The Transsexual Empire

It is my deepest hope that this book will not be viewed as an unsymphatetic treatment of the anguish and existential plight of the transsexual. What I have tried to present is a different vision of where to focus sympathy and sensitivity.

This book is over 40 years old. One would think it would be outdated by now, considering just how much we think had changed regarding feminism, gender ideology, and of the medicalization of a social problem. Yet somehow, this book is still relevant and many of its predictions came true.. while some of them didn't (for example - the correlation between autism and transgenderism, and pornsickness didn't seem like much of a problem at the time!). This book tells us how modern gender ideology is at odds with itself. It is largely based on the teachings of John money, yet if any modern trans person went to read his stuff - I'm certain they'd disagree in many aspects on the surface. Yet, Moneys influence is still astronomical, from the terms used to the way the medical system treats gender dysphoria today. In fact if his teachings were to be dismissed, the gender ideology movement would lose most of the ground it's standing on. At the same time, it is based on extremely sexist ideas of gender and outdated and never properly researched information. Raymond analyzed the beginnings of the movement (which happens to be a modern invention), the psychology and politics behind it, and ethical, philosophical and moral questions that surround it. Sidenote but I really enjoyed Raymond's focus on language these researchers used. It's very telling how when describing things they always switch to the male as the default even when it is not (ex. fetal development). Or how often when it comes to childhood psychology the mother is the first to receive the brunt of the blame, while the role of an absent father is a sidenote. Raymond goes through it all, to use modern relatable buzzwords, she shows us many examples of what she calls male-to-constructed-females - from women hating incels with mommy issues, to failmales, to conservative men that want to become their own tradwife fantasy, to femboys, to ex incredibly masculine men living out some sort of a sissy fantasy... And this book is over 40 years old! Nothings changed, except for the fact that the trans movement got much better at hiding its roots, which can be located deep under oppressive gender roles modern society has been built upon. So how can then a movement that's based in misogyny and sexism be tauted today as the most feminist and progressive movement that exists? Raymond advocated for transsexual people to form their own movements and groups in which they could discuss the root of the problem, she wanted to approach transsexualism from a different point of view, she wanted to treat the disease and not the symptoms of it, but none of this has come to fruition. The gender ideology movement went along its merry way, colonizing feminism and the lgb community and coming out as the winner that is now somehow on the stage gazillion of licheral genocide despite women still being killed, kidnapped and abused on a much larger scale (yes, even % wise). Nowadays, suggesting that perhaps hormones, surgery, and becoming a lifetime patient may not be the most optimal solution to a much bigger problem can have you lose your job, or even worse...

It is important to remember that transsexualism is merely one of the most obvious forms of gender dissatisfaction and sex-role playing in a patriarchal society. It is one of the most obvious because, in the transsexual situation, we have the stereotypes on stage, so to speak, for all to see and examine in an alien body. What can be overlooked, however, is that these same stereotypes, behaviors, and gender dissatisfactions are lived out every day in “native” bodies. The issues that transsexualism can highlight should by no means be confined to the transsexual context. Rather they should be confronted in the “normal” society that spawned the problem of transsexualism to begin with.