Sorry, dude. All the bullies from middle school, HS and douchebags in my everyday world are still referenced by their terrorizing days even though they might be semi-decent people today and you absolutely fall into that category.

I'd like to add to taraj3s point of some can hide and fake it better than others.
I think i was an expert at "faking it". Absolutely no one suspected a thing. I became amazing at lying to myself. But that not only made the inner conflict worse other people still noticed SOMETHING, even if subconsciously, and still made…

My only other exposure to the concept of passing is when individuals passed themselves off as being of another race or socioeconomic background. I was not aware that passing as a male identified individual when you are male bodied is a non-viable option.

Oh thats whats got you so upset!

Am I super off base in thinking this argument is the cis/trans:male privilege version of the mixed race:white privilege conversation we had yesterday(two days in the future I guess unless Kinja is crazy)?

Sissy boys end up with the opposite of male privilege. Not only do sissies not get the benefits of being male, people go out of their way to harass and demean them publicly because they are sissies. This comes even from approximately half of women/girls. As a kid, year after year I would come home crying every day…

I am suspicious of the claim that it is possible for a trans woman to "have male privilege" after transitioning.

yeah, silence would have been damning for me and would have (and sometimes did) make everything worse.

My experience is theoretically more like your gay male friends' with having to prove your manliness, or rather proving you're not girly (proving your manliness often becomes proving stereotypical manliness, which wasn't the case). To avoid or stop any abuse (more verbal i think than physical, but i honestly for some…

Maybe it's too early for my sociological brain to function, but I'm actually pretty flabbergasted that anyone—especially folks who are tuned in and sensitive to gender-based struggles—could so crassly make a statement about trans women having enjoyed male privilege for any given time and are therefore barred from the…

Male privilege is parallel with masculinity - male privilege is the opportunities that men get because society views things that are masculine as good and feminine as less. Feminine qualities are (i think) even less congruous with men than masculine qualities are with women (example: Women are often accepted as…

I generally thought that all, or most, male privilege that people who identify as transgendered m to f may start out with was crushed by the constant threat of violence and/or death, discrimination, and just general all around feeling like crap because hiding ones inner self is death on the soul at the very least. How…

Another point that must be mentioned in this sort of discussion is that privilege is more than how other people perceive and treat you. It also operates through your own internalization of cultural advantages, and the confidence that confers. For that reason, I would say that trans women do not experience "male…

Some trans women are seriously assholes. I've seen the kinds of things you're talking about, most often in people who transition later in life and get used to acting a certain way (I've experienced being completely shut out by other trans women in this same way).

So glad that that is all you can think about

I just can't believe there are people who think there is anything easy or privileged about growing up being told you are one gender, but knowing you are actually another! Don't these people remember school? I was bullied mercilessly for a year because I was too skinny, for god's sake. I had a week of hell because I…

A lot of your stories about childhood ring very familiar. I also was pretty frequently out-grouped/excluded for failing to exhibit socially expected "boy behavior," though in my case this had nothing to do with my gender being misidentified— I have a hard time essentializing it down to my homosexual identity, either…

No, I didn't, but I certainly have no idea what it's like to be treated as a boy either.

Anyone who says you've had a certain amount of male privilege as a trans woman is obviously really reaching. I don't know why they'd even say it. Even before your post, I would have assumed pretty much similar things to what you wrote. That you never actually feel male, therefore you never quite act male and don't…

This is fascinating to me. I would never dream that some people would even think trans women have 'male privilege' let alone call them out on it. That just sounds so silly and utterly illogical to me. Thanks for your insights.