There is a special understanding between men and transwomen; as so many share the same painful lived experiences. Experiences of exclusion, of fear and hostility, of distance, and alienation. The feeling of unease and unbelonging, something seemingly under our skin that makes us dangerous, and violent, and inhuman, to so many. We are both not afforded safe abuse refuge, both treated as some kind of leper, left out in the cold to fend for ourselves. We are both excluded. That is until there’s a war to be fought, in which case, it’s not a matter of being unable to get in, but rather the problem of being unable to get out. And so many are trapped on the inside, and the lives so invaluable just moments ago, suddenly become the thin line of resilience that keeps the rest of society safe. We are seeing this in Ukraine and Russia right now. But where the differences seem to be, is how society finds its voice of outrage and justice for so many transwomen, and yet falls into a mousey silence when men and boys are impacted by the same issues. The feminist movement cried out so loud, and bravely, and beat its chest, when a handful of Ukrainian transwomen were barred from leaving the country. Yet this voice fell silent, and looked at its feet awkwardly, when millions of innocent Ukranian and Russian men were subjected to the exact same fate. Has nobody else noticed this double standard? It makes me think that so many do believe that mens issues exist, but simply don’t care, unless it impacts another group of people. Then we arrive at TERFS, and the savage in fighting within the feminist movement. But again, so few realise that trans exclusion is just an extension of problems feminism already had, and has had, for generations. The bigotry aimed at men, is now being extended to transwomen. Yes. The feminist movement has a burgeoning, and undressed anti-male problem within it, and when mixed with transphobia, becomes trans exclusion. So is the hostility many feminists have toward transwomen, borne from the exact same hostility they already had toward men… What do you think? ~ Images by Ray Zhou, Codioful, Rene Bohmer, Isi Parente Lee.

2023-06-01