Transphobia is increasing — we need to understand it better to fight it.
Anti-trans hate crimes are increasing and transphobia is on the rise. To tackle it, we need to understand what transphobia is and how it’s perceived by others…
This is the first of a series of five articles examining not just what transphobia is, but also how more and more people are becoming sucked into visible and aggressive transphobic lobbying to the point of extremism.
Some background
My name is Helen, some of you will know me from Twitter as @mimmymum — a cis feminist, the mum of a trans son, and a fierce trans ally. I’ve been monitoring trans discourse on social media, mainstream media, and elsewhere for the last six years, and have had many conversations with trans people, experts and allies over the years on multiple topics impacting trans people — all with the overarching intention of making the world a better place for trans and gender-diverse people. During my conversations, study and musings I have often wondered how transphobes actually become radicalised into transphobia, as a prelude to what can be done to stop this seeming tsunami of transphobic hate growing in multiple western English-speaking countries. This, and subsequent articles, are my attempt at answering that question. This is not an academic paper, but one borne out of informed observation, critical questioning and an interest in what makes people tick.
As with all of my conversations around this topic, I open my thoughts up to conversation and critique and welcome polite discourse and feedback. If you do wish to engage, you are more likely to get a response from me on Twitter.
What is transphobia?
Trans Actual — the trans-led UK campaign group — has previously crowdsourced an excellent definition of transphobia. Trans Actual state that this definition of transphobia was developed over a period of months by a diverse group of UK based trans people and is a working definition that will change over time. A summary of Trans Actual’s definition of transphobia:
The core value underlying all transphobia is a rejection of trans identity and a refusal to acknowledge that it could possibly be real or valid.
Transphobia has no single, simple manifestation. It is complex and can include a range of behaviours and arguments. The consequence of transphobia is that trans people struggle to live openly and comfortably in society. An ultimate outcome may be the erasure of trans people as a viable class of people.
Transphobia includes, but is not limited to:
- Attempting to remove trans people’s rights
- Misrepresenting trans people
- Abuse
- Systematically excluding trans people from discussions about issues that directly affect them
- Other forms of discrimination
It should be noted that Trans Actual’s definition cites examples of how transphobia is manifest, rather than how an individual ‘becomes’ transphobic, or how transphobia has grown within society. This is what I am interested in — the radicalisation process that takes people from a position of neutral bystander to obsessive transphobe— which I believe starts with an understanding of what transphobia is, and how those who are called ‘transphobic’ react to being labelled as such.
My observations and insights are taken from monitoring discourse around trans topics and the growth of transphobia within the ranks of (predominantly) women in the UK — initially called ‘Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists’ (TERFs), and more recently re-branded ‘Gender Critical’ (GC). While these individuals and groups were originally a UK specific phenomenon — leading to the monika for the UK of ‘Terf Island’, they have clearly intersected with multiple anti-trans hate movements around the globe, turbo-boosted by online platforms and enabled by wealthy lobby groups and established media.
Transphobia: from unconscious bias to external prejudice to radicalisation
The thing is, the majority of ‘gender critical’ transphobes weren’t always like that. At some point in time there was a tipping point, where they were ‘peak transed’ — the act of converting a neutral bystander into someone who feels actively negative towards trans people — and for some there has been a descent into absolute anti-trans obsession.
This is an attempt at mapping that journey from neutral / ignorant bystander to indoctrinated transphobe obsessively committed to lobbying to strip humanity and rights from trans people.
The starting point of my premise comes from the observation of discourse on Twitter from circa 2016, at the beginning of the recent ‘trans moral panic’, when I witnessed occasional Tweeps stumbling into conversations around trans issues, saying something ignorantly transphobic, being called out as a transphobe, then doubling-down, often with the snarky retort “but I’m not ‘phobic’ about trans people!” While their response was typically disingenuous, it did make me wonder about how people understood what ‘transphobia’ meant, especially in relation to their own thoughts and behaviour. From this, I realised that there were multiple perceptions about what ‘being transphobic’ meant. In defining these perceptions, I realised that the misunderstanding was being used as a tool to tip people into actually becoming more transphobic — a process I describe in the next article “xxxx”
Transphobia is more than one thing
One of the key issues when talking about transphobia is that the word clearly incorporates more than one concept. This is important when considering how people perceive themselves and react when called “transphobic” — We need to make sure we’re all talking about the same thing.
There are three separate types of transphobia:
- Systemic transphobia — This is the underlying bias and prejudice within society into which we are all born. It is the socially embedded value system that says that being trans is ‘lesser than’ being cis, that trans people are ‘perverts’, ‘mentally ill’, ‘predators’, ‘deluded’, and to be pitied or feared. These are narratives that have been in play for generations and circulated by the media. The documentary ‘Disclosure’ brilliantly explains how trans people have been portrayed in film and television through the decades, and how this has influenced society’s perceptions. It is important to note that while systemic transphobia is clearly biased, it is not conscious. We are told that this bias is ‘the norm’ or ‘common sense’, and until someone encounters a trans person or trans topics, they will have no reason to challenge their value system, or bring such considerations into their consciousness.
- Conscious transphobia — This is the practice of making conscious value judgements about trans people and/or the manifesting of those judgements into words or deeds. As detailed by Trans Actual’s definition of transphobia, the manifestation of transphobia can present itself in a number of different ways. It is always conscious, although it can range in severity and levels of harm , spanning from laughing at prejudiced jokes, to relentlessly campaigning against trans equality, or even inciting violence.
- Trans phobia — This is where someone has become so immersed in toxic transphobic rhetoric, that they have ‘radicalised’ themselves into a state of phobia, defined as: an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. While this may seem extreme, there are more and more instances where those who regularly engaging in and share inflammatory, anxiety-triggering transphobic material have whipped themselves into a mental state of heightened and irrational fear about trans people. This then becomes the driving fear motivator and impetus to obsessively campaign against trans people — rationalised as ‘protecting women/ children/ LGB people/ feminism/ society/ morals…’
It was only once I had mapped out the different types of transphobia, that I realised they actually laid out a pathway of transphobic radicalisation, from neutral ignorance, to indoctrinated anti-trans ideologue. Learn more about this process in my second article: ‘ Transphobia: the radicalisation process’.
This is the first of a series of five articles examining not just what transphobia is, but also how more and more people are becoming sucked into visible and aggressive transphobic lobbying to the point of extremism. You can read the full series of articles here:
- Transphobia is increasing — we need to understand it better to fight it.
- Transphobia: How people are becoming radicalised online.
- Transphobia: How the ecosystem of UK and US anti-trans hate works.
- Transphobia: The development of anti-trans hate groups in the UK.
- Transphobia: How the trans-hostile media coverage began in the UK.
