Off Trend

How a transphobic myth became the rallying cry of the “trans” movement.

I thought it would be useful to expand on the statements I made in my first post. As I explained, gender and the issue of the trans trend are complex and vast, so I should probably elaborate on why gender is very much not a social construct. I can see how, if you’re cisgender (i.e. have not experienced gender dysphoria since early childhood), gender very much feels like a social construct; you have no innate knowledge of the difference between actual gender (the brain’s “map” of the body it is attached to) and the ideas of gender that are, effectively, sold to us socially.

As I explained in my first post, gender is simply the brain’s register of sex characteristics. For most people (i.e. cis people), it will be entirely unnoticeable because the brain’s map of sex characteristics will be in alignment with the body’s sex characteristics, but for trans people the misalignment is felt in the form of gender dysphoria. This difference between the majority (cis) and minority (trans) has resulted in the “gender is a social construct” phenomenon that is at the core of so many misappropriated and false trans “identities”. Because, to cis people who have no awareness of gender as a static neurobiological fact, the nonsensical and patriarchal gender roles forced on society can easily be perceived as gender itself, rather than as what they really are; arbitrary rules that have nothing to do with gender or sex.

We grow up with ideas that boys do this, girls do that, women are like this, men are like that, and of course, those ideas are almost always entirely rooted in misogyny and toxic masculinity. It can, to a cis person, seem as though gender is made up of haircuts, clothes, behaviours, and interests, because those are the (unnecessarily) gendered aspects of human presentation and identity that are so heavily enforced before we’re even born. Those gender stereotypes don’t benefit anyone and only serve to “other” the people who don’t conform to them. It’s those harmful stereotypes that have led to the explosion of trans misappropriation because it turns perfectly ordinary behaviour (e.g. a man wanting to wear dresses and make-up, or a woman with short hair and “men’s” clothes) in to something unusual, something that people want a social label for. It makes the man who wears dresses feel as though he’s not a real man, or the woman who doesn’t wear dresses as though she’s not a real woman. Of course, when it comes down to it, it’s just a piece of cloth (or a haircut, or a fashion accessory, or a hobby, etc.). But society has put so much meaning and value in to this piece of cloth/haircut/accessory/hobby that, now, cis people are taking that meaning one step further – a man who wears a dress is now no longer just a gender non-conforming man, but is considered to be trans, and thus, gender – and being trans – is a social issue rather than a biological one.

A good example of this misinterpretation of social gender stereotypes as gender itself is Eddie Izzard. He describes himself as having a “girl mode” (and, for now, I’ll overlook the grossness of a man in his 60s infantilising himself/women/trans people by use of the world “girl”), and this “girl mode” is essentially activated by him wearing make-up and stereotypically female clothing. So what he’s saying is; if you are male-bodied but like to wear dresses and make-up, you’re a woman. It also implies that women only have one way of presenting themselves. That women have to look stereotypically feminine in order to be women. Of course, this is bullshit of the highest order. It is transphobia (the idea that trans women are just men in dresses), misogyny (women have to look a certain way to be considered women), and toxic masculinity (men must perform stereotypes of masculinity in order to be men) all rolled up in to one person. Except, it’s not one person; Eddie Izzard is one of hundreds of thousands (if not millions worldwide) who “identify” as trans because of their own lack of understanding about gender. Because they heard “gender is a social construct” and failed to investigate or think deeply about what that might mean.

Comparisons

In my nearly-20 years in the trans community, I’ve seen far too much of this kind of ignorance. While I understand how cis people can easily believe that gender is a social construct, it’s been devastating to witness that misinformation explode in to a complete removal of transsexual reality from what were once safe spaces for trans people. It has meant that when someone feeling suicidal as a result of their dysphoria goes to a support group, ostensibly for trans people, they are met with cis people who are effectively saying “your need for medical transition isn’t real; it’s social”. I’ve been that person before and it only drives you further in to the depths of despair. To see the medical care you know will save your life being reduced to “society made you feel like this” is offensive and brutally cruel, particularly when you’re already struggling to survive. I’ve seen a few cancer survivors who are trans say that their near-death experiences with cancer were nothing compared to the pain of dysphoria; and yet, no one would say “cancer’s a social construct” or “you don’t need chemo, you just need to accept and embrace your cancer” – it would be offensive and reductionist in the extreme, not to mention ignorant of the medical reality of such a condition.

As someone with a disability, it’s no different to having people tell me “No one’s really disabled; it’s just that society disables people.” I’ve heard this over and over again throughout my life and while I understand that, to an able-bodied person, it can seem as though a lack of access/benefits/care/support, etc. is at the core of my inability to do certain things – especially when, as an able-bodied person you are viewing the disability from the outside; you are only seeing me in a social context and not seeing my disability from my private, individual experience -, the reality is that even if everything I need was perfectly accessible and affordable, I would still be disabled. I would still be in pain, I would still have limited movement, I would still have days where I’m unable to get out of bed, and I would still need mobility aids. Society can do as much as it likes for me (and it’d be great if it did) but I will always have this innate biological difference that causes me pain and requires lifelong medical intervention. Gender and transsexualism are no different; to someone looking from the outside in, it’s a social issue. To someone living it, it’s a struggle that persists in every context, not just social ones.

Why is it a problem?

Some people may wonder what the big deal is – why is it so damaging to label gender as a “social construct”, anyway? Well, for one, it diminishes our pain. It implies that we are in some ways at fault for having dysphoria. I’ve had trans-identified cis people tell me that I can learn to deal with dysphoria by “moving past” social ideas about gender (just one of the many examples of normalised gaslighting in “trans” spaces) or by “embracing [my] transness”, and this is becoming a standard experience for trans people reaching out for support in “trans” spaces. I recently heard from a trans man couldn’t get signed off for top surgery from his doctor because she argued that “plenty of trans men are comfortable with their breasts” and thus the “healthy body part” shouldn’t be removed. Of course, the “trans men” who are comfortable with their pre-surgery chests are inherently not trans – but they’re loud enough to make people think they are and their misinterpretation of social discomfort (which one can move on from with a shift in perspective) as “dysphoria” (which cannot be cured without medical intervention) has life-threatening, real world effects on trans people without ever impacting the lives of the trans-identified cis person. 

Another issue with “gender is a social construct” is that it implies that if we lived in a gender neutral society, trans people wouldn’t experience dysphoria. And, of course, if you’re biologically cisgender but identify as trans because you have some aversion or non-conformity to gender stereotypes and have thus labelled your discomfort with gender stereotypes as “dysphoria”, it is very easy to believe that dysphoria can be cured by a removal of gender stereotypes. The reality is that the feeling you’ve labelled as “gender dysphoria” is not medically or biologically classed as gender dysphoria. It’s a normal discomfort that you’ve erroneously applied a medical label to. Thus, to you, the feeling you call “dysphoria” can be removed through elimination of harmful, patriarchal stereotypes and gender expectations. But for those of us who are experiencing the medical reality of dysphoria, the core issue is with the mismatch between our brains and our bodies, not with society. While a gender neutral society would make it so much easier to grow up as a trans person, we would still need to medically transition in order to survive. Much like my disability, no amount of social change can stop the innate pain.

There is also the issue of medical transition being treated as cosmetic procedures (although few trans-identified cis person would use that word). Over the years, I’ve seen multiple women post in online trans spaces about wanting top surgery because they like how mastectomy scars look and they feel neutral about their breasts (side note: feeling neutral about your sex characteristics is normal – even post-op, I don’t love my male sex characteristics; they’re just there because they’re supposed to be there). I’ve seen men talk about wanting to take oestrogen because they want to slow their facial/body hair growth, or have softer skin. That is, people are accessing life-changing, life-threatening medical treatment because of aesthetics. Given that aesthetics are fluid, social trends, any trans-identified cis person who accesses medical transition for cosmetic/aesthetic reasons is contributing to the narrative that transition is about looking a certain way rather than feeling a certain way.

We are already seeing a removal of trans healthcare in various medical settings because of this harmful misinformation. For example, in the UK, the increased rate of detransitioning young women alongside the perpetuation of the idea that gender is purely social led to a reduction in available healthcare for trans people. Lower surgeries for trans men were cancelled altogether for years on end; to a Conservative government, having a loud group of people claiming to be trans and insisting that “gender is a social construct” gave an already-transphobic cabinet the perfect excuse to defund trans healthcare. Because, of course, if gender is social, why provide medical care for something that can be dealt with socially? It took a lot of time and resources from trans charities to campaign against this decision in order to reverse it and, in the meantime, there was a great deal of suffering by trans men who had had their only hope of survival revoked. Personally, I’ve never been closer to suicide than during my wait for lower surgery. (It was when I reached out to the “trans” community that I was told I need to get over my dysphoria because “gender’s a social construct anyway.”)

How the myth started.

Initially, it came from the cis-created constructionist theory which states that gender can be defined as the patriarchally-constructed stereotypes, expectations and roles performed by men and women. It is a theory of sociology, not one born of any quantitive data or awareness of transsexualism, but as young people started using social media to carve out new identities for themselves, quantitive data was irrelevant and belief was the be-all and end-all of everything. Someone disagrees with you? Don’t hear them out, don’t think about what they’re telling you, just block them. It’s an attitude that, unfortunately, thrives online and can lead to extreme beliefs becoming normalised as more and more people lock themselves in an echo chamber.

I remember when I first found an online trans community nearly 20 years ago and after a few years, the occasional young woman/teenage girl (and it was always young women because, well, the patriarchy sucks and can make young women want to not be women – but that’s a topic for another post) would chime in with “gender is a social construct” as a reason for their desire to transition (either socially or medically). They had heard it said online by another trans-identified girl (usually on Tumblr or YouTube) and failed to really investigate it further or think for themselves – which is understandable, really; teenagers are impulsive and naïve, and it’s not exactly common for people to want to dig down in to complex medical studies that may well compromise their new, much-loved identity. Plus, social media (particularly in the early days) was viewed as a trusted, safe space by young people.

Back then – the mid 2000s – trans issues were just starting to be talked about. Documentaries about trans people – particularly trans kids – were popping up more and more, and it meant that cis people were increasingly thinking about gender and, crucially, their perception of it. Social media gave those cis people a space to share their opinions on trans people. Rather than give the floor to transsexual people, it was a well-meaning (but ill-fated) narrative – designed to normalise transness rather than demonise it – that took hold. People drew on outdated sociological theory to try and understand transsexualism, but the problem was that those past theories came from cis people with no medical experience, not from transsexual people, our doctors, or the researchers who study the neurobiology of gender. It’s undeniable that the patriarchy has a heavy hand in laying out expectations of womanhood and manhood, but to argue that those expectations are the reason trans people transition is a fallacy created by and for cis people in an attempt to understand themselves, not trans people.

Unfortunately, those narratives started to move offline and creep in to the mainstream trans spaces, with an increasing number of young women “identifying” as trans for various social reasons. I’ve heard every reason for a trans identity from “my friends think I look cute with short hair” (yes, seriously) to “I’ve never been feminine” (which, to be fair, can be said of a lot of trans men, but not being feminine is not the same as needing medical transition to survive). In every case of someone giving a social reason for their identity, that person detransitioned, usually after starting hormones but some detransitioned after also having a mastectomy, some within months, others after a decade. Not having dysphoria to hold them back (prior to their mistaken transition, anyway), those young women and teenage girls felt able to speak publicly about their lives as “trans” people, and thus a trend was born.

Those disillusioned teenage girls created a narrative that allowed themselves and other disillusioned teenage girls to simply change their identity in an attempt to escape a lifetime of misogyny targeted at them. From there, men who felt similarly bound by limiting expectations of manhood started to believe themselves to be trans as well. To the uninformed and desperate, that kind of identity shift is an appealing prospect. And unfortunately, to the uninformed and desperate, correction of those beliefs is unwelcome; when false narratives become a defence mechanism against a deeper pain, confusion, or other struggle, any challenge to them can feel like a personal attack rather than an attempt to educate.

The result?

Trans and cis people alike are suffering. Trans people are unable to get the healthcare they need as urgently as they need it because waiting lists are clogged up with cis people who feel entitled to that same healthcare for what are ultimately cosmetic (i.e social) reasons. For trans people, this too often results in suicide. At best, the result is prolonged trauma, self-harm, substance abuse issues, suicide ideation, severe depression and anxiety. For cis people who medically transition despite not needing to, the same experience occurs; they induce in themselves, through medical transition, gender dysphoria. They change their sex characteristics to something at odds with their brain’s map of those sex characteristics and, finally, unhappily, get as close to the real trans experience as a cis person can get. Their experience of dysphoria will never be as bad as a transsexual person’s experience of dysphoria, but it will come with it the uniquely bitter pain of knowing they could have prevented their distress. This is the reality of gender and the danger of declaring it a social construct.