Eden Wilkinson
Intense hatred and fear mongering towards transgender women is on the rise. Over the past couple of years, this anger has seeped into the political sphere.
From controversies over sport to the ‘bathroom debate’, even some ‘feminists’ exclude trans women from their politics. However, the fear simply surrounding trans women is a distraction from the real problems all women face.
The LGBT+ Community Is A Safe Space
Transphobia has exploded in America and the UK, yet both hold so many places within them that are a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community. Author Rebecca Solnit details her experience growing up in San Francisco and being surrounded by the kindness of the queer community.
My own experience within the queer community of Manchester, like Solnit, is of warmth and acceptance. These places of liberation feel safer than most other spaces, even as a cisgender woman.
Women are subjected to cat-calling, as well as the threat of assault and harassment, on the daily. LGBT+ bars and clubs often feel like a relief compared to other places, which are dominated by cisgender men. In these spaces, I can enjoy a relatively safe night with my friends. Despite transphobia being on the rise around the world, many cisgender women still feel more comfortable around transgender women than cisgender men.
The Scapegoating Of Transgender Women
Marginalised groups are consistently branded as a threat by the far right. Anything that veers away from the norm is different and threatening. Fear mongering is created through hypothetical arguments: if these ‘different’ people were to be given equal rights, it would have extremely negative consequences for the rest of society. For example, suggesting society will become immoral and perverted if same-sex marriage is legalised. Now, transgender people are the most recent minority population to be labelled as a threat to ‘everyone else’.
In the eyes of a conservative and patriarchal society, transgender people are labelled a threat because they’re different. Many far wing people invent arguments to justify their fears. Transphobia is largely based on a hypothetical “what if” argument. This is based on the irrational fear that a cisgender man will dress up as a woman in order to infiltrate female-only spaces. Astoundingly, this is a line even some feminists use, claiming they are advocates for protecting cisgender women and ensuring their safety.
However, the probability and actuality of this happening is extremely slim. Transgender people are four times more likely to be the victims of violence than their peers. It’s also backwards to disregard the rights of another human being to use a bathroom and still call yourself a ‘feminist’. An ideology based on protecting the rights of women shouldn’t be denying transgender women equal rights.
Transgender Women Are Victims (Not Villains)
Forcing transgender women to use male bathrooms poses a far greater threat to trans women than anyone else. Being a trans woman is still dangerous: society pushes gender conformity and to not conform can lead to abhorrent results. Last year, 53 transgender people were killed across the USA.
Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film ‘Paris is Burning’ beautifully documents New York’s drag scene during the 1980s. But it also describes the real-life perils those within the queer community face daily. Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza, a drag queen, performer, and trans woman was murdered at age 23 before the documentary was completed. It’s a shocking, yet extremely profound end to the film, exhibiting the dangers trans women have faced for years.
There is an alarming amount of evidence about violence against women. Currently, in the UK, one woman dies every three days at the hands of a cisgender man. It is completely hyperbolic to base rules about women’s safety on “what if” scenarios when we have hard evidence that cisgender men are the violent ones.
Transphobia Is An Extension Of Patriarchy
Trans women pose no threat to cis-women. But cis men do. Patriarchy survives on gender conformity and victims of violence are often those who aren’t submissive to stereotypical gender expression. You only have to look at the harassment of Imane Khelif, for not being typically feminine, to see this.
Contrary to what transphobes might claim, transgender women experience true fear. The fear of not expressing yourself, living a life in a body that you don’t feel comfortable in, and being terrified of the consequences if you do take the leap in to become ‘yourself’.
All the women who see trans women as the villain are completely wrong. It isn’t cisgender men and women being mistreated by transgender women. Women, trans and cis, are the ones being victimised by cisgender men.
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Featured image courtesy of Aiden Craver via Unsplash. No changes made to this image. Image license found here.
