The Hubris and Priggishness of Some Transsexual Women

Here's a question for you... (Although it's probably unanswerable.)

Why do so many political transsexual websites focus almost entirely upon the evils of "transgenders"? 

Time and again I read some politically active transsexual lass writing not about equal rights or feminism, but about how all transgender folk are undermining transsexuality or women. Often both. The format is always the same: define what a transgender person is, never in a way that a transgender person would recognize, and then attack, and occasionally demonize, the strawman they've just set up.

While it's early days, you can almost divide the anti-transgender arguments into "pre-RadFem 2012" and "post-RadFem 2012". The pre- stuff had more emphasis on womanhood and the post- nonsense tries to avoid that, mostly because the prejudiced arguer would need to acknowledge that she's a Radical Transsexual Feminist and the only difference between her and RadFems in general is in how she defines what a woman is. (Not whom, what.)

The common thread is always lumping all transgender people together. Although, to be fair, sometimes the transsexual antagonist is willing to allow that there are drag queens, crossdressers and (their favorite, because it's known to be derogatory) transvestites. And there are two common themes: this mysterious umbrella and the encroachment of transgenderism into transsexualism. I should mention that I have yet to see a coherent definition of either term.

Now, generalized demagoguing is common; it's often used without thought in politics. "Liberals" this, "conservatives" that, gays this, Muslims that, and so on. There's also the clear human trait of disparaging those perceived to be weaker than ourselves. That group is perceived as inferior and can be derided to your little heart's content, so to speak. So... The question actually does have an answer! :-)

It's far easier to lump all transgender folk together and attack them as a group than it is to acknowledge that it's as disparate as any group that has people in it. To play on the old Jewish quip, ask two transgender folk for their opinion and who knows how many you'll end up with! But ask twenty anti-transgender transsexual women their opinion about transgender folk, and you'll get two common opinions. (I could play the game and rephrase that "ask transsexual women their opinion about transgender folk, and ... etc. But that would be [unfair and] disingenuous and [as] silly as the lumping together that I'm complaining about.)

All we can actually say about transgender people are that there are some activists whom seek equal rights and [fair] consideration for all trans- people; that's the mysterious umbrella, by the way. Occasionally this is badly framed, often some variation of "all trans- people are the same". That this might be clumsily phrased isn't given a moment's thought; it's seized upon as (never quoted) evidence. And there are some transgender women who find it interesting to explore what "transsexual" means. And then there's the deeply personal vilification of a certain lass because she had the temerity to reveal what her op was; she considers herself a woman as a result*.  She seems to have annoyed a few transsexual women. [Mostly by, and this is astonishing, by continuing to say she's transsexual and transgender!] I think we can dismiss those people such petty folk as busy-body blue hairs with nothing better to do than pry into someone's medical history and pass judgment upon it.

*I believe the state agrees, but as it's no one's concern but her own, I didn't bother to ask.

We can answer the question, can't we? It's because some transsexual women need to feel superior to all transgender women and folk and that's about it. To be honest.

If it were about particular issues, the arguments would be phrased as "so-and-so is wrong and this is why". But they aren't - they're always "transgenders think this", [transgenderism is that]. I also think it fair to allege that if you're willing to write, or allow such nonsense to be published then you're not interested in equal rights - you're simply interested in maintaining a punitive fiction because it makes you feel better. You're basically the same as the RadFems with their claims about men and women; your only difference is that instead of counting all trans- folks as men, you just count transgender folk that way. If these people were interested in equal consideration, they'd argue about specific people and specific claims, but they don't: they reduce their arguments to derisive platitudes and prejudice. In the one instance where they can easily point to a specific person, they don't - because they know it's none of their business. And, I think, some of these prejudicially inclined women know that they can't judge someone by the same standards Radical Feminists judge them by. Doing that would be hypocritical. Some other transsexual women aren't as wise or "considerate". The general revulsion all of these people have of and to transgender women is, I think, genuine.

To reiterate: some transsexual women need to feel superior to all transgender women and they show this by demagoguing transgender women. Some transsexual women find all transgender women to be abhorrent for no particular reason. And in all their hubris, they pursue demagoguery that reduces themselves to prigs.

Carolyn Ann