6 Ways Femmephobia Is Harming LGBTQIA+ Communities

[LostOne4Ever]

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#dcdcdc; padding-bottom:5px; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom:none; border-radius:0.4615em 0.4615em 0em 0em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"][font size=5]6 Ways Femmephobia Is Harming LGBTQIA+ Communities[/font][div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#f0f0f0; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top:none; border-radius:0em 0em 0.4615em 0.4615em; box-shadow:3px 3px 3px #999999;"]
February 26, 2016 by Brynn Tannehill



Someone once said that most people only have just enough empathy to accept themselves. I’ve found that to often be true, particularly within the LGBTQIA+ community.

While working on transgender military issues, I cannot tell you the number of time that I’ve heard some lesbian and (mostly) gay people who suffered under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” turn right around and oppose open transgender service.

I’ve heard them use the same talking points against transgender people that were used against LGBQ+ people just a few years ago.

They’re gross.

They’re a distraction.

The military isn’t a social experiment.

Showers.

The talking points and opposition to transgender people are almost never focused on transgender men though. It is nearly universally about transgender women – and the underlying cause is femmephobia.

This does not only affect transgender women negatively; it can be seen across LGBTQIA+ communities, and all of them are harmed by this expression of misogyny. The transgender community seems to absorb the brunt of the backlash, though.


[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]More at Link

I found this an interesting topic that seemed to intersect with many aspects of the LGBT+ community and thought it might be a appreciated here.[/font]

[Behind the Aegis]

1. I certainly can see this being a problem in the community.

It comes down to "gender roles" and who "plays them the best", IMO. While we certainly need to address these concerns, it might be more productive to address the homophobia and heterosexism (H&H) in the community first. After all, almost every gay person was raised in a heterosexist and homophobic world. "Femmephobia" might be tied to some of the H&H, there are so many aspects and it is a very uncomfortable conversation within the community and often creates even further divisions between women and men, G/L and Bi, and GLB and T peoples.

Frankly, with greater 'acceptance' overall, I feel many GLBT people are losing interest in our issues and see them as "frivolous" and "not as important as other issues." There is also a complacency which has fallen over the community, especially after the marriage equality win.

I don't know what the answer is, or really even where to begin. There are many aspects of this community which make me angry, and, in some cases, disgusted, but I also see lots of positives which need to be spotlighted and hailed. One of our greatest strengths is our diversity, but sometimes, I think it can also be one of our greatest weakness.

[LostOne4Ever]

2. I completely agree

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]I don't mean divide. Rather, I was interested in it because it showed how an issue in the trans community has intersection throughout the entire LGBT community. [/font]

Frankly, with greater 'acceptance' overall, I feel many GLBT people are losing interest in our issues and see them as "frivolous" and "not as important as other issues." There is also a complacency which has fallen over the community, especially after the marriage equality win.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]I am worried about that also. I am kind of afraid that conservatives are trying to use that complacency to try and divide the rest of the LGBT+ community from the trans community.

I thought by showing how this issue affects gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals it could show why these issues matter to everyone.[/font]