Post #2900359

2026-05-15 14:43 UTC

White people tend to have an expectation of centering and implicit respect. This is especially true of the white male experience. And this is something that has to be processed and re-interpreted by white trans femmes. Often, they reject it. We see this in the pattern of white trans femmes treating certain inconveniences as if they are extremely damaging and emotionally horrendous experiences. In truth, they probably are—to them—because they have rarely lived an existence where such experiences are normalized. It’s no surprise that the trans femmes who are most separatist are also often the ones who are most racist. They are simply holding on to the centering. Unless race is processed, this pattern tends to dominate. But it’s often seen (esp. by white cis women) as “male.” The better framing is “socialized in power.”

Replies (2)

@FinalGirl@blackqueer.life 2026-05-15 14:46

Misgendering? That’s bread and butter for Black women, for Pacific Islander women. To treat it as if it’s an absolute moral failure when it happens to a white trans femme ignores the racial hegemony of the system. “I should never be misgendered” is a less effective statement if you never process whiteness because it’s whiteness that is effecting you in that moment. So often I see people map white trans femininity (or, rather, their rejectionist attitudes towards it) onto PoC trans women, as if our experiences are analogous. We neve had a chance to fit in to this society, so we come to trans femininity already de-centered. Living in a Black male experience was one where we were centered only as a threat or an other. At best, I was “exotic,” and fetishized. It’s simply a different experience. In a way, armored and prepared for othering.

Open ##2900360
@robryk@social.wuatek.is 2026-05-15 21:04

@FinalGirl@blackqueer.life Can you explain (or point at a place where I can read about) what you mean by centering?

Open ##2900378