Transmisia (also called Transphobia) is prejudice plus power; anyone of any gender can have/exhibit gender-based prejudice, but in North America (and really worldwide), cisgender people have the institutional power, therefore Transmisia is a systemized discrimination or antagonism directed against transgender/nonbinary/genderqueer/agender persons. Transmisia and cissexism are rooted in a desire to maintain the gender binary (i.e. the categories of 'male' and 'female'), a social construction which seeks to assign gender based on a person's declared sex at birth. Transmisia, as well as the gender binary from which it extends, obscures the reality of the spectrum and fluidity of gender and marginalizes the identities and experiences of persons whose gender does not align with their birth-assigned sex and/or who do not align with either category of male or female.
If you’re a man, at one point or another you’ve probably thought to yourself, “I will never understand women!” And if you’re a woman, “what's wrong with men?!” But your gender is all you've ever known, so how could you understand? As a transgender woman, Paula Stone Williams has lived on both sides, “and the differences are massive!” In this funny and insightful talk, Paula shares her wisdom for all. Reverend Dr. Paula Stone Williams is the president of RLT Pathways, Inc., a non-profit providing counseling and coaching services. She works with the Center for Progressive Renewal, serves on the board of the Gay Christian Network, and is an active member at Highlands Church in Denver. She has been featured in the New York Times, The Denver Post, and Colorado Public Radio, and is a blogger for The Huffington Post. She is an avid runner and mountain biker with three children and five granddaughters. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Transmisic Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults in relation to gender, gender identity, and/or gender expression. They are structurally based and invoke oppressive systems of a (cis)gender hierarchy. Transmisic Microinvalidations, Microinsults, Microassaults are specific types of microaggressions.
Note: The prefix “micro” is used because these are invocations of (cis)gender hierarchy at the individual level (person to person), where as the "macro" level refers to aggressions committed by structures as a whole (e.g. an organizational policy). "Micro" in no way minimalizes or otherwise evaluates the impact or seriousness of the aggressions.
Further Reading:
• Simmons SLIS Microaggressions
• Trans People Reveal Their Daily Struggles
• GLAAD Launches Trans Microaggressions Photo Project
• If People Talked About Other Things the Way They Talked About Gender Identity
• What Transgender Microaggressions Can Teach Us About Our Friends and Each Other
• Violence Against the Transgender Community in 2019
• These Are the Trans People Killed in 2019
• Murders of Transgender People Rising Worldwide
• 6 Ways Transphobia Directly Contributes to High Rates of Suicide in Trans Communities
• Being Transgender in a Transphobic Society Leads to Moments of Sheer Desperation
• The Gap Between Glamour and Death for Trans Women of Color
• Doctors Refuse to Treat Trans Patients More Often Than You Think
• Lives Guided by Fear: In Honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance
• The Courage of Being Transgender in Public
• Trans women of color are missing from the conversation about transphobia
Click to read the full reports: http://www.ustranssurvey.org/reports#USTS
Conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, the 2015 report is "the largest survey ever devoted to the lives and experiences of trans people." One of the authors is Williams Institute Scholar of Public Policy Jody L. Herman.
Conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The survey covers discrimination in the areas of education, employment, housing, public accommodations, ID documents, law enforcement & prisons, and health care, as well as an inquiry into family acceptance and resilience of the respondents.
TLPI brings experts and advocates together to work on law and policy initiatives designed to advance transgender equality. Website has resources on various topics.
TLC utilizes direct legal services, public policy advocacy, and educational opportunities to advance the rights and safety of diverse transgender communities. Based in California.
Provides direct legal services and conducts education, public policy work and impact litigation to advance the rights of low-income transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people. Based in New York.
A transgender education & advocacy organization based in Washington D.C.
Gathers together transgender collections from around the world. Specific collections include: Cornell's Human Sexuality Collection, the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, South Africa's Gender DynamiX, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, and the Transgender Oral History Project.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This Libguide began with the main categories and many of the resources from of the amazing Simmons University Libguide (referenced above), and has grown to include sources from our ASM colleagues, as well as colleges, universities, associations and NGOs from across the globe. It is a work in progress with news, resources and links to actionable information.