Ky Schevers

Detransitioning will not make a person a better feminist. It's not a good way to break down patriarchy or gender roles. It doesn't give women or gay people more freedom. Transitioning doesn't reinforce sexism and detranstioning doesn't undermine it.

Detransitioning can help some people live a better life but it's not an effective act of social protest. There's nothing inherently radical about detransitioning.

A trans person doesn't have to detransition or renounce being trans to engage in radical feminism. Trans people are oppressed by patriarchy, not produced by it. It is in our interests to resist it and join with others working to overthrow it.

Transmasculine people don't have to "reconcile with being female" to show solidarity with women. We don't have to "reidentify" as women to fight for liberation from patriarchy. We can apply radical feminist analysis to our own particular circumstances.

We are put in the categories of female/woman against our wills and it makes sense to look at the social and political implications of that. We are impacted by misogyny, sexism, homophobia, etc in ways that are distinct and particular to being transmasculine.

Being pressured to see ourselves as women can get in the way of seeing how we are actually oppressed by patriarchy. Our lives are shaped by being seen as "deviant women" but in specific ways that typically don't come into play with others put into the social category of "woman".

Any transmasculine person can of course claim womanhood, in one degree or another, if they want to. But we should be able to decide how we relate to that category. Our feminist politics should not be judged by how female-identified we are. Actions matter more than identity.