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Why Trans* People Need Feminism

By Meghan Serceki

The word “feminism” was introduced to the English language in the 1890s, but people still disagree about who the feminist movement seeks to protect.

Many official dictionaries define “feminism” as a movement based on the equality of sexes. While this is likely a more traditional definition of the term, feminism has come a long way, and so has our understanding of gender.

Saying that feminism seeks equality of the sexes inherently plays into the gender binary — the false notion that one’s assigned sex determines if they’re a “woman” or a “man” — and therefore erases the experiences of many trans* individuals. It makes feminism seem to be a fight only for the rights of cishet women, “othering” trans* people further and excluding them from participating in or benefiting from the movement.

Some “radical feminists” have used this distinction to openly support anti-trans* legislation, despite the fact that such prejudice directly challenges the progress that cishet women have made. They disregard the fact that all trans* people have faced sexism in one way or another — the very system feminists seek to overturn. 

Transgender women give up male privilege to live as their true selves and then find themselves fighting even to be given their full human dignity as women. Transgender men experience traditional sexism before transitioning and then feel the need to combat the abstract notion of “femininity” in order to be accepted as men. Nonbinary people strive to find their balance of “femininity” or “masculinity” in a world which belittles the feminine but also tries to box them into one or the other based on their chromosomes.

Every one of these stories is different, every one varies by individual. But the one constant is the pressures of sexism in the trans* experience.

Trans* people need feminism just as much as cisgender women do.

Including trans* people in discussions about feminism will strengthen the movement. Activist Petra Wenham asserts, “We do not want anything over and above anybody else…we will work with the women to lift us up to make sure that we are equal with men, but it’s kind of a long road, unfortunately.”

The movement towards a free and equal future must include all those seeking a free and equal life. So, instead, we might define feminism as advocacting for the equity of all genders.