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One Kind of Transphobia: Imagining Cis-Phobia
A cis person discusses sex/gender, yet it’s not OK when a trans person does it?
Today’s New York Times op-ed by Pamela Paul shows us, yet again, what transphobic discourse sounds like.
What It Sounds Like
Here are the points she makes. Generally, she’s saying that she’s correct because of who she is and that other people are incorrect because of who they are.
Cis people are allowed to talk about bodies. Trans people aren’t.
Paul says that the word “women” is a “biological category” implying “genetics” and “biology” and that girls ought to grow up “feeling good in their bodies” and “pride in their sex.” When she wants to refer to women who are not transgender, she doesn’t say “cisgender women,” but rather “biological women.”
Yet she complains that trans people invoke “body parts” when discussing what it means to be a woman.
Because it’s right when she’s the one pointing out biology, and it’s wrong when trans people do it.
Cis people are allowed to talk about culture. Trans people aren’t.
Paul says that the word “women” also implies “history, politics and culture,” that women have “their own specific needs and prerogatives,” and that there are “prospects of womanhood” that girls can grow up recognizing and anticipating for themselves.
Yet she complains that trans people invoke “gender stereotypes” when discussing what it means to be a woman.
She provides no distinctions about when “culture” and “womanhood” devolve into “stereotypes,” except to rely on assumptions like my observations about gender are true and theirs are false and my analysis of gender is good and theirs is bad.
Cis people cope with gender stereotypes that are inflicted on them. Trans people are the inflictors.
Paul alleges that an unidentified “they” (i.e., trans people) “propose that girls…who do not self-identify as feminine are somehow not fully girls.” She…
