Defining Transphobia

Gráinne · 03-26-2012, 11:52 AM

I think "transphobia" is like "porn"-hard to define, but you know it when you see it.

Example #1-way before I came out, one of my professors in university transitioned MtF. Some turned her into a butt of jokes, and one of her best friends ended the friendship

. I think about her a lot, ever since I came out years later.

Example #2-when I worked at the grocery, one of my regular customers was MtF. I knew immediately. While on break, some of my coworkers asked about her, if I knew she was "tranny", and did this make me uncomfortable? I replied that she had great ideas for preparing vegetables and her money was as green as mine

.

I've wondered about movies such as Some Like It Hot, in which Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguise themselves as women to avoid a mob hit. But to me, that's not about transsexuality; that's cross-dressing, a different animal altogether. Both of them play otherwise straight men forced into a ridiculous situation for a comedy.

We fear what we don't understand, so transphobia to me is fear of someone "different", and the ways that fear is expressed, through jokes, shunning, or gossip.

03-26-2012, 11:52 AM	#2
Gráinne Senior Member How Do You Identify?: Neither, nada, out of the box Preferred Pronoun?: My name always works Relationship Status: Happy whatever happens Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,864 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,117 Thanked 7,388 Times in 1,457 Posts Rep Power: 21474852	I think "transphobia" is like "porn"-hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Example #1-way before I came out, one of my professors in university transitioned MtF. Some turned her into a butt of jokes, and one of her best friends ended the friendship . I think about her a lot, ever since I came out years later. Example #2-when I worked at the grocery, one of my regular customers was MtF. I knew immediately. While on break, some of my coworkers asked about her, if I knew she was "tranny", and did this make me uncomfortable? I replied that she had great ideas for preparing vegetables and her money was as green as mine . I've wondered about movies such as Some Like It Hot, in which Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguise themselves as women to avoid a mob hit. But to me, that's not about transsexuality; that's cross-dressing, a different animal altogether. Both of them play otherwise straight men forced into a ridiculous situation for a comedy. We fear what we don't understand, so transphobia to me is fear of someone "different", and the ways that fear is expressed, through jokes, shunning, or gossip. __________________ The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one. ~Erma Bombeck