Transphobia

   Islan Nettles, a trans woman from New York, was 21 years old when she was killed in 2013. In his confession, the murderer, 25-year-old James Dixon admitted that, “he felt his ‘manhood’ was threatened” when after flirting with miss Nettles he learned that she was assigned male at birth. Dixon told detectives that his friends made fun of him, and when asked about his motive for the attack, he said he, “just didn’t want to be fooled”. Dixon beat Islan Nettles to death on the streets of Harlem. This case, and many others like it, provokes an urgent question: why is there so much violence against transgender individuals, and perhaps more specifically, what is the relationship between masculinity and transphobia? After all, all identified perpetrators of fatal violent crimes against transgender individuals are men (National Center for Transgender Equality 2015). I will review three studies that suggest, I argue, that there is a direct correlation between hegemonic constructions of masculinity and occurrences of transphobia.  

   It will be helpful to first narrow our scope of analysis. Both men and women are known to have transphobic attitudes, however according to a study conducted by Adams et al., Gender Difference in Correlates of Homophobia and Transphobia, differences in gender correlate to different forms of expression of transphobia. Men are more likely to express aggression, both verbal and physical, while women tend to express indirect benevolent sexism—beliefs in traditional gender roles—and rape myth acceptance (Adams et al. 2008: 525). My argument will center around occurrences of transphobia in men. Further, I review studies exclusively focused on western construction of masculinity and occurrences of transphobia in the United States.

   In American society, the dominant construction of masculinity, which is attributed to male-assigned bodies, is linked to the achievement of specific “masculine” characteristics. Key attributes of an idealized masculinity according to Watjen and Mitchell’s article, College Men’s Concerns About Sharing Dormitory Space with a Male-to-Female Transsexual, are “control, competition, aggression, and physical strength” (2013: 134). Masculinity and femininity are dichotomous social constructions—defined in contrast to each other. Social, cultural, and economic capital are awarded to male-assigned individuals who enact a dominant form of masculinity. This excludes male-assigned individuals who do not align to this construction. Male-assigned individuals who enact or are presumed to enact “feminine” attributes (namely, gay men) are, “viewed as threats to a man’s masculinity and can thus be objects of anxiety” (2013: 134). This anxiety results from the perception of a kind of gender transgression—that is, an individual’s deviation from traditional gender norms. Because many wrongly conceive of transgender women as feminine men, trans women are often subjected, as gay men are, to verbal and/or physical aggression from men.

   However, this conception of transphobia is lacking a direct connection to the individual aggressor’s masculinity. It seems unclear why the identity of the gender-variant individual is threatening to a man’s masculinity. Why do men feel the need to act aggressively toward gender-variant individuals? Kristin Kelley and Jeff Gruenewald explore this question in their comparative case study, Accomplishing Masculinity through Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Homicide. The authors cited reports of fatal attacks against LGBT individuals to demonstrate the relationship between homophobic and transphobic actions and the doing of gender (specifically masculinity). In this way, men can demonstrate their conformity to traditional definitions of masculinity—and thereby maintain their own masculinity—by verbally or physically “punishing” LGBT individuals for violating traditional gender roles (2015: 4). What is important here is that the masculine man’s trans/homophobic actions are triggered by an encounter (whether real or imagined) with an LGBT individual. Cisgender, heterosexual men may fear the possibility of losing the privileges awarded them by their enactment of traditional masculinity through their association with a trans individual—they may be perceived to be feminine by association (Watjen & Mitchell. 2013: 134). Actions of transphobia (and homophobia) can thus be viewed as a means of publicly avowing men’s heterosexual masculinity, while simultaneously upholding traditional gender norms.

   Perhaps not surprisingly, what Watjen and Mitchell discovered was that men who demonstrated a strict adherence to gender norms (and most often those who were heterosexual, socially and religiously conservative, and from low socio-economic status) were more likely to engage in homo/transphobic behavior (2013: 139-140). Similarly, Kelley and Gruenewald hypothesized that anti-LGBT homicide was related to the offender’s hegemonic constructions of masculinity (2015: 6). Together, these studies suggest that men enacting the dominant constructions of hegemonic masculinity are most frequently the individuals who engage in transphobic behavior.
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References

Adams, Katherine A., Stephanie Brzuzy, Eric D. Hill, Craig T. Nagoshi, Julie L. Nagoshi, and Heather K. Terrell. 2008. “Gender Differences in Correlates of Homophobia and Transphobia.” Sex Roles 59: 521-531.

“Gender-Based Violence Against Trans Women Claims More Lives.” 2015. National Center for Transgender Equality. Retrieved November 19, 2018

(https://transequality.org/blog/gender-based-violence-against-trans-women-claims-more-lives)

Kristen, Kelley and Jeff Gruenewald. 2015. “Accomplishing Masculinity through Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Homicide: A Comparative Case Study Approach.” Men & Masculinities 18(1): 3-29.

Watjen, Jennifer and Robert Mitchell. 2013. “College Men’s Concerns About Sharing Dormitory Space with a Male-to-Female Transsexual.” Sexuality & Culture 17 (1): 132-166.