Trans Privilege

There are all types of “privileges” in the trans community and it causes a lot of tension within the community. At the Buffalo Trans Health Initiative conference CeCe MacDonald spoke on privilege. The thing is that people who have the privilege don’t know that they have it and they don’t like anyone talking to them about it. In the Advocate Michelle Wolf writes,

Then she went into discussing privilege — and one by one, I could see her losing them. From there, she transitioned into talking about white trans privilege, and she started to even lose some of the trans folk. Nothing she said was the least bit untrue, but nevertheless, the message was building up the very walls she so effectively knocked down moments before.

We speak of white privilege, male privilege, socio-economic privilege, cis privilege, and so on. These are all true things that really exist; there is no denying it. Privilege exists and it has the power to profoundly impact, through opportunity or repression, what a person might achieve in this life. I can see very clearly what a huge advantage I had living as a white male, and how far I have fallen as a white transgender woman. I can also see that where I am now is a far, far more advantageous position than if I was a black transgender woman who came from impoverished circumstances. There is no comparison.
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I will reiterate again: privilege does exist. It is pervasive, and it has a huge impact. We can agree on this amongst ourselves and know that it is true. Some of us can also agree that not all trans people begin the race at the same starting point, and that many of our sisters and brothers have many more hurdles to clear before even approaching the much cushier spot in line we drew. If you can and want to use that knowledge to make a difference, great. If you can’t, and the idea makes you pissy and contentious, just try not to think about it. When it comes to the cisgender population, it’s far better that we stop continuously pointing this out.

I had white male privilege and I used it. I always knew that I had it but I never realized how much it affected my life until I gave it up. I usually do not get identified as trans until I interact with people. so I get to see the effects of male privilege when people interact with me as a woman and then when I am identified as transgender I see a different interaction take place.

The effects of privilege is not doubled in you are a minority, it is quadrupled.  If you are a trans woman in machismo society you face an enormous amount of discrimination based on your loss of privilege.

In my cultural competency training I have a slide that says,

Visual non-conformity is a risk factor in causing anti-transgender bias and its attendant social and economic burdens.

How well you can assimilate in to society is a large factor the amount of privilege that you have.