As I've stated several times in this blog, I focus on transwomen not because I don't care about transmen, but because my concern is how transwomen are being used to destroy women's language and boundaries.
In contrast, transmen are not being used to destroy men's language and boundaries. Transmen are not fighting to enter men's sports or men's prisons. Many gay men will denounce any lesbian who questions the idea of "female penis," yet, in the very next minute, profess their horror at the very idea of being pressured to accept a "male clitoris." Transmen are not being celebrated on numerous magazine covers, or being named Men of the Year. Transmen make the news for... having babies. And because transmen can have babies, obstetricians, midwives and reproductive rights activists are told they cannot make simple, direct statements like "only women give birth." Yet nobody is telling urologists that they cannot make simple, direct statements like "men need to have regular prostate exams."
In the past several years, we've seen an incredible increase in the number of young women identifying as men, yet transwomen still dominate "trans" conversations. Almost like male privilege and female socialization do not care about how you "identify."
Anytime anyone asks me "but what about transmen?" - always because they cannot answer my questions about transwomen - I point them to the life experiences of young women who once identified as transmen, but later detransitioned. These women talk about: the medical harms done by injections of Lupron and testosterone and medically unnecessary mastectomies and hysterectomies; being silenced about their dysmorphia toward their own bodies, which could trigger transwomen; being abused by older transwomen - and then being told by their "community" to keep quiet about that, too. Their stories are harrowing, and instructive. They often have the sharpest feminist analyses around.
Sources to learn more about/from young women who have detransitioned:
Detransition Advocacy Network
Sources to learn more about/from young women who have detransitioned:
Detransition Advocacy Network
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