Trans black bodies under attacks and transmisogyny
Freed Activist CeCe McDonald and Actress Laverne Cox spoke out last year that ""Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack"
After serving 19 months in prison, the African-American transgender activist CeCe McDonald is free. She was arrested after using deadly force to protect herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of Minneapolis. Her case helped turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of colo
According to U.S statistics, the murder rate for gay and trangender people in the U.S was at an all-time high. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs documented 30 hate-related murders of LGBT people in 2011; 40 percent of the victims were transgender women of color.
Feminist writer Veronica Flores wrote on Feministing that certaiin "bodies are dangerous,.and that even though the world wants to kill you, so many of us are out here fighting for your life.
Your bodies are how the revolution begins."
Laverne Cox recently decided to pose nude after much consideration on Allure magazine, a woman's beauty magazine.
Cox, a transgender actor and activist, admitted she wasn’t so sure about disrobing for the camera.
“Going through life, you try to cover and hide, but it doesn’t really work,” she said to Allure. “I said no initially, thought about it, and said no again.”
Not suprisingly, Laverne Cox, a black trqansgender woman actress, has received criticisms from certain feminists for posing nude on Allure magazine.
On her blog, Meghan Murphy wrote an April 22 post titled “Laverne Cox’s objectified body ‘empowers’ no one.”
She wrote, " if we alter our bodies through surgery and hormones? It seems clear that ‘radical self-acceptance’ is not at all what Cox is experiencing or conveying to her audience.”
She went on to say that bodies like Cox are sculpted in order to look like some cartoonish version of “woman,” as defined by the porn
Here are actual fact about trans women. (from everyday feminism)
Trans women are often pathologized and sexualized, portrayed as someone manipulatively hiding their transgender identity to trick a man into engaging with them sexually or romantically.
They play countless television roles as sex workers.
They are shown as unattractive; they are the butt of jokes, their desire to be feminine mocked, their motives for transitioning questioned.
Our media portrays trans women in archetypes – as the weak victim of a crime, or as the evil villain; as the mentally unstable character, or as the manipulative one.
And while it is difficult to find complex and honest portrayals of trans women characters on television, it is even more rare to find an authentic and respectful portrayal of a trans wom of Color (though we have see a few recently, like the great Laverne Cox in Orange is the New Black).an
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, trans people experience disproportionately high rates of poverty and homelessness caused by discrimination in jobs and housing, but they also experience greater incarceration rates, largely due to gender profiling by the police.
Gender is policed, quite literally by police officers who target, arrest, and often harass trans women for looking “different” and therefore, “disorderly.” Trans women of Color, in particular, tend to be perceived by police through racialized and gender stereotypes framing them as highly sexual and as criminal.
Trans women are consistently targeted and arrested for being involved in sex work, even if they have no association with this work.
In New York, where having a condom on you can be used as evidence of involvement in sex work, trans women are being profiled, searched, and arrested for being a trans woman at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There’s also direct violence at the hands of police: A 2012 study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that transgender people across the U.S. experience three times more police violence than cisgender people.
And nearly half of trans people who reported hate crimes to the police experienced mistreatment from them while asking for help.
Trans women experience abuse after being arrested as well, when they are most often forced to reside in men’s prison facilities, experiencing extremely high rates of sexual and physical violence – a study by the Department of Justice found that 1 in 3 are sexual assaulted in prison. In response, many prisons place trans women in solitary confinement for extended periods of time “for their own protection.” (Meanwhile, solitary confinement is considered a form of torture.)
When it comes to the media:
Trans women are given an extremely two-dimensional portrayal in the news, where they are most often reported on in association of a hate crime. In these reports, their gender is consistently portrayed as confusing and illegitimate, appearing in countless headlines like this one: “Man Dressed as Woman Found Dead.
h
Please disregard the first post, I forgot to leave it blank. Thanks.
Freed Activist CeCe McDonald and Actress Laverne Cox spoke out last year that ""Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack"
After serving 19 months in prison, the African-American transgender activist CeCe McDonald is free. She was arrested after using deadly force to protect herself from a group of people who attacked her on the streets of Minneapolis. Her case helped turn a national spotlight on the violence and discrimination faced by transgender women of colo
According to U.S statistics, the murder rate for gay and trangender people in the U.S was at an all-time high. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs documented 30 hate-related murders of LGBT people in 2011; 40 percent of the victims were transgender women of color.
Feminist writer Veronica Flores wrote on Feministing that certaiin "bodies are dangerous,.and that even though the world wants to kill you, so many of us are out here fighting for your life.
Your bodies are how the revolution begins."
A month ago, Laverne Cox recently decided to pose nude after much consideration on Allure magazine, a woman's beauty magazine.
Cox, a transgender actor and activist, admitted she wasn’t so sure about disrobing for the camera.
“Going through life, you try to cover and hide, but it doesn’t really work,” she said to Allure. "I said no initially, thought about it, and said no again," she tells the magazine. "But I'm a black transgender woman. I felt this could be really powerful for the communities that I represent."
Not suprisingly, Laverne Cox, a black transgender woman actress, has received criticisms from certain feminists for posing nude on Allure magazine.
On her blog, Meghan Murphy wrote an April 22 post titled “Laverne Cox’s objectified body ‘empowers’ no one.”
She wrote, " if we alter our bodies through surgery and hormones? It seems clear that ‘radical self-acceptance’ is not at all what Cox is experiencing or conveying to her audience.”
She went on to say that bodies like Cox are sculpted in order to look like some cartoonish version of “woman,” as defined by the porn industry and pop culture.
Here are actual fact about trans women.
Over 75 per cent of trans people in Ontario have seriously considered suicide at some point in their lives, according to the community-based research project Trans Pulse. For those trans people who had completed a medical transition — beginning with hormones and often leading to surgery — the study showed the number considering suicide was cut in half.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-road-to-inclusion-t...
Here's more facts from everyday feminism:
Trans women are often pathologized and sexualized, portrayed as someone manipulatively hiding their transgender identity to trick a man into engaging with them sexually or romantically.
They play countless television roles as sex workers.
They are shown as unattractive; they are the butt of jokes, their desire to be feminine mocked, their motives for transitioning questioned.
Our media portrays trans women in archetypes – as the weak victim of a crime, or as the evil villain; as the mentally unstable character, or as the manipulative one.
And while it is difficult to find complex and honest portrayals of trans women characters on television, it is even more rare to find an authentic and respectful portrayal of a trans wom of Color (though we have see a few recently, like the great Laverne Cox in Orange is the New Black).an
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, trans people experience disproportionately high rates of poverty and homelessness caused by discrimination in jobs and housing, but they also experience greater incarceration rates, largely due to gender profiling by the police.
Gender is policed, quite literally by police officers who target, arrest, and often harass trans women for looking “different” and therefore, “disorderly.” Trans women of Color, in particular, tend to be perceived by police through racialized and gender stereotypes framing them as highly sexual and as criminal.
Trans women are consistently targeted and arrested for being involved in sex work, even if they have no association with this work.
In New York, where having a condom on you can be used as evidence of involvement in sex work, trans women are being profiled, searched, and arrested for being a trans woman at the wrong place at the wrong time.
There’s also direct violence at the hands of police: A 2012 study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that transgender people across the U.S. experience three times more police violence than cisgender people.
And nearly half of trans people who reported hate crimes to the police experienced mistreatment from them while asking for help.
Trans women experience abuse after being arrested as well, when they are most often forced to reside in men’s prison facilities, experiencing extremely high rates of sexual and physical violence – a study by the Department of Justice found that 1 in 3 are sexual assaulted in prison. In response, many prisons place trans women in solitary confinement for extended periods of time “for their own protection.” (Meanwhile, solitary confinement is considered a form of torture.)
When it comes to the media:
Trans women are given an extremely two-dimensional portrayal in the news, where they are most often reported on in association of a hate crime. In these reports, their gender is consistently portrayed as confusing and illegitimate, appearing in countless headlines like this one: “Man Dressed as Woman Found Dead.
I think its important to reflect on how we talk about and write about trans women that is respectful of the lived experience of trans women and trans men alike. I look forward to responses. Since I do not notice any or much support for trans people on rabble.ca, I would like to start a discussion.
In case you missed it, rabble's statement.
Thanks Megb.
I appreciate rabble's statement that Murphy's piece needs to be edited because I believe her words are transphobic, and body shaming women of color and trans women.
I hope rabble.ca will take more efforts in encouraging diverse voices on babble.ca. I feel alone and ignored in saying that trans people have every right to take homrones and have surgery because it stops us from killing ourselves. It should be common knowledge and no one , especially someone who is not trans, should be criticising us for "atlering our body" to look like "cartoonish version of women" or someone from porn.
It is sad that there are so few voices speaking out for trans women and black women on babble. Thats my feeling and I am expressing it.
Black/Trans Lives Matter.
Thank you.
Even a Stuffed Bear Gets More Respect than Trans People
In the just-released trailer for the sequel, Ted asks to use John's laptop and is horrified by the amount of pornography he discovers on it. Though a bit embarrassed, John calmly defends his collection, until Ted describes a genre of porn in John's collection:
Having taken courses at Smith as a Five College Consortium student, I am already familiar with how such transmisogyny can be felt on a women’s college campus. It is painful to have few or no trans women, especially non-white ones, in a community with me. It is painful to have no trans female professors or other role models to look up to. It is painful to be undesirable, and disposable when desired. It is painful to watch men be accepted by cis women as peers, while trans women are rejected. It is painful to wonder why no one seems to sit next to you in class. It is painful to feel like you are the only one who experiences all of this, and to blame yourself for it. Colleges already have a mental health crisis that administrators are not properly addressing. Combined with a lack of access to respectful health care, discrimination, and fear of mistreatment, it’s no wonder the rates of mental illness and attempted suicide are very high in trans women. It should be clear how any educational environment that does not address the social climate for trans women cannot truly offer us a fair opportunity for success.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/01/05/transmisogyny-womens-colleg...
Multilayered systemic oppressions are stacked up against trans women from low-income and/or communities of color so the sex trade becomes a road well traveled, helping trans women alleviate financial woes while also making many of us feel desired as women (through an objectifying male gaze), women who are taught that we are undesirable and illegitimate.
There’s no denying that sex work is dangerous work. Engaging in the sex trades increases a person’s risk for criminalization, acquiring HIV or other STIs, sexual abuse and violence. It can also, for myself at least, complicate and conflate your image of self, of love, of sex, of value, not to mention the stigma that is internalized about the work you do, work that often leads others to define you and your character.
My hope is that being open about my experience as a teenage sex worker helps further conversations about how we can better serve folk engaged in sex work as a means of survival, and particularly vital to my community, how we can develop programs that create more appealing and viable options for young trans women, so sex work isn’t their only option for support and survival. We need programs that help trans girls and women find affirming, affordable healthcare and housing options, that shepherd them towards completing their education and that instills in them a sense of possibility.
http://janetmock.com/2014/01/30/janet-mock-sex-work-experiences/
“We know last year, 12 trans women of color were brutally murdered in a six-month time span. This year, in two months, eight trans women of color were brutally murdered,” said Hunter. “Six trans youth under the age of 21 took agency over their lives and decided that it was not worth living. We must continue to create pathways and pipelines for our young people to be able to thrive in their truth and live their lives unapologetically.”
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/05/18/activists-march-against-transphobia/
What is transmisogyny?
..the concept of trans-misogyny—that is, the way cissexism and misogyny intersect in the lives of trans women and others on the trans female/feminine spectrum. Trans-misogyny explains why the lion’s share of societal consternation, demonization and sexualization of transgender people is concentrated on trans female/feminine individuals. Cissexism also intersects with other forms of marginalization—for instance, victims of transphobic violence are overwhelmingly trans people who are poor, who are of color and/or on the trans female/feminine spectrum.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/04/18/trans-feminism-theres-no-conundrum...
A woman is dead after being stabbed in the back and neck by a man during a fight inside an abandoned North Philadelphia home, officials, family and friends tell NBC10.
"She had a heart of gold," Chanel's friend Kione Seymore said remembering her Monday evening. "She hardly ever frowned. She always had a smile on her face. Her laughter was infectious."
Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said an argument between Chanel and her 31-year-old alleged attacker sparked the deadly incident inside a middle bedroom on the third floor of the house.
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Man-Dies-After-Stabbing-Inside...
Originally, NBC called the woman a "man", notice the web linke above for reference. THey had to change it after many people complained, I am guessing.
Four transgender women have been murdered within weeks of each other in Pakistan.
Three transgender women were shot dead in a drive-by on the night of 8 May.
The two motorcycle riders opened fire on a group transgender women who were standing on the corner of a busy street in Rawalpindi.
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/three-trans-women-shot-dead-pakistan1...
"I stayed clear of them," says Forbes. "But when I left the mall, they were waiting for me in the parking lot," catcalling her from inside two cars, until they suddenly realized Forbes was trans, and turned furious. "You made me look at you! I should kill you!" one man shouted amid the slurs, claiming to have a gun.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/transwomen-and-danger-more-tales-from-the-front-lines-20140730
In every space, my presence seems justification enough for a constant barrage of questions about issues on campus, endless interrogation on trans politics, a request for the full syllabus of transgender 101 at any given moment. The mere act of existing as trans at Stanford is exhausting.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/05/19/confessions-of-a-trans-woman/
While the entire nation waits to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will make marriage equality the law of the land, transgender Americans are bracing for a backlash that’s already begun in bathrooms from Florida to Nevada.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/05/01/marriage-table-trans-community-new-target
Thanks for this thread, takeitslowly.
Laverne Cox Spills On Self-Acceptance, Finding Love & Battling The Patriachy
Thanks for the link, Maysie.
Its really heart breaking to hear her struggle with finding love because i can relate to her very well. It hits close to home.
I have to add that..
Thats why its so important for trans women of color such as myself to develope a sense of self worth when so many people tell us directly or indirectly that we are not good enough.
On Caitlyn Jenner by Janet Mock
http://janetmock.com/2015/06/03/caitlyn-jenner-vanity-fair-transgender/
PRIVILEGE
What enables Jenner to penetrate media the way she has is privilege. People often get uncomfortable hearing or seeing this term, likely because we’ve internalized that to experience privilege makes us at fault for all the atrocities of the world. When I frame privilege in my work, I often point out that we all experience access and exile as we navigate systems that privilege certain parts of our identity and experiences. For example, I am an English-speaking, able-bodied, black and Native Hawaiian trans woman who had access to a graduate-school education, who had access to medically-necessary treatments enabling me to transition as a teen, who more often than not blends in as a cisgender (non-trans) woman which allows me less scrutiny than someone who doesn’t fit cisnormative standards of appearance. At the same time, growing up with a single mother who struggled in communities of color ravaged by poverty and drugs, I struggled to get access to the healthcare and resources I needed as a teenager.
According to information shared publicly thus far, Jenner’s experience is that of a 65-year-old white trans woman who for most of her life was perceived as a white male Olympic gold medalist and the patriarch of one of the most savvy reality TV families who never fail to penetrate the American consciousness. Because of the intersection of celebrity and Hollywood, the fascination with trans women’s bodies and “makeovers,” and wealth and whiteness, Jenner has been seen and heard on a level that no trans woman or trans person ever has before. Yet largely due to the pressure of embodying the myth of the American male ideal and the ridicule facing trans people, Jenner’s initial decision to medically transition in the 1980s was halted. She spent the next three decades living up to the image thrust upon her, a heartbreaking decision that still granted her access to wealth, visibility and influence that has allowed her access to 20/20, Vanity Fair and the upcoming ESPY Awards, making her the most recognizable trans woman in America.
Privilege gives one access. It doesn’t make her a bad person. It doesn’t make her undeserving. It doesn’t underwrite her talent, savvy and accomplishments. Privilege enables her access to more conversations, more opportunities, more spaces which can appear as if she’s eclipsed leaders of a movement that has been active for decades, fueled by a community that is ravaged by economic instability, lack of access to knowledgable affordable healthcare, overpoliciing and incarceration, stigmatized, criminalized survival economies like sex work, high HIV infection rates, the ability to live safely and freely as their true selves, and disproportionate violence against trans women of color.
True, but like it or not, she is now the poster girl for trans women. She shouldn't be , like you said, because she comes from a very unique background.
If Jenner's story nudges in the direction of a normalization of the trans experience in society, where perhaps many others, due to multiple and systemic barriers are consigned to their scarcely acknowledged life and death struggle toward a more generalized acceptance, then has she not rendered a service in that cause?
Even with cosmetic surgery, that would take a hell of a lot of airbrushing (now done by computer) at the age of 65, no matter how fit she kept. I know very fit people about her age, and while they look fine, they don't have smooth unlined faces, nor should they.
I don't think any shape or appearance is a legitimate target for disparagement. That argument doesn’t make sense to me either way, whether it’s the ‘commodity’ doing it by exclusion, or by saying certain body types are being over-representing at the expense of others. It produces a similar effect through the binary positions taken up imo, where the psychological battle is being waged over people’s bodies, with effects and results being formed accordingly. A friend has been traumatized by the disparaging and accusatory remarks of the male members of her family since childhood She hides her objectified form in shame to this day, like it’s some sort of weapon that shouldn’t be carried about in the open. It should be concealed is what she was taught. Aside from what the commodity selects and objectifies, and since all shapes and sizes of humanity are prevalent around the world and thus can be and are overwhelmingly normal in their own right, quite apart from anyone else's preference or that of the comodity (being simply a fact of life in many respects), it seems to me that opportunities for transitioned/transitioning persons to at least partake in the general, commodified culture alongside all of the other commodified existences does constitute a normalization of sorts, such that it is. The alternative, which is more the status quo than not, is for trans bodies of all proportions, and the experiences they contain, to remain hidden and suppressed in accordance with past and current practice. Not a good general example or atmosphere to cultivate imo. Not many older women get glossy photo shoots in the mainstream rags, but there are examples. Helen Mirren comes to mind. Jane Fonda is another. Cher. I don't really keep track but I'm sure there are others. What people seem to be saying is that because the commodity is what it is, and typically engages in what it does, which involves preferring and objectifying certain body types, then trans-women who have their own unique and suppressed voices, experiences, bodies, and rationale, that is explicit to their oppressed, non-normalized and thus often dangerous and psychologically damaging circumstances, needn't apply for their own place. They should wait until the objectified society psychologically affecting everyone gets its act together where it concerns ideal body types. I agree that the ideals being put out there in general are in dire need of adjustment, but to my mind the transitioned experience is the wrong battleground, and unfortunately people don’t seem to be getting that.
In another way, it's like saying...I don't like the cut of the dress that my daughter intends on wearing to the prom, and so in the interest of supporting a non-objectifying culture, I am telling her that I am forbidding her attendance at the prom.
Considering that some are taking it and running with it (including some who have been critical of her),
http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/05/myvanityfaircover-trans-women-are-creating...
I'd say it is a good thing, regardless of what image Jenner was presenting, how her experience compares with other trans people, or how supportive she has been for that community.
Let's not forget this is Vanity Fair. What should one expect but airbrushed glamour?
https://thetranscendentaltourist.wordpress.com/2015/06/02/5-things-cis-p...
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/was_alabama_teen_mercedes_will.html
Pierce's roommate, Jeanie Miller, said the last time she saw Williamson was when she left their camper on May 30, according to the Biloxi Sun Herald, that also reported that Miller's son said she got into someone's car that day. Miller also said that Vallum, who often spent time around Theodore, was aware of Williamson's transgender status, the Sun Herald reported.
At this stage of the investigation into Williamson's death, Robinson said that his main "concern is that this isn't being talked about enough" at the local and national levels.
"I'm just concerned about the fact that there's not as much attention being paid to the murder of this teenager as there should be, and the fact that the transgender community is victimized at a higher rate than any other member of the LGBT community," he said. "I can't imagine what it must have been like to live in Theodore, Alabama, as a 17-year-old transgender girl."
I think it does the opposite. It sets up unrealistic standards that can't possibily be attained for those transitioning later in life. Jenner doesn't actually look like she does in her picture. All she has promoted is the same unattainable falsified appearance that is sold to all women. I don't think it is any more positive for trans women than it is for any other women.
This woman is an inspiration. I've been reading her for years though not since 2008. She's great.
http://www.dailyxtra.com/canada/news-and-ideas/news/trans-trailblazer-51566
This story too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/17/google-business-gender-transitio...
Dragging the thread back on topic.
The critique that cis folks make regarding trans folks doing harm to feminism because they "conform to gender stereotypes" is bullshit.
There are TONS of cis women out there who create and maintain the majority of the sexist beauty standard (Kardashian, Miley Cyrus, all supermodels, and more).
The attack on trans women just because of how they look (and for other reasons) is transmisogyny. Also, there are many trans women who do NOT conform to gender stereotypes. In fact, they are the majority, for example Julia Serano. But the mainstream media doesn't care about them. Can we imagine why? Hint: Judging women for what they look like is NOT feminist.
Come on babblers, where's that critical thinking you all pride yourselves on? The cover of Vanity Fair? Seriously? When did that ever hold any value in a progressive context?
Black trans bodies are under real attack, as well as other racialized trans folks, particulary trans women.
State of Emergency for Transgender Women of Color
Trans Women of Color Face an Epidemic of Violence and Murder
Take a look at this video. Just in time for Pride.
Living Color: Love is Revolutionary When You're Black & Transgender
If Jenner had instead appeared on a Fox News program and stripped down to her skivvies to say 'here I am, deal with it' to the host and viewers, in certain respects I believe there would be enough reason to applaud that as a form of activism. It isn't the medium that is key here, or even the display, but the message, or the shift in what is deemed presentable in the context of mainstream discourse. The critical thinking part comes in when people recognize emancapatory shifts in their own right, no matter where they take place. In the space of a few weeks both black and white transgendered bodies have acquired access to mainstream publications where nothing like that had been done previously. Instead of greeting these events with the negation of a measurement stick to see which racialized demographics are getting the most attention from the popular magazines, imo they are more logically treated as distinct situations in their own right. The problem of the sexualization of female bodies more generally has to be acknowledged of course. I believe the non-critical thought process would say, “well, we already have quite enough of that going on with people who were born with a female body, and so we’re not going to add to the problem of sexualization by having transgendered bodies on display.” Instead we’ll exclude them with our criticism just like mainstream culture has done for so long, except we’ll justify that exclusion as being part of the wider struggle against the sexualization of the female form. In that vein it becomes necessary to continue relegating transgendered people in society to their accustomed obscurity, for their own good and for the good of some higher purpose. Thanks but no thanks for coming out in other words.