Transfeminism’s goal is to unite self-identified women and allies in the fight for equality of all and any genders. The desired result is a world in which unique gender identifications are respected, and where every individual has the right to make decisions pertaining to their own body.[1] Koyama is well aware that the transfeminist project runs the risk of “fragmenting” feminism, until the feminist movement expands to include the voices of trans women.[2] Despite this reality, building alliances with traditional feminist organizations is encouraged, in order to educate non-trans feminists about the issues facing trans women.[3] But what happens when so-called feminist organizations show no interest in collaborating with self-identified women, and in fact work to reinforce the gender binary that transfeminism perceives as harmful? More than eight years after the last edit of “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” trans women continue to be treated as second-class citizens within the mainstream feminist movement, through exclusion, ignorance, and hostility. The Vancouver Women’s Health Collective’s exclusionary practices exemplify the transphobia which continues to be tolerated within prominent feminist circles.
The Vancouver Women’s Health Collective was formed in 1971, in order to address the specific health needs of women (which were often overlooked within the male-dominated medical system).[4] In July 2009, the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective opened the first women’s only pharmacy in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. In the interest of creating a “safe space,” the pharmacy’s policies state that they will only serve “women-born women,” thus preventing transgendered women from accessing necessary services (but allowing transgendered men).[5] This policy is transphobic on two fronts, in that it defines trans women as less authentically female while also failing to recognize that trans men are, in fact, men.
The Vancouver Women’s Health Collective is only one of many feminist organizations seeking to rigidly define what it means to be a woman. Transfeminists may “[take] pride in the tradition of [their]feminist foremothers,” but those very same foremothers would likely not have approved of the transfeminist project.[6] Is it possible to integrate Koyama’s new form of feminism with the second-wave mentality that believes that there is only one definitive way to be a woman?
Transfeminists will be forced to function at the margins of the feminist movement until influential feminist organizations (such as the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective) realize that trans women and non-gender-normative individuals have essential perspectives that will only enrich the feminist cause. Failing to prioritize the voices of trans women is unfortunate, because transfeminism, through its inclusivity and recognition of intersectionality, has a lot to teach institutional feminism. Feminism, in my understanding, is not about excluding groups of women because they don’t fit specific criteria. By failing to validate the experiences of trans women, feminists are recreating the same patriarchal classification that they are trying to escape.
Koyama’s call for action within the feminist community is brave, considering the hostile policies of many second-wave feminist organizations. It will take time for perceptions to shift and come to terms with the reality that “[t]here are as many ways of being a woman as there are women.”[7] Transfeminism is fighting for the individual’s right to define their own experience and to make decisions about their own body—the founding principles of the feminist movement.[8]
1. Emi Koyama, “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” Eminism.org, http://www.eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf (accessed September 24, 2009), 2.
4. Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, “Our History,” http://www.womenshealthcollective.ca/history.html (accessed September 24, 2009).
5. Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, “Our Political Agreements,” http://www.womenshealthcollective.ca/PDF/Our%20Political%20Agreements.pdf (accessed September 24, 2009).
6. Emi Koyama, “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” Eminism.org, http://www.eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf (accessed September 24, 2009), 9.
7. Emi Koyama, “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” Eminism.org, http://www.eminism.org/readings/pdf-rdg/tfmanifesto.pdf (accessed September 24, 2009), 2.
