So this image has been circulating around facebook for a while and it is time I wrote something on it.
.
So, what do you get when you take a woman and add a penis?
No, you don't get a pay increase or new job opportunities, you get a transwoman.
This is because gender is something that is between your ears, not your legs.
The assertion that transwomen are somehow less "womanly" than ciswomen because their anatomy is different is transphobic and cissexist. Contrary to what this image suggests, transwomen do face discrimination in the workplace, and do not get paid more because of their genitalia.
I originally saw this image as a repost from the facebook page: "One Million Vaginas" (no irony there I suppose).
I commented on the image, pointing out how it's cissexism furthered the glaring lack of intersectionality of which feminism has had a long standing history. My comments were swiftly deleted and I was banned from commenting again.
I then took to twitter and tried to call them out on this blatant cissexism, but that too was ignored.
I get it, as feminists we want to shed light on important issues like the wage gap and reproductive injustices, but we do not achieve this by metaphorically throwing transfolks and other minorities under the bus.
Any time we address a crowd as "men and women" we are actively erasing the experiences of people who (like myself) are genderqueer or intersex or who otherwise do not fit into the gender binary we are promoting.
Any time we say "women's reproductive healthcare" instead of "reproductive healthcare" we ignore the many transmen and non-binary folk out there who also have a uterus and have to deal with the same reproductive issues ciswomen do. By doing this we also alienate transwomen, since "women's reproductive health" rarely includes mention of things like prostate exams, hormones, or any of the other things transwomen need.
Any time we try to promote "women's rights" while only promoting the rights of cisgender women, or in the process trash the rights of transwomen, we are supporting cissexism and repackaging misogyny.
(I am looking at you radfems).
The subtle and not so subtle microagressions add up and make it difficult for people to identify as feminists.
While white cisgender feminists might have the best of intentions, they need to wake up and realize that their suffering is not the only suffering that counts, and that they cannot fix their problems by continuing to dismiss the suffering of others.
It's time to work on that intersectionality.
