The Feminist Movement: For Men and Transgender Alike

                Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl, grasped my attention when she pointed out certain problems pertaining to trans women caused by pseudofeminists. Serano herself is a trans women; someone “who was assigned a male sex at birth, but who identifies as and/or lives as a women” (11). She has experienced firsthand discrimination from being a sexual minority, and was shocked about how much of this was coming from women who claim to be feminists. Serano is setting out to try and put an end to the degradation of trans women, and I think a huge part of this movement involves the need for feminism to progress even further. It is most likely very difficult already for a trans woman to come out and openly identify as a women, but without the support of other people it can be nearly impossible for some.

About a year ago I read the book She’s Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan. This book was one of the first things to really open my eyes to what transgender means. Like Whipping Girl, it was written by a transsexual about the difficulty of her situation and how people reacted to her transformation. To anyone who does not know much about what it means to be transgender or who is quick to dismiss transgender individuals as being legitimate, this book can really change one’s mind. The problem with transgender discrimination is that people do not understand the issue and cannot relate, but hearing a real life example in this way makes a huge difference. In the book Jennifer talks about when and how she realized that she did not feel right as a boy and instead identified as a female. She was already married with children by the time she came out, although she secretly identified as a girl since she was just a kid. She shows how people treated her different when she came out, and how many did not quite understand why she changed her sex. Seeing all the hatred Jennifer experienced made me realize how in the dark most people are about transgender individuals.

In discussion of transgender individuals, Serano brought up the term oppositional sexism, or “the belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories” (13). Simply put, it says that men and women are opposites. This type of sexism leaves out anyone who does not exactly match the definitions of feminine or masculine, especially gays, lesbians, transgender people, and so on. This is an interesting concept to me because although I was assigned as a female at birth and still identify as one, I do not feel that I fit the definition of feminine. A large portion of my wardrobe is made up of men’s clothing, and I do not always act proper and submissive like many people expect of a woman. It goes to show that there are no set characteristics unique to only men or women, but that either gender can have any variety of feminine and masculine traits. Putting an end to oppositional sexism is something that the feminist movement is making progess in doing.

For a while I have been thinking about what it really means to be a feminist, so when I read parts of Whipping Girl, I felt like my questions were brought to the surface. I often hear people saying that feminists hate men but also look down on women who appear too feminine. After reading portions of Whipping Girl I came to relate this definition with the term ‘pseudofeminism’. So what is feminism really? I found Bell Hooks to have the clearest and most concise definition for this term. She claimed that “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexual exploitation and oppression”. Feminists should not only support women who were assigned as female at birth and have continuously self-identified as female. Anyone who is against sexism, regardless of how feminine or masculine they appear or what gender they identify as, has the support of true feminists.

              Feminists have made huge progress since the movement began. Especially in the past few years we hear more and more about feminism. In fact, just this past weekend Emma Watson delivered a speech on her feminist theory at the United Nations. The video I included above is just a brief segment of the speech, the whole speech and pictures can be found here. Watson is a well-known actress from the Harry Potter series, and a role model for many. What people do not usually know is that she is also a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. In her speech she focuses on gender equality and shows that feminists are not man haters, but rather that they want to include men in the feminist movement. She discusses the idea of oppositional sexism in her own words by saying that men and women do not have distinct and opposite traits, using as example from her childhood of how she was assertive and in control, a trait general associated with masculinity. Watson wants to truly make a change in how feminism is poorly viewed, as well as show how important gender equality is. What this new view of feminism shows us is the no matter the gender, we should all be equal. If we take this to heart then we can end the misery for most transgender individuals, and allow for them to be openly accepted in society. We can also put an end to the bad reputation surrounding feminism by including every individual no matter what their gender identity.