Transphobia Since the Family Planning controversy last August, the media has taken up the subject of transidentity… through the prism of arguments and guests transphobes
At the launch of the media Omerta, on November 16 in Paris, the youtubeuse Amélie Menu presented her documentary “Trans”, in which she explains that she wants to “reconcile the irreconcilable”. — JEANNE ACCORSINI/SIPA
If you turned on your television or opened a newspaper in recent months, from the set of Quelle époque by Léa Salamé; in the stands of Marianne or FigaroGoing through Karine Le Marchand’’s show on M6, there is a subject that comes up tirelessly: that of transidentity. In recent months, and since the controversy surrounding a Planned Parenthood poster showing a pregnant man, the existence of trans people and their rights have become a media topic like any other: on TV sets. lévis; the radio, in the newspapers or online, transidentity; is approached from its most sensationalist angle, sometimes relaying certain arguments worthy of conspiracy theories, such as that of the existence of a pseudo “trans lobby” funded by billionaires.
🗣️ “Pour moi, , c’est un homme”
La journaliste Dora Moutot refuse l’identité de femme à la première maire transgenre de France
— Quelle Époque ! (@QuelleEpoqueOff)
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This emergence of a media discourse around trans people has been made through the intermediary of the transphobic words of personalities such as the activist Marguerite Stern or the influencer and creator of the account @Tasjoui, Dora Mutot. The latter had been invited last October by Léa Salamé on the set of Quelle époquefacing Marie Cau, first trans woman elected mayor in France. Many extracts had shocked; on social networks. “Dora Moutot going to Salamé, it gives a rather bitter feeling. We see the work we are getting at. to do, raise awareness, we try to find allies, and yet, with certain media, we are only a subject of society. They can’t see the people behind” sighs Agathe, a member of the feminist collective Tous des Femmes, which brings together trans and cisgender women in the fight against violence. Psychiatrists, anti-trans radical feminists (or TERFS, for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists), doctors, conservative activists… Transphobic speech is exploding in the media, without the people concerned being invited to comment. speak out on the issue.
Transphobic discourse in the media is not new
For Karine Espiniera, a media sociologist, “the trans issue has been approached differently for forty years, often in clumsiness and ignorance of the subject”. She sees a significant evolution in the end of the 2000s, when LGBTQ+ or trans people associations are becoming more professional, particularly in the field of health; or claiming rights such as facilitating change of marital status for people transitioning: “the media began to to take the measure of the demands, the vocabulary and the questions have evolved.” But for three years, the rise of conservative and reactionary discourse in the United Kingdom and the United States is also felt in France. “Fear of transitions, focus on detransitions, anti-abortion laws in the US“ We think a lot about; what happened around family planning, but it’s not new. There are many Anglo-Saxon moral panics happening in France too” explains Rita, who is part of XY Media, which aims to spread the voice of trans people, by themselves and for themselves. “Trans people are a vulnerable social group, whose media coverage is very recent: the conservatives have fed the most on them; that moment” she adds.
Nouvelle vidéo !
Les tribunes, les projets de loi, les alliances avec les TERF : le collectif décrypte comment les droites se saisissent de la transphobie pour créer des paniques morales et attaquer les droits des personnes trans.https://t.co/5Fuuc75OLU pic.twitter.com/M1SpKI84ZI
— XY Media (@xymediafr)
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If transphobic speeches in the media are not new, its figureheads, like Dora Moutot, are not new. “Marguerite Stern or Dora Moutot, they”ve been saying the same thing for three years” insists Agathe of All Women. She notably evokes the controversies in 2020 around the documentary “Little Girl” by Sébastien Lifshitz, whose extracts have been recovered by the extreme right online; or even the Little Mermaid Observatory, a Franco-Belgian lobby that wants to ban any medical transition for minors. “All this discourse follows those of the Manif pour Tous and the anti-“gender theories” to school. It’s one of the many avatars of this reactionary galaxy that is renewing itself and finding new angles of attack to advance their ideas” adds the activist from Tous des Femmes. Especially since, as Karine Espiniera explains, “the people who carry these messages have access to many media that offer them forums without taking the measure of what has been said”. We think in particular of; the opinion piece by Marguerite Stern and Dora Moutot, published in Marianne on August 22, questioning Elisabeth Borne: “Feminists, we are concerned about what is becoming of Family Planning” could we read there.
The multiplication of transphobic productions carried by arguments and a reactionary vocabulary
Beyond from the stands and the stages, transphobia is spreading on social networks, at the notably through the proliferation of “independent documentaries”, most of which use the image of trans people without their consent and surf on certain conspiracy theories promoted by the extreme right: we think in particular to “Bad gender – a worldwide epidemic” on Dragon Bleu TV, realized; by Sophie Robert, or “ Trans : the confusion of genres” by youtuber Amélie Menu, broadcast; on the new media close to Russia Omerta. Some experts on transidentities, including Karine Espiniera, have also explained is trapped by Amélie Menu, as Arrêt sur Images explains. “These are people who focus on our lives and are unable to hear anything. These are the same conspiratorial mechanisms where they think they have the truth; and who invent a vision of the world” explains Agathe of All Women. According to her, “this production of documentaries wouldn’t exist if there weren’t no other networks to support ça ; on these topics.” From Marianne to Figaro Vox via Valeurs Actuelles, transphobic speech is uninhibited.
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Among the arguments mobilized by the anti-trans movements, we find the idea of the “great replacement” the transphobic sauce, with the fear that women will be erased” quote Agatha. It’s notably the one mobilized by Dora Moutot and Marguerite Stern, who aim to: exclude trans women from feminist movements, evoking an essentialist and biologizing vision. But above all, the argument that keeps coming back is that of child protection, as during the period of the Manif pour Tous or the ABCD of equality. worn by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem under the five-year term of François Hollande. “Arguments around children are easy to talk about. use for misinformation, and have been entry to create a moral panic. On the issue of puberty blockers for example, false information has been broadcast, without verification” lists Karine Espiniera. Excerpts from the documentary “Little Girl” by Sébastien Lifshitz have thus been taken out of context and used to prove mutilation of children through gender transitions, starting in childhood. Karine Espiniera also denounces the use of a whole vocabulary from reactionary spheres, such as the expressions of “trans lobby” or “transactivism”. “All this vocabulary is dramatic, it’s not questioned. We are talking about “ trans lobby” or “rapid dysphoria”, but what are the sources?” she adds. Especially since by making their way into the media space, these ideas put people in danger outside the small screen.
A “misunderstanding of lives trans” who kills
But then, why doesn’t the media invite more trans people to talk about issues that concern them? For Rita, of XY Media, there are several reasons: “already, a question of class: when you’re trans, it’s sometimes more complicated; to speak. In addition, there is a very sexualizing aspect and a curiosity about it. unhealthy towards trans people. Finally, quite simply, there is transphobia which dehumanizes the people concerned, as if trans people were separate entities, whose existence is in dispute” . For Karine Espiniera, there would be fear on the part of the speech media of those concerned. “It would be less credible than someone’s outside. We go beyond medical or legal issues: when we talk about political issues, we get the impression that the voice of those concerned is necessarily militant” she expands. But above all, “we are not invited” adds the sociologist of the media, or else the invitation is made in opposition to openly transphobic people. “There is a real misunderstanding of trans lives” adds Agathe from All Women. However, many associations such as the Association of LGBTI Journalists (AJL) have been warning about this media treatment for several years, even providing resources to inform without discrimination.
Especially since these transphobic words relayed in the media have real consequences on the lives of the people concerned. “”” personal title, àgrave; force that we are described as a form of constant threat, çit plays a lot on anxiety. There is a whole range of transphobic acts, from being embarrassed to being angry. verbal or physical abuse. This brings us to; block us in what we would have the right to have and expect from life” testifies Agathe. But these comments can also play a major role in the support of the youngest trans people by their families. “It panics the parents, çit hits the self-esteem, çit prevents a good accompaniment of the children” recalls Karine Espiniera. The community trans, more precarious and isolated, is then more exposed to the risk of suicide. “These comments are dangerous and could lead to ça over the medium term” warns the media sociologist.
On November 20, as every year, the “Day of Remembrance Trans” commemorated the victims of transphobia: according to the Trans Murder Monitoring report, between October 2021 and October 2022, at least 327 trans people were murdered. killed in the world, a figure surely underestimated. These commemorations took place the day after the shootings in Colorado Springs, which swept away five people and wounded a dozen others. Among the victims, a trans woman, Kelly Loving ; and a 28-year-old trans man, Daniel Aston. À the time when transphobic remarks are legion on our screens or on social networks, trans people are dying of LGBTphobia and transphobia. And this information is rarely discussed on television news.