Feminism, part V

Posted on by C

3. Trans* people + gender stereotypes

A close friend and I talked about trans* people quite a while back, and it’s got me wondering since then if it was “unfeminist” that many trans* people who express their gender identity (be it femininity or masculinity) do so by subscribing to gender stereotypes. For example, is it “unfeminist” for a transwoman to get breast implants, wear make-up and smile more often? Was it “unfeminist” for a transman to bulk up and smile less? Were they perpetuating the very stereotypes that feminists have been trying to do away with? But since feminism isn’t feminism without being trans* inclusive (see my post on intersectionality), can their gender expression be feminist?

As is the norm now, whenever I’m unclear on how I stand on something, I read up and write to gather my thoughts. So here I am.

First, I was quite new to feminism when I asked myself the above question of what was “unfeminist” and looking back, I see the problem. It is NOT unfeminist for a woman to get breast implants or to wear make up or to have long, voluminous hair, just as it is NOT unfeminist to want to be a homemaker instead of a career woman. Feminism is about accepting every human being’s choice. If a woman prefers to be a homemaker, great; if she prefers to be a career woman, that’s great too. She can be a feminist in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, or in a floral sundress. Neither is more/less feminist than the other. The important thing is that every choice is as accepted as the other. The same applies to men – they can be homemakers or career men, they can wear a pair of jeans and a t-shirt or a dress. None of these choices should make them “less of a man”. (For more on this, see my post Feminism, part II.)

The only thing that’s “unfeminist” are the gender stereotypes perpetuated by the media and the society we live in. So just as it is unfeminist for the media to portray only able-bodied women with smooth, silky hair and either no curves OR curves “in the right places”, and for our society to place the women who tick the right boxes on a pedestal; it’s unfeminist for the media to only show transwomen who fit their idea of what femininity means (i.e. the above-mentioned qualities). The same applies to the portrayal of men and transmen. We need to acknowledge and embrace that every human being is different – that they have different interests and dress differently regardless of their gender identity. And we need to see more of such portrayals in the media.

Conclusion: Every transgender person should be free to choose what they want to do and how they want to express their gender identity. If it subscribes to gender stereotypes, so be it; if it doesn’t, that’s fine too.

For more information on trans*:

4. Pro-choice

Now, this post in particular took me this long to write precisely because of this bit on pro-choice. For those unfamiliar with what pro-choice is, it’s the social movement for abortion rights. The anti-abortion movement is called “pro-life”.

You must have realised by now that an essential part of my feminism is that women get to make decisions from themselves, that they get to choose what they want to do and that their decisions are accepted. The same applies to abortion.

I touched on this issue very lightly in my first post on feminism. The right to abortion is vital for gender equality because people need to respect that a woman’s body is her own and that only she should get to decide what happens to whatever’s in her (embryo v foetus). That is what being pro-choice is about – supporting a woman’s personal decision. She can carry the foetus to full term or abort it. She can have a multitude of reasons for carrying it to full term or not, and regardless of what her decision is and what her reasons are, she should be supported. No lawmaker should have a say in a woman’s right to her own body. There have been ridiculous cases of them doing so: a brain-dead woman was kept on life support against her own wishes, a woman was sentenced to prison for terminating her pregnancy, women have been charged with murder for losing their babies. I’m not saying having an abortion is right or wrong, or keeping a baby is right or wrong. There is no right or wrong. Only the person whose life is affected by the embryo/foetus should get to make the decision of what happens to it because that being is part of her body and no one should have a say in another person’s body.

By passing anti-abortion laws and making abortions inaccessible, politicians are staking a claim on a woman’s body and making decisions for her. They are not respecting that she can make her own decisions. They are forcing her to either reproduce when she does not want to or to seek unsafe, possibly illegal options to terminate her pregnancy when there are safe options available. This, to me, is an example of our still very patriarchal society that dismisses women’s voices and opinions, even when the topic on hand is something that affects women exclusively.

Related reading:

5. Feminism v egalitarianism

Last but not least, since revealing that I identify as a feminist, I’ve been asked several times why I don’t identify as an egalitarian instead since what I believe in is that every human being is equal, regardless of gender, religion, sexual orientation, class, “race” (which is really ethnicity or skin colour since the only race is the human race, see Feminism, part IV), etc.

Here are the definitions from Oxford Dictionary:

Feminism: The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.

Egalitarianism: The doctrine that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.

So it does indeed seem that I should be an egalitarian by definition. Why do I choose to call myself a feminist then?

1. Feminism gave me the language to describe the injustices I see in my everyday life. Feminism is what introduced me to the idea that the injustices I experience as an Asian woman in a white, male-dominated society is not a personal, individual experience, but something that is systemic.

2. Feminism to me includes intersectionality, so feminism IS egalitarianism in my books and there’s no difference between the two words. I think it’s a waste of time to be stuck on labelling what people choose to identify as, as there are many issues out there that are more important than quibbling over semantics. If you believe that all human beings are equal and deserve equal rights, it doesn’t matter to me what you identify as, be it feminist, egalitarian or neither.

3. The word “egalitarianism” comes from the French word égal, or “equal” in English. It was part of a slogan of the French Revolution (Liberté, égalité, fraternité =  liberty, equality, fraternity). Although feminism was born out of the French Revolution, I deliberately avoid the label egalitarian for myself because the French Revolution’s égalité was not extended to include women and actually worked to routinely shut them out and deny them rights. In addition, using the word egalitarian renders an important part of my politics – women – invisible.

4. And last but not least, I am most comfortable with the term feminist. Since this is a label to be applied to me, I get to choose which label I want.

P.S. Inspired by an article about Beyoncé “watching videos about feminism on
YouTube”, I decided to make a playlist from a couple of videos I like, titled GIRL POWER!

Featured image: craftyhanako

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