Transwomen and Male Privilege
privilege is a system, not an individual attribute
Forum: Strap-on.org
Date: 08/24/2003
<< Transsexual womyn are not men, and although many of us learn to imitate male and masculine behaviors it rarely comes naturally and falls far short of anything that could be considered oppressive of anyone. >>
Are you saying that male gender roles/stereotypes "come naturally" for non-trans men?
<< There are other criteria required to qualify for male privilege; The ability and willingness to conform to a type of herd mentality which, to varying degrees, determines what is acceptable in terms of gender based behavior and presentation. >>
I disagree: you do not have to be the alpha male to access male privilege. In fact, you don't even have to be a man to have a limited access to male privilege (e.g. a woman with a male-sounding name whose job application is viewed more favorably). That is because privilege is not something that individuals "have" or "do not have," but a social structure upon which individuals are positioned.
<< Men and boys, for the longest time, were not to wear anything pink, play with dolls as children, "be a sissy" etc. These rigid gender stereotypes serve to reinforce oppression, but the oppression is also directed at non-conforming male assigned (re;trans)people. >>
Gender role oppression hurts everyone who do not conform to the expected gender norms. But to argue this to negate male-assigned trans people's access to male privilege is to sidetrack the original concern that is the male privilege.
This is a dangerous move for the trans movement, because if male-assigned trans people use gender role oppression as a way to negate their male privilege, we will lack frameworks to address the non-trans privilege that non-trans women have access to. In other words, if we said that trans women didn't have any access to male privilege because of being oppressed by gender, we won't be able to stop non-trans women from saying that they don't have non-trans privilege because they are oppressed as women. When one oppression is said to cancel out the privilege coming from another oppression, it is ultimately those who experience both oppressions who will be marginalized and erased.