Defining Transphobia

[Gráinne]

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.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by guihong

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.

Thanks for posting, guihong. The bolded part of your post really highlights what I'm trying to get at here, which is that most people really don't know transphobia when they see it or when they are making a transophobic/insensitive comment, unfortunately. So how to raise awareness about its existence in the mainstream, and to deal with attitudes that try to erase it as a real form of discrimination?

Personally, I would still say that movies like those that you mentioned are transphobic even if they don't deal visibly with transsexuality (since trans can also encompass crossdressing). Many in the mainstream public don't see the difference between transsexuality and crossdressing to begin with. It's another display of the fact that "humour" for mainstream society often takes on the form of ridiculing groups like trans people, queer people, poc, physical disability, mental health issues etc.

Anyways, what do you think about methods to raise awareness so that transphobia is at least recognised on par with homophobia instead of as an afterthought of homophobia?

[weatherboi]

Originally Posted by EnderD_503

Anyways, what do you think about methods to raise awareness so that transphobia is at least recognised on par with homophobia instead of as an afterthought of homophobia?

Genderism is the main root of transphobia. I think bringing awareness to genderism and its impact on the trans community would be a great start. I think it should be treated just like any other ism but it is so ambiguous that sometimes people don't even realize that it is unfair treatment. There are so many types of transphobia to address. It can be a personal, systemic, intentional, or unintentional experience, so pinpointing methods to raise awareness can get complicated because of large amounts of diverse people that need to be educated. Some people don't even know or haven't heard of transphobia, much less genderism.

Here is where I see the problem getting harder. How do we get our community LGBT to get behind educating people about genderism when many people within our own community support this ideal?

Genderism is the belief that there are and only should be two genders and that gender is tied to ones biological sex.

[girl_dee]

i feel most *phobias* come from having learned that from someone/somewhere along the way. Maybe as generations evolve we will have much more tolerance and acceptance along the way. That's my hope anyway, NOT that we should have to wait that long!

[Quintease]

I think a lot of transphobia is a lack of understanding about what transsexuals are. Is a transwoman a woman if she doesn't look like a woman to you? Is a transman a man if you know he was once a lesbian? Is a transman straight if he's dating a woman? What about a transwoman dating a man? People don't know where to put their eyes and their pronouns. They're not sure where transpeople fit in as all they've ever known is Male/Female, Gay/Straight.

But then there are the Angry People. The people who (usually) not only hate trans people, but immigrants, people of colour, the unemployed, teenage mothers, gays, sluts and men. You can't win against those people. They have the belief of their own entitlement stuck so far up their behind, you'd never be able to reach in far enough to pull it out.

[princessbelle]

I agree. The more knowledgeable the people are the more acceptance will be found. Of those that are transphobic, i believe a lot of it equates to the "unknown" and the total misunderstanding of our people.

I remember when the whole "Chas" stuff first came out. Now i know there are many that didn't approve of how he did it and what he stands for. But. It started some conversations, even if not in a positive way. It was at least some awareness. My little southern baptist republican momma watched the show. She asked me many questions to include..."Does that mean he felt that he was born in the wrong body?" To my disbelief she actually "got it" and more than that, understood.

If that show had not been aired, i doubt that conversation or that learning experience would have ever come up. So, the more exposure the better. The more education out there the better. More shows. More documentaries. More trans-friendly movies. Just more exposure to everyone, i believe, will have a positive outcome, even if it is just discussion around the water cooler.

It has to start somewhere.

[SelfMadeMan]

IMHO, I think the terms homophobia and transphobia are perhaps an under exaggeration of what's really going on in this country. I don't think it's a fear of anything, as much as deliberate oppression and violence against the LGBTQ communities. I think what's going on politically and socially is insidious and it goes WAY beyond any phobias.