st-dionysus:
Jul 10, 2024
What is transandrophobia and why is it called that? By the guy who coined it and is kind of tired of seeing it defined
in the opposite of what it's meant to describe.
In it's most simple definition. Transandrophobia is the way that the fear of men impacts the material reality and
mental/physical health of transgender men.
Transandrophobia, is the way that the fear of men and/or masculinity effects transgender men’s ability to access queer
and transgender spaces, sexual assault survivor resources, and reproductive health care.
Transandrophobia, is the way that the fear of men and/or masculinity holds back transgender men from transitioning or
from presenting as masculine.
Transandrophobia, is the way the fear of men and/or masculinity results in the disowning of transgender men from
previous found families and the isolation of transgender men in general.
Transandrophobia, is the way the fear of men and/or masculinity has resulted in people using their trauma as an excuse
for abusing transgender men, physically, sexually, and emotionally.
Transandrophobia, is the way the fear of men has resulted in people refusing admittance to “male identified people†to
certain queer events and safe spaces.
Transandrophobia, is the way that the fear of masculinity has led to people assuming that butches across the gender
spectrum are inherently violent and hyper-sexual.
Transandrophobia, is the way that the fear of men and/or masculinity results in the forced feminization of transgender
men in queer spaces, with the insistence that those who refuse to feminize themselves to make others more comfortable
should not be allowed entrance to certain queer spaces.
Transandrophobia, is the way that the fear of men has led people to assuming that butches who were assigned female at
birth, are at risk of becoming the enemy (a man) and should not be given the same amount of trust as a feminine
presenting cis woman.
Transandrophobia, is when that the fear of men being in women’s spaces prevents trans men and non-binary people who
present as male from accessing gynecological care, abortions, and birth control.
Transandrophobia, is when transgender men must make themselves smaller to be seen as “one of the good ones†and it is
when a trans man who is loud or sexual or Black or Brown or too masculine is seen as a threat to the safety of other
transgender people.
Transandrophobia, is when transgender men who speak up about how the normalized way of speaking ill about men in
feminist and queer spaces has made them activity suicidal, de-transition, or prevented them from transitioning, are told
to “shut up and sit down†or “good.â€
Transandrophobia, is not when trans men face misogyny – that is just a trans man facing misogyny (which all trans men
face, because misogyny and sexism effects everyone, not just women). However, transandrophobia is when someone says that
trans men don’t face misogyny because they are men, make claims that trans men benefit from misogyny since they are men,
or insist that trans men’s experiences with misogyny aren’t as valid or as bad as when a woman or non-male person faces
misogyny.
Transandrophobia, is when trans men’s struggles are dismissed as being less important, because men don’t need help or
men already have help or men don't face real struggles.
Transandrophobia, is when people refuse to acknowledge that the patriarchy see’s transgender men as failed women and not
men, which is why transgender men do bot benefit from the patriarchy but are instead violently and systematically
punished by it.
Transandrophobia is that and a whole lot more, I would need a book to describe the entirety of the issue, I have been
writing a book on it for over six years and re-writing it over and over because if I say it wrong, or say it with too
much emotion, or not enough emotion, or with too many numbers, or not enough numbers, and publish it without using
perfect wording, trans men might not get another chance to speak up for a long ass time and we will once again have to
find new words to say "Pretty please treat me like a human being and let me have access to the things I need in order to
survive." and "Pretty please consider that if a large group of people from a minority are telling you they are being
oppressed by these actions and fears, then maybe you should believe them or at least the material statistical evidence
of that oppression, since you probably trust journals more than us describing our reality and lived experiences."
a-polite-melody:
A question!
When you say that transandrophobia is not trans men facing misogyny, are you saying that you don’t think that misogyny
is a part of how transandrophobia functions and that misogyny and transandrophobia are separate things, or that there
are experiences of trans men which would better be discussed as ‘misogyny’ than ‘transandrophobia’ because
transandrophobia is more specific than misogyny + transphobia for trans men (which can be described as misogyny against
trans men and transphobia against trans men) and more an intermingling of those two forces with anti-masculinity.
Because I’ve seen a few people interpreting it as the former, while I had an interpretation of that paragraph more like
the latter.
st-dionysus:
I mean: There are experiences of trans men which would better be discussed as ‘misogyny’ than ‘transandrophobia’ because
transandrophobia is more specific than misogyny + transphobia for trans men.
For example, if a trans man is told he shouldn't enter the STEM field because his brain is hardwired for humanitarian
studies instead of math because he's afab, that's sexism and misogyny. However, if a trans man is told that he shouldn't
transition while he's in his STEM major because it will ruin his reputation as being an educated female and that his
transition will break the hearts of young girls who want to enter STEM that's transandrophobia. Or if a trans man has a
scholarship for women in STEM and transitions, only to get his scholarship revoked because he's no longer a woman in
STEM, that's transandrophobia - because it's the removal of a needed support system that would have allowed an under
repsesnted gender minority (men of the trans experience) acsess to a field of study that aggressively blocks people like
him for entering, under the assumption that "now he's a man, he doesn't deserve this support".
Transandrophobia was coined to talked about a specific topic. Most queer people are willing to admit that trans men face
misogyny (though they will usually insist that it doesn't effect us as much or that it's only if we're not passing,
which isn't true) however, rarely will people admit that trans mens issues do not begin and end with "basic vanilla
misogyny" or they will refuse to acknowledge that some forms of systematic oppression and lateral aggressions directed
at trans men have nothing to do with being perceived as or assumed to be a cisgender woman, but instead have to do with
us being perceived as a transgender man. (And being perceived as a transgender man means being perceived on a spectrum
that includes everything from failed/broken woman to violent male threat, or often both at the same time by the same
person)
a-polite-melody:
@boreal-sea
boreal-sea:
So, firstly: I fully support Saint in clarifying how he defines the word he coined. I think that's great! I can
absolutely see the usefulness of this term.
A-polite-melody is tagging me here because I made a post saying that due to Saint's clarifications, I will not be using
transandrophobia to describe my personal experiences, and instead I will be using anti-transmasculinity and/or
transmisandry. This is because for me, anti-transmasculinity IS when I face misogyny. For me, misogyny is not separable
from transphobia or from a fear of men and how that affects my livelihood as a transmasc person.
Some people find it useful to only talk about the way a fear of men influences transmascs. That's great. More power to
everyone! I fully agree that "the way the fear of men affects the material reality and mental/physical health of
transgender men" is 100% a thing transmascs deal with! And I think including that is absolutely vital to any definition
of anti-transmasculinity.
I personally need a term that is broader. I need a term that includes everything covered by Saint's definition of
transandrophobia, plus more. I need it to include misogyny and sexism, a fear of men/masculinity, and transphobia, and
it needs to incorporate how all of those intersect to affect me as a transmasc person.
I was among the people who thought misogyny was an inherent part of transandrophobia, and I was defining it as such. I
will stop doing that moving forward!
For folks who like transandrophobia as a term, please continue on!! I support you!!!
st-dionysus:
Thank you!
There is 100% room for multiple terms that overlap in out community to discuss our issues. Transandrophobia is a part of
anti-transmasculinity. I don't use the term anti-transmasculinity, because for me it's too broad of a topic and too
vague (for me to be able) to write about in a way that is effective at tackling the material issues that trans men face.
(Again, for me specifically. I'm sure other people out there are utilizing it in a productive way that advocates for
change. And I'm sure many other are just happy to have it as a way of having a word to use when you need to vent!!)
Transandrophobia, as a word, is specific because it's meant to allow people to effectively discuss how to make changes
in our communities to prevent the intentional erasure of trans men in queer spaces while providing a dialect on why
those issues exist (because people are afriad of us or of who we might hypothetically become like, due to patriarcal
trauma being unchecked and allowed to manifest into its own oppressive force).
Having a strong vocabulary of words to create a productive dialect is an important part of any movement and words will
naturally develop as people find ways to explain our shared experiences and our communities needs.
Note: Archived conversation from Tumblr.com