When he thinks about feminism, he thinks “TERF”

Apr 17th, 2019 | By
Category: Notes and Comment Blog

Well that’s us told:

Nonbinary Femmes Must Be Included in the Feminist Movement.

“Must” on whose orders? There is no such “must.”

But besides that, what the hell is a nonbinary femme supposed to be? I think I’ve asked that before, possibly to the point of tedium, but nobody seems to be able to explain. It’s having it both ways, if you ask me.

At any rate it’s clearly nothing to do with women, dreary old humdrum commonplace neither trans nor nonbinary women. They’re too boring to bear, so feminism needs to be livened up by being ordered to include men who identify or present or perform or pirouette or show off “as” women.

Our author Tre’vell [sic] Anderson explains:

In recent years, dialogues about what it means to be a woman and how these definitions interact with the persisting intersectional feminist movement have moved from ivory towers to the red carpet, the streets, and living rooms nationwide. Yet still, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people’s lived experiences are erased. Nonbinary femme folk, in particular, confront violence and marginalization — as well as joy, love, and triumph — in their own ways.

Unlike women, you understand. Women confront no violence and no marginalization, because women have peak maximum superfluous privilege. Bitches.

We get a photo of a guy in a bright orange hoody, fishnets, and spike-heeled orange boots.

I can’t remember how young I was, but I had a love for my mom’s size-6 high heels. I’d come home from school and be all by myself — so I’d dance in them, hittin’ the runway, practicing walking up and down the stairs. It’s funny because people nowadays say, “You know how to walk in heels better than girls!” and I’m like, “There’s no shade, I’ve honestly been doing it a lot longer than most girls.”

I started wearing makeup and clothes from the “girls” side of the store in college at Lincoln University. It was very cool to see that a lot of the Black men on campus really did not care about me presenting as femme.

Etc etc etc etc fucking etc. It’s all about the wearing and the performance. It’s the normal (but no less irritating for being normal) self-absorption of youth. It’s nothing to do with feminism. Feminism does not have to include that. It’s beside the point.

The idea, to the extent that there is one, seems to be something along the lines of: femmey gay men share in some of the stereotypes about women that serve as excuses to exploit and abuse them, therefore feminism must include them. That doesn’t follow. Here’s a badly-guarded secret: femmey gay men don’t necessarily love or feel in solidarity with women, in fact it’s quite commonplace for such men to hate women. Surprise!

Next candidate:

I thought for a long time that I was a transgender woman, but, through drag and the queer scene in Brooklyn, I realized I didn’t have to adhere to the stereotypical traits of what society thinks is a woman. I know where my head is, but I feel like I have this mind-over-matter mentality, so I’ve never felt like I had to prove my identity to anyone through appearance. For a lot of people, drag is their art and their job. For me, drag is literally a part of my identity. It’s me channeling my femme side.

There are some places where people really do look at being nonbinary as a joke, but I’m not in any way ashamed of myself. I do have privilege because I’m not constantly presenting femme. To society, I present mostly as masculine. I always have to remember that society’s lens is so different from a queer person’s, so I have no problem correcting someone who mistakes a pronoun. Five years ago, I would punch a bitch in the face…

No commentary needed.

Next candidate:

But when I think about the feminist movement, I think of the special brand of really virulent anti-trans feminism — the TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) Movement. I tend to feel grateful that the feminism that I’ve encountered has been really welcoming. I’ve seen it refined to help the most people by including trans women and moving towards the inclusion of nonbinary or transfemme people. It’s brave to go up against the deep programming we all have around the gender binary — because everyone (and cisgender feminists in particular) has been programmed to think that a vagina equals a woman, and we need to fight for women with vaginas to have rights. That last part of that statement is absolutely true, but we also need to chip away at that, having women and transfemmes who may or may not have certain parts be included in this movement.

Nope. No feminist has to include that guy in her feminism.

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