subtitle: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
This is one of those books that I never read because it came out during the few years after I had transitioned, when I was thoroughly sick of people asking me if I'd read Trans Book XYZ and I just wanted to think about anything other than being trans for a while. So here I am, finally catching up.
The premise of the book is that transphobia is not just about disdain for transgressing gender norms, but also about the disdain for femininity that permeates our society and underpins all sexism. Misogyny and transmisogyny aren't independent phenomena; they go hand in hand. This is something I didn't need to be convinced of, but it is good to have it laid out in a nicely organized way and to see the arguments against it systematically demolished.
I especially appreciated her discussion of how femininity is seen as "artificial" and lacking in substance, defined only in opposition to masculinity and dismissed as something that nobody could possibly come to through a natural inclination. Except... people can! People of all genders, even! She notes how even sympathetic documentaries about trans people would always, always have that crucial footage of trans women putting on their makeup, doing their hair, etc. To get this message across that their femininity is merely something "put on" was considered so vital that (as Serano relates) trans women who wouldn't put on that show for the camera were simply excluded from the documentaries. Meanwhile, trans men weren't asked to demonstrate how they "put on" masculinity, in part because the naturalness of masculinity was taken as a given and not considered "other", artificial, or mysterious.
For the most part Serano's prose is somewhat academic in tone (she comes from an academic background), but it's not obfuscated or dry. She can be witheringly sarcastic and I laughed at a number of her snarky lines. "While [...] immersing myself in sexological and sociological accounts that attempt to explain why transsexuals exist, it occurred to me that, rather than simply removing the gender identity disorder diagnosis from the DSM, we should perhaps consider replacing it with transsexual etiology disorder, to describe the unhealthy obsession many cissexuals have with explaining the origins of transsexuality." Ahahahaaaa, oh my. *wipes tear*
( More reactions, critiques, and caveats )
Anyway, I think the greater part of the material is still valid and (sadly) just as true today as it was fourteen years ago. When the book is at its best, it's a tour de force, and definitely worth the read.
This is one of those books that I never read because it came out during the few years after I had transitioned, when I was thoroughly sick of people asking me if I'd read Trans Book XYZ and I just wanted to think about anything other than being trans for a while. So here I am, finally catching up.
The premise of the book is that transphobia is not just about disdain for transgressing gender norms, but also about the disdain for femininity that permeates our society and underpins all sexism. Misogyny and transmisogyny aren't independent phenomena; they go hand in hand. This is something I didn't need to be convinced of, but it is good to have it laid out in a nicely organized way and to see the arguments against it systematically demolished.
I especially appreciated her discussion of how femininity is seen as "artificial" and lacking in substance, defined only in opposition to masculinity and dismissed as something that nobody could possibly come to through a natural inclination. Except... people can! People of all genders, even! She notes how even sympathetic documentaries about trans people would always, always have that crucial footage of trans women putting on their makeup, doing their hair, etc. To get this message across that their femininity is merely something "put on" was considered so vital that (as Serano relates) trans women who wouldn't put on that show for the camera were simply excluded from the documentaries. Meanwhile, trans men weren't asked to demonstrate how they "put on" masculinity, in part because the naturalness of masculinity was taken as a given and not considered "other", artificial, or mysterious.
For the most part Serano's prose is somewhat academic in tone (she comes from an academic background), but it's not obfuscated or dry. She can be witheringly sarcastic and I laughed at a number of her snarky lines. "While [...] immersing myself in sexological and sociological accounts that attempt to explain why transsexuals exist, it occurred to me that, rather than simply removing the gender identity disorder diagnosis from the DSM, we should perhaps consider replacing it with transsexual etiology disorder, to describe the unhealthy obsession many cissexuals have with explaining the origins of transsexuality." Ahahahaaaa, oh my. *wipes tear*
( More reactions, critiques, and caveats )
Anyway, I think the greater part of the material is still valid and (sadly) just as true today as it was fourteen years ago. When the book is at its best, it's a tour de force, and definitely worth the read.
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