Transgender Warriors

“Of course, the laws were not simply about clothing. We were masculine women and feminine men. Our gender expression made us targets. These laws were used to harass us. Frequently we were not even formally charged after our arrests. All too often, the sentences were executed in the back seat of a police cruiser or on the cold cement floor of a precinct cell.”

According to Feinberg, transgender expression is not just about the clothes one wears, but clothing is very political. The gender binary is often violently imposed on those who seek to lead lives outside of it. Understanding how this violence works is a step toward Political Solidarity and Action.

“The experience taught me an important lesson. The more I tried to wear clothing or styles considered appropriate for women, the more people believed I was a man trying to pass as a woman. I began to understand that I couldn't conceal my gender expression.”

Feinberg’s gender expression says more about her identity than the clothes she wears. Despite being assigned female at birth, when she tries to wear feminine clothes, her sex and gender are much more scrutinized and questioned than if she dresses in traditionally masculine clothing.

“But ‘thou shalt not steal’ would have been a bewildering command to people who lived in societies where everyone ate or everyone starved because their survival relied on teamwork.”

When examining Transgender Identities Throughout History, Feinberg looks to ancient, communal societies as examples of transgender celebration and acceptance. She argues that if societies today were more equal, communal, and supportive, oppression would be much more difficult to maintain.

“The importance for me is the depth and breadth of evidence underscoring that gender and sex diversity are global in character, and that trans people were once revered, not reviled. How else could a trans person be a sacred shaman?”

The existence of sex and gender diversity around the world helps Feinberg find her place in history. When she learns that there have always been people like her, and that those people were often celebrated as sacred, she feels less alone.

“Class divisions were responsible for the growth of laws that placed new boundaries and restrictions across bodies, self-expression, and desire—as well as fencing off property and wealth.”

Class consciousness drives much of Feinberg’s theory; a stratified society necessitates rigid gender identities and expression, while a more free and equal society does away with policed gender divisions and allows people to express themselves however they see fit.

“I've heard some gay men and lesbians exclaim that, out of all of human history, ancient Greek society was the most accepting of same-sex lovers. But I wonder, how happy were the gay slaves? The word democracy has a pleasant ring, but democracy for whom?”

According to Feinberg, all forms of oppression are connected: A society, no matter how tolerant of gay people, is not free if some of its people are enslaved. By ignoring the people who were oppressed in ancient Greek society, some people fail to center Political Solidarity and Action in their understanding of history.

“In this society, where women are assumed to be feminine and men are assumed to be masculine, my sex and gender expression appear to be at odds.”

Feinberg’s gender expression demonstrates that the foundation of Western gender roles is faulty; there are more ways for women to express themselves than as feminine, just as there are more ways for men than as masculine. This is what makes Feinberg such a radical figure.

“It's only those of us who cross the boundaries of sex or gender, or live ambiguously between those borders, who are harassed by this legal requirement.”

Feinberg addresses the assumption that transgender people are oppressed because they wear the wrong clothes. She argues that there are plenty of feminine women who wear “men’s” clothing who do not experience harassment. Only transgender people and those whose gender expression challenges rigid gender roles are policed by clothing laws.

“The heterosexual family, headed by the father, became a state dictate because it was the economic vehicle that ensured wealth would be passed on to sons.”

Feinberg frames class divisions as the basis of oppression. Inheritance laws that benefit wealthy men were, and still are, used to further deepen gender divisions. When only one category of people is allowed to inherit property, it becomes necessary to dictate who belongs in that category.

“In cooperative societies, transgender, transsexual, and intersexual people lived openly, with honor. But in a class-divided society like medieval Western Europe, the Church’s legends of the female-to-male saints introduced the concept of ‘passing’—being forced to hide a trans identity.”

Feinberg argues that the idea of “passing” is in direct conflict with Sex and Gender Self-Determination. When the Church erased these individuals’ identities, they robbed them of the right to self-determination and the right to live outside the gender binary.

“Many historians dismiss the female attire the male peasants wore as simply a convenient disguise. It’s frustrating to me that historical examples of cross-dressing are so casually dismissed.”

Feinberg suggests that the clothing choices of these activists were of profound political and personal significance. They are transgender expressions that go beyond clothing choices, as many of the cross-dressing individuals exhibited behavior that resonates with Feinberg’s experience being trans.

“Once I feared examining history, terrified that I might find that trans people have always been hated. Instead I’ve discovered that bigotry is a relatively recent historical development that had to be forced on human beings for several thousand years before it took hold.”

Part of what makes Transgender Warriors such a seminal text for the trans rights movement is that it helps trans people see themselves in history. History can be a tool of liberation; as Feinberg explores Transgender Identities Throughout History, she recognizes that oppression and hatred are often manufactured for specific political purposes.

“She believes that once true equality is achieved in society, humankind will be genderless. I don't have a crystal ball, so I can’t predict human behavior in a distant future. But I know what she’s thinking—if we can build a more just society, people like me will cease to exist. She assumes that I am simply a product of oppression. Gee, thanks so much.”

Feinberg’s interaction with a well-meaning friend highlights one of the ways people can misunderstand transgender identities. Trans people are not simply trying to escape gendered oppression. Even if such oppression ceased to exist, transgender people would still be part of human cultures.

“The hyphenation signals a crisis of language and an apparent social contradiction, since sex and gender expression are ‘supposed’ to match.”

The limitations of language are often evident throughout Transgender Warriors. In this quote, Feinberg is describing what it means for someone to refer to her as a “he-she,” which signals the failure of language to capture the range of human experiences and expressions; she fits neither into “he” nor “she” but exists somewhere outside of both gender categories.

“Those who are truly committed to building coalitions know that listening and demonstrating sensitivity to each other’s oppressions and demands will create greater mutual understanding and unity.”

Political Solidarity and Action are major driving forces in Feinberg’s work; she recognizes the need for people to learn about the oppression of others and fight as a collective for shared liberation. Collective power is inextricable from a free society where transgender expression is celebrated, not reviled.

“I am transgendered. I was born female, but my masculine gender expression is seen as male. It’s not my sex that defines me, and it’s not my gender expression. It’s the fact that my gender expression appears to be at odds with my sex. Do you understand? It’s the social contradiction between the two that defines me.”

Feinberg often defines herself as existing in a space of contradiction. Here, she defines her gender identity as the tension between her gender expression and her sex. Feinberg points to the socially constructed ideas about sex and gender as what defines her transgender identity, rather than some “fact” about her sex or gender.

“That is a right of each woman, each intersexed person, each transsexual man or woman—each human being. I believe that people who don’t identify as transsexual also have a right to hormones and surgery. There are many of us who have wanted to shape our bodies without changing our sex.”

Many arguments against transgender expression revolve around the idea that people cannot, or should not, control and shape their own bodies. In fact, cis and trans people alter their bodies in many ways, through breast augmentation and reduction, tattoos, piercings, nose jobs, or haircuts, for instance. Feinberg argues that every person alive should have the right to Sex and Gender Self-Determination and bodily autonomy more broadly.

“I think that if we define ‘woman’ as a fixed entity, we will draw borders that would need to be policed. No matter what definition is used, many women who should be inside will be excluded.”

Binary gender categories are virtually impossible to define and maintain without falling into exclusionary and inaccurate rhetoric. As a result, Feinberg recommends self-identification as the best way to determine who is or is not a man or a woman.

“But women are not the only ones who experience the horrors of rape, incest, sexual humiliation, and brutality. And common bodily experiences that the majority of women on this planet share are hauling water and carrying firewood or working on an assembly-line—those are class experiences.”

Feinberg argues that the difficulty in defining womanhood is that something many women experience is not the same as something that all women experience. While gender is important, it can be used to divide people in a way that class solidarity cannot.

“While we both grew up as girls, our experiences were dissimilar because our gender expressions were very different. Masculine girls and women face terrible condemnation and brutality—including sexual violence—for crossing the boundary of what is ‘acceptable’ female expression. But masculine women are not assumed to have a very high consciousness about fighting women’s oppression, since we are thought to be imitating men.”

Not all women experience the same kinds of oppression and violence, but that does not change the fact that they are women. This is why, according to Feinberg, women cannot be defined solely by oppression and must instead be understood through Sex and Gender Self-Determination.

“Transsexual women are not a Trojan horse trying to infiltrate women’s space. There have always been transsexual women helping to build the women's movement—they are part of virtually every large gathering of women. They want to be welcomed into women’s space for the same reason every woman does—to feel safe.”

Much of the oppression that trans women face revolves around the idea that they are just men who want to infiltrate women’s spaces. In Feinberg’s view, deconstructing this dangerous myth is an essential part of trans rights activism today.

“An economic system oppresses us in this society, and keeps us fighting each other, instead of looking at the real source of this subjugation.”

Feinberg returns to a class analysis of oppression and liberation. To protect itself, capitalism divides working-class people along lines of race, nationality, sexuality, or gender. These divisions prevent people from engaging in Political Solidarity and Action.

“Law codifies the economic inequality built into a class-divided society. Whether a law has been cloaked as the word of a deity or as springing from precepts of human morality, it is presented as fixed and unchangeable, but it is not.”

By positioning oppressive laws as universal constants, the ruling classes imbue norms about sex, gender, race, class, etc. with objectivity, making it harder to conceptualize a better future. Feinberg suggests that activists must imagine better alternatives to existing power structures through Political Solidarity and Action.