Trans Women Manifesto By Julia Scrano Analysis

In the article, Trans Women Manifesto, Julia Scrano elucidates the unstated idea that trans women are the most maligned and misunderstood (10) sexual minorities. This is consistently reinforced throughout the article with examples of the many prejudices that trans women face: transphobia, cissexism, and misogyny. Although expressed differently, these prejudices are all rooted in oppositional sexism: the belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories (12-13). In this article a recurring, subconscious, question I faced was, what is gender and how do you tell the difference between man and woman? Every time this question came to mind, Scrano reinforced the fact that there is no such thing as gender - there is only the gender we experience ourselves as and the gender we perceive others to be (13). When we assume someone's gender we maintain the current societal views that each gender have certain criteria that must be met in order to live up to current gender ideals and when this criterion is not met our right is taken away to identify our own gender. …show more content…
The fact that masculinity is not superior, or always desired, by some, is a hard concept for society to grasp and often times results in transphobia. More often than not, transphobia is directed towards trans women thus creating a specific form of discrimination: trans-misogyny (14). Trans women not only need to fight their rights as a trans person but also for their rights as a woman, a difficult position in itself. Therefore, at its core, trans-activism is a feminist movement