Transphobia and homophobia are two sides of the same coin
It is extremely hard to be transphobic without helping homophobes, as “gender critical” TERFs like J.K. Rowling have proven.
Over at twitter Citizen Sterling writes:
Trans people have spent years warning everyone about the poorly concealed homophobia baked into the “gender critical” TERF movement. Hate groups don’t stop at hating just one group. People who want to debate human rights will always need targets.
TERF refers to “trans-exclusionary radical feminists”, mostly women who spend a lot of time trying to invalidate and exclude transgender women.
Terling links to a tweet by Cody Johnston, who presents screenshots documenting J.K. Rowling’s support for a homophobic right wing extremist who wants to ban same-sex marriage: Bethany S. Mandel.
So what is going on here? Does this mean that J.K. Rowling is against same-sex marriage?
Probably not. What it means is that she, like all trans-exclusionary feminists, now finds herself in bed with some nasty homophobes.
The biology is destiny narrative
Both homophobia and transphobia are based on the same underpinning logic: Biology is destiny and biological sex defines what is not only the the correct gender identity, but also the correct sexuality.
It does not matter if this belief is based on religion (”God wants men and women to marry and have kids”) or pseudo-biology (”sex is about procreation and therefore men must have sex with women”), the end result is the same: The only proper sex is for women to be with men, and the only proper gender identity is for those assigned male at birth to identify as male.
This is what the Patriarchal cis/hetero system requires, because this is the only way it can stop people from questioning a world order that serves those in power.
Many of them fear a world where sexuality and gender identity are flexible or fluid phenomena, as they have invested so much of their own identity and self-worth into the idea that they are “proper” men and women. Accepting “freaks” may lead to ridicule and social exclusion.
I think it is safe to assume that some of them, J.K. Rowling included, have recognized some of this fluidity in themselves, and it scares them.
The similarities between the invalidation of gay and trans people
There are quite a few lesbian TERFs around, so I am sure many of them are strong supporters of gay and lesbian rights. But they are so caught up in their own transphobia that they are unable to see the similarities between the arguments they make against trans people, and the arguments homophobes have used against them for a very long time.
Both homosexuals and transgender people have met the following arguments:
- Their identities are “against nature.”
- They are part of a cult that tries to seduce innocent women and kids.
- They are confused and misled.
- They are suffering from a mental disease.
- They are sexually perverted.
- They are violent and a threat to innocent women and children.
None of this is true. Still, these narratives have power, as they serve those who are afraid of diversity and who search for confirmation of their own narrow ideas about what is real and right.
Trump attacks transgender women
The Trump administration is now planning to ban transgender women from homeless shelters. American TERFs support the policy.
Here is a clip from the Carrizozo Lincoln County News, 1985, to put this into a broader LBTQA context:
Yes, the same arguments have used against lesbian women.
The Trump policy will allow shelters to deny women access based on their looks. You can bet this policy will also hurt masculine butch lesbians and other women who cannot live up to the American standards of proper femininity.
So the TERFs are not only helping bigots who want to harm transgender people. They are helping bigots who want to harm gay and lesbian people.
Sex, gender and sexuality
Just to make this absolutely clear: It is scientifically impossible to reduce sexual orientation and gender identity to biological sex.
Biologists readily acknowledge the reality of gendered behavior in animals and gender identity variation in humans. This is also reflected in the American psychiatric manual, The DSM-5, with the diagnosis of “gender dysphoria”, and the international WHO health manual, the ICD-11, which refers to “gender incongruence”. Transgender identities are real, as far as modern medicine goes.
Note also that these manuals explicitly say that these diagnoses are not mental illnesses.
It is also clear that human sexuality has other functions than procreation. Only a fraction of intercourses leads to pregnancies.(That was also the case before the pill, by the way). It is clear that sexuality, in humans as in many other species, has both psychological and social functions, as in relieving stress and contributing to social bonding.
Moreover, saying that we have to obey the “laws of nature” is not a scientific statement. It is a ideological and political statement. Our health systems are based on the premise that we do not have to “obey the laws of nature”. Political and social justice cannot be based on some pseudo-Darwinian reading of nature. We have tried that, and it led to rampant racism (as in “eugenics”) and misogyny (as in the theory of “hysteria”).
I, for one, is open to the idea that gender identity is associated with biological sex in one way or the other, as far as evolution and biology goes — and even with sexual orientation. But I also see the immense complexity of the area that is sex, sexuality and gender.
Experts in the field recognize the complex interaction between factors like genetics, epigenetics, hormones, personality, personal experiences, and the social and cultural context. Sexual fluidity is well documented, as is gender variance. Because of this it is not hard to see that sexual orientation and gender identity does not automatically have to follow from what you have between your legs.
Indeed, I know this to be the case. I am myself a living proof of this, in the same way lesbian cis women are living proofs of the heterosexual binary not being the only proper form for sexuality.
Saying that sex is for procreation only is like saying that the mouth is for the digestion of food only. It is plain nonsense.
Moreover, as far as the animal kingdom goes, it is impossible to find a common pattern that confirms the man/woman narrative. There are fish that change sex, birds with different morphs of both males and females, mold with 720 sexes and a lot of creatures that do not have separate sexes at all.
Nature loves diversity, but the transphobes and homophobes are not listening to nature. They say they are, with their “because science” arguments, but the truth is that their science is based on old eight grade text books, and not contemporary science with its focus on the diversity in complex systems.
That being said, many of the TERFs I have been in touch with know about the need to embrace diversity, as the acceptance of their own sexual orientation depends on it. They are just unable to connect this insight with a respect for gender variance, most likely because it would force them to face their own bigotry.
Conclusion: Homophobia and transphobia grow from the same root
To conclude: Homophobia and transphobia are both based on the same reductionistic, simplistic and misleading understanding on the interaction between biology, psychology and social systems.
Homophobes and transphobes also make use of the exact same propaganda tactics to invalidate those that do not live up to the cis/straight binary.
Homophobia and transphobia are two sides of the same coin.
See also: Sex, gender, biology and culture in the chaos that is the transgender debate
Main illustration: sv_sunny
