Picture this: a busy city, several bustling people, and a large green billboard sign with big letters and a small message: “Find a woman with a brain. They all have vaginas.”
Not everyone finds an issue with this. But you should. Because not only is it sexist in assuming that all women don’t have brains (spoiler alert: they do), it also insinuates that all women have vaginas (spoiler alert #2: they don’t). Cis-gender women may have been born with female genitalia, but trans-women weren’t. But American society perpetuates the idea that if you don’t fit into this binary system of biological sex, then there’s something wrong with you. And one of the main groups that uphold this idea is the very group that is supposed to reject it: feminism.
Before you ask, yes, I am a feminist. So why am I “blaming” feminism for the exclusion of transgender people? Why am I criticizing a movement I devote so much of my time and energy to? Because like many other communities of like-minded people with the same goal, there is conflict. This conflict arises out of the idea that trans women are not “true” women because they “don’t face the same struggles.” There’s a name for these women who hold anti-trans inclusion ideals: “TERFs”, or trans-exclusionary radical feminists. Many women who are against transgender people are under the belief that it’s just a way for men to infiltrate their movement. I’m sorry to break it to you, but if you think that’s the case, your “pussy power” isn’t as inclusive as you may think.
Here’s the thing: the word “woman” should have no singular definition. There should be no “cisgender or bust” mindset. And if you are a woman and a feminist who has a problem with this, you’re excluding a whole community of people who identify the same way you do. You shouldn’t just choose to stand with you “cisters” but instead stand with your “sisters.” Women don’t look the same way or speak the same way or grow up in the same environment. Yet, we’re all getting attacked by the current political and social atmosphere we’ve been living in for the past two years. For example, just on the 21st of October the Trump administration announced that the very identity of transgender people could be erased. So why aren’t we, as feminists, giving this the attention it deserves?
Transgender women are not trying to “steal attention” away from the feminist movement; they’re simply trying to create a space where they can belong and thrive. They’re there to support other feminists, so we should be there for them. TERFing is toxic in behavior, mindset, and for the community. No one should be excluded on how they identify in gender, even if it doesn’t fit the binary mold.
In the era of #MeToo and the Women’s March, we need support. We need each other. And we need to stop excluding the transgender community. Because when it actually comes down to it, if your feminism isn’t inclusive, is it really feminism?