Unfree KAL White Feminism Case Study: Transvestigating
"...white males argued that black slave women were not “real” women but were masculinized sub-human creatures." -bell hooks, Ain't I a Woman
This past Monday was the International Trans Day of Visibility, so for our final case study of the Unfree KAL, we’re going to look at the white supremacist origins of “Transvestigating.” Transvestigating broadly is the act of examining a person’s body in search of tells that the person is trans [1]. Generally, this act is applied to cisgender women, who may or may not conform to white American/European ideal beauty standards, in order to “prove” that the women are actually men. There’s…a lot to unpack here.
One of the most famous recent examples is that of Imane Khelif at the 2024 Olympics [2]. After winning a boxing match against (white) Italian boxer Angela Carini, the internet descended upon Khelif, calling her a man, claiming she had a Y chromosome, and calling for her to be disqualified from the Olympics. Pictures popped up all over the place with red circles and arrows pointing out which of Khelif’s features were “masculine,” citing this as proof she wasn’t a woman. Thankfully, the Olympics ignored the surge of vitriol and Khelif went on to be the first Algerian woman ever to win a gold medal in boxing.
This is by no means the first time a cisgender athlete has been attacked in this manner. Lin Yu-ting, a Taiwanese boxer [3], Dutee Chand, an Indian sprinter [4], and Joanne Lagona, a Papua New Guinean rugby player [5], have all been falsely accused of being transgender. Even minors in local teams are being targeted — in 2024 a young girl in Utah was harassed by her local community after a school board member falsely labeled her a boy and called for her to be removed from the high school basketball team [3].
The ways in which these women failed to conform to “feminine” beauty standards are deeply rooted in racism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism [6]. Height, wide shoulders, a strong jawline, a large nose — just about anything can be compared to an ever-shifting, impossible ideal of white Anglo-Saxon beauty and declared to be inferior. It is not a coincidence that all of the women cited here are women of color.
In later posts, we’ll examine the racist origins of modern beauty standards, fatphobia, and more.
References
- Lopez, Q. (2024). How “Transvestigation” Crawled Out of the Worst Corners of the Internet Into the Mainstream. them.
- BBC. (2024). Attacks over gender make gold sweeter - Khelif. BBC Sport.
- Rummier, O. (2024). Anti-trans violence is coming for cisgender women of color, advocates say. 19th News.
- Macur, J. (2014). Fighting for the Body She Was Born With. The New York Times.
- Bugden, S. (2024). Trolls are blasted for falsely claiming international women's footy star Joanna Lagona was born a man after seeing stunning video of her smashing an opponent. Daily Mail.
- Ashley, F. (2023). The Anti-Trans Panic is Rooted in White Supremacist Ideology. truthout.