Hey!
It's me, hmm grin emoticon.
Today I'm talking about male priviledge.
In the trans community.
For trans guys.
And how to navigate a world we weren't socialised in, oooh.
This topic is super interesting to me because I related really to those passing tips that
I see online, which we all know I'm not a fan of, because it does give people unrealistic
expectations that they are going to pass, when they probably aren't.
Um, you have to navigate a world where maleness is viewed as superior over everything, and
you were not socialised as male, yet you have to find a way to pass and navigate in this
world, as male.
Its a really tricky situation that we're found in.
And I think its a really interesting topic, and I definately wanna explore it.
So first I wanna say, that male priviledge really comes along with people who, first
of all appear as male, so right now I appear as male.
I have male priviledge.
If I go into a job interview with another prospect who's a woman, there's a very high
percentage, depending on what the job is, that I will get the job, only because I'm
male and society really values that character instinct in somebody, which I hate, and this
is why I'm a feminist, and so on.
Obviously the job thing isn't the only aspect of male priviledge that I can think of, I...I'm
not gonna walk down the street and have somebody like 'woowowowooo boyyy show me dat ass' like
you know, its not gonna happen, its not gonna happen to me.
But its-it might happen to a woman and I don't think that's fair, so that is the first part
of male priviledge, I look like a man, therefore I have male priviledge.
Before I transitioned, before I started T, let's-let's even like, point it down.
I was 19 when I started T, so right before I started T, I knew I was trans, I was transitioning,
I was changing my name with all my friends, my gender, everything like that, but I wasn't
on hormones and I did not pass at all, like literally 100% did not pass, I looked like
an eight year old boy who was too tall, so obviously you're a lesbian.
Um, I did not have male priviledge at that time.
Now, I've seen some like wierd things recently on tumblr where people are telling other transguys
that you had male priviledge because you have, you know, you're male inside, I- I don't believe
that, I'm telling you my view right now, you might believe that you're male, and know that
you're male inside, no matter, what somebody in society is gonna see you as female, they're
not gonna know.
Absolutely not gonna know, that you are trans or that you have, you know, your essence is
male and that's who you are.
The first thing that they're gonna see is that you're a female, that's what people like
to do, they like to categorise people in little boxes, and society has two boxes, female and
male.
You look female, they're gonna categorise you as female, which sucks, but that's how
it is.
So trans guys who do not pass, I don't think have male priviledge.
Now obviously there's some exceptions to this but I'm not gonna go into those, before you
go all crazy on me let's just like calm down grin emoticon.
Male privilidge is a very interesting topic in society.
And I didn't believe it exists, and I did believe it was there to 'priviledge' and help
men as much as possible because men who have always been on top no matter what.
Uhh just because I'm acknowledging that there is male priviledge in society does not mean
that I hate men, or that I hate myself because I am male.
I'm just saying, male priviledge sucks and we should be able to be equal to everybody.
Now, how you navigate a world that you weren't socialised in.
So let's say you start passing.
And uhh, you go to your new job, and some guys are starting to talk to you, about how
they 'fucked this bitch' and saying some really misogynistic things that your're really not
cool with because, you know, you were probably targetted with that kind of language before-
way before your transition, or you even knew you were trans.
So what do you do in this instance.
I must say that I'm being very gendered right now, and some people were socialised by men,
and socialised in a more 'male' behaviour and pattern, but I'm just saying most of us
who are transguys were socialised as female, I grew up with my Dad, my-only my Dad, that's
it, but I was still socialised as female.
Um...but what do you do in that instance?
Somebody, ohh, saying all these really rude things about women, how do you navigate that
situation?
You weren't socialised to understand how to talk, um, about this without, like, what I'm
trying to say is that, they don't know you're trans.
You know you're trans.
You know what it feels like to have those rude things said about you, so how do you
bring it up without them thinking like 'you're gayyy, no homo bro' some shit like that.
That is the tricky situation.
What I do is usually just ignore it.
If its really bad, like, really bad, then I say something, like if somebody says some
type of rape joke, *blows air* Chaseypoo gets in there, like I can't, I cannot do it.
I just-I literally just say 'look, that's really rude, like you can't really say those
things' And I feel like I'm allowed to say those things because I pass 100% as male now,
I have a beard, people do not question me, and do not know that I'm trans, unless I've
told them.
But how do you navigate a situation when its a woman who doesn't know that you're trans
and who says all these rude things about men, and you're in that situation.
That's a tough one.
'Men are scum, men are disgusting' what are you supossed to do?
Just like sit there and take it?
'So, I actually, I used to be a woman,' and like you can't just say those things its-its
not something that...people don't like to out themselves in lots of social situations,
especially like that.
None of this is what I'm saying makes any sense.
What I'm really trying to say is how do you deal with this male priviledge that you didn't
have before That's really what I'm trying to get at.
Its hard.
Honestly, Um, its-its strange first of all, to walk down the street and not be visibally
queer.
And that was my issue for a long time, until I realised piercings and tattoos and the way
that I actually am is very queer, and I'm happy about that.
But how, how?
How do you deal with this male priviledge?
Like, going to a restaurant and the waiter looking at you, and only you, and asking you
for things, and not looking at your girlfriend.
Or going to your girlfriend's house, and her dad actually treats you better than he treats
his daughter.
That's hard.
How do you deal with that?
That's male priviledge right there, you just take it?
You just say sorry to your girlfriend?
Like there's nothing you can do because you don't wanna out yourself, right?
Honestly I don't think that there's an answer to, to this 'how to navigate this society'
because you didn't have male priviledge before and now you have it.
Its, uhh, I mean, you know, if you're trans and you wanna transition that's great.
Um, its a fucking hard life.
Especially when you realise that all this priviledge that you, hoo, did not have before
kind of just crawls up on you.
And I know people don't believe male priviledge exists, and that's fine, you don't have to
watch my videos, you can just like *Chase noise* leave.
I have other videos that you can watch.
But, um, I think its interesting.
I also think, the really great thing about having this male priviledge is, the second
I started to pass 100%, I could be so much more feminine, and I didn't give a fuuuuck
about anybody.
I used to like, really make sure that like, my posture was like super masculine, and like,
whatever that means, and like open my legs, and like, swagger, you know?
Stuff like that.
And now, I cross my legs, I talk about my cats, about Rent, and then I throw it in that
I have a girlfriend, it confuses the fuck out of them, and I love it, because they have
no idea what's going on anymore, and that's my purpose in life, to just confuse people.
But...the male priviledge that I got, I was able to transcribe-transcribe?
No, transition?
*Chase noise* To...tranform, that's the word I'm looking for.
Too many trans.
I was able to transform it into something I could relate with, and something that I
can deal with, so instead of being that, you know, just that guy walking around, who has
more priviledge than everyone else, I make myself visibally who I am.
And who I am is a very flamboyant person who loves cats, who everybody thinks I'm gay,
and even though male priviledge exists in the gay community and gay men have male priviledge,
they have less priviledge than men.
So I think...I feel like this video right now is just like a therapy session where I'm
kind of just talking about my emotions.
But I think that...me being able to express myself the way that I do, very flamboyant,
you know all this feminine stuff that I do, actually helps me to get rid of some of the
male priviledge that I have, that I don't want.
I like that.
Is that interesting?
This is a therapy session I literally just thought about that right now in this video.
I think I'm gonna end it this way, because I don't think I have anything else to say.
I hope this video was as enlightening for you as it was for me.
Hope you have a great week.