Transphobia 101

What is Transphobia?

Transphobia is when actions and attitudes are based on certain assumptions:

• everyone is either male or female

• all males are masculine

• all females are feminine

• there is no way to change sex or gender

• you can tell what sex someone is by the way they look

• people who don't match these assumptions are somehow bad or wrong

But what about:

• people who know they are a sex other than what they were identified as at birth?

• people who don't identify as a boy or a girl?

• people who can't be easily identified as female or male?

• boys and men who are seen as "too feminine" — even sometimes?

• women and girls who are seen as "too butch" — even sometimes?

QUIZ

Transphobic or Not?

Transphobia demands that we all have to live up to stereotypes of what it means to be female or male. It means people are discriminated against for being who they are. Check out the following and answer which are transphobic and which are not.

(1) Mr./Ms. Messed Up

For the debate competition, students will be introduced as Ms. or Mr. with their last names. Lake asks, "What about those of us who aren't either, or are both?" Lake is told to choose one.

(2) Elected Official

While running for student council president, Jaleel comes out as trans. Jaleel wins by a landslide. His opponent Nayeema says it's because everyone feels sorry for Jaleel.

(3) The Facts Don't Lie

Isabel would like to sign up for Girls' Club after school. The people running the club tell her she has to bring her birth certificate to prove she's a girl.

(4) Picture Perfect

The photographer gives your graduating class the following instructions: "Everyone should wear a gown for graduation. Boys will hold a diploma, and girls will hold a rose."

(5) Spreading the News

You tell your friend that you'd like to ask out Kal. Your friend says that, since he used to be a girl, going out with him would make you a lesbian.

(6) On the List

When you register for school, you can put down whatever name you want the school to use. But you can only change it once a year.

(7) Door Number One

The community centre has one change room for girls and one for boys. Lu, who identifies as non-binary, asks for a space to change. Lu is told, "We can't make a change room just for you!"

(8) Online Ranking

Nikki (who used to be Nick) posts her picture to a site where people rank hotness and leave comments. She gets low hotness scores and lots of comments about how to look "more like a girl."

(9) Easy A

You're choosing classes for high school. Your big brother tells you to ask for Mr. Bird for history. "He used to be a girl, and he still marks easy, like a woman."

(10) Don't Know

Your parents tell you that they don't know any trans people.