Misogyny and FTM detransitioners

One of the central arguments that Serano makes is that the stigmatization of trans women is not just due to transphobia (or the broader concept that Serano calls oppositional sexism), but due to good old-fashioned misogyny (what Serano calls traditional sexism) — i.e. the belief that femininity and femaleness is inherently inferior to masculinity and maleness. Often this manifests in a portrayal of femininity as artifial, frivolous and unnatural, whereas masculinity is often portrayed as practical, genuine and natural. For trans women, the two go hand in hand, placing trans women uniquely at the intersection of both transphobia and misogyny. Serano calls the combination trans-misogyny. More on misogyny later.

Serano also forwards the intrinsic inclinations model in order to explain transsexuality. It’s really quite a simple model. It rests on the idea that people have certain intrinsic inclinations that are resistant to social pressure and personal attempts at repressing them. A person may have many of these, but they include at least the following three separate inclinations:

The issue I want to address in this article is that of certain AFAB detransitioners and non-binary people, and how their motivations relate to traditional and oppositional sexism. Before really getting to the central point, I want to characterise a certain kind of AFAB person who often come to think of themselves as trans men, or non-binary for at least a time.

Additionally, FTM-spectrum people generally face less discrimination than MTF-spectrum people (this is well-documented), and so feel less social pressure to not be trans, as is also reported by both of the videos linked in the previous paragraph. This descrepancy is also described in great detail in Serano’s book, where she coins the term effemimania in order to describe society’s infatuation with trans women while simultaneously ignoring the existence of trans men.

We’re now ready to understand the argument I want to put forth in this article, namely the connection between these AFAB people who are disillusioned with femalness/womanhood, and the misogyny at the root of society’s infatuation with trans women.

These women who detransition are often attracted to women and/or have a stereotypically masculine gender expression (or at least an aversion to feminine gender expression), but they do not actively feel like they want to be men, i.e. they don’t have a male subconscious sex. However, due to the oppositional sexism (that is, the stigmatisation of masculine women and feminine men), the apprehension of femininity and/or sexual attraction towards women felt by these AFAB people is initially misconstrued as a desire to be male, and sometimes this mistake isn’t recognised until they have already taken testosterone for a significant period of time, which some of them end up regretting.

This mistake is then compounded by misogyny (traditional sexism), which promotes the idea that maleness is inherently better than femaleness, and hence reinforces the idea that transitioning to male is without drawbacks — afterall, you are becoming the “superior sex”. As mentioned earlier, traditional sexism also accounts for the difference between the social pressures felt by MTF and FTM trans people, namely that MTF-spectrum people often feel significant social pressure against their trans identity, whereas FTM people do not.

The reason I think this argument is important is because some of these AFAB people who regret taking testosterone are arguing that HRT has become too accessible, with many being able to get a prescription after just a couple of appointments. Perhaps it has become too accessible in some areas, however, it is important to stress that the real issue here is not the availability of hormones, but the oppositional sexism and misunderstanding about subconscious sex that drives these women to feel like transitioning to male is the only way to avoid the perceived negative connotations of womanhood/femaleness. By combating sexism and removing the negative social pressure and connotations that these AFAB people feel, we can both reduce the number of people who regret HRT, and the harassment and anti-trans social pressure felt by MTF-spectrum transgender people. It really should be a common goal.

There’s also a point to be made about the healthcare system in the US being driven by capitalism, and so perhaps some clinics are just a little bit too fast to tell people about the wonders of testosterone, without really being sure that HRT is the right option (similarly to how opiods are prescribed just a little bit too often… or, let’s be real, way too often).

However, rolling back the availability of HRT risks placing the fate of transgender people back into the hands of often not-so-well-meaning gatekeepers, which would be worse since the fact is just that many more people benefit from the availability of HRT than not. Of course that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to minimize the number of people who regret HRT, but rolling back transgender rights would simply do more harm than good (assuming you value the lives of transgender people as much as cisgender people, as you should).

Finally I want to say that I am AMAB, not AFAB, and so I cannot speak on behalf of any AFAB transgender people. The arguments put forth here are based on my conversations with AFAB transgender people as well as the impressions I have gotten by listening to AFAB people online, but since I don’t have the FTM-experience I cannot speak to it myself. So if you are (or were) FTM and feel like I have misrepresented or misunderstood these feelings and motivations, then I will gladly listen to your criticism.

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