05-15-2023, 07:06 PM
(05-15-2023, 06:38 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I think it has a lot to do with a form of misogyny (or perhaps patriarchal structuring, if you prefer) that is kind of baked into our society. To many people, men are "predators" or "hunters" and women are "prey" or "the hunted." Look at the dating environment. There are literally entire communities built around "getting sex" from women with as little engagement (time, money, effort etc) as possible. They're often called "pick up artists" or, as they refer to themselves, "the seduction community."
In our society, women are generally viewed as the givers (and therefore protectors) of sexual interaction between men and women and men are generally viewed as those who seek or desire sex from women, at whatever cost that may come.
It goes much deeper than that, in many cases due to historical gendered roles (women did not work, so therefore needed a man's support, so the man needed to "prove" he could support her, incentivizing men to court, spend money, spend time etc on gaining a woman's "gifts" in exchange for his support and protection), but that's the basic gist of how men and women view sex in our society.
This is also, incidentally, why a man's rape of women is taken so much more seriously than a woman's rape of men. In the rape of a woman, it is viewed as a man "taking" something from a woman that he has no right to take whereas, in the rape of a man, many people will retort "but I bet he enjoyed being "given" the gift of this woman's sex, right?" (Admittedly, they probably don't say it quite like that...)
Luckily, this is slowly turning around, as more female rapists (especially those in a position of power like a teacher and student) are at least being arrested, but the same general "but I bet he enjoyed it" notion still largely remains.
So, with that backing environment, trans women would be considered, for lack of a better term, "wolves in sheep's clothing." If women are the hunted and men are the hunters, a man who "pretends to be a woman" could be doing it just so he could get in close to his prey to rape them or maybe just to view them naked or in a compromised position.
Or beat them in a swimming competition, I suppose...
But no one is scared of a sheep in wolves' clothing. In fact, some may even look at that sheep and ask why they are putting themselves in danger by being around the wolves.
The most vitriolic reaction you are likely to see regarding a trans man would be bemoaning a woman "ruining her body" which is viewed as a commodity in this society. But rarely will you ever see hatred for them, as their change is not viewed as "deceit" or "a lie" in order to gain some sort of advantage.
Which is pretty ironic, in my opinion, because if I were to chart the advantages that men or women get in society, it makes a whole lot more sense to me that someone would prefer to transition from the lesser privileged group (women) to the more privileged group (men) if all they were after was some form of preferential treatment.
Of course, one of the bases of the manosphere (where a lot of transphobia originates or exists) is that, in reality, women are now more privileged than men in our society. Which is pretty silly, if you ask me, but that's a whole other conversation.
The other aspect of why trans women are discussed so much more than trans men, in my opinion, is homophobia that is also baked into our society.
If a straight, cis woman goes off to college and "experiments" sexually with another woman, hardly anyone would bat an eye if she still went on to identify as straight and that just being "an experiment" or "a phase."
If a straight, cis man goes off to college and "experiments" sexually with another man, many people would consider him gay. It doesn't matter if he goes on to date only women from then on, the moment he was sexually involved with a man, he was stamped with "gay" forever (at least to those who know about it). I've even heard that having a sexual experience with a man in the past is a major deal breaker for a lot of women. I don't think many men have that same standard for women (It's even fetishized in a lot of cases, where a threesome with two women is considered the ultimate prize for a man).
So, with that in mind, trans women may be viewed as "traps" to straight, cis men. If you are a straight, cis man and you are attracted to a trans woman (thinking she were a cis woman), and then you find out about it later (either through word of mouth, from the person herself or during a sexual encounter with that woman), you may feel like you've been "deceived" or "tricked" into being gay. And that is the basis of a legal defense that has actually been used in court multiple times known as "gay panic" or, more recently, "trans panic."
Again, I don't think you're going to hear about many women who beat a trans man to death after finding out he was trans.
And the reason for this is, to many in our society, once you're gay, you're never not gay. It's like a mark that follows you for the rest of your life, whether you were intentionally attracted to men or not. And this mark makes you inherently less manly and due for shunning.
It's so extreme, that a lot of men can't even compliment another man's appearance without prefacing it with "I'm not gay, but..."
It's really sad, but it's just a reality in our society.
And, to be clear, I am not endorsing or agreeing with any of the viewpoints in this post, I'm just saying they largely exist in our society and reasons why I believe they persist. I don't consider gay or trans panic as a legitimate defense for a violent crime, nor do I think it's fair to view men and women as predators and prey. It's my attempt at a descriptive approach to our society rather than a prescriptive approach.
This is an excellent post, and I can't find much to disagree with. I absolutely believe there's a huge dollop of misogyny involved as you said. But, there is an interesting element you didn't touch on. Why the "controversy" over Mother's Day or the labeling of woman as "birthing people?" You absolutely do not see any movement or push for men to be described as "inseminating people." Someone raised an interesting point on Twitter (Yes, it was bound to happen at some point) in this regard and wondered aloud if this isn't an expression of the misogyny present in the trans female community. Look at the absolute hatred and vitriol JK Rowling has faced for having such, IMO, uncontroversial opinions such as people with a penis shouldn't be housed in a woman's prison. Look at the physical attacks against women who oppose this type of thing., e.g. Posie Parker and Riley Gaines. Opposing their position is fine, expressing your disgust with their position is fine, but the ease and frequency in which people are assaulted in these situations makes you wonder.
You'll note that I think these attackers are a very small percentage of the trans movement, but they exist and they aren't condemned the way they should be. In fact, it often seems that their behavior is excused or considered even justifiable. An extreme example would be the odious labeling of the trans shooter in Tennessee as the "seventh victim." Personally I think this does more damage to the trans movement than any ant-trans activist or movement. Also, it sadly has to be added that one can observe these things and be appalled by them without being anti-trans. This point seems to be lost on many.
