Reader's Comments

Earlier this month, I wrote a blog post referencing a NY Times article about a community of "men who consider themselves women" in Mexico who are called Muxes (pronounced moo-shays) and are accepted in their society as a third gender. This blogpost was found offensive to some, and for that I apologize. One person left a great comment about why this was offensive, and what her views are about genderqueer vs. transgender issues. I want to share this with everyone incase you missed the comment on the original post:

So according to the article, Muxes are considered "men who consider themselves women." That, quite literally, indicates that many Muxes are probably transwomen (some might be crossdressers), and also that they are not accepted as women. In other words, it's akin to calling a transwoman a "man in a dress" or calling a transman a "woman with a beard". This is what we call transphobia, or, to use a more specific term, "cissexism": The belief that transpeople have a less 'authentic' or 'real' gender than cispeople.

It's a pattern that seems to emerge mostly in countries or communities with no or little access to medical resources for transpeople: Transwomen don't pass well and (hence) are not accepted as women, and instead get grouped into a "third gender" category. Other comparable instances besides Muxes include Kathoeys in Thailand or Hijras in India; I'm sure there are plenty more. Of course, it is preferable for transwomen, who might otherwise be considered men, to be labeled a third gender. However, this shouldn't mislead us into thinking that what's going on there is anything else than plain cissexism.

To be honest, as an apolitical person, I'm not making it my problem if some communities somewhere don't get trans-acceptance right. However, what I do take issue with is the general pattern that this blog-post seems to be a part of:

People in the genderqueer/genderqueer-allied community seem to be fond of anything that supports the prevalent ('progressive') ideologies that (a) "gender and sex are independent" and (b) "there are more than two genders". Note that both ideologies can be highly threatening to transwomen (and I assume also transmen, but I don't know enough to speak for them). Feel free to talk to me in person for examples of why and where notion (a) can be harmful. Notion (b) can easily cause transpeople to be grouped into some "third-gender" category -- for instance, I suspect that the "male / female / transgender" checkboxes that I've seen on several surveys before are a result of badly-done (= miscommunicated) gender-spectrum advocacy.

This doesn't mean that the ideologies are wrong (well, (a) does need some qalification to be factually correct), but I'm politely asking to please consider the effects on transwomen when you push any of these things. I am not saying here that genderqueer people's interest necessarily conflict with transwomen's interests, but that people in the genderqueer community seem to have a tendency to not be mindful of transpeople's (or maybe just transwomen's) interests. In this particular case, I find it remarkable (and ironic) how a probable instance of transphobia gets relabeled as "transgender acceptance" (in the title), simply because it fits with the prevalent ideologies.