Liberal feminists have a history of unwillingness to include females that stray too far outside societal norms. In the 1970s Betty Friedan, the founded of the National Organization of Women (NOW) publically chastised lesbians. She called them the “lavender menace” insinuating that homosexual females could potentially work to undermine and discredit the feminist movement by presenting to society “way of life” that was considered “abnormal.” In our current day and age, homosexuality and lesbianism has, comparative to the 70s, become more recognizable and acceptable by a large percentage of the population. Many years have passed since this initial confrontation of the liberal feminists and lesbians. Now both groups have seemingly come together to work as one community. But now it appears that transsexual women are now being alienated by the feminist community.
During the Second Wave feminist movement, self-identified lesbians, women that are sexually attracted to other women, were chastised by feminists. Essentially, the feminists managed to merely consider these women by their sexual practices and desires. By doing this, they repeated the same cycle of oppression they spoke out against: men, society, only judging a woman in terms of her physical body. Currently, transsexual women are facing the same persecution at the hands of the feminists that claim they do not want to associate with transsexuals because they are not “real women” because of biological makeup. Julia Serano, a transsexual woman, writes of feminists in the Trans Woman Manifesto that “they claim that it is misogynistic when men create standards and expectations for women to meet, then they dismiss us for not meeting their standard of ‘woman’” (17). Serano believes that the exclusion of Trans women in the feminist movement goes completely against the core principles of feminism. She says that the only way to achieve full gender equality is by way of having the feminists accept trans people into their community and advocate for transgendered persons. If feminists see that they are acting wrongly with their exclusion of trans women, it would only seem logical for them to change their ways of dealing with them. Then they will do it….right? It is possible yes. But despite that marginalizing trans people may go against the core principles of their beliefs they may not feel it worth it to bring them in.
The truth is that the feminist movement is still fragile. Women that identify as feminists are continually ridiculed in society. People claim that all feminists are “man hating lesbians.” This has resulted in countless individuals unwilling to self-indentify as feminists or to even associate with feminist politics. Even some of the most liberal individuals, those that fully support gay rights, do not want to be called a lesbian. The underlying culturally reasons for this are complex and too diverse to attempt to decode now. But suffice is to say that lesbianism has for some negative connotations. A lot of this comes from ignorance. Some don’t fully understand what homosexuality truly is and instead use stereotypes to affix the meaning to a person. The meaning of what it is to be transgender is even less understood and the negative connotations are likewise affixed. It is likely that the ignorance about transgendered people has lead to negative stereotyping just like it did with lesbianism.
The feminist movement has historically struggled to gain public support. Individuals, particularly women, have been hesitant to associate their name with the movement for fear that they will be viewed in a negative light. For some dedicated to advancing the rights of women transsexuals actively participating in their campaigns may seem like a danger, something that could work to undermine their credibility. But I’d pose this question to the individuals in the feminist community that wish to omit trans women’s participation: doesn’t going the philosophy, and continuing oppressive and discriminatory policies that one is fighting against, also undermine your credibility.
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