briarrolfe:

transvarmint:

briarrolfe:

Because I know my violence statistics! Trans community is the closest thing I have to a family. I love my sisters, I want to protect them, and I want them to be safe.

With much respect, because I am completely behind your sentiment, I think you should perhaps brush up on those statistics.

The studies show that trans people of all genders experience high rates of violence, and that the strongest of determining factor in violence is race, rather than gender. There are some stats where transmascs face higher violence, or transfems, or nonbinary folks. Regardless, in all of them, trans people, especially trans people of color, face higher rates of violence.

There is a tendency amongst the community to only emphasize the violence trans women face. And white it’s extremely important to talk about that, there is a frequent implication or outright claim that other groups, particularly transmascs, face less violence overall. If you check out those stats, you’ll see that’s not true. This is a symptom of our erasure, and our experiences with violence often get swept under the rug, even by other trans folks.

This is not meant to be a gotcha by any means, just an opportunity to share these stats and explain why implying some groups face less violence is harmful.

Is there anything more patronising or more American than suggesting I need to “brush up on my stats” when you really mean I should brush up on your stats?

I’m more than familiar with the Australian statistics. I actually organised the launch event for a state report collecting them a few years ago. But it’s not about the numbers for you and all the brave little soldiers in my inbox; it’s about the word “especially.”

The implication that women face more violence than men does often provoke a knee-jerk response from men. This is not cultural conditioning that you and I have opted out of by transitioning, you understand? We are not immune to the feeling in our chests of but I matter too.

We do matter. We even have our own niches of trans discrimination that the girls don’t experience! I wouldn’t wish my most recent ultrasound experience on my worst enemy. But when I said ‘especially,’ I meant it.

I mean it like a parent telling an older brother to watch out for his younger siblings while walking home from school. Please keep an eye on them, but especially your little sister. It’s not because she’s more important than the boys, or that they’re not all in danger—it’s because she’s in more danger. Violence is always bad, but some of us are regarded as more acceptable targets for violence.

I dunno about you, but I girlmoded for a long time. I have the girl’s backs because I remember how it feels to talk about misogyny only to have a man butt in each time and say “but what about MEN’S experiences?” I know how society punishes girls who are different. I know what it’s like to have all the other girls stop talking when you walk in the room.

Community is a reciprocal thing, you know? The trans girls I know have my back because they know what it’s like to be regarded as a lesser kind of man, a more sexually assaultable kind of man, as someone who just doesn’t measure up. They know what it’s like to be shoulderchecked because some dickhead expects you to deferentially step to one side. In the grand baton-swap of gender transition, we have had a preview of what each other is getting into. We are proud of each other, and a bit afraid for each other. I say ‘especially’ about trans girls because I know somewhere out there a trans girl is saying ‘especially’ about something I’m more likely to experience. That’s the point of community! We look out for each other. It’s not a community if we’re only looking out for ourselves. It’s not a community if you pull out the hammer to smack down any suggestion of anything less than equality.

Trans people everywhere are subject to violence, and yes, you’re correct that the violence gets worse depending on our ethnicity (and depending on our social class, which is an axis that Americans tend to forget). But in my country, it is a STATISTICAL TRUTH that trans girls are more likely to experience physical and verbal abuse than any other demographic of trans person. I’ll link Writing Themselves In, although of course I would never expect people from outside my country to familiarise themselves with these statistics.

Trans people all score poorly on every stat they studied, including mental health and experiences of sexual assault—but trans women experienced more violence. That checks out, because Australia has a serious problem with men committing violence against women. One of the ways men enable systematic violence against women is to step into conversations like this one—a discussion of a way to keep everyone safe, which includes a mention that it’s especially important to do this in order to keep our most vulnerable safe—to quibble words like ‘especially’. This turns a conversation about something that could protect our community into a debate over whether some people in the community are being too protected.

The argument you presented was essentially that it’s not fair to say ‘especially,’ because violence against trans women is actually committed because of their skin colour, not their gender. Well, sorry to the white race and all, but I do consider people of colour my community. I really won’t tolerate any discussion that presents people of colour, especially women of colour, as discardable outliers. I believe this is some whacky idea called “intersectional feminism,” but personally I think of it as “not being a total dickhead.”

So, as one bloke to another, mate; pull your bloody neck in. Starting testosterone is no excuse to stop being a bloody feminist.