Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. 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 with the ISNA in The Transfeminist Manifesto.
Transfeminism describes the concepts of gender nonconformity, notions of masculinity and femininity and the maintaining of the gender binary on gender diverse individuals. Transfeminists view gender conformity as a control mechanism which is maintained via violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals as a basis for patriarchy and transmisogyny.
Transfeminist tactics emerged from groups such as The Transexual Menace in the 1990s, in response to the 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 medicalization of gender diversity.
Transgender people were excluded from first-wave feminism, as were lesbians and all other people considered "queer." Second-wave feminism saw a greater level of queer acceptance amongst some feminists, however "transsexuality" was heavily excluded, and described as an "illness," 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.
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."
History Early voices in the movement include Kate Bornstein, author of 1994 Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us,Bornstein, Kate (1994). "Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us." and Sandy Stone, author of the 1987 essay "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto", which included a direct response to Janice Raymond's writings on transsexuality.Stone, Sandy (1991). The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto . In Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity. At the beginning of the 21st century, Emi Koyama published the Transfeminist Manifesto and later a website. Krista Scott-Dixon and Julia Serano have published transfeminist works, and in 2016, Susan Stryker and Talia Mae Bettcher produced a special issue of Transgender Studies Quarterly dedicated to transfeminism.
Patrick Califia used the term transfeminism in print in 1997, and this remains the first known use in print outside of 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.
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. Transfeminists insist that their unique experiences be recognized as part of the feminist sphere. More recently, transgender people have been questioning what gender means, and challenging it as a concept.
Transfeminism incorporates all the 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. It critiques mainstream notions of masculinity, 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.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 Nicholas Birns categorizes transfeminism as "a feminism that defines the term 'trans-' in a maximally heterogeneous way."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.
The road to legitimacy for transfeminism as a concept has been different and more challenging than for other feminisms. Marginalized women from gender-diverse backgrounds have had to prove that their needs are uniquely different and not included in mainstream feminism. Contrarily, trans women must show their womanhood is equally as valid as other women, and that feminism can speak for them without ceasing to be feminism. Radical feminist Janice Raymond clearly represents this obstacle through her resistance to considering trans women as women that should be included in feminism. Her career began with The Transsexual Empire, a book-length analysis of transsexual women, which has themes she often returns to.; 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.
In 2006, the first book on transfeminism, Trans/Forming Feminisms: Transfeminist Voices Speak Out edited by Krista Scott-Dixon, was published by Sumach Press.
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.
Compared to other feminisms
Common foundations Simone de Beauvoir explained the concept of how biology does not equal destiny. Feminists have traditionally explored the boundaries of what it means to be a woman. Transfeminists argue that trans people and cisgender feminists confront society's conventional views of sex and gender in similar ways. Transgender liberation theory offers a new vantage point from which feminism can view gender as a social construct, under a new definition of gender.
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 that many feminists seem perfectly comfortable equating sex and gender, while insisting on a given destiny for trans people based on nothing more than biology.Courvant, Diana "Thinking of Privilege" In Transfeminism aims to resist and challenge this rigid perspective on gender because traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon these concepts.Salamon, Gayle (2008). "Women's Studies on the Edge", p. 117. Duke University Press, Durham. .
Transgender people are frequently targets of violence. While cis women also routinely face violence, transfeminists recognize anti-trans violence as a form of gender policing.
Differences Transfeminism stands in stark contrast to mainstream second-wave feminism. Participants of this movement often criticize the ideas of a universal sisterhood, instead aligning more with intersectionality and the mainstream third wave's appreciation for the diversity of womanhood.
Femininity in transgender women is noticed and punished much more harshly than the same behaviors in cisgender women. This double standard reveals that, to many critics, the behavior itself is not as problematic as the mere existence of trans people is. In This is one example transmisogyny, a term coined by Julia Serano in her book Whipping Girl.
Access to feminist spaces Though rarely acknowledged, trans people have unintentionally been part of feminist movements in unconventional ways throughout history.Deke Law, "Evolution" in This is What Lesbian Looks Like, Kris Kleindienst, Firebrand Books, 1999. 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.See Courvant at See Koyama at http://www.confluere.com/store/pdf-zn/mich-handbook.pdf
Lesbian feminism and transfeminism
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.
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.
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."
Allegations of transphobia in 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. 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."
In the early 1990s Michigan Womyn's Music Festival ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder,Van Gelder, Lindsy; and Pamela Robin Brandt. "The Girls Next Door: Into the Heart of Lesbian America", p. 73. Simon and Schuster, After that, the festival maintained that it is intended for "womyn-born-womyn" only. 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. The festival considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend; however, this was criticized as classist, as many trans women cannot afford genital surgery. After this incident, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival updated their community statements page. The page included 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. The initial response to the boycott stated that the MWMF believes that "support for womyn-born-female space is not at odds with standing with and for the transgender community".