Cissexual assumption
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| Author | Julia Serano |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Transfeminism |
| Published | 2007 (Seal Press) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 408 (first edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 81252738 |
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity is a 2007 book by transsexual theorist, biologist, and writer Julia Serano. The book is a transfeminist manifesto which makes the case that transphobia is rooted in sexism and that transgender activism is a feminist movement. The second edition of the book was published in March 2016.
The book extensively discusses transmisogyny, which is misogyny toward trans women. Serano also explores trans-objectification, trans-fascimilation, trans-sexualization, trans-interrogation, trans-erasure, trans-exclusion, and trans-mystification. She argues that sexism in Western culture is a twofold phenomenon, comprising sexism (“the belief that maleness and masculinity are superior to femaleness and femininity”) and oppositional sexism, “the belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories”. Serano coins the term effemimania to describe the societal obsession with male and trans expressions of femininity—an obsession that is rooted in transmisogyny.
In a collection of essays, Serano deconstructs Western societal narratives about trans women, including those of academia, medicine, and the media. She frequently cites her personal experiences as a lesbian trans woman, which differ from the predominant narrative of the heterosexual trans woman.
Serano argues that "oppositional sexism" is a driving force behind cissexism, transphobia, and homophobia. In addition to oppositional sexism, she writes that traditional sexism is the second requirement for "maintaining a male-centered gender hierarchy."
Serano uses the term cissexual assumption to describe the belief among cisgender people that everyone experiences gender identity in the same way.
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