Cultural appropriation and the trans men

[Kathrynx2]

Has anyone looked at the comparison to cultural appropriation and males pushing into female spaces.

With cultural appropriation it is generally felt you can punch up, but not down. Ie it ok for females to invade/appropriate men’s spaces/culture, because they are not in the position of power, but not ok for men to invade/appropriate women’s. This may be why trans men seem not to be such a problem.

There are all the hallmarks of appropriation, such as putting on a sparkly pink dress and wearing make-up, or knitting on TV. All pastiches of being a women. I thought of this as I was discussing a programme where a white film producer was showing Sidney Poitier? how to walk like a black man, because he was getting it wrong confused . I then watched a trans woman on a tv clip tell women how to do women better.

Am I totally wrong here? I know the safety issue is paramount, but I thought this an interesting aside.

Personally I don't have a problem until they start actually encroaching on our spaces which are female for good reasons. Beyond that he is welcome to put a pink dress and makeup on and knit but he is a still a man and always will be.

But why is it bad to wear corn-rows and have saris on catwalks, but ok to dress as a woman.

My son, who is a university and fairly intelligent thinks I am wrong not to fully support trans men’s full inclusion in womanhood, but thought a themed ball to be dreadful because of this issue.

But why is it bad to wear corn-rows and have saris on catwalks, but ok to dress as a woman

Really...? From what I've seen on MN, those who care about their culture being appropriated are ridiculed. Whether it's cornrows, traditional garb, or the Jamie Oliver jerk travesty. There are lots of posts that demonstrate this.

Transwomen are themselves not above using the race card ie "excluding us is same as excluding black people".

As if they've ever cared about or supported black women who suffer racism (that white male born privilege never will).

So I can't get het up about selective cultural appropriation ire, really. It's hypocritical. Can't have it both ways

Because certain men have never really believed that women are oppressed. So they don't really believe in appropriation of it.

While I see that the comparison works on some level, I think to make this argument you have to accept 'woman' as a culture. Which I strongly disagree with.

Isn’t it down to biology. Trans men are not a threat to men, not just in terms of societal status but biology, trans men who are biologically female are on average going to be physically smaller than a biological man.

Biological men in female spaces bring not only their socialization where they assume greater status and expect their needs to be met as a priority over women, but biologically the average Transwoman who is biologically still male is going to be physically bigger and stronger than women. The majority also retain a penis and male sexuality which is used to rape and terrorize women.

What MagicMix said. I don't see cultural appropriation, just appropriation.

Yes, I agree appropriation is more accurate. I was just struck by the similarities.