Comments on: Define: Transmasculine

By: Some Thoughts On Alliances, Identity, And “Transmasculinity” « Dear Diaspora

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:56:38 +0000

[...] (And he’s not the first to do so.) I was really intrigued by the word when I first encountered it — I’ve come a long way with my gender issues since then, but since learning it [...]

By: Gina de Vries

Gina de Vries — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:22:20 +0000

I’m personally still a little unclear on what “transmasculine” means, and how many sorts of people it covers.

I have some of the same trouble you have with the TransMasculine Network’s definition. There are many, many people in the world who are assigned female at birth and don’t feel like that’s an adequate description of their gender, but who don’t identify as masculine.

Also, I’m still left wondering if trans masculine includes butch women. Some definitions of the word I’ve seen do include butch women; some don’t, leaning more towards folks who are genderqueer, genderfuck, or genderfluid; or leaning towards trans men.

I raise the butch question because if a definition of transmasculine includes butch women, then I would say butch trans women are also transmasculine — by virtue of being women and presenting as butch. Which makes that whole “assigned female at birth” qualifier problematic.

Just food & questions for thought…

–Gina

By: Queer Rose

Queer Rose — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:27:11 +0000

Thought you might be interested in a recent discussion about the term “transmasculine” on butch-femme.co.uk. Nearly 700 people viewed the discussion and 16 people participated. Out of the 16, 9 liked the term and 7 didn’t – because they saw it as unnecessary and / or as poorly communicating the intended meaning. A couple of the women who disliked the term said that although they identified as butch they felt primarily feminine and not masculine and therefore would not like “transmasculine” applied to them.

I’ve given it some thought and while I think it’s important that language around gender evolves I don’t think that this particular term is useful. I think there are several problems with it – it is easily misunderstood, but more than that, questionable in terms of inclusion, for example, MtF butch identified women, would be included under the transfeminine “umbrella”? And this is the bottom line for me: a (broad) term to describe gender based on sex at birth is problematic because it brings us right back to the binary.

So – here are the votes from this very small UK based jury – 9 in favour and 8 against.

By: jaywhatshisname

jaywhatshisname — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:03:36 +0000

I am a trans man who is against myself being lumped into “transmasculine”. I am not “female bodied” and would prefer you not refer to trans men that way unless you know they refer to themselves as being female bodied. The only thing categorizing all “female-assigned, not female identifying” people together is to further reify and magnify that birth sex assignment, which for many trans men has little relevance and meaning to the lives we live. There is very little need to come up with one term that artificially spans many identities.
And also, as Tobi points out, it marginalizes butch and andro trans women, and shoves femme and andro trans men between a rock and a hard place.
I think “transmasculine” has gained currency because it is cutesy and sound edgy.

By: Tobi

Tobi — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:35:17 +0000

I don’t think the word transmasculine is exclusive at all, but I have seen ways in which it was used that way. I think a lot of that has to do with confusion.

I was just at the Gender Odyssey conference and some workshops were closed to “masculine” people, others were closed to “transmasculine” folks, still others were closed to “female assigned folks read as male.” All the distinctions were puzzling. It was as if they were all trying to get at the same thing, but what about folks who’s experiences overlap areas of that.

Femme trans guys are trans men, but I’ve seen them ejected from transmasculine spaces for not being masculine. Oppositely, as a butch trans woman who identifies as transmasculine, I’ve been kept out of transmasculine spaces because I wasn’t a trans guy, even though cisgender butches were welcome.

I’ve known other transfemale spectrum folks who identify as transmasculine and have been kept out of transmasculine spaces because they are “really just trans women” or because they were assigned male. Even your own definition specifies people assigned female. And the first commenter likes it specifically because it excludes transfeminine folks (presumably even if they identify as transmasculine as well)

And so it’s from this background that transmasculine appears to be used as a term that can be used to selectively eject anyone who’s level of female-ness or femininity is perceived as a threat.

By: Transmasculine and (trans) misogyny « Taking Up Too Much Space

Transmasculine and (trans) misogyny « Taking Up Too Much Space — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 08:28:35 +0000

[...] 11, 2008 I don’t have time to debunk this post other than to say “transmasculine” is not a way to be inclusive, it’s a way to [...] [Wow, that was a whole lotta anger you just threw at me; this has not been my experience of the ways that the word "transmasculine" has been used in this community *at all.* I have witnessed it used in a community where transmisogyny and femmephobia were openly discussed and questioned. I won't claim that everyone is absolutely perfect about that all the time, myself included, but we're talking about it, we're questioning it, we're working to do better, which is part of the point. So I don't understand your claim - that "transmasculine" is not inclusive but a way to exclude, and I don't understand how it's transmisogynistic and femmephobic. If you eventually get the time, perhaps we could have a conversation about this. - ss]

By: linaria

linaria — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:52:59 +0000

indeed. I also see ‘butch’ as a specific type of masculinity, one that has a strong historical connotation. this is something to be proud of, in my eyes, a connection to the history of our community as queer people–but it may not be a tradition that everyone wishes to embrace.

so…although I am conflicted about the addition of yet another piece of terminology, I think that any step toward neutrality is good.

By: monstar

monstar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:25:40 +0000

Note: transeunt apparently being an alternative spelling of transient – no wonder my brain went weird. Australian spellcheck is a freak.

By: monstar

monstar — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:35:04 +0000

Yeah, this trans- thing came up in a conversation the other day in terms of the stem, the possible suffixes and the suggestion of a binary that seems to be part of it. I like Natt Nightly’s transcending. Thoughts included transit/ion and transverse – which seem to imply moving from one place to another (defined, continuum – no galaxy) – which connotations may also be in transitive and transeunt. But less so in transeunt maybe.. trans- basically means ‘cross’ – yes? But I guess there are borders around defined gender roles which may be crossed out of – without necessarily crossing into any other defined set of behaviours. Or if it can be thought as ‘across’ then there are fewer restrictions and no need to ‘cross’ so absolutely – straddling seems appropriate. Hence transcend seems apt (and cool and best.)
And that definition of transmasculine, it is lovely and broad – it’s the ‘incomplete’ that makes it so. Argh gender theory is awesome fun! Why more people aren’t fascinated, I don’t know.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:50:54 +0000

I dig it. Much sleeker than the alternatives, and precise without sounding overly technical.