Transsexuals vs. (Pseudo)Feminists

I’m assuming—well actually I know— that when most of mainstream America hears the word “feminist”, images of bra burners and man-haters suddenly appear in their heads. It’s a common misconception that all feminists completely despise men and embrace “girl power”. It is true that some feminist groups do completely exclude men from their work... but did you know that some feminists exclude women from their cause? Julia Serano's book, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and Scapegoating of Femininity, looks this issue right in the face. I'm specifically focusing on the chapter titled "Trans Woman Manifesto"

To me, feminism should be about joining together as self-identified women or advocates of women's rights to solve the issues of oppression that we are suffocated by. If men want to identify as feminists, so be it. If lesbians want to join the fight as well, they should be able to. However, this is not how feminism works as a whole. In my past classes at Allegheny, I have studied the wars that feminists have waged on lesbians and men. Lesbianism was tagged with the label "Lavender Menace"— "hurting the cause" by standing in the way of feminist work and creating a roadblock. Men were seen as toxic to the cause because they "couldn't possibly support women for any other reason than some ulterior motive". Now, I can add another war to my list.

We all know someone who loves to give advice but cannot seem to take that advice and apply it to their own lives. The type of people who try to drastically improve your life with little words of wisdom but then don't live out those words themselves. There are feminists like that too. Serano likes to call them "pseudofeminists". You know, those feminists who preach one thing and act a whole different type of way. Pseudofeminists point out that women can do anything that men can, yet they ridicule trans women for any male tendencies. Pseudofeminists also believe that men cannot put standards on women, but they somehow think it is okay to exclude transsexual women for "not reaching the standards for being a woman" (Serano 17). In her book, Serano stated, "These pseudofeminists consistently preach feminism with one hand while practicing traditional sexism with the other" (Serano 17). So much for ridding the oppression of all women.

There are a few questions that I am left with after reading Serano's piece. First off, why? Why are feminists excluding yet another category of people from their work? I do understand that feminism is based off of the experiences of the white middle-class female but it has grown and morphed into so much more (or maybe that's just a facade?) Our society is literally run by the gender binary and pseudofeminists just feed into this binary. Transsexuals don't fit into the binary so instead of ignoring this fact, pseudofeminists are threatened by it. It seems as though these pseudofeminists completely want trans women out of the picture to create more credibility for their own causes. Feminism is taboo enough... perhaps they want to keep the taboo of transsexualism out of their realm.

Another question: what do feminists think about transsexual males who identify as women and possibly look like women? Serano did not specifically touch on this idea. Traditional feminism only fights for those born female. So would a self-identified male with female genitalia be allowed to join this social sphere of feminism? What about a self-identified female with male genitalia? It seems that the art of passing as another gender would be key.

My final question: how do we fix this? I thoroughly enjoyed that Serano ended her "Trans Woman Manifesto" chapter with hopes for the future of feminism, even if they seem very unfeasible. Serano pushes for a  new type of feminism that joins all genders and sexualities. If you want to fight for the rights of women, it should not matter how you identify or what genitalia you were born with. Obviously, the more people involved in a cause, the more successful it can be. Serano also stated that “we should learn to empower femininity itself”... it is not a performance but something to embrace and use as an identification and an outward form of expression (Serano 18). It seems like an easy fix to the biases that pseudofeminists hold against various populations, but taboos and binaries are so ingrained in our society that I'm not quite sure it is possible to erase them.

I recently came by an article on a Buzzfeed spree titled "Why Feminism Can't Afford to Ignore Transgender Women". This article explains why feminism cannot exclude certain populations. If feminism was created for a certain subset of women, then it could exclude the rest of the world. However, feminism has evolved into a cultural social justice movement... for all women. Feminism can no longer grow until it allows all women in as a whole.

source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/why-feminism-cant-afford-to-ignore-transgender-wo

“I often feel failed by feminism,” says writer and trans advocate Janet Mock. She adds, “Any woman’s right to self-identify is a personal freedom I fight for, and those women who claim trans women are not women are perpetuators of gender-based oppression, and all feminists should be upset and moved to action against this.”

North, Anna. "Why Feminism Can’t Afford To Ignore Transgender Women." BuzzFeed. N.p., 18 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

Serano, Julia. "Trans Woman Manifesto." Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Emeryville, CA: Seal, 2007. N. pag. Print.