Member-only story
Attacking trans bodies
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, exclusionary feminists decided to dog pile on Kim Petras and no-one in the real world cared. Crickets. Not a news headline, not a celebrity tweet, not even a nod from the original poster. All that needed to be said was Kim was a woman, and it was cat nip to those who see trans bodies as something less than whole. Unholy. Wrong. It is a classic example of how trans bodies are perpetually attacked, treated as something to gawp upon, transvestigate, and generally treat as spectacle for the hateful few. Kim has always faced scrutiny the moment her transition was made public, and like April Ashley, Elliot Page, and Christine Jorgensen before her, it is her body that becomes the obsession of those who dismiss trans identities.
Indeed, much of the current trans discourse around trans kids focuses on the bodies and the outcomes that medical science is able to provide. Trans men are the current battleground, their affirmation surgery seen as butchery rather than a long-term salve. Breast narratives focus on the loss of tissue, the loss of motherly potential, rather than seeing affirmed bodies as a positive. Trans women who have gender reassignment surgery are attacked for having rot pocket, butchered bodies, origami genitals, not life affirming care that enables then to progress through the world. In their rush to hate they put misinformation into the world that is…
