What is Radical Feminism and Why Should it Matter to Transmen?

Radical feminism has gotten a bad reputation among transpeople due to its association with "TERFs" (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) when, in fact, it's not trans exclusionary. It includes transmen. It's concerned with forms of oppression that are specific to the bodily realities of femaleness, regardless of identity. Though transmen, by appearing as male, occupy some social space and privilege as men, because our bodies are still female, we continue to experience the same patterns of female-specific oppression. Female-specific oppression also plays a role in the development and persistence of gender dysphoria, which drives us to become transmen. 

 

Radical feminism sees the oppression of the female sex as institutionalized and structural. It's therefore not only concerned with full equality in law and policy, but in changing insitutions and structures. That's what's meant by "radical". It's aim is to get to the roots.

 

There are several domains of focus:

 

Bodily Autonomy

Violence

Sexual Assault

Marriage

Prostitution

Income/poverty

Sex Sterotypes

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Within those various domains, the data shows that transmen continue to experience female-typical patterns of oppression: higher poverty rates, higher rates of violence including sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV), more involvement in prostitution, and more homelessness. 

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It's of benefit to transmen to do a sex-based analysis of our lives. ​

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