spoke about her personal experiences with transfeminism as a young Latina trans woman. She discussed her journey from early transition, where she believed she had to take on the role of housewife, to where she was in the present moment. She asserted that, for her, transfeminism is about taking on feminine gender roles because she wants to, not because she has to.
Transfeminist critics of mainstream feminism say that as an institutionalized movement, feminism has lost sight of the basic idea that biology is not destiny. In fact, they argue, many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender and insisting on a given destiny for trans persons based on nothing more than biology. Courvant, Diana "Thinking of Privilege" In Transfeminism aims to resist and challenge the fixedness of gender that, as many of its supporters believe, traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.Salamon, Gayle (2008). "Women's Studies on the Edge", p. 117. Duke University Press, Durham. .
Transgender people are frequently targets of anti-trans violence. While cis women also routinely face violence, transfeminists recognize anti-trans violence as a form of gender policing.
According to Julia Serano femininity in transgender women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in cisgender women. This double standard reveals that the behavior itself is not as problematic to many critics as the existence of trans people. In Julia Serano refers to the breed of misogyny experienced by trans women as 'transmisogyny'.
Some radical feminists are supportive of trans rights. The radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin, in her book Woman Hating, argued against the persecution and hatred of transgender people and demanded that sex reassignment surgery be provided freely to transgender people by the community. Dworkin argued that "every transsexual has the right to survival on his/her own terms. That means every transsexual is entitled to a sex-change operation, and it should be provided by the community as one of its functions."
In the early 1990s Michigan Womyn's Music Festival ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder,Van Gelder, Lindsy; and Pamela Robin Brandt. "The Girls Next Door: Into the Heart of Lesbian America", p. 73. Simon and Schuster, After that, the festival maintained that it is intended for "womyn-born-womyn" only. The activist group Camp Trans formed to protest the transphobia "womyn-born-womyn" policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans people within the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and transfeminists were involved in Camp Trans including Riki Wilchins, Jessica Xavier, and Leslie Feinberg. The festival considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend; however, this was criticized as classist, as many trans women cannot afford genital surgery. (2025). 9781894549615, Sumach Press. ISBN 9781894549615 Since this incident, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival has updated their community statements page. This page now includes a list of links to letters and statements such as their August 2014 response to Equality Michigan's Call For Boycott and a list of demands in response to the Equality Michigan call to boycott. The initial response to the boycott states that the MWMF believes that "support for womyn-born-female space is not at odds with standing with and for the transgender community".
Kimberly Nixon is a trans woman who volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1995. When Nixon's transgender status was determined, she was expelled. The staff decided that Nixon's status made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients, and also required their clients to be genetically female. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse and sued for discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued that there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly transgender woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case. Perelle, Robin (February 14, 2007). Rape Relief wins: Supreme Court refuses to hear trans woman's appeal. Xtra
Transgender women such as Sandy Stone challenged the mainstream second-wave feminist conception of "biological woman". Stone worked as a sound engineer for Olivia Records from about 1974 to 1978, resigning as the controversy over a trans woman working for a lesbian-identified enterprise increased. The debate continued in Raymond's book, which devoted a chapter to criticism of "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist." Groups like Lesbian Organization of Toronto instituted "womyn-born womyn only" policies. A formal request to join the L.O.O.T. was made by a Trans woman transgender lesbian in 1978. In response, the organization voted to exclude Trans woman. During informal discussion, members of L.O.O.T expressed their outrage that in their view a "sex-change he-creature...dared to identify himself as a woman and a lesbian." In their public response, L.O.O.T. wrote:
A woman's voice was almost never heard as a woman's voice—it was always filtered through men's voices. So here a guy comes along saying, "I'm going to be a girl now and speak for girls." And we thought, "No you're not." A person cannot just joined the oppressed by fiat.Ross, Becki (1995). The House that Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation. University of Toronto Press,
Groups such as the Lesbian Avengers accept trans women, while others reject them. The Violence Against Women Act now "explicitly protects transgender and lesbian, gay, and bisexual survivors", such that domestic violence centers, rape crisis centers, support groups, and other VAWA-funded services cannot turn away any person due to their sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.
In many situations or legal jurisdictions, transgender people have insurance coverage for surgery only as a consequence of the diagnosis. Removal would therefore increase patient costs. In other situations, anti-discrimination laws which protect legally disabled people apply to transgender people only so long as a manifest diagnosis exists. In other cases, transgender people are protected by sex discrimination rules or as a separate category. This economic issue can split advocates along class lines.
At the 2006 Trans Identity Conference at the University of Vermont, Courvant presented an analysis of this controversy. She noted that "eliminationists" must decide whether their efforts to destigmatize trans people conflict with efforts to destigmatize mental illness and whether removing the GID category would actually help with the former, while disrupting the current, albeit limited, insurance regime. Conversely, "preservationists" must address the problem of faulty diagnoses and improper "treatment". (1998). 9781573226967, Riverhead Books. ISBN 9781573226967 She proposed retaining the category and focusing efforts on legitimating mental illness and improving acceptance of trans people, leaving aside the diagnosis question.
Talia M. Bettcher states in her 2014 essay "Trapped in the Wrong Theory" that "while the actual appeal to native gender must be rejected from a transfeminist perspective, the socially constituted denial of realness must be taken with dead seriousness."
Decolonial trans feminists identify the gender binary as an aspect of Western epistemology and tool of colonial power. Integrating knowledge and experiences from muxe, hijra, faʻafafine, two-spirit, and other indigenous third gender systems into trans feminist thought counters both Individualism and universalizing conceptualization of gender.
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