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{{Short description|Branch of feminism}}
{{Globalize/US|date=February 2018}}
{{about-distinguish|the social movement|Transfeminine}}
[[File:A Transfeminist-Symbol black-and-white.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|A symbol used to represent transfeminism.]]
{{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Trans woman power symbol.svg|thumb|upright=1.2|A symbol used to represent transfeminism]]
{{Feminism sidebar |Variants (general)}}
{{Feminism sidebar |Variants (general)}}
{{Transgender sidebar}}
{{Transgender sidebar}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}


'''Transfeminism''', or '''trans feminism''', is a branch of [[feminism]] focused on [[transgender women]] and informed by [[transgender studies]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/transbodiestrans0000unse/page/620 |title=Trans bodies, trans selves : a resource for the transgender community |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199325351 |editor1-last=Erickson-Schroth |editor1-first=Laura |location=[S.l.] |page=[https://archive.org/details/transbodiestrans0000unse/page/620 620]}}</ref> Transfeminism focuses on the effects of [[transmisogyny]] and [[patriarchy]] on trans women. It is related to the broader field of [[queer theory]]. The term was popularized by [[Emi Koyama]] (involved in the [[Intersex Society of North America|ISNA]]) in ''The Transfeminist Manifesto.''
'''Transfeminism''', also written '''trans feminism''', has been defined by scholar and activist [[Emi Koyama]] as "a movement by and for [[trans women]] who view their liberation to be intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women and beyond." Koyama notes that it "is also open to other queers, [[intersex]] people, [[trans men]], non-trans women, non-trans men and others who are sympathetic toward needs of trans women and consider their alliance with trans women to be essential for their own liberation."<ref name="koyama-manifesto">{{cite web |last1=Koyama |first1=Emi |title=The Transfeminist Manifesto |url=http://eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf |website=eminism.org |accessdate=June 10, 2014}}</ref> Transfeminism has also been defined more generally as "an approach to [[feminism]] that is informed by trans politics."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Erickson-Schroth |editor1-first=Laura |title=Trans bodies, trans selves : a resource for the transgender community |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=[S.l.] |isbn=9780199325351 |page=620}}</ref>


Transfeminism describes the concepts of [[gender nonconformity]], notions of [[masculinity]] and [[femininity]] and the maintaining of [[sex and gender binary]] on trans men and women. Transfeminists view gender conformity as a control mechanism of [[patriarchy]], which is maintained via [[violence against transgender people|violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals]] as a basis of patriarchy.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08861099231165788|title=Resistance as a Foundational Commons: Intersectionality, Transfeminism, and the Future of Critical Feminisms|first1=Suzanne C.|last1=Draper|first2=Reshawna|last2=Chapple|date=April 25, 2023|journal=Affilia|volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=585–596|via=CrossRef|doi=10.1177/08861099231165788|s2cid=258340922 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2zKtDwAAQBAJ&dq=Transfeminism+and+patriarchy&pg=PT287|title=The Lost Sheep in Philosophy of Religion: New Perspectives on Disability, Gender, Race, and Animals|first1=Blake|last1=Hereth|first2=Kevin|last2=Timpe|date=September 4, 2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-66355-0 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, ''Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out'' edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press.<ref name="scott-dixon">{{cite book |editor1-last=Scott-Dixon |editor1-first=Krista |title=Trans/forming feminisms : trans/feminist voices speak out |date=2006 |publisher=Sumach Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9781894549615}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trans/forming Feminisms |url=http://www.sumachpress.com/transfem.htm |website=Sumach Press |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326080040/http://www.sumachpress.com/transfem.htm |archivedate=March 26, 2009}}</ref>


Tactics of transfeminism emerged from groups such as ''[[The Transexual Menace]]'' (name from the [[Lavender Menace]]) in the 1990s,<ref name="Enke-2018">{{cite journal| last1 = Enke| first1 = Finn| date = February 1, 2018 | title = Collective Memory and the Transfeminist 1970s: Toward a Less Plausible History | url = https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article-abstract/5/1/9/133890| journal = Transgender Studies Quarterly| volume = 5| issue = 1| pages = 9–29| doi = 10.1215/23289252-4291502| access-date = }}</ref> in response to exclusion of transgender people in [[Pride marches]]. The group organized in [[direct action]], focusing on violence against transgender people, such as the [[murder]] and [[rape]] of [[Brandon Teena]], a trans man. The Transsexual Menace organized protests and [[sit in]]s against the medical and mental [[Medicalization|pathologization]] of trans people.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4w9DAAAQBAJ&dq=The+Transexual+Menace+Hermaphrodites+with+attitude&pg=PA389|title=Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women's Studies|first1=Bonnie Kime|last1=Scott|first2=Susan E.|last2=Cayleff|first3=Anne|last3=Donadey|first4=Irene|last4=Lara|date=May 24, 2016|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-12071-1 |via=Google Books}}</ref>
According to Emi Koyama, there are two "primary principles of transfeminism" that each transfeminist lives by and wishes to follow, as well as wishes for all individuals.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|last1=Koyama|first1=Emi|title=The Transfeminist Manifesto|url=http://eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref> First, Koyama states that all people should not only be allowed to live their own lives in whichever way they choose and define themselves however they feel is right, but should also be respected by society for their individuality and uniqueness. Included is the right to individualized gender expression without the fear of retaliation. Koyama's second principle states that each individual has every right, and is the only one to have the right, to possess complete control over their own bodies. There shall be no form of authority - political, medical, religious, or otherwise - that can override a person's decisions regarding their bodies and their wellbeing, and their autonomy is fully in the hands of that sole individual.<ref name="auto"/>

Trans people were generally excluded from first wave feminism, as were [[lesbian]]s and all other people considered "[[queer]]." [[Second wave feminism]] saw greater level of acceptance amongst some feminists, however "transsexuality" was heavily excluded, and described as an "illness,"<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Raha | first1 = Nat | date = 2017| title = Transfeminine Brokenness, Radical Transfeminism | url = https://read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlantic-quarterly/article-abstract/116/3/632/129746 | journal = South Atlantic Quarterly | volume = 116 | issue = 3 | pages = 632–646 | doi = 10.1215/00382876-3961754
| access-date = | doi-access = free }}</ref> even amongst feminists who supported [[gay liberation]]. [[Third wave feminism|Third]] and [[fourth wave feminism]] have generally been accepting of transgender people, and see trans liberation as an overall part of women's liberation.<ref name="Enke-2018"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://academinist.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MP0304_06Genderfork.pdf|title=Inadvertent Praxis: What Can "Genderfork" Tell Us about Trans Feminism?|author=Ruth Pearce|date=2012|issn=1939-330X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/siso.69.1.56.56799|title=The Decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave|first1=Susan Archer|last1=Mann|first2=Douglas J.|last2=Huffman|date=January 22, 2005|journal=Science & Society|volume=69|issue=1|pages=56–91|via=CrossRef|doi=10.1521/siso.69.1.56.56799}}</ref>

In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, ''Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out'' edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press. Transfeminism has also been defined more generally as "an approach to feminism that is informed by trans politics."<ref name="scott-dixon">{{cite book |editor1-last=Scott-Dixon |editor1-first=Krista |title=Trans/forming feminisms : trans/feminist voices speak out |date=2006 |publisher=Sumach Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9781894549615|url=http://www.sumachpress.com/transfem.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326080040/http://www.sumachpress.com/transfem.htm |archive-date=March 26, 2009}}</ref>


==History==
==History==
Early voices in the movement include [[Kate Bornstein]], author of 1994 ''Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us'',<ref name="bornstein">
Early voices in the movement include [[Kate Bornstein]], author of 1994 ''Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us'',<ref name="bornstein">
[[Kate Bornstein|Bornstein, Kate]] (1994). "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us." {{ISBN|0-679-75701-5}}</ref> and [[Sandy Stone (artist)|Sandy Stone]], author of essay "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto," which included a direct response to [[Janice Raymond]]'s writings on transsexuality.<ref name="stone">
[[Kate Bornstein|Bornstein, Kate]] (1994). "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us." {{ISBN|0-679-75701-5}}</ref> and [[Sandy Stone (artist)|Sandy Stone]], author of essay "[[The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto]]", which included a direct response to [[Janice Raymond]]'s writings on transsexuality.<ref name="stone">
[[Sandy Stone (artist)|Stone, Sandy]] (1991). [http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~sandy/empire-strikes-back The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928164847/http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~sandy/empire-strikes-back |date=September 28, 2011 }}. In ''Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity''.</ref> In the 21st century, [[Krista Scott-Dixon]]<ref name=scott-dixon />
[[Sandy Stone (artist)|Stone, Sandy]] (1991). [http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~sandy/empire-strikes-back The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928164847/http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~sandy/empire-strikes-back |date=September 28, 2011 }}. In ''Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity''.</ref> In the 21st century, [[Krista Scott-Dixon]]<ref name="scott-dixon"/> and [[Julia Serano]]<ref name =serano>{{Cite book| last=Serano |first=Julia |year=2007 |title=Whipping Girl, A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity|publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-1580051545}}</ref><ref name = excluded>{{Cite book| last = Serano| first = Julia| year = 2013| title = Excluded: Making Queer and Feminist Movements More Inclusive| publisher = Basic Books|isbn=978-1580055048}}</ref> have published transfeminist works. Bornstein has also released new works, such as ''Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation'' in 2010 with [[S. Bear Bergman]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genderfork.com/?p=4721|title=Interview with S. Bear Bergman (The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You) — Genderfork|website=genderfork.com|access-date=2018-10-09|archive-date=May 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507193852/http://genderfork.com/2009/interview-with-s-bear-bergman/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Susan Stryker and Talia M. Bettcher have also recently released a publication about transfeminism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stryker|first1=Susan|last2=Bettcher|first2=Talia M.|date=May 2016|title=Introduction|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article/3/1-2/5/91824/IntroductionTrans-Feminisms|journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly|volume=3|issue=1–2|pages=5–14|doi=10.1215/23289252-3334127|issn=2328-9252|doi-access=free}}</ref>
and [[Julia Serano]]<ref name =serano>{{Cite book| last=Serano |first=Julia |year=2007 |title=Whipping Girl, A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity|ref=harv}}</ref><ref name = excluded>{{Cite book| last = Serano| first = Julia| year = 2013| title = Excluded: Making Queer and Feminist Movements More Inclusive}}</ref> have published transfeminist works. Bornstein has also released new works, such as ''Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation'' in 2010 with [[S. Bear Bergman]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genderfork.com/?p=4721|title=Interview with S. Bear Bergman (The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You) — Genderfork|website=genderfork.com|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref> Susan Stryker and Talia M. Bettcher have also recently released a publication about transfeminism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stryker|first=Susan|last2=Bettcher|first2=Talia M.|date=May 2016|title=Introduction|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article/3/1-2/5/91824/IntroductionTrans-Feminisms|journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly|volume=3|issue=1-2|pages=5–14|doi=10.1215/23289252-3334127|issn=2328-9252}}</ref>

Transfeminism.org was created in 2000 to promote the Transfeminism Anthology Project by Diana Courvant and Emi Koyama. The site primarily devoted itself, however, to introducing the concept of transfeminism to academia and to finding and connecting people working on transfeminism projects and themes through an anthology of the same name.<ref name="Courvant/Koyama 2000">{{harvnb|Courvant|Koyama|2000}}</ref> Koyama and Courvant sought other transfeminists and to increase their exposure. The anthology was intended to introduce the movement to a large audience. At a Yale event and in bios associated with it, Courvant's use of the word (as early as 1992) and involvement in Transfeminism.org, may have made her the term's inventor. Courvant credited Koyama's Internet savvy as the reason transfeminism.org and the word ''transfeminism'' got the recognition and attention that it did.<ref name=":2" /> This site is no longer active at the web address transfeminism.org, as it has since been archived.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816213525/http://www.transfeminism.org/|title=transfeminism.org|date=2000-08-16|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref>


[[Patrick Califia]] used the word in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of a periodical.<!--when was the first time IN a periodical?--> It is possible or even likely that the term was independently coined repeatedly before the year 2000 (or even before Courvant's first claimed use in 1992). The term gained traction only after 1999. Jessica Xavier, an acquaintance of Courvant, may have independently coined the term when she used it to introduce her articles, "Passing As Stigma Management" and "Passing as Privilege" in late 1999.<ref name="Xavier 1999 PASM">{{citation|last=Xavier|first=Jessica|title=Passing as Stigma Management|url=http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/stigma.html}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="Xavier 1999 PAP">{{citation|last=Xavier|first=Jessica|title=Passing as Privilege|url=http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/passing.html}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Emi Koyama wrote a widely read "Transfeminist Manifesto"<ref name=koyama-manifesto /> around the time of the launch of the website that, with her active participation in academic discussions on the internet, helped spread the term.
[[Patrick Califia]] used the word in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of a periodical.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism|last=Califia|first=Patrick|publisher=Cleis Pr; First Printing Highlighting edition|date=July 1997|isbn=978-1573440721}}</ref> It is possible or even likely that the term was independently coined repeatedly before the year 2000 (or even before Courvant's first claimed use in 1992). The term gained traction only after 1999. Jessica Xavier, an acquaintance of Courvant, may have independently coined the term when she used it to introduce her articles, "Passing As Stigma Management" and "Passing as Privilege" in late 1999.<ref name="Xavier 1999 PASM">{{citation|last=Xavier|first=Jessica|title=Passing as Stigma Management|url=http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/stigma.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705184716/http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/stigma.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-07-05}}</ref><ref name="Xavier 1999 PAP">{{citation|last=Xavier|first=Jessica|title=Passing as Privilege|url=http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/passing.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705184939/http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/passing.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-07-05}}</ref>


In the past few decades, the idea that all [[women]] share a common experience has come under scrutiny by [[person of color|women of color]], [[lesbian]]s, and [[working class]] women, among others. Many [[transgender]] people are also questioning what gender means, and are challenging [[gender]] as a biological fact. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere.<ref name="Gluckman 2002">
In the past few decades, the idea that all [[women]] share a common experience has come under scrutiny by [[person of color|women of color]], [[lesbian]]s, and [[working class]] women, among others. Many [[transgender]] people are also questioning what gender means, and are challenging [[gender]] as a biological fact. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere.<ref name="Gluckman 2002">
{{cite web|url=https://clpp.hampshire.edu/sites/clpp.hampshire.edu/files/uploads/u9/ReproFreedom_Fall02second.pdf|title=Trans-itioning feminism: the politics of transgender in the reproductive rights movement|last=Gluckman|first=R.|last2=Trudeau|first2=M.|year=2002|editor-link=https://clpp.hampshire.edu/|agency=Hampshire College|location=Amherst, MA|pages=6–8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218183743/https://clpp.hampshire.edu/sites/clpp.hampshire.edu/files/uploads/u9/ReproFreedom_Fall02second.pdf|archive-date= December 18, 2017}}</ref>
{{cite web|url=https://clpp.hampshire.edu/sites/clpp.hampshire.edu/files/uploads/u9/ReproFreedom_Fall02second.pdf|title=Trans-itioning feminism: the politics of transgender in the reproductive rights movement|last1=Gluckman|first1=R.|last2=Trudeau|first2=M.|year=2002|agency=Hampshire College|location=Amherst, MA|pages=6–8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218183743/https://clpp.hampshire.edu/sites/clpp.hampshire.edu/files/uploads/u9/ReproFreedom_Fall02second.pdf|archive-date= December 18, 2017}}</ref>


Transfeminism incorporates all major themes of [[third wave feminism]], including [[Multiculturalism|diversity]], [[body image]], self-definition, and women's [[human agency|agency]]. Transfeminism is not merely about merging trans concerns with [[feminism]]. It also includes critical analysis of [[second wave feminism]] from the perspective of the third wave.<ref name="Hill 2001">{{citation|last=Hill|first=R. J.|title=Menacing Feminism, Educating Sisters|year=2001|url=http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080308230747/http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF |archivedate =March 8, 2008}}</ref> Like all feminisms, transfeminism critiques mainstream notions of masculinity and argues that women deserve equal rights. Lastly, transfeminism shares the unifying principle with other feminisms that gender is a [[patriarchal]] social construct used to oppress women. Therefore, by many, the "trans" in transgender has been used to imply transgressiveness.<ref name="Courvant/Koyama 2000"/><ref>
Transfeminism incorporates all major themes of [[third wave feminism]], including [[Multiculturalism|diversity]], [[body image]], self-definition, and women's [[human agency|agency]]. It also includes critical analysis of [[second wave feminism]] from the perspective of the third wave.<ref name="Hill 2001">{{citation|last=Hill|first=R. J.|title=Menacing Feminism, Educating Sisters|year=2001|url=http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080308230747/http://www.edst.educ.ubc.ca/aerc/2000/hillr1-final.PDF |archive-date =March 8, 2008}}</ref> It critiques mainstream notions of masculinity and argues that women deserve equal rights and shares the unifying principle with other feminisms that gender is a [[patriarchal]] social construct used to oppress women. The "trans" in transgender has been used to imply transgressiveness.<ref>
See the subtitle of the trans community periodical "Chrysalis," which is "The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities," transfeminism should not be seen as an anti-feminist movement</ref> Nicholas Birns indeed categorizes transfeminism as "a feminism that defines the term 'trans-' in a maximally heterogeneous way."<ref>Birns, Nicholas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YY0BpjV4vDYC&pg=PA161&dq=nicholas+birns+transfeminism+transnationalism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIvOvj7fyJxwIVwVoeCh3AgQot#v=onepage&q=transfeminism%20&f=false "The Earth's Revenge: Nature, Transfeminism and Diaspora in Larissa Lai's ''Salt Fish Girl''"], in Lee, A. Robert (ed.), ''China Fictions, English Language: Literary Essays in Diaspora, Memory, Story'', Rodopi, 2008, p. 161..</ref>
See the subtitle of the trans community periodical "Chrysalis," which is "The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities," transfeminism should not be seen as an anti-feminist movement</ref> [[Nicholas Birns]] categorizes transfeminism as "a feminism that defines the term 'trans-' in a maximally heterogeneous way."<ref>Birns, Nicholas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YY0BpjV4vDYC&q=transfeminism+&pg=PA161 "The Earth's Revenge: Nature, Transfeminism and Diaspora in Larissa Lai's ''Salt Fish Girl''"], in Lee, A. Robert (ed.), ''China Fictions, English Language: Literary Essays in Diaspora, Memory, Story'', Rodopi, 2008, p. 161.</ref>


The road to legitimacy for transfeminism as a concept has been different and more vexed than for other feminisms. Marginalized women of trans background and affect have had to prove that their needs are different and that mainstream feminism does not necessarily speak for them.<ref name="Johnson Reagon 1981">{{citation|last=Johnson Reagon|first=B.|title=Coalition Politics: Turning the Century|year=1981|url=http://shewhostumbles.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/bernice-johnson-reagon-coalition-politics-turning-the-century/}}</ref> Contrarily, trans women must show their womanhood is equally valid as that of other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. [[Radical feminism|Radical feminist]] Janice Raymond's resistance to considering trans women as women and as participants in feminism is representative of this obstacle. Her career began with ''[[The Transsexual Empire]]'' (a book-length analysis of [[transsexual]] women) and she has often returned to this theme.<ref name="Raymond 1994">{{citation|last=Raymond|first=J.|year=1994|title=The Transsexual Empire|publisher=Teachers College Press|edition=2nd|postscript=; The second edition includes a new forward that describes her transgender-related work after the publication of her thesis project as the first edition in the late 70s.}}</ref>
The road to legitimacy for transfeminism as a concept has been different and more vexed than for other feminisms. Marginalized women of trans background and affect have had to prove that their needs are different and that mainstream feminism does not necessarily speak for them.<ref name="Johnson Reagon 1981">{{citation|last=Johnson Reagon|first=B.|title=Coalition Politics: Turning the Century|year=1981|url=http://shewhostumbles.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/bernice-johnson-reagon-coalition-politics-turning-the-century/}}</ref> Contrarily, trans women must show their womanhood is equally valid as that of other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. [[Radical feminism|Radical feminist]] Janice Raymond's resistance to considering trans women as women and as participants in feminism is representative of this obstacle. Her career began with ''[[The Transsexual Empire]]'' (a book-length analysis of [[transsexual]] women) and she has often returned to this theme.<ref name="Raymond 1994">{{citation|last=Raymond|first=J.|year=1994|title=The Transsexual Empire|publisher=Teachers College Press|edition=2nd}}; The second edition includes a new forward that describes her transgender-related work after the publication of her thesis project as the first edition in the late 70s.</ref>

In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, ''Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out'' edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press.<ref name="scott-dixon" />

At the 2007 Transgender Leadership Summit, [[Alexis Marie Rivera]], spoke about her personal experiences with transfeminism as a young Latina trans woman. She discussed her journey from early transition, where she believed she had to take on the role of housewife, to where she was in the present moment. She asserted that, for her, transfeminism is about taking on feminine gender roles because she wants to, not because she has to.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQX33Pvlxsc|title=Transgender Leadership Summit, Sunday, March 25, 2007|date=August 9, 2011 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>{{third-party inline|date=May 2023}}


==Compared to other feminisms==
==Compared to other feminisms==


===Common foundations===
===Common foundations===
A core tenet of feminism is that biology does not and must not equal destiny.<ref name="Second Sex">
Simone de Beauvoir once said that biology does not and must not equal destiny.<ref name="Second Sex">
[[Simone de Beauvoir]], ''[[The Second Sex]]''</ref> Feminists have traditionally explored the boundaries of what it means to be a woman.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brewer|first=Mary|date=September 2002|title=Exclusions in Feminist Thought: Challenging the Boundaries of Womanhood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfMpAAAAYAAJ&q=Womanhood|location=Sussex, England|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|page=71|isbn=978-1-902210-63-6|access-date=January 19, 2015}}</ref> Transfeminists argue that trans people and [[cisgender]] feminists confront society's conventional views of [[sex]] and [[gender]] in similar ways. [[Transgender rights movement|Transgender liberation theory]] offers feminism a new vantage point from which to view gender as a social construct, even offering a new meaning of gender.<ref name="Gluckman 2002"/>
[[Simone de Beauvoir]], ''[[The Second Sex]]''</ref> The idea that women should not be held down by traditional [[gender role]]s plays a major role in all feminisms. Transfeminism expands on that premise to argue that people in general should not be confined by sex/gender norms{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}.

Feminists have traditionally explored the boundaries of what it means to be a woman.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brewer|first=Mary|date=September 2002|title=Exclusions in Feminist Thought: Challenging the Boundaries of Womanhood|url=https://books.google.com/?id=tfMpAAAAYAAJ&dq=Exclusions+in+Feminist+Thought%3A+Challenging+the+Boundaries+of+Womanhood&q=Womanhood|location=Sussex, England|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|page=71|isbn=978-1-902210-63-6|accessdate=January 19, 2015}}</ref> Transfeminists argue that trans people and [[cisgender]] feminists confront society's conventional views of [[sex]] and [[gender]] in similar ways. [[Transgenderism (social movement)|Transgender liberation theory]] offers feminism a new vantage point from which to view gender as a social construct, even offering a new meaning of gender.<ref name="Gluckman 2002"/>


Transfeminist critics of mainstream feminism say that as an institutionalized movement, feminism has lost sight of the basic idea that biology is not destiny. In fact, they argue, many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender and insisting on a given destiny for trans persons based on nothing more than biology.<ref name="Courvant 2002">
Transfeminist critics of mainstream feminism say that as an institutionalized movement, feminism has lost sight of the basic idea that biology is not destiny. In fact, they argue, many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender and insisting on a given destiny for trans persons based on nothing more than biology.<ref name="Courvant 2002">
Courvant, Diana "Thinking of Privilege" In{{harvnb|Anzaldua|Keating|2002|pp=458–463}}</ref><ref>
Courvant, Diana "Thinking of Privilege" In{{harvnb|Anzaldua|Keating|2002|pp=458–463}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/942 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-05-16 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511002854/http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/942 |archivedate=May 11, 2008 }}</ref> Transfeminism resists and challenges the fixedness of gender that traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.<ref>Salamon, Gayle (2008). "Women's Studies on the Edge", p. 117. Duke University Press, Durham. {{ISBN|978-0-8223-4274-8}}.</ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/942 |title=Transgender debate: against exclusion |last1=Murphy |first1=Emma |last2=Lantz |first2=Sarah |date=October 28, 1998 |website=Press for Change |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511002854/http://www.pfc.org.uk/node/942 |archive-date=May 11, 2008}}</ref> Transfeminism aims to resist and challenge the fixedness of gender that, as many of its supporters believe, traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.<ref>Salamon, Gayle (2008). "Women's Studies on the Edge", p. 117. Duke University Press, Durham. {{ISBN|978-0-8223-4274-8}} {{JSTOR|j.ctv11sn3bm}}.</ref>


Transgender people are frequently targets of anti-trans violence.<ref>
Transgender people are frequently targets of anti-trans violence.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.gender.org/remember/index.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-05-01 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509162522/http://www.gender.org/remember/index.html |archivedate=May 9, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.gender.org/remember/index.html |title=Homepage |website=Gender.com |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509162522/http://www.gender.org/remember/index.html |archive-date=May 9, 2008}}</ref><ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid%3D410 |title=Transgender Death Statistics 1970 to 8/15/02 |deadurl=yes |accessdate=March 2, 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011050235/http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid=410 |archivedate=October 11, 2008}}</ref> While cis women also routinely face violence, transfeminists understand anti-trans violence to be a form of gender policing.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gagné|first1=Patricia|last2=Tewksbury|first2=Richard|date=February 1998|jstor=3097144|title=Conformity Pressures and Gender Resistance among Transgendered Individuals|location=Los Angeles, California|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=}}</ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid%3D410 |title=Transgender Death Statistics 1970 to 8/15/02 |url-status=dead |access-date=March 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011050235/http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid=410 |archive-date=October 11, 2008}}</ref> While cis women also routinely face violence, transfeminists recognize anti-trans violence as a form of gender policing.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gagné|first1=Patricia|last2=Tewksbury|first2=Richard|date=February 1998|jstor=3097144|title=Conformity Pressures and Gender Resistance among Transgendered Individuals|journal=Social Problems|volume=45|issue=1|pages=81–101|location=Los Angeles, California|publisher=University of California Press|doi=10.1525/sp.1998.45.1.03x0158b}}</ref>


===Differences===
===Differences===
Despite the similarities, there are also differences between transfeminism and many other forms of feminism. For example, transfeminism stands in stark contrast to mainstream second-wave feminism. Transfeminists often criticize the ideas of a universal sisterhood, aligning more with [[intersectionality]] and with the mainstream third wave's appreciation for the diversity of women's experience.<ref name="Ms.">{{cite web|url=http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/04/18/trans-feminism-theres-no-conundrum-about-it/|title=Trans Feminism: There's No Conundrum About It|work=[[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]]|last=Serano|first=Julia|date=April 18, 2012|accessdate=January 20, 2015}}</ref> Citing their common experience, many transfeminists directly challenge the idea that [[femininity]] is an entirely social construction. Instead, they view gender as a multifaceted set of diverse intrinsic and social qualities. For example, there are both trans and cis persons who express themselves in ways that differ from society’s expectations of masculine and feminine.<ref name="Ms." /> Because this strongly affects how the person experiences and articulates their gender, and also their standing within patriarchy, these transfeminists would argue that masculine/feminine expression is an important concept worthy of feminist inquiry, to be compared and contrasted with both assigned sex and gender identity.
Transfeminism stands in stark contrast to mainstream second-wave feminism. Transfeminists often criticize the ideas of a universal sisterhood, aligning more with [[intersectionality]] and with the mainstream third wave's appreciation for the diversity of women's experience.<ref name="Ms.">{{cite web|url=http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/04/18/trans-feminism-theres-no-conundrum-about-it/|title=Trans Feminism: There's No Conundrum About It|work=[[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]]|last=Serano|first=Julia |authorlink=Julia Serano |date=April 18, 2012|access-date=January 20, 2015}}</ref>


According to Julia Serano femininity in transgender women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in cisgender women.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Serano |first=Julia |date=2007 |title=Trans-misogyny primer |url=https://www.juliaserano.com/av/TransmisogynyPrimer-Serano.pdf |access-date=July 3, 2021}}</ref> This [[double standard]] reveals that the behavior itself is not as problematic to many critics as the existence of trans people.<ref name="Courvant 2002"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Valerio |first=Max Wolf |year=2002 |title=Now That You're a White Man}} In {{harvnb|Anzaldua|Keating|2002|pp=239–254}}</ref> Julia Serano refers to the breed of misogyny experienced by trans women as '[[transmisogyny]]'.<ref name = "serano"/>
'''Sisterhood'''

"Sisterhood" is a primary term that separates transfeminism from mainstream second-wave feminism. According to critics, "sisterhood" as a term evokes the idea that patriarchy and its tactics are so universal that the most important experiences of women everywhere are equivalent. However, women in culturally, ethnically, and/or economically diverse societies, young women and girls, women with disabilities, and others, object to the idea of universal sisterhood and its logical extensions, including two ideas: first, if one works for the benefit of any woman, one works for the benefit of all equally; second, that in a sexist society all women have the same (minimal) level of power.<ref>Brendy Lyshaug, Solidarity Without "Sisterhood"? Feminism and the ethics of Coalition Building, Politics & Gender(2006), 2: 77–100 Cambridge University Press.</ref>

These objections to the concept of sisterhood have been part of non-mainstream feminism since the second wave,<ref>{{cite book | last = Davis | first = Angela Y. | author-link = Angela Davis | title = Women, race & class | publisher = Vintage Books | location = New York | year = 1983 | isbn = 9780394713519}}</ref> and were confronted in many forms before the term "transfeminism" was coined. "Killing the Black Body",<ref name="Roberts 1997">{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Dorothy|title=Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, & the Meaning of Liberty|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=0-679-75869-0}}</ref> illustrated how white-feminist led reproductive-rights movements sometimes worked to the detriment of poor and/or minority women. ''[[This Bridge Called My Back]]''<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Moraga|editor1-first=Cherríe|editor2-last=Anzaldúa|editor2-first=Gloria E.|title=This bridge called my back : writings by radical women of color|date=1983|publisher=Kitchen table|location=women of color press|isbn=9780930436100}}</ref> is an anthology of third world feminist writing that challenged the idea of equal power among women.

Transfeminists report many under-examined situations in which one woman's use of power has the potential to hurt another woman. Transfeminists, for instance, propose client advisory boards for crisis lines and women's shelters, the end of unpaid and underpaid feminist internships, incorporating employees into board committees that evaluate non-profit executives, creating strategic funds to assist trans employees with nontraditional health issues, incorporating specific anti-racist and other anti-oppressive criteria on employee evaluation forms, and more.<ref>
See [http://eminism.org/index.html Eminism.org] and [https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.transfeminism.org Summary of transfeminism.org · Site Map of transfeminism.org.]</ref> Particularly fruitful has been transfeminist investigation of feminism and disability, feminism and sex, and the combination of the three.<ref>The Queer Disability 2002 conference</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.disabilityhistory.org/dwa/queer/program_grid.htm#sp|title=Queer Disability Conference 2002|author=|date=|website=www.disabilityhistory.org}}</ref>


====Access to feminist spaces====
====Access to feminist spaces====
Though little acknowledged, trans people have been part of feminist movements.<ref>Deke Law, "Evolution" in This is What Lesbian Looks Like, Kris Kleindienst, Firebrand Books, 1999. {{ISBN|978-1563411168}}</ref> There have been a number of documented occasions when the trans people portrayed as bad actors were in fact the victims of overreactions by others.<ref>See Courvant at {{cite web |url=http://www.survivorproject.org/whyserve.html |title=Why Serve Trans or Intersex Survivors |last=Courvant |first=Diana |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511164215/http://www.survivorproject.org/whyserve.html |archive-date=May 11, 2008}}</ref><ref name="mich-handbook">See Koyama at http://www.confluere.com/store/pdf-zn/mich-handbook.pdf {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002092021/http://www.confluere.com/store/pdf-zn/mich-handbook.pdf |date=October 2, 2008}}</ref>
Though little acknowledged, trans people have been part of feminist movements.<ref>
Deke Law, "Evolution" in This is What Lesbian Looks Like, Kris Kleindienst, Firebrand Books, 1999</ref> The appearance of openly trans persons in feminist spaces{{clarify|reason=in 'feminist spaces'? Probably "in women's spaces" was meant here |date=May 2018}}{{citation needed |date=May 2018}} challenged the idea that all women are socially equal, although this challenge does rely on an assumption that trans women are women. This has made transfeminists natural allies of, for example, women of color who experience racism in a white feminist environment{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}. While Raymond and others attempted to define trans people outside feminism,<ref name="Raymond 1994"/> institutions that welcomed trans people sometimes were confronted with an alliance between a trans person and others who accused other women of racism.{{Who|date=September 2010}} Trans people, like any large group, reflect the wide range of temperaments. There have been a number of documented occasions when the trans people portrayed as bad actors were in fact the victims of overreactions by others.<ref>See Courvant at {{cite web |url=http://www.survivorproject.org/whyserve.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2008-05-16 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511164215/http://www.survivorproject.org/whyserve.html |archivedate=May 11, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}.</ref><ref name="mich-handbook">See Koyama at http://www.confluere.com/store/pdf-zn/mich-handbook.pdf {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002092021/http://www.confluere.com/store/pdf-zn/mich-handbook.pdf |date=October 2, 2008}}</ref>


====Lesbian feminism and transfeminism====
====Femininity====
{{see also|Lipstick feminism}}
{{essay-like|section|reason=Also a lot of synthesis and OR going on here |date=May 2018}}


{{Further|Lesbian feminism#Views on transgender people}}
[[Femininity]] has become a locus of contention between transfeminists and some other feminists. Trans women have been accused of exaggerating their feminine traits.<ref name="Hill 2001"/> Because hate crimes and social punishments are rampant against trans people,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamieann-meyers/transgender-day-of-remembrance-and-the-transgender-movement_b_6168456.html|title=Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Transgender Movement|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|last=Meyers|first=JamieAnn|date=November 20, 2014|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transrespect-transphobia.org/en_US/tvt-project/tmm-results/tdor-2014.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105081844/http://www.transrespect-transphobia.org/en_US/tvt-project/tmm-results/tdor-2014.htm|dead-url=yes|archive-date=November 5, 2014|title=Trans Murder Monitoring Project|work=Transgender Europe|date=November 17, 2014|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref> portraying gender unambiguously can increase a trans person's sense of safety.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ellis|first=Sonja J.|last2=McNeil|first2=Jay|last3=Bailey|first3=Louis|date=2014 |title=Gender, Stage of Transition and Situational Avoidance: a UK Study of Trans People's Experiences|url=http://shura.shu.ac.uk/7989/|journal=Sexual and Relationship Therapy|location=Sheffield, England|publisher=Sheffield Hallam University|accessdate=January 20, 2015}}</ref> Even when the visible signs of femininity are only marginally different from norms, they may be seen as wildly inappropriate.<ref name=serano/><ref>
Courvant, "I Never Thought It Was Activism," 2002b</ref>


In ''Living a Feminist Life'' (2017), [[Sara Ahmed]] imagines lesbian feminism as a fundamental and necessary alliance with trans feminism. Ahmed argues an anti-trans stance is an anti-feminist stance and one that works against the feminist project of creating worlds to support those for whom gender [[fatalism]] (i.e. boys will be boys, girls will be girls) is deleterious.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmed|first1=Sara|title=Living a Feminist Life|date=2017|edition=1st|publisher=[[Duke University Press Books]]|location=North Carolina, U.S.|isbn=978-0822363194}}</ref>
Sampling bias is the most logical argument for certain feminists' notice of a disproportionate number of trans women with very feminine expression{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}. Transgender people are viewed as outlandish exceptions to society's norms. Thus when a person appears to fit within – or almost within – society's norms, one is assumed not to be transgender. When a person sees someone that isn't easily classified as a man or a woman, the viewer still almost never assumes the subject to be trans. Take for example the "Saturday Night Live" character "[[Pat (Saturday Night Live)|Pat]]".<ref>See also: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110169/</ref> The comedy is based on other characters' curiosity about Pat's gender. They ask leading yet socially acceptable questions whose answer might confirm Pat as a man or a woman. Invariably, Pat answers without doing so. Even after several rounds of such questioning, the characters never conclude that Pat is trans.<ref>
Courvant, 2007</ref> Such are the rules of polite society: it would be rude to assume another person is trans. As this training is so deep (and it is impossible to perceive another's thoughts), it is not possible to notice each trans person one meets. Thus the idea that trans women are somehow more feminine is an unprovable assertion most often made by those who wish to malign trans women as uneducated, and unliberated, and who threaten to serve as a useful tool enabling anti-feminist movements.<ref name=serano/><ref name="Raymond 1994" /><ref>
Sandy Stone at http://sandystone.com/empire-strikes-back</ref>

Femininity in transgender women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in cisgender women{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}. This [[double standard]] reveals that the behavior itself is not as problematic to many critics as the existence of trans people.<ref name="Courvant 2002"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Valerio |first=Max Wolf |year=2002 |title=Now That You're a White Man}} In {{harvnb|Anzaldua|Keating|2002|pp=239–254}}</ref> Julia Serano refers to the breed of misogyny experienced by trans women as '[[transmisogyny]]'.<ref name = "serano"/>

====Womyn-born-womyn====
[[Sheila Jeffreys]], a pronounced opponent of transfeminism and transgenderism in its entirety, supports a movement called "Womyn-born-Womyn". This movement believes that gender is an oppressive artificial construct, that sex assigned at birth is immutable, and that sex change operations should be made illegal in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |title= Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective|last= Jeffreys|first= Sheila|authorlink= |year= 2003|publisher= [[Polity]]|location= |isbn= 978-0745628387|page=|pages= |url=}}</ref> Specifically, Jeffreys argues in “Transgender Activism: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective” that “transsexualism is a construction of medical sciences” that aims to profit from expensive surgeries and master the alteration and creation of body parts.<ref name=":1" /> [[Janice Raymond]], [[Mary Daly]] and among others, argue that the feminist movement should not focus its energy on trans women.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://janiceraymond.com/fictions-and-facts-about-the-transsexual-empire/|title=Fictions and Facts About "The Transsexual Empire"|work=[[Janice Raymond|Janiceraymond.com]]|last=Raymond|first=Janice|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/guess-whos-coming-to-dinn_6_b_5659525.html|title="Guess Who's Coming to Dinner": Lesbian Trans Exclusion Gets Noticed|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|last=Beyer|first=Dana|date=August 8, 2014|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/sites/default/files/imce/Transgender%20Activism%20A%20Lesbian%20Feminist%20Perspective%20by%20Sheila%20Jeffreys%2C%20Journal%20of%20Lesbian%20Studies%201997%5B1%5D.pdf|title=Transgender Activism: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective|work=Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter|last=Jeffreys|first=Sheila|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref> Opponents of the womyn-born-womyn movement such as Kelsie Brynn Jones argue that excluding trans women from women-only spaces denies them their right to self-identify, and their own experiences with [[transmisogyny]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelsie-brynn-jones/transexclusionary-radical-terf_b_5632332.html|title=Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism: What Exactly Is It, And Why Does It Hurt?|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|last=Jones|first=Kelsie Brynn|date=August 2, 2014|accessdate=December 14, 2014}}</ref>


====Radical feminism and transfeminism====
====Radical feminism and transfeminism====


Some radical feminists have expressed anti-trans viewpoints. For example, in ''Gender Hurts'' (2014), Sheila Jeffreys argued that trans feminism amounted to men exercising their authority in defining what women are.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|title=Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism|date=2014|edition=1st|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Abingdon-on-Thames, UK|isbn=978-0415539401}}</ref>
While many radical feminists have expressed anti-trans viewpoints, not all have dismissed transgenderism outright. The radical feminist writer and activist [[Andrea Dworkin]], in her book ''Woman Hating'', argued against the persecution and hatred of transgender people and demanded that [[sex reassignment surgery]] be provided freely to transgender people by the community. Dworkin argued that "every transsexual has the right to survival on his/her own terms. That means every transsexual is entitled to a sex-change operation, and it should be provided by the community as one of its functions."<ref>{{cite book |title= Woman Hating|last= Dworkin|first= Andrea|authorlink= |year= 1974|publisher= [[E. P. Dutton]]|location= New York City|isbn= 0-525-47423-4|page= 186|pages= |url=}}</ref>


Some radical feminists are supportive of trans rights. The radical feminist writer and activist [[Andrea Dworkin]], in her book ''Woman Hating'', argued against the persecution and hatred of transgender people and demanded that [[sex reassignment surgery]] be provided freely to transgender people by the community. Dworkin argued that "every transsexual has the right to survival on his/her own terms. That means every transsexual is entitled to a sex-change operation, and it should be provided by the community as one of its functions."<ref>{{cite book|title= Woman Hating|last= Dworkin|first= Andrea|year= 1974|publisher= [[E. P. Dutton]]|location= New York City|isbn= 0-525-47423-4|page= [https://archive.org/details/womanhating00dwor/page/186 186]|url= https://archive.org/details/womanhating00dwor/page/186}}</ref>
Some transgender women have been participants in [[lesbian feminism]] and [[radical feminism]]. A prominent example is [[Sandy Stone (artist)|Sandy Stone]], a trans lesbian feminist who worked as a sound technician for the lesbian-feminist [[Olivia Records]]. In June and July 1977, when twenty-two feminists protested Stone's participation, Olivia Records defended her employment by saying that Stone was a "woman we can related to with comfort and trust" and that she was "perhaps even the Goddess-sent engineering wizard we had so long sought."<ref>{{cite book |title= The Transgender Studies Reader |last= Stryker|first= Susan|authorlink= Susan Stryker|year= 2006|publisher= [[Routledge]]|location= United Kingdom|isbn=0-415-94708-1 |page= 142 |accessdate=October 3, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=HBRR1isU-VAC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=%22Olivia+Records%22+letter+%22Sandy+Stone%22#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>


====Allegations of transphobia in radical feminism====
=====Lesbian feminism and transfeminism=====


{{More information|Lesbian feminism}}
{{Further|Trans-exclusionary radical feminism}}


Radical feminist [[Janice Raymond]]'s 1979 book, ''The Transsexual Empire'', was and still is controversial due to its unequivocal condemnation of transgender surgeries. {{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Raymond says, "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive."<ref name="Raymond 1994 2">{{citation|last=Raymond|first=J.|year=1994|title=The Transsexual Empire|publisher=Teachers College Press|edition=2nd|page=104}}</ref>
Though lesbian feminists views vary, there is a specific lesbian feminist canon which rejects [[transgenderism (social movement)|transgenderism]], [[transsexualism|transsexuals]] and [[transvestism|transvestites]], positing trans people as, at best, gender dupes or functions of a discourse on mutilation; or at worst, shoring up support for traditional and violent gender norms. This is a position marked by intense controversy. Lesbian feminist Sheila Jeffreys summarized the arguments on this topic in ''Unpacking Queer Politics'' (2003). <ref>{{cite book|last1=Jeffreys|first1=Sheila|title=Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective|date=2003|edition=1st|publisher=[[Polity (publisher)|Polity]]|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-0745628370}}</ref>


In the early 1990s [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival]] ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder,<ref name="vangelder">Van Gelder, Lindsy; and Pamela Robin Brandt. "The Girls Next Door: Into the Heart of Lesbian America", p. 73. Simon and Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0-684-83957-8}}</ref> After that, the festival maintained that it is intended for "[[womyn-born-womyn]]" only.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michfest.com/festival_community_statements.htm|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140906022843/http://michfest.com/festival_community_statements.htm|archive-date = September 6, 2014|title = Michigan Womyn's Music Festival:Performances}}</ref> The activist group [[Camp Trans]] formed to protest the [[transphobia|transphobic]] "womyn-born-womyn" policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans people within the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and transfeminists were involved in Camp Trans including [[Riki Wilchins]], Jessica Xavier, and [[Leslie Feinberg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advocate.com/commentary/riki-wilchins/2013/08/14/op-ed-where-dont-ask-dont-tell-alive-and-well|title=Op-ed: Where 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is Alive and Well|work=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]|last=Wilchins|first=Riki|date=August 14, 2013|access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dallasdenny.com/Writing/2013/10/13/congratulations-camp-trans-1993/|title=Congratulations, Camp Trans (1993)|work=[[Dallas Denny|Dallasdenny.com]] |last=Denny|first=Dallas|date=October 13, 2013|access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mbpratt.org/mylove.html|title=Leslie Feinberg|work=[[Minnie Bruce Pratt|Mbpratt.com]]|last=Pratt|first=Minnie Bruce|access-date=January 20, 2015|archive-date=February 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221055220/http://mbpratt.org/mylove.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The festival considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend; however, this was criticized as [[Class discrimination|classist]], as many trans women cannot afford genital surgery.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Sreedhar| first1 = Susanne| last2=Hand | first2=Michael| editor-last = Scott-Dixon| editor-first = Krista| title = Trans/Forming Feminisms: Trans/Feminist Voices Speak Out| year = 2006| publisher = Sumach Press| location = Toronto| isbn = 1-894-54961-9| oclc = 70839321| pages = 164–65| chapter = The Ethics of Exclusion: Gender and Politics at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival}}</ref> Since this incident, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival has updated their community statements page. This page now includes a list of links to letters and statements such as their August 2014 response to Equality Michigan's Call For Boycott and a list of demands in response to the Equality Michigan call to boycott.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michfest.com/community-statements/|title=Community Statements {{!}} Michfest|website=michfest.com|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref> The initial response to the boycott states that the MWMF believes that "support for womyn-born-female space is not at odds with standing with and for the transgender community".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michfest.com/statement-from-michigan-womyns-music-festival-8_1_4/|title=Michfest Response to Equality Michigan's Call For Boycott – August 1, 2014 {{!}} Michfest|website=michfest.com|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref>
Lesbian feminism is sometimes associated with opposition to [[sex reassignment surgery]];<ref>{{Cite news|url=|title=Mistaken Identity|last=Bindel|first=Julie|date=May 23, 2007|work=|access-date=|via=The Guardian}}</ref> as some lesbian feminist analyses see sex reassignment surgery as a form of violence akin to BDSM.<ref>Wayne, Tiffany K., and Lois W. Banner. Women's Rights in the United States: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People. Illustrated ed. N.p.: ABC-CLIO, 2014. Print.</ref>


Kimberly Nixon is a trans woman who volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1995. When Nixon's transgender status was determined, she was expelled. The staff decided that Nixon's status made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients, and also required their clients to be genetically female. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse and sued for discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued that there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly transgender woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=34&item=1147 |title=Background on Nixon v Vancouver Rape Relief |date=April 4, 2005 |website=Egale Canada |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160530/http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=34&item=1147 |archive-date=February 7, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/nixon/jan082001_lakeman.pdf |title=Excerpt from Proceedings |date=January 8, 2001 |access-date=July 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002100647/http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/nixon/jan082001_lakeman.pdf |archive-date=October 2, 2008}}</ref><ref name="perelle">
In ''Living a Feminist Life'' (2017), [[Sara Ahmed]] imagines lesbian feminism as a fundamental and necessary alliance with trans feminism. Ahmed considered that an anti-trans stance is an anti-feminist stance, and against the feminist project of creating worlds to support those for whom gender [[fatalism]] (i.e. boys will be boys, girls will be girls) is deleterious.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmed|first1=Sara|title=Living a Feminist Life|date=2017|edition=1st|publisher=[[Duke University Press Books]]|location=North Carolina, U.S.|isbn=978-0822363194}}</ref>
Perelle, Robin (February 14, 2007). Rape Relief wins: Supreme Court refuses to hear trans woman's appeal.'' [[Xtra!|Xtra]]''</ref>


Transgender women such as Sandy Stone challenged the mainstream second-wave feminist conception of "biological woman". Stone worked as a sound engineer for [[Olivia Records]] from about 1974 to 1978, resigning as the controversy over a trans woman working for a lesbian-identified enterprise increased.<ref name="sayer">{{cite web|last=Sayer|first=Susan|title=From Lesbian Nation to Queer Nation |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6655/is_n2_v21/ai_n28666686/|publisher=Hecate|date=October 1, 1995 |access-date=April 7, 2012}}</ref> The debate continued in Raymond's book,<ref name="Raymond 1994"/> which devoted a chapter to criticism of "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist." Groups like [[Lesbian Organization of Toronto]] instituted "womyn-born womyn only" policies. A formal request to join the L.O.O.T. was made by a [[Trans woman|male-to-female]] transgender lesbian in 1978. In response, the organization voted to exclude [[Trans woman|trans women]]. During informal discussion, members of L.O.O.T expressed their outrage that in their view a "sex-change he-creature...dared to identify himself as a woman and a lesbian." In their public response, L.O.O.T. wrote:
=====Transphobia in radical feminism=====


<blockquote>A woman's voice was almost never heard as a woman's voice—it was always filtered through men's voices. So here a guy comes along saying, "I'm going to be a girl now and speak for girls." And we thought, "No you're not." A person cannot just joined the oppressed by fiat.<ref name="ross1995">Ross, Becki (1995). ''The House that Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation.'' University of Toronto Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-7479-9}}</ref></blockquote>
{{More information|Trans-exclusionary radical feminism}}


=== Radical transfeminism ===
Radical feminist [[Janice Raymond]]'s 1979 book, ''The Transsexual Empire'', was and still is controversial due to its unequivocal condemnation of transgender surgeries. Raymond says, "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive."<ref name="Raymond 1994 2">{{citation|last=Raymond|first=J.|year=1994|title=The Transsexual Empire|publisher=Teachers College Press|edition=2nd|page=104}}</ref>
Some transgender women have been participants in [[lesbian feminism]] and [[radical feminism]]. A prominent example is [[Sandy Stone (artist)|Sandy Stone]], a trans lesbian feminist who worked as a sound technician for the lesbian-feminist [[Olivia Records]]. In June and July 1977, when 22 feminists protested Stone's participation, Olivia Records defended her employment by saying that Stone was a "woman we can related to with comfort and trust" and that she was "perhaps even the Goddess-sent engineering wizard we had so long sought."<ref>{{cite book |last=Stryker |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Stryker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBRR1isU-VAC&q=%22Olivia+Records%22+letter+%22Sandy+Stone%22&pg=PA142 |title=The Transgender Studies Reader |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2006 |isbn=0-415-94708-1 |location=United Kingdom |page=142 |access-date=October 3, 2012}}</ref>


==Issues within transfeminism==
Perhaps the most visible battleground of feminists and transfeminists was the [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival]]. The festival ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder, in the early 1990s.<ref name="vangelder">Van Gelder, Lindsy; and Pamela Robin Brandt. "The Girls Next Door: Into the Heart of Lesbian America", p. 73. Simon and Schuster, {{ISBN|978-0-684-83957-8}}</ref> After that, the festival maintained that it is intended for "[[womyn-born-womyn]]" only.<ref>http://michfest.com/festival_community_statements.htm{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The activist group [[Camp Trans]] formed to protest the [[transphobia|transphobic]] "womyn-born-womyn" policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans people within the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and transfeminists were involved in Camp Trans including [[Riki Wilchins]], Jessica Xavier, and [[Leslie Feinberg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.advocate.com/commentary/riki-wilchins/2013/08/14/op-ed-where-dont-ask-dont-tell-alive-and-well|title=Op-ed: Where 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is Alive and Well|work=[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]|last=Wilchins|first=Riki|date=August 14, 2013|accessdate=January 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dallasdenny.com/Writing/2013/10/13/congratulations-camp-trans-1993/|title=Congratulations, Camp Trans (1993)|work=[[Dallas Denny|Dallasdenny.com]] |last=Denny|first=Dallas|date=October 13, 2013|accessdate=January 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://mbpratt.org/mylove.html |title=Leslie Feinberg|work=[[Minnie Bruce Pratt|Mbpratt.com]]|last=Pratt|first=Minnie Bruce|accessdate=January 20, 2015}}</ref> The festival considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend, however this was criticized as [[Class discrimination|classist]], as many trans women cannot afford genital surgery.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Sreedhar
| first = Susanne
| last2=Hand | first2=Michael
| editor-last = Scott-Dixon
| editor-first = Krista
| title = Trans/Forming Feminisms: Trans/Feminist Voices Speak Out
| year = 2006
| publisher = Sumach Press
| location = Toronto
| isbn = 1-894-54961-9
| oclc = 70839321
| pages = 164–65
| chapter = The Ethics of Exclusion: Gender and Politics at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
}}
</ref> Since this incident, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival has updated their community statements page. This page now includes a list of links to letters and statements such as their August 2014 response to Equality Michigan’s Call For Boycott and a list of demands in response to the Equality Michigan call to boycott.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michfest.com/community-statements/|title=Community Statements {{!}} Michfest|website=michfest.com|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref> The initial response to the boycott states that the MWMF believes that “support for womyn-born-female space is not at odds with standing with and for the transgender community”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://michfest.com/statement-from-michigan-womyns-music-festival-8_1_4/|title=Michfest Response to Equality Michigan’s Call For Boycott – August 1, 2014 {{!}} Michfest|website=michfest.com|access-date=2018-10-09}}</ref>


===Inclusion in mainstream feminism===
Kimberly Nixon is a trans woman who volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1995. When Nixon's transgender status was determined, she was expelled. The staff decided that Nixon's status made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients, and also required their clients to be genetically female. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse and sued for discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued that there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly transgender woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case.<ref>
According to Graham Mayeda, women who identify as [[right-wing]] feel that issues of equality and female importance becomes less significant when the biology of trans people, specifically, male-to-female trans people, is mentioned.<ref name="Mayeda-2005">{{cite journal | last1 = Mayeda | first1 = G | year = 2005 | title = Re-imagining Feminist Theory: Transgender Identity, Feminism, and the Law | journal = Canadian Journal of Women & the Law | volume = 17 | issue = 2| pages = 423–472|ssrn=1427319 }}</ref> He noted that these feminists feel that the biological nature of trans-females confuse "women only" boundaries and could contradict or disrupt feminist goals of establishing a voice in a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] world.<ref name="Mayeda-2005" />
{{cite web |url=http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=34&item=1147 |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2012-10-03 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160530/http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=34&item=1147 |archivedate=February 7, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>
{{cite web|url=http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/nixon/jan082001_lakeman.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-11-02 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002100647/http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/nixon/jan082001_lakeman.pdf |archivedate=October 2, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="perelle">
Perelle, Robin (February 14, 2007). Rape Relief wins: Supreme Court refuses to hear trans woman's appeal.'' [[Xtra!|Xtra]]''</ref>


Groups such as the [[Lesbian Avengers]] accept trans women, while others reject them. The [[Violence Against Women Act]] now "explicitly protects transgender and lesbian, gay, and bisexual survivors", such that domestic violence centers, rape crisis centers, support groups, and other VAWA-funded services cannot turn away any person due to their sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://forge-forward.org/wp-content/docs/know-your-rights-VAWA-fact-sheet.pdf|title=Know Your Rights! Trans Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence|date=2005|website=Forge Forward|access-date=2018-10-08|archive-date=March 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329222121/http://forge-forward.org/wp-content/docs/know-your-rights-VAWA-fact-sheet.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Transgender women such as [[Sandy Stone (artist)|Sandy Stone]] challenged the mainstream second-wave feminist conception of "biological woman". Stone worked as a sound engineer for [[Olivia Records]] from about 1974 to 1978, resigning as the controversy over a trans woman working for a lesbian-identified enterprise increased.<ref name="sayer">{{cite web|last=Sayer|first=Susan|title=From Lesbian Nation to Queer Nation |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6655/is_n2_v21/ai_n28666686/|publisher=Hecate|date=October 1, 1995 |accessdate=April 7, 2012}}</ref> The debate continued in Raymond's book,<ref name="Raymond 1994"/> which devoted a chapter to criticism of "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist." Groups like [[Lesbian Organization of Toronto]] instituted "womyn-born womyn only" policies. A formal request to join the L.O.O.T. was made by a [[Trans woman|male-to-female]] transgender lesbian in 1978. In response, the organization voted to exclude [[Trans woman|trans women]]. During informal discussion, members of L.O.O.T expressed their outrage that in their view a "sex-change he-creature...dared to identify himself as a woman and a lesbian." In their public response, L.O.O.T. wrote:
<blockquote>A woman's voice was almost never heard as a woman's voice - it was always filtered through men's voices. So here a guy comes along saying, "I'm going to be a girl now and speak for girls." And we thought, "No you're not." A person cannot just joined the oppressed by fiat.<ref name="ross1995">Ross, Becki (1995). ''The House that Jill Built: A Lesbian Nation in Formation.'' University of Toronto Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-7479-9}}</ref></blockquote>


===Gender dysphoria===
[[Sheila Jeffreys]] labeled transgenderism "deeply problematic from a feminist perspective" and stated that "transsexualism should best be seen in this light, as directly political, medical abuse of human rights."<ref name="jeffreys1997">
[[Gender dysphoria]] describes the condition of people who experience significant [[dysphoria]] with the [[sex assignment]] that they were given at birth, or the [[gender role]]s associated with that sex{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}. The term "gender identity disorder" (GID) is also frequently used especially in the formal [[diagnosis]] used amongst [[psychologist]]s and [[physician]]s.<ref name="etiology">{{cite journal|last1=Heylens|first1=G|last2=De Cuypere |first2=G |last3=Zucker|first3=K|author3-link=Kenneth Zucker|last4=Schelfaut|first4=C|last5=Elaut|first5=E|last6=Vanden Bossche|first6=H|last7=De Baere|first7=E |last8=T'Sjoen|first8=G|title= Gender Identity Disorder in Twins: A Review of the Case Report Literature|journal=The Journal of Sexual Medicine|year=2012 |volume=8|pages=751–757|doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02567.x|issue=3 |pmid=22146048}}</ref>
Jeffreys, Sheila (1997). Transgender Activism: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective. "Journal of Lesbian Studies", Vol. 1(3/4) 1997</ref> She has also written ''Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism'', published in 2014.
Gender identity disorder was classified as a medical disorder by the [[International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems|ICD-10 CM]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Gender identity disorder in adolescence and adulthood|publisher=ICD10Data.com|url=http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/F01-F99/F60-F69/F64-/F64.1|access-date=July 3, 2011}}</ref> and DSM-4.<ref name="recommendations">{{cite journal|last1=Fraser|first1=L|last2=Karasic|first2=D |last3=Meyer|first3=W |last4=Wylie |first4=K|title=Recommendations for Revision of the DSM Diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder in Adults|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism |year=2010|volume=12|pages=80–85|doi=10.1080/15532739.2010.509202|issue=2|s2cid=144409977}}</ref> The [[DSM-5]] uses the less pathologizing term ''gender dysphoria'', and the [[ICD-11]] uses the term ''gender incongruence''. Many transgender individuals, transfeminists and medical researchers support the declassification of GID because they say the diagnosis pathologizes [[gender variance]], reinforces the [[Gender binary|binary model of gender]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Newman|first=L|title=Sex, Gender and Culture: Issues in the Definition, Assessment and Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder|journal=Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry|date=July 1, 2002|volume=7|pages=352–359|doi=10.1177/1359104502007003004|issue=3|s2cid=145666729}}</ref> and can result in stigmatization of transgender individuals.<ref name="recommendations"/> Many transfeminists and traditional feminists also propose that this diagnosis be discarded because of its potentially abusive use by people with power,<ref>{{harvp|Crabtree|2002}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2023|reason=This appears to be a student news letter}} and may argue that gender variation is the right of all persons.<ref name="Hill 2001"/> When arguing for the previous diagnostic category, pro-GID transfeminists typically concede past misuse of the diagnosis while arguing for greater professional accountability.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dentedbluemercedes.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/destigmatization-versus-coverage-and-access-the-medical-model-of-transsexuality/|title=Destigmatization Versus Coverage and Access: The Medical Model of Transsexuality|date=April 5, 2008|website=wordpress.com}}</ref>


In many situations or legal jurisdictions, transgender people have insurance coverage for surgery only as a consequence of the diagnosis. Removal would therefore increase patient costs. In other situations, [[anti-discrimination law]]s which protect legally disabled people apply to transgender people only so long as a manifest diagnosis exists. In other cases, transgender people are protected by sex discrimination rules or as a separate category.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transgenderlaw.org/cases/statecases.htm|title=Transgender Law and Policy Institute: State Cases|date=August 26, 2002|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916174427/http://www.transgenderlaw.org/cases/statecases.htm|archive-date=September 16, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref> This economic issue can split advocates along class lines.<ref name="mich-handbook"/>
==Major issues within transfeminism==


At the 2006 Trans Identity Conference at the [[University of Vermont]], Courvant presented an analysis of this controversy. She noted that "eliminationists" must decide whether their efforts to destigmatize trans people conflict with efforts to destigmatize mental illness and whether removing the GID category would actually help with the former, while disrupting the current, albeit limited, insurance regime. Conversely, "preservationists" must address the problem of faulty diagnoses and improper "treatment".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scholinski |first1=Daphne |title=The Last Time I Wore A Dress |date=October 1998 |publisher=Riverhead Books |isbn=9781573226967}}</ref> She proposed retaining the category and focusing efforts on legitimating mental illness and improving acceptance of trans people, leaving aside the diagnosis question.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
===Inclusion in mainstream feminism===
Transfeminists struggle to be accepted by much of mainstream [[feminism]], owing to the argument that the representation of transgender women threatens the very foundation or goals of cisgender women. For example, according to Graham Mayeda, women who identify as [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] feel that issues of equality and female importance becomes less significant when the biology of trans people, specifically, male-to-female trans people, is mentioned.<ref name=":0">Mayeda, G. (2005). Re-imagining Feminist Theory: Transgender Identity, Feminism, and the Law. ''Canadian Journal Of Women & The Law'', ''17''(2), 423-472.</ref> He noted that these feminists feel that the biological nature of trans-females confuse "women only" boundaries and could contradict or disrupt feminist goals of establishing a voice in a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] world.<ref name=":0" />


===Social construction of gender===
Groups such as the [[Lesbian Avengers]] accept trans women, while others reject them. Particularly reluctant are sex-segregated shelters and sexual assault support centers.{{Citation needed |reason=See also: Talk:Transfeminism#Inclusion in mainstream feminism |date=February 2018}} However, the Violence Against Women Act now “explicitly protects transgender and lesbian, gay, and bisexual survivors,” such that domestic violence centers, rape crisis centers, support groups, and other VAWA-funded services cannot turn away any person due to their sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://forge-forward.org/wp-content/docs/know-your-rights-VAWA-fact-sheet.pdf|title=Know Your Rights! Trans Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence|last=|first=|date=2005|website=Forge Forward|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-10-08}}</ref>

Max Wolf Valerio contributed as an out trans man to the feminist anthology "This Bridge We Call Home,"<ref>Anzaldúa, Gloria, and AnaLouise Keating. This bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.</ref> which followed "[[This Bridge Called My Back]]", to which Valerio contributed before coming out. Whether trans men are acceptable in a group, place, or event can vary with nuances of identity, membership, or personal relationship. A man's acceptance or rejection often depends on his past contributions to feminism and friendly relationships with a prominent group member.<ref name="Bay Area Reporter">{{cite web|url=http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=345|title=Performances 'Transform' Community|work=[[Bay Area Reporter]]|last=Szymanski|first=Zak|date=November 10, 2005|accessdate=January 25, 2015}}</ref> There is no clear trend on feminist acceptance of trans men other than more sophisticated discussions.<ref name="Bay Area Reporter" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Koyama |first=Emi |date=July 26, 2001|title=The Transfeminist Manifesto (From Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the Twenty-First Century) |url=http://eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Northeastern University Press|page=10|isbn=978-1555535704|accessdate=January 25, 2015}}</ref>

===Gender dysphoria===
[[Gender dysphoria]] describes the condition of people who experience significant [[dysphoria]] with the [[sex assignment]] that they were given at birth, or the [[gender role]]s associated with that sex. The term "gender identity disorder" (GID) is also frequently used especially in the formal [[diagnosis]] used amongst [[psychologist]]s and [[physician]]s.<ref name="etiology">{{cite journal|last=Heylens|first=G|last2=De Cuypere |first2=G |last3=Zucker|first3=K|author3-link=Kenneth Zucker|last4=Schelfaut|first4=C|last5=Elaut|first5=E|last6=Vanden Bossche|first6=H|last7=De Baere|first7=E |last8=T'Sjoen|first8=G|title= Gender Identity Disorder in Twins: A Review of the Case Report Literature|journal=The Journal of Sexual Medicine|year=2012 |volume=8|pages=751–757|doi=10.1111/j.1743-6109.2011.02567.x|issue=3}}</ref>
Gender identity disorder is classified as a medical disorder by the [[International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems|ICD-10 CM]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Gender identity disorder in adolescence and adulthood|publisher=ICD10Data.com|url=http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/F01-F99/F60-F69/F64-/F64.1|accessdate=July 3, 2011}}</ref> and DSM-4.<ref name="recommendations">{{cite journal|last=Fraser|first=L|last2=Karasic|first2=D |last3=Meyer|first3=W |last4=Wylie |first4=K|title=Recommendations for Revision of the DSM Diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder in Adults|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism |year=2010|volume=12|pages=80–85|doi=10.1080/15532739.2010.509202|issue=2}}</ref> The [[DSM-5]], however, uses the less pathologizing term ''gender dysphoria''. Many transgender individuals, transfeminists and medical researchers support the declassification of GID because they say the diagnosis pathologizes [[gender variance]], reinforces the [[Gender binary|binary model of gender]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Newman|first=L|title=Sex, Gender and Culture: Issues in the Definition, Assessment and Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder|journal=Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry|date=July 1, 2002|volume=7|pages=352–359|doi=10.1177/1359104502007003004|issue=3}}</ref> and can result in stigmatization of transgender individuals.<ref name="recommendations"/> Many transfeminists and traditional feminists also propose that this diagnosis be discarded because of its potentially abusive use by people with power,<ref>Crabtree 2002</ref> and may argue that gender variation is the right of all persons.<ref name="Hill 2001"/> When arguing for the previous diagnostic category, pro-GID transfeminists typically concede past misuse of the diagnosis while arguing for greater professional accountability.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dentedbluemercedes.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/destigmatization-versus-coverage-and-access-the-medical-model-of-transsexuality/|title=Destigmatization Versus Coverage and Access: The Medical Model of Transsexuality|author=|date=April 5, 2008|website=wordpress.com}}</ref>


Citing their common experience, many transfeminists{{Like whom?|date=December 2023}} directly challenge the idea that [[femininity]] is an entirely social construction. Instead, they view gender as a multifaceted set of diverse intrinsic and social qualities. For example, there are both trans and cis persons who express themselves in ways that differ from society's expectations of feminine and masculine.<ref name="Ms." />
In many situations or legal jurisdictions, transgender people have insurance coverage for surgery only as a consequence of the diagnosis. Removal would therefore increase patient costs. In other situations, [[anti-discrimination law]]s which protect legally disabled people apply to transgender people only so long as a manifest diagnosis exists. In other cases, transgender people are protected by sex discrimination rules or as a separate category.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.transgenderlaw.org/cases/statecases.htm|title=Transgender Law and Policy Institute: State Cases|author=|date=August 26, 2002|website=archive.org|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916174427/http://www.transgenderlaw.org/cases/statecases.htm|archivedate=September 16, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref> This economic issue can split advocates along class lines.<ref name="mich-handbook"/>


Talia M. Bettcher states in her 2014 essay "Trapped in the Wrong Theory" that "while the actual appeal to [[Gender essentialism|native gender]] must be rejected from a transfeminist perspective, the socially constituted denial of realness must be taken with dead seriousness."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bettcher |first1=Talia Mae |title=Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance |journal=Signs |date=2014 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=383–406 |doi=10.1086/673088 |jstor=10.1086/673088 |s2cid=146756702 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/673088 |issn=0097-9740}}</ref>
At the 2006 Trans Identity Conference at the [[University of Vermont]], Courvant presented an analysis of this controversy. She noted that "eliminationists" must decide whether their efforts to destigmatize trans people conflict with efforts to destigmatize mental illness and whether removing the GID category would actually help with the former, while disrupting the current, albeit limited, insurance regime. Conversely, "preservationists" must address the problem of faulty diagnoses and improper "treatment".<ref>Daphne Scholinski "The Last Time I Wore a Dress"</ref> She proposed retaining the category and focusing efforts on legitimating mental illness and improving acceptance of trans people, leaving aside the diagnosis question.


==See also==
==See also==
{{Portal|Transgender|Feminism}}
{{Portal|Transgender|Feminism}}
* [[Feminist views on transgender and transsexual people]]
* [[Feminism movements and ideologies]]
* [[Feminist views on transgender topics]]
* [[Fourth-wave feminism]]
* [[Heteropatriarchy]]
* [[Heteropatriarchy]]
* [[Heterosexism]]
* [[List of transgender-related topics]]
* [[List of transgender-related topics]]
* [[Lesbian feminism]]
* [[Queer theory]]
* [[Queer theory]]


==References==
==References==
{{full citations needed|date=March 2023}}
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Reflist|2}}


===Works cited===
===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last1=Anzaldua |first1=Gloria |last2=Keating |first2=AnaLouise |title=This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-93682-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zhhzwEACAAJ |language=en}}
* Anonymous ' "A Taste of Inequality" explores issues still on feminist frontline,' Yale Bulletin, March 16, 2001.
* Califia, Patrick (1997). Sex Changes, Cleis Press, San Francisco.
* {{cite book |last=Califia |first=Patrick |year=1997 |title=Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism |publisher=Cleis Press |place=San Francisco |isbn=978-1573440721}}
* Courvant, Diana (2003). [https://web.archive.org/web/20080827195848/http://www.confluere.com/column/20030527-diana.html "Thoughts on "Now That You're a White Man"]
* {{cite web |last=Courvant |first=Diana |date=May 25, 2003 |title=Thoughts on 'Now That You're a White Man' |website=confluere.com |url=http://www.confluere.com/column/20030527-diana.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827195848/http://www.confluere.com/column/20030527-diana.html |archive-date=2008-08-27}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Crabtree |first=Sadie |year=2002 |title=Finding common ground between movements for reproductive freedom and transgender/transsexual liberation |magazine=The Fight for Reproductive Freedom: A Newsletter for Student and Community Activists |publisher=Hampshire College. Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=9–11}}{{better source needed|date=March 2023|reason=This appears to be a student news letter}}
* {{Cite news
* {{cite book |last=Feinberg |first=Leslie |year=1996 |title=[[Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Marsha P. Johnson and Beyond]] |publisher=Beacon Press |place=Boston |isbn=978-0807079416}}
|last1=Courvant

|last2=Koyama
==Further reading==
|year=2000
* Salas-SantaCruz, Omi. "What is Decolonial Trans* Feminism and What Can It Do for Queer/Trans BIPOC Education Research? ''Reimagining Knowledge and Identity through the Convergence of Decolonial and Trans* Feminism''." 2024. [https://doi.org/10.60808/f6by-hh48](https://doi.org/10.60808/f6by-hh48).
|title=Transfeminism.org

|url=http://www.transfeminism.org
|ref=harv
|deadurl=yes
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816213525/http://www.transfeminism.org/
|archivedate=August 16, 2000
}}
* {{Citation |last=Crabtree |first=Sadie |year=2004 |title=The fight for reproductive freedom |pages=9–11}}
* Kessler, Suzanne & McKenna, Wendy (1985). Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20150211063223/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/prince_vc.html
* http://www.gender.org.uk/conf/2004/04ekins.htm
* Virginia Prince quote from her essay in Sexology, "Men Who Choose to Be Women" as quoted in the Advocate, Dec. 2007, "A Transgender History"
* Bryan Strong, Ideas of the Early Sex Education Movement in America, 1890–1920 from the summer 1972 History of Education Quarterly, Vol 12, #2 (Summer 1972). Available online (for fee) at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/366974
* Feinberg, Leslie (1996). Transgender Warriors, Beacon Press, Boston, Mass.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100528021427/http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/tbettch/trans%20intro.pdf Transgender Studies and Feminism: Theory, Politics, and Gender Realities (special issue of Hypatia) co-edited by Talia Bettcher and Ann Garry.]
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-trans/ Feminist Perspectives on Trans Issues, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Talia Bettcher]


{{Feminism}}
{{Feminism}}
{{Transgender footer}}
{{Transgender footer}}
{{LGBT|academy=expanded}}
{{LGBTQ|academy}}


[[Category:LGBT feminism]]
[[Category:Transfeminism| ]]
[[Category:Transgender]]
[[Category:LGBTQ feminism]]
[[Category:Feminism and history]]
[[Category:Feminism and history]]
[[Category:Feminism and transgender]]
[[Category:Feminism and transgender topics]]
[[Category:Feminist theory]]
[[Category:Feminist theory]]
[[Category:Intersectional feminism]]
[[Category:Intersectional feminism]]
[[Category:Third-wave feminism]]
[[Category:Third-wave feminism]]
[[Category:Transfeminism|*]]
[[Category:Transgender studies]]

Latest revision as of 09:22, 28 November 2024

A symbol used to represent transfeminism

Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies.[1] Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama (involved in the ISNA) in The Transfeminist Manifesto.

Transfeminism describes the concepts of gender nonconformity, notions of masculinity and femininity and the maintaining of sex and gender binary on trans men and women. Transfeminists view gender conformity as a control mechanism of patriarchy, which is maintained via violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals as a basis of patriarchy.[2][3]

Tactics of transfeminism emerged from groups such as The Transexual Menace (name from the Lavender Menace) in the 1990s,[4] in response to exclusion of transgender people in Pride marches. The group organized in direct action, focusing on violence against transgender people, such as the murder and rape of Brandon Teena, a trans man. The Transsexual Menace organized protests and sit ins against the medical and mental pathologization of trans people.[5]

Trans people were generally excluded from first wave feminism, as were lesbians and all other people considered "queer." Second wave feminism saw greater level of acceptance amongst some feminists, however "transsexuality" was heavily excluded, and described as an "illness,"[6] even amongst feminists who supported gay liberation. Third and fourth wave feminism have generally been accepting of transgender people, and see trans liberation as an overall part of women's liberation.[4][7][8]

In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press. Transfeminism has also been defined more generally as "an approach to feminism that is informed by trans politics."[9]

History

[edit]

Early voices in the movement include Kate Bornstein, author of 1994 Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us,[10] and Sandy Stone, author of essay "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto", which included a direct response to Janice Raymond's writings on transsexuality.[11] In the 21st century, Krista Scott-Dixon[9] and Julia Serano[12][13] have published transfeminist works. Bornstein has also released new works, such as Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation in 2010 with S. Bear Bergman.[14] Susan Stryker and Talia M. Bettcher have also recently released a publication about transfeminism.[15]

Patrick Califia used the word in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of a periodical.[16] It is possible or even likely that the term was independently coined repeatedly before the year 2000 (or even before Courvant's first claimed use in 1992). The term gained traction only after 1999. Jessica Xavier, an acquaintance of Courvant, may have independently coined the term when she used it to introduce her articles, "Passing As Stigma Management" and "Passing as Privilege" in late 1999.[17][18]

In the past few decades, the idea that all women share a common experience has come under scrutiny by women of color, lesbians, and working class women, among others. Many transgender people are also questioning what gender means, and are challenging gender as a biological fact. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere.[19]

Transfeminism incorporates all major themes of third wave feminism, including diversity, body image, self-definition, and women's agency. It also includes critical analysis of second wave feminism from the perspective of the third wave.[20] It critiques mainstream notions of masculinity and argues that women deserve equal rights and shares the unifying principle with other feminisms that gender is a patriarchal social construct used to oppress women. The "trans" in transgender has been used to imply transgressiveness.[21] Nicholas Birns categorizes transfeminism as "a feminism that defines the term 'trans-' in a maximally heterogeneous way."[22]

The road to legitimacy for transfeminism as a concept has been different and more vexed than for other feminisms. Marginalized women of trans background and affect have had to prove that their needs are different and that mainstream feminism does not necessarily speak for them.[23] Contrarily, trans women must show their womanhood is equally valid as that of other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. Radical feminist Janice Raymond's resistance to considering trans women as women and as participants in feminism is representative of this obstacle. Her career began with The Transsexual Empire (a book-length analysis of transsexual women) and she has often returned to this theme.[24]

In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press.[9]

At the 2007 Transgender Leadership Summit, Alexis Marie Rivera, spoke about her personal experiences with transfeminism as a young Latina trans woman. She discussed her journey from early transition, where she believed she had to take on the role of housewife, to where she was in the present moment. She asserted that, for her, transfeminism is about taking on feminine gender roles because she wants to, not because she has to.[25][third-party source needed]

Compared to other feminisms

[edit]

Common foundations

[edit]

Simone de Beauvoir once said that biology does not and must not equal destiny.[26] Feminists have traditionally explored the boundaries of what it means to be a woman.[27] Transfeminists argue that trans people and cisgender feminists confront society's conventional views of sex and gender in similar ways. Transgender liberation theory offers feminism a new vantage point from which to view gender as a social construct, even offering a new meaning of gender.[19]

Transfeminist critics of mainstream feminism say that as an institutionalized movement, feminism has lost sight of the basic idea that biology is not destiny. In fact, they argue, many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender and insisting on a given destiny for trans persons based on nothing more than biology.[28][29] Transfeminism aims to resist and challenge the fixedness of gender that, as many of its supporters believe, traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.[30]

Transgender people are frequently targets of anti-trans violence.[31][32] While cis women also routinely face violence, transfeminists recognize anti-trans violence as a form of gender policing.[33]

Differences

[edit]

Transfeminism stands in stark contrast to mainstream second-wave feminism. Transfeminists often criticize the ideas of a universal sisterhood, aligning more with intersectionality and with the mainstream third wave's appreciation for the diversity of women's experience.[34]

According to Julia Serano femininity in transgender women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in cisgender women.[35] This double standard reveals that the behavior itself is not as problematic to many critics as the existence of trans people.[28][36] Julia Serano refers to the breed of misogyny experienced by trans women as 'transmisogyny'.[12]

Access to feminist spaces

[edit]

Though little acknowledged, trans people have been part of feminist movements.[37] There have been a number of documented occasions when the trans people portrayed as bad actors were in fact the victims of overreactions by others.[38][39]

Lesbian feminism and transfeminism

[edit]

In Living a Feminist Life (2017), Sara Ahmed imagines lesbian feminism as a fundamental and necessary alliance with trans feminism. Ahmed argues an anti-trans stance is an anti-feminist stance and one that works against the feminist project of creating worlds to support those for whom gender fatalism (i.e. boys will be boys, girls will be girls) is deleterious.[40]

Radical feminism and transfeminism

[edit]

Some radical feminists have expressed anti-trans viewpoints. For example, in Gender Hurts (2014), Sheila Jeffreys argued that trans feminism amounted to men exercising their authority in defining what women are.[41]

Some radical feminists are supportive of trans rights. The radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin, in her book Woman Hating, argued against the persecution and hatred of transgender people and demanded that sex reassignment surgery be provided freely to transgender people by the community. Dworkin argued that "every transsexual has the right to survival on his/her own terms. That means every transsexual is entitled to a sex-change operation, and it should be provided by the community as one of its functions."[42]

Allegations of transphobia in radical feminism

[edit]

Radical feminist Janice Raymond's 1979 book, The Transsexual Empire, was and still is controversial due to its unequivocal condemnation of transgender surgeries. [citation needed] Raymond says, "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive."[43]

In the early 1990s Michigan Womyn's Music Festival ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder,[44] After that, the festival maintained that it is intended for "womyn-born-womyn" only.[45] The activist group Camp Trans formed to protest the transphobic "womyn-born-womyn" policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans people within the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and transfeminists were involved in Camp Trans including Riki Wilchins, Jessica Xavier, and Leslie Feinberg.[46][47][48] The festival considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend; however, this was criticized as classist, as many trans women cannot afford genital surgery.[49] Since this incident, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival has updated their community statements page. This page now includes a list of links to letters and statements such as their August 2014 response to Equality Michigan's Call For Boycott and a list of demands in response to the Equality Michigan call to boycott.[50] The initial response to the boycott states that the MWMF believes that "support for womyn-born-female space is not at odds with standing with and for the transgender community".[51]

Kimberly Nixon is a trans woman who volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1995. When Nixon's transgender status was determined, she was expelled. The staff decided that Nixon's status made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients, and also required their clients to be genetically female. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse and sued for discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued that there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly transgender woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case.[52][53][54]

Transgender women such as Sandy Stone challenged the mainstream second-wave feminist conception of "biological woman". Stone worked as a sound engineer for Olivia Records from about 1974 to 1978, resigning as the controversy over a trans woman working for a lesbian-identified enterprise increased.[55] The debate continued in Raymond's book,[24] which devoted a chapter to criticism of "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist." Groups like Lesbian Organization of Toronto instituted "womyn-born womyn only" policies. A formal request to join the L.O.O.T. was made by a male-to-female transgender lesbian in 1978. In response, the organization voted to exclude trans women. During informal discussion, members of L.O.O.T expressed their outrage that in their view a "sex-change he-creature...dared to identify himself as a woman and a lesbian." In their public response, L.O.O.T. wrote:

A woman's voice was almost never heard as a woman's voice—it was always filtered through men's voices. So here a guy comes along saying, "I'm going to be a girl now and speak for girls." And we thought, "No you're not." A person cannot just joined the oppressed by fiat.[56]

Radical transfeminism

[edit]

Some transgender women have been participants in lesbian feminism and radical feminism. A prominent example is Sandy Stone, a trans lesbian feminist who worked as a sound technician for the lesbian-feminist Olivia Records. In June and July 1977, when 22 feminists protested Stone's participation, Olivia Records defended her employment by saying that Stone was a "woman we can related to with comfort and trust" and that she was "perhaps even the Goddess-sent engineering wizard we had so long sought."[57]

Issues within transfeminism

[edit]

Inclusion in mainstream feminism

[edit]

According to Graham Mayeda, women who identify as right-wing feel that issues of equality and female importance becomes less significant when the biology of trans people, specifically, male-to-female trans people, is mentioned.[58] He noted that these feminists feel that the biological nature of trans-females confuse "women only" boundaries and could contradict or disrupt feminist goals of establishing a voice in a patriarchal world.[58]

Groups such as the Lesbian Avengers accept trans women, while others reject them. The Violence Against Women Act now "explicitly protects transgender and lesbian, gay, and bisexual survivors", such that domestic violence centers, rape crisis centers, support groups, and other VAWA-funded services cannot turn away any person due to their sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.[59]

Gender dysphoria

[edit]

Gender dysphoria describes the condition of people who experience significant dysphoria with the sex assignment that they were given at birth, or the gender roles associated with that sex[citation needed]. The term "gender identity disorder" (GID) is also frequently used especially in the formal diagnosis used amongst psychologists and physicians.[60] Gender identity disorder was classified as a medical disorder by the ICD-10 CM[61] and DSM-4.[62] The DSM-5 uses the less pathologizing term gender dysphoria, and the ICD-11 uses the term gender incongruence. Many transgender individuals, transfeminists and medical researchers support the declassification of GID because they say the diagnosis pathologizes gender variance, reinforces the binary model of gender,[63] and can result in stigmatization of transgender individuals.[62] Many transfeminists and traditional feminists also propose that this diagnosis be discarded because of its potentially abusive use by people with power,[64][better source needed] and may argue that gender variation is the right of all persons.[20] When arguing for the previous diagnostic category, pro-GID transfeminists typically concede past misuse of the diagnosis while arguing for greater professional accountability.[65]

In many situations or legal jurisdictions, transgender people have insurance coverage for surgery only as a consequence of the diagnosis. Removal would therefore increase patient costs. In other situations, anti-discrimination laws which protect legally disabled people apply to transgender people only so long as a manifest diagnosis exists. In other cases, transgender people are protected by sex discrimination rules or as a separate category.[66] This economic issue can split advocates along class lines.[39]

At the 2006 Trans Identity Conference at the University of Vermont, Courvant presented an analysis of this controversy. She noted that "eliminationists" must decide whether their efforts to destigmatize trans people conflict with efforts to destigmatize mental illness and whether removing the GID category would actually help with the former, while disrupting the current, albeit limited, insurance regime. Conversely, "preservationists" must address the problem of faulty diagnoses and improper "treatment".[67] She proposed retaining the category and focusing efforts on legitimating mental illness and improving acceptance of trans people, leaving aside the diagnosis question.[citation needed]

Social construction of gender

[edit]

Citing their common experience, many transfeminists[like whom?] directly challenge the idea that femininity is an entirely social construction. Instead, they view gender as a multifaceted set of diverse intrinsic and social qualities. For example, there are both trans and cis persons who express themselves in ways that differ from society's expectations of feminine and masculine.[34]

Talia M. Bettcher states in her 2014 essay "Trapped in the Wrong Theory" that "while the actual appeal to native gender must be rejected from a transfeminist perspective, the socially constituted denial of realness must be taken with dead seriousness."[68]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Erickson-Schroth, Laura, ed. (2014). Trans bodies, trans selves : a resource for the transgender community. [S.l.]: Oxford University Press. p. 620. ISBN 9780199325351.
  2. ^ Draper, Suzanne C.; Chapple, Reshawna (April 25, 2023). "Resistance as a Foundational Commons: Intersectionality, Transfeminism, and the Future of Critical Feminisms". Affilia. 38 (4): 585–596. doi:10.1177/08861099231165788. S2CID 258340922 – via CrossRef.
  3. ^ Hereth, Blake; Timpe, Kevin (September 4, 2019). The Lost Sheep in Philosophy of Religion: New Perspectives on Disability, Gender, Race, and Animals. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-66355-0 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b Enke, Finn (February 1, 2018). "Collective Memory and the Transfeminist 1970s: Toward a Less Plausible History". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 5 (1): 9–29. doi:10.1215/23289252-4291502.
  5. ^ Scott, Bonnie Kime; Cayleff, Susan E.; Donadey, Anne; Lara, Irene (May 24, 2016). Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women's Studies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-119-12071-1 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Raha, Nat (2017). "Transfeminine Brokenness, Radical Transfeminism". South Atlantic Quarterly. 116 (3): 632–646. doi:10.1215/00382876-3961754.
  7. ^ Ruth Pearce (2012). "Inadvertent Praxis: What Can "Genderfork" Tell Us about Trans Feminism?" (PDF). ISSN 1939-330X.
  8. ^ Mann, Susan Archer; Huffman, Douglas J. (January 22, 2005). "The Decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave". Science & Society. 69 (1): 56–91. doi:10.1521/siso.69.1.56.56799 – via CrossRef.
  9. ^ a b c Scott-Dixon, Krista, ed. (2006). Trans/forming feminisms : trans/feminist voices speak out. Toronto: Sumach Press. ISBN 9781894549615. Archived from the original on March 26, 2009.
  10. ^ Bornstein, Kate (1994). "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us." ISBN 0-679-75701-5
  11. ^ Stone, Sandy (1991). The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. In Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity.
  12. ^ a b Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping Girl, A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-1580051545.
  13. ^ Serano, Julia (2013). Excluded: Making Queer and Feminist Movements More Inclusive. Basic Books. ISBN 978-1580055048.
  14. ^ "Interview with S. Bear Bergman (The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You) — Genderfork". genderfork.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  15. ^ Stryker, Susan; Bettcher, Talia M. (May 2016). "Introduction". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 5–14. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334127. ISSN 2328-9252.
  16. ^ Califia, Patrick (July 1997). Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism. Cleis Pr; First Printing Highlighting edition. ISBN 978-1573440721.
  17. ^ Xavier, Jessica, Passing as Stigma Management, archived from the original on July 5, 2008
  18. ^ Xavier, Jessica, Passing as Privilege, archived from the original on July 5, 2008
  19. ^ a b Gluckman, R.; Trudeau, M. (2002). "Trans-itioning feminism: the politics of transgender in the reproductive rights movement" (PDF). Amherst, MA. Hampshire College. pp. 6–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 18, 2017.
  20. ^ a b Hill, R. J. (2001), Menacing Feminism, Educating Sisters (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2008
  21. ^ See the subtitle of the trans community periodical "Chrysalis," which is "The Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities," transfeminism should not be seen as an anti-feminist movement
  22. ^ Birns, Nicholas, "The Earth's Revenge: Nature, Transfeminism and Diaspora in Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl", in Lee, A. Robert (ed.), China Fictions, English Language: Literary Essays in Diaspora, Memory, Story, Rodopi, 2008, p. 161.
  23. ^ Johnson Reagon, B. (1981), Coalition Politics: Turning the Century
  24. ^ a b Raymond, J. (1994), The Transsexual Empire (2nd ed.), Teachers College Press; The second edition includes a new forward that describes her transgender-related work after the publication of her thesis project as the first edition in the late 70s.
  25. ^ "Transgender Leadership Summit, Sunday, March 25, 2007". August 9, 2011 – via www.youtube.com.
  26. ^ Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
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Works cited

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Further reading

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  • Salas-SantaCruz, Omi. "What is Decolonial Trans* Feminism and What Can It Do for Queer/Trans BIPOC Education Research? Reimagining Knowledge and Identity through the Convergence of Decolonial and Trans* Feminism." 2024. [1](https://doi.org/10.60808/f6by-hh48).