courtney demone

[nerdflighter]

Today I learnt about Courtney Demone, and I read these excerpts from an article she wrote about her experiences as a trans woman. One part of it that stuck out to me - bearing in mind that I wasn't able to find the whole article for context - was the bit where she says: "It's my femininity, not my being transgender, that brought about much of this privilege loss, and it's misogyny that robs women of these privileges." 
Except that trans women are killed for being trans women. For being insufficiently feminine or feminine in the wrong ways. And butch women face enormous risk of violence for being women who do not present as feminine. 
IDK, it doesn't feel right to me to erase the threats of violence that GNC women face just to claim that misogyny is the sole cause of violence against women. It ignores the reality - that violent men perpetuate violence callously and often, because they are full of hatred and they can. Because this woman tricked them and that one isn't pretty enough and this one is pretty but didn't like it when they 'complimented' her.
Misogyny is one reason for violence. It's not the only one. This article (or at least the part I read) seems have missed that.

Comments

[cadenzamuse]

Yeah, I get the sense that her experience made the misogyny much more obvious and/or her lens on things misses the parts of that experience that were likely trans-specific. Or perhaps she subscribes to the argument that ultimately misogyny is the root of ciscentrism and heterocentrism? (I.e. that if misogyny is what locks us into binary gender boxes and defines what those things are and how to do them "right," it not only oppresses cis women but also causes the policing of the boundaries of those boxes, as part of holding up cis male privilege.) *shrug*

[nerdflighter]

yeah sometimes it's possible to miss where this thing you're facing originates from. and I'm inclined to be lenient with Demone as I am with ContraPoints - they're trans women doing important work, and their politics and ideas don't have t be 100% perfect for their work and activism to have weight and value. but at the same time I feel like it's worth calling attention to and pointing out. just because your experience points towards misogyny being the root cause doesn't mean that the experiences of GNC women cease to matter, right? it's just something I want to talk about.
Usually I would talk about it on tumblr, but ah well.