“Trans identifying male”, and other exclusionary insults
Have you heard the one about a trans woman having a prostate exam? Or the acronym TIM splashed across replies to trans women talking about women’s issues. You know, the exclusionary japes that seem to think that just because a woman has a trans history she must always be a man. Funny. As a funeral. Dead on arrival. Exclusionary feminists like to poke fun of trans women as men in frocks, as walking pantomimes, the sort of butcher of womanhood who parodies all things good ship woman. They punch down because they have the power to do so, and in the insults they betray a certain callousness that only values womanhood as a cultural artefact rather than a visceral thing.
Whenever those insults fly they indicate that the insulter is more interested in scoring points rather than engaging in conversations. Indeed, when they use words like troon and Trans Identified Male they show a complete lack of understanding of the trans condition. Not that they care much for niceties, they see trans women as a colonising force invading women’s spaces. Insulting trans women is as much as a sport as a weapon, a means of shaming and reframing trans experiences.
Insults reflect as much on the insulter as they do their targets, the use of language reflecting cultural perspectives and willingness to punch down. Insulting others involves a power…
