Trans Women And The Danger of a Single Story — Where Chimamanda Got It Wrong

On the importance of being seen, the many narratives of women, and the toxicity of exclusionary thinking.

At some point recently I became impatient with my transgender sisters. I became impatient because they didn’t act like good feminists. Some of them — especially what I consider the most problematic demographic among trans women — the middle-class, middle-aged, late-in-life transitioning White trans woman (raising own hand) — didn’t seem to even know much about feminism.

I shared this with Rachel Anne Williams — a trans activist and writer in Missouri — and she said, “there are many middle-aged White cis women who don’t know much about Feminism.”

And I do think that’s a fair point.

But it’s the divide between cis and trans women that frustrates me. The antagonism I sometimes see in both groups of women.

At the Women’s March this year, a young trans gal had an angry sign denouncing the pussy hat.

Have you folks heard the mantra, “not all women have pussies, not all pussies are pink”?

I wrote an article in defense of the pussy hat. It’s up on this site. The gist of it is that the pussyhat is a unifying symbol. Not all pizza has pepperoni. And yet pizzeria logos tend to show pepperoni. Public restroom signs show a woman in a dress. Not every woman wears dresses…