I am feeling disheartened by this increasingly popularized narrative of feminism progressing to "include" trans women (and sometimes nonbinary people). What this framing does is disregard all of the political work that transfeminine people have already always been engaged in outside of what cis feminism regards as legitimate. There is this thing that happens where the contributions of transfeminine people are always seen as just for "trans people" and not for "everyone." Transmisogyny teaches us that femininity is a selfish and individualistic endeavor, not a collective emancipatory project for liberation. Transfeminine people thriving and resisting in a world that continues to dismiss and demonize our femininity is feminist work that has reverberations for all people (and especially cisgender women). The political work of transfeminine people has and continues to create space, safety, and celebration for people of all genders. Transfeminine people should not have to narrate our experiences and our identities into cis feminist frameworks in order to be believed. Transfeminine people should not have to make our traditions of activism and our practices of survival/resistance fit neatly into cis feminist frameworks in order to be regarded (let alone respected).
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