Let’s start with a definition: Transgender is a broad term that is applied to anyone whose gender identity or expression differs from his or her sexual anatomy at birth. This is more of an inclusive term than the word “transsexual,” which generally implies a surgical or hormonal shift in gender. For example, a female-to-male transgender man might identify as such but chose not to undergo a mastectomy.
I know this because I’m supposed to; transgender rights have formed an organic linkage with feminist theory. In my good feminist upbringing, someone taught me to understand what LGBTTQQIA stands for (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transexual, queer, questioning, intersex and ally), and at some point I stopped assuming that certain bodies went with certain gender pronouns.
But it doesn’t mean I understand anything about the lives of transgender people or how their struggles mesh with my grand feminist theories. In the realm of social and political progress, what efforts do feminists and transgender activists actually share?
This week is Transgender Week of Awareness, a worldwide annual event that culminates on Friday with a candlelight vigil to remember trans folk who have been murdered because of their gender identities. Eugene’s vigil is at the Atrium Building on West 10th Avenue and Olive Street from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., and a variety of groups in Eugene, on and off campus, are joining forces this to spark dialogue on gender identity throughout the week.
Seda Jane Collier, a transwoman and residential plans reviewer for the city of Eugene, emphasized sexual assault prevention as an issue that plagues women but is
compounded for transwomen.
“The difference between violence is a difference in degree but not amount. If I’m walking down an alley way late at night, I’m more likely to be attacked because I’m a woman,” Collier said. But when her trans identity is discovered, she said, “I might be attacked more brutally.”
At Collier’s city job, a co-worker once refused to work with her because of her gender identity. Yet “it became positive,” she said, when her supervisor told the employee that he would not reshuffle project assignments to pander to discriminatory behavior.
“When you have that kind of support, you know you are safe,” Collier said.
In connecting feminism with transgender rights, Joe Cedar, a Lane Community College student and transman, emphasized the shared struggle for the right to privacy and access to adequate and respectful health care. Even locally, Cedar said, there is a serious problem with discrimination against transgender folk in the health care industry. Many doctors won’t work with transgender patients.
“People have the gall to think that they know you better than you know yourself,” Cedar said.
Ultimately, he said, feminism is about people “respecting and believing the experiences of the individual.” This means viewing people beyond their original biology, a philosophy that serves all marginalized people, trans or no.
There are plenty of women out there who, for example, don’t have to worry so much about losing reproductive rights to the health care bill but would be dramatically affected by an amendment that banned sex-change coverage from the public option, an issue that may soon be on the chopping block for Republican congressmen. The right to bodily autonomy is something that affects both women and transgender folk, though in different realms of the health care industry.
“Transwomen don’t really have to worry about abortions,” Collier said, “but that gives us something we can support each other on. It’s important to be allies as well as have allies.”
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