Trans Women Get Killed and Elected — Patriarchy is Toxic!

Trans women of color are killed at far higher rates than trans men of all colors.

 

White trans women get elected as representatives far more often than trans men.

 

Patriarchy is toxic.

 

In 2020 alone, the 40th known transgender individual was murdered, which is the highest rate ever counted in a single year.

 

Most were people of color.

 

All of them were just minding their own business — driving, walking, visiting, working — when they were assassinated.

 

Trans men (there have been hundreds who achieved fame in their fields) like me are rarely murdered.

 

I wonder: why is that?

 

I think it’s because of toxic patriarchy/masculinity. Most cisgender men think being male is the ultimate status symbol; they simply cannot conceive of a transgender individual willfully relinquishing their gender. It comes across as some kind of sacrilege to them.

 

But they completely understand why trans men (individuals Assigned Female At Birth) would want to escape their gendered status, pay and power scales, so they “get” why trans men do what they do.

 

(To be clear: This isn’t why trans men do what we do; it is the male cisgender perception of why we do what we do… but the perks are certainly cream on the coffee.)

 

So, to toxic patriarchs, trans women are considered gender traitors, fags, and “cock teases” (which threatens to expose latent gay tendencies) so they are every bit as suspicious and unsavory as deceitful, conniving women.

 

In the Bible, toxic patriarchy assigned Eve the blame for the fall. Temptation has been deemed a deceitful aspect of female-ness ever since. “We men just cain’t hep ourselves. Women are witches! They ensnare us against our will!”

 

(Translation: “My second head won’t obey me!!! I’m helpless against it, and it’s all women’s fault for being so irresistible!!!”)

 

(“I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them, it’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait… Grab ’em by the pussy.” — Donald Trump)

 

On the flip side…

 

We see lots of (white) trans women recently winning seats in state and federal elections. (Rarely do we see trans men winning political contests.)

 

This, too, could be the result of toxic patriarchy, I suppose. Men will vote for trans women but not for trans men, it appears.

 

Why is that?

 

Because, according to toxic thinking, trans women were once men, and men are the default/designated/supreme controllers of governmental policy.

 

In sharp contrast, trans men were once women (again, according to toxic thinking) ; they’re just “wannabe” men, not real men. They’re deceitful, conniving shape shifters, bent on wiggling their way into higher office and getting their hands on more power.

 

Does this theory hold water?  I don’t know, but it’s been nagging at me for some time now…

 

It has long been noted that most men, up until relatively recently, were raised to find ways to gain control of their own destinies than are most women. So, that alone may explain why trans women are more likely to run for office than trans men.

 

(I haven’t noticed a lot of trans men running for offices, but maybe they just aren’t covered by the media as much.)

 

Trans women, traditionally, grew up hiding their feminine essence while seeking and expecting to gain power, authority and control over others, while trans men (individuals AFAB) were raised (traditionally) to accept supporting roles.  So, U.S. culture alone may explain why trans women are more likely to seek higher office than trans men.

 

But the deadly, deadly bigotry and fear of transgender women of color should be a huge wake up call. Racism combined with transphobia and/or homophobia seems to set off toxic machismo (or abject fear or rage) in cisgender men, turning them into maniacal killers.

 

I don’t get it, and I never will.

 

Leave people the hell alone to live their lives as they see fit. They aren’t hurting you or anyone else.

 

Get a hobby that doesn’t include serving as judge and executioner of the people you find scary or different.

 

Get a life, don’t take one!