Including All Women

Introduction

The feminist movement has developed greatly in the past few decades and made leaps and bounds of progress in recent years, with the explosion of the #MeToo movement in 2017 marking a rapid acceleration of its prominence in society. At the same time, the parallel growth of the transgender population and increasing visibility of the push for transgender rights has also caused modern society to experience a divorce of our perceptions of sex and gender, and has expanded the definition of what it means to be female. The parallel development of both movements has thus called into question the role of transgender women in the feminist movement and vice versa, with emergent discourse over whether the feminist movement should protect transgender women, whether transgender women should subscribe to the broad umbrella of feminism or create their own discrete social movements, so on and so forth.

Who are transgender women?

Transgender women are women who were assigned male at birth, but who identify as female (4). They commonly experience gender dysphoria, which is defined as “discomfort or distress related to an incongruence between an individual's gender identity and the gender assigned at birth”, and subsequently may choose to alter their gender expression by altering their clothing, physical appearance, and other external presentations to present themselves as more feminine. Some, but not all, transgender women, may also choose to undergo medical procedures to alter their appearance, such as hormone replacement therapy or gender reassignment surgery. In recent years, transgender women have increased in visibility with the increase in transgender female celebrities, popular examples including Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox (8, 9).

Misogyny - The stigma and torment

The feminist movement needs to protect transgender women. Aside for the common struggles with misogyny women face, transgender women face other difficulties in their lives - gender wage gaps, prevalent sexual assaults, and even discrimination at workplaces. The stigma and disrespect they encounter showcases the large equity gap they have to endure in society, with many of them living in poverty and facing homelessness, forcing them to resort to underground sex markets. Even while trying to reach out for help and support, transgender women experience discrimination within substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities, rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, and other health-care institutions. The sexual victimisation they suffer from (69.0%) is also twice that of any other subset of women (27.3%) in the US. The sexual violence and unwanted sexual contact they have to endure mainly stems from transphobia in the form of transmisogyny (10), making transgender women more vulnerable than even cisgender women. Often they are the victims of wrongful dismissals and restrictions on gender expression when people enforce their principles unto them.

Transgender activist Aimee Stephens, was fired after coming out when she violated the dress code by deciding to wear the company’s women’s uniform rather than the men’s. This discrimination transgender women face was further exacerbated when the Trump administration submitted a brief asking the court to rule Title VII (protecting discrimination of any kind) to only support ‘biological sex’ (11), enabling employers to fire employees just for their seen-to-be queer identity. Already combatting these common struggles of women, the feminist movement is hence best posed to protect transgender and cisgender women alike in their collective pushback against misogyny in society.

Power of Inclusivity within the Feminism Movement

More importantly, the acceptance of transgender women is not received well by other women. This gender dysphoria entrenched by the female community causes transgender to be shunned and reglected from both sides of society. With all these social pressures and heavy criticism they experience, a staggering 41% of transgender respondents in the 2012 National Transgender Discrimination survey reported attempting suicide compared to the 1.6% of the general population (12). The additional harassment and bullying transgender teens (51%) face in school every weekday takes a psychological toll on them, causing them to be associated with higher rates of self-harm and suicidality (13). Just as how feminism challenges notions of superiority and stand by social equality of sexes, the inclusivity that the movement supports should also comprise of transgender women. By standing in support of transgender women, the feminist movement has the capability to ease the pain of social alienation and torment that many transgender women are victims to, and this sense of solidarity can be hugely empowering for them.

How far have we gotten?

Feminism now has to become more than a movement exclusively for cis women. Ever since feminism has swept across the globe, it has become increasingly obvious to proponents of gender equality that the discrimination and prejudice felt by women are not consistent across contexts and thus may require more than 1 solution to tackle this multi-faceted issue (1). As a movement revolving around the debate on gender, it has to evolve with time to tackle a broader, more complex and diverse range of issues in order to truly protect the rights of all women (not just cis women).

The increasing prevalence of the idea that women can be on equal footing with men is proof that modern feminism has come a long way however, it has an even longer way to go. In the United States, 42.8% of states have a fully inclusive policy for transgender participation in their identifying gender’s sports team, 28.4% have restrictions on their policies, 16.4% have an exclusive policy and 13.4% have no policy on the matter. By barring athletes from competing based on their biological make-up which supposedly led to ‘unfair advantages’ (which are not backed by data), trans women are effectively cut-off from their passions and habits which define them more as a human being than their physical appearance (2).

Nonetheless, the root cause of this mistreatment against trans women lies in not just policies and rules alone but also within our perceptions of them. More often than not, conflicts about trans women arise from the perception that trans women are different from cis women (as in the case with radical feminism). There is no doubt that minority groups like trans women within the movement need the support of their female community now more than ever but that is all dependent on how willing people are willing to change their mindsets. Therefore, the importance of ensuring the transgender community has a voice and that their story and message is heard by an accepting crowd is of upmost concern.

Transgender individuals in Singapore - Are we accepting as a nation?

Bringing this situation closer to familiar ground, how does Singapore respond to issues regarding gender equality and the acceptance of transgender individuals? A quick search would easily lead one to the recent controversy, ignited after a transgender student spoke out about her experiences. Named Ashlee, the student took to Reddit (a popular community and forum site) and exposed the unfair treatment she received throughout her transition process (3). She singled out the Ministry of Education (MOE), alleging that their restrictions against transgender individuals had resulted in the deterioration of her mental health. She stated that MOE had intervened with her transition process, “causing further mental trauma” (14). She doubled-down on her remarks, sharing that there had been “multiple violations of basic human rights and cases of child abuse”, though these claims were not explicitly backed by evidence. Nevertheless, Ashlee’s words did not go unnoticed.

Although MOE had denied all these allegations (7), this case had sparked the already ongoing debate regarding gender equality - or the lack thereof. A small protest regarding this issue occurred days after on 26th January this year, calling for MOE to implement clear policies that support transgender students (15). However, the protest was abruptly halted by authorities with 3 persons being arrested. Many others took to online petitions demanding similar actions from MOE (14), echoing the idea that more should be done to protect these individuals.

Beyond structural discrimination which restricts the self-expression of transgender people, many in our society still label individuals in the LGBT community as being less-than-normal (16), viewing these people and their way of life as “wrong”.

Feminism, as defined, is the advocacy and belief that women should be given the same level of opportunities - be it social, political or economic. Hence, this should apply to our transgender women, who idenitify as such. Starting from simple gestures such as recognising and using their preferred pronouns, to larger displays of gender equality, Singapore should work towards providing equal opportunities. After all, is that not what we as a nation preach? The idea of ‘Meritocracy’, where one is given equal rights and opportunities, regardless of their background. We should thus practice what we preach, and end this long-standing discrimination against transgnder individuals.

At the very least, the comments to Ashlee’s Reddit thread were overwhelmingly in support of her situation, sharing their kind words while simultaneously expressing their discontent towards the treatment many such individuals had to face. While this process may be slow, one can hope that this implies a brighter future for transgender women in Singapore’s society.

Closing words

In the words of Kim Humphery (6), a transgender woman and professor in sociology and social theory, “one of the most distressing aspects of the hostile narrative is that it sidelines a reality of alliance”. Feminism and trans rights are far from mutually exclusive or antithetical, and while protecting transgender women comes at no cost to the feminist movement, it can make a world of difference for trans women themselves. To embrace trans women is to remain consistent with the fundamental principles of the feminist movement, including inclusivity, love for all women, and egalitarianism (5). In our local context, as first-world and majority-cisgender feminists, we need to recognise our own privilege and stand up for not just ourselves, but the most vulnerable subsets of women.

Written by: Jamie Khoo, Wong Yi Xuan, Poh En Xi, Martha Soetedjo

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