Artifact 1 - What Is Transmisogyny? - Julia Serano

Julia Serano’s writings are foundational to my personal understanding of gendered discrimination, and the framework she provides strongly informs the rest of this gender portfolio. I was first exposed to her beliefs on sexism in her 2007 book Whipping Girl, and these ideas are expanded upon in her 2021 “What is Transisogyny?” In short, Serano argues that sexism is not a singular force, but is instead made up of two interleaving forces: traditional sexism and oppositional sexism. Oppositional sexism is the fundamental idea that male/female and masculine/feminine are inherent, “opposite” roles with little overlap, and traditional sexism takes these two categories and says that the feminine is inherently inferior. Essentially, oppositional sexism creates maintains gender categories, and traditional sexism creates the hierarchy: patriarchy.

This framework inherits much of its merit by expanding upon liberal feminism—an ideology that posits men and women are equal in most regards (Gendered Lives, pg. 55)—by questioning the basis of separating men and women as coherently independant categories in the first place. Serano argues that in order to truly free ourselves of a sexist society, we must expand upon the work of feminism to combat traditional sexism and combat oppositional sexism as well. This is an inherently intersectional fight because, as Serano argues, oppositional sexism is the basis of transphobia and homophobia (as well as transmisogyny, a distinct intersection of oppositional/traditional sexism as experienced by transfeminine individuals). Thus, in order to achieve true feminist liberation, we must work together with queer liberationists, transfeminists, and all other victims of gender-and-sexuality based discrimination to destroy sexism in its most fundamental form.

As a trans woman myself, I saliently experience both forms of sexism, and I present the rest of this gender portfolio in accordance with that understanding. I will spend approximately half of this portfolio focused on transphobia and oppositional sexism, and the other half on traditional sexism and the lessening of femaleness and femininity, as expanding on and informed by my learnings from Gendered Lives.