Defining Transphobia

[EnderD_503]

Transphobia is not a word that most people in Western society really understand or recognise.

I was recently reading an article about a "greeting card" Urban Outfitters put out. The card read:

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
So Jack could see Jill's fanny
Jack got a shock
And an eyeful of cock
Because Jill was a closet tranny.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...usaolp00000009

Now evidently this is transphobic, in addition to being sexist and homophobic. But while reading the comments to the article, I saw the same pattern that exists when many cis people react to anything being described as "transphobic." The inability to understand why "tranny" said by a cis person to refer to trans people in general is offensive. The inability to understand why constantly implying that trans people are out to "trick" straight cis people into bed with them. The inability to understand that being outed as a trans person in such a situation has caused the beatings and deaths of countless transwomen. Most people think that if you're not beating a trans person over the head with something, stabbing them or calling for the death of all trans people, that something isn't "transphobic." Many in the queer community believe that "transphobia" is a word trans people like to dish out to cis people to guilt them into agreeing with them. Many in the public aren't even aware of the word "transphobia," and the fact that "transphobia" is frequently omitted by the media and lgbt orgs in their discussion of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia further perpetuates that ignorance.

So I guess the point of discussion here, for me, is how do we go about fully defining transphobia in a way that is understandable to people who barely have an understanding of homophobia. How do we raise awareness of what constitutes transphobia in the cis/straight mainstream as well as in our own queer/trans communities? And how do we raise awareness in our own communities? On the one hand, I'm really tired of having to define transphobia, on the other hand obviously there's a huge need for it.

On a side note, I was wondering about where to put this topic. Whether it should be in the trans section, the red zone or elsewhere. I opted to keep it out of the red zone, because I feel when trans topics or other sensitive topics are placed there, there is always one person who decides to come in and use that as incentive to insult trans people under the auspices of "freedom of speech." So for personal reasons I decided to keep the topic here, basically for my own sanity so I hope others don't see it as trying to stifle discussion.