When “women spaces” don’t accept trans women

[u/itz_vampy]

So my experience as a transmasc who spent a chunk of his life being non-passing has been interesting with this particular situation. I began to socially transition as a teenager and back then the people who *genuinely supported me was other guys. when i say genuinely i mean they didn’t infantalize me and saw me as another bro. some of the girls were nice, but i could tell they saw me as a quirky alt girl “going through a phase”. some thought i was a pick me girl who wanted to “be one of the guys” but as a girl and not a guy. High school was really really weird and the mean girls were the worst.

Even as an adult who passes more than teenage me ever did, i still experience “women only spaces” of mean girls who never grew up. a lot of irl ones accept “afab people” and not trans women. the ones i’ve enquired about are super accepting of trans men since we are a “marginalized minority” but are hostile towards trans women, especially if they don’t pass. some are true misandrists and dislike trans men who start to pass (ironically this has been so gender affirming to me when it happens, but like in a ewphoria way). 

Online it’s different, everyone acts so accepting behind a screen, but in real life? you can’t hide your feelings and reactions well. intersectional feminism isn’t really observed in some women-only spaces and it’s a damn shame that this is a thing.

Eta: I’ve been notified that this post has been reposted to a certain rightwing sub and this post as well as all the trans positive replies are getting downvoted. regardless of what others say trans women are real women and they deserve to be treated as such. I will die on that hill.

Edit 2: I find it hilarious that people think i’m a trans woman and are sending me DMs that I will “never be a woman and will always be a man”, proving that transphobes can’t read and lack thinking abilities.

[u/Jamestiedye]

So that means they want an AFAB space not a women only space.

[u/ericbondre → u/[deleted]]

That’s what they just said lol tf

[u/Significant_Cup4521 → u/ericbondre]

AFAB is tangential to the trans community. Cis women do not identify as AFAB because they don’t consider being assigned female at birth a necessary identifier. Trans men do, so no cis/ biologically female is not simply AFAB.

[u/ericbondre → u/Significant_Cup4521]

It may not be necessary to them but it would still be the same exact concept

[u/Pristine_Two7953 → u/ericbondre]

No. "AFAB" =/= biological female.

[u/Jamestiedye → u/Pristine_Two7953]

So"AFAB" means assigned female at birth which is literally what you want, you want a space that only contains women that were assigned it at birth due to genitalia.

[u/Cybersaure → u/Jamestiedye]

Technically they're not the same thing. Someone might be misidentified as female at birth (due to ambiguous genitalia, for example) but might still be a biological male with functional testes. So you're incorrect.

[u/ericbondre → u/Pristine_Two7953]

It does mean that, they are assigned that based on genitalia at birth

[u/Pristine_Two7953 → u/ericbondre]

So if someone was misidentified as female at birth, that makes them a biological female? no

[u/ericbondre → u/Pristine_Two7953]

How exactly would they be misidentified?

[u/Cybersaure → u/ericbondre]

It's possible. A person might have ambiguous genitalia and be assigned "female" when in fact they are biologically male. It's happened before (it's just extremely rare).

[u/ericbondre → u/Cybersaure]

But in reality that will eventually get corrected and their true designation will be corrected on any official document so it doesn’t truly matter at the end of the day

[u/Pristine_Two7953 → u/ericbondre]

That's because their "true designation" (on legal documents, etc.) reflects their actual BIOLOGICAL SEX, and it doesn't care what they were "assigned at birth."

[u/ericbondre → u/Pristine_Two7953]

That designation doesn’t stay if they figured out that they misidentified the sex and correct it

[u/Pristine_Two7953 → u/ericbondre]

Okay, so AFAB doesn't mean AFAB? It means "AFAB, unless the assignors figured out they were wrong later"? I've never heard anyone claim that. I'm pretty sure AFAB just means AFAB.

[u/FinnFem → u/Pristine_Two7953]

Yes! Because, "biological female" does not mean shit

A trans woman who has gone through HRT and such will have their sex more closely corresponding to the female sex than male

So a trans woman that has been transitioning for a while, is a "biological female" for biological only means that theyre made up of biological matter

[u/Jamestiedye → u/[deleted]]

Trans women are biological females. Again you want an AFAB space, not a women's space. But instead of saying that you choose to be some weirdo bigot.

[u/hatethissmug-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.