- Joined
- Dec 7, 2021
- Highlight
- #1,641
I actually own a copy of Whipping Girl; it was a required text for a college course I was in. I’d take it down and re-read it, but honestly, I only have one life and limited time, so I’d rather reread something I actually enjoy.
Serano is the foundational author of “trans studies,” a critical theory offshoot of gender studies. He is an AGP and claims to be a trans lesbian. He has a lot of cred amongst troons because he was a “scientist” that trooned out, but to my knowledge, he doesn’t talk about the science of trooning (like Memmy attempts to), but rather its sociological factors. Serano was also involved in Camp Trans, a decades-long “protest” that eventually led to the shutdown of the female-only Michigan Women’s Music Festival, also known as Michfest. Another prominent member of Camp Trans is awaiting trial for the murder of two of Michfest’s organizers and their son.
I do agree with some of Serano’s main points, somewhat. Serano argues that transphobia is rooted in sexism/misogyny (it is, somewhat, just as homophobia towards gay men is often rooted in misogyny). As far as I am aware, he developed the term “transmisogyny“ to refer to the specific oppression trans women believe they suffer from, which is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny. There’s a lot more to the book — loads of guff about ”cissexism” and how “cissexist” people believe everyone is cis, but pretty much every critical theory point spouted by troons and TRAs comes from Serano. Wikipedia has a good overview of his main points.
Keep in mind that troons are largely either disabled because of mental issues or work in tech, so there isn’t a huge wealth of critical theory for them to draw from. Transfeminism and trans studies, as an academic field, has only been around since the early 2000s, which makes it practically brand-new in theoretical movement time. It comes from the third wave of feminism, which is concerned largely with identity politics and intersectionality. It requires an automatic buy-in to these ideas. I can’t say I’ve done a lot of reading in this field, as, to be honest, I don’t have the third-wave “buy in,” but I don’t think Memmy or Kevin or Ellie or Zinnia or the vast majority of people espousing these points have done their homework, either. But I think it’s good to know where the ideas they are spouting came from, and why I think TRAs/troons and normal people are, essentially, speaking two different languages.
Serano is the foundational author of “trans studies,” a critical theory offshoot of gender studies. He is an AGP and claims to be a trans lesbian. He has a lot of cred amongst troons because he was a “scientist” that trooned out, but to my knowledge, he doesn’t talk about the science of trooning (like Memmy attempts to), but rather its sociological factors. Serano was also involved in Camp Trans, a decades-long “protest” that eventually led to the shutdown of the female-only Michigan Women’s Music Festival, also known as Michfest. Another prominent member of Camp Trans is awaiting trial for the murder of two of Michfest’s organizers and their son.
I do agree with some of Serano’s main points, somewhat. Serano argues that transphobia is rooted in sexism/misogyny (it is, somewhat, just as homophobia towards gay men is often rooted in misogyny). As far as I am aware, he developed the term “transmisogyny“ to refer to the specific oppression trans women believe they suffer from, which is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny. There’s a lot more to the book — loads of guff about ”cissexism” and how “cissexist” people believe everyone is cis, but pretty much every critical theory point spouted by troons and TRAs comes from Serano. Wikipedia has a good overview of his main points.
Keep in mind that troons are largely either disabled because of mental issues or work in tech, so there isn’t a huge wealth of critical theory for them to draw from. Transfeminism and trans studies, as an academic field, has only been around since the early 2000s, which makes it practically brand-new in theoretical movement time. It comes from the third wave of feminism, which is concerned largely with identity politics and intersectionality. It requires an automatic buy-in to these ideas. I can’t say I’ve done a lot of reading in this field, as, to be honest, I don’t have the third-wave “buy in,” but I don’t think Memmy or Kevin or Ellie or Zinnia or the vast majority of people espousing these points have done their homework, either. But I think it’s good to know where the ideas they are spouting came from, and why I think TRAs/troons and normal people are, essentially, speaking two different languages.