A trans woman's thoughts on Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda being asked about trans women is like Lena Dunham being asked about Black women. It doesn't work. We can speak for ourselves.

She needs to take a lesson from herself on the danger of a single story because she's just shown how dangerous cisgender hegemony is.

We know exactly what you mean when you say, “Trans women are trans women,” but can’t simply say, "trans women are women."

Cis women don’t need to feel threatened by trans womanhood. If your experience means less because trans women exist, that’s your problem.

When you ostracize and devalue trans women and their womanhood, you are operating as a tool of the patriarchy.

Just like white women historically felt threatened by Black women claiming womanhood on their terms, cis women feel this toward trans women.

Trans women aren’t saying their experiences are just like cis women, just as queer women don’t claim theirs are just like straight women.

The average woman is cis. That does not make her womanhood more valid. All it says is that trans women are on the margins.

Yes, folks raised as girls are plagued with oppression in a different way than people not raised as girls. No one denies that.

However, cis girls and women – in general – experience the privilege of being seen, accepted and respected in their gender from birth.

That doesn’t negate threats of violence, harassment or oppression in a patriarchal society – things trans women of any age also face.

This convo falls apart with more and more trans folks coming out at younger ages. It also conveniently leaves out transmasculine folks.

The violence that gender nonconforming and gender diverse kids face is real and always left out of this essentialist conversation.

Do we tell a cis woman she’s less of a woman if she says she's never experienced harassment or violence or overt discrimination? No.

A trans woman in Brazil was beaten to death in the street b/c of her womanhood. Five Black trans woman were similarly killed in February.

Trans women have been hypersexualized in the media, exploited for our bodies, paid less, denied healthcare and told our voices are invalid.

If you want to play Oppression Olympics, sorry cis women, you’re going to lose more often than not which is why this convo isn’t productive.

It’s nonsensical and *privileged* to require trans women to experience certain instances of oppression to prove their womanhood.

If that were the case many of your rich, cishet, white faves wouldn’t be “real women” either.

We don't need public debates on trans women. We need trans women elevated and allowed to speak for themselves.

I'm not interested in disposing of Chimamanda. We desperately need more spaces for Black trans & cis women to dialogue with each other.

If you learned something, http://cash.me/$RaquelWillis  and support like you do your problematic cis faves.