Transmisogyny

The concept of transmisogyny hinges on two other concepts first described by Serano: traditional sexism and oppositional sexism. The former is the idea that "maleness and masculinity are superior to femaleness and femininity", while the latter holds male and female as "rigid, mutually exclusive categories". Transmisogyny stems from both these concepts.

In Whipping Girl, Julia Serano writes that the existence of trans women is seen as a threat to a "male-centered gender hierarchy".{{rp|15}} Gender theorist Judith Butler echoes this assumption, stating that the murder of transgender women by men is "the most toxic form that masculinity can take", a way for the killer to assert power over the victim in the instant, in response to the idea of the intrinsic nature of his power (i.e., his masculinity) being threatened. Butler states that trans women have relinquished masculinity, showing that it is possible to do so.{{Cite web|title = Why Do Men Kill Trans Women? Gender Theorist Judith Butler Explains|url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-do-men-kill-trans-women-gender-theorist-judith-butler-explains/|website = Broadly|access-date = 2015-12-24|language = en-US|date = 2015-12-16|archive-date = 26 December 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151226183328/https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/why-do-men-kill-trans-women-gender-theorist-judith-butler-explains|url-status = live}}

Trans panic is a common legal and social defense strategy that is used to justify violence towards transgender individuals, particularly trans women.{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Cynthia |date=2020 |title=The Trans Panic Defense Revisited |url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/american-criminal-law-review/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2020/05/57-4-Lee-The-Trans-Panic-Defense-Revisited.pdf |journal=American Criminal Law Review |volume=57 |issue=4}} Similar to Gay Panic, it suggests that the aggressor was provoked into violence due to the victim’s gender presentation being misleading or deceptive.{{cite book |last1=Serrano |first1=Julia |title=Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity |date=2007 |publisher=Seal Press |isbn=978-1580051545 |location=Berkeley, CA |page=248}} In A Short History of Trans Misogyny, Jules Gill-Peterson outlines several moments of trans panic related violence leading back to the 1800s.{{cite book |last1=Gill-Peterson |first1=Jules |title=A Short History of Trans Misogyny |date=2024 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1804291566 |location=London}} She adds that, “The misgendering of trans-femme individuals as male sexual aggression… allows people to respond to trans femininity with as much preemptive violence as they desire.”{{cite book |last1=Gill-Peterson |first1=Jules |title=A Short History of Trans Misogyny |date=2024 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1804291566 |location=London |page=8}}

Some transfeminists may use the terms transmisogyny-affected (often shortened to the acronym TMA) and transmisogyny-exempt (often shortened to TME) to distinguish between individuals' relationships with transmisogyny in a way that focuses on gender rather than gender expression or sex assignment.{{cite thesis |last1=Cavar |first1=Sarah Lynn |title=Enacting Transbutch: Queer Narratives Beyond Essentialism |date=7 May 2020 |hdl=10166/5968 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite thesis |last1=Liashenko |first1=Joshua |title=Queering Care: Community Advocacy Among Trans Healthcare Professionals |date=2022 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/24k0n4xq |oclc=1367493125 }}{{pn|date=March 2024}} Transmisogyny-affected refers to trans women and therefore affected by transmisogyny. Transmisogyny-exempt refers to anyone who is not considered affected by transmisogyny by proponents of the TMA/TME framework. The latter category is said to include cis people as well as trans men and some nonbinary people.{{Cite web |title=Trans-Inclusive Language Guide |url=https://archive.law.upenn.edu/live/files/11569-trans-inclusive-language-guide}}

The acronyms TMA and TME have faced some opposition on the grounds that they reproduce a gender binary or emulate the AMAB (assigned male at birth) and AFAB (assigned female at birth) binary in actual use. Criticisms of the terminology include the argument that the TMA/TME framework ignores or erases the experiences of nonbinary people, intersex people and some transgender men who have been read as trans women and subjected to transmisogyny as a result.{{Cite web |title=Transmisogyny Affected / Exempted (TMA/E) – The Trans Language Primer |url=https://translanguageprimer.com/transmisogyny-affected/ |access-date=2025-06-07 |website=translanguageprimer.com}}

In 2021 Julia Serano wrote on her personal blog that "I have no objections to TMA and TME per se... But I’m admittedly not familiar with everything that others are saying or claiming under this newer rubric, so there may potentially be some points of disagreement"{{Cite web |last=Serano |first=Julia |date=25 May 2021 |title=What is Transmisogyny? |url=https://juliaserano.medium.com/what-is-transmisogyny-4de92002caf6 |access-date=7 June 2025}}.

{{See also|Transphobia in the United States}}

Transgender women face harsher levels of discrimination than some other transgender people. A study on workplace experiences after people receive sex changes found that trans women, on average, lose almost one third of their salary (see Gender pay gap in the United States), are respected less, and receive more harassment. At the same time, trans men often experience slight salary raises and greater authority in the workplace.{{cite journal |last1=Schilt |first1=Kristen |last2=Wiswall |first2=Matthew |title=Before and After: Gender Transitions, Human Capital, and Workplace Experiences |journal=The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy |date=11 September 2008 |volume=8 |issue=1 |doi=10.2202/1935-1682.1862 |s2cid=51580726 }}

According to Laura Kacere (2014), trans people experience a disproportionately large number of hate crimes, with trans women experiencing the majority of these crimes. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2012) found that police violence is three times higher against transgender people than it is against cisgender people.{{Cite web|last=National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs|date=2013|title=A Report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2012|url=http://avp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ncavp_2012_hvreport_final.pdf|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs|archive-date=11 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111202111/http://avp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ncavp_2012_hvreport_final.pdf|url-status=live}} In fact, over half of all anti-LGBTQIA+ homicides were perpetrated against transgender women.{{Cite news|url=http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/transmisogyny/|title=Transmisogyny 101: What It Is and What Can We Do About It|last=Kacere|first=Laura|date=2014-01-27|work=Everyday Feminism|access-date=2017-04-21|language=en-US|archive-date=17 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517112140/https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/01/transmisogyny/|url-status=live}} (See List of people killed for being transgender.) In the United States, the majority of transmisogyny is directed at trans women of color. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (2018) reports significant overlaps between the gender identity and race of anti-trans violence victims: of the known homicides of transgender people from 2013 to 2018, approximately 92% were trans women, and approximately 70% were black.{{cite web |title=A National Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America |url=https://www.hrc.org/resources/a-national-epidemic-fatal-anti-transgender-violence-in-america-in-2018 |website=HRC |access-date=20 October 2021 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020174223/https://www.hrc.org/resources/a-national-epidemic-fatal-anti-transgender-violence-in-america-in-2018 |url-status=live }} Kacere (2014) also states that 21% of transgender women and 47% of black transgender women have experienced incarceration, rates that are much higher than those for the overall U.S. population.

{{See also|LGBT rights in Ecuador}}

A study of discrimination directed against lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender and intersex women in Ecuador found that transgender women "lack protection against discrimination in both law and practice." As a result, trans women have faced violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination in educational, health and workforce institutions.{{Cite web |last1=Almeida |first1=Aline Britto de |last2=Vásquez |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Rodríguez |first3=Mónica |last4=Klein |first4=Guayaquil Dayane |last5=Cordero |first5=Tatiana Mendieta |last6=Varea |first6=Soledad |date=2008 |title=Ecuador: Discrimination of Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex Women |citeseerx=10.1.1.563.8340 |s2cid=154832726 |url=https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/CEDAW/docs/ngos/Womens_Communication_Workshop_Ecuador42.pdf }}

{{See also|LGBT rights in the Netherlands}}

When transgender women are murdered, the victim being a trans woman is still often used as the justification for their murder.{{Cite web |date=2022-01-13 |title=Moord op transvrouw leidt tot Kamervragen: 'Dit geweld moet stoppen' |url=https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/editienl/artikel/5280842/moord-van-der-valk-transvrouw-geweld-tegen-transpersonen-transgender |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=RTL Nieuws |language=nl}} According to Transgender Netwerk Nederland, at least 14% experience violence or credible threats and are abused seven times more often than the average.{{Cite web |last=Lotens |first=Lisa |date=2018-11-20 |title=Transgender personen worden zeven keer vaker mishandeld dan gemiddeld |url=https://www.vice.com/nl/article/transgender-personen-geweld/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=Vice |language=nl}} According to Dinah Bons from Trans United Europe, trans women often face harassment, violence, or threats of violence, but it is hard to get accurate statistics on the matter as there is severe hesitancy to report the crime and the government is unwilling to track it as a statistic.{{Cite web |title=Kamervraag - De moorden op, geweld tegen en zelfdodingen door trans personen in Nederland. |url=https://www.openkamer.org/kamervraag/2022Z00387/ |access-date=2023-07-05 |website=www.openkamer.org |language=nl}} Bons also thinks the media does not cover the yearly murders of trans women.

Julia Serano has stated that many trans women experience an additional layer of misogyny in the form of fetishization.{{cite magazine|title=A manifesto for all: Bisexual trans activist and author Julia Serano wants to make feminism inclusive|last=Bianco|first=Marcie|magazine=Curve|volume=26|issue=5|date=September–October 2016|pages=28–29|url=http://www.juliaserano.com/av/CurveInterview16.pdf|access-date=1 August 2019|archive-date=14 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214161002/http://www.juliaserano.com/av/CurveInterview16.pdf|url-status=live}} She notes that, despite transitioning, trans women are still commonly perceived as male; however, they are rarely sexualized as such. In the porn industry, whose target audience is primarily heterosexual men, trans women are largely presented as sexual objects rather than "predatory".{{page needed|date=September 2022}}

According to Serano, the sexualisation of trans women is not solely because transgender women, by nature of their relative rarity, are viewed as "exotic": she notes that trans women are sexualized particularly much even compared to other types of "rare" women.{{page needed|date=September 2022}} In Whipping Girl, Serano writes on what she calls a "predator–prey dichotomy" where "men are invariably viewed as predators and women as prey."{{rp|255}} Because of this view, trans women are perceived to be luring men by transitioning and "turning [themselves] into sexual objects that no red-blooded man can resist."{{page needed|date=September 2022}}

Transmisogynistic violence and harassment directed towards trans feminine individuals is often perpetrated by strangers rather than those known by the victim and oftentimes includes catcalling and other forms of verbal abuse.{{cite journal |last1=Stotzer |first1=Rebecca L. |title=Violence against transgender people: A review of United States data |journal=Aggression and Violent Behavior |date=May 2009 |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=170–179 |doi=10.1016/j.avb.2009.01.006 }} Although some states have non-discrimination laws protecting transgender individuals, there is no federal law specifically designed to protect those who identify as transgender.

Forming coalitions with trans activism is crucial to collectively challenge both ableism and transmisogyny.{{Cite journal |last=Slater |first=Jen |last2=Liddiard |first2=Kirsty |date=2018-07-05 |title=Why Disability Studies Scholars Must Challenge Transmisogyny and Transphobia |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.15353/cjds.v7i2.424 |journal=Canadian Journal of Disability Studies |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.15353/cjds.v7i2.424 |issn=1929-9192|doi-access=free }} Transmisogyny and ableism often intersect, resulting in unique challenges for trans disabled individuals who face compounded discrimination and marginalization.{{Cite journal |last=Baril |first=Alexandre |date=November 2015 |title=Transness as Debility: Rethinking Intersections between Trans and Disabled Embodiments |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/fr.2015.21 |journal=Feminist Review |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=59–74 |doi=10.1057/fr.2015.21 |issn=0141-7789|url-access=subscription }}

Transmisogyny is a distinct category of transphobia in that transmisogyny mainly focuses on trans women and other transgender individuals who demonstrate femininity, whereas transphobia is a more general term, covering a broader spectrum of prejudice and discrimination towards transsexual and transgender individuals.{{citation | date = September 13, 2021 | title = How Fake "Experts" Are Driving the Campaign Against Trans People | type = Website | publisher = GenderGP | url = https://www.gendergp.com/why-are-people-transphobic/ | access-date = 6 December 2021 | archive-date = 6 December 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211206173146/https://www.gendergp.com/why-are-people-transphobic/ | url-status = live }} Julia Serano states in Whipping Girl that "[w]hen the majority of jokes made at the expense of trans people center on 'men wearing dresses' or 'men who want their penises cut off' that is not transphobia – it is transmisogyny. When the majority of violence and sexual assaults committed against trans people is directed at trans women, that is not transphobia – it is transmisogyny."{{cite book |last1=Serano |first1=Julia |title=Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity |date=2016 |publisher=Basic Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y__cCgAAQBAJ |isbn=978-1-58005-623-6 |oclc=944012152 }}{{rp|14–15}}

Serano gives an example of the discrimination that trans feminine individuals experience and how it differs from what she assumes is the experience of a trans masculine individual in a New York Times interview,

{{Blockquote|Once in San Francisco I saw a trans woman dressed like an average feminine woman walk past a straight couple on the street. The man turned to the woman and sneered "Did you see all that crap he's wearing?" He was referring to her dress and jewelry and makeup and all that. If a trans man had walked by, they might also have ridiculed him for being transgender. But I doubt very much they would have made fun of his masculine clothing.{{Cite news |last=Carstensen |first=Caitlyn |date=June 22, 2017 |title=Julia Serano, Transfeminist Thinker Talks Trans-Misogyny |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/us/lgbt-julia-serano-transfeminist-trans-misogyny.html}}

}}

{{See also|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory}}

The phenomenon described by Serano is particularly evident in online depictions of trans women, mainly in Internet memes wherein trans women are often derogatorily portrayed as masculine men wearing feminine clothing.{{Cite journal |last=Spencer |first=Leland G. |date=2019-10-20 |title=Bathroom Bills, Memes, and a Biopolitics of Trans Disposability |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10570314.2019.1615635 |journal=Western Journal of Communication |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=542–559 |doi=10.1080/10570314.2019.1615635 |issn=1057-0314|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite web |last=Kalia |first=V. |date=2022-07-01 |title=Memes at the round table of societal discourse : an investigation on the role of memes in transgender related discourse on Reddit and Instagram |url=https://essay.utwente.nl/91403/ |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=essay.utwente.nl |language=en}} The same transphobic depictions also often attempt to express that trans women suffer from victim mentality, are overreactive and demanding, or are "pretending" to be women with the intention of sexually harassing "real" women and/or children. Such motifs are particularly prominent in discourse surrounding trans bathroom bills.

Noteworthy in the discussion surrounding transmisogyny is also the idea of autogynephilia, a hypothetical paraphilia proposed by Ray Blanchard, and defined by him as "a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female."{{Cite journal |last=Moser MD |first=Charles |date=2010-06-30 |title=Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory: A Critique |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00918369.2010.486241 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |volume=57 |issue=6 |pages=790–809 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2010.486241 |issn=0091-8369 |pmid=20582803}} Although modern scientific knowledge does not completely rule out the existence of autogynophilia as something that may occur in some individuals, it contradicts Blanchard's formulation that it is the basis for the transsexuality of heterosexual trans women.{{Cite journal |last=Serano |first=Julia |date=2020-07-01 |title=Autogynephilia: A scientific review, feminist analysis, and alternative ‘embodiment fantasies’ model |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038026120934690 |journal=The Sociological Review |language=EN |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=763–778 |doi=10.1177/0038026120934690 |issn=0038-0261|url-access=subscription }} The dominant scientific explanation remains the incongruence between gender identity and biological sex, which is responsible for gender dysphoria.{{Cite web |title=Gender incongruence and transgender health in the ICD |url=https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/gender-incongruence-and-transgender-health-in-the-icd |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=www.who.int |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=What is Gender Dysphoria? |url=https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/what-is-gender-dysphoria |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=www.psychiatry.org |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Serano |first=Julia M. |date=2010-10-12 |title=The Case Against Autogynephilia |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15532739.2010.514223 |journal=International Journal of Transgenderism |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=176–187 |doi=10.1080/15532739.2010.514223 |issn=1553-2739|url-access=subscription }} Nevertheless, autogynophilia is often promoted by anti-LGBT hate groups and transphobic writers as an attempt to pathologize trans identity.{{Cite web |date=2018-01-25 |title=Conservative book ‘When Harry Became Sally’ attacks trans people while conveniently leaving them out |url=https://thinkprogress.org/review-when-harry-became-sally-transgender-moment-4033a1b06dbb/ |access-date=2025-05-10 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2016-04-07 |title=Anti-LGBT Hate Group Releases Anti-Trans Position Statement |url=https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/anti-lgbt-hate-group-releases-anti-trans-position-statement/ |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2018-10-03 |title=Roundup of anti-LGBT activities 10/3/2018 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/roundup-anti-lgbt-activities-1032018/ |access-date=2025-05-10 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en-US}}

On the topic of autogynephilia, Julia Serano (also being a biologist), has said: "If proponents of autogynephilia insist that every exception to the model is due to misreporting, then autogynephilia theory must be rejected on the grounds that it is unfalsifiable and therefore unscientific. If, on the other hand, we accept that these exceptions are legitimate, then it is clear that autogynephilia theory's two-subtype taxonomy does not hold true."{{Cite book |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies: 2 |date=2021 |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc |isbn=978-1-5443-9381-0 |editor-last=Goldberg |editor-first=Abbie E. |location=Los Angeles, CA |editor-last2=Beemyn |editor-first2=Genny}}

• {{Annotated link|Discrimination against transgender men}}
• {{Annotated link|Feminism}}
• {{Annotated link|Kyriarchy}}
• {{Annotated link|Misogynoir}}
• {{Annotated link|Misogyny}}
• {{Annotated link|Violence against women}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Gill-Peterson |first1=Jules |title=A Short History of Trans Misogyny |date=2024 |publisher=Verso Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-80429-162-7 |oclc=1371584979}}

{{Wiktionary-inline|transmisogyny}}

{{LGBTQ|social=expanded}}

{{Transgender}}

{{Discrimination}}

Category:2000s neologisms

Category:Anti-LGBTQ sentiment

Category:LGBTQ and society

Category:Misogyny

Category:Transgender studies

Category:Transphobia

Category:Violence against women

Category:Discrimination against transgender people