"(Binary-phobia?)": Julia Serano is not a serious person.
"(Binary-phobia?)": Julia Serano is not a serious person.
Look right, I like a lot of things about the foundational 2007 text Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. But if you've ever been told to read this book without any qualifiers, I'd like to apologise on behalf of the trans community.
Obviously the concepts of traditional and oppositional sexism, the idea of transmisogyny, Serano's analysis of media depictions of trans women, and more are all superb and well worthy of praise. However, Serano is a land of contrasts, as AcidSmiley so concisely put it. She's read both Leslie Feinberg and Kate Bornstein's works, and writes this extremely salient quote:
We must also stop pretending that there are essential differences between women and men. This begins with the acknowledgement that there are exceptions to every gender rule and stereotype, and this simply stated fact disproves all gender theories that purport that female and male are mutually exclusive categories.
Despite all that, Serano has a perspective that's utterly mired in exorsexist* binary-only assumptions, with language to match. On own, describing someone taking estrogen as "hormonally female" or her body prior to hormone replacement therapy as "physically male" would be unpleasantly cisnormative, but just that. I respect fully that the intent of this book is to analyse the ins and outs of being trans in the gender binary, and so the text is focused in that direction. When Serano writes goofy shit like "mtf spectrum" though, you wonder if she wouldn't be better served by thinking a little outside of the two-genders box.
She doesn't want to, though; Julia Serano circa 2007 (the text has not been meaningfully updated to my knowledge) is a brave warrior going against the grain of non binary domination :citation to defend our poor, repressed binary genders. She's taking down those woke non-binary moralists from their ivory towers:
There are many different (but often overlapping) forms of gender entitlement and gender anxiety. For example, one of the most frequently discussed forms of gender entitlement is heterosexism, the belief that heterosexuality is the only "natural," legitimate, or morally acceptable form of sexual desire. Heterosexist gender entitlement ean lead to homophobia, which is an expression of gender anxiety directed against those people who engage in same-sex relationships. Similarly, the gender-entitled belief that all women are (or should be) feminine and men masculine-which some have called cisgenderism-gives rise to transphobia, a gender anxiety that is directed against people who fall outside of those norms. While homophobia and transphobia have both received mainstream attention, thinking in terms of gender entitlement and gender anxiety also allows us to consider less well- known (but just as disparaging) forms of gender and sexual discrimination. For example, many gays and lesbians who believe that all people are "naturally" either homosexual or heterosexual often express biphobia, a gender anxiety directed toward bisexual people because they challenge the presumption that people can only be attracted to one sex or the other. I have also met some people in the transgender community who feel that identifying outside of the male/female binary is superior to, or more enlightened than, identifying within it. Such people often express gender anxiety (binary- phobia?) at people who identify strongly as either female or male.
I would be laughing if I weren't actually really mad about this classic, foundational transfeminist text featuring tons of brainworms about anyone outside the binary. It's a punchline, the phrase "binary-phobia" is perfect to sit right next to "heterophobia" or "cisphobia". It's right up there alongside white westerners claiming to be victims of racism when someone calls them a cracker, even. It should be plainly self-evident how ridiculous a claim this is. I want to ask Serano circa 2007 to tell me which genders have legal recognition - binary or non-binary ones?
It is truly incredible that a woman can write so sharply about the cultural/societal hedgemony of cis gender and heterosexuality, about how the concept of anything being inherently gendered is antithetical to feminism, and then turn around and write a deeply unserious aside about how non-binary people are apparently smug moralists commiting discrimination against people of binary gender due to the same gender anxiety**--in itself a smart concept about how queer people disrupt assumed gender/sexual normality--that drives cis people to be transphobes!! I am for real left somewhat speechless.
I don't think Whipping Girl is a book nobody should read, obviously. But I scoured the bearsite to see if anyone had dome criticism of or even qualified their recommendation of Whipping Girl, and I found nothing. Part of me wonders if anyone has made a concerted criticism of this book before, but surely someone has before me. I yap exclusively for your benefit! I wonder if Sexed Up or Excluded are better, but frankly I'm just disappointed and angry. Truly a joke.
--
*Exorsexist, I learned today, is discrimination against people outside the gender binary!
**Serano describes gender anxiety as "the act of becoming irrationally upset or being made uncomfortable by the existence of those people who challenge or bring into question one's gender entitlement." In turn, she describes gender entitlement being "an arrogant conviction that one's own beliefs, perceptions, and assumptions regarding gender and sexuality are more valid than those of other people". She is more or less insinuating that non-binary people are befuddled supremacists who cannot stand... adherence to the gender binary. Cool.
You're viewing a single thread.
I do agree that Serano's work is generally mired in exorsexist assumptions, yes, but I don't actually have that much of an issue with the passage you quote? While the phrase 'binary phobia' is obviously absurd, I have myself met people who genuinely believed that being non-binary was somehow superior to or more enlightened than having a binary gender. It might be less common now than it was when I first started transitioning about 8 years ago, but this is absolutely a current of thought that exists within the trans community, largely, in my experience, among TME non-binary people.
I myself used to hold this view, in fact! It was something that was directed at me a lot early in my transition, and I internalized the idea that 'binary trans women' (and it was always trans women, nobody ever directed this shit at trans men in my experience) were somehow 'reinforcing the binary' and were ultimately obstacles to the cause of 'gender abolition'. Being a trans woman myself, internalizing this idea did me a lot of harm - it took me 7 years to actually start presenting femininely because of it, because I was so convinced that if I did so, I would be acting in an immoral manner by way of reinforcing the gender binary, and so I forced myself to present in a masculine or neutral manner even though I didn't actually want that, and even though doing so actively mentally hurt me. Indeed, this sort of thought was likely a large contributor to the 2 years in which I de-transitioned.
The idea Serano describes here, even if her wording is awful, absolutely does exist in the trans community - I would classify it mostly as one of the forms of intracommunity transmisogyny as this sort of thought does seem to be largely directed at 'binary trans women' specifically. Obviously as a problem it is not at all comparable in scale to homophobia or transphobia, but it absolutely does exist - to characterize non-binary people as being privileged because of this current of thought is, however, ridiculous, yes. In actuality I would say that this stuff is just a manifestation of transmisogyny, a manifestation of the contextual privilege held by TME people within the trans community.
I have, on very rare occasions, seen the "being binary trans reinforces the oppressive forces of the gender binary" take before, so I don't entirely doubt what you're saying. However, at this point and from what I know, I found that internalizing the transmedicalist and truscum brainworms that plague the trans community even more harshly than this fringe you're concerned about is what prevented me from being myself.
Gender abolitionism gets strawmanned a ton. Yes, there are TERFs who do reactionary co-opting of the concept, but most non-binary/trans people you interact with who believe in gender abolitionism are not trying to demonize those who identify with being a binary trans person.
I am transfeminine myself, so this may differ from what you have to say about "TME non-binary people," but I find that the transmedicalist brainworms that harmed me so damn much and led me down the harshest path of internalized transphobia, as I was already facing a shitton of other kinds of discrimination and hardship, were practically evenly perpetuated by both truscummy trans men and trans women.
My problem has never been with those of binary identities; it has been with those who need to cling onto some sense of hierarchical domination, so they place enbies beneath them as a way to feel like they're not the same brand of the "lowest of the low" in society. Enbies are even much less understood than binary trans people, so there are definitely more enbies being harmed by this kind of stuff than one would be harmed by the supposed inverse "enby supremacy" ideology you're hinting at here.
Most people, even a lot of trans people, have not freed themselves of their binarist brainworms. The amount of times I'd chat with a trans person online who cannot anonymously pick up on my assigned sex and have them ask, "Are you MTF or FTM?" not even including NB as a possibility in this question (that they don't even need to ask in the first place) is astronomical. Most cis people and a not so insignificant amount of binary trans people see non-binary people as an afterthought to performatively support in the back of their heads, and those who never learn how to stop the support from being performative will still have those enbyphobic brainworms that are kept alive in both trans spaces and the wider society until they get proper insight and theory into how being trans, binary or non-binary, all undermines the patriarchal, cisheteronormative system in the exact same way.
Permanently Deleted
There is a difference between the intention of the rhetoric when a TERF makes a statement along these lines and when a person who identifies as a non-binary gender abolitionist makes a statement along these lines. If you're conflating the two, this response is redundant, as this entire discussion hinges on concerns about the latter specifically.
Regardless, it's not acceptable to say that being binary trans is wrong, but that doesn't mean that these two groups are arguing for that position from the exact same angle.
Permanently Deleted
She also isn't saying it about typical TERFs because TERFs are not the ones who typically fit this archetype of being "non-binary supremacists" who have a very targeted hateboner for binary trans people specifically.
This is a highly fringe idea for anyone in the trans/non-binary community to have. The inverse, which is normalizing binarism and enbyphobia, happens way more often actually. Neither of them are fine, but me saying this is analogous to me condemning both racial essentialist black supremacism and racial essentialist white supremacism.
It's the latter of the two that proves itself to be a more material issue that tends to genuinely cause damage to people, whereas the former is just a fringe that is rooted in toxic ideas of scientific racism but is a very rare kind of thought that doesn't manifest into things like oppressing white people.
thank you for saying this. enbyphobia is far more prevalent these days so obviously the critique is valid... anecdotal, but I've seen some slightly older trans folks who came up during this time act the most virulently enbyphobic online. (especially talking shit about neos etc.) it's the reason I had to leave the trueanon discord lol
Fully agree, and i'm also dead certain that no TERF who acts less openly transphobic towards nonbinary people would ever do this in good faith, this always comes from a point of secretly misgendering nonbinary people as a queerer version of their AGAB. No cis woman who offers "AFAB only" housing does so because she respects the gender identity of a transmasc nonbinary person, she will always do this because she sees them as nothing but a confused butch.
And the quoted passage absolutely does not refer to these TERFs, it expressly reads "I have also met some people in the transgender community who feel that identifying outside of the male/female binary is superior to, or more enlightened than, identifying within it. " (emphasis mine)
yeah, placing it in a list alongside homophobia, transphobia and biphobia is patently ridiculous
Permanently Deleted
i mean, if this is true, this is the kind of thing i'd do too because i'm an amateur writer, but this is a supposed academic work (if only in retrospect, as i now see from that blog post you mentioned) and we need to hold ourselves and the people that recommend her to a higher standard, i think you agree largely tho from your other posts
edit: and i just want to add that IMO the point of this post was to critique a specific thing in a book that is considered a pillar of the community and make it clear that it is not perfect, and in fact, may be losing relevance in specific ways and be supplanted by newer material. i just want to say i appreciate the blog thing, but no one should have to read a blog post for an academic work before they can criticize the work
Permanently Deleted
Cool if she is secretly not enbyphobic if I read blog posts and other books, but this book is swung like a hammer at people, trans and cis otherwise. It is fertile ground for bad ideas. I also haven't seen a sincere expression of solidarity with NB people from her, but regardless this book requires critique if we are to throw it around so easily.
have myself met people who genuinely believed that being non-binary was somehow superior to or more enlightened than having a binary gender.
Can I ask, sincerely and genuinely, why you care?Sorry I can see now. So more pointedly, why Serano was so very miffed about just such an encounter that she felt it right to enshrine her being mad in a book? She doesn't seem to be in your position.largely, in my experience, among TME non-binary people.
Wowee, didn't take long for this to come out...
internalized the idea that 'binary trans women' (and it was always trans women, nobody ever directed this shit at trans men in my experience) were somehow 'reinforcing the binary' and were ultimately obstacles to the cause of 'gender abolition'.
I'm sorry you had that experience. Anyone who has used non-binary identities in this way is a reactionary hiding behind Gender Accelerationist language as a fig leaf. Neither the Gender Accelerationist Manifesto nor the 2016 revision of Gender Outlaw support this viewpoint. See also, the "you can still be a baker" passage of the Gender Accelerationst Manifesto.
In actuality I would say that this stuff is just a manifestation of transmisogyny,
Right, I agree. It sounds unsurprisingly like reductive so-called "gender abolitionist" terfs who want to abolish gender by reducing it to assigned sex. One wonders if these people are wreckers, or indeed why "TME people" are being singled out for it.
I would say that the reason I care is fairly simple? The existence of this current of thought and it's advocacy by the individuals I mentioned did me significant psychological harm. It is only natural that I would care given that is the case.
And yes the similarity to TERF ideology is obvious, and I am aware that the Gender Accelerationist Manifesto does not advocate for this - I don't think the people in question were wreckers however, they had quite open public histories of having been trans for years. And I am not trying to 'single out' TME people - I am genuinely just describing what I saw in my experience using the most precise terms available to me, given I characterize the current of thought we are discussing as being a manifestation of transmisogyny, I thought it would be relevant to mention in this instance, that is all.
Yes, I edited that line in my reply, mistake on my part.
given I characterize the current of thought we are discussing as being a manifestation of transmisogyny, I thought it would be relevant to mention in this instance, that is all.
Terfs are also "transmisogyny exempt" strictly speaking. I tend to agree with a post I saw earlier today on the subject:
Quote
Honestly, (trans)misogynistic transmascs are a pain in the ass, but in the end they're just incel ideologues or liberal chauvinists like any other masc person with problematic views, and the reason is largely the same, they latch onto male privilege to lord it over women. As people navigating a masc-aligned gender role, they intuitively get how to center yourself in conversations, how to silence women and how to be a petty, power-grabbing piece of shit in general, because our society provides ample role models, material and ideological incentives and culturally ingrained leeway for that. It has to to maintain patriarchal property and power relations. Trans men are men and sometimes, some of them are men in the worst ways possible, it comes with the territory when you live in a society that enables male violence in all kinds of ways.
The main difference is that they are people i run into in supposed safer spaces, but it never sat well with me to give them their own trans-specific label, i honestly don't think these dinguses deserve it. They're just misogynist swine like all the other misogynist swine. And i wouldn't say that all transmasculine people are united by a shared lived experience of not experiencing what i go through, trans experiences are a bit too diverse for that. I get a feeling that there's a neo-binarist essentialism to the TME and TMA labels, and i do not use them when calling out (trans)misogyny. I do that a lot, i had to do that with somebody in a trans space just yesterday, but i did not need to call dem TME for that. If i needed an expression for that person, i would go with transmisogynist, joyless pile of spite and insecurity, that seems more fitting than TME.
I simply disagree on that matter, then. I find TMA/TME to be very useful terms, especially when one is talking about structural transmisogyny within the trans community itself. Indeed, I find that the TMA/TME terminology's very existence has been helpful in causing a lot more discussion about intracommunity transmisogyny, which is an issue that in the past in my experience has not been discussed at all.
In this case, I used it pretty much because I find it more concise than what the post you are quoting suggests.
They aren't bad terms in concept, the concept of transmisogyny as Serano lays it out is pretty cool. I've seen the terms used as nouns too many times, though.
What makes misogyny from a trans man different from misogyny from a cis man or woman? (Aside that our comrades should be doing better, which is universal)
It's not in any way fundamentally different - that is why TME as a term includes not just trans men, but also cis men and cis women, that is part of the point of the term.
The only manner in which it is different is that transmisogynist (or just str8 up misogynist, although this seems somewhat less common in my experience) trans men are afforded something of a shield from criticism by way of their transness. They can assert that trans women and trans men are functionally the 'same', that they are equally victimized in all contexts, and use that to dismiss any accusations of transmisogyny they may face because of their behavior as 'infighting' - pointing to the shared enemy of the cisheteropatriarchy as a way of deflecting their own problems.
This is most effective when it comes to more subtle forms of transmisogyny that may be somewhat unconscious - tendencies to talk over trans women, a quickness to cancel and ostracize them, an expectation that trans women ought to not be too 'forceful', even perhaps the common retort to trans women's complaints of intracommunity transmisogyny I have seen of 'why are we infighting we should be kissing and making out instead', shit like that.
I have NEVER seen "TME" used for anybody cis, as you denoted it's most useful for intercommunity things right?
are afforded something of a shield from criticism by way of their transness
You can tell, because of how vicious anti-TME "discourse" has been online... and sure trans men just use their identity and trans unity as a shield to hide their misogyny behind...
I mean again I can't discount this, particularly here because I am not wherever you've presumably seen this, but my point about singling out transmasc comrades was basically dead accurate.
I am not singling out 'transmasc comrades', merely acknowledging that there are transmascs within the trans community who take advantage of their trans status and conditional male privilege to avoid suffering consequences for transmisogynistic behavior is not singling out anyone. I use TME to refer to cis people all the time, and so does everyone else who I have seen regularly use the term.
I think you and I have had extremely different experiences and I don't think either of us is going to benefit from continuing this conversation. I apologize, I recognize this may come off as a bit cowardly, but I don't think I'm realistically going to convince you of anything, nor do I think you are realistically going to convince me of anything.
It seems like your mind on this subject is pretty much already made up, as is mine.
I think so, mostly because what you're saying is 1:1 what Imogen Binnie wrote in her dumb novel descended from this book, and also because you assert that like, non-binary supremacists are a real problem (but among TME people!!!) that should be written about. I do not consider seriously anybody who does not have a problem with the quoted passage.
Permanently Deleted
Oh, and I guess to answer your edit - I have no idea why Serano was so miffed about that. I am not her, and cannot say, although it is obvious that she has some degree of exorsexist brainworms regardless of what her experiences may or may not have been.
Permanently Deleted
Wow, she really owned all those pernicious enbies... I think this framing is silly. You don't need "binary-phobia" to rightfully bully terfs appropriating gender abolition to cover for their essentialism.
Permanently Deleted