I can absolutely believe that some people suffer genuine transphobic attacks due to being non-passing trans, and this is terrible. (There's a transwoman I see on the bus who clearly does not pass, and is disabled as well, and I dread to think the amount of harrassment they get). Any sort of harrassment for being "visibly different", be it disablist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, is absolutely fucking appalling.
agree wholeheartedly with the above.
However it is extremely dangerous to perpetuate the myth that it is gender presentation that is the reason for sexual harassment. it erases the means by which we talk about the problem of SEXual harassment. and if we can't define it then our chances of solving the problem are diminished. The transwomen in PP story likely was on the receiving end of either homophobic, transphobic, or if they genuinely passed, sexist abuse.
It is extremely offensive to the huge numbers of women around the world who suffer abuse at the hands of men, on transport systems or elsewhere, to peddle the myth that it was because of their gender presentation. gender presentation changes from place to place and across time. sadly sexual abuse of women is woven into our histories and our societies.
women are harassed and attacked because of the body parts specific to them and because attackers know they are unlikely to be able to fight back, because of the difference in size and strength between males and females.
gender comes into it but not in the form of whether a woman chooses to wear a dress or a tracksuit or how short their hair is FFS. female socialisation to be nice and polite, fear of speaking up and making a fuss, reluctance to report because last time you weren't believed or because you've just read in the papers that a judge said it couldn't be rape because the victim had consented to sex on a different occasion/ didn't scream/ wore a thong etc etc etc.