PREFACE

Transgender is not an ism or an ideology or a lifestyle choice or a sexual fetish: it's another way of being human.

Sophie Grace Chappell1

This is a book about the realities of being a transgender person: man, woman, genderqueer (nonbinary, bigender, gender-fluid, agender, etc.). Here, we include those who identify as 'third gender' or 'Two-Spirit', as well as other members of mahu, hijra, waria, two-spirited and Fa'afafine communities, while noting that the extension of the adjective 'transgender' to characterize everyone on the trans spectrum is not without its problems.2 This book is written by two philosophers seeking to understand and convey trans realities. While it addresses major aspects of the debates surrounding trans issues, no prior knowledge of these is required on the reader's part.

While Real Gender is the work of cis authors and is largely aimed at a cis readership, it is replete with trans voices. Broadly speaking, trans people are people whose gender (or lack thereof) does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. Unlike cis (that is, nontransgender) people, trans people typically cross or transition from one gender identity to another, hence the use of the Latin prefixes 'trans' (meaning 'across from' or 'on the other side of') and 'cis' (meaning 'on this side of'). Such transitions are personal, social and/or physical, and are often fraught with pain and hardship. In writing this book, we have learned that this suffering is less the result of the experience that some trans people describe as 'being born in the wrong body' than it is the result of prejudice and rejection. This book is an attempt to help change this.

Many cis people reject the prefix 'cis', preferring to be known simply as 'women' or 'men'. Among these is John Boyne, author of My Brother's Name Is Jessica, a young adult novel that features a transgender character:

While I wholeheartedly support the rights of trans men and women and consider them courageous pioneers, it will probably make some unhappy to know that I reject the word 'cis', the term given by transgender people to their nontransgender brethren. I don't consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man. For while I will happily employ any term that a person feels best defines them, whether that be transgender, non-binary or gender fluid to name but a few, I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term onto another.3

However, the cis/trans distinction does not stem from an attempt to impose an unwanted term on another term or on a group of people. Rather, as noted above, it is a descriptive term that acknowledges different trajectories in individuals' gender identities and represents a move towards greater inclusivity. Not adding the 'cis' prefix to the terms 'woman' or 'man' while using the 'trans' prefix to refer to trans women and men implies that the latter are in a different category from women and men and are not, therefore, fully fledged women and men. We do not object to the use of the unprefixed terms 'man' and 'woman', provided they are understood as including, respectively, both cis and trans men and women. Once inclusivity and equality are accepted as given, the prefixes may become superfluous in contexts where one's gender journey is irrelevant (as opposed, for example, to certain medical contexts). Alternatively, people may decide to retain the prefixes in the interest of highlighting their gender identities or because they favour a more fine-grained approach to gender.

For the time being, however, these prefixes remain necessary. In her book, The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice, Shon Faye unequivocally speaks in favour of the cis prefix:

We need a word for the 99 per cent of people in our society who do not have the experience of being trans, who fill almost all positions of power and authority, who control access to healthcare and education, and who make our laws. Simply by being a majority, cisgender people create the world that trans people live in.

Not all cis people behave in oppressive ways towards trans people, and not all cis people experience perfect comfort with their bodies or their gender; but, in general, it is fair to say that there are some automatic benefits that come from being a cis person. Gender is one of the first things we look for, ask about or intuit in a person. Cis men and women have the immeasurable benefit of never being thought to be mistaken, deluded or deceptive about this very fundamental fact about their personhood. This means that, in many contexts, they tend to be automatically credited with more authority, insight or expertise on both their own identity and on trans people's identities than trans people themselves are.4

As we shall argue, trans people should be credited with authority regarding their gender to the same degree as cis people. Failure to do this reflects prejudice and injustice or, more charitably, a lack of understanding that an individual's gender does not always show itself on their body - or, more formally, is not always aligned with their natal sex. This, we must attribute to diversity, not pathology.

The first wave of literature on transgender experiences came from sexologists, and the second from trans-exclusive feminists (such as Janice Raymond). Only with the third wave were first-person accounts of transgender realities included. This, as we shall see, is now being countered by a new wave of predominantly trans-exclusive literature, including philosophy. However, this fourth wave also comprises trans-inclusive authors and philosophers who have recently joined the debate. As cis philosophers, we belong to this latter group. This book is rooted in our desire to attain and transmit a better understanding of trans lives.

Our book is called Real Gender for two reasons. The first is to emphasize our conviction that the gender (or lack thereof) that one feels and lives authentically is one's real gender, regardless of whether it matches the gender one was assigned at birth. The second reason is that we believe gender is real; as real as - though not to be conflated with - biological sex. Before further probing these issues, it is appropriate here to articulate why, as cis authors, we believe ourselves to be qualified to write about trans realities.

On 22 August 2022, Sky News Australia ran a brief article entitled 'Many transgender activists "aren't actually trans"',5 complaining that such activists are in fact 'cisgender allies looking for virtue points'. Imagine such headlines as 'Many prison reform activists aren't actually prisoners', 'Many animal rights activists aren't actually animals', or 'Many feminists aren't actually women'. This reveals the absurdity of thinking that one cannot possibly be an ally of a group that one is not a member of.

Of course, allyship and activism can manifest themselves in different ways, not all of which are unproblematic. One anonymous referee for this book wrote: 'We'd find a book that promised a white perspective on anti-black racism suspect.' Indeed, such a book would be suspect were it not the work of allies. Still, one might wonder what a white perspective could possibly add that is (by implication) missing from a Black perspective. Understandably, people may similarly wonder what our book might uniquely contribute to the trans debate. However, another anonymous reader countered,

I think the authors make an excellent case for what is special about this book. It takes an apparent weakness - that it's about trans people but written by two cis authors - and makes it a strength. The argument that cis are in the majority, and it's imperative that they need to be persuaded, is a strong one. I am sure that even some trans people might try to resist it but I think it basically is an excellent motivation for this book. The project of persuading cis people to accept those of transgender and to understand their experience and rights is hugely important at the moment. I 100% support publication of this book.6

Understanding and empathy do not require that one undergo experiences that are identical to those one seeks to understand; anyone with sufficient acquaintance, awareness and sensitivity can empathize. For this reason, we held interviews and included first-person testimonials from a diverse range of trans sources in our research.

Before embarking on this project, we consulted the works of trans philosophers and heard their frustration with cis philosophers who felt qualified to speak or write about trans experiences without first delving into what Talia Mae Bettcher described as the existing 'robust literature on these issues':

I worry that the difficulty of having a conversation about whether or not trans women are women (it stands out to me, by the way, that this yet again focuses on trans women rather than trans men) amounts to a suggestion that the conversation should not include our scholarly and personal voices, and continue to cast us as people whose scholarship should be about rather than...