I've been thinking about this a bit. A trans woman usually should be obvious with presentation because of a dress or skirt and long hair and make up is generally a sign of being female. It's more overt. But due to "gender equality" of where it's "ok for women to wear pants" it's hard for people to distinguish whether a woman just has short hair and doesn't like wearing dresses or skirts but identifies as cis vs. A female bodied trans man. This one sided "gender equality" is something I've noticed being more problematic to trans men than trans women. Thoughts?
It gets frustrating being read as just as 'masculine woman' but I wouldn't imagine that's worse than the reactions people have to what they perceive as 'a man in a dress'.
Yes I agree. I went through a "hyper-masculine" phase where I cut my hair as short as it's ever been and only wore T-shirts and pants, yet I was gendered as a girl more than I am now with my flamboyant neo-Victorian dandy style. (Of course, that could have been just because my face was more feminine..)
Yeah, I have a tendency to wear a lot of plaid button-downs, baggy jeans, and large black boots. One time, a girl I was talking to (I didn't know her very well) was convinced that I was a lesbian, and therefore out to ATTAAAAACK HER AND INFECT HER WITH MY PRESUMED LESBIAN-NESS! It was really awkward; she kept saying "I'm not gay!!" and I kept responding with " Uh I'm not either, why does it matter?"
Your case in point right there. The perceptions you had to be a butch lesbian as opposed to a transgender male. That is derived from the "gender equality" biological females receive and ends up harming transgender males legitimacy or identification. Oh and yes, presenting very clearly as female and not "passing" is still very insulting to trans women. But again if you're fairly feminine for being male bodied the clothes and hair will usually give away your desired gender more often than not. I'm assuming if it were commonplace for males to wear skirts and dresses that trans women would be in the same situation as if they were just gay drag queens.
Yup. Except trans* males also face the same "Why don't you dress more like your biological sex?!" B.S. that trans* women face. I think we're really all in the same boat here, despite our opposing gender identities.
While this is true, Kasey has a point. Gender "equality" has spurred, more than anything else, a general acceptance (or at the very least, tolerance) of women "wearing the pants" and dressing/behaving more like guys, but it hasn't done the same for men that behave in a feminine manner. Trans dudes are more likely to hear "it's a phase", or to be pidgeon-holed as masculine women, while trans ladies are more likely to be read as transgender. Both ends of the spectrum face BS. But while transwomen often face disapproval, transmen often face erasure.
Main reason for my decision that I was not a trans man, with today's society, I get treated like a masculine woman, and I'm fine with that. Sadly that was not a war I was going to fight. For MtF such as my girlfriend, she may feel inclined to always wear skirts even though females can wear whatever. Because she has to make sure everyone knows her clothing choice is intentional. :/
Though transmen may be misgendered more often than transwomen, transmen also face less harassment in public places due to this gender equality and misgendering.
I guess I'm a little uncomfortable with the scarequotes. How is there something questionable about a gender equality that holds people can dress how they want to? In my area, I'd like to think that I can pick out trans men very well. For one thing, in Helena, where I live, it's such a small town that people behave quite normatively. The gay men's scene is quite conventional, and they present hypermasculinity. Women of all orientations present a lot of femininity. There's not a lot of gender bending (or breaking) that goes on. So if a man came along, I feel like I would be able to pick him out.
It seems like a double edged sword in many ways: while women and female-bodied folk in general are "allowed" to bend gender norms, they're also taken less seriously, and have a problem with visibility, even within queer spaces. One trans guy friend says it's very lonely, being trans and out, so meeting another is always an exciting and positive experience for him.
In a way, it could be that this mirrors the Feminine Lesbian Problem (where there's like zero percent visibility when she presents in a way where she reads as straight).
I based my style on dapper dandies and gentlemen. It is more sophisticated then just put on boring baggy jeans and t-shirt. Not sure if I´d "pass", but I feel definitely more comfortable, more like the real myself. Thanks to it I am more interested in fashion then I ever was. Men´s fashion I mean. I never cared about women´s wear, and I never will.
Despite the fact that I wear more masculine clothing, people still call me female pronouns. If I'm out in public, I'm often seen as a prepubesent boy. The people that know me a little more, if they do question me, never say anything. My cosin thought I was a lesbian from the way I dressed, so yea it gets irritating when people just assume you're a masculine woman, and because of that, a lesbian also.
"I'm a transgender man." "Still?? I thought it was a phase." "I'm a transgender man." "No, you're just a strong woman." "I'm a transgender man." "Oh. So on a scale of tomboy to lesbian, where do you fall?" *facepalm* All real quotes.
Yes. ---------- Post added 25th Oct 2014 at 10:06 AM ---------- And yes. These two examples are the exact thing that gender equality has done to marginalize particular female bodied members of the LGBT community. You've both touched on my points exactly.
