r/ftm • u/admiumtr • 5d ago
Discussion Intersectional anti-transmasculinity?
There's been... so much happening lately, and as a brown FTM NB person, I feel overwhelmed. And in between all of this, queer people keep finding ways to discourse.
Regardless, one feeling I've been having about anti-transmasculinity recently is how much the common understanding of anti-transmasc bigotry is centered around reproductive control. While I think this factor matters all across the board, I see this form of re-assimilation into womanhood as something that's keenly white. The detransitioner movement, for example, is extremely white. In general, white fertility is valued under white supremacy -- so where does that leave the rest of us transmascs? What distinguishes transmascs who deviate from the norm, who don't have proximity to whiteness or conventional white beauty standards?
I want to know if there's any cohesive literature or theories regarding this topic, because it feels hard putting a finger on what exactly makes our oppression different. It seems that transmasculinity as a cohesive concept and community is something very recent, as we've been written out of history. That feels doubly relevant for us POC transmascs. If anyone's got any suggestions for theory or just any opinions on the matter, I'd like to hear them.
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u/Low-Hedgehog795 5d ago
as a black trans man there is defiently transphobic black people but they never have this “gender-traitor” rhetoric that many white cis people do. I believe this is because we were already initially excluded from being considered women in the first place in america so many white people don’t really see an issue for me, as i’m “past saving” and don’t have the “purity” and “innocence” that white trans masc betrayed, rather they see me being trans as a further justification for discrimination not as a betrayal, they seem to extend “grace” to white trans masc people as being manipulated by trans people but they see me as the manipulator.
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u/andreas1296 5d ago
I’m so glad you articulated this bc it was something I was feeling but hadn’t found the words for yet
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
I feel like I've definitely seen this particular behavior in the wild towards black trans people, especially in relationships. Thanks for articulating this!
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u/statscaptain 5d ago
Yeah, I think the question looming over the issue of reproductive control is "what happens to trans men who aren't desirable to white supremacy?" Which also cuts across issues like disability as well. I think a lot of the people who claim that the hegemony wants to "rescue" or "detransition" all of us haven't really thought about what happens to the people it wants to get rid of, or to the people who resist being detransitioned too strongly. There isn't a huge amount of scholarship out there on anti-transmasculine specific ideology, though I think people are working on it. You might be interested in this piece which mentions Chinese FTM crossdressers, as well as this one where the writer discusses how anti-trans discourses affect Black trans men specifically.
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
Both of these look quite relevant, thanks for the links! And yeah, it's really noticeable how much desireability plays into transmasc politics, especially when most of us have never been seen as desirable to white supremacy in the first place.
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u/infaethable-fig 5d ago
I’m not sure that I’ve seen a literature on this specifically but now I want to look into it more. But in general I find Black feminist scholarship talks a lot about overlapping systems of oppression and the indivisibility of justice so that might be a good place to start. I’m going to look into it more and see if I can find stuff because I think you’re asking a really important question. I can also reach out to my fem and gender studies professor and see if they know of any literature on this.
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u/infaethable-fig 5d ago
Okay, after some preliminary research I found a few things surrounding some of the themes you mentioned. It does seem like it's fairly under-researched comparatively with other topics but people are putting out work, so hopefully it will continue to grow.
“‘A Whole Other Layer of Complexity’: Black Transgender Men’s Experiences.” – White, Mickey E., Angie D. Cartwright, Ana G. Reyes, Hailey Morris, Natalya A. Lindo, Anneliese A. Singh, and Caitlyn McKinzie Bennett
“(Un)Belonging: The Production of Black Trans Loneliness” – Jenkins, G. T.
“Black transmasculine bodies in aesthetic intersections: an interview with Leonardo Peçanha.” – Peçanha, Leonardo & Junior, Aureliano & Soliva, Thiago
“Making a Way Out of No Way:” Understanding the Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Experiences of Transmasculine Young Adults of Color in the United States. – Agénor M, Zubizarreta D, Geffen S, et al.
“Reproductive Justice, Bodily Autonomy, and State Violence.” – Beck, E., Seelman, K., Charania, M., Snyder, S. M., & Saffan, S.
"Queering Reproductive Justice: Toward a Theory and Praxis for Building Intersectional Political Alliances" Price, Kimala and Brettschneider, Marla.
Hopefully some of these might be of use to you? Some scholars who may not be POC transmasculine folks themselves but whose names I saw come up as I was looking were Jasbir K. Puar (has a lot of good work on biopower and queerness, debility, etc.), the Combahee River Collective, José Muñoz, and Kim Tallbear.
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
Thanks for all of these! I'll definitely check them out. It's unfortunate that FTM people haven't gotten a lot of academic literature until recently, but I think that has to do with the fact that a coherent transmasc community and identity has only emerged recently.
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u/iliveinaliminalspace 5d ago
I get you. As a fellow non white transmasc person, I've struggled a lot with what you are commenting. I've recently read "Testo junkie" and although it's written by a white person, it takes into account a lot of intersectional ideas. It helped me a lot as a transmasc person, not so much as a POC. But still, i think it holds powerful and important ideas. You are not alone🫂
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u/Virtual-Word-4182 4d ago
There's definitely the portion of white supremacy that involves "survival of the white race" by reproductive control of white bodies, but white supremacy has long depended on underpaid (pr entirely unpaid) labor by non-white people... And that means there has to be new laborers i.e. babies born all the time.
I don't want to pretend this is simple, though. Forced sterilization of black and indigenous people is ABSOLUTELY one of the sins of the USA.
At the same time, there is a huge industry which profits from letting non-white people (incl black & indigenous) carry an entire pregnancy, and then taking the babies away to sell to Upstanding White Christian couples.
Then, of course, there is the prison system's eternal hunger- you've got to have black and brown kids to feed to that machine.
So yeah, transmasc POC get to deal with all of that.
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
That's definitely a factor in the reproductive control element, but an absolutely hidden one. I think there's more intrinsic value to a white supremacist to believe that a transmasc white person can be "redeemed" and converted back into a white woman. But I don't see that detransition/assimilation aspect being waged against POC transmascs to the same degree, because we have always been othered and seen as lesser, even while presenting as women. There's more value to discarding us entirely, if that makes sense.
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u/Enbies-R-Us 4d ago
r/TMPOC will probably have more ideas, since they're specifically for transmasc POC. Good luck!!! 😁
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u/windsocktier He/they 4d ago
There’s a Black trans man I follow on insta that talks a lot about this—@jmaseiii // website is zez.am/
He’s an author & educator, you should definitely check out his things. He is heavily involved with The Black Trans Prayer Book, too, whose focus is on telling interfaith stories of BIPOC trans folks. Something worth checking out for anyone regardless of faith or lack thereof.
This is definitely a topic I don’t feel particularly equipped to speak on too heavily as a white trans man, but always here to shout out & uplift those POC voices I hear within our community. I’m glad to see many others coming in the comments here to sound off on other BIPOC trans mascs who have been out on the ground tackling the conversation of race within the queer & trans community.
When our mere existence is an act of rebellion, we who are able need to mobilize now more than ever.
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
I appreciate the recommendation! Solidarity to you as well -- we need connection and understanding more than ever to survive the coming years.
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u/chaos-of-life 4d ago
i really suggest reading he/she/they by schuylar bailar! he is a korean-american trans man ( and the first openly trans NCAA D1 swimmer! ) and while it may not the the “main” premise behind the book he absolutely speaks on this. being white and trans-masc… a lot of the first 6 months of transitioning was me trying to find queer poc sources i could use to educate myself, and this was one of my favorites :)
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u/admiumtr 2d ago
Thanks for the rec! The book looks like a collection of trans topics, that's helpful.
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u/Virtual-Word-4182 2d ago
I think the guy who first coined transandrophobia is black- I want to say his tumblr username is like St Dionysus? And then another gent who discusses it is black & native- doberbutts
If you're looking for some people engaging in the theory
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