#racialized transphobia
The majority of the people in the trans community (irrespective of assigned sex) are potential targets for the dual framing device of “you’re either an incompetent hysterical woman or a dangerous oppressive man, depending on what’s most politically convenient for me.”
there’s all these things talking about how transandrophobia is such a “white” concept and i don’t get it at all
i’m an Indigenous trans man, and in my culture, long hair is seen as masculine. that said, society at large.. to put it shortly, does not agree with that. as a result i’ve been forced to choose between embracing my culture by growing my hair long, and being seen as a man by the non-Indigenous people around me by cutting my hair short
i’ve cut my hair short. and it brings me grief, a lot of it. i didn’t do anything to honour the hair after i cut it because i was so focused on finally being seen as a man, and it hurts me to know that in failing to do so i’ve hurt my ancestors who fought and died for simple things like their right to keep their hair long
transandrophobia as a word helps me describe this struggle, this mourning, this one or the other choice of being who i am. transandrophobia doesn’t only describe the oppression that white transmasculine people face for their transmasculinity. it describes Indigenous transmascs, Black transmascs, Latino transmascs, Asian transmascs, so many BIPOC experiences
to equate transandrophobia to being just a white thing erases the voice of myself and many other BIPOC who are finally, finally able to talk about our experiences with society’s rejection of our cultural masculinity, now that we have a word for it. so please, stop calling transandrophobia a white thing, because it really, really isn’t
