Who’s Woman Enough? The Privilege of Passing

The community I researched for this paper was the Male-to-Female (or MTF) Transgender community. I picked this community because it is not my own identity and I didn’t want to pick an “easy” route by choosing to observe, for example, Caribbean-Americans or Queer sexual orientation community; identities that directly correlate to me. Observing the posts from this group would help me to gain more information and better myself as an ally without imposing myself and my cisgender privilege. What I observed from the group were posts about mental health, discomfort at work and familial trouble.

What all these posts had in common was the want of acceptance that most claimed would be achieved via “passing.” Passing is a term used in the trans community to describe someone, particularly a transgender person(s), who would not be assumed otherwise of their presenting gender. In other words, the general public wouldn’t think twice of a femme-presenting woman. Most would assume she is a biological woman even though she may have been assigned male at birth. My thesis is what are the life experiences in comparison to those who are passing and not passing trans women and how does that affect their quality of life?

I would like to continue with a disclaimer and be responsible for the contents of this paper; I am in no way implying all trans people want to subscribe to cisgender beauty expectations and need to be “passing” in order to survive in a cisheteronormative society. I believe the meaning of “passing” is subjective. I hope at the conclusion of this paper, readers can give a thorough thought about the misogynist, sexist and transphobic ideologies of beauty. Continuing, I think there is a major correlation between the want for “passing” and the security for wellbeing via employment, housing and relationships.

VanDerWerff, E. 2020, February 19. “The Assimilationist, or: On the unexpected cost of passing as a trans woman.” Vox media.)

A personal account from transgender culture writer about her experience with assimilation into mainstream society via physical altercation with makeup in order to be validated and accepted as a woman.

In a personal article published by Vox (VanDerWerff, E. 2020, February 19.); The author Emily VanDerWerff, states in the beginning of her account; “Standing there in a Target razor aisle looking for something functional but also cute, my anxiety growing as I was sure people were looking at me and seeing my secret true self and judging me accordingly, I found myself torn.” The following statements continue; “I grabbed the razor, keeping my head down at the cash register, ready to say that it was for my wife, should anybody ask. . . It was so, so expensive to be a woman. . . there’s the cost of laser hair removal and electrolysis to get rid of my facial hair-There was a crash course in voice training, in an attempt to coax my old rumble into a reasonable alto. Changing my name cost almost $500, and a printout of the paperwork

proving my name was changed was another $50. There are so many expenses to come, including surgeries and more documentation of my identity, and so on and so forth. It’s expensive and exhausting, and it will never end and yet I never ask myself why I’m doing all this. I just am. I need to.”

Ms. VanDerWerff expresses how she attempted to assimilate, a word she uses to describe herself in the article, in order to convince the casual eye of society that she was a biological woman. She felt major anxiety from a possibly non-existent, policing entity created in her own head to uphold a certain image of femininity because if she didn’t, she simply would not be accepted as a “woman.” There’s also a conflict with rebelling against the gender binary. “As trans people, we’re supposed to complicate the gender binary, not uphold it. . . I’m propagating a system that hurts both trans people and women disproportionately (via) broad, systemic violence.” (VanDerWerff, E. 2020, February 19.)

Later, the author acknowledges her privileges; “My transition has gone much, much better than I expected it to. I had certain advantages in this regard, from economics (I have much more money than the majority of trans women) to race (white trans people have the same built-in societal advantages as white people in general) to geography (California presents few structural barriers when an adult wants to transition).” (VanDerWerff, E. 2020, February 19.)

(Anderson, A.D., Irwin, J.A., Brown, A.M. et al. “Your Picture Looks the Same as My Picture”: An Examination of Passing in Transgender Communities. Gend. Issues 37, 44–60. 24 July 2019)

Using the theories of Dubois and Cooley, this study explores identity formation in conjunction with the phenomenon of passing among transgender people residing in Nebraska. Results suggest that while trans people do pass as a mechanism for subverting discrimination, there are other factors that influence an individual’s choice and strategy to pass or not.

A study was conducted with trans people in Nebraska about passing, This study was based upon theories of W.E.B. Dubois and Charles Horton Cooley about identity formation for this study specifically through a trans perspective. The results are as follows: “Upon review of the data, four main themes emerge: passing priorities, passing motivations, passing techniques, and passing byproducts. The respondents have mixed views on passing. While some say that passing is a personal priority for them, others question the social effects of passing. . .Those who do prioritize passing mentioned that they do so because it affirms their gender identity or because they are concerned about facing discrimination.” (Anderson, A.D., et al. “Your Picture Looks the Same as My Picture”: An Examination of Passing in Transgender Communities.)

Continued, “Over seventy-five per cent of respondents interviewed indicate that passing is or was a priority for them. Respondents who prioritize passing admitted that they thought

about their passing frequently. . .This was especially the case when respondents were early on in their transition as Carla (34, trans woman) shares, ‘When I first started my transition, I was concerned with [passing]. How feminine do I look? Am I sending off the right signals?’. . . At the forefront of the motivations for those who prioritize passing are identity expression, affirmation, and fear of discrimination.” (Anderson, A.D., et al. “Your Picture Looks the Same as My Picture”: An Examination of Passing in Transgender Communities.) The study also

included “passing techniques” the participants would use and its definition being able to mirror what cisgendered people appeared as through body modification such as hormone therapy, adapting speech mannerisms, and overall body language.

Based on the above readings and my observation of the online Reddit community, my advocacy plan is to inform myself more of trans issues without overstepping that community because of my cis identity. I believe having spaces that are exclusive to certain communities is extremely important. As unpopular as this would sound, not all spaces need to be diverse. I plan on hearing more personal accounts from transgender people of both transitioning genders and I hope myself and readers of this paper will start to deconstruct gender in their head and question it more. Why are these mainstream aspects of “femininity and manhood” the solidifying affirmation for those who identify as? How can we decenter cisnormative understandings of gender so that we don’t hold ourselves to those standards in order to validate ourselves and others?