Women who pass as men are not necessarily products of oppression. Instead “It is passing that is a product of oppression,” according to Leslie Feinberg in her book Transgender Warriors. The idea of oppression in relation to the transgender community is one that I had not fully considered until reading this chapter by Feinberg. Regardless of how much I understand or empathize with issues of transgender, I see no reasoning for the injustice with which these men and women, these people, have been treated. I didn’t realize, until reading this article, how largely they have been persecuted in the past. I see no such mass murdering and abuse in my world today. In
It is important, though, how we process the issue of hostility, especially hostility of women. Feinberg is right, it is tempting to see women who’ve passed as men as products of oppression. Such a thought is tempting because it seems right. It isn’t an adverse way of thinking, it provides reasoning, and it sympathizes with these women. Nevertheless, it robs the person of even further integrity than the supposed economic and social inequality they’re escaping has. It is seeing them as weak, an escapee. It is seeing them as someone faking their true identity in order to profit socially and financially, rather than seeing that person as the stronger for their passing. Seeing them as making the difficult decision to be who they truly feel they are, which in light of the possible punishment, in fact, shows a lot of strength in that person, opposed to the usual weakness.
Feinberg goes on to destruct this claim that women who pass as men are not products of oppression, with various arguments and examples from history. Understanding transgenders’ responses to oppression and understanding from the right perspective, is essential in seeing each of them as individual, whole, people.
1 comment:
It is notable that Cait did not consider how Feinberg's stance on how the transgender community is oppressed. This is not at all a critique on Cait. It is a critique on the society as a whole because time and time again communities that do not fit society's perception of normal are literally marginalized. The issue is similar to how sickle cell is one of the least researched diseases. Because the affected group was historically part of the lower end of the social totem pole because of their race (African American) and more recently because they are generally part of the lower end of the socieconomic totem pole, doctos and researchers see no profit in digging for a cure. Scientists and medical researchers would rather figure out how to improve viagra than to create afective treatments for such a devastating disease. Everyone (even people who don't need Viagra)know at least what Viagra is and have easy access (tons of TV comercials and other kinds of ads) to the "problem" it is treating and how it serves as a solution. Yet very few people know much about sickle cell. Similarly very few people know about the oppression of the transgender community. The stigma that comes with being transgender also contributes to the lack of knowledge about it. If people were to allow themselves to learn about transgender individuals, a positive feedback mechanism would result and the open-mindedness and increase in knowledge would increase each other while decreasing the prevalence of stigma.
Post a Comment