by
Jaye Reviere, Ph.D
Whom, for Heaven's sake, am I saying dislike us? Typical men dislike us. They tend to fear us and demonstrate it by covering their fear with ridicule or other pejorative attitudes toward us. Later we'll talk about why this happens.
Who is "US?" Transgendered people of all stripe can be grouped as "US" for the sake of this short article.
So, typical 'men' dislike us. Well, not all of them, most of them at least seem to dislike us. There's a valid set of reasons too.
Long ago before history began being recorded in the story of the human race, historians tell us, there were basically two sorts of human groupings. One was agrarian, hunters, fishers, gatherers, growers of early domesticated crops. In this group, males and females both being "close to home" all the time seem to have relatively shared the work load of survival and child rearing, although the latter fell largely on the females because of their greater investment in the progeny. The other group were the nomadic herders of animals as sheep, goats, then larger animals began to be domesticated. Here, the females again bore the brunt of child bearing and rearing while the males tended he flocks. In this setting a clearer division of labor emerged and with it divergence of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors likewise developed.
Western civilization as we know it was inordinately influenced by the pastoral animal herders of southwestern Asia where in by the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great were taking place a powerful androcentricity had developed. The principle element of this male dominated social structure which spread over all the populated areas of the earth, evidently, was the suppression of females into a chattel role.
The influence of early Hebrew and Greek social structures in our own way of life cannot be denied or ignored. We get our male dominance patterns from the two social orders which most heavily influenced our own social development. When we look at those two social orders over thousands of years, we see some attitudes which are reflected in our own lives today. Among them, although vast differences exist today in the amount of freedom and integration into society achieved by females, the deep conviction on the part of many males which holds because they are male they are superior and that is that.
Bullough writing in the late 1960's in the Journal of American Sociology writes about his thesis as to why this lingering mind set continues to exist, particularly in terms of it's negation of Transgendered males. He sets up the notion of a social order based largely on layers of significance and "status." Males hold the upper layers of significance and the higher status. For a male to reject his "birth right" to higher status and choose to live life in the lower status feminine role, is seen, in Bullough's schemata to be anathema to most males. They just cannot fathom why a male would desire to go down in status and assume the role of a second class citizen, which they deem to be the natural place of females. So, when they become aware of a male who makes this unbelievable choice, they reject him out right and seek in every manner available to them to suppress, censure, and otherwise cajole or force him back into what they believe should be his "natural" role. Those of us who they can't bully into pretending to be something we are not by virtue of our nature, they outright HATE.
There's another aspect to this typical male reaction and rejection of those of us who are too "different." This aspect has to do with the psychology of the male. This is particularly interesting because it gets under the "Macho" facades so commonly projected and touches parts of the male psyche they'd rather not consider or even admit exists.
This factor, after a popular television show these days, let's call it The Fear Factor. Here's how it works.
A typical macho oriented male sees and recognizes one of us as being a male wearing women's clothing. His emotive reactions are instantaneous, but slowed down, they are first: a primal fear, then a covering or defensive disgust and finally a projection of his fear we may represent something deep within himself, something he would prefer not to have there — but something which none the less is there, for after all he is human and made of the same stuff we are made. This projection of his gut level reaction is usually in the form of ridicule, but at times it can take the form of overt violence. Violence is rare, but it happens. A case in point is the Matthew Shepherd case, with which I'm sure the reader is at least somewhat familiar.
When we look a bit deeper and ask why the fear we enter a complex world of relationships between males which is characterized in some cases by overt displays of dominance demanding behavior and more often is evidenced by ritualized "macho" affirmation behaviors and comments. Typically when a male first meets a strange male, both will engage in predictable "macho affirmation" rites or rituals. Those have to do with making sure the stranger KNOWS the male is a 'man's man." You see, great value is placed in male society on hyper masculinity and the facades thereof. Some males take great pride in growing a beard as a sign of male virility. Some take great pride in well developed muscles as a sign of male strength. Others take great pride in a hard attitude, others in frequent use of "strong" language all as a sign to other males of their "manhood."
When a typical male meets a transgendered male, the Trans person does not engage in the expected and accepted ritualized "man to man" behaviors. This leaves the typical male at a loss. Since being in command of every situation is a foundation of his masculinity and male pride, he perceives the appearance and behavior of the Transgendered male as an over threat to him and reacts accordingly.
So, yes... we are hated. It frustrates those who hate us when they are helpless to change us or to punish us for being who, being how, and being what we naturally are. Out of that frustration can come violence, but if we are careful to control ourselves and where we allow such interactions to take place, we are relatively safe. Not so in the past. Even in my personal experience over the last 40 or so years. Changes for the better have come.
