Unfortunately I had to get into a struggle session this morning about whether men and masculinity are inherently cruel and misogynistic by nature.
I love this website, and I’ve seen us improve through discussion many times over the years, so I’d like to open this thread to discuss (trans)masculinity and how it fits into leftism.
As leftists, one of our core beliefs is in the ability of people and societies to improve. I think this goes hand in hand with the ability to understand and create space for positive masculinities in our communities.
Framing all masculinity as inherently oppressive and misogynistic is counterproductive for several reasons, including (but not limited to):
- Giving men an excuse to refuse to examine toxic behaviors (e.g. “I can’t help it, it’s in my nature!”)
- Making trans men and transmasculine people feel ashamed to transition and/or come out of the closet.
I’d like to share one of my favorite articles about transmasculinity. I’ve posted it on this site before, but it bears posting again: https://thenewinquiry.com/on-hating-men-and-becoming-one-anyway/
An excerpt:
Secondly, unitary theory redefined the terms of gender oppression in a way that places the ultimate blame on the bourgeoisie (a group that I, in my entry-level research job, definitely do not belong to, with none of the grey area associated with my maleness). I now understand the ways in which working-class men benefit from oppressing women as analogous to the ways in which scabs benefit from strikebreaking. The gains are undoubtedly real on an individual level but are not representative of workers’ ultimate class interest in either scenario. This allows for meaningful solidarity across gender lines.
trans man repeating terfism? Wish I could say I'm surprised
I'm crying
I mean, it's rare to find this many artifacts of gender essentialism in one text by a trans person, regardless of gender. But the "female socialization" part as a way to secure access to "feminist" spaces, and to attack and violently misgender transfeminine people is unfortunately something i see over and over again among TME trans people. Of course it is by no means universal, i am fairly sure that the majority of trans men and transmasc nonbinary people realize that these conditional privileges come at the expense of misgendering and invalidating themselves, but there's a crowd that wants both complete male privilege, full deniability of that privilege and the ability to make a stronger claim to womanhood than binary trans women, which is completely absurd, but somehow still is a thing that exists.
Maybe, dunno. I do see trans men/mascs repeat terf shit unnervingly often. You are right its not the majority though.
This is always the bit that digs at me personally the most.