Coloniality of White Feminism and Its Transphobia: A Comment on Burt

Abstract

In this comment, I challenge Burt’s colonial epistemological framework in her theorizations of sex, gender, and transness. Drawing upon anti-racist, decolonial, and trans of color feminisms, I argue that transphobia is inherent to white feminisms due to its roots in colonialism. Heteropatriarchy and cisnormativity are products of colonialism, and feminists who espouse transphobic discourses invariably reproduce colonial and white supremacist frameworks of patriarchy and gender violence.

Examining the elevated risk of COVID-19 in transgender communities with an intersectional lens

“…As such, it is necessary to acknowledge that transphobia is rooted in white supremacy and colonization, as trans people (and trans PoC in particular) threaten the cisheteropatriarchy established by White settlers. Colonization annihilated expansive conceptualizations of gender identities (e.g., Two-Spirit people; see Wilson 1996 ; Paramo 2018 ) and continues to strictly enforce a gender binary (Upadhyay 2021 ; Leo 2020 ) based on sex assigned at birth, punishing those who do not conform to it. U.S. colonial systems viewed Two-Spirit identities as a threat to their power, and “sequester[ed them]… away from their fundamental role in Indigenous life-worlds” (Leo 2020 , p. 458).…”

“…To conclude, we outline several applied recommendations for researchers, policymakers, healthcare workers, institutions, and allies to support trans communities through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, which map onto our main arguments. Critiques of violent transphobic systems, as Upadhyay ( 2021 ) describes, have been offered by various Black, Indigenous, people of color (PoC), and activist-feminist scholars, yet largely ignored in academia. We merely aim to highlight how these systems are showing up in dangerous ways for trans people at present in this pandemic.…”

Internationalization, Inclusion, Integrity, and Impact: Reflections on the 2018–2022 Editorial Term*

“…The policy was implemented in 2020, and the first comments were published in 2021. We are especially grateful to Joanne Belknap for soliciting commentary on a published article (Burt, 2020), and thank the authors who provided thoughtful comments (Mezey, 2021; Sherrick, 2021; Upadhyay, 2021).…”

Moving toward Radical Love in Organizing Spaces

“…The idea of "sister solidarity" that is so inbuilt into cis women, for multiple reasons-physical safety, experience with men, patriarchyis in reality often limited to "cis-terhood." It is strange that, despite having access to political tools and knowledge, political issues were reduced to a personal "fight," again invisibilizing the experience of trans identities and reiterating a hierarchy in which a cis-person's feelings are prioritized over actual issues that continue to marginalize and silence voices of those who are minoritized (Upadhyay 2021).…”