Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.
Third-wave feminists
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
and
fourth-wave feminists tend to view the struggle for
trans rights
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...
as an integral part of
intersectional feminism
Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...
.
Former president of the American
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
(NOW)
Terry O'Neill has stated that the struggle against
transphobia
Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...
is a feminist issue,
with NOW affirming that "trans women are women, trans girls are girls."
Several studies have found that people who identify as feminists tend to be more accepting of trans people than those who do not.
An ideology variously known as gender-critical feminism, or
trans-exclusionary radical feminism
TERF () is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term was originally used to distinguish trans-inclusive feminists from a group of Radical feminism, radical feminists who reject the assertion that tr ...
(TERF),
is critical of concepts of
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
and
transgender rights
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...
, holding that
biological sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, o ...
characteristics are an immutable determination of gender or supersede the importance of gender identity:
in other words that trans women are not meaningfully women, and trans men are not men.
These views have been described as
transphobic
Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...
by many other feminists.
[
Some authors, such as ]Julia Serano
Julia Michelle Serano (; born 1967) is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, trans– bi activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books ''Whipping Girl'' (2007), ''Excluded'' (2013), and ''Outspoken'' (2016). Sh ...
and Emi Koyama
Emi Koyama (b. 1975) is a Japanese-American activist, artist, and independent scholar. Koyama's work discusses issues of feminism, intersex human rights, domestic violence, and sex work among many others. Koyama is best known for her 2000 essay "Th ...
, have founded a stream within feminism called transfeminism
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 no ...
, which views the struggle for the rights of trans people and trans women in particular as an integral part of the feminist struggle for all women's rights.
History
Early 1900s
In 1919, the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
The was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as ''Institute of Sex Research'', ''Institute of Sexology'', ''Institute for Sexology'' or ''Institute for the Science of Sexual ...
, a sexuality advocacy and research institution, was founded in Berlin in the Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. As well as advocating for women's emancipation
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
, sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...
, and access to contraception, the institute prominently endorsed LGBT rights and oversaw the development of several advances in trans healthcare, including coining the term "transsexualism" and performing sex reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
. Institute founder Magnus Hirschfelds's closest collaborator in the feminist movement was Helene Stöcker
Helene Stöcker (13 November 1869 – 24 February 1943) was a German feminist, pacifist and gender activist. She successfully campaigned keep same sex relationships between women legal, but she was unsuccessful in her campaign to legalise abortion ...
, whose ' was directly affiliated with the institute. Both Hirschfeld and Stöcker viewed women's liberation as intertwined with that of gay and transgender people. Anarchist feminist Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...
also spoke favourably of the institute's work, writing in one of her letters to Hirschfeld that it was "a tragedy... that people of a different sexual type are caught in a world which shows so little understanding for homosexuals and is so crassly indifferent to the various gradations and variations of gender and their great significance in life." Soon after the Nazis took power in 1933, the institute was forcibly shut down, becoming the first large target of the Nazi book burnings
The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (, ''DSt'') to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representin ...
.
Second wave (1970s–80s)
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, corresponding roughly to the second wave of feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
, there were several notable clashes between feminists (especially early radical feminists
Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...
) over the inclusion of trans women in feminist spaces. A significant early dispute occurred in 1973 during a scheduled performance at the West Coast Lesbian Conference by transgender lesbian folk-singer and co-organiser of the event Beth Elliott
Beth Elliott (born 1950) is an American trans lesbian folk singer, activist, and writer. In the early 1970s Elliot was involved with the Daughters of Bilitis and the West Coast Lesbian Conference in California. She became the centre of a controve ...
. Elliott had previously served as vice-president of the San Francisco chapter of the lesbian group Daughters of Bilitis
The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to lesb ...
, and edited the chapter's newsletter, ''Sisters'', but had been expelled from the group the same year on a 35–28 vote on the grounds that she did not qualify as a woman. After a lesbian separatist
Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,p. 104 Because much of ...
group leafleted the conference against her presence, a vote was held among attendees on whether to allow her to remain, with over two-thirds voting in her favor. Despite the results of the vote, Elliott chose to leave after threats of further disruption were made. The following day of the event, Robin Morgan
Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
used her keynote speech to criticise Elliott, describing her as a "man" and "an opportunist, an infiltrator, and a destroyer – with the mentality of a rapist."
Later the same year, a conflict arose between Jean O'Leary
Jean O'Leary (March 4, 1948 – June 4, 2005) was an American lesbian and gay rights activist. She was the founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, one of the first lesbian activist groups in the women's movement, and an early member and co-dir ...
, a founder of lesbian advocacy organization Lesbian Feminist Liberation
Lesbian Feminist Liberation was a lesbian rights advocacy organization in New York City formed in 1972.
Formation
Lesbian Feminist Liberation was originally the Lesbian Liberation Committee and a part of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). In 197 ...
, and Sylvia Rivera
Sylvia Rivera (July 2, 1951 – February 19, 2002) was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist September 21, 1995. Accessed July 24, 2015. who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag q ...
and Lee Brewster
Lee Greer Brewster (April 27, 1943 – May 19, 2000) was an American drag queen, transgender activist, and retailer. He was a founding member of the pre-Stonewall activist group, Queens Liberation Front. In the 1970s and 1980s, he published ''Drag' ...
, after O'Leary said in a speech at the Christopher Street Liberation Day event: "we support the right of every person to dress in the way that she or he wishes. But we are opposed to the exploitation of women by men for entertainment or profit." O'Leary later regretted her stance against trans women and drag queens, saying that "looking back, I find this so embarrassing because my views have changed so much since then. I would never pick on a transvestite now." "It was horrible. How could I work to exclude transvestites and at the same time criticize the feminists who were doing their best back in those days to exclude lesbians?" Another incident occurred in 1978 when a trans woman asked to join the Lesbian Organization of Toronto
The Lesbian Organization of Toronto (L.O.O.T. or LOOT) was a lesbian organization founded in 1976 and disbanded in 1980. The group was Toronto's first openly lesbian feminist group, and its members elected to open Canada's first Lesbian Centre.
...
(LOOT). In response, the organization voted to exclude trans women. LOOT 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 join the oppressed by fiat."
Radical feminist Janice Raymond
Janice G. Raymond (born January 24, 1943) is an American lesbian radical feminist and professor emerita of women's studies and medical ethics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is known for her work against violence, sexual explo ...
published ''The Transsexual Empire
''The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male'' is a 1979 book critical of transgender people by American radical feminist author and activist Janice Raymond. The book is derived from Raymond's dissertation, which was produced under the sup ...
'' in 1979. In it, she criticised contemporary medical and psychiatric approaches to transsexuality (medical aspects of gender transition
Gender transition is the process of changing one's gender presentation or sex characteristics to accord with one's internal sense of gender identity – the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman,Brown, M. L. & Rounsley, C. A. (1996) ''True ...
), arguing instead that "the problem of transsexualism would best be served by morally mandating it out of existence," and accused trans women of reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes. Several academics, researchers and writers characterized these views as extremely transphobic and/or hate speech. ''Empire'' also included a chapter criticising "the transsexually constructed lesbian-feminist", devoting a section to Sandy Stone, a trans woman who worked as a sound engineer for feminist record collective Olivia Records
Olivia Records is a women's music record label founded in 1973 by lesbian members of the Washington D.C. area. It was founded by Ginny Berson, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and six other women. Olivia Records sold more than one ...
. The collective publicly defended Stone, but after continued pressure, including an incident where a trans-exclusionary group that issued death threats showed up to an Olivia event with guns, Stone resigned. She later wrote '' The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto'', a response to Raymond's ''Empire'' and a foundational work in the field of transgender studies
Transgender studies, also called trans studies or trans* studies, is an interdisciplinary field of academic research dedicated to the study of gender identity, gender expression, and gender embodiment, as well as to the study of various issues of ...
.
Not every early radical feminist opposed trans acceptance. Andrea Dworkin
Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist writer and activist best known for her analysis of pornography. Her feminist writings, beginning in 1974, span 30 years. They are found in a dozen solo ...
, for example, viewed gender reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
as a right for transgender people. She also wrote a letter to Raymond critical of ''The Transsexual Empire'', which commented that of the transsexuals she met in Europe (who she called a "small, vigorously persecuted minority"), she "perceived their suffering as authentic", and related their experiences to Jewish and female experiences. Dworkin said that it was a myth "that there are two polar distinct sexes". The notion that human sex is not a naturally discrete binary, and that this conception is the result of gendered cultural and political processes, was later taken up and developed by authors like Anne Fausto-Sterling
Anne Fausto-Sterling ( Sterling; born July 30, 1944) is an American sexologist who has written extensively on the biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, gender roles, and intersexuality. She is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emer ...
and Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
.
Concerning the oversight of the existence of these trans-inclusive radical feminist views, as well as of the role of trans women in the feminist struggle, historian Susan Stryker
Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961) is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT Stu ...
remarked that "transsexual women were active in the radical feminist movement of the late 1960s, but were almost entirely erased from its history after 1973."
Third wave (1990–2000s)
The third wave of feminism
Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-wav ...
saw much greater acceptance of transgender rights, largely due to the influence of philosophers such as Kimberlé Crenshaw
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (born May 5, 1959) is an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory. She is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, where she specializes in race and gender iss ...
and Judith Butler, who argued for greater inclusion and examination of other developing fields (such as critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...
and queer theory) within feminism. Butler in particular argued that women's liberation required a questioning of gender itself, and that accepting gay, trans, and gender-nonconforming
Gender variance or gender nonconformity is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A gender-nonconforming person may be variant in their gender identity, being transgender or non-bina ...
people would promote this sort of questioning. After them, other feminist authors like Cressida Heyes
Cressida J. Heyes (born 1970) is a British and naturalized Canadian philosopher, currently employed as the Henry Marshall Tory Chair at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and formerly as the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Gender and Sexu ...
have embarked on projects of "finding grounds for solidarity" between trans and cisgender women, considering "woman" a family-resemblance concept rather than an essential or univocal one.
In the early 1990s, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The La ...
(MichFest) ejected a transgender woman, Nancy Burkholder. From that point on, the festival maintained it was intended for "womyn-born womyn
Womyn-born womyn (WBW) is a term developed during second-wave feminism to designate women who were assigned female at birth, were raised as girls, and identify as women (or womyn, a deliberately alternative spelling that challenges the centerin ...
". The group Camp Trans
Camp Trans was the name of an annual demonstration and event held outside the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MWMF or Michfest) in Oceana County, Michigan. This demonstration was held by transgender women and their allies to protest against th ...
formed to protest this policy and to advocate for greater acceptance of trans women in the feminist community. A number of prominent trans activists and feminists were involved in Camp Trans, including Riki Wilchins
Riki Anne Wilchins (born 1952) is an American activist whose work has focused on the impact of gender norms.
Background
Wilchins founded the first national transgender advocacy group (GenderPAC). Their analysis and work broadened over time to ...
, Jessica Xavier, and Leslie Feinberg
Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014) was an American butch lesbian, transgender activist, communist, and author. Feinberg authored '' Stone Butch Blues'' in 1993. . MichFest considered allowing post-operative trans women to attend, but this was criticized as classist
Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense ...
, as many trans women could not afford sex reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
. Lisa Vogel, MichFest's organizer, said protesters from Camp Trans engaged in vandalism. The festival ended in 2015.
Fourth wave (2010–present)
Many fourth-wave feminists are trans-inclusive. US organizations such as the National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
, the Feminist Majority Foundation
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, whose stated mission is to advance non-violence and women's power, equality, and economic development. The name Feminist Majority com ...
, and Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
support and advocate for trans rights, as do most Canadian feminist organizations and most African feminists. The influence of trans-exclusionary feminists has waned significantly, though they are still somewhat in the United Kingdom.
General perspectives on transgender rights
Queer feminist philosopher Judith Butler has argued for feminist solidarity with trans and gender-nonconforming people, and has been critical of philosophers, such as Sheila Jeffreys
Sheila Jeffreys (born 13 May 1948) is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.
Jeffreys' argument that the "se ...
, who they argue engage in oppressive attempts to dispute trans people's sense of identity. In a 2014 interview Butler argued for civil rights for trans people: " thing is more important for transgender people than to have access to excellent health care in trans-affirmative environments, to have the legal and institutional freedom to pursue their own lives as they wish, and to have their freedom and desire affirmed by the rest of the world." They also responded to some of Jeffreys's and Janice Raymond's criticisms of trans people, calling them "prescriptivism" and "tyranny." According to Butler, trans people are not a product of medical discourse
Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. ...
but rather develop new discourses through self-determination.
In 2012 Jeffreys wrote in ''The Guardian'' that she and other critics of "transgenderism" had been subject to intimidation campaigns on the internet, the extent of which suggested that trans rights advocates fear the "practice of transgenderism" becoming the subject of criticism.
In a 2009 paper in '' Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy'', Canadian feminist Viviane Namaste
Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor at Concordia University in Montreal. Her research focuses on sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sex work.
Education and work
Namaste received a Bachelors of Arts from Carleton University in ...
criticised "Anglo-American feminist theory" for relying on "transsexual women to ask its own epistemological questions", further arguing that the realities of trans lives were "chillingly absent from Anglo-American feminist theory and its framing of the Transgender Question" and the knowledge gained by that feminism consequently "has been of little benefit to transsexual women ourselves."
American academic Susan Stryker
Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961) is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT Stu ...
wrote in 2007 that first-wave feminism had commonalities with the transgender rights movement " the extent that breaking out of the conventional constrictions of womanhood is both a feminist and transgender practice". She added that transgender issues had prompted feminist scholars to question notions of biological sex, and that transgender theorising was associated with the rise of postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
epistemology in third-wave feminist thought.
In a 2015 interview, radical feminist Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born October 7, 1946) is an American radical feminist legal scholar, activist, and author. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she has been tenured since 1990, a ...
cited Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even th ...
's famous quotation about " becom a woman">nga woman" to say that who identifies as a woman, wants to be a woman, is going around being a woman, as far as I'm concerned, is a woman." Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell
Raewyn Connell (born 3 January 1944), usually cited as R. W. Connell, is an Australian sociologist. She gained prominence as an intellectual of the Australian New Left. She was appointed University Professor at the University of Sydney in 2004 ...
has said that "the thought that the relationship between character and reproductive bodies might change has long been present in feminism," citing de Beauvoir as well as Mathilde Vaerting
Mathilde Vaerting (10 January 1884, Messingen – 6 May 1977, Schönau im Schwarzwald) was a German feminist and writer on matriarchy.
Vaerting's ''A New Basis for the Psychology of Man and Woman'' (1921) explained gender role differences functi ...
.
Lesbian feminist of color Sara Ahmed
Sara Ahmed (30 August 1969) is a British-Australian writer and scholar whose area of study includes the intersection of feminist theory, lesbian feminism, queer theory, affect theory, critical race theory and postcolonialism. Her seminal wor ...
has said that an anti-trans stance is an anti-feminist one, and that trans feminism "recalls" earlier militant lesbian feminism.
Kimberlé Crenshaw wrote in favor of trans inclusion in intersectional feminism: "People of color within LGBTQ movements; girls of color in the fight against the school-to-prison pipeline; women within immigration movements; trans women within feminist movements; and people with disabilities fighting police abuse—all face vulnerabilities that reflect the intersections of racism, sexism, class oppression, transphobia, able-ism and more. Intersectionality has given many advocates a way to frame their circumstances and to fight for their visibility and inclusion."
Particular topics
Colonialism
Argentine feminist Maria Lugones has argued that the gender binary is a colonial imposition that has been used to divide and subjugate people. Building on Lugones's work, Brooklyn Leo of Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
has argued that "the resistant-creative work of trans bodies of color liberates not just the folds of our own flesh from the Western gaze, but also sustains a new place of possibility for the cis accomplices who also refuse the privileges of the colonial/modern gender system."
In a 2020 paper in Feminist Criminology
The feminist school of criminology is a school of criminology developed in the late 1960s and into the 1970s as a reaction to the general disregard and discrimination of women in the traditional study of crime. It is the view of the feminist sch ...
, Nishant Upadhyay of University of Colorado, Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...
argued that "transphobia is enmeshed in white feminism's colonial and white supremacist epistemological frameworks, and that their transphobia, in turn, continues to reproduce gender as a colonial myth" and that the "reduction of the category of 'woman' has been long challenged" by "Black, Indigenous, women of color, Third World, and transnational feminists for decades, if not centuries". In her book ''Me, Not You'', Alison Phipps Alison Phipps may refer to:
* Alison Phipps (sociologist), British political sociologist, gender studies scholar and feminist theorist
* Alison Phipps (refugee researcher)
Alison Phipps OBE FRSE FRSA FAcSS a University of Glasgow professor of ...
argues that "white feminism has a long history of policing the border" and that trans-exclusionary feminists "have much in common with conservatives who claim that increased immigration will result in increased rape".
Legal codification of gender
Caterina Nirta of the University of Roehampton
The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...
has argued that both trans people and feminists benefit from abandoning "the categorical compartmentalisation of identity and spaces."
Commenting on Québec's Bill 2 in 2021, Florence Ashley
Florence Ashley is a Transgender, transfeminine academic, activist and doctoral student at the University of Toronto. They specialise in trans law and bioethics. They have numerous academic publications, including a book on the law and policy of ...
of the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
has argued for the abolition of gender markers in legal documents, saying that they "help naturalize social categorizations based on gender" and pointing to historical research that found such markers were first introduced in France for the purposes of enforcing conscription, preventing queer couples from getting married, preventing gender diversity, and marking women as lessers under the law. Marie Draz of San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
has argued that the "hegemonic account of gender as the organization of biological sex serves to obscure the role of racial and colonial domination and the differential allocation of gender across racial lines" and that legal gender classification serves as an "anchor point that reiterates the power of the state to classify and know its citizens."
Sex reassignment surgery
In her 1974 book '' Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality'', radical feminist writer and activist Andrea Dworkin called for the support of transsexual people, whom she viewed as "in a state of primary emergency" due to "the culture of male–female discreteness". She wrote: "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." She also said that the phenomenon of transsexuality might disappear within communities built on androgynous
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...
identity, as there would no longer be any gender roles to conform to.
In 1977, Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
wrote that while she supported the right of individuals to identify as they choose, in many cases transgender people "surgically mutilate their own bodies" in order to conform to a gender role tied to physical body parts, concluding with the quote: "If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?" Although meant in the context of transgender issues, the quote is frequently misinterpreted as a general statement about feminism. The same year, she also expressed disapproval that the heavily publicized transition of tennis player Renée Richards
Renée Richards (born August 19, 1934) is an American ophthalmologist and former tennis player who competed on the professional circuit in the 1970s, and became widely known following male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, when she fought to ...
(a trans woman) had been characterized as "a frightening instance of what feminism could lead to" or as "living proof that feminism isn't necessary", and wrote, "At a minimum, it was a diversion from the widespread problems of sexual inequality." Steinem's statements led to her being characterized as transphobic for some years. In a 2013 interview with '' The Advocate'', she repudiated the interpretation of her text as an altogether condemnation of sex reassignment surgery, stating that her position was informed by accounts of gay men choosing to transition as a way of coping with societal homophobia
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...
. She added that she sees transgender people as living "authentic lives" that should be "celebrated."
Janice Raymond's ''The Transsexual Empire'' purported to examine the role of transsexuality in reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes, in particular the ways in which the "medical-psychiatric complex" was medicalizing gender identity, and the social and political context that contributed to the image of transsexual treatment and surgery as therapeutic medicine. Raymond maintained that this was based in the "patriarchal myths" of "male mothering", and "making of woman according to man's image", and that transsexualism aimed "to colonize feminist identification, culture, politics and sexuality." Several authors have since characterized this work as extremely transphobic and constituting hate speech, as well as lacking any serious intellectual basis.
In her own 1987 book '' Gyn/Ecology'', Mary Daly
Mary Daly (October 16, 1928–January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing Rom ...
, who had served as Raymond's thesis supervisor, argued that as sex reassignment surgery cannot reproduce female chromosomes or a female life history, it could "not produce women." Sheila Jeffreys and Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century.
Specializing in English and women's literatu ...
have made similar remarks. In a response to related remarks by Elizabeth Grosz
Elizabeth A. Grosz (born 1952 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian philosopher, feminist theorist, and professor working in the U.S. She is Jean Fox O'Barr Women's Studies Professor at Duke University. She has written on 20th-century Fren ...
, philosopher Eva Hayward characterized this type of view as telling trans people who have had sex reassignment surgery: "Don't exist."
Socialization and experience
argue that trans women cannot fully be women because they were assigned male
''Assigned Male'' is a webcomic illustrated and written by Sophie Labelle. It draws upon her experiences as a trans girl and woman. The comic, and series of zines, address issues of gender norms and privilege. It began in October 2014 and is on ...
at birth and have experienced some degree of male privilege
Male privilege is the system of advantages or rights that are available to men solely on the basis of their sex. A man's access to these benefits may vary depending on how closely they match their society's ideal masculine norm.
Academic studi ...
. Radical feminists generally see gender as a system in which women are oppressed for reasons intrinsically related to their sex, and emphasize male violence against women, particularly involving institutions such as the sex industry
The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide Sex worker, sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of s ...
, as central to women's oppression.
Patricia Elliot argues that the view that one's socialization as a girl or woman defines "women's experience" assumes that women's experiences are homogeneous and discounts the possibility that trans and cis women may share the experience of being disparaged for their perceived femininity. Similarly, ''Transfeminist Manifesto'' author Emi Koyama
Emi Koyama (b. 1975) is a Japanese-American activist, artist, and independent scholar. Koyama's work discusses issues of feminism, intersex human rights, domestic violence, and sex work among many others. Koyama is best known for her 2000 essay "Th ...
contends that, while trans women may have experienced some male privilege before transitioning, trans women's experiences are also marked by disadvantages resulting from being trans.
In "Growing Up Trans: Socialization and the Gender Binary," Michelle Dietert and Dianne Dentice write that when youth embody non-standard gender roles or otherwise deviate from expectations of their assigned sex, the gender binary becomes a form of control by authorities, enforcing social norms upon them. In their view, this begins at early socialization, and transgender youth, especially gender-nonconforming children, often experience different treatment, leading to a fear of reprisals as they attempt to please their family and peers and navigate their understanding of their gender and societal expectations. They argue that socialization affects transgender youth differently, especially if they are gender-nonconforming.
In 2017, while discussing whether trans women are women, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...
said, "trans women are trans women." She acknowledged that transgender women face discrimination for being transgender and said she sees this as a serious issue, but also said, "we should not conflate the gender experiences of trans women with that of women born female." She later expanded on her comments, saying, "From the very beginning, I think it's been quite clear that there's no way I could possibly say that trans women are not women. It's the sort of thing to me that's obvious, so I start from that obvious premise. Of course they are women, but in talking about feminism and gender and all of that, it's important for us to acknowledge the differences in experience of gender. That's really what my point is. Had I said 'a cis woman is a cis woman, and a trans woman is a trans woman', I don't think I would get all the crap that I'm getting, but that's actually really what I was saying."
Transgender women in women's spaces and organizations
Laurel Westbrook and Kristin Schildt have argued that the gender trans people are classed as by society can vary from space to space, with the spaces segregated according to strict interpretations of biology doing so to uphold the oppositeness of genders required for heterosexuality and gender binarism. Shannon Weber of Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...
has argued that "excluding transgender women from admission o women's collegesby virtue of biological determinism falls into the same types of anti-feminist ideologies that would historically bar all women from education based on assumptions about the meaning of their biology."
In 1996, Germaine Greer (at the time a fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
at Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...
) unsuccessfully opposed the appointment to a fellowship of her transgender colleague Rachael Padman
Rachael Padman (born 1954) is an Australian physics lecturer at the University of Cambridge in England. From Melbourne, Padman was a graduate in electrical engineering from Monash University, Australia, and specialised in radio astronomy. After ...
. Greer argued that because Padman had been assigned male at birth
Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of birt ...
, she should not be admitted to Newnham, a women's college. Greer later resigned from Newnham.
A 2004 editorial by British radical feminist Julie Bindel
Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners.
A ...
titled "Gender Benders, beware" printed in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' caused the paper to receive two hundred letters of complaint from transgender people, doctors, therapists, academics and others. The editorial expressed her anger at Kimberly Nixon and her views on transsexual people. Transgender activist group Press for Change
Press for Change (PFC) is a UK-based campaign group focusing on the rights and treatment of trans people. Its stated aim is "seeking respect and equality for all trans people in the UK". The group led the campaign for full legal recognition for ...
cite this article as an example of 'discriminatory writing' about transsexual people in the press. Complaints focused on the title, "Gender benders, beware", the cartoon accompanying the piece,[Claire McNa]
Re: UK: Gender benders, beware
!-- page not archived. see https://web.archive.org/web/20041011112700/http://www.pfc.org.uk:80/pfclists/news-arc/index.htm --> he GuardianMcNab's reaction to PfC list on article and the disparaging tone, such as "Think about a world inhabited just by transsexuals. It would look like the set of ''Grease''" and "I don't have a problem with men disposing of their genitals, but it does not make them women, in the same way that shoving a bit of vacuum hose down your 501s eansdoes not make you a man."
Transfeminism
''Transfeminism'', or ''trans feminism'', aims to synthesize feminist and transgender discourse. Transfeminists argue that there are multiple forms of oppression and sexism, and that trans and cisgender women have shared interests in combating sexism. Influential transfeminists include Julia Serano
Julia Michelle Serano (; born 1967) is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, trans– bi activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books ''Whipping Girl'' (2007), ''Excluded'' (2013), and ''Outspoken'' (2016). Sh ...
and Diana Courvant. According to Emi Koyama, the two primary principles of transfeminism are 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, and 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. 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.[Courvant, Diana "Thinking of Privilege" In] Transfeminism aims to challenge the fixedness of gender that its supporters believe traditional approaches to women's studies depend upon.
Xenofeminism
Cyberfeminism
Cyberfeminism is a feminist approach which foregrounds the relationship between cyberspace, the Internet, and technology. It can be used to refer to a philosophy, methodology or community. The term was coined in the early 1990s to describe the wor ...
is a branch of feminism that focuses on cyberspace, the Internet, and technology. The term was coined in the early late-1980s and early-1990s, particularly after the publication of A Cyborg Manifesto
"A Cyborg Manifesto" is an essay written by Donna Haraway and published in 1985 in the '' Socialist Review (US)''. In it, the concept of the cyborg represents a rejection of rigid boundaries, notably those separating "human" from "animal" and "hu ...
by feminist Donna Haraway
Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...
, which argued for feminism to move beyond the limitations of traditional gender, feminism, and politics. Out of cyberfeminism grew xenofeminism, arguing for the use of technology as a means towards the abolition of gender. Feminist collective Laboria Cuboniks published a manifesto title ''Xenofeminism: A Politics for Alienation'' that argued against the conception of nature as immutable and the conception that what is natural is good, declaring that "if nature is unjust, change nature!" Xenofeminism has positioned itself as explicity trans-inclusive and as rejecting the gender binary. Feminist Helen Hester has linked DIY self-help movements by second wave feminists and biohacking performed by trans people as a continuing lineage of emancipation. In a 2019 article in Feminist Review
''Feminist Review'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal with a focus on exploring gender in its multiple forms and interrelationships. The journal was established in 1979. It is published by SAGE Publishing and is edited by a collective.
...
, Emily Jones said the movement noted how "essentialism and identity politics haunt the contemporary feminist and queer movement" and that instead of "wishing to eradicate what are seen as gendered traits, xenofeminism wants gender to explode and diffract: 'let a hundred sexes bloom!'. Thus, for xenofeminism, gender-abolitionism is about disrupting asymmetric gender systems and dispersing them, unpicking 'culturally weaponized markers of identity that harbour injustices', including gender as well as race, ability, class and sexuality."
Gender-critical feminism and trans-exclusionary radical feminism
Feminists who describe themselves as "gender-critical" say that biological sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, o ...
is "real, important, and immutable" and is "not to be conflated with gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
", and that feminism should organize with emphasis on the basis of sex rather than gender. These feminists are also often referred to as transgender-exclusionary radical feminists
Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely. Third-wave feminists and fourth-wave feminists tend to view the struggle for trans rights as an integral part of intersectional feminism. Former president of the American National Organization f ...
or TERFs by their opponents. They hold beliefs considered transphobic by most other feminists, such as the belief that transgender identities are invalid, incoherent, or irrelevant, opposition to certain kinds of legal recognition and medical care for transgender people, and support for exclusion of trans women from women's spaces and organizations in favor of single-sex spaces.
Claire Thurlow states that "what was once termed TERF... is now more often referred to as gender critical feminism/feminist... despite efforts to obscure the point, gender critical feminism continues to rely on transphobic tropes, moral panics and essentialist understandings of men and women. These factors also continue to link trans-exclusionary feminism to anti-feminist reactionary politics and other 'anti-gender' movements." Feminist Viv Smythe, who is credited with coining the term "TERF", says its intention as a "technically neutral description... to distinguish TERFs from other ... who were trans*
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".
Used alone, trans may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
* ''Trans'' (film ...
-positive/neutral." These feminists generally prefer the term "gender-critical", and often consider ''TERF'' to be inaccurate, or a slur. Those described as TERFs or gender-critical are not necessarily associated with radical feminism. While these parties lack influence in academic feminist philosophy, they are relatively powerful in opposing transgender rights in the United Kingdom
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time, with the British transgender community facing ongoing challenges not experienced by cisgender Britons. These include various laws and public attitudes in regards to ide ...
. Commenting on the bestselling books ''Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism'' by Kathleen Stock
Kathleen Mary Linn Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual ori ...
and '' Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality'' by Helen Joyce
Helen Joyce is an Irish journalist, currently on sabbatical from her role as executive editor for events business at ''The Economist'' becoming director of advocacy for campaign group ''Sex Matters''. She studied as a mathematician and worked ...
, ''New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' writer Louise Perry observed that gender-critical ideas that had been on the fringes in 2004, when Julie Bindel was accused of transphobia, had become mainstream in the United Kingdom by 2021.
In July 2018, Sally Hines, a University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
professor of sociology and gender studies scholar, wrote in ''The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' that feminism and trans rights have been falsely portrayed as being in conflict by a minority of anti-transgender feminists, who often "reinforce the extremely offensive trope of the trans woman as a man in drag who is a danger to women." Hines criticized these feminists for fueling "rhetoric of paranoia and hyperbole" against trans people, saying that they abandon or undermine feminist principles in their anti-trans narratives, such as bodily autonomy
Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. In the field of human rights, violation of the bodily int ...
and self-determination of gender, and employ "reductive models of biology and restrictive understandings of the distinction between sex and gender" in defense of such narratives. She concluded with a call for explicit recognition of anti-transgender feminism as a violation of equality and dignity, and "a doctrine that runs counter to the ability to fulfill a liveable life or, often, a life at all."
In February 2019, feminist theorist, writer, and Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
professor Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection ''Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayiti ...
said issues that impact marginalized women, such as sexual harassment and misconduct, extend to trans women as well, and that trans-exclusionary feminists have "woefully failed" to consider trans women's experience. Describing the effects of transphobia as "appalling" and as leading to trans people's maltreatment and suffering, Gay stated: "I think a lot of feminists are very comfortable being anti-trans. And that's painful to see because we should know better, having been marginalized as women throughout history and today. How dare we marginalize others now?" Hines states that trans-exclusionary radical feminists are a minority among feminists, and that they have published a declaration that advocates the concept of sex-based rights.
In September 2020, Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...
said that trans-exclusionary radical feminism is "a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and that our responsibility is to refuse to let that happen". In October 2021, she described the anti-gender movements as fascist trends and cautioned self-declared feminists from allying with such movements in targeting trans, non-binary, and genderqueer people. In April 2022, feminist author Jude Doyle
Jude Ellison Sady Doyle (formerly Sady Doyle; born June 11, 1982) is an American feminist author.
Profile
In 2005, Doyle graduated from Eugene Lang College.
He founded the blog Tiger Beatdown (a punning reference to ''Tiger Beat'') in 2008. ...
also argued that the TERF movement became infiltrated by fascists from the mid-2010s and poses a global threat to feminism. Earlier in September 2020, Butler said that "it is painful to see that Trump's position that gender should be defined by biological sex, and that the evangelical and right-wing Catholic effort to purge 'gender' from education and public policy accords with the trans-exclusionary radical feminists' return to biological essentialism."
In March 2021, Stock described those whom she considered gender-critical feminists as being critics of gender in the sense of social stereotypes. Stock wrote: "Gender-critical feminists particularly rebel against the idea, implicit in gender identity theory, that what makes you a woman or a man is a feeling. As far as they are concerned, this feeling could only be, deep down, about the applicability of restrictive and damaging sex-associated stereotypes to yourself." In May 2021, Nancy Kelley, the head of Stonewall
Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to:
* Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction
* Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics
* Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...
, has compared gender-critical feminism to antisemitism. In June 2021, the Association for Women's Rights in Development
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), formerly the Association for Women in Development, is an international feminist membership and movement support organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable developmen ...
said that the sex-based rhetoric employed by trans-exclusionary radical feminists "misuses concepts of sex and gender to push a deeply discriminatory agenda."
In January 2022, the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
approved a report, written by General Rapporteur on LGBT+ rights Fourat Ben Chikha, which condemned "extensive and virulent" attacks on LGBT+ rights. The report condemned "the highly prejudicial anti-gender, gender-critical and anti-trans narratives which reduce the fight for the equality of LGBTI people to what these movements deliberately mischaracterise as 'gender ideology' or 'LGBTI ideology'. Such narratives deny the very existence of LGBTI people, dehumanise them, and often falsely portray their rights as being in conflict with women's and children's rights, or societal and family values in general. All of these are deeply damaging to LGBTI people, while also harming women's and children's rights and social cohesion."
Relations with conservatives
Some gender-critical feminists have been linked to conservative groups and politicians who oppose legislation that would expand transgender rights in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
, an American civil rights nonprofit, reported in 2017 that American Christian right
The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...
groups were trying to "separate the T from LGB" by casting transgender rights as antagonistic to feminism and lesbian or gay people. The report said this trend was "part of a larger strategy, meant to weaken transgender rights advocates by attempting to separate them from their allies, feminists and LGBT rights advocates."
In January 2019, the Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
, an American conservative think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental org ...
, hosted a panel with members of the self-described radical feminist organization Women's Liberation Front
The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) is an American self-described radical feminist organization that opposes transgender rights and gender identity legislation. It has engaged in litigation on transgender topics, working against the Obama administ ...
opposed to the US Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Heron Greenesmith of Political Research Associates
Political Research Associates (PRA), formerly Midwest Research, Chicago (1981–87) is a non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Mission
PRA studies the U.S. political right wing, as well as white supremacists, and para ...
, an American liberal think tank, said that this collaboration was in part a reaction to the trans community's "incredible gains" in civil rights and visibility, and that anti-trans feminists and conservatives capitalize on a "scarcity mindset rhetoric" whereby civil rights are portrayed as a limited commodity that must be prioritized to cisgender women over other groups. Greenesmith compared this rhetoric to the prioritization of the rights of citizens over non-citizens and white people over people of color. Bev Jackson, one of the founders of the LGB Alliance
The LGB Alliance is a British advocacy group founded in the UK in 2019, in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall (charity), Stonewall on transgender issues. Its founders were Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malc ...
, once argued that "working with the Heritage Foundation is sometimes the only possible course of action" since "the leftwing silence on gender in the US is even worse than in the UK." She later clarified these comments, saying she did find links to the Heritage Foundation "problematic" due to their support for "anti-women policies", "Yet it was their publicity that made it possible to launch a gender-critical movement in the US".
In a 2020 article in '' Lambda Nordica'', Erika Alm of the University of Gothenburg
The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...
and Elisabeth L. Engebretsen of the University of Stavanger
The University of Stavanger (Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Stavanger,'' UiS) is a university located in Stavanger, Norway. UiS was established in 2005 when the former Stavanger University College (''Høgskolen i Stavanger''; HiS) received univer ...
, said that there was "growing convergence, and sometimes conscious alliances, between "gender-critical" feminists (sometimes known as TERFs - Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), religious and social conservatives, as well as right-wing politics and even neo-Nazi and fascist movements" and that the convergence was linked to "their reliance on an essentialised and binary understanding of sex and/or gender, often termed 'bio-essentialism. Another 2020 article, published in ''The Sociological Review
''The Sociological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including anthropology, criminology, philosophy, education, gender, medicine, and organization. The journal is published by SAGE Publicatio ...
'', said that "the language of 'gender ideology' originates in anti-feminist and anti-trans discourses among right-wing Christians, with the Catholic Church acting as a major nucleating agent", and that the term "saw increasing circulation in trans-exclusionary radical feminist discourse" from around 2016. It further stated that "a growing number of anti-trans campaigners associated with radical feminist movements have openly aligned themselves with anti-feminist organisations."
In a 2021 paper in '' Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society'', Hil Malatino of Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
said that gender-critical feminism in the US has "begun to build coalition with the evangelical Right around the legal codification of sex as a biological binary" and that "popular news media frames transphobia as part of a rational, enlightened, pragmatic response to what is variously called the 'trans lobby' and the 'cult of trans.'" Another 2021 paper, published in ''Law and Social Inquiry
''Law and Social Inquiry'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Bar Foundation. It was established in 1976. The current editor-in-chief is Christopher W. Schmidt (Chicago-Kent Colleg ...
'', said that "a coalition of Christian conservative legal organizations, conservative foundations, Trump administration officials, Republican party lawmakers, and trans-exclusionary radical feminists has assembled to redefine the right to privacy in service of anti-transgender politics", and that "social conservatives have cast the issue as one of balancing two competing rights claims rather than one of outright animus against a gender minority population."
By country or region
International organisations
UN Women
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...
works to protect the rights of transgender people, and "urgently calls on communities and governments around the world to stand up for LGBTIQ+ rights."
The Association for Women's Rights in Development
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), formerly the Association for Women in Development, is an international feminist membership and movement support organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable developmen ...
(AWID) supports LGBTIQ rights and opposes the anti-gender movement
The anti-gender movement is an international movement which opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology", " gender theory" or "genderism". The concepts cover a variety of issues and have no coherent definition. Members of the anti-gender move ...
, and has described trans-exclusionary feminists as "trojan horses in human rights spaces" that seek to undermine human rights; AWID said that anti-trans activity is "alarming," that "the 'sex-based' rhetoric misuses concepts of sex and gender to push a deeply discriminatory agenda" and that "trans-exclusionary feminists... undermine progressions on gender and sexuality and protection of rights of marginalized groups."
The International Alliance of Women
The International Alliance of Women (IAW; french: Alliance Internationale des Femmes, AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international org ...
along with its over fifty affiliates worldwide support LGBT+ rights and have expressed concern over "anti-trans voices hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
are becoming ever louder and hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
are threatening feminist solidarity across borders."
Africa
In 2010, the Social, Health and Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women in Africa was formed.
The Americas
Argentina
During the 1990s, Argentine LGBT activism
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
took off, and the end of the decade saw the entry of travesti
Travesti may refer to:
* Travesti (gender identity), a transgender identity in South America
* Travesti (theatre), a performance while wearing clothes of the opposite sex
* "Travesti", a section of Arca's 2020 single "@@@@@"
See also
* Tr ...
s into spaces of feminist discussion, marking the beginning of transfeminism
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 no ...
in Argentina. Lohana Berkins
Lohana Berkins (15 June 1965 – 5 February 2016) was an Argentine travesti activist.
Biography
Berkins was born on 15 June 1965 in Pocitos, Salta. Her father, a soldier, kicked her out at the age of 13.
In 1994, Berkins founded the Asociaci ...
was a feminist and one of travesti activism's most prominent leaders. Berkins got into feminism in the 1990s through meetings with lesbian feminists
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
such as Alejandra Sarda, Ilse Fuskova
Ilse Fusková Kornreich (Buenos Aires, 11 June 1929) is an Argentine activist, lesbian-feminist, and journalist.
Fuskova was the first woman who came out and openly declared that she was a lesbian on Argentine television. This occurred in 1991, wh ...
, Chela Nadio and Fabiana Tron.
The Argentine government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina
The COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 3 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Argentina. As of , a t ...
included trans-inclusive gender-based measures, with Minister of Women, Genders and Diversity Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta
Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta (born 18 November 1972) is an Argentine lawyer, professor and politician. She was the first Minister of Women, Genders and Diversity of Argentina, serving under President Alberto Fernández from 10 December 2019 to 7 Octo ...
stating that "trans people are particularly vulnerable in our country."
The Argentine feminist movement, including the National Gathering of Women
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, has seen debates over reforming the Spanish language to be more gender neutral in recent years.
The campaign to legalise abortion in Argentina
Elective Abortion in Argentina is legal in the first 14 weeks of gestation. The abortion law was liberalized after the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill (Argentina) was passed by the National Congress in December 2020. According to the la ...
has included transgender people, and after the movement was successful, the bill legalising abortion explicitly included trans and non-binary people.
Canada
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is a Canadian nonprofit organization that monitors hate groups, far-right groups, and hate crimes in Canada. It was formed in 2018 in Toronto, Ontario and receives funding from the Government of Canada. CAHN ...
said that despite labelling themselves as feminists, TERF groups often collaborate with conservative and far-right groups. According to journalist Neil Macdonald
Neil Macdonald (born 1957) is a Canadian journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, currently senior correspondent for CBC News '' The National''.
Early life and family
Macdonald was born and raised in Quebec City. His father was Per ...
, Canada saw an in increase in debates about transgender issues in feminism especially after the introduction of Bill C-16
''An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code'' (french: Loi modifiant la Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne et le Code criminel) is a law passed by the Parliament of Canada. The law adds gender expression and ...
in 2016, which added gender expression and gender identity as protected characteristics to the Canadian Human Rights Act
The ''Canadian Human Rights Act'' (french: Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne) is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1977 with the express goal of extending the law to ensure equal opportunity to individuals who may be vi ...
and was opposed by a range of conservatives and some feminists, such as Meghan Murphy
Meghan Emily Murphy is a Canadian writer, journalist, and founder of ''Feminist Current'', a feminist website and podcast. Her writing, speeches, and talks have criticized third-wave feminism, male feminists, the sex industry, exploitation of ...
.
Feminist writer Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
has said she disagrees with the views that trans women are not women or should not use women's washrooms. In May 2021, over 110 women's and human rights organisations in Canada signed a statement supporting trans-inclusionary feminism, stating that "trans people are a driving force in our feminist movements and make incredible contributions across all facets of our society." Canadian women's sporting organisations have also supported trans-inclusion, with the Canadian Women's Hockey League
The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...
having an openly trans woman play, the Canada women's national soccer team
The Canada women's national soccer team (french: Équipe du Canada féminine de soccer) represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada.
The ...
having an openly non-binary player play, and Rugby Canada
Rugby Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football a ...
rejecting proposals to ban trans women from the sport.
In 1995, Kimberly Nixon, a trans woman, volunteered for training as a rape crisis counselor at Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter
Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter is Canada's longest running rape crisis center. The shelter, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, was established in 1973 and has operated a radical feminist, feminist Transitional living, transition hous ...
. When the shelter determined Nixon was trans, it expelled her, with staff saying it made it impossible for her to understand the experiences of their clients. Nixon disagreed, disclosing her own history of partner abuse, and sued on the grounds of discrimination. Nixon's attorneys argued there was no basis for the dismissal, citing Diana Courvant's experiences as the first publicly trans woman to work in a women-only domestic violence shelter
A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...
. In 2007 the Canadian Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to be ...
refused to hear Nixon's appeal, ending the case.[Perelle, Robin (14 February 2007)]
Rape Relief wins: Supreme Court refuses to hear trans woman's appeal.
'' Xtra
Extra or Xtra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper
* '' Extra!'', an American m ...
'' The Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter
Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter is Canada's longest running rape crisis center. The shelter, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, was established in 1973 and has operated a radical feminist, feminist Transitional living, transition hous ...
was the centre of a further controversy regarding exclusion of transgender women when the City of Vancouver Council stopped awarding the shelter an annual $34,000 grant in 2019 over its exclusion of trans women.
In January 2018, the Halifax Women's March came under criticism for a lack of intersectionality, with a number of Indigenous, Muslim, and trans feminist activists breaking away from the march to form a rally of their own, titled Walking the Talk. In March of that year, Gabrielle Bouchard
Gabrielle Bouchard (born 1968) is a Canadian feminist. From 2017 to 2020, she served as president of the Fédération des femmes du Québec, the first transgender woman to hold the position.
Career
She previously worked for the Concordia Unive ...
was elected leader of the Fédération des femmes du Québec The Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ; English: "Quebec Women's Federation") is a feminist organization binding individuals and groups in a common goal to "promote and defend the interests and the rights of women and to fight against all forms ...
, the first transgender woman to hold the position.
United States
Mainstream feminist organizations in the United States such as the National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
(NOW), the League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters (LWV or the League) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political organization in the United States. Founded in 1920, its ongoing major activities include registering voters, providing voter information, and advocating for vot ...
, the National Women's Law Center
The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) is a United States non-profit organization founded by Marcia Greenberger in 1972 and based in Washington, D.C. The Center advocates for women's rights and LGBTQ rights through litigation and policy initiati ...
and the Feminist Majority Foundation
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia, whose stated mission is to advance non-violence and women's power, equality, and economic development. The name Feminist Majority com ...
all support trans rights. NOW president Terry O'Neill said the struggle against transphobia is a feminist issue. NOW has affirmed that "trans women are women, trans girls are girls." In a further statement NOW said that "trans women are women. They deserve equal opportunity, health care, a safe community & workplace, and they deserve to play sports. They have a right to have their identity respected without conforming to perceived sex and gender identity standards. We stand with you." NOW has said that debate' about trans girls and women in school sports spreads transphobia and bigotry through the false lens of 'fairness that amounts to a hate campaign. In 2020 the League of Women Voters joined a lawsuit to protect transgender women and girls in sports. Women's March Women's March may refer to:
* Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris
* Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London
* Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C.
* Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 mar ...
, an organization launched in 2017 to protest the policies of the Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
, is also trans-inclusive.
Asia
South Korea
According to Hyun-Jae Lee of the University of Seoul
The University of Seoul (UOS; ) is a municipal public university in Seoul, South Korea. UOS is famous in South Korea for a large number of alumni working as national or municipal government officials. UOS is specialized in urban science and has ...
, although "until the eighties modern Korean feminism had
been fairly cis-woman-centric and based on female identity, they did not officially exclude "biological men," refugees, or transgender people because of their biological sex" and that the " rans-xclusive stance of radical feminism never existed in Korean society before the 2000s."
In 2016, the Korean-based online radical feminist community WOMAD
WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...
split from the larger community Megalia
Megalia ( ko, 메갈리아) was a controversial radical feminist online community based in South Korea. It was launched in 2015 to protest the language policy of the South Korean Internet forum DC Inside, which some users deemed discriminatory a ...
after Megalia issued a ban on the use of certain explicit slurs against gay men and transgender people. This change in policy led to the migration of anti-LGBT
Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...
members. WOMAD has caused controversy due to extreme online trolling such as postings that boast animal abuse and show extreme hatred towards transgender people; for this reason, WOMAD have been called "Korean-style TERF
TERF () is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term was originally used to distinguish trans-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the assertion that trans women are wome ...
s". The organisers of the 2018 Hyehwa Station Protest
The Hyehwa Station protests were a series of Feminism, feminist protest rallies held mostly in 2018 at Hyehwa station, Hyehwa Station in Seoul, South Korea. The protests, which started on 19 May 2018, were against sexism, misogyny, and hidden ...
barred trans women and non-binary people from attending the protest. In 2020, Sookmyung Women's University
Sookmyung Women’s University () is a private university in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1906, Sookmyung is Korea’s first royal private educational institution for women. The university's name is derived from the Hanja charact ...
became the first Korean women's university to admit a trans student; however, the student later withdrew her acceptance after news of her acceptance sparked controversy.
Europe
The European Women's Lobby
The European Women's Lobby (EWL) is the largest umbrella organization of women's associations in the European Union, founded in 1990, working to promote women's rights and equality between women and men, and representing a total of more than 200 ...
(EWL) is trans-inclusive. EWL called for more attention and research into discrimination against trans women and lesbians and their specific health needs.
Denmark
In Denmark, the Danish Women's Society
The Danish Women's Society or DWS ( da, Dansk Kvindesamfund) is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peac ...
supports LGBTQA rights, and has stated that it takes homophobia and transphobia very seriously, that "we support all initiatives that promote the rights of gay and transgender people" and that "we see the LGBTQA movement as close allies in the struggle against inequality and we fight together for a society where gender and sexuality do not limit an individual."
France
In February 2020, an open letter was published in the Huffington Post signed by around 50 French feminists, including sociologist Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy (born 1941) is a French feminist sociologist, writer and theorist. Known for pioneering materialist feminism, she co-founded the French women's liberation movement (Mouvement de Libération des Femmes, or MLF) in 1970 and the j ...
and ex- Femen activist Marguerite Stern Marguerite may refer to:
People
* Marguerite (given name), including a list of people with the name
Places
*Marguerite, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
*Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula
*Marguerite Island, Adélie Land, Antarctica
...
, questioning the presence of trans women in feminist movements. The Huffington Post later removed the letter from their website. In response to the letter, several different feminist organisations, such as the Syndicat du travail sexuel
The Syndicat du travail sexuel (STRASS) (Union of sexual work) is an association in France that defends the rights of sex workers, mainly prostitutes but also pornographic actors and phone sex operators. The association was formed on 20 March ...
, the Collectif NousToutes, and the Collages féminicides Paris, who Stern had previously been involved with, issued statements condemning transphobia.
In late-February 2020, a further group of feminists and feminist organisations released an open letter stating that they opposed the importing of "transphobic debates" into France and that creating divisions between cis and trans women "only serve the patriarchy."
Germany
Leading German women's organization Deutscher Frauenring
Deutscher Frauenring e.V. (DFR) is a non-partisan political advocacy organisation and the leading women's organization in Germany, founded in 1949 in Bad Pyrmont to promote the interests of women in all areas of society. During the Cold War, it ...
is intersectional and opposes transphobia.
Iceland
In 2012, Jyl Josephson, professor of Political Science and Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University-Newark, stated that in Iceland "transgender and gender scholars seem to have a more congenial and more recent relationship." Non-binary Icelandic journalist Owl Fisher
Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudóttir Jónsdóttir, also known as Owl Fisher (born 6 January 1991), is an Icelandic journalist, filmmaker, author and non-binary gender, non-binary trans activist.
Early life
Fisher was born in Iceland on 6 January 19 ...
has stated that "in Iceland the women's rights movement as a whole has been wholly supportive of trans rights for decades."
In 2019, Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir
Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007.
A graduate of the Univers ...
proposed a bill to introduce gender recognition via statutory declaration in the country. The bill was passed by the Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...
by a vote of 45–0, with three abstentions.
On Women's Rights Day in Iceland in 2020, the Icelandic Women's Rights Association organised an event together with Trans Ísland Trans Ísland is an Icelandic advocacy organisation that supports transgender people in Iceland. As of 2018, the chairperson of the group was .
History
Trans Ísland was founded in 2007, as a section of Samtökin '78.
In 2010, the group helped f ...
that saw several different feminist organisations in the country discuss strategies to stop anti-trans sentiment from increasing its influence within Icelandic feminism. Later that year, Trans Ísland was unanimously granted status as a member association of the Icelandic Women's Rights Association. In 2021 the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, noting the traditional sense of solidarity between the women's movement and LGBTQ+ movement, organized an event on how the women's movement could counter "anti-trans voices hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
are becoming ever louder and hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
are threatening feminist solidarity across borders."
Ireland
In January 2018, roughly 1,000 feminists in Ireland, including members of several feminist groups such as the Irish Network Against Racism
The Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) is a member organisation which campaigns against racism and other discrimination in Ireland.
History
Irish Network Against Racism (INAR) was founded with the mission of "combating racism and all related f ...
(INAR), signed an open letter condemning an event held in Dublin by a group of UK-based trans-exclusionary radical feminists which opposed proposed reforms to the British Gender Recognition Act
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005.
Operation of the law
The Gender Recognition Ac ...
. The open latter stated that "the signatories of this letter, organise hand in hand with our trans sisters. Together, cis and trans, we are Irish feminism. Trans women are our sisters; their struggles are ours, our struggles theirs."
During the referendum on the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (previously bill no. 29 of 2018) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortio ...
that successfully saw the legalisation for abortion, the Together for Yes
Together for Yes (TFY) is an abortion rights campaign group in Ireland. It campaigned successfully for a Yes vote in the 2018 referendum to ratify the Thirty-sixth Amendment, which removed the Eighth Amendment's constitutional ban on abortion ...
campaign group was explicitly trans-inclusive.
In November 2020, on Trans Day of Remembrance, the National Women's Council of Ireland
The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) is a representative organisation for women and women's groups in Ireland.
It was originally known as the Council for the Status of Women.
Policies
The mission of the NWCI is to achieve women's equa ...
and Amnesty International Ireland
Amnesty International Ireland (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is the Irish branch of the international non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, Amnesty International. One of its founding members was German Abwehr agent Helmut C ...
co-signed a statement along with a number of LGBT+ and human rights groups condemning trans-exclusionary feminism. The letter called upon the media and politicians "to no longer provide legitimate representation for those that share bigoted beliefs, that are aligned with far right ideologies and seek nothing but harm and division" and stated that "these fringe internet accounts stand against affirmative medical care of transgender people, and they stand against the right to self-identification of transgender people in this country. In summation they stand against trans, women's and gay rights by aligning themselves with far right tropes and stances."
In March 2021, the Abortion Rights Campaign
The Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) is an Irish abortion rights group. The group's goal is the introduction of free and legal abortion in Ireland and Northern Ireland. A significant aim prior to May 2018 was the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of ...
issued a statement condemning the Bell v Tavistock
''Bell and another v The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust'', more often called simply ''Bell v Tavistock'', was a case before the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) on the question of whether puberty blockers could be prescribed to u ...
ruling the UK, stating that trans people had played a role in the Yes vote of the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland
The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (previously bill no. 29 of 2018) is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which permits the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion. The constitution had previously prohibited abortio ...
referendum and that the ruling was "ultimately an attack on our collective right to bodily integrity."
Italy
A 2019 study from the European University Institute
The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute and an independent body of the European Union with juridical personality, established by the member states to contribu ...
that examined the feminist Non Una Di Meno movement in Italy argued that difference feminism
Difference feminism holds that there are differences between men and women but that no value judgment can be placed upon them and both sexes have equal moral status as persons.
The term "difference feminism" developed during the "equality-versus ...
had traditionally been prevalent in the country, but was being supplanted by intersectional feminism. The shift was driven especially by younger feminist activists, often accompanied with rejections of binary gender as well as increased prominence of anti-racist and anti-capitalist organising, who considered that "intersectional feminism grasps the core of the feminist and LGBT struggles, which is the "union of all the oppressed against the oppressors."
Norway
In Norway, the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...
(NKF) is trans-inclusive and supports legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. In 2015/2016 NKF supported the Gender Recognition Act
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005.
Operation of the law
The Gender Recognition Ac ...
, which the NKF President described as a milestone for LGBT+ rights that the women's rights movement welcomes. In 2018 NKF also supported legal protections against discrimination and hate speech
Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...
on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in the Penal Code.[ The ]Norwegian Women's Lobby
The Norwegian Women's Lobby (NWL; no, italic=no, Norges kvinnelobby) is a feminist policy and advocacy organization in Norway, and is described as the country's "main, national, umbrella organization" for women's rights. NWL is inclusive, promot ...
, an umbrella organization of ten member organizations, describes itself as inclusive and working "to represent the interests of all those who identify as girls and women," and states that it understands discrimination against girls and women in an intersectional perspective and opposes transphobia.
Spain
During the Spanish transition to democracy in the late-1970s, trans people in Spain organised under the gay liberation movement seeking to repeal the Francoist regime's ban on homosexuality, as the Francoist regime would arrest trans people using those same laws. In 1978, the Colectivo de Travestis y Transexuales
''Colectivo'' (English: collective bus) is the name given in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Paraguay to a type of public transportation vehicle, especially those of Argentina's capital city, Buenos Aires. The name comes from ''vehículos de tra ...
was founded as part of the Catalan gay liberation movement, the first trans-specific organisation in Spain. In 1987, the first national transgender association was formed, Transexualia, to fight against police violence. As several of the Transexualia founders were sex workers, they soon began working with feminist groups fighting against gendered violence, such as the ''Colectivo de Feministas Lesbianas de Madrid'' and the ''Comisión Antiagresiones''. Part of the 1993 National Feminist Conference was dedicated to discussing trans issues in Spain. Through the 1990s, the scope of co-operation between the trans liberation movement and the feminist movement grew, and at the 2000 National Feminist Conference featured several talks by trans people, including Kim Pérez and Laura Bugalho
Laura may refer to:
People
* Laura (given name)
* Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert
Places Australia
* Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula
* Laura, South Australia
* Laura Bay, a bay on ...
. The 2009 Granada Feminist Conference then saw an influx of younger feminists, and a dedication to formulating a distinct Spanish transfeminism. According to Lucas Platero
Lucas or LUCAS may refer to:
People
* Lucas (surname)
* Lucas (given name)
Arts and entertainment
* Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk"
* ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities
* ''Luc ...
of King Juan Carlos University
Rey Juan Carlos University ( es, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, URJC) is a Spanish public research university located in the southern area of the Community of Madrid (Spain), with five campuses at Móstoles, Alcorcón, Vicálvaro, Aranjuez and Fu ...
, the 2009 conference resulted in a shift towards a feminism that placed greater emphasis on criticising the gender binary and that was "more queer, more decolonial, and intersectional."
In 2021, a split in the Spanish left-wing coalition government occurred over the Legislative Proposal for the Real and Effective Equality of Trans People, with United Podemos Minister for Equality Irene Montero
Irene María Montero Gil, MP (born 13 February 1988) is a Spanish politician and psychologist, member of the Podemos party. She currently serves as the Minister of Equality of Spain since 13 January 2020. She is the partner of Pablo Iglesia ...
advancing the bill that would have included the introduction of legal gender recognition via statutory declaration (therefore responding to long-lasting demands for full depathologization) as well as legal recognition of non-binary identities. However, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
(PSOE) Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo
María del Carmen Calvo Poyato (born 9 June 1957) is a Spanish politician and author who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and Minister of the Presidency from 2018 to 2021.
Born and raised in Cabra, Spain, she attended the University o ...
argued that the bill "could put at risk the identity criteria for 47 million Spaniards." The bill ultimately failed to pass after the Socialist Workers' Party abstained on the vote. In parallel to this, some feminist intellectuals with different degrees of affinity to the PSOE, most notably authors Amelia Valcárcel
Amelia Valcárcel (November 16, 1950) is a Spanish philosopher and feminist. She is considered within the “philosophic feminism” as part of the “equality feminism” approach. In 2015 she is a professor in Moral and Political Philosophy a ...
, Alicia Miyares and Lidia Falcón
Lidia Falcón O'Neill (born 13 December 1935) is a Spanish politician and writer. With a degree in law, dramatic art, and journalism, and a PhD in philosophy, she has stood out for her defense of feminism in Spain, especially during the Transit ...
, had been making public remarks opposing the legislative proposal, as well as comments that other feminist figures reported as transphobic. Ultimately, a new, similar legislative proposal was passed, recognizing the right of trans people to self-determine without the need of any medical process, although demands concerning non-binary people eventually fell off.
United Kingdom
The UK government's 2018 consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows people who have gender dysphoria to change their legal gender. It came into effect on 4 April 2005.
Operation of the law
The Gender Recognition Act ...
became a locus of conflict between trans-exclusionary radical feminists and advocates for trans acceptance. The GRA requires that one be medically diagnosed with gender dysphoria and live for two years in one's felt identity before legally changing gender. Proposed reforms would allow one to self-declare one's legal gender without a diagnosis or waiting period. While the UK's Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
permitted providers of single-sex or sex-segregated services such as women's shelters to deny access to transgender people on a case-by-case basis, a 2016 report of the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
's Women and Equalities Committee
The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established following the 2015 general election to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Governm ...
recommended that providers no longer be permitted to exclude persons who had obtained legal recognition of their "acquired gender" under the GRA.
Groups including Fair Play For Women
The decennial 2021 censuses of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland took place on 21 March 2021, and the census of Scotland took place on 20 March 2022. The censuses were administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England an ...
and Woman's Place UK
Woman's Place UK (WPUK) is a British political advocacy group founded in 2017.
The group is opposed to gender self-identification for trans people in the UK, and has advocated restricting access to women-only spaces on the basis of "sex, not g ...
were founded in opposition to the proposed reforms. The groups have been condemned by feminists who support the reforms. London Feminist Library
The Feminist Library was founded as the Women's Research and Resources Centre in 1975 by a group of women concerned about the future of the Fawcett Library to ensure that the history of the women's liberation movement survived. The founders incl ...
organiser Lola Olufemi
Lola Olufemi (; born 1996) is a British writer. She is an organiser with the London Feminist Library, and her writing has been published in many national and international magazines and newspapers. She is the author of ''Experiments in Imagining ...
described Woman's Place UK as "a clearly transphobic organisation" after withdrawing from an event at the University of Oxford that featured WPUK supporter and Oxford professor Selina Todd
Selina Todd (born 1975) is an English historian and writer. From 2015, she has been Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford. Todd's research focuses on the history of the working-class, women and feminism in modern Britain. Since ...
.
British trans-exclusive feminist groups objected to the proposed GRA self-ID reform as eroding protections for women-only safe spaces and liable to abuse by cisgender men—issues disputed by advocates of reform and unsupported by current evidence. A 2020 paper in SAGE Open
''SAGE Open'' is an open access, peer-reviewed, academic journal, academic mega journal. It is the "first broad spectrum open access title aimed specifically at the behavioral and social sciences communities".
It was established in May 2011Jump, P ...
said that "the case against trans inclusion in the United Kingdom has been presented primarily through social media and blog-type or journalistic online platforms lacking the traditional prepublication checks of academic peer review". Pro-trans feminist academics such as Akwugo Emejulu and Alison Phipps Alison Phipps may refer to:
* Alison Phipps (sociologist), British political sociologist, gender studies scholar and feminist theorist
* Alison Phipps (refugee researcher)
Alison Phipps OBE FRSE FRSA FAcSS a University of Glasgow professor of ...
view self-declaration as a right for transgender people.
In October 2018 the UK edition of ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' published an editorial on GRA reform supporting a lessening of the barriers to legal gender change but also stating that "Women's oppression by men has a physical basis, and to deny the relevance of biology when considering sexual inequality is a mistake," and that, "Women's concerns about sharing dormitories or changing rooms with 'male-bodied' people must be taken seriously." Journalists from ''The Guardian'''s US edition wrote an editorial repudiating their UK counterpart's stance, stating that it "promoted transphobic viewpoints" and that its "unsubstantiated argument only serves to dehumanize and stigmatize trans people". In March 2019 more than 160 women, including Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...
and members of the UK parliament, cosigned an open letter
An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally.
Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...
expressing solidarity with trans women and support for GRA reform, organised by LGBT charity Time for Inclusive Education
Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) is a charity and which has a stated aim of addressing prejudice and bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people with education in Education in Scotland, Scotland’s schools. The char ...
.
Seven Scottish women's groups – Close the Gap
Close the Gap (CTG) is a social justice campaign focused on Indigenous Australians' health, in which peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health bodies, NGOs and human rights organisations work together to achieve heal ...
, Engender
Engender is an anti-sexist organisation operating in Scotland and other parts of Europe. They aim "to make Scotland a fairer, safer place where women can flourish and contribute to both the social and market economies with dignity, freedom and ...
, Equate Scotland
Equate Scotland is an organisation established to promote and encourage the advancement of women in science, engineering, technology and the built environment. It is based at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland.
Equate began in 2006 as the S ...
, Rape Crisis Scotland
Rape Crisis Scotland is a charity which provides a national rape crisis helpline and email support for anyone affected by sexual violence, no matter when or how it happened. There are 17 local centres across Scotland.
Services
Contact with cen ...
, Scottish Women's Aid
Scottish Women's Aid is the lead domestic abuse organisation in Scotland.
The charity plays a vital role coordinating, influencing and campaigning for effective responses to domestic abuse and supports a network of 36 Women's Aid services acro ...
, Women 50:50, and Zero Tolerance – released a joint statement during the GRA consultations endorsing the proposed reforms and stating that "we do not regard trans equality and women's equality to be in competition or contradiction with each other." The Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre has indicated that it accepts trans people as volunteers and the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre has maintained individual gender neutral bathrooms. Feminist direct action group Sisters Uncut
Sisters Uncut is a British feminist direct action group that is opposed to cuts to UK government services for domestic violence victims. It was founded in November 2014, and came to international prominence in October 2015 for a protest on the r ...
has stated that "trans people and gender-nonconforming people experience disproportionate levels of violence... if we don't centre those who exist on the margins, what kind of movement is that?"
In 2021, an Employment Appeal Tribunal
The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions o ...
in the case of Maya Forstater v Centre for Global Development
''Forstater v Centre for Global Development Europe'' is a UK labour law, UK employment and discrimination case brought by Maya Forstater against the Center for Global Development (CGD). The Employment Appeal Tribunal decided that gender-critical ...
(CGD) found that gender-critical beliefs pass the legal test of a protected belief under the Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
because they "did not seek to destroy the rights of trans persons". While Forstater was "delighted to have been vindicated", the CGD described the decision as a "step backwards for inclusivity and equality for all".
In November 2021, the Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...
LGBTQ+ Forum hosted a debate on the topic of conversion therapy, following the launch of a public consultation
Public consultation (Commonwealth countries and European Union), public comment (US), or simply consultation, is a regulatory process by which the public's input on matters affecting them is sought. Its main goals are in improving the efficiency, ...
on how to ban the practice. The panel consisted of Stonewall
Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to:
* Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction
* Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics
* Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...
CEO Nancy Kelley, campaigner Jayne Ozanne
Jayne Margaret Ozanne is a British evangelical Anglican. Having come out publicly as gay in 2015, she campaigns to safeguard LGBTQI people from abuse. Jayne founded and launched the Ozanne Foundation in 2017 which works with religious organisati ...
, and gender-critical feminist and barrister Naomi Cunningham. A letter said to be signed by more than a hundred legal professionals objected to Cunningham's inclusion on the panel, describing her as "anti-trans". Kelley called for a complete ban on conversion therapy. Cunningham presented a "gender-critical" view that there are multiple explanations for why a young person may call themselves transgender, such as unease at being gay, so a ban on therapists exploring these alternative explanations amounts to "the most savage conversion therapy ever invented". Ozanne spoke about her personal experience of conversion therapy, but also described Cunningham's speech as "very insensitive" and "transphobic", which Cunningham denied.
Drawing on theory of radicalization
Radicalization (or radicalisation) is the process by which an individual or a group comes to adopt increasingly views in opposition to a political, social, or religious status quo. The ideas of society at large shape the outcomes of radicalizat ...
, Craig McLean argues that discourse on transgender-related issues in the UK has been radicalized in response to the activities of new lobby groups that push "a radical agenda to deny the basic rights of trans people... under the cover of "free speech. Finn Mackay
Finn Mackay (born 1977/1978) is a British sociologist and Radical feminism, radical trans feminist campaigner.
Mackay is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Bristol and identifies as "a queer Butch (lesbian slang), butch, or transmasc ...
argued that "during the pandemic, the ceaseless attacks on and lies told about trans people in our media have only increased... the fact that our media is awash with conspiracy theories about trans lives... should be a national shame."
Oceania
The Māori Women's Welfare League
The Māori Women’s Welfare League or Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko I te Ora is a New Zealand welfare organisation focusing on Māori women and children. It held its first conference in Wellington in September 1951.
The League's official aims ...
and the are trans-inclusive and have supported a shift to legal gender self-determination.
See also
* Feminine essence concept of transsexuality
In the study of transsexualism, the essentialism, essentialist idea of a feminine essence refers to the proposal that trans women are females trapped in male bodies. This idea has been interpreted in many senses, as a female mind, spirit, soul, ...
* Feminist movements and ideologies
A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.
Groupings
Trad ...
* Feminist sex wars
The feminist sex wars, also known as the lesbian sex wars, or simply the sex wars or porn wars, are terms used to refer to collective debates amongst feminists regarding a number of issues broadly relating to sexuality and sexual activity. Diff ...
* Feminist views on BDSM
Feminist views on BDSM vary widely from acceptance to rejection. BDSM refers to bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and Sado-Masochism. In order to evaluate its perception, two polarizing frameworks are compared. Some feminists, such ...
* Feminist views on pornography
Feminist views on pornography range from total condemnation of the medium as an inherent form of violence against women to an embracing of some forms as a medium of feminist expression. This debate reflects larger concerns surrounding feminist vi ...
* Feminist views on prostitution
There exists a diversity of feminist views on prostitution. Many of these positions can be loosely arranged into an overarching standpoint that is generally either critical or supportive of prostitution and sex work. The discourse surrounding pr ...
* Feminist views on sexuality
Feminist views on sexuality widely vary. Many feminists, particularly radical feminists, are highly critical of what they see as sexual objectification and sexual exploitation in the media and society. Radical feminists are often opposed to the s ...
* Radical feminism#Views on transgender topics
* Gender essentialism
Gender essentialism is a theory that is used to examine the attribution of distinct, fixed, intrinsic qualities to women and men. In this theory, based in essentialism, there are certain universal, innate, biologically or psychologically based feat ...
* Lesbian erasure
Lesbian erasure is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence of lesbian women or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources. Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues ...
* Misogyny
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
* Social construction of gender
The social construction of gender is a theory in feminism and sociology about the manifestation of cultural origins, mechanisms, and corollaries of gender perception and expression in the context of interpersonal and group social interaction. Spe ...
* Transmisogyny
Transmisogyny, otherwise known as trans-misogyny and transphobic misogyny, is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny as experienced by trans women and transfeminine people. The term was coined by Julia Serano in her 2007 book ''Whipping ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
* Barrett, Ruth. ''Female Erasure''. Lebec, California. Tidal Time Publishing, 2016.
*Bettcher, Talia Mae, Stryker Susan (eds.). Trans/Feminisms. ''Transgender Studies Quarterly'', ''3''(1-2).
* Califia, Patrick. ''Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism'', San Francisco, California: Cleis Press, 1997.
* Jeffreys, Sheila. ''Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism.'' London: Routledge, 2013.
* Stryker, Susan, Whittle, Stephen (eds.). ''The Transgender Studies Reader''. New York: Routledge, 2006.
External links
Feminist Perspectives on Trans Issues
{{Transgender
Gender studies
Gender and society
Debates about social issues