Passing, revisited

[Butterfly]

Passing, revisited
Questioning Transphobia
08 January, 2010


http://questioningtransphobia.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/passing/


Passing is perhaps the central component through whether trans lives are considered 'successful' or not, and as such it is the central component of trans oppression.  It is the part of our lives always up for debate in public, and by which cis people mark trans individuals as 'other.'  I've written about this before, as a response to the cis belief that places self-erasure as trans people's greatest fantasy, and my attitudes about passing remain the same: Passing is a system used by cissexist cultures to control trans people, to ostracize, and to justify violence perpetrated against them. Although passing is presented as a trans endeavor or desire, the truth is it is a system for cis people to identify trans people and to alert other cis people to their presence.