The Question of Male Privilege and Transwomyn

I would like to start this blog by saying that I enjoy and support most of the things that Emi Koyama discusses and says in The Transfeminist Manifesto. I agree with her that it is extremely important for transwomyn to take a place in feminism and that all to often we are denied access. I agree with her that everyone has a right to be who they are and that we shouldn't have a “purity test” in order to actually be feminists. That being said, I do have an issue with how she talks about the idea of male privilege and how that works for transwomyn, the rest of this blog will be about that issue in the manifesto.

On page 247 into 248, she writes “They have been trained to be assertive and confident. and some trans women manage to maintain these "masculine" traits, often to their advantage, after transitioning" this passage seems to suggest that “some” transwomyn never fully shake off their “male socialization” and thus never shake off their male privilege. Now, I am not going to make the argument that transwomyn never have male privilege because of course we do. I lived my life 16 years “passing” as male and thus have experienced male privilege. That being said, this statement is problematic because it suggests that transwomyn we will always have some sort of male privilege and thus, in some small way, always be male. Also, it fails to take into account the fact that once we, tranwomyn, do transition and live our lives fully as womyn those “masculine” traits like aggressiveness, assertiveness and confidence are seen very differently in the eyes of society. Finally, that statement suggests that those traits are only for men and that women can't be assertive.

Transwomyn who are assertive and confident are often seen by society as being bitches just as cisgender womyn who are assertive and confident are seen as bitches. The fact that we were “socialized” to be that way is irrelevant because they are seen very differently in the eyes of society if we do it as male or if we don't it as female and its not just cis people enforcing these rules. Transwomyn every often attack other transwomyn if they are being assertive or confident because it isn't the way women are “suppose” to be. Also, that our socialization is key to whether or not we have male privilege is nonsense in my opinion.

Despite the fact that we, transwoym, are treated as male in society before we transition, most of us feel like we are female very early. Thus, we see all the things society says about how to be a women and how women are suppose to be, and internalize it just like ciswomyn. Also, we are very often forced into being that way as we start transitioning. We take a lot of the images that society uses about what it means to female and do them because we live in a society where we have to constantly prove that we are female. Further, a lot of transwomyn who aren't out or can't transition get eating disorders in order to make our bodies more feminine, just as cisgender girls do. The point is we absorb what our society and culture says about what is meant to be a girls and women just like cisgirls who are socialization female. Transwomyn are often caught in a “damn if you do or damn if you don't” situation with regards to how feminine we are.

On the one hand, if we follow what society says womyn look and act like, we are seen as “trying to hard” and thus are really men just trying to be womyn. On the other hand, if we don't follow what society and culture says about being womyn or dress/look or act more masculine we are seen as not trying hard enough and are thus men. This plays back into Koyama's implication that transwomyn will never fully get rid of male privilege, because it seems no matter what we do in our society to prove we are womyn or against the gender binary we are seen as male. For Koyama to imply that we will always have male privilege, only helps further this idea and make it seem like it is ok for feminists to question whether or not tranwomyn have male privilege.

The section on male privilege in Koyama is problematic because it implies that tranwomyn will never be free of male privilege and thus aren't really womyn. I will admit freely to having male privilege for the first 16 years of my life. However, since I have been living as a womyn for the last 4 years, I have given up any male privilege. I am treated very differently when I am assertive now than when I was living as a male. My socialization at this point is totally irrelevant because of the way attitudes change about me doing certain acts. My supposedly “masculine” trait of being assertive is no longer an asset to most people in society, but rather something that both men and women a like think I should stop because it isn't the way women are suppose to be.