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Discrimination against transgender men

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Discrimination against transgender men and transmasculine individuals is sometimes referred to as transandrophobia,[1][2] anti-transmasculinity, or transmisandry.[3][4]

Development of concept

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There is no consensus on a term for the discrimination against transgender men. However, many terms have been coined online to refer to discrimination against transgender men.

The proposed term transmisandry combines the prefix 'trans-' with 'misandry' in a similar fashion to the etymology of transmisogyny, which is derived from 'trans-' and 'misogyny'. The term transandrophobia is also used, which uses the suffix 'androphobia'.

The complexity of this prejudice and the need for a term for this type of transphobia has previously been addressed by transgender author Julia Serano, who coined the term transmisogyny.[4] In 2021 she clarified the usage of the term and identified a gap in the language for a word for discrimination against transgender men.

"Transmisogyny can be a vital term for some of us to communicate the intersection of transphobia and misogyny that we face. But others may experience it more complicatedly or severely, as in the case of transmisogynoir. And for others (e.g., certain non-binary people, trans male/masculine-spectrum people), misogyny may intersect with transphobia in different ways that aren't adequately articulated by transmisogyny. This doesn't necessarily make transmisogyny "wrong"; it may simply mean that we need additional language."[5]

Instances

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Lack of visibility

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Transgender men historically did not enjoy much visibility due to lack of awareness that female-to-male transition existed. Many people were only aware of male-to-female transition as a result of the hypervisibility of transgender women in the mid-20th Century. Susan Stryker has written that an organisation called Labyrinth was founded in 1968 in order to fill the gap in support for transgender men, since until that time most trans organisations focused on transgender women. Stryker writes that most of the other organisations at the time were more "geared more towards the needs of transgender women than transgender men".[6]

Misogyny

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Transgender men may face additional marginalisation in certain contexts which cisgender women do not - however, this marginalisation can resemble the misogyny as experienced by cisgender women. This may include difficulty in accessing cervical smears[7] where transmasculine individuals are subjected to misgendering that cisgender women do not generally experience, due to transgender men having gender identities that are incongruent with the gendered medical care they require. Alongside misgendering, transgender men may experience medical misogyny as a result of not being read as men in a medical setting. The pap smear test is more likely to be inadequate in detecting cervical cancer in transgender men who use masculinizing hormone therapy.[8]

Issues of bodily autonomy and medical misogyny also affect transgender men. Transgender men who retain their uteruses may be able to become pregnant, but may also face additional barriers to abortion services. In 2018, proposed legislation to legalise abortion in Ireland only permitted women to have abortions. Campaign groups highlighted the situation for transgender men, saying that "the proposed legislation for termination of pregnancy in Ireland will only allow women to access abortion" and "thus, trans men in Ireland will be denied abortion access".[9]

Transgender men and transmasculine people are at a high risk for sexual assault, sexual violence and rape. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 51% of trans men reported being sexually assaulted at least once in their lives[10] compared to only 21.3% of cisgender women.[11] One non-profit study[12] undertaken in 2011 found that, of the 1,005 trans people involved in the study, 50% of Female to Male (FTM) respondents reported experiencing childhood sexual assault. A further 31% reported sexual assault as an adult, 23% listed violence in dating, 36% had experienced domestic violence, 18% had experienced stalking and 29% had experienced hate violence. Despite transgender men and transmasculine people's high rates of sexual assault, many rape and sexual assault crisis centres are not open to men, cis or trans, leading to transmasculine people being put at risk of not having any resources after a sexually-motivated crime. The ARC Readiness Assessment in 2023 found that only 29% of providers surveyed knew of safe sexual assault recovery/family violence services to refer trans men to compared to 37% knowing safe sources for trans women and 44% knowing safe sources for non-binary people.[13]

Counting Ourselves also found that only 11% of trans participants had been able to receive support after sexual violence and abuse and that 33% of transgender men had to explain the concept of transgender men to healthcare professionals when seeking support, compared to 14% of trans women having to do the same. The study also found that 50% of transgender men experienced someone attempting to rape them or succeeding in raping them.

Misogynistic attitudes towards trans people assigned female at birth may also imply transgender men and non-binary people are unable to know what is best for them due to their sex, in a similar fashion to what is sometimes experienced by cisgender women.[14] Transgender men may face additional challenges when dealing with misogyny due to their transmasculinity. Trans men may face barriers in reporting hate crimes motivated by misogyny while presenting as male, since misogyny is most often associated with cisgender women and trans men may be dismissed on the basis they are not cisgender women. Brandon Teena, a trans man murdered in 1993, did not succeed in accessing a rape kit following his rape until he returned to the police station presenting as a woman.[15]

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria is sometimes used to explain away the existence of trans adolescents. Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria claims, unevidenced, that trans adolescents assigned female at birth are more susceptible to being influenced by their peers into identifying as transgender than other adolescents. Denial of bodily agency in transgender youth and adults is a form of infantilization.[16]

Racism

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Trans men and transmasculine people of colour face a unique discrimination as a result of their race, gender and transgender status intersecting.[17] An interviewee for the project To Survive on this Shore[18] discusses racism against trans men:

"In the beginning, when I started transitioning, when my features started changing, when it got to the point where I was totally male, I wondered why people were treating me differently. Other races were treating me differently. And I realized, I'm a black male now, and so when I step on the elevator, the woman's going to clutch her pocketbook, or she's going to move to the other side of the elevator, or I get doors slammed in my face." - Charley, 2014

Citing Krell, Martino and Omercajic explain that "'racialized transmisandry' helps to explain the policing around Black masculinity for Black transmasculine persons [who] have been effaced in a white-centric and classed framing of cisgenderism and cissexism".[3]

Gender essentialism and feminism

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According to Mimi Marinucci, gender essentialism and sex essentialism are radical feminist views on gender, and are foundational to trans exclusionary radical feminism.[19] She states that, while their bigotry towards transgender women is more visible, transgender men are also routinely targeted by trans exclusionary radical feminists. She argues that gender essentialism in radical feminism demonises masculinity and maleness as a whole, targeting trans women for their assigned sex at birth and targeting trans men for their transition into manhood. Masculinising procedures are sometimes called 'mutilating surgery' by radical feminists.[19]

The intersection between discrimination against transgender men and misogyny has split feminist opinion on the place of transgender men within feminism, particularly types of feminism that are concerned with reproductive rights and domestic abuse. Many feminist organisations are welcoming and affirming of transgender men.[20] However, a number of trans exclusive radical feminist organisations do not welcome transgender men on the basis of their manhood. Trans exclusive radical feminist organisations which do welcome transgender men do not see transgender men as men. Other feminist organisations have adopted trans inclusive radical feminism, which includes trans women and some non-binary people, but may often exclude transgender men on the basis of their manhood due to the gender essentialism still present in radical feminist theory.[21] Trans exclusionary radical feminists and those sympathetic to the movement have espoused the debunked Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria theory, with figures such as Abigail Shrier and JK Rowling being among the most vocal figures to promote it, despite a lack of evidence backing up the theory.

Trans men and transmasculine people are frequently the subjects of medical marginalisation, with 42% of trans men reporting negative experiences with healthcare providers.[10] Transgender men frequently face medical marginalisation because they are simultaneously transgender and assigned female at birth. There is a lack of credible research about how to provide adequate healthcare to transgender men undergoing medical transition, notably with doctors having difficulty diagnosing breast cancer in people who have undergone top surgery.[22] Transmasculine people are also at an increased risk for experiencing discrimination in medicine that may impact their access to healthcare.[23] This can include transmasculine people with cervixes not being invited for life-saving cervical screenings[24][25] because their gender is legally listed as male or being denied screenings for ovarian cancer for the same reason.[26]

Trans men are sometimes omitted from discussions about reproductive rights, menstruation, and bodily autonomy because they are seen exclusively as "women's issues". This includes healthcare professionals neglecting to discuss contraception to prevent unwanted transgender pregnancy.[27]

Trans men and transmasculine people are at a greater risk of developing HIV or AIDS.[28] Between 2009 and 2014, trans men accounted for 11% of HIV-positive transgender individuals in the U.S. with 60% of them being virally suppressed for at least one year.[29] This study conducted by the American Public Health Association states that "transgender men who have sex with men are at increased risk for HIV acquisition and [. . .] constitute 15.4% of the newly diagnosed HIV cases among transgender persons. Transgender men are an understudied population lacking evidence-based HIV interventions to address their needs.[29]" The majority of PrEP medications such as Descovy that are meant to prevent contraction of HIV have not been tested for people who were assigned female at birth.[30] 47% of HIV-positive trans men in the U.S. between 2009 and 2014[29] and 40% of HIV-positive trans men in the U.S. in 2018[31] were black. Omission from medical research leaves trans men vulnerable to illnesses, STDs,[32] and malpractice.

Social harassment

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Transmasculine people face social abuse, including bullying and harassment.[33] Stigma and negative attitudes towards transmasculine people's manhoods contribute to widespread mental health problems in the community. According to a 2018 study, 50.8% of transgender boys (ages 11–19) have attempted suicide.[34] The researchers asserted that "[t]here is an urgent need to understand why transgender, female to male, and non-binary adolescents report engaging in suicide behavior at higher levels than other adolescent transgender populations. ... Previous research in adults reveals that transgender men report higher levels of gender discrimination compared with transgender women,[33] which may help to explain this difference in suicide behavior." In addition, a 2013 study on transgender men's sexual health suggested that trans men's psychosocial health vulnerabilities may contribute to sexual risk behaviours and HIV and STD vulnerability.[35] TDOR, an organisation which collects reports of transgender people lost to violence, reports on transgender men who have lost their lives to suicide caused by prejudice against their transmasculinity.[36][37]

Notable cases of discrimination against transgender men

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Ewan Forbes' primogeniture challenge

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Ewan Forbes was a Scottish trans man, who in 1968 was challenged to his right to inherit his father's baronetcy by his cousin, through the means of invasive medical testing and procedures. He won the baronetcy, but the case was subsequently hidden so as to not enable future cases in British transgender law to draw upon it as a precedent. Zoe Playdon wrote that the hiding of this case is due in part to discrimination against transgender men and ultimately had the effect of delaying transgender acceptance in the United Kingdom for the next 50 years.[38]

Assault and murder of Brandon Teena

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Brandon Teena was a trans man who was raped and murdered in December 1993 in Humbodlt, Nebraska.[39] His death, alongside two of his friends, Phillip DeVine and Lisa Lambert, is thought to be a hate crime motivated by his status as a transgender man. His murderers, Marvin Nissen and John Lotter forced Teena to remove his trousers at a Christmas party to prove to Teena's partner that he had a vulva. Nissen and Lotter then forced Teena into a car and drove to a meat packing plant in Richardson County, where they beat and raped him. They then took him to Nissen's home and forced him to shower. Teena escaped from the bathroom window and sought refuge at Tisdel's house. Tisdel convinced Teena to file a report to the police despite Teena's fear of reprisals, as Nissen and Lotter had threatened they would "silence him permanently" if he did.[15]

At the police station a rape kit was assembled for Teena, but he did not receive the kit and it was subsequently lost. Later, Sheriff Charles B. Laux, focused in his interview on Teena's status as a transgender man, and Teena refused to answer some questions, finding them questions 'rude and unnecessary'.[15] Nissen and Lotter learned of Teena's police report and began to search for him. Before they found him however, they were taken in for questioning. However, Sheriff Laux refused to arrest them, reportedly because Teena had presented himself as a man when previously arrested, but now presented himself as a woman to access a rape kit due to his ability to get pregnant.

Many reproductive healthcare settings require the affected person to be perceived as female, or healthcare will not be dispensed. For example: access to the emergency contraceptive pill is restricted to people who appear as cisgender women in many UK pharmacies and sexual health clinics. Cisgender men cannot buy or otherwise obtain the pill to give the person who will take it, as the duty of care of pharmacists means that they must see the individual who is going to take the pill in person and assess their suitability for it.[40] Due to transphobia and cissexism, transgender men who pass as cisgender men may be denied pregnancy terminating reproductive healthcare on the basis that pregnancy in men is still largely unheard of. As a result of these kinds of barriers to reproductive health, Teena presented himself as a woman to the police station in order to avoid any delays in assistance. Sheriff Laux is reported to have said "What kind of a person was she? The first few times we arrested her she was putting herself off as a guy." in defence of his refusal to arrest Nissen and Lotter.[15]

On 31 December 1993 Nissen and Lotter broke into the home of Lisa Lambert, where Teena was hiding. They subsequently killed every adult in the house, including Teena, Lambert and Phillip DeVine.

Teena is buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, in Lincoln, Nebraska. His headstone misgenders him as a "daughter, sister, friend."[41]

Media Coverage

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The media coverage of Teena's death is somewhat controversial. Several scholars have pointed out the inaccuracies of subsequent film adaptations of the events leading up to Teena's murder in 1993.[42] Televised coverage also drew criticism, after Saturday Night Live cast member Norm MacDonald remarked "Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind they all deserved to die"[43][44] during the program's 400th episode broadcast on the 24th February 1996. This was received negatively by many trans and lesbian communities, who viewed the comments as inflammatory towards the transmasculine community.[44]

References

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  1. ^ Urquhart, Evan (19 March 2021). "Elliot Page Is a Grown-Up". Slate. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
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  34. ^ Toomey, Russell (2018). "Transgender Adolescent Suicide Behavior". Pediatrics. 142 (4): e20174218. doi:10.1542/peds.2017-4218. PMC 6317573. PMID 30206149.
  35. ^ Reisner, Sari L.; White, Jaclyn M.; Mayer, Kenneth H.; Mimiaga, Matthew J. (2014-07-03). "Sexual risk behaviors and psychosocial health concerns of female-to-male transgender men screening for STDs at an urban community health center". AIDS Care. 26 (7): 857–864. doi:10.1080/09540121.2013.855701. ISSN 0954-0121. PMC 4634528. PMID 24206043.
  36. ^ "TransLivesMatter". TDOR. 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-11-10. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  37. ^ "Casey Hoke". TDOR. 2018. Archived from the original on Jan 23, 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  38. ^ Playdon, Zoe (2021). The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes. Bloomsbury.
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  42. ^ Halbertstam, Jack (2005). In a Queer Time and Place. New York University Press. p. 22.
  43. ^ "Send NBC a Message: Murder Is No Joke! Flyer". DigitalTransgenderArchive. 1996. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  44. ^ a b Aragon Pattatuci, Angela (2006). Challenging Lesbian Norms: Intersex, Transgender, Intersectional, and Queer Perspectives. Routledge. p. 28.

Further reading

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  • Currah, Paisley (2008). "Expecting Bodies: The Pregnant Man and Transgender Exclusion from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act". WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly. 36 (3): 330–336. doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0101. S2CID 85314058.
  • Gazzola, Stephanie Beryl; Morrison, Melanie Ann (2014). "Cultural and Personally Endorsed Stereotypes of Transgender Men and Transgender Women: Notable Correspondence or Disjunction?". International Journal of Transgenderism. 15 (2): 76–99. doi:10.1080/15532739.2014.937041. S2CID 144592753.
  • Leppel, Karen (2016). "The labor force status of transgender men and women". International Journal of Transgenderism. 17 (3–4): 155–164. doi:10.1080/15532739.2016.1236312. S2CID 151646166.
  • Leppel, Karen (2021). "Transgender Men and Women in 2015: Employed, Unemployed, or Not in the Labor Force". Journal of Homosexuality. 68 (2): 203–229. doi:10.1080/00918369.2019.1648081. PMID 31403900. S2CID 199547913.
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