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Transmasculine musings in the #MeToo era
How trans and cis targets of sexual abuse can support each other
Whenever a news story breaks about a U.S. politician or celebrity accused of sexual abuse or harassment, most posts by liberal sources frame the issue as an example of the continued oppression of women by men. This framing is not inaccurate; the vast majority of sexual abuse victims (and survivors) are women and girls, and the vast majority of perpetrators are men. However, there is often an unstated assumption in these posts that the parties referred to are cisgender women and men, and that these are the only two genders in existence.
For those unaware or misinformed about the definition of “cisgender”, this term simply describes a person who agrees with the sex designation, female or male, that they were assigned at birth. Referring to a person’s assigned sex is preferred by trans people and our allies over describing someone as “biologically”, “anatomically”, “genetically”, or “born” female or male, though some trans people do choose to use those terms to describe themselves.
