Being trans does not make you immune from being called out when you say the literal exact same things about trans men and transmascs as TERFs do.
I’ve seen TERFs call “he/they females” “grossly misogynistic” and would you look at that, trans folks also use “he/theys” as a noun meaning “misogynists.” As though not wanting to be called “she” makes us sexist instead of, yknow, just transgender. Transmasculinity is not misogyny. People act as though transmasc transitions mean climbing up the gender ladder and kicking women on the way down, when in reality so many of us including myself have it worse than before.
It is not true that there is no way for us to transition without Joining The Side Of The Oppressors. We are still marginalized for our gender identity, just in new ways now; we do not suddenly stop being oppressed under misogyny once our egg cracks. Nobody is saying trans men and transmascs can’t weaponize misogyny, everyone of every gender can, but we are saying it is not required for our manhood and masculinity. We are saying we do not categorically benefit from misogyny the same ways cis men do. Please stop believing the radfems when they say the only way for men to exist is in opposition to women.
i clicked on the original tweet just to see if anyone else felt as weird about it as i did because at this point i’m just tired of seeing people going on and on about trans men dating cishet men who try to convince them not to transition as if it’s a funny joke about a trans man doing something silly and not a manipulative and generally very unhealthy relationship dynamic that can hurt the trans man involved really deeply (as forcing someone back into the closet tends to do.)
did i find anyone else feeling that way? no. there were a few people pointing out that it was weird in general, and plenty saying it’s a weird thing to say about a cis woman, but nothing expressing any sort of concern about the tired stereotype it’s perpetuating.
but you know what i did find? replies like the one in the second screenshot, using the tweet as their chance to tell the world how much they hate trans men and how repulsive they find the idea of ever being compared to us. and replies like the third one, shaming trans men in relationships like that as if the fact that they’ve found themselves in an unhealthy relationship makes them deserving of public shaming, as if their relationship is hurting anyone other than them.
stereotypes like this just feel like yet another way of indirectly calling us stupid little girls who don’t know what’s good for us, and the fact that a picture of a woman is being used (even jokingly!) as an example of what trans men “like that” look like should make the implications of rhetoric like this all the more obvious.
it’s relationships like these that keep us miserable in the closet for so long and drive up our sexual assault rates even more. they’re not funny and if anyone is going to be making jokes about them, it certainly shouldn’t be people who have never been in that situation. if you actually cared about us you’d be looking for ways to support the trans men you know who are in relationships like that instead of hopping on twitter to joke about how stupid they must be.
i don’t care if it’s a joke. if it victim blames trans men for the transphobia we face in our personal relationships, adds to the common idea that we can’t be trusted to make decisions about our own lives, and invites even more blatant transphobia against us by people who unabashedly admit they see all trans men as “disgusting and phony”, it’s not fucking funny.
(i also want to note that the people making these jokes never like to mention that this also happens to trans men in relationships with queer women. they also hate those trans men, of course, and are happy to express that when they get into fights about trans men who date lesbians, but they’ll never talk about it in the context of this particular stereotype. it’s always a man being manipulative in a relationship and pressuring trans men to not transition, as if a woman would never be capable of such a thing.
they also like to conveniently ignore the existence of older trans men who transitioned after already being in a committed relationship with a cishet man and were able to make that relationship work despite their transition, because acknowledging that would require recognizing that trans men can be in seemingly contradictory relationships and genuinely be happy with their partner. who needs nuance when you can simply choose to judge all trans men for our relationships regardless of what they’re actually like?)
do you think they also would call me “a trans man being purposefully misgendered” with this kind of vitriol because i’m still living with parents who don’t recognize my gender instead of moving out before i’m ready to be financially independent? at this point, i’m starting to feel like they might, with the way every decision a trans man ever makes is the subject of a public debate and people have decided that trans men are secretly using being misgendered as a weapon to somehow hurt other trans people.
as a general rule, i’d say the only people who should be making “X looks like a trans man” jokes about literally anyone/anything are trans men, and posts like this show exactly why those jokes being made by anyone else (even by other trans people) just isn’t a good idea.
doing some redesigns and then some quick designs for fun
Oh my god no way its him
have my favorite guy and their sniffling and shivering friend of a friend <3333
I dont know how tumblr works but alas I am gay which means have this!!
The asshole in the black turtleneck is Elias, the criminal with the mask and local self arsonist is owned by @/vanamuwu on instagram :)
LOOK!! LOOK AT THEM
Bloodhound😶🌫️