Do You See Me Now? (2021)
This is a project we made about transmisogyny and the violent erasure of the transfeminine form in fine art.
Cis female bodies are seen as beautiful and inherently artistic; if you walk into a museum, you can see an abundance of paintings and sculptures of nude cis women. This is not inherently a bad thing; the human body does have inherent artistic beauty. However, the bodies portrayed are nearly all white cisgender women; the nude transfeminine form is nearly never represented in fine art. This is not coincidence. The transfeminine form is seen as blasphemous, sinful, profane. Many people would be discomforted or even disgusted to see a trans woman’s body portrayed in a museum, gallery, or in any other context where art is publicly displayed. Furthermore, the trans female body is fetishized in a way that the cis female body is not.
Trans women have little control over their sexuality. We are seen as sex objects, our bodies being reduced to nothing but our genitalia and sexual entertainment of cis society, similar to that of a “freak show.” Even when trans women attempt to embrace their sexuality, they still cannot escape the critical eye of cis society. Trans women who embrace their sexuality and beauty are seen as perverted, predatory, and dangerous. These two factors work together so that trans women can only exist sexually in a way that serves and entertains cis society, stripping them of their agency over their bodies and their sexuality.
All of what is described above are examples of transmisogyny, the unique type of oppression that trans women face. Transmisogyny is not just misogyny directed at trans women, nor is it just general transphobia directed at trans women, but rather its own concept, separate from either of the words that compose it. It’s time for society to stop averting their gaze from the transfeminine form.
Cis female bodies are seen as beautiful and inherently artistic; if you walk into a museum, you can see an abundance of paintings and sculptures of nude cis women. This is not inherently a bad thing; the human body does have inherent artistic beauty. However, the bodies portrayed are nearly all white cisgender women; the nude transfeminine form is nearly never represented in fine art. This is not coincidence. The transfeminine form is seen as blasphemous, sinful, profane. Many people would be discomforted or even disgusted to see a trans woman’s body portrayed in a museum, gallery, or in any other context where art is publicly displayed. Furthermore, the trans female body is fetishized in a way that the cis female body is not.
Trans women have little control over their sexuality. We are seen as sex objects, our bodies being reduced to nothing but our genitalia and sexual entertainment of cis society, similar to that of a “freak show.” Even when trans women attempt to embrace their sexuality, they still cannot escape the critical eye of cis society. Trans women who embrace their sexuality and beauty are seen as perverted, predatory, and dangerous. These two factors work together so that trans women can only exist sexually in a way that serves and entertains cis society, stripping them of their agency over their bodies and their sexuality.
All of what is described above are examples of transmisogyny, the unique type of oppression that trans women face. Transmisogyny is not just misogyny directed at trans women, nor is it just general transphobia directed at trans women, but rather its own concept, separate from either of the words that compose it. It’s time for society to stop averting their gaze from the transfeminine form.