Beauty, Fashion, and the Transgender Experience
By Mya Tran
The beauty industry has been geared toward cisgender passing women for as long as it has existed. Men have had control over what those women should look like through art and advertisement, shaping women’s insecurity in their appearance and mannerisms.
Although the beauty industry has begun to strive for inclusivity in response to the backlash towards its toxic standards, it is all but inclusive. Transgender women have begun to be featured more and more prominently in beauty campaigns. But almost universally, these trans women are those that “pass,” those who have done hormone therapy and received gender-affirming surgeries. This is spectacular for those women, but it excludes transgender women who either do not wish to undergo hormone therapy, surgery, etc., or do not have the means to. And it still enforces the idea that a woman’s body must look a certain way to be beautiful, and only normalizes one specific image of transgender women, not all.
Furthermore, several transgender celebrities have come under fire for promoting trans-medicalist perspectives. Transmedicalism is the idea that an individual cannot be transgender without experiencing and being diagnosed with gender dysphoria and undergoing medical transition through things like hormones and surgery. Hunter Schafer, a trans actress and model, recently came under fire for liking an Instagram post that attacked nonbinary people. Schafer’s post alleged that the non-binary community hurts the broader trans community by advocating that gender dysphoria not be the only criteria for a person being allowed to seek gender-affirming treatment.
Additionally, influencer Blaire White has promoted ideas like “there are only two genders” and that nonbinary people don’t experience dysphoria so their transgender experience is not valid. This is all ridiculous, non-binary people can and do experience gender dysphoria. The only real purpose of this rhetoric is to set trans people against other trans people. There is no one definition of what it means for a person to be transgender, and it certainly has nothing to do with whether or not someone “passes” or looks adequately trans.
In addition to the use of medical procedures to enforce beauty standards on queer women, clothing has been defining gender in patriarchal society for ages. Even simple things can be seen to define gender fashion, like bathroom indicators use clothing to donate gender identity. Vivian Topping, director of advocacy and civic engagement at Equality Federation says,
“Fashion and beauty are well positioned to lead on trans and non-binary inclusion because of their deep ties to gender expression and self-actualisation,”.
There are numerous articles of gender-affirming clothing, such as binders, bra fillers, packers, and more. And for many, access to this gender-affirming clothing can be a life changing difference. But, access to that clothing can be hard to come by, especially for those that don’t pass.
For those that do not pass, the ability to shop, or wear gender-affirming articles of clothing has incredible value. “We are seeing awful, hard outcomes for people who feel constantly pressured to hide their identities.” says Dr. Jessica Robnett, who works in the University of Utah’s Transgender Adolescent Programe.
“Choosing to be your true, authentic self is a challenging path”.
Newspaper New York Times conducted a community piece in which they asked their readers to respond to an article that suggested wearing a binder to combat gender dysphoria. One commenter, by the name of R.J. Russell said that they were unaware that binders existed until their late 20s, and instead used a more harmful, albeit accessible way of binding: using Ace bandages to wrap.
“This practice was harmful and made it difficult to breathe. Now that binders are more widely available, I wear one most days”
Russell says. Another commenter, Shaun Connors, mentioned,
“I’m worried my decades-long use of binders will one day have a negative impact on my chest surgery results, but I continue to do it to combat dysphoria. It saves my life.”
Beauty as a means of self-expression is the only way to alleviate some of the problems in the beauty industry as it relates to queer women and gender-nonconforming people. Beauty and cosmetics should be used to show off who we are. When the patriarchy decides what we are meant to look like and what we are not meant to look like, actual identity can be obscured and even lost. Deconstructing beauty standards is necessary for the normalization of all trans bodies, not just those that our society deems acceptable.
About the Author:
Mya Tran is an incoming junior at Butler University, in Indianapolis, IN. They are currently studying English on the creative writing track and German. Growing up in a small college town with limited queer role models, Tran has spent her life with her nose in the books, looking for someone to relate to.
